chris: in the obama-romney sports face-off this week, it looks silly. obama looked too sporting at the nascar 500. obama used an espn interview to advantage for him and give him a chance of hosting nba all-stars like chris paul at the white house. >> for my 49th birthday, i had my own little all-star game here. >> i wasn't invited. >> you weren't, maybe next time. chris was one of the guys who played. i did a little crossover on him. he claims that he could have stolen the ball. everybody who was there knows that's not true. chris: so obama won the sports face-off, but then there are the late night shows, those appearances are to make serious guys seem normal, even funny, but are tough do well. four years ago obama tried his hand at david letterman's top 10. >> number eight. >> appoint mitt romney as secretary of looking good. >> yes, sir. wow. chris: then a year ago it was mitt romney's turn and it was this funny coincidence. >> i'm the guy in the photo that comes in your picture frame. >> that's right. that's where i have seen you. chris: it was on his

chris: romney is out there very strongly saying if obama is president again for a second term, iran will have a nuclear weapon, just to get to the bottom line here. if i'm president, mitt romney, they won't. boy, is that an ultimatum statement. is the president joining them in that statement? >> when somebody says i don't bluff, probably he is bluffing. i'm sure that the romney -- chris: ladies and gentlemen, this is washington. only in this city do people understand this kind of bluffing. >> no means yes and yes means no. >> right, and romney, look, president romney is looking to be presidential and he is not going to say rash things in the course of the campaign with his contemporaries perhaps he will be more bold. but when it comes to the real deal, he is not going to say anything particularly provocative, i don't think, on the campaign trail. >> the president says i don't bluff. he says i got your back, israel, that's a direct quote from the interview. he said two other very important things. can you read this interview and say he is being hawkish. you can read the interview and say

and also in here, 11% of santorum supporters would vote for obama before romney. is that the fact that they think obama is more working class than romney? >> it's hog wash. if you had taken a poll in june 2008, of hillary supporters, 40% of them said we are not voting for obama, ever, never. there was a group called pu -- my are we allowed to say? >> we are now. >> and what percentage in the hillary voters wound up voting for someone other than obama? zero. you think that 10% of santorum voters will vote for barack obama over mitt romney. >> do you think there's an appeal -- >> people that vote in their party's primaries do not vote for another party. what that poll says is that romney could be a strong election candidate. there's an overlapping appeal for those that like obama and will cross to romney. >> or do not feel as negative about obama. >> it's not the haters. he does have an appeal to swing voters. >> if it come downs to a romney obama run off, it will come off to where the jobs are at. >> as speaker boehner said, where are the jobs. santorum, whenever he

days this week will be all about the individual mandate, the very essence, the heart of what romney gave to obama on a silver platter. how is this going to play out? >> i think part of the question is, does romney need to make a case against it if he's the nominee? i'm not sure that he does. there's not a huge groundswell of support for this law but there's not massive op position. people are -- opposition. people are divided, like the country is. chris: what about the base, don't they want to hear the yells? >> i do. i if romney gets the nomination, the base will go out and vote against obama. he's not ideal but not sure that will define him. chris: there's been a court of public opinion ruling on this a long time. we have a new associated press poll that shows 51% of majority disapprove of the president's health care plan. in fairness to the president's plan, it hasn't been implemented but what they say and hear about it, they don't like. that's the court of public opinion. is that more important than the court? >> look, especially with regard to the presidential mandate, it's clearly unpopular

you have obama versus romney. obama wins. obama versus santorum similar story but a bigger margin of victory. his job approval number in january 47% and now we see a number at 51%. >> great work. thank you. >>> a spokeswoman for mitt romney's campaign said he will be getting a big endorsement from george h. w. bush. it will take place at an event in houston. former governor jeb bush endorsed him. >>> coming up all new for you tonight at 6:00, portions of the patapsco river all shut down and harvesting shellfish in the bay have been shut down because of a sewage spill. >>> if you're planning to spruce up your home it probably includes paint. we have tips on what colors to pick out. now, here's a preview of what's ahead on world news at 6:30 with diane sawyer. >> coming up a brand-new scam. are thieves pretending to be your children, grand children, using sphoob to trick you out of thousands of dollars. see how they do it on world news. [ male announcer ] for making cupcakes and deposits at the same time. for paying your friend

obama got half of them. 13 points out of that group. he does well with the most educated particularly when sarah palin was in the race. that's where romney can challenge obama. obama has moved further down the scale. he said middle class values are my values and so he's looking to take more middle class votes knowing that if it's romney, he'll probably blues some of thothe those votes he got from the upper class. >> how does romney match that? fastest growing block in the country is hispanic voters is moving away from the republican party. >> there's no question that's one of the big challenges for republicans and we need to do better. mark is right about seniors growing and with the $500 billion cut in medicare that the president instituted, it's going to be hard to bring them back. basically the republican coalition is half college educated, half not. romney does very well with the college educated part of the coalition. he needs to do better with less educated, more downscale voters in order to put together a winning coalition. >> we'll take a quick break here and be back with more of our "press pass" conversation with mark penn and w

