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2012, happy valentine's day. this is a daily run down. i'm chuck todd. get right to my first reads of the morning. we start with presidential race. rick santorum's surge hit the national stage f last night is any indication, he could easily go off track. apparently, all it took were wins in the nonbinding caucuses in minnesota to catapult him into a tie with mitt romney in three national polls. pew research center surveyed registered republicans have santorum slightly ahead 30-28. up 16 points from a month ago.d he is now statistically tied with in their poll as well. but santorum's organization, is it really ready to go national? if his rally last night in tacoma, washington, is any indication, the campaign has a lot to do to be ready for prime time a group of occupied protesters disrupted the event, drawing santorum into a back and forth. >> i think it is really important to understand what this radical element represents. because what they represent is true intolerance. that's what the ninth circuit said when he handed down a decision striking down proposition 8. what they said was that disagreed with them was irrational and the only reason they could possibly disagree is they were a heart or a big go thoefrnlts santorum said he represented the protesters, he disagreed with them, atloimd to rerail the message to blue collar voters he hopes will give them an opening in michigan and the rest of the industrial midwest. take a listen to thisment. >> -- americans don't graduate from high school, almost all of them two thirds -- three-quarters of them will end up in poverty. we have got to provide an opportunity i for them instead of standing here unemployed yelling at somebody to go out and get a job. >> and after finishing the speech, santorum came back out to briefly greet the crowd and capping off the mess of a night. he ended up getting glitter bombed. bottom line here, clearly, we have seen this with the other campaigns that surged, do they have the infrastructure to be the national front runner, as mike murphy so eloquently put it learn how to drink out of a fire house and speak chinese. romney not knot waiting to see if santorum self-destruck the, arizona holds the primary two weeks from today. last night, went after santorum, though not by name. >> people go there and get affected by this washington disease which makes them think that government is a source of our greatness that government should guide our lives. congressman paul was a doctor and then went into government. but the other guys have spent their life entirely in government and in my view, it is helpful to have been involved in two business and olympics and a state and to have the chance to run those. >> romney's super spank preparing to hammer his rivals on air. restore our future goes up tomorrow with nearly $1 million buy of broadcast television advertising, they are adding to buys that they have in michigan and ohio, where they have been at air hitting gingrich and go up in five new southern state, super tuesday and you march 13th pry markers as you can see from oklahoma to georgia. by comparison, santorum has made only a $42,000 cable buy in michigan where he is running this ad emphasizing his conservative credentials. fund raising in california, newt gingrich responded to the national review, which wrote yesterday, "it would be a grave 'tis mistake for the party to make someone with such poor judgment and persistent unpopularity its presidential nominee. the proper course for gingrich now to endorse santorum and exit. here's newt." >> national review wanted me to drop out in june t is silly. you guys go around and pick up the same people who said i was dead in june who then said i was dead after iowa. you know, twice i have led in the gallup polls, okay? >> and gingrich may be too honestly responded to santorum's comment that the republican fight is now a two-man race. >> exactly what i said when i suggested rick ought to do drop out weeks ago and decided that wasn't a good idea and he was right. there you go. we shall see what happens. interesting how does the romney campaign fight? we will talk about that in a minute with a threat veteran republican strategist. one giant issue that this presidential election will decide who is going to bear the greater burden on reducing the deficit, the wealthiest americans or shrinking government itself in the president rolled out his 2013 bunnellet, happened to be in a swing state yesterday, virginia, eventually in the backyard, of course and made a campaign argument. >> you have got a choice, we can settle for a country where a few people do really, really well and everybody else struggles to get by or we can restore an economy where everybody gets a fair shot, everybody does their fair share, everybody place by the same set of rules from washington to wall street to main street. >> the republican candidates took turns beating up the president on his budget. >> he looks at where we are right now and is comfortable borough $1 trillion more every year than we spend. [ crowd booing ] >> this cannot go on. if i'm president, i will cut spending, i will cap spending and i will finally get us a balanced budget. >> another $1 trillion budget deficit. another tax the rich scheme. >> this budget is impossible. it