tim pawlenty issued this bold statement. "once again president obama did not have the courage to offer real solutions to fix runaway debt." of course, pawlenty's statement ignores what the president said tonight. no, pawlenty's statement actually lies about what the president said. >> let's live within our means by making serous historic cuts in government spending. let's cut domestic spending to the lowest level since dwight eisenhower was president. let's cut defense spending by hundreds of millions of dollars and cut waste in fraud and medicare and make modest adjustments so medicare is still there for future generations. finally, let's ask the wealthiest americans, and biggest corporations to give up some of their breaks in the tax code and special deductions. >> even though the early polling does not offer great encouragement to the pawlenty campaign, tim pawlenty is learning to do the most important thing that leading republican presidential candidates do every day. lie about president obama. i >>> here's what we got fo

tim pawlenty issued this bold statement. again president obama did not have the courage to offer real solutions to fix runaway debt." of course, pawlenty's statement ignores what the president said tonight. no, pawlenty's statement actually lies about what the president said. >> let's live within our means by making serous historic cuts in government spending. let's cut domestic spending to the lowest level since dwight eisenhower was president. let's cut defense spending by hundreds of millions of dollars and cut waste in fraud and medicare and make modest adjustments so medicare is still there for future generations. finally, let's ask the wealthiest americans, and biggest corporations to give up some of their breaks in the tax code and special deductions. >> even though the early polling does not offer great encouragement to the pawlenty campaign, tim pawlenty is learning to do the most important thing that leading republican presidential candidates do every day. lie about president obama. >> announcer: there's a new brea

tim pawlenty issued this bold statement. esident obama did not have the courage to offer real solutions to fix runaway debt." . of course, pawlenty's statement ignores what the president said tonight. no, pawlenty's statement actually lies about what the president said. >> let's live within our means by making serous historic cuts in government spending. let's cut domestic spending to the lowest level since dwight eisenhower was in office. let's cut defense spending by hundreds of millions of dollars and cut waste in fraud and medicare and make modest adjustments so medicare is still there for future generations. finally, let's ask the wealthiest americans, and biggest corporations to give up some of their breaks in the tax code and special deductions. >> even though the early polling does not offer great couragement in to the pawlenty campaign, tim pawlenty is lesh learning to do the most important thing that leading presidential candidates do every day -- lie about president obama. ay, all around the world, energy is being

because tim pawlenty would not accept democrats' massive tax and spending demands. there was a few articles in there, was a shutdown going to help pawlenty, hurt pawlenty. he clearly is nervous about how this was going to get defined, and he went up early. >> maybe a good move politically ripped from the headline as approach, trying to jump right into the news cycle, but i think it's a little dangerous. you don't know how this is going to wind up playing out. now he's inserted himself into a situation that has this uncertainty around it. we'll see how it plays out, but a little bit of a dangerous move. >> anita, would you be on a campaign this early be trying to follow the headlines? this is more of a general election strategy, frankly. >> well, chuck, you know, what you have to look at from tim pawlenty's point of view is he is the issue up there right now in the state of minnesota. it's what the fight is about. it's his shortfall and his bad policies that led to the problems. and both democrats and republicans up there have been talking about that. so in many ways

notably tim pawlenty.is pouring everything into the hawkeye state planning a donze stops in next week alone. john harwood is there. great to see you. thanks, john for joining us. the ames poll and everything that is coming up really is make or break for tim pawlenty. he's got michele bachmann pushing him hard. now there's the possibility that before ames rick perry could get into it. >> reporter: exactly. if you look at the national polls tim pawlenty is stuck in the single digits. if you look at the iowa polls including the december edmonton register's iowa poll most recently he was also in single digits. this is state say jis ent to minnesota where he has got to make a breakthrough. in this state with only $1.5 million left according to the last financial report, he's going all in on this straw poll with the idea of finishing in the top tier. you have field staffers phoning people trying to get people out to his events. he's trying to show people that this is still a viable candidacy. >> and when we talk

