it's called romneycare. can he push past it? we're going to tell you about some exit polls that suggest he's got that problem. forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then, he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. call now for our free guide and tips on planning for your retirement this tax season. >>> welcome back to "kudlow report." all right. mitt romney's wracking up some delegates. he is wracking up the votes. but here is what super tuesday told us. he does have some weaknesses. he has some vulnerabilities. still has months more of the tiring slog to contend with. more importantly, i think he has a message problem in one key area. i'm going to raise it in a moment. let's bring in our distinguished guests. carly fiorina, national senatorial vice chair a

i saw what happened in massachusetts, which was the romneycare that was a model for obamacare.some people were helped a little bit. some people got hurt a little bit. for most of the doctors and patients, nothing changed. people still could not pay and had to seek care in the public sector because they could not afford the care they needed. >> we requested take a break and come back to this discussion. dr. stephanie woolhandler and john mcdonough, whose new book is just out called "inside national health reform." ♪ [music break] ♪ [music break] >> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. our guest is dr. stephanie woolhandler from harvard medical school, and now teaching at cuny. john mcdonough, his new book is called, "inside national health reform." the anti-injunction act requires him to be taxed before they can challenge the tax. >> our initial submission is we do not have to determine this was a tax in order to find the anti-injunction act applies because congress very specifically said it shall be assessed and collected in the

tell me in your opinion, is romneycare working?k that is a fair read that it has been a moderately successful program. >> reporter: the goal of romneycare was twofold, cover uninsured citizens and we covered two-thirds of citizens. the insurance rate is 2 down 2% which is european levels and the second was to fix a broken or nongroup insurance market n. that market since we passed this law we have lowered premiums by 50% relative to national trend. we have done this with broad public support. so, yes, it set goels and it achieved them. >> toward the end of romney's op-ed he said the federal government can do what states cannot. that there is a role for them and realign incentives. does reform care do this and take that advice? >> if you can think of the affordable care act as the core of romneycare and building on it in two ways. one is to raise the money to pay for it. romney doesn't talk about the fact that the program was paid for by the federal government. the federal government haven't that luxury. we had to pay for it. that i

>> it reminds us about romneycare. >> that is the basic core of the program. >> obama's roots in romneycare>> because romney has already given the answer to the question. >> vin, i'm not attacking. i'm just saying. this is an issue that has to be raised, okay? >> i agree, it's an issue. >> it's like me on tax reform and lowering marginal tax rates two, three months ago. and you were right and tim pawlenty was trite. governor romney came back with a plan "b," and i think it's a good plan "b." >> it's a great plan "b." >> i'm waiting for plan "c." romneycare and the issue of taktsing people without insurance all which sounds a bit like obamacare, i think governor romney has to put it right out there in a clear speech, vin. >> i think you'll see it all laid out in a comprehensive speech you want. but the key elements are already out there. >> all right. we'll have to leave it there for tonight. vin weber, thank you, tim lefebvre and robert costa. >>> next up, a new two number in the never hfr ending fast food fights. >>> plus, peyton's new place. he's made a decision and it's going to displace

is it because of the recession or is it because of romneycare? you can get some idea if you look at all the surrounding states vermont, connecticut, new hampshire and maine. which are in the same region. but from vermont, new hampshire and maine, both the lines eventually decline and they show no secular increase or consistent increase over the 2000 decade as is the case with massachusetts. there is an increase in connecticut, but i went down to the weeds and saw there in their budget reports the increase in the red line in 2009-2010 is because of the recession, because revenues and the size of the general fund reduce considerably, which is why the ratio of the medicaid spending to the total budget went up. connecticut increase in the red line is the result of a recession. i confirmed that. because the general fund is smaller. massachusetts there's no similar decline in the general fund it's all because of spending increases. so this kind of analysis gives us some clue that the massachusetts increase is not purely because of recession. there's a