is exactly the wrong drechblgts the time to have a fight over the next dealt ceiling is not this fall. we have played this game before. >> now, the president himself folk the spending parts what he called investments in infrastructure, research, developed and job training but punted the tougher stuff, especially tax. the white house suspect providing a lot of details on specifically -- specifics, except to say to end the bush tax cuts by the end of this year and have the buffett rule. >> in terms of tax reform, no we have not tried to lay out what the exact rates would be. >> congressional republicans accuse the president of worrying more about re-election than economic situation. >> president obama released a bunnell that's isn't really a budget at all t is a campaign document. >> that's what polls indicate they would rather hear about all things that don't have to do with the national debt. finally, house republican leaders made what is a stunning concession in the payroll tax cut fight. the three house leaders, boehner, cantor and mcconnell announced they have not allowed conferees to support a responsible bipartisan agreement, house republicans would introduce a backup plan that would simply extend the payroll tax who will date end of the year while the conference negotiations continue. extend the tax for a year without paying for it that move would decouple the very popular payroll tax from an extension of unemployment insurance benefits and measure to prevent the drop in fees paid to doctors by medicare known as the doc fix, force democrats to force to decide whether to accept a stand-alone tax can you the that benefits nearly all americans. listen to bainers a language a week ago and decide whether this is truly an about face or more of a negotiating ploy. >> it is pretty clear is that senate democrats have never come to the table with a plan to off set this new spending they are all for. we want to expand this program, but we are going to continue that this spending ought to be offset. >> the plant city just added an event this morning. later this morning, about 10:40, going to speak about the payroll tax cut and these negotiations. clearly, they want to put his how old is near this. democrats not yet endorsing this idea of de doo he coupling the payroll tax cut. nearly every campaign, mitt romney repeatedly reminds his audiences that he is a true conservative, committed to conservative principles and con vattism. here he is at a rally in mesa, arizona, again, straining too get that message i cross. >> my conservatism did not come so much from reading the writings of great conservative scholars it did come from living my life, my family, my faith, my business. >> charlie black is a republican strategist and informal romney adviser and such a political junkie decided to take your wife and celebrate your anniversary at the new hampshire primary. >> we did and we should start by saying happy valentine's day to judy black and christian -- >> you have just one plotted there let's start with the two challenges that romney faces. one has to do with the issue of conservati conservatism? every national poll, a chunk of conservatives just looking for somebody else. today, it is rick santorum. >> some of the conservatives don't have mitt romney as a high first choice. he won the c pac straw poll did that by the message prevent and talking about his record, which is a conservative record in the state of massachusetts, a blue state, where he governed by bringing the budget under control without raising taxes, left a rainy day fund, consistently pro-life and he stood up for traditional marriage. mortgage people learn about what he did as governor, mortgage conservatives like him. >> he has been -- it always looks like, he is the second choice but actually, he is not, because every time -- when one of these things, we have looked at him and i have seen -- and i agree with this argument, you luke at him, his neg negatives are fine, people that respect for him like him. he is not the second choice. turns out it is somebody else. >> well, look, when you go into a state and run a full campaign comparing you the candidates like new hampshire or florida he is the first choice, 50% of the choice in florida in a multicandidate field. conservatives are mostly comfortable with him. those that respect are becoming more comfortable, the contrast now this. rick santorum is hot winning three binding states. the voters' impression of shim a good campaigner, a good message and sort of gets him excited but in the next couple of weekers this going to learn's career politician, a washington insider in the leadership of the senate, governed by earmarkses and appropriations did not undertake the reforms of the federal government that mitt romney will undertake. >> this a trickier strategic decision right now? i know you are an informal adviser to the romney campaign but the super pac doing its own thing can't technically coordinate this decision, stay going negative on gingrich, assume the new ads will come out and get tough on santorum s there a line where you got to be careful not go too negative? don't want to always be seen as the guy who drops the anvil on any opponent who comes after you? >> you can't control what the super pacs do i think governor rom think? obligated to drought