tim pawlenty versus michelle bachmann.an's distraction is the entire presidential campaign on the line for tim pawlenty. let's look at how this started. tim pawlenty and michelle bachmann on "meet the press" in july earlier this month. >> i like congresswoman bachmann. have i campaigned for her. i respect her, but her record of accomplishment in congress is nonexistent. it's nonexistent. we're not looking for folks who, you know, just have speech capabilities. we're looking for folks that can lead a large enterprise in a public setting and drive it to conclusion. i've done that. she hasn't. snoo that was the first time, jonathan martin, that tim paulent where i went after bachmann. she didn't respond, and then yesterday it back a back and forth via press releases. michelle bachmann said executive experience is not an asset if it simply means bigger and more intrucive government. when i was fighting against the unconstitutional individual mandate on health care, governor pawlenty was praising it. i have fought against irres

we are here with former minnesota governor tim pawlenty.ges will take place in new york. they have been in place here in iowa for more than a year. what has been the harm of that? >> well, from my standpoint, i don't think all domestic relationships are the same as traditional marriage, candy. i think a marriage between a man and a woman is something that should remain elevated socially, culturally, practically, legally, morally in our society. >> i understand your position on it. many people have that position. i'm wondering if you see that there has been harm to iowa, the state of iowa or will there be harm to the state of new york because they've legalized gay marriage? >> i wouldn't phrase it that way in the sense that -- i think there's just a difference of opinion about whether all domestic relationships are in the eyes of the law and otherwise going to be the same as traditional marriage. i don't think they should be. >> why? in particular, what should gay couples, lesbian couples not have that straight couples do? >> well, i think w

. >> tim pawlenty is taking cheap shops at a republican front-runner. tonight i'm going to defend michele bachmann. >> i'm not going to allow anyone to take a pufrmg at me. >> alan west refuses to apologize for his sexist remarks. today he says she owes him an apology. where's the outrage? >>> if you thought the defense of news corp. was odd, wait until you hear bill o'reilly's stance. >>> the president first tried to sell his plan to nancy pelosi and harry reid. and then the obstructionists came over to the white house. boehner and mk skon el. they have to convince members of their party to accept over a trillion dollars in revenue increases in order to take this zeal. don't hold your breath, it ain't gonna happen. republican leaders were with the president meeting today, freshman tea party bomb thrower joe waffle circ lsh circulating a letter not to agree with the plan. walsh is expecting to have at least 100 signatures in the coming days. if 100 house republicans won't vote for a plan with zero tax increases, there's no way on earth they're going to

let's see where governor tim pawlenty is at. he's got there 4.4 million raised. >> former governor tim pawlenty kicked off three weeks of iowa bodily harm storming in advance of the straw poll next month with an r.v. storm and a warning that iowans should not raise their support on charismatic candidates who can't actually win. >> jon: oh, tim pawlenty taking a bold stand against kris matt. [laughter] it's got no place in politics. hey, look, this is not a popularity contest. oh, it is? oh. well, i wonder how "the daily show" will depict pawlenty's demise. [laughter] if a pawlenty campaign falls in the woods, does it make a sound? who's next. >> herman cain raised $2.5 million. >> jon: $2.5 million for herman cain. that's a lot of pepperoni for the godfather of pizza. why is cain connecting? >> i think i'm connecting because of my passion about my support and belief in the constitution. >> jon: yes. herman cain has passion. support and belief in the constitution.ñr but does herman cain have an understanding of the constitution?

carl paladinthe tim pawlenty ata cheap standard. at the job, every hour..r., kennedy and eisenhower would not have been people who should have been president of the united states. kennedy in fact had attisons disease and required heavy medication and back injuries which required even heavier. and did affect him far more than apparently has affected bachmann. i think we're going to in this day and age, however, she is going to have to disclose what medication, and see if any of them have a psychotrophic effect. this is a nur log call disease, not -- neurological disease. >> bret: juan? big deal? >> it's headache to tim pawlenty. he is at 2%. michele bachmann is at 30%. sorry, 16%. romney is at 30%. if you go into iowa, she is more than doubled his numbers in terms of what is coming up and what will be a definitive race for tim pawlenty, because he has got to defeat michele bachmann. he has to have a good showing in iowa to put himself to be a challenger for mitt romney, as he go into new hampshire. so i think that, you know, charles says he thought it was a