. >> the difference in this campaign is not just about governor romney being for obamacare, romneycare, advocating, as we've seen in the last week or two, it's one thing to be for it. it's another thing to not tell the truth to the people of this country about it. with e need a president and a nominee we can trust. >> let's bring in our super tuesday power panel. i love saying that. alicia menendez, chip salzman and richard wolf. i want to start with the big battleground state of ohio. it's up for grabs. everybody really wants this. it's only going to go to one person. the latest poll has santorum and romney deadlocked in the polls leading up to today's vote. if romney squeaks this to victory, is it over? >> well, no, it's not. it's going to drag on. but pretty much we know where it's headed. that's to say romney is a candidate who still harbors huge doubts inside the party about his viability, whether he's a real conservative, whether he wins or loses that scenario, that narrative will continue. if he loses in ohio, obviously people will say, look, he can't connect with the rust belt.

most of all, he has a significant liability of romneycare, whose conceptual similarities to obamacare are unmistakeable. he has not succeeded in splaipg them away. it's a burden he has had to carry. >> if he is the nominee, heville to find enthusiasm. it seems like the enthusiasm for the president, has been somewhat dampened down. how are they going to get enthusiasm backum. >> two ways. one is by choosing a runningmate who unites the party in the way that sarah palin united the republican party four years ago. she really did do that. she brought in all of these conservative who is were not excited about mccain. she did the job. she did a good job early, especially at the convention and she and john mccain were ahead when the market pelt down happened. and the second thing is that president -- so if romney picked a runningmate who had that galvanizing effect, that would generate enthusiasm. and the second thing is the resistance to the president is going to motivate a lot of voters in the fall. i think this president has proved very devicive and if you look at the number that the poll

governor romney and barack obama are on the same place with health care, romneycare and obamacare, the same with a top down government control of the resources, mandates and of course now we know, thanks to an interview that you did and others, that governor romney actually advocated for the massachusetts model that president obama adopted with mandates, and then went on the campaign trail and repeatedly -- well, he repeatedly didn't tell the truth. he went out and misled voters that somehow or another he was not at mandates at the federal level when he was. he said i did not require catholic hospitals to provide things against their conscience, when he did, and he said i did not provide free abortions under romneycare, had he did. he had big government solutions and then gone out and told the public that he didn't do the things he did. >> you are calling him a liar, about his possession that he didn't support a mandate at the federal level. >> which he did. >> he did? >> absolutely. he did. >> electability becomes a big issue. on health care, what is the line of attack you think presi

i think it's quite possible that romneycare, call it romneycare. fact is there's going to be a very tough time politically to deal with the implications of this if is -- you get a ruling in june. more or less we expect you to come to the end of the race. then you have the campaign debates then you say from june to october, and then it's over. this could be a. where one issue come natures over everybody else. who is that good for? >> just like the financial cries, i wouldn't have expected the party who did the pass the bailout through congress to be one that benefited from bailout anger, which is what happened in '08. i think anyone who says they know now the political fallout, i think they're wrong. i think it could easily break one way or another. >>. >> then they've been playing chicken because you have a part of the obama defense being, we need the whole thing. so if the whole thing falls, like we said, going into those debates, who wins? >> the pundits will say this is really bad for obama. this is his signature achievement and here it's being

would romneycare then be un constitutional?ld requiring buying a car insurance be unconstitutional? is there a federal law requiring ts?pitals to treat indigenc is there a federal law? guest: i will start. certainly, it is in disputed that this was originally a conservative idea. it came out of the heritage foundation. a came as a response to hillarycare. there was a response that if we're going to have this socialized medicine system, let's have a republican alternative that is market-based people to buy insurance. the genesis of this idea was conservative. i think it is also true that people like chuck grassley, who used to say this is a great idea, this anti-free-rider idea. hospitals are not allowed to turn you away. you really are subsidizing the uninsured. that was the idea. responseor grassley's is that it is unconstitutional. states are allowed to do a lot of things the federal government is not allowed to do. you cannot quite make the analogy that romneycare is unconstitutional if obamacare is unconstitutional. in prin

that's the difference between romneycare and obamacare. >> but the federal government does have waysncentivizing states to make sure they have certain laws when it comes to things like withholding highway funds if you don't meet a minimum standard. so is that just the line that -- >> yes, there are constitutional things the federal government can do and there are unconstitutional things the federal government can't do. if they had increased our income taxes or add aid new payroll tax or made medicare for all, but what they can do is good or bad as a matter of policy. >> let me ask you a larger question on the mandate. in the mid-'9 00s, the mandate s considered a constitutional deal. i don't want to pigeonhole you. it's total pure libertarian policy. but how do you think this sort of moved from being a conservative response, essentially, to hillarycare at the time. >> it was just the policy guys that changed their mind as well, but they didn't consult the lawyers at all. the lawyers could have told them how the constitution worked, finagle different things and experiment, and maybe a