contrast, as did he with speaker beginning rich in florida and as i expect him to in arizona, michigan and super tuesday with senator santorum. the contrast is they are career politicians, washington insiders, a chance to undertake fundamental reform and the didn't. the whole career was going into large institutions failing because they were spending more than they were taking in, reforming them, cutting the spending, balancing their budgets and making them process, what the voters want. if you are team romney, do you want newt to take the advice of national review and drop out or actually want him in and continue to splinter? >>. >> i have confidence in speaker gingrich's ability to continue a new rationale for his candidacy. >> the splintering is that beneficial to -- they don't -- if one conservative sits out, santorum rallies everybody, more dangerous to romney's chances at wing the delegate fight on those first two tuesdays? >> i'm not sure how it works n florida gingrich called on santorum to drop out, the santorum vote would have split 50/50 between gingrich and romney, romney might gain from people dropping out but he has been the tortoise in the race. constant, steady, he has got organization in all the state, got money, the ability to raise more money. a lot of stars have risen and fallen, rick santorum the most recent in that progression. how concerned are you about the fact this has taken a toll on romney with his popularity among independents? >> i don't see that yes. of course, when you are duking it out in combat among the republicans, you might pick up some negatives. the dnc has been attacking governor romney with millions of dollars for six months. nevertheless, the poll that we all saw of the swing states about two weeks ago showed a tie between president obama and governor romney and the states that are going to decide this election, he withstood the negatives as well. guess what when he is the nominee, he get prosecute the case against president obama and his failed policies, which no one has done yet. >> prefer to see this wrapped up before -- sooner rather than later? there is no hist toric correlation between shortness of the primary race and winning in november so i don't think it matters that much. governor romney every day is out there talking about president obama's failed policies, talking about the fact that we have 5 million fewer person employed than when we took office. talking about the fact that spending more, taxing more is not going to bring economy back, let alone bring the deficit and the federal government under control. as long as he can continue to talk about that vel a very competitive race with president obama. >> all right, charlie black, informal romney adviser but long time veteran republican strategist near washington. all this washington bashing. i'm not running for president, fortunately, chuck. thank you for having me. >> all right. thank you, charlie. will speaker boehner still runt house next year? could nancy pelosi get her old job back? congressional retirements piling up, the math isn't adding up for the democrats. how retirements and redistricting will decide the billion of power in congress. plus, which lawmakers have the hardest time holding onto their staffers and what does that tell us if they deserve to be a member of zmong still to come, is wing the hispanic vote the key to victory in 2012 and by what margin? we will take a deep dive into that demographic and the specific issues this could swing the vote for the election. first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. just added an event this morning, talk about the payroll tax spike. you are watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. ok! who gets occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! 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[ female announcer ] nature valley granola bars, rich dark chocolate, toasted oats. perfect combinations of nature's delicious ingredients, from nature valley. ♪ nature valley granola bars, nature at its most delicious. democrats are nervously watching more of their colleagues retire, as they try to win 25 seats to regain the house. ten house members total, four democrats, six republicans have announced they are retiring from congress or running for another office. the founder of politics in stereo.com is with us and david wasserman with the cook political report has the envious twitter handle of just simply redistrict, which you can have every ten years, apparently. talk about this, three ways of looking at the battle for the house, talk first about this issue of retirements, who has been benefiting more from this retirement, this latest surge, up to 35 now, nathan? >> i think that even though there are both democrats and republicans retiring, not always created equal, look at the most recent retirements in california, make the case that helped republicans, avoided a member versus member primary there also moved congressman mill near a more competitive seat than republicans can at least challenge. the other side, look at heath shuer in north carolina, best chance of holding the seat. he is retiring that is basically a republican seat and make it difficult to make up in the larger battle for the house. >> speaking of the larger bat, had the redistricting, since your twitter