how are tim pawlenty and mitt romney handling this? -- the direct criticism of her said she wasn't offered the job because she could have these blinding headaches at a critical moment during her presidency. then he walks it back. the same thing that he did when he said obamney care, then he said, well, i wasn't really saying that. again, at some level if you have all of these men, whether herman cain, tim pawlenty, who are jumping on michele bachmann criticizing her, it does humanize her and you do wonder if there's going to be a backlash and almost a hillary clinton moment when she's in new hampshire and she had all of these men attacking her and that she starts to be a more legitimate figure in the race. >> before we go to break, jeff johnson, react to this new ad from tim pawlenty. watch. >> faced an opponent experts can't be beat. you fight, you bleed. to cam back we need a leader with a proven proven record, n rhetoric. join me and prove the experts wrong. >> wow! think about that. he's already running the oh, my god, everybody's

well, that's a kick somewhere else. >> if you were tim pawlenty, to sort of speak up here for governornty, yeah, you've had a tough spell here. you didn't have a great debate. tough financial report. expectations are raised for ames. but this race is so wide open and fluid. >> you still believe romney's a weak front-runner. >> i think he looks better now than perhaps months ago but i think he's still a fragile front-runner. chuck, this is not 2000. because george w. bush was so formidable. lamar alexander had to drop out after ames. if you're tim pawlenty, why drop out? because just stay in -- if you can pay the bills -- >> just hang on. >> the john kerry scenario in '04 and the john mccain scenario in '08 proves if you hang in there things can happen. >> i've got to go to a shameless plug. pete, i'll let you go first. >> indiana republican party out with a new website, demdictionary.com. exposes some of these rhetorical phrases democrats like to use to confuse voters. >> chris cillizza. >> i am in search of the best state-based political blogs in every state -- >> i want them twitter

tim pawlenty has found his target, it is michele bachmann.xt time they debate, two days before the straw poll? >> when john king questions your manhood on national tv, you better be prepared to respond. part of what bachmann makes her unique, if you will, is that she's more than willing to introduce legislation that she knows hasn't a chance of passing, but completely garners her the support. >> she channelsened angry and frustrated. >> she's more than happy to say that nothing i've ever done has become the rule of law, because i'm still in the trenches fighting for it, supporting it. tim pawlenty is a consensus builder, and that's a sellout. that's how she sells it. she has a dedicated following, even on capitol hill. >> but expectations are reversed bachmann has to win the straw poll? >> yes, i think so. >> no, absolutely not. >> let me make my argument. >> very quickly. >> 22 bachmann, nobody else is close. what's the argument for why she didn't win? >> i think both need strong showings in the straw poll. >> luke russert, shameless plug, g

. >> let's see where governor tim pawlenty is at.lion raised this quarter and the perception that he says. >> what kind of chance i have and how are the candidates doing and if anybody looks like they can win. my objective is that we cannot have president obama after you know next year. this has been, and look at what he has put us through with the whole debt thing. this is because the president doesn't lead. >> and interesting interpretation of the recent history there, but does anyone west of the hudson care about rudy julianny? >> well, you are talk to someone in the heartland and at the risk of sounding like a cranky person, both of them sound like teenagers. they run hard and don't win and they do things like build houses for the poor or become secretary of the state, and other guys don't win and they make a second career out of whining. i don't tolerate it ott ut of m kids and not from them. >> and they could write books? >> well, they can go off to make money if they want to, but not off of the backs of the american voters. at

not necessarily somebody other than tim pawlenty. though, the people here in austin were still unaffiliated and looking to somebody like rick perry. one of the things that perry heard as part of this gathering, a really blue chip republican bundler money guys, is that he's got a problem, not in texas where he can raise $4, $5, $12, $20 million easily, but in places like new york city and wall street where some of the big money in this key place of republican fundraising isn't convinced yet that whether they are put off by the secessionist talk and his religious affiliations or the suggestion he is the tea party candidate who would not compromise. wall street doesn't like this no compromise approach, i don't know. but i know that perry has been given word that he's got a weakness in this very key money source and he's going to have to take steps if he hopes to raise the kind of money he would need from wall street, new york, and the traditional business republican establishment. >> which means we should probably look out for a rick pe

