. >>> and battleground politic was former ohio governor ted strickland and former virginia congressman tom davis. >>> then gauging the power of the taliban, al qaeda, and the afghan government with the chairs of the senate and house intelligence committees, democrat dianne feinstein and republican mike rogers. plus the anemic recovery and the election with the national journal's major garrett and janice rivlin. i'm candy crowley and this is "state of the union." >>> republican leaders and former rivals are gathering around mitt romney's candidacy, but the coalescing lacks a certain warp and fuzzy feature. >> compared to barack obama i would trust mitt romney 100 times over. >> he's the guy. he called and i called him back. we kind of traded some voice mails. >> he's the person that is going to go up against barack obama. it's pretty clear. and we need to win this race. >> i am joined by the latest candidate to exit the race, former house speaker newt gingrich. thanks for being here this morning. >> good to be here. >> my question is these have not been warm embraces. it was a tough cam

on the newshour tonight, we examine dueling political strategies with former ohio governor ted strickland, a democrat, and former missouri senator jim talent, a republican. >> woodruff: then, we get an update on the blastoff of the first-ever commercial rocket to head to the international space station from science correspondent miles o'brien. >> ifill: we return to joplin, missouri, on the mend one year after a deadly tornado ripped through the city. >> woodruff: margaret warner talks with two pakistani women about their lives in the city of karachi, constantly interrupted by sectarian violence. >> imagine you meet a american the morning and the news you get there the afternoon is that he's no more. so, of course, it's fearful. it's really uncertain situation. >> ifill: and jeffrey brown explores the merits of a liberal arts education with columbia university professor andrew delbanco, author of a new book called "college." >> the college classroom should be a place where students learn to speak with civility, to listen with respect to each other and, most of all, to realize that they mi

ted strickland has done an kprent job for them, but, you know a few things with the administration.hey didn't realize until the end of that year that they needed other people to take the heat off of him. two, i think the white house and the president himself has looked down on this war. they took a long time to explain to glenn beck, they took a long time to get back to the tea pear. do you have now a spags which the gravitational pull of the president has been diminished. you have politicians and ex-politicians who are looking out for their own brands who don't want to sign on to what's going to be a very vicious campaign. that creates a pob who orchestrated. it should be the white house normally but right now the dmc controls it many i think your point is also taken for ear. they're playing for little, incremental wins, ground game, things like that. it's for for them to argue. their built to built this their ting. my guess is that over the next several weeks because of this, they get their stuff together. they do have people out there. . and there's other inside the campaign that

i have susan with me, former democratic governor of ohio, ted strickland as well as perry bacon. guys, thanks for being so patient. as we watch this together. we're in it to win it, as we see what facebook is going to bring us. susan, i want to start with you. we're watching this. i know you're a social media maven of certain areas. maybe that's a big title for you. what do you think when you see this? as we were hearing from jon and evelyn, the fact that this is basically for the big donors so far, the 1% that can get in on what is the bounty of facebook. >> right. it just goes to the discussion that we've been having through the political arena of having two sets of rules. it seems like if you have a lot of money, you can get in early and make even more money than if you want to try and buy it as the regular person on the street and you're not able to make the same profit. i mean, that's how it translates into the political world. >> governor, when you hear about the speculation of where it's going to start and the big expectations of the company itself, do you think it sounds

in reaction, last night on "politics nation "former ohio governor democrat ted strickland, told host al sharpton, what he thought about republican leaders and the gop candidate. >> mitt romney's out of touch. speaker boehner is out of touch. mitch mcconnell is out of touch. these people do not understand what life is like for the average american. they live in a different world. they live in a bubble. all of their needs are met. they don't worry about their family getting health care. they don't worry about paying their mortgages. this don't worry about having a decent car to drive. they have simply so lost touch with the average person who is out there struggling, trying to make it today in this difficult economy, they don't represent the american people. i really don't think speaker boehner represents very many ohioans quite frankly. because ohioans are pretty common-sense middle-of-the-road folks and they understand when someone is on their side. and president obama is on our side. and i think the people are coming to understand that. increasingly, as they learn more and hear more