handle, mr. redistrict, three remaining thing we don't know about redistricting and advantage parties might have in other, texas, florida and new york what do we know? >> impacts the margins right now. the vast majority of the states already done redrawing their lines, a couple of huge court cases left in florida, texas, perhaps new york, we will see what the legislature does there basically a wash in terms of the seats that have been gained or loss by the parties. the advantage for republicans able to quarantine so many strong democratic voters in the very lop side urban district, many states, you have just one or two very heavily democratic districts and the rest of the district is leaning republican. you repeat that pattern across the country, you get a scenario where democrats could win the majority of votes for congress and lose the house by a dozen. >> that is amazing, saying that. the national house vote at this point. this so packed now, depends, texas and florida could get undone a little bit in giving the democrats more competitive seats to go after that is the case, a 51-49 national majority for democrats on the house ballot, they don't win control of the house? >> because you have the democratic districts republicans created in ohio, gave democrats a seat in columbus but -- >> swing state -- seats in the columbus market, basically packed democrats into one. >> pennsylvania is another great example. democrats picked up five when they won the majority in '06 and '08 and might have a net loss in pennsylvania. >> what are presidential coattails worth? president obama at 52 in the two-party vote in november, does he bring the house or not? >> no, i don't think he does. i think democrats need a big wave. the house right now is a cross currents. democrats have a lot of good atmospheric things going for them in terms of the national narrative. president obama's numbers back up, democrats starting to lead the generic ballot, bad ethics news out about republicans. the other hand, for every one of those good pieces of information coming to democrats there seems to be a stem back taken in terms of retirements and there has been a lot of attention on what the unpopularity of congress has done in voters' minds but a little attention has been paid to what is done to the psyche of members themself, many whom are retirement. >> the national climate ends up impacting senate more than house? is that maybe the democrats can actually hold the senate? >> i think there is the crossover states, cross brown and dean heller need crossover vote john testers and claire mccaskill. senate rates have their own money on the >> i love this survey from the sawn light retention talk bus staff retention rates from members of congress, what do we learn in the highest staff retention rate, actual staff on the hill, michael capuano, the average rate, 64 the lowest, betty sutton, 19% did some things confirm what you knew about somebody that they can't hold onto staff, they are kind of an erratic member of congress? >> surprises on that list, betty sutton, for one. she is vulnerable but i don't think it is because necessarily she has a high staff turnover. she was redistricted into a seat with a republican incumbent nearby. >> michele bachmann, 29%. not a shock, right? >> it tells you all circumstantial, right? i think of rick larson in washington state and three of his staffers were drinking on the job and bragging about it on twitter. of course he fired them i don't think voters going to hold it against rick larson that happened. but also can feed into a bad reputation if an image a member is hard to work for, joe sestak in pennsylvania known as a pile drover of a boss that fed into the image he was eratic and hurt him in the senate race. >> anything that shocked you? >> nancy pelosi, 22, john boehner, 65, go out on a limb and say they are not going to lose re-election even though they have staff turnover. >> part is people -- they get the taste of leadership and realize it is a lot of work. any way, nathan gonzalez, david wasserman, thank you, both. good to do a deep dives in the house. what can we expect in the white house today? the market run down is next. mixed messages, republican presidential candidates are vying the hispanic vote r they miss the mark? new violence in syria today. is the country headed for a full all-out civil war. today's trivia question. which candidate's grandfather worked for the federal radio commission and who gave him the job? the first correct answer will get a follow tuesday from us. when i think of valentine's day, i think of led zeppelin? i will be right back. piro.obert over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. launcimmerse yourself in all over relief [ female announcer ] feeling that flu all over your body? 