but this is bad news for tim pawlenty. i agree going back to the real, the real news this week is the obama numbers. republican numbers. obama numbers, $60 million. we will see a race that obama had $700 million he spent to mccain's $300 million. twice as much. i think, you know, the conventionm wisdom is the republicans outspend the democrats. once again, the republicans are really far behind in this race going in to 2012. >> shannon: bill, you want to tack the question? >> money is overrated. [ laughter ] >> shannon: you do? signing over his paycheck. >> in 2008, john mccain could have had $7 billion and he would not have defeated barack obama once the economy crashed in mid-september. obama is the incumbent president. voters are not swayed by the 30-second ad. he has the economy and the foreign policy record. any confident republican makes it referendum on obama. i don't think pure money makes that difference. the obvious point in 2007 at this time, four years ago, hillary clinton outraised barack obama and mitt romney

gop presidential hopeful tim pawlenty joins me live in studio. plus, what the debt debate means politically for republicans in 2012 and the president's own re-election effort. analysis this morning from eugene robinson of "the washington post" and nbc news white house correspondent and political director chuck todd. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good morning. breaking news in washington's effort to reach a debt reduction deal. speaker of the house john boehner issuing a surprising statement last night, abandoning efforts to reach a far-reaching $4 trillion deficit reduction plan. this is what he said, "the white house will not pursue a bigger debt reduction agreement without tax hikes. i believe the best approach may be to focus on producing a smaller measure." the rare sunday negotiating session with the president will continue as planned later today. joining me now live this morning for the very latest, the secretary of the treasury, tim geithner. mr. secretary, welcome back. >> nice to see you, david. >> what happened? >> w

we have a structural budget thanks to tim pawlenty and the rest of the republicans that we need to clean up, and as we try to clean this up, the governor has a fair and responsible solution to tax the most richest minnesotans. and in fact, 98% of the minnesotans will not see a tax increase, but here we are with the state government shutdown. >> and thank you both for joining us with what is unsettling and happening in your state. thank you so much. >>> now, to another state we are focused on, kansas, in what some are calling an attempt to make it difficult if not impossible for women to seek legal abortions in that state. right now two kansas city providers are shutdown because of strict plans, and they are prepared to go to court to challenge these requirements. the licensing requirements were released two weeks ago and they made changes to the janitor closets and staff dressing rooms and patient lockers. critics of the law say that the requirements are costly and not medically necessary. peter brownlife is president of the planned parenthood of kansas and mid missouri and thank you ver

the war of words erupting from former governor tim pawlenty and michele bachmann. here is what pawlenty had to say today on the campaign trail. >> she has a record for saying things. there's a difference difference with talking about things and getting them done. >> let's bring in domenico month narrow. montinaro. >> this is about the ames straw poll coming up in less than three weeks. it's something that's a key first organizational test and really a key nominating state. tim pawlenty has registered in the single digits. michele bachmann has been out front, in faulk even leading some in polls, and he needs to take her down to hope to have some momentum. >> is this just smart politics, ball tim pawlenty has been seen weak in now maybe he's going to try to appear stropg taking on michele bachmann? >> yeah, he just has to be able to finish at least in the top two if iowa. if he doesn't do that, he could be difficult to see his path going forward with mitt romney so as far as ahead in new hampshire. if hi can take someone down like bachmann, maybe there's some reason t

