govern? good morning from washington. it's super thursday. this is "the daily rundown." let's get to the first read of the morning. super tuesday marks the beginning of the end. it's marked the beginning of the end of every competitive campaign for the last quarter century. for now, this republican race apparently is going on. mitt romney tries desperately behind the scenes to end it. the campaign spent much of yesterday making the case that neither santorum or gingrich has a realistic shot and brought out show and tell to highlight the advantage adding it would take an act of god for one of them to go. we will get to 1144 and be the republican nominee. that got under santorum's skin. >> what won't they resort to to try to bully their way through this race? the governor thinks he is now ordained by god to win? let's have it out. >> the fact is the delegates are quite daunting. to win we need two of three delegates going forward. something no candidate ever achieved. this is more over than the conventional wisdom suggests. he said we should bring it to a conclusion without telling them to suck it up. tough luck. romney is the nominee, deal with it whether you like it or not. another reason is where romney faces a near term calendar program. romney has another test on tuesday when alabama and mississippi hold primaries. no other region that better represents today's republican party with the deep conservatism and evangelical voters. no other region where mitt romney struggled more. romney's super pac is pouring money into the states and acknowledging the challenges and setting the bar pretty low. >> everybody loses states. john mccain lost 19 states on the way to the nomination. no one every runs the stable on these things. >> i continue to shake my head at this idea. john mccain lost 19 states. is the mccain example really one the romney people want to talk about. what happened to john mccain in november? santorum took evens to the act of god phrase. gingrich didn't seem pleased with pressure from the supporters to get out of the race. gingrich's campaign though did call alabama and mississippi both must win states and santorum has his own strategy. >> at this primary and the primary next door in mississippi, both of next week and we will once again for the ninth time reset this primary race. >> if we win mississippi, this will be a two-person race. if this is a two-person race, we will nominate a conservative as president of the united states. >> santorum's super pac is making that argument for him. saying in a super tuesday statement, based on his performance and his record, it is time for newt gingrich to exit the process. gingrich certainly fired back. >> we are staying in this race because i believe that it's going to be impossible for a moderate to win the general election. >> santorum appeared to be hands off saying the super pac is acting alone. >> they are not doing so at my knowledge. i have been very, very clear about my position on this. i am not saying i don't want to get out. i'm all for him getting out, but i'm all for everybody getting out. i wish president obama would hand me the thing, but that's not going to happen. >> gingrich's campaign yesterday had it if they don't win both alabama and mississippi maybe their candidacy will not be taken seriously nor will it be anymore. one more thing. remember this declaration just 36 hours ago. >> we are going on to mississippi. we are going on to kansas. and that's just this week. >> it turns out gingrich is not going on to kansas. he is skipping stops to focus on tuesday's southern states. one other point. ask yourself this question. is romney getting punished because even though he is doing everyone said he had to do. win michigan, win ohio. barely, but he won it. it's the competition that he is doing it against. finally the obama campaign is treating super tuesday as the day they begin their own campaign in earnest. next week they announced this on super tuesday. biden will take off a series of speeches that start in ohio and it's about defending the campaign and the decisions they made. biden was dispatched where he did an interview and was asked to weigh? on whether romney is close to wrapping up the nomination. >> look, i have enough trouble figuring out the democratic process let alone the republican. i can look through the personal squabbles and the personalities and look at what they are saying and there is no fundamental difference. >> at an evening fund-raiser, he said god love them as my mother would say, i hope they have another 20 debates. the obama campaign is up with a trailer teasing a 17-minute documentary of sorts. more of a campaign video that they are releasing next week about the president's first term in office narrated by tom hanks and includes a decision to tackle health care 50 and the defense of the auto bailout. >> his advisers would ask where to begin. which need would he put first? >> which is one and two and three and four and which five? where do you start? >> if we don't do this now, we will be a generation before 30 million people have health insurance. >> if the auto industry goes down, what happens to america's manufacturing base? what