todd harris, you're a brilliant guy. still waiting for rubio. i think chris christie is taking his job as choice for running mate. >> coming up next, rick perry in today's verbal "sideshow." so i took my heartburn pill and some antacids. we're having mexican tonight, so another pill then? unless we eat later, then pill later? if i get a snack now, pill now? skip the snack, pill later... late dinner, pill now? aghh i've got heartburn in my head. [ male announcer ] stop the madness of treating frequent heartburn. it's simple with prilosec otc. one pill a day. twenty-four hours. zero heartburn. no heartburn in the first place. great. >>> back to "hardball." now for the "sideshow." stop smiling, that's how many residents and lawmakers in south carolina are feeling this week after a new mandate from governor nikki haley which requires, catch this, state workers to answer the work phone by saying, hello, it's a great day in south carolina. with sky high unemployment in the state, the chairman of the state's democratic party says of the governor, she b

thank you, todd harris.h why now and not next november is the critical time when voters are beginning to make their big decisions of who to have as our president. by the way, people are really beginning now to think. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. almost tastes like one of jack's cereals. fiber one. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one! [ jack ] yeah, this is pretty good. [ male announcer ] half a day's worth of fiber. fiber one. i could not make working and going to school work. it was not until the university of phoenix that i was able to work full-time, be a mom, and go to school. the opportunities that i had at the university of phoenix got me to where i am today. i'm mayor cherie wood, i'm responsible for the largest urban renewal project in utah, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] university of phoenix is proud to sponsor education nation. because we believe an educated world is a better world. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she tho

thank you, todd harris.hen we return, let me finish with why now and not next november is the critical time when voters are beginning to make their big decisions of who to have as our president. by the way, people are really beginning now to think. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc [ hayden ] what's the best way to hide your breakouts? a dab of concealer here... a flurry of powder there. what if there was a makeup that didn't just hide your breakouts... but actually made them go away. neutrogena skin clearing makeup. it has our proven blemish fighting formula blended with silky gorgeous makeup. so it gives you a beautiful flawless look while undercover it works to clear breakouts. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics. >>> let me finish tonight with this. the people of this country have begun to make a decision about who they want to lead it. and how and where they want to be led. it's a serious mistake for voters as well as politicians or journalists to assume that the election of 2012 wil

todd harris, you're a brilliant guy. still waiting for rubio. i think chris christie is taking his job as choice for running mate. >> coming up next, rick perry in today's verbal "sideshow." americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ she won't eat eggs without hot sauce. she has kind of funny looking toes. she's always touching my hair. and she does this dancing finger thing. [ male announcer ] with advanced technology from ge, now doctors can diagnose diseases like breast cancer on a cellular level. so that women, like kristy's mom, can get personalized treatment that's as unique as she is. [ kristy ] she's definitely not like other moms. yeah, my mom is pretty weird.

thank you, todd harris.s "hardball" on msnbc. >>> nine-time olympic gold medalist carl lewis, who was here a week ago, has been dealt a setback in his campaign for state senate in new jersey. a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in philadelphia has ruled lewis cannot be on the ballot, siding with republicans who say that lewis doesn't meet the state's four-year residency requirement. well, the same three-judge panel awarded lewis a spot on the ballot just nine days ago. we even had him on here, as i said. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] sitting. waiting. hoping. that's a recipe for failed investing. open an e-trade account and open doors, seize opportunities, take action with some of the most powerful yet easy-to-use trading tools on the planet all built to help you maximize the potential of every dollar you invest. successful investing isn't done by throwing ideas against the wall and hoping. it's done by lowering your costs and raising your expectations by using unbiased research an

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todd harris, you're a brilliant guy. still waiting for rubio. i think chris christie is taking his job as choice for running mate. thank you, steve mcmahon. thank you, todd harris. >> coming up next, rick perry in today's verbal "sideshow." [ kristy ] my mom is well...weird. she won't eat eggs without hot sauce. she has kind of funny looking toes. she's always touching my hair. and she does this dancing finger thing. [ male announcer ] with advanced technology from ge, now doctors can diagnose diseases like breast cancer on a cellular level. so that women, like kristy's mom, can get personalized treatment that's as unique as she is. [ kristy ] she's definitely not like other moms. yeah, my mom is pretty weird. ♪ if you think occasional irregularity is no big deal,. think twice. it may be a sign that your digestive system could be working better. listen to this with occasional irregularity, things your body doesn't use could be lingering in your system, causing discomfort. but activia has been shown in clinical studies to help with slow intestina

we'll start with steve mccain -- steve mcmahon is a democratic strategist, todd harris, a republican dd, is your party smart to just say no? quote after quote of people are saying, they think they can win by just screwing the guy. >> it's not just -- the republican party saying no is actually not the president's biggest problem right now. >> can you answer my question? is it a smart policy -- here's senator jim demint. here's demint. let's listen to what he says, because i want to know if you agree with him. >> if we vote for this plan, we'll own the economy with the president. and he desperately needs someone else to blame it on. if we vote against it, he's going to try to say congress blocked his ability to create jobs. >> so, are you better off saying no and screwing the president or joining him and getting blamed? >> they're going to vote no and the president's going to try to blame it on him, and it's not going to matter, because this thing is dead on arrival. >> you're smiling. so it's a smart move? >> the president was in north carolina and gave this huge rally, lots of cheerin