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[ male announcer ] apply online or at a bank of america near you. we're talking 3% back on gas. a minute away from theopening bell. time to get the market run down here. cnbc's jackie deangeles is here s it the market today or the fact stack stocks are too high and every somebody going to sell? >> january retail sales figures rose less than expect he had, figures up .4 after a flat december. interesting, the futures were stronger this morning after a strong italian bond auction that lowered deals despite the fact that moody's last night downgraded six european nation and cut its outlook for the uk. meantime, am, chuck, shares closed monday above $500. "the wall street journal" reporting that verizon and at&t will sell apple's next generation of ipads that are going to run on 4 g wireless networks. also rule hearted apple ipad 3 will be announced in the first week of march. apple is the largest company in the with us a market cap cap of $468 billion. jeremy lin unlikely star of the stock market. he sent madison square gardens stock to a high on monday, 3.6% rise close eating 3227. the stock jumped 6% since february 3rd, date before lin saw his first day of significant play. >> typical new york hype machine at work. this guy guy, if earn a golden state warrior, everybody -- he would be maybe the seventh story on sports center. you new yorkers. >> he is pretty good. >> thank you, jackie. "the daily rundown" will be back in 30 second he is. back with "the daily rundown," a few of the stories making headlines this morning. violence in syria continues as government forces renew their attack tacks on the city of homs. nbc news cannot independently verify the pitch but activist says the it is the heaviest shelling in days. hundreds wee lived to be killed since last saturday as arab league members say they are prepared arm members of the syrian government if president bashar al assad does not halt the crackdown. the next leader of china is in washington, d.c. to meet with president obama and vice president biden today. xi jinping is set to replace the current head of china's communist party, hu jintao in 2013. it items include the growing threat to and he ends up doing stops in iowa and other place. live pictures of capitol hill where defense secretary leon panetta will defend the pentagon's leaner budget plan today, telling lawmaker it is time to get serious about reducing the deficit. panetta is one of seven obama administration officials on the hill today defending the new budget. and a new study at -- by pew says 24 million voter registrations in the united states contain significant errors even though the errors impact one in eight registrations, the pew center stays doesn't think there is widespread fraud caution the mistakes but rather simply outdated systems. well, hispanic voters will play a key role in the 2012 general election, currently ten states with a hispanic population of 15% or high her, of those ten states, half are in the battleground, at least for n now, for november. joining me lorenzo aguilar and msnbc contributor maria theresa kumar. let me start with you, matt. not a pretty picture for republicans, you look at the ten states, four are blue. five are yellow, meaning they are in our swing state category and only one is is in red, who knows how long. this is obviously an leak toral college problem for the republicans. right. >> i would say this boils down to florida, especially the i-4 corridor. nevada, colorado and perhaps new mexi mexico. >> the obama campaign would say arizona. we can talk about that in a minute. >> i think that is hopeful thinking on their part. i think republicans have an opportunity, latino voters upset at the president. he promised that he would push immigration reform. he didn't deliver. and under his mandate, deportations have skyrocketed, something underreported really. that has had a very negative impact in the community. at the end of his term, barack obama would have deported 1.5 million individuals. that's definitely much more than george bush or any president. >> you know, alfonso, we hear that from you, we don't hear that from the republican presidential candidates don't want to talk about that part of immigration do you think this will have an impact? is there hispanic disappointment out there the president hasn't gone further on immigration, retorically does, actually put his physical shoulder into it? >> absolutely. i think taking a step back, if governor romney right now was running and not candidate romney, the president would have a run for his money, governor romney very much talked about the importance of immigration, he really talked about business, he talked about taxes. he talked about education in a way that was actually very open to the latino community. unfortunately, right now, we have candidate romney who is talking about deportation, that doesn't make sense, the fact he is denying dream act, overall you not just latino voters but across-the-board independent voters agree with. that is where you get stuck. talk about florida and the i-corridor, he won florida overwhelmingly but florida is literally divided between 100,000 votes between democrats and republicans in the latino community. it is going to be tough. arizona is in play. >> it is funny, looking at the hard numbers from '08 in florida, obama won hispanic 57-42. in arizona, he won it 56-41. that was with mccain on the ballot, mccain probably overperforming, if he win it is at a level that he won, let go through this, colorado, 61-38, won nevada hispanics 76-22. that is an outlier, stay is 61-38, colorado, more like that suddenly takes arizona, a 53-47 state right away. >> right. well, again, i don't know if we are going to get there, do well in arizona, even jan brewer, the governor of the state of arizona the last election