he put in romneycare which was a huge red flag to businesses not to come to massachusetts.ated six times for public sector jobs than private sector jobs. he increased taxes by almost $1 billion. you know, he did all sorts of spending increases, about a 40% spinning increase. this is not someone who understand how to -- he may have done well on wall street, but he didn't apply the principles of limited government intervention in business when he came to the governor ship of massachusetts. that's why he didn't run for re-election because he couldn't have gotten re-elected with the record that he had. >> all right. yesterday it's abc on the question of afghanistan. you said, in reference to afghanistan, let's either commit to winning or get out. if you were president tonight which one is if? are we committed to staying in and winning or getting out for whatever reason? >> well, i've been very clear that i believe that we don't get involved, we don't goat get our military involved in any situation unless we commit to victory. president obama when he took office said he was goin

very difficult to imagine that the governor who used teddy kennedy as his adviser and designed romneycareer to obamacare will do very well. frankly, senator santorum, who i like personally, i think has a hard time explaining why the guy who set the all-time record for losing pennsylvania, somebody who took a balanced budget, which i left behind and as part of the leadership ran up a trillion dollars in deficits and was part of the largest defeat in watergate as part of the leadership. i think it's a question of who can beat barack obama. i think the case i'm making on gasoline, the case i'm making on an american energy policy, is effective. if you watch the white house, for two weeks now, we have had them responding. the president spent his saturday speech attack my proposal to get gasoline below $2.50, axel rod's campaign manager was attacking me permanenty on sunday. we have a program that would get gasoline below $2.50. i think here in louisiana, i am making the case that this is an administration which asked the saudis to pump more oil, when they should be asking louisiana and texas t

most of all, he has a significant liability of romneycare, whose conceptual similarities to obamacare are unmistakeable. he has not succeeded in splaipg them away. it's a burden he has had to carry. >> if he is the nominee, heville to find enthusiasm. it seems like the enthusiasm for the president, has been somewhat dampened down. how are they going to get enthusiasm backum. >> two ways. one is by choosing a runningmate who unites the party in the way that sarah palin united the republican party four years ago. she really did do that. she brought in all of these conservative who is were not excited about mccain. she did the job. she did a good job early, especially at the convention and she and john mccain were ahead when the market pelt down happened. and the second thing is that president -- so if romney picked a runningmate who had that galvanizing effect, that would generate enthusiasm. and the second thing is the resistance to the president is going to motivate a lot of voters in the fall. i think this president has proved very devicive and if you look at the number that the poll

whether it is obamacare, romneycar -- they are interchangeable. we need someone who understands the submission to the problem of 1/17 of the economy is not government economy but your control over that sector of the economy. aha [cheers and applause] we need someone who needs to grow our supplies and someone who can trust that in good times and in bad, but when times are tough, people thought this was a source of carbon dioxide it could damage our environment. when those who profess the man- made global warming, they convinced many republicans including those who are running on the ticket that there was one that says i know this is political science. [cheers and applause] this is another attempt of those who want to take power away from new control your access to energy, your utilization. that is what they believe. governor romney and gingrich went along with the right. when the climate change, they change their position. now they're all for drilling. i was for it. this is the first day of the launch that we wanted to come here. [cheers and applau

would romneycare then be unconstitutional? would requiring buying a car insurance be unconstitutional? is there a federal law requiring hospitals to treat indigents? is there a federal law? guest: i will start. certainly, it is in disputed that this was originally a conservative idea. it came out of the heritage foundation. a came as a response to hillarycare. there was a response that if we're going to have this socialized medicine system, let's have a republican alternative that is market-based that asks people to buy insurance. the genesis of this idea was conservative. i think it is also true that people like chuck grassley, who used to say this is a great idea, this anti-free-rider idea. hospitals are not allowed to turn you away. you really are subsidizing the uninsured. that was the idea. now senator grassley's response is that it is unconstitutional. states are allowed to do a lot of things the federal government is not allowed to do. you cannot quite make the analogy that romneycare is unconstitutional if obamacare is