first up, great expectations once seen as a front-runner, tim pawlenty has slipped to sixth place in must-win state for him. what happened? pawlenty told the editorial board of "the des moines register" this. "this week is the first time i've campaigned in earnest in iowa." really? according to "the des moines register" pawlenty campaigned in iowa more than any other candidate besides rick santorum. the real problem is pizzazz or lack trofr. one of his advisers said to michele bachmann, quote, ed sex appeal, a comment pawlenty quickly apologized for. bachmann's response? >> well, listen, i'm 55 years old. i've given birth to five kids and raised 22 foster kids. that sounds like good news to me. >> well handled. >>> to tonight's big number. big cuts over at the white house you could say. white house. the 50-foot-tall iconic elm tree on the north lawn was chopped down after being damaged in a thunderstorm this past sunday. how long had it stood at the white house drooiway? 29 years. a teenage tree when it arrived at the white house. it was planted under ronald reagan back in '82. a big

republican presidential candidate tim pawlenty will be david greggy's guest. that's this sunday.ck your local listings. >>> and just when we thought that the political fallout from the british tabloid hacking uk phone scandal couldn't get any worse, it did. stay tuned. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. there's another way to minimize litter box odor: purina tidy cats. tidy cats premium line of litters now works harder to help neutralize odors in multiple-cat homes. and our improved formula also helps eliminate dust. so it's easier than ever to keep your house smelling just the way you want it. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home. >>> i'm tom ran tamron hall. we have a special edition of "news nation" from kennedy space center where "atlantis" soared into history on the final shuttle flight this morning. i'll get reaction on this historic day from astronauts and the first african-american woman in space. plus, i'll talk with florida senator and former astronaut bill nelson about the politics of nasa. and florida a key state as you well know for presi

tim pawlenty wouldn't accept the spending demands. result?y won. >> he left minnesota with a budget deficit more than a billion dollars higher than when he took office, and now the people of minnesota are feeling the consequences. here's the key in all of this. this is the first state to do a government shutdown. what do you think other republican governors are doing right now? you think this is going to be, say, a microcosm? they shut her down in minnesota, and look what happened. let's shut us down, whatever state we're in. joining me tonight is arnie carlson. good to have you with us tonight. >> my pleasure. thank you. >> do you think it can be presented as a possible microcosm that people are watching minnesota and this shutdown of the government? what's your take on that? >> i think both vice president mondale and me are very, very concerned about that. i think our viewpoint is minnesota will rapidly become nationalized by a variety of interest groups coming in with large amounts of money and will ultimately paralyze our political decisi

tim pawlenty, 3%.on huntsman, who has staked a lot of his campaign on winning new hampshire and had this big rollout with a lot of media coverage, only at 2% at this point. he is right there with herman cain and newt gingrich. surprising numbers there and very good numbers for mitt romney. we mentioned in that poll there, tim pawlenty, he also is not doing very well in that poll. he is hoping, obviously, to win iowa where is he staking all of his campaign and brought what is basically a pretty good political young gun on his squad, sarah huckabee sanders, the doubt of mike huckabee, who won the iowa caucuses back in 2008, she has joined his campaign. so you can say that tim pawlenty is looking for some huck luck. and sarah huckabee was a big part of the huckabee campaign and will be a big part of pawlenty's campaign. if pawlenty will do well in iowa, sarah huckabee will be a big bet to help him because right now, he needs all of the help he can get. >> jim acosta, thanks. your next political update in

tim pawlenty! this is kind of the trend in political videos.ruggling with poor name recognition, i am secretly an american hero. discover me. i love this stuff. even when the candidates wig me out a little bit, i love these i am a hero videos. but you don't have to go very far back in time to find a kinder, gentler time in i'm running for office film making. compared with tim pawlenty in all but a cape in tights this year, bill clinton's man from hope video from 1992, that one seemed totally over the top emotionally at the time. but now when you look back at it, it's almost like a documentary. >> i was born in a little town called hope, arkansas. >> perhaps the all-time lowest key of all low-key campaign videos is this next one, from the 2008 ohio attorney general's race. in a seven-minute video, a seven-minute movie about the candidate, it features more than a solid minute of footage from the tv game show "jeopardy." >> in 1762, ben franklin was given an honorary degree by this english university. richard? >> what is oxford. >> that's right. a