former governor ted strickland is here. senator sherry brown is in the house.ican hero, john glenn, is with us. and i want to thank so many of our neighborhood team leaders for being here today. you guys will be the backbone of this campaign. i want the rest of you to join a team or become a leader yourself, because we are going to win this thing the old-fashioned way, door by door, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood. in ohio four years ago you and i began a journey together. i didn't run and you didn't work your hearts out just to win an election. we came together to reclaim the basic bargain that built the largest middle class and most prosperous nation on earth. we came together because we believe that in america your success shouldn't be determined by the circumstances of your birth. if you are willing to work hard, you should be able to find a good job. if you're willing to meet your responsibilities, you should be able to own a home, maybe start a business. give your children the chance to do even better. no matter who you are or where you come

if you look at 2010, that was him with ted strickland who lost to john kasich. those streets were filled and the now the floor is empty. hope and changes and obama mania is over. >> you've seen him once. >> sean: you don't need to go back. >> this is greatest -- >> if i see a band i like, i want to see them again. people saw obama in 2008, they've been there, they've done that, it looks like he is not getting re-elected. >> you were one of my good friends, i wouldn't want to see you again either. [ laughter ] >> sean: good shot. >> i have great faith in the american people. i think going through all this rhetoric. i am shocked people aren't showing up. >> i was in ohio in 2000, 2004, i was with bill cunningham and in 2006 which was bad year. you could feel that dramatic a difference. that is telling. >> and in ohio, josh mandel is doing great. that is suner and mark from "time magazine" all the stuff coming out of chicago, that is wake-up call. i'm with dick, ann coulter is with dick. >>> you are from ohio, everybody is pushing bob portman, but he is boring, he

we've also had former governor ted strickland. former senator john glenn.e are making our way to the president. he's expected to take to the podium. we will take you there live once again when the first lady takes to the podium. stay with us here on "weekends with alex witt." [ woman ] my washer had a foul odor that made the whole room stink. [ woman #2 ] even my laundry started to get a funny smell. [ female announcer ] got a bad odor in your high-efficiency washer? clean it with tide washing machine cleaner. [ female announcer ] three uses will help remove odor-causing residues and leave your washer clean and fresh. to help maintain your he washer, use tide washing machine cleaner once a month and always wash with tide he detergent, specially formulated for proper he performance. tide washing machine cleaner. clean laundry starts with a clean washer. do you read in bed? do you read out loud or in your head? do you need a lamp to see? and does it leave your bedmate be? don't you wish there was a light that wouldn't keep them up all night? if so, you'll be

and former ohio governor ted strickland. gentlemen, the 2008 auto bailout.l motors, ford and chrysler get the bail out, you can kis it good-bye. won't go overnight but its demise will be virtually guaranteed. detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. then, this week, romney gave the infamous statement where he tried to claim credit for saving the auto industry. let's listen to that. >> the auto companies needed to go through bankrupt before the government helped. finally the president took them through bankruptcy. i pushed the idea of a managed bankruptcy. finally when that was done and help was given the companies got back on their feet. so i'll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry has come back. >> he wants a lot of credit, and finally, let's catch up with ha he said today. >> the president termed it etch-a-sketch. you were dead set against that. >> here is what i said, and it is written down where you can take a good look at it. i said don't write them a check. they need to go through a managed bankruptcy. they have to get rid o

ted strickland i think has done an excellent job. they have some internal people doing a good job. but you have a few things coming together here. first, the president and his first year of administration was the administration and they were there everyday. they didn't realize until the end of the year they needed people to take the heat off him. i think the president long looked down on this cable news chatter, the on-air war that happens. they never prior advertised it. they took a long time to respond to glenn beck, took a long time to wake up to the tea party. so it never had the priority other white houses had. and third, i think you saw it there with governor rendell. have you a situation in which the gravitational poll of the president, the leader of the democratic party, is diminished. have you politicians and ex politician looking out for their own brands who don't want it sign on to what will be a very vicious and negative campaign. they don't want to tarnish themselves. cory booker is doing that. ed rendell is doing that. that is a problem for the campaign going forward.