happens to jobs in america? what happens to the whole midwest? >> interestingly remember many accounts rahm emmanuel was one who say the president should put off the fight. how about the fact that she is in this video. she is very popular with the base. they are embracing her and she enjoyed being embraced on this one. it's clear that they believe the president's commander in chief moments authorize the strike on bin laden are two strikes. . >> the entire apparatus, now we had to make a decision. go or not go. as he walked out of the room, he is all over. this is his decision and can stand there with him. >> remember what biden admitted, he counciled against it. >> the republican's pain may be the president's gain. he is starting to press that advantage. he served as the president's political director and joins me now. patrick from chicago. i guess it's fairly joined at this point. nice to see you. >> nice to see you. that was a great wind up this morning. >> fair enough. let me get you to respond to something. mitt romney said on cnbc about what he is expecting from you and the campaign. >> they are going to go after me on a personal basis and try to make me into something i'm not. we are going to talk about the president's record. we are going to ask people are you happy with what happened in terms of job creation and how long it took us to recover and are you happy with the trillion of debt this year and are you concerned about the size of government? you go through the list of policies and recognize the american people are not happy. i will talk about his policies and of course they will be talking about personalities. >> patrick, he is accusing you and the campaign and others that you guys have been focused more on him personally. you are going to go after him personally. fair charge? >> that's ironic and hypocritical for a candidate who spent tens of millions on ads that are 90% negative and aimed at the president with all due respect to governor romney. he should do the refocusing of attention on rick santorum and newt gingrich. the day after super tuesday is like groundhog day. they are still voting against the middle class voters and young people deeply unenthusiastic about his front-runner status. he and his allies from super pac who spent millions of dollars training their fire on this president should try to figure out how to get out of debt and it will leap to the extreme right. >> patrick, one thing about the campaign that still is somewhat striking. that is you guys are raising a good check for money. maybe this was a media that created this mythology that you guys because of how much money you were able to raise that you raise that much money and more. why is it that you think that it has been one of these odd al enjs that you raise at a good clip and it's not the rate that it was coming in. >> i would never accuse your colleagues, but some of the the projections of what we raised were from the media. we have been very sobering with the activist and the firm base that said that than in 2008. the resources will help the infrastructure. >> did that hurt? i'm curious. do you think that the billion dollar narrative hurt fund-raising a little bit and maybe a small donor said they are going to have a billion. they don't need my $5. >> that was never our number and we are very excited about what we see for the support. 90% of the contributions are coming from contributions of less than $200. the base is alive and well and we are seeing folks who are making contributions and they are knocking on doors and making phone calls and caucuses. we had more activists on the ground than those combined. he got more votes. he was there in 2008 and. >> if you look at where they won, they would argue they won in places that are normally democratic strongholds and that somehow that should send the message to republicans that he can win in the places that a republican has to overperform in order to carry the state of ohio. what say you to that? >> i think, chuck, that i have been to ohio and ohio is not that i recognize. you know of course that any republican candidate in that state would have to do exceedingly well in the rural parts of the state where romney has struggled with the middle class voters earning less than $100,000 a year. a candidate with those struggles in the republican primary will be hard pressed when it comes up against president obama who gets a tremendous amount of praise from people in ohio for having saved them from the health care chain in the state. the president who has increased manufacturing and again to the benefit of the buckeye state. mitt romney would be significantly challenged by our president in ohio and throughout the heart land. you concerned that this narrative that they can't win over conservatives could help him with swing voters and he is not one of them. they don't seem to embrace him. >> actually i think that mitt romney's struggles go beyond the traditional voters. it's clear that he is being abandoned by independents in the party. they are increasing this. the others who are up for the nomination. look at what happened with the georgetown law student exploited by rush limbaugh. he said these are