the romney campaign said it's outraged by the obama campaign's latest request for mr. . here is how the romney campaign responded in particular. i think this is strange. this was their response to the obama campaign asking for mitt romney's tax returns. this what that romney campaign said. obama should release, obama should release the notes and transcripts of all his meetings with world leaders so the american people can be satisfied that he's not promising to sell out the country's interests after the election is over. in what universe is the response spo release your tax returns, the statement that the president should release notes and transcripts. why would you think it would be a good idea to do that. why do you think that would be good for the country? why would you bring that up? what's the connection? right. this is the new mitt romney campaign thing now. >>> your mission is simplg, win one last election to gain unchecked flexibility, weaken our defenses and transform the world. dmitrir will transmit the information. >> starring barack obama as president flexib

it comes down to obama verses romney. polls show obama winning 55 percent of the women's vote verses romney 37. >>> 12 minutes after the hour now. it is the most talked about play in football. what will the colts do with star quarterback payton manning. this morning we know. >> oh what a night. for this guy mitt romney. will his short term push . >> the campaign shot you didn't get to see. you watched the reaction when the results came in. but you did view some of his supporter's reaction -- i guess did you see some of his supporter's reactions. look at that. ♪ [ male announcer ] this is the age of knowing what you're made of. why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hour

romney on this. he blames other people for republicans that help president obama. mitt romney's problem is mitt romney. when you listened to him over this week, he shifted it to delegate math, you can see why he's having trouble catching on. if i'm his campaign, i would focus on the economy, focus on issues that matter, not going on television day after day talking about the different mathematical scenarios. >> governor barbour made this point, you know, hillary clinton bruising battle that went into june, last time i checked it didn't hurt you guys? >> it's hard to say this campaign is just like that campaign. this time around you've got rick santorum, mitt romney and newt gingrich, fighting over whether or not planned parenthood should exist, contraception. this is a different kind of contest that we had in 2008. a long primary doesn't necessarily hurt. in this week, i think it's hard to argue that mitt romney is stronger as a result as a long, extended fight. >> i don't think that anyone in their right mind, thinks that the way it's played out in the primaries, i

and president obama the same issues that i'm campaigning against romney are the same issues that i'm going to campaign against barack obama on. cap and trade. trying to control the manufacturing and energy sector of the economy and of course, you know, the bailouts, all of these things are, you know, unfortunately governor romney and barack obama are in the same place. >> are you saying that there's not much difference between romney and obama? >> on those issues there clearly isn't. jon, those were the issues that spurred our victory in 2010 was this idea of government mandates and control of the economy and the bailouts and the attempt to try to take over the energy use in our country through cap and trade, and of course, the successful takeover of the economy, obama care, romney is on the same page as barack obama on all of these issues. you know what, again, you see conservatives across the country rejecting someone that they don't see a difference with this president. >> you know, gingrich has suggested, newt gingrich has suggested that he's helping you out here, by staying in t

obama camp. nascar dads, neither romney nor obama knows how to talk to them. >> romney knows the owners. >> joe bidentional ambassador of nascar. the third swing group are drivers. what's driving them right now are the people seeing the price at gas stakession and getting worried. when voters get worried the drivers have to deal with it. >> the latino piece is changing in virginia, colorado, nevada those are all states despite the independent movement, those same polls across the board are showing very competitive states which means the electoral mass changes. >> those are people that are energized because they're feeling attacked and their numbers might come out disproportionately. >> let me ask. it seems to me that that is the obama campaigns primary challenge is not so much convincing latino voters and young voters to vote democratic but to vote and turn out in november. >> that's exactly right. no matter what state your looking at, 70% based on polls out there, the issue is not the percentage, look at the turnout particularly in places like north carolina, virginia. >> so the question is if gas p

here is the latest from the romney super pac titled "restore our future." >> barack obama and his allies attack mitt romney. why? obama knows he'll beat rick santorum. san form says he's the principled conservative. that's not how he voted. here are his own words on voting to planned parenthood. >> while i have paernl objection to it, that i don't support it, i voted for bills that included it. >> 20 years in washington changed santorum's principles. restore our future is the responsible for the content of this message. >> the latest radio ad beginning rich, here is the latest from team gingrich. >> alabama, look, they keep trying to shove a trial lawyer from pennsylvania and a liberal governor from massachusetts down our throats. wet don't like it when someone acts one way in boston and another in birmingham. we aren't buying what they're selling. we don't get what they keep telling us. what they don't get is us. we want to beat barack obama. we want america back, strong and sane. we want it drilled here, now. we don't apologize to terrorists and we're tired of playing games. we need a

