e-mails from her term as governor are being released today. it's friday, june 10, 2011, i'm chuck todd. mitt romney says he'll skip the closely watched iowa straw poll in august. the escalating violence in syria and yemen. it's turning into a blistering hot summer. it's been a crazy 24 hours. we're going to start with what is left of newt gingrich's bid. he's insisting he's staying in the race despite the sudden and sweeping resignation of his entire campaign staff. rick tyler cited strategic differences. mark, it was the breadth of the resignations. >> it included the departures of rob johnson along with dave carney, as you mentioned long time spokesman rick tyler. it caught a lot of people by surprise that have been reported elsewhere that aides have grown unkind to the fact that gingrich took a long vacation with his wife to the greeki izsles. as you mentioned in the introduction, the summer speculation now turns to rick perry, because two of those aides, johnson and carney worked for perry in previous contests. all of the eyes will be upon austin, texas and rick perry if he decides to get into this presidential contest. >> the whole gingrich thing, we've been doing a lot of jokes about bruce willis and the whole sixth sense. i'm thinking of the movie "cocktail" when it comes to gingrich's campaign. we all knows it ends badly, we just didn't know when. romney won't do the straw poll. makes a lot of sense strategically, but a few potholes with that decision. tell us about it. >> in 2007, when mitt romney was taking his presidential bid on iowa as well as new hampshire, he raised the stakes on taims straw poll, even chastised other republicans who decided not to compete in that straw poll. now we're in a new presidential campaign with romney as a different kind of front runner. it takes the pressure off of him and makes things more difficult for some of the other republicans who are trying to vie for that front runner status, like tim pawlenty. takes some of the wind out of their says. >> big pressure on pawlenty to win that thing. he can't afford to lose it to a michele bachmann or rick perry who may use that as his coming out party. >> mark, thanks very much. let's move to this gates bombshell in brussels. the defense secretary used his farewell address to send a blunt warning. if it doesn't start stepping up, the u.s. may decide the alliance isn't worth it. >> the bluntsd reality is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the united states congress and the american body politic at large. to expand increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense. >> nbc's jim miklaszewski is with us. jim, he doesn't say it's not a good idea, his criticism is that nato nations aren't stepping up the way the u.s. does. >> it spends a larger proportion on its gdp on military defense than do most of the other nato nations. this has been a sore spot with the u.s. and nato for as long as i can remember. that's too long in some respects. but i can tell you that, you know, at one point, even the french would not contribute militarily to nato, even though they were a nato member. it is a little bit surprising to hear secretary gates say this on his way out. i must say that when the end of the cold war came more than 20 years ago, then there was an explosion of nato's membership up to 28, that only exacerbated the problem, because it's much more difficult now to get a consensus among 28 nato nations as you can well imagine. each one has their own individual agenda, particularly when it comes to military operations. >> i talked to military leaders who said there node to be more natos. i wanted you to react to something leon panetta said. it was about iraq. take a listen. >> we are at the present time on track to withdrawing our forces by the end of 2011, but i think that it's clear to me that iraq is, you know, is considering possibility of making a request for some kind of presence to remain there. >> well, there it is. it's called that sofa agreement, right? this idea that it could get extended. we've been hearing it might happen. panetta being the first public official to sort of confirm that. >> quite frankly, when that sofa was written during the bush administration, there were many in the pentagon who said that's all well and good, but at the end of 2011 when all u.s. troops are supposed to be withdrawn, it was anticipated way back then that it would have to be rewritten because there's no way that the iraqi military right now can provide for all its defenses. quite frankly, you know, panetta yesterday, dropped another bombshell by revealing that there are 1,000, according to intelligence estimates, 1,000 al qaeda operatives there in iraq. that's more than there were ever in afghanistan and maybe even in iraq at the height of the war. so there are all these considerations, but, you know, that was one of the worst kept secrets in this building anyway, that that sofa would have to be rewritten. according to sources we're talking to, almaleki is that close to saying we need your help beyond 2011. it's not going to be a large force, according to military officials and probably more air defenses than anything. >> it will be