got 40% of the latino vote. i think, look, latinos -- immigration is not the number one issue. >> but the dream act a ton of coverage in the hispanic media. how impactful is that? >> it is important. i have to say to give credit to governor romney, starting to clarify his position on immigration. on the dream act, he said he now supports a modality of the dream act, giving legal status to those who came here illegally as minor it is they are following serve in the armed forces, that is a step forward. i think if romney continues to clarify his position, how he wants to reform the legal immigration process that may actually help him with latino voters. >> ray, let me ask you, a lot of hispanics, devout catholics, did anything that happen last week in that debate about contraception and the catholic church worry you as somebody who is simply trying to get the hispanic vote out in big numbers for democrats? >> not surprisingly, because -- and not -- i don't want to overstate it but latinos often come from large families them actually support the president in contraception, overwhelmingly the majority of the catholic hispanics support the president in contraception more than your average white voter. recognize this is a personal issue, family issue. let me get back to the romney roster, yes, changing his modality, how he talks about dream. look who his friends are, chris co-back, the architect behind alabama and the arizona law and all of a sudden, governor pete wilson basically the one that turned california blue because he was so anti-immigrant. you are who your friends r he speaks in florida to latino community spanish and the rest of us in english and doesn't realize we click the channel and we speak both. he has to dish think for him to win, he has to go back to what his basics are talk about business, job creation, where he can get the latino community. >> i agree in that respect. i say it doesn't help romney to associate himself with a chris co-back or pete wilson. again, the president of the united states has a problem and the problem is that deportations, going to deport 1.5 million individuals and that's something that is not getting a lot of play in -- >> account republicans cap that argument? >> absolutely. under george bush, we had less -- >> if george bush was running it would be great. >> but romney is talking about self-deportation. for late teen know, self-deportation is better than forceful deportations. depend house he handles the issue. i don't think we have heard everything from romney on immigration, clarify his position, in the end, does become the nominee, have a more constructive position. on the hhs it will an impact on late team knows, for them, not only an attack on religious liberty but their church. >> have to leave it there. thank you both. >> thank you, chuck. >> good respectful debate. respectful disagreement. i appreciate that. our political panel will be here next. how will the budget battles on the hill, how are they being felt on the campaign trail? first, the white house son of the day. tucksen chicken. this it is kind of like tucson. it is the 100th birthday of the state of arizona as a state. maybe it is the white house way of saluting we will call it tucson chicken today. only on msnbc. we know. i know what tuscan really means. good-bye. be right back. ♪ [ telephone rings ] [ laughs ] [ mayhem ] please continue to hold. the next available claims representative will be with you in 97 minutes. 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[ laughs ] [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. 50 years ago today, 80 million people tuned in to see the first lady's tour of the white house. she spent over a year redecorating the white house with historic turn anyonings and her tour showing off the changes became wildly popular, of course, when you had just three channels, could you do that the president's budget is unlikely to be the blueprint for congressional spending in 2013 but is a blueprint for the central argument that november's election will decide who is going to deal with this debt, the welgty or is it going to be the government itself? >> we can settle for a country where a few people do really, really well and everybody else struggles to get by. >> this cannot go on f i'm president, i will cut spend spending, cap spending and finally get us a balanced budget. >> perry bakeson an msnbc contributor and political editor for grio.com, norah dunn, former communications director and john ward, senior political reporter for the "huffington post." welcome all. anita, let me start with you. all budgets are political documents are they not? >> i was shocked that the republicans were accuse the president of a political document. >> shock shocked? >> severely shocked. >> severely shocked. >> this is one of those cases were november will decide the fate of the bush tax cuts, pure and simple. >> november will decide the pry orities of this country, a basic direction, which is what a budget is. it is priority and a direction that you set for the country. the president set a direction where the nation's middle class is restored or revitalized, invest in education, clean energy and those things we need for building an economy that will last as opposed to being a bubble economy that is the budget he set out. what we will