the republican party is back here, rachel. >> if mitt romney goes on to be the republican party's presidential nominee, a lot of republicans talk about nevada as a state republicans might be able to win. they think the demographics are good for mitt romney. they think the politics blow his way in some parts of the state. how do you think what you're describing about the state of the republican party infrastructure in nevada affects the republican nominees' chances in november? >> well, i was getting e-mails and phone calls even while the caucus disastrous caucus was going on from representatives of the presidential campaigns. and from other prominent campaigns including we have the big senate race here between dean heller and shelley berkley saying we're going to avoid the party, won't have anything to do with it. we'll raise money outside. you mentioned the karl rove, we talked about him last time, crossroads will pour a lot of money in here. the rnc will pour money in here to try to make up for the lack of a state republican party. as i said to you back then and i believe it now, you can't j

>> the republican party is sort of the big tent party. ns north of the mason-dixon line. republicans no longer feeling part of the the party. when olympia snowe was elected in the mid-1900s, there were many prominent pro-choice women. you see fewer and fewer of them. you do see some prominent women but they are likely from conservative areas of the country. soft of evangelical christians and much more conservative on social issues, conservative on abortion. the question of pro-choice women is sort of the question of moderate republicans in general. this is not a party that's are heart and soul is in the northeast. it's on the west coast. anywhere but in the south and very red areas anymore. >> it's remarkable to think the republican party is setting up a decision point for pro-choice women of every idealological home pr you in the party. if you're pro-choice and care about this issue, the democrats are all that you have. it's amazing to me. when i find the republican who can explain to me why they decided to do this, i will have hit gold.

, not the republican party, but the democratic party going to try to prevent the republican party from fixing this problem that it has with latinos. how are they going to press their advantage? the next chairman of the democratic national convention is the current mayor of los angeles. he's here in person for the interview, next. your finances can't manage themselves. but that doesn't mean they won't try. bring all your finances together with the help of the one person who can. a certified financial planner professional. cfp. let's make a plan. has been because of the teachers and the education that i had. they're just part of who i am. she convinced me that there was no limit to what we could learn. i don't think i'd be here today had i not had a wonderful science teacher. a teacher can make a huge difference in a child's life. he would never give up on any of us. thank you dr. newfield. you had a big impact on me. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. i have two products in front of you. we a

, not the republican party, but the democratic party going to try to prevent republican party from fixing this problem that it has with latinos. how are they going to press their advantage? the next chairman of the democratic national convention is the current mayor of los angeles. he's here in person for the interview, next. >>> being the top elected official in the nation's second largest city means dealing with things as diverse as a giant bear on the loose in the city. we'll have more on that later. also, carmageddon. the biggest shutdown on a freeway. it passed without incident and under its time con strantss. it means dealing with the largest jail system in the world. they have been plagued with trouble. the sheriff announced a commitment to shutting down the most problematic section. it's a landmark decision for the city and frankly, for justice. if you are this particular top elected official in this nation's second largest city, get your day-to-day work done means hanldsing the responsibility of chairing the democratic party's national convention at w

, not the republican party, but the democratic party going to try to prevent it means dealing with the largest jail system in the world. they have been plagued with trouble. the sheriff announced a commitment to shutting down the that's part of why new jersey governor had to al but beat reporters off with a stick in not onlying say she is not going to be picked as mitt romney's vice president and if she is picked as the vice president, she will say no. nevada governor bryan sandoval is saying the same thing. not just i don't want it, but i will say no if i'm asked. also, florida senator marco rubio saying i will say no if i'm asked to do the job. they are now constantly being badgered after if they would like to be vice president because the republican party has a huge problem with latino voters and everybody wants to see how republicans are going to try to fix that. i have a different question. how is the democratic party, not the republican party, but the democratic party going to try to prevent the republican party from fixing this problem that it has with

why can there be a republican party club recognized on campus and not a democratic party club because the democratic party club platform is contrary to the liberty university. what's so wrong with the democratic party platform? gay rights, gay rights! gerry fall well university has a jerry falwell high school called the liberty christian academy. how do you think gay students are faring at the liberty christian high school? turns out they're not there. at least officially they're not there. according to the official school handbook, liberty christian academy does not employ or accept students who are homosexual. that's for the high school. for the university, it is more complicated and wonderful. try to make sense of this. in its employment practices, the school of law does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation but does discriminate on the basis of homosexual conduct. how do they know? they're saying they won't fire you if you are gay but they will fire you if you act gay? what if you're straight and you act gay? what if you're not sure but you're just generally fabulous