fascinating to see how the u.s. congress reacts to that when that gets on their plate. >> i understand, chuck, there's not much push back from the white house on this, that they too anticipate that this is a likelihood. >> i imagine that is correct. jim, thanks very much. this afternoon, the state of alaska is going to be releasing some 24,000 pages of e-mails sent and received by former governor sarah palin while she was in office and while she was the vice presidential candidate. micha michael is in alaska. what's different about these e-mails? >> reporter: well, this is a complete set. it's a massive document, 24,000 pages of e-mails that palin september from the time she took office as governor, december '06 right through september of '08 when news organizations first began requesting them under the state's public records law. it's interesting, palin sent hughes her private yahoo account figuring this sort of thing, reporters like this would never be able to get them. but the clever members of the lame stream media got around that by filing public records requests for the official state accounts of all the state officials who were getting her private e-mails. that's really what we're going to be getting today. all the e-mails that palin was sending to state officials from those private yahoo accounts. >> interesting. well, michael in alaska. it's going to be a long weekend for you. a lot of reading. >> a lot to pore through. a new documentary on sarah palin titled "the undephoto und coming to a theater near you. we saw a preview of this. i got a preview yesterday. her supporters are going to love this. panltszs a former governor, compares her path to prominence with ronald reagan's. there are predictable shots of the media, but more surprising, maybe the film's attack on the republican establishment. mitch mcconnell, john boehner, er eric cantor all gets called out. the film will appear in new hampshire and south carolina in the month of july. the director is hoping it leads to a nationwide release later this summer. the most fascinating part from an interview with the director afterwards that we had is this idea that he hopes it sparks. he wants the republican presidential primary to be a repeat of '76, a battle for the heart and soul of the conservative movement, trying to rest it away from washington. that's the message he's hoping tea party folks receive when they watch this movie. let's move to the markets. they snapped a six day losing streak thursday. can they keep it going today? becky quick joins me now. what kind of friday is it? >> it's just a regular friday. i'm ready to get out of work friday. nothing special happening today. although the markets are a little weaker. it looks like the futures are down 45 points. this is all happening as people are divesting what we can gain still from the fed, if anything in terms of qe 3. when ben bernanke spoke earlier, we spoke with david teper. he's an influential voice. he came on with us last september and said the economy would -- the markets would go higher no matter what. he said either the economy would improve and that would help stocks or the fed would step in and that would improve things. we wondered what he thought about what bernanke said. he told us, look, there is no qe 3 coming down the pike. that is what the markets expect. that means they have to stand on their own two feet. those two feet may be wobbly right now. the other thing we got today, chuck, was import prices. import prices were up for the eighth month in a row in may. they were only up by 0.2%. that explainsd$ it there. >> have a good weekend. >> bye. thanks. >> what a week, what a 24 hours. what newt gingrich's implosion means. we're going to talk to someone knows what a formidable opponent the texas governor can be. senator kay bailey hutchinson joins us next. anthony weiner refuses to resign. that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year. that's how we're helping set opportunity in motion. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? 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[ male announcer ] so don't blame it on aging. talk to your doctor and go to isitlowt.com to find out more. well the race for 2012 is taking some surprising turns. could put texas back in the spotlight. the state getting special attention for creating more jobs than all others combined, with one long time senator stepping down. the signs of the current governor might be eyeing the white house. i'm joined by retiring senator, kay bailey hutchinson. senator, thanks for joining me. let me get the rick perry stuff out of the way first. governor perry, somebody you challenged, not going to say there's a lot of political -- there was a lot of political dynamics between the two of you, but let me ask you this. if he runs for president, is he going to be formidable and is he somebody you could support? >> he certainly will be formidable. he has a very good political team, i will say that. i know that firsthand. you know, i think we just have to see how things play out. i've talked to other candidates that i like very much. i think we have some strong candidates in the field. i like the experience