last night tim pawlenty had an event in these headquarters here.ou see behind me his political team is having their morning meeting now to strategize and try to get people out for that straw poll. tim pawlenty is in boone, iowa this morning and they realize, they've only got a 1.4 million dollars left in cash as of the last report. he didn't raise nearly as much as mitt romney did. they've got to throw everything into this to have a strong showing. try to prevent michele bachmann, others, rick perry, from overtaking him, overshadowing him. he still has a plan to emerge as the alternative to mitt romney. keeping fund-raising going through the end of the year, winning the caucuses in january. not an easy road for tim pawlenty you know, chuck, but in a race as wide open and unpredictable as this, can't count him out just yet despite all the obituaries being written now. >> you have seen the sarah huckabee impact? >> absolutely. sarah huckabee is in the room behind knee now. she is running that iowa straw poll and, of course, her father, mike huckabee,

tim pawlenty, this is kind of the trend in political videos. i, politician struggling with poor name recognition, i'm secretly an american hero. discover me. i love this stuff, even when the candidates ugg me out a little bit i love these i am a hero videos. you don't have to go far back in time to find a kinder and jejtszer era in running for office. compared with tim pawlenty with a cape and tights this work bill clinton seemed totally over the top emotionally at the time. now when you look back at it now it's almost like a documentary. >> i was born in a little town hope, arkansas. >> perhaps the lowest key of low-key campaign videos from the 2008 ohio attorney general's race in a seven-minute video it features more than a solid minute of footage from a tv game show, "jeopardy." >> in 1762. >> what is oxford. >> oxford. i suppose it was appropriate that richard kor dre would come up with a correct response on the last clue we had regarding oxford university, because this man received a b.a. at oxford, is that right? >> it's called the marsha

tim pawlenty blew it during the debate. chance and h they just ket lobbing it up, lobbing it up, and he refused to hit the ball. i think he blew it. when i saw that, it was like it's over. now, the problem with pawlenty, he's trying to be a tough guy. i see his clips today on your show. he's trying to be a tough guy, but he's not. you know, you can't be something that you're not, but hey, he's trying. >> governor perry, is he the wrong guy? governor hunts man, is he the wrong guy in your eye? >> huntsman hasn't caught on. perry might catch on. i met him once very briefly. he might catch on. it's going to be interesting to see. it's going to be a very interesting year, that i can tell you. >> so lucky you join us each and every monday, donald trump, thank you very much. >> thank you all. >> we know the world markets are watching washington. what happens to our money if they lose confidence in our politicans? >> yeah. and the airlines lost his luggage. now that country singer gets his revenge. ♪[music] >> dale watson with ano

tim pawlenty down 10. herman cain by 13. her man perry -- rick perry who may get into the race by 10. >> if you go back to 1960 and look at the undecided vote in all of the presidential elections in which incumbents ran, you will find that 80% of the undecided vote went to the challenger. so, unless obama can consistently raise his ratings over auto, and raise his vote share over 50, he is going to be a one-term president. >> laura: joining us now from new york kelly an conway and democratic pollster doug schoen. these numbers are kind of all other the place. i'm looking at another poll that showed that romney was tied with obama, public policy poll. yet these polls show something different even with the he economy where it is, a specific republican candidate, doug, does not fare all that well against president obama. yet, what to dick morris' point? >> i think dick makes a point that makes a lot of sense. bottom line, the president's numbers now are under 50% meaning that given that elections are refer ren da on incumbents

why you showed former governor, tim pawlenty, as long as michele bachmann is number two in the polls,long as she's nipping at mitt romney's heels, there's noerr for tim pawlenty, if he doesn't win iowa, where does he win? >> it always shows the weakness of the guy who's been thought of as the front runner, romney. and it doesn't strike me that rove and company are particularly out to protect romney, they just want bachmann out of this race. she's the distraction, she's the one they believe can never be president so let's not pretend she can be the nominee. >> folks like carl rove are the establishment, but also the establishment that want to win, they want to beat president obama. they all know, michele bachmann might be able to win the republican nomination, but could she go toe-to-toe with president obama with all the incumbent advantages he has, could she beat him? not a chance. >> the obama administration is trying to figure out how to say it's perfectly okay to have the occasional headache. you can still be president. they want to do whatever they can to get michele bachmann the