the republican party spokesman, horrified by the catholic league, being in substance. this is a mess. gay rights and republican politics are a mess. at least they are a mine field if you are trying to get across this issue. if mitt romney wants to pivot from the primary to the general election, rejecting that endorsement from n.o.m., that would be a great way to make that pivot, right? can he do that? even what should have been a simple base hit with this hillary rosen comment. even what should have been -- ended up getting fouled up when it intruded on the war on women mess and it seems like they still haven't figured out a way to win. if i were being paid to advise mitt romney on this subject, i have no idea what my advice would be. it's the most complicated and most unpredictable issue right now within the republican party. bill keller from the new york times joins us to talk about it, next. >>> joining us now is bill keller for the new york times. he writes about the four republican state senators who broke with their own party on new york's gay marriage law last ye

michael bloomberg switched from the republican party to independent, barely put a dent in his popularityical expediency in new york city. after serving two terms as the republican mayor of new york he not only switched parties and managed to change term limit laws and is a third term limit. now he keeps both parties at arm's length. >> we have to work together in the partisan bickering. there are no heroes. both sides of the aisle, both sides of pennsylvania avenue, they aren't coming together to focus on a real solution. >> let's remember, bloomberg ran as a republican because he never thought he could ever win a democratic primary. >>> so at the end of the day the vast majority of these decisions were as much about being personally politically practicing ma tipragmatic as they were about politics. in many cases the switch was a political move to hold or win elected office. that brings us to the san diego mayoral race. assemblyman fletcher made the risky choice of leaving the republican party. here's how he explained the decision to voters. >> in today's political environment you're exp

but this is not your father's republican party, if you are a pragmatic policy-minded republican, you should abandon your party and i'm more your guy. this is billed as a partisan speech. i saw this as a conservative speech trying to appeal to pragmatic centrists. >> you can look at the number obama versus romney. romney's been ahead in the past. but when you start to look more closely, you see the republican party's image really since january 2011, since the results of the tea party revolution in 2010 took office and the republican congress came to power, the republican party's image has plummeted. and the approval rating, the favorable rating of the republican party right now stands in the mid-30s. and for historical perspective, it really hasn't been that low since the impeachment of bill clinton in '98, and it wasn't that low before that sichbs watergate in the '70s. that's what the republican party has reduced itself to right now. so it makes sense for obama to say that. >> trying to peel off people who aren't diehard republicans in a more casual way. >> exactly. >> we saw him do

poor speaker john boehner is the only person i can think of in the republican party who rises to that. and if more -- >> occasionally and then gets pulled back. >> if more republicans could follow bush's lead in terms of being a statesman, i think the country would be in a much better place. >> bravo, jonathan capehart. >> like not calling him stupid, maybe not calling the president stupid. >> one other way, the couldnntr would be in better shape, president bush was a republican, and really across the board, a visionary when it came to the importance of the hispanic vote in the republican party, a hero as governor of texas resisting draconian anti-immigrant legislation, he came into the office, won 40% of the hispanic vote 2004, understood, along with karl rove, if the republican party could not capture over ho, closer to 50% the republican party would never be a national governoring body, something the republican party has forgotten to its peril. >> a bush love fest today. >> not quite. >> but it is a reminder of how far rightward the party has swung and the uphill climb facing mitt

what's changed is the center of the republican party. originally proposed by conservatives and republicans as a market-based solution to solving environmental problems. there's a reason why there's a little bit of confusion in the republican primary about health care and the individual mandates since it originated as a conservative idea. now, suddenly, this is some socialist overreach. ronald reagan, who, as i recall, is not accused of being a tax and spend socialist, understood repeatedly that when the deficits started to get out of control, that for him to make a deal, he would have to propose both spending cuts and tax increases. did it multiple times. he could not get through a republican primary today. >> ronald reagan could not get through a republican primary today. president obama speaking yesterday to the associated press about how much the republican party has shifted to the right. how republicans' own policies, its own heroes, would be denounced as too left wing by today's radicalized conservative republicans. this is a true t

but this is not your father's republican party, if you are a pragmatic policy-minded republican, you should abandon your party and i'm more your guy. this is billed as a partisan speech. i saw this as a conservative speech trying to appeal to pragmatic centrists. >> you can look at the number obama versus romney. romney's been ahead in the past. but when you start to look more closely, you see the republican party's image really since january 2011, since the results of the tea party revolution in 2010 took office and the republican congress came to power, the republican party's image has plummeted. and the approval rating, the favorable rating of the republican party right now stands in the mid-30s. and for historical perspective, it really hasn't been that low since the impeachment of bill clinton in '98, and it wasn't that low before that sichbs watergate in the '70s. that's what the republican party has reduced itself to right now. so it makes sense for obama to say that. >> trying to peel off people who aren't diehard republicans in a more casual way. >> exactly. >> we saw him do