joining me now are two former governors of those states, virginia's doug wilder and ohio's ted stricklandod morning, gentleman. >> good morning. >> good morning. how are you. >> i'm good. governor strickland, i want to stick with you, because you were part of the warm you for the president before, and you might have had the toughest stuff against mitt romney of anybody i heard. i was at the rally. and here's one of the quotes i heard you say was, "mitt romney chose to take his wealth and invest it in the cayman islands in a swiss bank account. he did not choose to invest in america, he chose to enrich himself by putting his resources somewhere else." that's pretty harsh stuff. do you think that's the campaign rhetoric that the obama campaign should be using against romney? >> well, chuck, it's factual. that's what he did. he wanted to be president, he wants to be president, and yet he took his wealth and put it in foreign establishments. what if every american did that? what would that do to our economy if every american chose to take their wealth and put it in switzerland or the cayman i

former democratic governor ted strickland of ohio and former virginia republican congressman tom davisch. the chairman of the senate intelligence committee, california democratic senator dianne feinstein and house intelligence committee chair congressman mike rogers. at 4:00 p.m. "face the nation" from cbs completes the line-up. today, host bob schieffer talks with former republican presidential candidates newt gingrich and michelle bachmann and new york democratic senator chuck schumer and howard dean, former vermont governor, and former democratic national committee chairman. again, the reairs begin at noon eastern time with nbc's "meet the press." 1:00 abc's "this week." at 2:00 fox news sunday. 3:00 state of the union and at 4:00 "face the nation" from cbs. five networks, abc, nbc, fox, cnn and cbs, they're five sunday talk shows airing at noon on c-span radio and brought to you abouts a public service. you can listen to them here in washington on 90.1 fm on your dial. nationwide on xm satellite radio find us at channel 119. listen on your blackberry or download us as an iphone app

this fomorning, former ohio governor ted strickland said it's no surprise that the race is neck and neckht now. >> the nature of ohio, we're a microcosm of america, the country is divided and the electorate in ohio is divided as well. it was close the last time, it will be close this time. it's always close in ohio. >> with me now, larry sabateaux, the director for the university of virginia center for politics and krystal ball an political strategist and msnbc contributor. >> the auto industry bailout helped save jobs in ohio, are you surprised there's not more support for barack obama in ohio at this point? the last poll we looked at, only two points separated barack obama and mitt romney. >> alex, you know what governor strickland said is absolutely correct. ohio is traditionally very closely divided, that's why it's been such a barometer of national opinion. it's why it's been right presidentially 27 of the last 29 presidential races. i suspect we'll go down to the wire in ohio and i would expect ohio to be won 51-49, 52-48, something like that. >> do you want to predict who will tak

warm-up speakers former governor ted strickland spoke, several students spoke.een here many times with us as well as former senator john glen. so it was a great, greater than tuesdayiastic response there. then we hopped on the buses back to the air portion and down to richmond village to the commonwealth university. a capacity crowd. the fire marshall had shut down let meing anybody else in that particular crowd and a wildley enthusiastic crowd and first lady introducing the vice president of the united states and we are off and running. what was interesting was that we really heard from the president the scenes we are going to here from now until november. he said as we were speculating on the plane on the way out to columbus, document he will mention mitt romney by name? he did. et mentioned several times by name and just said that romney has learned a long lesson from the jobs that he had before and is now would take this country in the wrong direction. what we heard mainly from the president and the first lady was the word forward. forward. we've got to keep