todd harris, you don't really want him, i know that. you're too smart.ight for two hours, i'm going to express what i think is pretty good refereeing tonight. and i'm going to really look for what i think helps republicans one way or another. you know, i may not be in that corner all the time, in fact, rarely, but when i'm in there, i'm trying to figure out who's going to win. so tonight i'm going to twitter about who's winning this fight tonight. two hours of excitement. i won't be spending a whole lot of time with that guy from -- >> the hashtag? >> the hashtag, hardball_chris. is president obama losing support among his base, the african-american community? that's a hard one and that's ahead. this is "hardball" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] where exactly is your road to happiness? ♪ on a beach? on a mountain? or wherever you happen to be... the first step on that road may well be... a bowl of soup. delicious campbell's soups fill you with vegetable nutrition, farm-grown ingredients, energy, and can help you keep a healthy weight. putting you on the roa

raines ehtesham raja valsa raju edward rall lukas rambousek maria ramirez harry ramos vishnoo ramsaroop lorenzo e. ramzey alfred todd rancke adam david rand jonathan c. randall srinivasa shreyas ranganath anne t. ransom >> and my dad. we miss you and we love you very much. >> and my son, we miss you and we love you. >> faina aronovna rapoport robert a. rasmussen amenia rasool roger mark rasweiler >> william ralph raub. >> gerard p. rauzi. >> alexey razuvaev. >> gregory reda. >> michele reed. >> judith ann reese. >> donald j. regan. >> robert m. regan. >> thomas michael regan. >> christian michael otto regenhard. >> and-sun -- and my son. mark, you made your mom and me proud. your family and friends love you and miss you every day. and by the way, but emily says hello. >> and my father. we miss and loved you so much. you are my world. i have your smile, your eyes, and you'll laugh, but i do not have you. i love you, daddy. >> howard reich. >> gregg reidy. >> james brian reilly. >> kevin o. reilly. >> timothy e. reilly. >> joseph reina, jr. >> thomas barnes reinig. >> frank bennett reisman. >> joshua scott reiss. >> k

chuck todd is political director as well as the host of "the daily rundown. john harris is politico's moderator of the debate. chuck, this really is hardball. there's no interpretation that comes to me, except to say that the white house said, you know we want it to be on the same night. how do you read it? >> well, if the president, it was kind of interesting when you now look at the tick tock of the entire day. the president, this morning at the event with the chamber of commerce and afl-cio calling for passage of a couple bills, some extensions of a couple bills in order to not harm is the economy deal with some job issues, he talked about the political gamesmanship must end, and then we proceeded to have a six-hour back and forth of political gamesmanship here. apparently what happened is when the white house made this request of speaker boehner and senate majority leader harry reid, they didn't sort of prewire this. you know, in washington normally, when some of this stuff happens, when a president wants to address a joint session -- >> it's already been determined?

state senator jay nelson, state senator chris harris, state senator john carona, and state representatives vicky truett, burt solomons, linda harper brown, and todd staples. these brave men and women have taken a courageous stand on this issue and i feel it's my obligation to follow through with their request. the federal government must end sustained deficit spending. in fiscal year 2010, the federal government accumulated a deficit in excess of $1.3 trillion. an annual deficit that exceeds the entire gross state product of texas. in order to finance our current deficit, we borrow 40 cents of every dollar we spend. 40 cents on the dollar. money that could easily go to pay our national debt down. the longer we wait only results in more debt, debt that we will pass along to our children and to our grandchildren. national debt -- our national debt currently stands at $14.7 trillion, which equals a debt per taxpayer, per taxpayer of $131,288. this is a problem that we can no longer ignore. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the texas legislature's request for prompt passage of a balanced budget amendment. i ask for unanimous consent, mr.

harris takes a behind the scenes now. he is preparing to moderate next week's republican debate. >> really? there's another one coming up? >> there is. >> here is todd santos with a check on the weather. todd. >> good morning, guys. a jam packed weather rundown when you talk about the action going on. tropical storm 13. a big impact for the beach weekend. it's a slow mover. at this point, it's called stationary. as far as the rainshowers, that's one of the biggest issues across the gulf coast. portions of southern louisiana and tropical storm warnings for the coast of louisiana and southern mississippi. here is a look at the track. things get moving later on today. we could see a tornado or tropical storm. maximum sustained winds at 35 miles per hour. a slow and long time frame. you are talking about through wednesday, still interacting with the areas along the gulf coast. that is the latest on 13. tropical storm katia is in the atlantic. watch the track over the next couple days, south of bermuda and the bahamas as a major hurricane. we'll keep an eye on this system. we'll look at travel weather coming up. for now, you're watching "morning joe." we