years ago they were saying they were going to revolutionize the republican party, but i think the tea lost a lot of luster in the electorate, and now the democrats can try to tie comments and characters like west to the republican party and try to make him the emblem of the republican party. >> i have less than a minute less, but the point is we discussed this earlier in the program, it's a time when the gop needs to command independent support, this is the wrong brand at the wrong time, that's the significance, right? >> this is not a candidate when he first rain for congress, the gop distanced himself from allen west. when he looked like he could take a seat in 2010, they through their support behind him late. i think you're both right when you say this is not the kind of character that the establishment gop wants to put on the ticket when they need independent votes. >> on that we all agree. when we return, allow me to finish with a prediction about the republican nominee for 2016. you're watching "hardball." [ male announcer ] raise your hand if you've got savings whiplash. you kn

hurting the republican party here. it doesn't take a genius to figure out those numbers will not provide you pathway to a winning coalition. so it is incumbent upon the republican party to do a better job of embracing the hispanic/latino vote. they're very entrepreneurial oriented. they're very family oriented. they place a high emphasis on education. there's no reason why the republican party and it candidates do a better job of appealing to them. you also have to look at key senate races. new mexico, nevada, arizona. those three states will be very important for the presidential coalition, but also very important in terms of control of the senate and republicans must do a better job with the hispanic vote. >> probably more in the latino vote than any other vote i can see, that's where a down ballot really begins to be affected in states. you can run a race nothing to do with the top of the ticket, but the latino vote maybe the real exception here. >> what happened here is that romney, who has found himself with moder

rating for the republican party pap that is as low as the republican number has been since the height of the clinton impeachment. if you're the nominee you can't escape that. >> absolutely right. mitt romney has blown opportunity after opportunity to speak out independently and say, look, my party's wrong about this, we shouldn't boo that gay soldier, he's serving the country honorably. he's missed opportunities to look look a lead. >> what would have happened in the primaries if he had done that? >> he would continue to win. >> i don't think romney loses votes if he said some of what ri rush imlimbaugh is spewing -- >> it seems like an easy thing to stand up for. he's faced incredible skepticism from the right it's been hard for him to figure out the exact path that doesn't arouse that skepticism, intensify. >> we analysts assume people think about their own little boxes. if i see mitt romney say, folks, that gay soldier's out there giving his life for this country, stop it, i don't care how conservative i am, i say, right on, right on. >> talk about a degree of eloquence we haven't

sgrits eat inept ham handling of the republican party on the issue. look at what happened in 2010, republicans were very competitive and in fact won the vote with women voters. so there's an important lesson here. when we get the focus back on the the economy and the president's record, things dramatically. >> we've had soccer moms, security mom, weighait recent r. what's the target voter here? >> there is no monolithic group that describes the female vote. i would probably look at two or three. one are what i would call medicare grand mads who are more concerned about the fate of their children and their grandchildren in terms of the jobs that they will get and their ability to pursue the american dream as i talked about earlier. second, there are what i would call wall street blues women. those who are very worried, they work a job, their husband works, they're worried about their benefits being cut back, hers worried about their retirement security and their 401(k) losing steam.rs worried about their retirement security and their 401(k) losing stea

he'd still have to cater to this republican party base. i think that at the end of the day is a more potent message for democrats to deliver right now, because i think the problem with just sticking with flip-flopping is, it almost gives romney an out. and basically it comes down to this. if you have swing voters, whether it's women, whether it's hispanics, whether it's the independents. if you have swing voters who basically want to throw barack obama out because of the economy, they want to punish the guy in charge, if the knock on romney just that he's a flip-flopper, then that's basically saying, yeah, all these scary conservative things that would give me pause about voting for him, well, it's okay to vote for him because he doesn't really mean them. >> and here's the thing. romney a flip-flopper. i think people get that. he doesn't have a core. and by saying that he has moved very far to the right, it's not arguing that he has found a core, it's arguing that he is coming up with his own positions and has followed the rest of the repu

the chairman of the republican party has the best name in american politics. his name is reince preibus, the former republican chairman. he made himself the most famous he has ever been for anything other than his amazing name. he made himself very, very famous today by telling al hunt of bloomberg news that as republican party chairman he does not understand why everybody keeps carping about the republicans having some sort of problem with women. he says he does not understand why there's a 30-point gender gap between the two parties in the presidential race in the swing states. he says he does not understand why everyone keeps asking him about the ridiculous idea that republicans have some sort of war on women. >> the democrats, of course, say the gop is waging a war on women. i know you don't agree with that. but looking at the polls, you have a gender gap problem. recent polls show a huge, huge margin for democrats with -- among women voters. how big of a problem is it and how do you close it? >> well, for one thing, if the democrats said we had a war on ca