of different ones. i think you just have to kind of see how things go. i haven't made a decision, but i think we're pretty far down the road. >> is he ready to be president? >> you know, i think texas has a great business climate. that is going to be good for anyone who runs from texas. we have a right to work state. we don't have a state income tax. we have good tort law. that is several governors past as well as governor perry. i think the strong business climate is what has put texas in the forefront and i think that's going to be a good base for anyone. >> let me ask you this about the texas economy story in this respect. it gets a lot of help from the federal government. there are a lot of military institutions in the state of texas. installations, excuse me, in the state of texas. >> yes. >> i know he has made a big deal about saying he doesn't need the federal government for this or that. what would the texas economic climate be without all of that defense spending? >> we have a lot of defense installations and also defense industrial complex. that has been very important. we had to fight very hard to get our texas education money, because there was so much posturing about not needing the federal government. in fact, i have tried very hard to make sure we get our fair share, like any other state, that we don't get shortchanged. that's been going against a headwind lately. i think we have to, i think, be clear that we are part of the united states of america, and we shouldn't be shortchanged and we have a lot of federal spending in our state and i'm pleased that we have been able to get our fair share because of the efforts of many in our congressional delegation. >> let me ask you about what you just said. i feel like since you're a retiring senator, maybe your more comfortable talking about this, but some of the rhetoric inside the republican party. you brought up part of the united states, not so subtle reminder that rick perry joked about seceding from the united states at one point about a year ago. is this talk gotten out of hand, made your job that much harder in trying to win federal money behind the scenes for texas? >> well, i see a bias in this administration against texas. you see it in not giving us the help. >> you do see it? >> yes, i do see it in this administration, absolutely. we didn't get the help on the wildfires that i think any other state would have gotten. we had to fight hard for our education. >> you really believe -- let me stop you there on the wildfires. you really believe the administration didn't give you extra help simply over politics? that's a strong charge. >> well, i think if you look at the things that have not happened in texas, i think it's pretty clear that there is a bias against texas. even in the border issues, we're not getting the help that we should have from the federal government to secure the 1200 mile border that we have with mexico. so i do think that a lot of the rhetoric has rubbed the administration wrong and we have had to fight hard for our fair share. >> senator, one other thing coming up on the budget and debt ceiling conversations that are happening. do you think there's going to be -- you've seen a lot of these deals come to the very end. do you think there's going to be a deal that is a giant deal, everything is done, three to one, spending cuts, this or that, or that it's sort of a six month deal where they say, you know what, we're going to cut spending here to get a raise in the debt ceiling for nine months? >> good question, chuck. i think people are looking at the big deal. i think that the vice president and the people that we've appointed on the congressional side are really deep into trying to make a big deal. i'm working on social security being included in that, because i think we can do the 75 year fix on social security. it should be part of the debt ceiling issue, and then i think that the gang of five was six. now it's i think a bigger number is also very seriously looking at big deal cuts. i'm hopeful, maybe hope springs eternal, i'm hopeful we're going to have a big deal because i think the people of our country want to see this, and i think our creditors want to see it. >> you just said the gang of five may be getting bigger. are you ready to join the group? >> i'm certainly interested in what they're doing. i think they are expanding the group. they're being more open now which i think they should be. >> senator kay bailey hutchson who is retiring. thanks for joining me this morning. >> thanks, chuck. up next, another controversial immigration law. this one in alabama. it goes further than anything we saw in arizona. how will washington react as more red states continue to take the immigration issue into their own political hands. first, today's trivia question. it's the flip side of yesterday's. which u.s. state has gone the longest without electing a democrat as governor? once again today, bonus points if you know the year the state last elected a democrat. tweet me at chuck todd or at daily rundown. the first correct answer will get a forward friday. if you don't get the extra credit, the first extra credit person will get a forward friday. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be. ♪ because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu. unique. alabama is now home to the toughest immigration laws in the country. it requires schools aren't in the country illegally. pete williams is in. tively rigcivil rights groups a saying this is bigger and tougher than arizona. >> i don't think there's any doubt the governor feels this is right. it takes everything arizona was doing and adds to it. we've got a list of things we've got in this new law. anytime you want to get public benefits you have to prove your immigration status. you want to enrom your children in public school, you want to attend public colleges, you want to get a job, you want to rent anything. to keep this list up here for a second, you can't get any of those things if you're here illegally, except you can enroll your children in public school. the schools are going to take the children of illegal immigrants, but they have to report the number to the state legislature every year. this in a state that is 4% of latinos out of almost 5 million people. there will be legal challenges. the aclu immigration groups already say they're going to sue over this. >> go back to the list. how much of that is already illegal for somebody in this country illegally? rental agreement? can you enter into a contract if you're not a citizen? >> in some states, yes, you can. the state is making it very clear. you'll not be able to go to a public college or university unless you're here legally. by the way, that's going to get challenged in the courts? >> many of these things will get challenged in the court, because for example, you can't come here if -- you can't go to a public college if you're a refugee or something. it limits the number of people currently who could probably under the federal standard legally get some of these benefits. there will be constitutional challenges. many of the visions that are in arizona, for example, the one that required police to detain anybody that they thought might be here illegally are in this as well. those have been declared unconstitutional in the lower courts in arizona. certainly there will be challenges based on that, on the arizona type things in the alabama bill. there will be challenges to the other things as well. >> does alabama have the money to enforce this? >> that is one issue, that the opponents say is wrong with this. i should say that the people -- remember, this passed overwhelmingly in both houses. the governor signed it immediately. what they say is they have got to shut off the magnets, the things that draw people to states illegally. they say if we make it clear that you can't get any public benefits, you can't rent an apartment, you can't even ask for a job, it now is illegal in alabama for someone who is not here illegally even to ask for a job, maybe people will get the message that they're not supposed to come here unless they're here legally. >> pete williams. chief justice correspondent. we shall watch. i have a feeling this one is going all the way up. >> many states are trying the same things. let's move to another story. anthony weiner may not have many friends left in congress, but he still has some supporters in his own district, maybe enough to save his own career. new york poll showed 56% of voters believe he should not resign. 33% said he should. 12% weren't sure. luke russer is on capitol hill. they took a poll of democrats in the house. those numbers would be a lot different. >> they would be indeed, chuck. the main reasoning is that anthony weiner has become a distraction as one top democrat leader has told me. why? there is a fear that come monday, because there's no -- it doesn't look like anthony weiner is going to resign, he's going to show up on capitol hill for a vote. that is going to be quite the media fire storm. there will be every media national network there, probably international networks trying to get a piece of anthony weiner. it prohibits democrats from talking about what they want to talk about, talking about job creation, attacking paul ryan's plan. democrats had their first big win in a long time, the new york 26, talking about medicare. they seemed to own that issue. my friends in buffalo would tell me vote democrat, save medicare. that message was resonating. that message has been totally overshadowed by anthony weiner, which is why a lot of folks wishes he would resign. i spoke to the former deputy mayor to mayor bloomberg. he said within that district, if you look like you are an experienced politician and you get things done, they might look past that type of thing. anthony weiner is feeling quite comfortable. >> the state of new york is losing two congressional seats. we'll see if one of them becomes the ninth. luke, on capitol hill for us. luke, monday is going to be crazy. thanks. up next, the power vacuum in yemen. new fears that political instability will give al qaeda free rein. can the u.s. transfer peaceful power. new word on giffords' health. her chief of staff speaks candidly about her health. this is the "the daily rundown" only on nbc. n doggin' my soul ♪ ♪ since the day i was born ♪ worry ♪ oh, worry, worry worry, worry ♪ [ announcer ] when it comes to things you care about, leave nothing to chance. travelers. take the scary out of life. and having a partner like northern trust -- one of the nation's largest wealth managers -- makes all the difference. our goals-based investment strategies are tailored to your needs and overseen by experts who seek to maximize opportunities while minimizing risk. after all, you don't climb a mountain just to sit at the top. you lookround for other mountains to climb. ♪ expertise matters. find it at northern trust. olay anti-aging cream and rubber spatulas. what's that for? 