see soon from congressional republicans is one where the middle class is asked to shoulder more of the burned, hard work is not rewarded as much as of investments and return to policies that led us into the deep hole to begin w >> john ward, how do you republicans sell austerity as optimi optimism? that is an austere budget but sell it as an optimistic future? that seems to be the challenge as president place the populist card, isn't it not? >> austerity is hurting them in greece and putting them backwards. paul ryan is somebody who has been -- i noticed worked the hard toast try to package changes to medicare entitlements, spending cuts as something that will lead to economic growth. he has relabeled everything he does to the path of prosperity, i think that is the name of his pac. romney i haven't seen as much talk of that he is still grappling with how to reposition himself inside the race. the ground underneath his footing is shifting now i would say if they are looking for a model, paul ryan has set that out there. >> perry, we are seeing the president, lays out his community college he is and community colleges a secret weapon of democrats. clinton a huge proponent of always using the community college as a setting because it touched a lot of key demographic groups democrats care about new minority groups, single moms, things like that the messaging here is clear. >> important because minority, young people, such a big part of the obama coalition. see him do communities throughout this race and because of that, needs voters to come out in huge numbers like last time, revitalize their enthusiasm this time as well. >> anita, explain this community college -- there was a lot of yesterday that i was like i have seen this movie before, it was clinton '96. i mean, are you seeing more and more of the clinton '96 playbook come out in owe? what lately you not just because gene sperling is there doing the budget? >> not the first time the president has talked about community colleges. it has been a central part of his new foundation since he took office. not the first time he has been to a community college. as i think we all know, dr. jill bind teach at community college been a huge proponent t is a central part of how you restore middle class, how you give people, you know, that -- the steps and the tools they need to start climbing up the economic ladder to economic success in this country and it is a clear difference because it is the kind of investment that the president believes we need to make in this country and the people of this country to move forward. >> i want to talk, shift gears to rom nichl i got read you part of this op ed, jon ward, in the detroit news, mitt romney writes, remind people he is a michiganer, i am a son of detroit, grew up drinking verner's and watching ball game mich and trouble bolt. cars got in my bones early, the president tells us without his intervention, things would be worse. i believe without his intervention, things would be better. trying to fix that mean that developed that he was against the bailout. he now says, no, no, no i like the evenals bailout the president did, forced bankruptcy, but setting himself up as the son of detroit and the soon of michigan, doesn't that raise expectation, he better beat santorum by a lot now? >> it does. part to of a broader thing i think we see happening with romney now. one of his biggest challenges, people just don't believe him you don't feel like he is all the then theic, don't really even know who he is. you saw him at c pac on friday start to develop a new -- i hate the word narrative, i have to think of something else. >> is what it is. >> trying to sell himself rather than just as we were talking about a minute ago, just the fact these the most electable candidate. >> he sells himself, every time he sells himself, also trying to sell his father around interesting to me, i think at this point, i think he wishes he had his father's biography, how his dad to drove across -- his dad worked himself up from port poverty, which is all true. governor george romney's biography would be true today. >> every politician needs a story. obama has great story, paying my college loans a few years ago, now i'm president. romney said i was struggling, worried about being fired from my job that wasn't true. bain capital, almost the president of that he has to find something to connect with voters. >> anita, strikes me that sons of both wealthy people and successful politicians struggled. al gore struggled with this, telling his own narrative. >> i think the experience of growing up in a political family, watching your father, in the case of romney, run for the presidency and lose, it has got to have an effect that none of us can understand because we haven't been through that experience but romney's bigger problem is that he is -- you know, he -- as jon said, the authenticity problem, the kind of who is answered what does he believe and that has been, you know, a problem since day one on this campaign. it has been a problem with conservatives, a problem wind pen dent and the fact of the matter is, to some extent, who he is somebody who will do what he needs to do to close the deal on any given day. >> february of the election year, shouldn't be asking who is mitt romney. anita, jon, stick around. which presidential canned dat's grandfather worked for the federal radio commission and who gave him the job? ready for this the answer is mitt romney. his mother's father, harold la font, was appointed to that by president calvin coolidge. so, there is one to grind r we will be right back. you are watching "the daily rundown," only on msnbc. cookie-cutter retirement advice ttd#: 1-800-342550 u get at some places. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 they say you have to do this, have that, invest here ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 you know what? ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 you can't create a retirement plan based on ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 a predetermined script. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 to understand you and your goals... ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 ...so together we can find real-life answers for your ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 real-life retirement. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 talk to chuck ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 and let's write a script based on your life story. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for excellent fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion, also refreshing plus tea. could've had a v8. v8 v-fusion, also refreshing plus tea. some constipation medications can take control of you. break free. with miralax. it's clinically proven to relieve constipation and soften stool with no harsh side effects. just gentle predictable relief. miralax. let's bring back the panel. perry and anita, let's go to the newest flavor of the day, rick santorum. i have shown the sound bytes and the lighting is horrible, you can't hear him, but jon, you brought this up the last time santorum surged, his campaign cannot handle putting on an event to figure out how to keep protesters at bay. >> yeah, and in new hampshire that derailed him. i mean, it was funny to watch the tv coverage versus being on the ground with santorum on the ground. he stood there for an hour and a half. >> it takes one question to derail him. watch the santorum infrastructure, he's probably not going to be the nominee, and yet we know conservatives are still looking for somebody, just anybody. >> he's the latest person in the polls. the next one will be interesting because in michigan he's leading in the polls and he's going to get the full force of the mitt romney attacks, the ads that obliterated gingrich in florida. this will be the first test to see if he'll withstand it. the money is not there, it will be a big challenge. >> when fighting a two-front war like this, the danger of being seen as the frontrunner who only goes negative. >> well, two dangers. the first is if you're the frontrunner and yo go negative and you get in a fight, it leaves room for somebody else to come up. >> that's how santorum -- >> the fight how santorum manages to get in every single time here, and then two is that you're not advancing the ball on a your own campaign. i think if you look at how romney comes back from failure every time, it is by the massive resource. >> sheer operations. >> sheer operations, which is, by the way, something and something important in campaigns, but it is no substitute for message at the end of the day. and what you're seeing is a message deficit with an operation's overlead. it is enough right now to get him through, but in a general election, he may have more resources but he won't have 5-1. >> shameless plug. jon. >> a happy valentine ice day to my wife allison. >> happy valentine's day. >> does bob get one, too, anita? >> happy valentine's day, bob. >> happy valentine's day, bob. >> you're wearing red, red, i kind of have red. that's it for this daily edition of "the daily rundown." coming up next, the jansing report. then an dre eye mitchell reports. ♪ if you want it, you got it join for free. weight watchers points plus 2012. because it works. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. gomery and abigail higgins had... ...a tree that bore the most rare and magical fruit. which provided for their every financial need. and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. but we couldn't simply repeat history. we had to create it. introducing the 2013 lexus gs, with leading-edge safety technology, like available blind spot monitor... [ tires screech ] ...night view... and heads-up display. [ engine revving ] the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. good morning. happy valentine's day. i'm chris jansing. how did this happen? another shocker in the republican race for the nomination. underfunded and out man, two new polls show rick santorum is tied with mitt romney in the republican race for the white house. the new cbs/new york times poll shows santorum and romney neck and neck, but look at the difference a month makes. santorum was barely in third place with 16%. and a pew research poll has similar results. san tour santorum and romney in a statistical dead heat as well. the santorum super pac restore our future has launched a $640,000 ad buy in michigan just for this week alone. i'm joined by washington post columnist you gene robinson and msnbc

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