tim pawlenty expected to bring in less than 5 million.untsman raised a little over 2 million throwing his own money at 4 million. ron paul told supporters he's raised over $4 million. the number though everybody is watching what will the michele bachmann number be? she can transfer money from the house campaign. was she able to get in the internet and direct mail money in in time? will the number be forth of 5 million? will it be north of 10? that would be somewhat of a surprise. meanwhile, a siren for the supporters of rick perry, he's scouting out a vendor pot at the straw poll. it's our understanding perry won't get into the race until after he has the national day of prayer on august 6th. the straw poll is basically a week later. he wouldn't get in before then bupt the straw poll could be a way to see if that's the launching point and he gets in sometime in late august in time for those three debates that mitt romney and company are competing in in september. meanwhile, though there are no firm numbers yet, we're expecting a big quart

. >> i'm tim pawlenty and i won.may be losing you blind and deaf minnesotans who have to do without while republicans insist on changing the voting rules in an abortion ban. you may be losing, but i, tim pawlenty, am made of wind. tim pawlenty decided a state government shutting down when he was in charge of that state government is a great political outcome, great enough to run for president on even. but as big fightings like this unfold all over the country right now, who wins these fights isn't always just in the eye of the ambitious beholder. when wisconsin governor scott walker -- the people filled the capital building and streets of madison for weeks. people who support union rights lost in the sense that governor's bill passed but also won in the larger picture. by fighting governor walker, wisconsin built momentum they needed to force a recall election for most of the republican state senators eligible for recall and voted for the bill. six of them now up for recall this summer. wisconsin republicans tried to

"tim pawlenty's presidential campaign rests on this question.nfrontation with president obama deliver their nomination to a man who tends toward soft-spoken and bland?" >> if people want entertainer in chief, they should vote for someone else. we had three years of soaring rhetoric and a president who gave false hopes to the country. if you want somebody with executive leadership, not just rhetoric, but results on taxes, on spending, on health care, on jobs and the like, then vote for me. the other thing i would say, david, is i've got the record of toughness better than anybody else in this race. my goodness, i was the first governor in minnesota's history to shut down the government. i set a record for vetoes. i took more money out of the budget using an executive authority than all of the other governors combined in my state, so, in terms of demonstrating fortitude? >> right. >> i'm an old hockey player. i've been in more fights than the rest of the candidates combined. >> that's good that you've got a fighting spirit, but look at how the ame

howard dean is here to talk about it. >>> and later, is tim pawlenty hipper than we thought? just trying to get in good with the kids? wait until you hear pawlenty's pearls of wisdom about lady gaga. >> so, ah, your seat good? got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok? just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want you texting. >> daddy... ok! ok, here you go. be careful. >> thanks dad. >> and call me--but not while you're driving. we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru. even if you think your mattresses is just fine, ask me what it's like to get your best night's sleep every night. why not talk to someone who's sleeping on the most highly recommended bed in america.™ it's not a sealy or a simmons or a serta. ask me about my tempur-pedic. ask me how fast i fall asleep. these are actual tempur-pedic owners. ask someone you know. try your friends on facebook. you'll hear it all. unedited. ask me how it feels after 10 years. just ask me. there are over 4 million te

candy crowley in iowa with candidate, tim pawlenty. >> you can be both strong and pleasant and nice. those are not contradictory things. >> i am gloria borger in for candy crowley, and this is st e "state of the union." mitch mcconnell yesterday demanded that president obama get personally involved in the debt talks and he soon got his wish, and now there are reports this morning a plan is near. mitch mcconnell, thank you for being with us. let me get to it. can you announce this morning that a plan has been reached and there's a deal? >> we are very close. we had a good day yesterday, both the president and vice president called me and the president talked to the speaker as well, and they understand with a republican majority in the house and a republican in the senate, and we made progress in that direction since april when the administration asked us to raise the debt ceiling with no reductions at all. i think i can confidently say this debt ceiling increase will avoid default, which is important for everybody in america to know we are not going to have a default for the first tim