i think he remains unserious in the extreme. >> serious about running, perhaps. >> unserious as a candidatet there's no doubt, the way he interacted with me implied that he wants to run and will run. >> when asked if there is a need to republican candidate out there, voters feel enthusiastic about the category of no one got 56%. a 56%. mitt romney got 9%. >> that is really not that uncommon at this point in a campaign. when was the last time that you saw polls early on that said i love everybody? or years are really enthusiastic -- this is fairly typical. >> we were talking about rudy giuliani and hillary clinton four years ago. >> four years ago, 65% of republicans were excited about the candidates for president, including juliani, john mccain, as well as others, including mike huckabee. and this is a low number. i agree with you that victory has a fragrance all its own. if somebody starts winning a bunch of primaries, there will start to emerge and be seen as more exciting. but this is a real problem. i point out, in spite of donald trump's telephonic retelling of one of america's most pr

presidential candidates about where the president was born could help make those republicans look unserious. but ultimately, president obama decided that this birther nonsense was just too much of a distraction. it's the lie that would not die. >> he doesn't have a birth certificate. now, he may have one, but there's something on that, maybe religion, maybe it says he's a muslim. i don't know. >> this really is the biggest hoax every contemplated against our country in 200 years. >> reporter: president obama came before the american people today to provide even more documentation that he was born in the u.s. and is thus constitutionally eligible for the position he holds. >> i was born in hawaii, august 4th, 1961. >> reporter: the birther smear appears to have been hatched in anonymous e-mail campaign in the spring of 2008. then-senator obama responded by posting on his campaign website the certification of live birth that hawaii issues. but for some, that was not enough. nor were the 1961 birth announcements in honolulu's major newspapers. the lie persisted. >> if i had some dna, it wouldn

don't take her -- don't take her unseriously. we'll be right back. it's easy to get the calcium you need with two soft chews each day give you plus with a great taste you'll enjoy, try viactiv today. >>> welcome back to "hardball." they're battles between republican governors and public employee unions causing some times republican voters to turn on those governors. well, today's politico reports that rank and file police officers and firefighters who long viewed themselves as separate from the rest of the movement are caring picket signs, signs petitions and standing side by side with their labor brethren. are they doing some long-term damage to their party? harold schafer, general president of the international association of firefighter and michael taylor is with ohio's fraternal order of police. harold, let me start with you on this. look, you have been and the firefighters' union is fairly traditionally democrat on the national level. but talk about the state level and the local level firefighters and the partisan diversity that they have shown

these people are not unserious. they're warning us to do something and do it now, not just the short-term spending levelelevels for the rest of ths fiscal year but the budget for the next year. and they tell us we've got to deal with the entitlements, the long-term dangers that they present, as well as the short-term spending levels. i believe congress knows that. some say the american people don't believe in cuts. they talk about cuts but they don't believe in them. i don't think so. i believe mr. christy is hanging in there in new jersey. governor cuomo in new york is proposing very serious reductions in spending. his popularity is strong. in alabama, my home state, dr. bentley, our new governor, just announced that the discretionary spending levels would be cut by 15% the rest of this fiscal year. nothing we're proposing is close to that kind of spending reductions in alabama that they'r, thatthey're talking abon alabama. we're not close to that. but we're going to have to do some spending reductions, and it's go