he's got to have a better explanation why romney care in massachusetts is truly different from obama care nationwide. that's where santorum is pounding, and just as mitt romney tailors his education with a good tax cut, he's got to tailor it for a much better explanation on romney care versus obama care. it's a must in order to win over conservatives in illinois and the other primary states ahead. that's my take. so let's talk. we have republican strategist terry holt, former senior adviser from the bush/cheney 2000 and '04 campaign, and we welcome back bill hennesy. terry, let me ask you. i want to make this as simple as possible. i think santorum had a good night last night and reset his campaign and it's a two-man race. feel free to disagree, but what's your thinking? >> no, i agree with that. i think last night was much more about rick santorum versus newt gingrich than it was about romney. we follow romney because he's the front-runner. but any time you're making a bet, you'd rather do the math before you really put your money down. if you do the math on this race, mitt romney's

obama, 47. mitt romney, 44. obama, 48, santorum, 44.ings come out of that one is the closeness of the two matchups and secondly, the closest between the two republicans in the matchups. >> yes. i think that's right, chris, but again, i think it does go back to the fact that we have been in a period when i think some democrats have gotten a little overconfident about the prospects of november. >> i agree. >> but if you talk to the people who are running the president's campaign, other democrats around the country, they anticipate that when all of this republican primary battle ends and they get focused on the general election and people begin to look at the choice it is going to be a very tight election. president obama won 53% in 2008 under ideal circumstances and nobody thinks that it is going to be like that in the fall. >> let me ask you, dan and then jonathan. do you think people vote on the incumbent, the pitcher who is out there or look at the choice the competence, the success of the pitcher out there the guy who is president is

romney? >> i'm not going to endorse anybody right now. i'll tell you who i won't endorse. it's obama. ey the fixer, people start looking at him as voters and independents who go he's the kind v i go that can go against obama. he's got the structure. so the voters are deciding who's the best candidate to beat obama -- >> they're making a tactical decision. what romney has in his favor is electability and money. that's what people in the southern states are looking at and that's why i think he's starting to do well. but he doesn't have likability. they don't like him. there's overwhelming dislike or dissatisfaction -- >> no. absolutely wrong. >> every poll says that. >> he's gotten 3 million votes. his closest competitor has gotten less than two. he's won in every region -- >> and he's outspent them three to one. >> your guy knows all about spending. >> money isn't the argument. votes is. in the recent round of primaries he got more votes than awful his competitors combined. that means that the voters are starting to make their decision based on practicality. santorum is not going to be

touching on the issue that has unnerved the oil markets, romney called president obama's outreach to iran "naive." >> hope is not a foreign policy. the only thing respected by thugs and tyrants is our resolve. >> reporter: the president, appearing before a news conference, hit back against romney and other republicans for what he called their "casual attitude" to war. and he contrasted that with the decisions he's made to send men and women into battle. >> and the impacts that has on their lives, the impact it has on our national security, the impact it has on our economy. this is not a game. there is nothing casual about it. >> reporter: get used to this kind of back and forth. post-super tuesday, washington analyst chris krueger expects the field to narrow to a two-man race, romney and obama. >> romney is going to have two things on his side after today. he's going to have the delegate math working for him, and he is going to have momentum working for him. both of them are needed to secure the nomination; both of them will be on his side. >> reporter: and that means the topics and t

now romney has wrapped his arms around this budget which you can bet president obama is going to make hay of in the election if mitt romney is the nominee. the dnc already has a video tying romney to ryan. let's take a look at that the ♪ when old mitt clasp his hands for the paul ryan, that's amore ♪ >> when his plan came out i applauded it ♪ when paul ryan gives props to old mitt romney's chops ♪ that's amore. >> a song for the ages, kasie hunt. >> that's ben's voice singing the song. >> you got a little extra cash in the packets. >> the lines are all blurring on that. >> kasie, the other thing, you know, let's talk about that. this is something that the democrats i think are probably you know champing at the bit, the dnc certainly wasted no time in getting something out there attaching the two men at the hip. >> sure. you've seen a struggle over paul ryan and his various budget plans throughout the course of the primary campaign. romney was reluck tabt to embrace the first one but used it to beat gingrich up. so you've already seen some recognition from the romney campaign that this