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[ groans ] [ male announcer ] only walmart has low prices every day on everything to keep you looking young. backed by our ad match guarantee. save money. live better. walmart. welcome back to "the daily rundown" here on a friday, a getaway friday for most people in washington. some of the other stories making headlines. wildfires in arizona continue to burn out of control. authorities say the fire is only 5% contained. staying in arizona, an update on the recovery of congresswoman gabrielle giffords. the chief of staff says she is making progress but struggles to communicate. it is not yet clear she is going to run for re-election. her chief of staff said may 2012 is a hard deadline. that will be when the giffords and her husband make a decision whether she can serve. german authorities believe they finally determined that sprout caused that deadly e. coli outbreak that killed 29 and sickened thousands of others. despite pinpointing the source, german officials say they still expect more cases. let's turn to the unrest in the middle east. president saleh continues to recover while his son has su planted vice president and meanwhile in syria, a growing military presence has prompted thousands of syrians to flee into that neighboring country. jeffrey goldberg joins me now. you and i were talking off camera. the economy is a mess in egypt. >> stand still. >> gadhafi is still alive in libya. syria starting a fight with israel to the other size of their border. >> murdering their own citizens at a rapid clip. >> yemen, a complete coup. >> it's going fine in tunisia, i think, but -- >> that's about it. >> but actually that's not even entirely clear, but, no, it's -- we're now or we've entered the reality-based phase of this where we have to sort of take a pause and realize that the disfunctions are so deep across this swath of the world, the democracy gatherings and twitter based -- >> good for awhile. >> we're probably in this phase that is necessary to get to the next phase. key question, how long is this phase? is it a year? five years? a generation? i'm voting in the generation direction. >> with everything in the middle east, it takes -- >> a long time. >> the challenge is going to be, here in the united states, to european allies who are going to be there. we have to sit there and boost it up. the egypt economy is going to get boosted. the patience for our domestic public to be doing that. >> we're going to be leaning on the saudis a bit more. they are deeply engaged in trying to keep a lid on yemen. they are invested in bahrain. >> two meetings this week that the prince had with the president and vice president. >> that's the one that the insiders understand that bahrain is the key. that's where the sunni shiite split is. they are invested heavily in that. they are investing heavily in their own citizens right now to keep them quiet. so we're going to be leaning on saudi arabiians in a weird way in the coming weeks and months to help keep a lid on things we don't have the energy to keep a lid on ourselves. >> you said bahrain is the key. i keep going back to syria. if syria -- we don't know if iran tried to prop up assad on one hand. if syria goes, if assad goes, couldn't that open up the middle east peace process in a way we haven't seen in our lifetime? >> a few weeks ago i asked hillary clinton, would you like to see this regime disappear? her answer was the clever answer and also probably the correct answer, depends on what comes next. we don't know what would come next. there's a strong argument to say it can't be much worse than that. not only on the moral plain, but this is an iranian ally, a supporter of hezbollah, a supporter of terrorism, obviously nobody has been able to make peace with israel. he's alien ating our ally turkey in a large way. the problem is the blood bath that would come. >> the worst problem is the israelis quietly are signaling they're not sure they want assad to go. >> they're shifting. they're sort of in the camp of, you know, how much worse can it be. >> jeffrey goldberg, you have one of the most intriguing beats in all of the world. >> i don't cover sprouts. >> you don't. could have been shipped to the middle east. >> that would have been different. >> jeffrey goldberg, one of the most fun people to read. thank you very much. the panel joins me to round out this wild week in the presidential race and politics. first, soup of the day, it's getaway day for the president. he's going to miss out on cream of artichoke. is this a new soup? artichokes. it's an underrated vegetable. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. 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[ male announcer ] ducati knows it's better for xerox to manage their global publications. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. with xerox, you're ready for real business. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. i have copd. if you have it, you know how hard it can be to breathe and what that feels like. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms... by keeping my airways open a full 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. and it's steroid-free. spiriva does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and call your doctor right away if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. breathing with copd is no small thing. ask your doctor about spiriva. he didn't even make a month. 29 days after formally announcing his presidential campaign, newt gingrich was fired by his senior staff who quit en masse. one guy could have told you this moment was coming. >> i think it's fair to say that i'm going to have one of the tests on this campaign trail is going to be whether i have the discipline and the judgment to be president. that's a perfectly fair question. >> well, that was in the first weekend that he announced. jonathan allen, and beth rinehart. that's what he said on "meet the press." here's a montage of his greatest hits. >> i don't think right wing social engineering is any more desirable than left wing social engineering. much. >> you s what you just did to paul ryan is unforgivable. >> i didn't do anything. >> you under cut him in the house. you're an embarrassment to our party. >> any ad which quotes what i said on sunday is a falsehood. >> go talk to tiffany's. we are very frugal. we live within our budget. >> liz, all i left out was the greek cruise which apparently was the tipping point for the staff. gingrich says he's going on, but this may be over. >> yeah, even if the staff would have stayed, the story line going forward would have been, you know, a guy who talks about fiscal restraint is going on a greek cruise. they were kind of in a box anyway. it was going to be a hard campaign to turn around. but now, how does a candidate encourage donors and voters to stick with him and come to him when his own staff has lost so much confidence in him that they fired the candidate. >> they fired the candidate. jonathan, you've been on capitol hill a long time. this actually looks really familiar to me. essentially house republicans fired newt gingrich as speaker? >> that's exactly right. first they tried to coup him. that didn't work. shortly after that, they pushed him out of the speakership after a bad election. people around newt gingrich say he's got a lot of great ideas and a lot of other ideas that aren't so great. it's hard to get him focused and disciplined. it sounds like his campaign manager was saying he wasn't the president of his own campaign. his wife was essentially running things and encouraging him to go on vacations. if they felt like they weren't going to have control of the candidate, he wasn't going to have control of himself, how could he have control of the country. >> beth, i've been shocked about how easily the staff has been whispering it's the wife's fault? >> i don't think it's fair to make her the scapegoat. he did not seem willing to put in the hours and the slog and grind that running for president or city council is doing. >> what was he doing in new hampshire? was he debuting a film? >> you got to still shake the hands and get on the early planes. >> what this means though now is rick perry speculation ramps up because two people, rob johnson, dave carney from the gingrich world are rick perry people. there's a conspiracy theory among the lone gingrich loyalist that's left saying carney was already doing rick perry work. any truth to this? >> might be. we have to be careful. not everybody who was behind newt gingrich is going to go over to perry. we've seen sunny purdue go over to pawlenty. >> by the way, he wrote the forward to rick perry's book. >> it was just, you know, everyone knew who signed on with gingrich said it was only a matter of time before this would happen, but we don't know yet. those are the signs we're going to be watching for. >> what is the rick perry time line? we know about the reliant stadium he's doing? >> he doesn't have a lot of time. as you know, the donors and the strategists are starting to be divvied up. he has a lot of advantages, comes from a big state, got the fund raising contacts, he doesn't have that much longer to get in. >> jonathan allen? among congressional allis? >> there is a little bit of texas fatigue, but we'll have to see. this is a little reminiscent of the last time around when republicans were looking for a candidate and weren't exactly happy with the field. members of congress split and they went from one candidate to the other. >> they went all over the place. you guys are going to stay here, because we got to talk aim straw poll and mitt romney, first the trivia, we asked which u.s. state has gone the longest without