he wrote planned parenthood into romneycare by name. he raised tacks, he was pro gun control as governor. he was basically a pro-choice as governor, in terms of functions. then he switched and he said, you know, i'm running for president, none of the things i did as governor is what i will do now. he went so far to say he had been a quote, severely conservative governor, which is an absurdity. now you get one of his senior advisers remining everybody that romney could turn on a disme he could say, i have to rin win the election and let me sell everybody conservative principle i promised. he tells us he won't do it. maybe he won't do t. but it was so powerful because of the idea of a mini-sketch fit his past record made you think that there is something there and maybe they have been talking in the senior staff about how they will jet jette -- jettison the conservative stuff. >> greta: a national journal said, gingrich ignores obama muslim comment. you were asked by a louisiana voter and the person said, you know, made some crack about p

he said oh, i didn't provide free abortions under romneycare when, in fact, he did for some. so he's repeated by had big-government solutions and then gone out and told the public baldface that he didn't do the things that he did. >> you're calling him a liar. you're saying he's lying about his position that he doesn't support an individual mandate at the federal level. >> which he did. >> he did support it. >> he did support an individual mandate, absolutely. and repeatedly. in op-eds and on your program. >> you know, electability becomes a big issue if you look at the polling. romney is closer to president obama in the polls now than you are. on health care, what is the line of attack you think president obama will use against romney that you think will ultimately kill romney's chances of being president? >> you know, why are you -- why do you say you want to repeal a program that's identical to the program you put in place in massachusetts and you advocated for me to do? and then we'll play back the clips from "meet the press." we'll play back the op-eds that he wrote to a

the founder probably would have been fine with romneycare, not obamacare. the federal government is not a national government or at least it's not supposed to be. henry on the phone, democrats line joining in on the conversation on this thursday morning. good morning. >> caller: good morning. you know, i'm just, you know, the whole, the whole thing is nothing but a sham. you've got five republican judges and four democrats. this whole thing from the very start is just a big sham. you've got 26 republican governors that rammed it down our throats, like our governor perry, and without representation from the people that really need these benefits. it's just a sham. >> so henry, let me go to the quon this morning, which is the larger issue of the constitution and what the founding fathers had in mind. do you think that this debate what we've seen this week, was part of their intent? >> caller: no. it's just a debate about how they don't want to give benefits to the poor people. >> okay. >> caller: that's just -- bottom line. you got five republicans. roberts c

. >> he recommended to president obama that he adopt romneycare as the template for obamacare. and guess what? they did. >> reporter: and at a town hall in youngstown, romney faced unease even among supporters. >> i need an emphatic yes from you that you will repeal obamacare. >> why would i not? there's no -- [ applause ] >> reporter: in a campaign season consistent perhaps only for its inconsistency, with a string of different front-runners from michele bachmann to herman cain to rick perry, romney is arguing that he can finally focus on the general election with a victory in ohio. >> then we can start organizing our effort to make sure that we replace president obama. >> reporter: romney has tried to focus on mr. obama before, only to be tripped up by a reluctant republican electorate. >> i come to the people of ohio as a candidate who shouldn't be here. shouldn't be here if you looked at any political expert and you look at the money that's been spent, at the airtime that's been given, but we're here for a reason. >> reporter: and for his part, newt gingrich is counting on

. >> not romneycare, not obamacare not government-mandated health care or government controlled health care. >> reporter: santorum's alternative would be a major overhaul centered on what he calls health savings accounts. they would involve businesses paying less to insure their workers and have more to pay workers in wages. the employees, in turn, would use the money to set up those tax-free health savings accounts for routine medical care-- checkups, vaccinations, and so forth. >> reporter: what if you don't have to money to put into health savings accounts? >> what i've proposed in the past is a tax credit that can be used for health insurance for people to go out some subsidy there the taxpayer for the purchase of health care. >> reporter: under his plan, health insurance would cover accidents or chronic illnesses. >> like the concept with auto insurance. auto insurance doesn't cover oil changes, doesn't cover tire changes, doesn't cover tune-ups. health insurance shouldn't cover those things, either. >> reporter: is there anything about the health care law that you like? like exte