few weeks ago in michigan with the robocalls. >> republican voters do not see mitt romney as a worst alternative than obama at romney and santorum on the issues, there's not that much that divides them. a lot of conservatives say look, we don't love everything about romney, we don't like his health care and a few other things but this may go too far saying obama, the person that is frankly deeply, deeply disliked on the right is better than romney. >> you look at the exit poll from the primaries, it's electability. in the end over and over people want electability so santorum is going against what a lot of people have been telling pollsters. in the end they want somebody who they can elect. >> romney voters want electability. the santorum voters want strong moral character and someone who sticks to his principles. >> someone ideologically pure. the idea romney will say anything to be elected. i suspect that's true. >> listen to what newt gingrich had to say about this issue. >> there is no doubt in my mind that if the choice is governor romney or barack obama, we would have no choice. i mean barack obama's

obama is actually doi doing. what mitt romney is depending on right now, relying on, and i think it's a very dangerous thing for him to do given the state of international relations in the the middle east right now in this particular moment with iran. but he's going back to some preconceptions that some americans and conservatives had based on what president obama said in 2008. where he was naive about how you address iran. and in 2009 where he did wait too long to criticize the brutal crackdown in the streets of tehran. but three years later, this president has self-corrected. i have talked to republicans who were concerned about mitt romney's tack right now because in all actuality, just like the missile gap in 1960, there's not a lot of space between barack obama and mitt romney's position on iran. >> i think you would be a better candidate. i have been saying that for months and i'm dead serious about it. chafs exceptional about what you just said. i really do appreciate working with this guy. he's a smart guy. this guy. have

the conservatives, republicans, knowing they have one choice other than obama, will be fired up. not over romney, but the fact he is not obama. >> colby? >> i don't think so. we had truth spoken this week when the guy said romney is lighke an etch a sketch. core is not there. he will try to move away from extreme positions, and when he does, the right will kill him for it. some republican pros will go along with it, b thease of the party will not let them drift like that. he will have problems in the general alexian if he is the nominee. what is romney going to do in arkansas, louisiana? >> he is a smart man. what does he have to do to generate the enthusiasm, mark? >> he has to win the nomination and be the alternative to barack obama. that is it. he is not going to generate passion, intensity. the problem with the etch a sketch -- quite frankly, eric fehrnstrom was saying on television what people really do say in private. richard nixon, the most successful republican in the history of the party -- five times nominated for national office, four times he wanted -- says you run right to get the

that the court has agreed to hear the case, i can bet you that in these debates between obama and romney, obama and team bridge, whoever else they decide they want to put up, the nominees will be asked a question about this case or affirmative action. what position does this put the african american president in in? >> i think most americans are comfortable with the ibm of divert -- with the idea of diversity. this is not just a way for the university to select candidates based on their race but also the fact they have this additional process that enables people to get admitted in addition to the 10% plan. maybe how they admit their football players or their basketball players, the people who play polo. those who are interested in sports could understand why the university does not want to rely only on a 10% plan that admits the top 10% of their graduating class. they are looking for people who are going to add something to the atmosphere on campus. most americans would see that as being a reasonable approach. this is not a quota. we're talking about 1200 students in a university that has thous

romney than anybody else. when you start focusing on the contrast between barack obama and mitt romney, i think this countries bama. i think they want a change. gas prices of doubled, millions of people out of their homes, high interest rates, rising interest rates. these are all things that president obama is going to have to answer for. so when it comes down to economy and jobs, the contrast between mitt romney and president obama, i think he wins and wins convincingly. >> i welcome that fight. >> it's the end of march, not the end of october so you need to be careful in your celebration of these numbers. people do say the economy is getting better, more of them do. the likability factor, how much does that matter? this has been a consistent political obama asset. even when his approval number is below 50, people say we like him. how much does that matter? >> first of all, john, let's talk about the policies. people like him because they actually like what he's doing to turn the economy around. we've gone from losing 22,000 jobs a day, 700,000 jobs a month to now gaining jobs. not enough jobs, but still peop

, president obama at 55% and romney at 37%. joining me now are "washington post" opinion writer and nbc political writer e.j. dionne and former communications director and an msnbc political analyst karen finney. thank you both for joining me tonight. e.j., you have breaking news from one of the advertisers who has dropped rush limbaugh. tell us about it. >> i didn't think it was breaking news, but i happened to be at a dinner tonight. and david friend of the carbonite company, one of the companies that dropped -- >> longtime -- i've been listening to rush for years, many, many years. carbonite's been with him for at least ten years, maybe more. >> you know, we tend to, when we talk about this, to make it all about politics. and i asked him the simple question at dinner, why did you drop your advertising? and he said, i have daughters the same age as the woman he attacked. and i think that the reason this was different -- i mean, rush limbaugh has said a lot of outrageous things about a lot of people over the years. we tend to