elects a democrat as the governor? the answer is south dakota. we promised bonus points if you could name the year that the state last elected a democrat. that was 1970. the governor was richard knight. resigned after being nominated by president carter to be ambassador. guess what? a republican has won every election since. we're getting the popcorn. we're popping it and the panel is sticking around to talk about the aim straw poll but also the movie, the sarah palin movie, it's coming out. for some, it's "hangover 3" for others, it's "the passion." only on msnbc. [ betty ] welcome to the aarp get-over-it-a-thon. if you're 50 or over but hesitant to join aarp because you think it makes you old, i have a very important message: get over it! i'm 89. feeling old at 50? really? time to put your grown-up pants on. [ laughter ] let's go to the phones. [ jeff ] isn't it embarrassing, pulling out an aarp card? don't be such a wuss. all a young buck like you should be embarrassed about is paying full price when you don't have to. [ elizabeth ] isn't aarp for retired people? i'm not retired. well, neither am i, honey. the only thing working harder than i am these days is the rumor mill about who i'm dating. look -- you're not getting any younger... so get over it. ♪ get over it [ male announcer ] join aarp today for just 16 dollars a year and be entered for a chance to win a trip to hollywood to meet betty white. plus get this free travel bag. just call and join aarp now. let's bring back our panel. let's talk about the aim straw poll. he said he's not doing it. but here's what mitt romney said about straw polls four years ago. >> if they thought they could have won, they would have been here. if you can't pete beat in august, how are you going compete in january when caucuses are held and how will you compete in november of '08. >> that is a youtube that tim pawlenty campaign is going to be sending around a lot. strategically, mitt romney might have made a pretty good decision. >> i think so. every mitt romney story starts with frontrunner. by not competing he deprives his rivals of the opportunity to sark hey, i beat the frontrunner in something. >> and it ramps up tim pawlenty. he could have lost to a mitt romney, and that would have been okay. if he loses to michele bachmann or let's say rick perry decides to make the straw poll. >> that becomes a huge problem for pawlenty if he was too lose the straw poll. you know, romney won the straw poll last time. >> right. it's not as if -- it is a money suck, liz. that is one of the thing. also for romney, it is a way to explain away losing i wachlt that's what he's trying to set himself up for. >> but in doing this, the clip you just showed right now shows exactly the fundamental problem that romney has, and it's not health care. the fundamental problem is he's run before. he said things before that conflict with what he's saying now. for example on strategy, back then it was very important to run and play in the eye of the straw poll. this time since it doesn't fit, it's not important. it's going to be hard for him to square something forward. >> we know everybody is getting their previews over the next couple of weeks. duh it matter. >> which was a totally different story. >> the last story is a -- >> it is a good story. i think a lot of us have forgotten this story because so much has come to pass since then. thing it's interesting from that point of view. >> does it matter? will it drive out? . think it will keep some spipeop excited. at the end of the day, sarah palin passes the test. people love or hate her. >> shameless plug time. other than being getaway friday when everyone is going to be leaving after hours, what's your shameless plug? >> it's about ethanol policies. those have been a deal breaker in the past. this may be the first presidential campaign where they're not. it's the first campaign since the tea party movement and i think that's totally changed the debate. >> there it is. steve king wins. >> my morning e-mail about capitol hill. the huddle. get rez for liz sidoti doing an iron man's competition in a few weeks. >> what a shameless plug. >> beth actually stole my shameless plug. we wrote about how ethanol subsidy is not the sexy political issue it once was. we had it out and it was a great story. >> it was fun to watch john thune try to defend him. my shameless plus is larry king and i do an imper nation. for this edition of the daily rundown we'll be back at 9:00 a.m. coming up next, chris "jansing & co." and don't miss "andrea mitchell reports." have a good friday. here's a look at your weekend forecast. i'm meteorologist bill karins. be prepared for cooler and wetter weather as we go throughout this weekend, especially in the mid-atlantic up into new england. not going to rain all day long, though periods of rain on saturday and sunday. also thunderstorms coming out of the northern rockies on saturday. will move on sunday to areas like kansas city. the heat continues in the deep south. down the hill? man: all right. we were actually thinking, maybe... we're going to hike up here, so we'll catch up with you guys. 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