not the words he would have chosen. people understand the agenda. when you are in the white house they are looking for leaders and leadership and whether you are independent or conservative or moderates, this is someone who will have to stand up at times and they are seen with that kind of courage. >> executive director of the dnc and thank you. >> thank you. >> up next, the white house and romney have this race wrapped up. didn't he do everything he was asked to do? the road to tampa should be speed bump-free? a house divided? john boehner struggling to keep his conference under control and united. a look ahead at the president's schedule. you are watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. ♪ he was a 21st century global nomad ♪ ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. not in this economy. we also have zero free time, and my dad moving in. so we went to fidelity. we looked at our family's goals and some ways to help us get there. they helped me fix my economy, the one in my house. now they're managing my investments for me. and with fidelity, getting back on track was easier than i thought. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. oh dear... oh dear! ohh dear... i'm not sure exactly what happened here last night. i was out helping people save money on their car insurance. 2 more! you're doing it! aren't they doing great?! hiiiiiii!! come sweat with me! keep going richard. keep sweating!! geico. fifteen minutes could save you sweat! sweat! fifteen percent or more on car insurance. nature valley trail mix bars are made with real ingredients you can see. like whole roasted nuts, chewy granola, and real fruit. nature valley trail mix bars. 100% natural. 100% delicious. >> mitt romney said it's virtually impossible for his nominees to win the white house. >> the show's over, mr. romney, good luck in the general election and i will go smoke my pipe and watch book notes as i unwind from a hard day at the sat ire factory. >> mitt romney won the math, but lost the momentum. >> the republican is far from over, folks. every time. >> with me now, "the washington post" and politico's voice. every time. >> every time. >> it's like no, no, no. this is how i taught my 4-year-old to swim. no, swim to me here. back up a little bit. swim to me here. is that this what mitt romney is suffering for? >> i think there is serious frustration in the boston headquarters with the shifting goal post in terms of what you estimated with the defa facto nominee. we did, what more do you want? the challenges that he keeps showing weakness with a core group of voters. it happens to be the gop base. we keep losing states. look, does that mean he won't be the nominee? no. does that mean that the map is not there for all of us to see how he is in fact going to be the nominee? no. it's a reminder of the weaknesses he had with his party and the broader challenge he will have in the fall running against the heavy weights. he's got to move up right now and he got in the wing and he's not there idea. >> is he getting punished because of who he is barely beat something. >> i was going to say. >> two candidacies. anybody who was considered a tier one or tier two. santorum and gingrich extend the jonathan fighting metaphor. i think it's true. if you are a middle weight and you knockout a fly weight, you weigh 50 pounds more than that guy. mitt romney can't choose who ran in the race, but if you look in 08 and what happened in florida. john mccain beat mitt romney and people like us said the nomination fight is over. why did he say that? mitt romney spent a lot of money and he was a serious person. if john mccain beat -- >> we didn't think he could pull it out. we thought he couldn't. >> imagine in john mccain beat gary bauer. we would say -- that's what he is suffering from. you can't feel bad for a guy who puts himself in the public light and will be the presidential nominee. you have to be saying what more do i have to do? >> scarborough has been obsessed with this. look at santorum's math. he also points out the romney math here. they have to win 45%. i think others say 45%. it is about 45% of all remaining delegates to secure the nomination. >> that's not exactly -- his point is is you have this at 55%, if you have this 55% that is basically against him, then it does. it actually does mess up the math a little bit for romney to get the number. he will always be the one in the lead. >> they're don't want to be the one. they want to nudge these guys out and bring the party together. the romney folks are i think metaphorically grabs support by the la pells and saying yes, newt and santorum are not jeb bush-like key notes, but look at where the party is and the profile. we have a moderate who -- >> it's unbelievable. >> he's a mormon. >> the guy say front-runner. he's totally out of step with the base of the party. >> in a lot of states where there is a heavy e van yell cal opponent. >> a yanky running in the south of a faith a lot of folks are skeptical about and running in a party that has shifted to the right since 2008. in the obama era, they say this is not gone bad given those circumstances. >> it points to everything else he's got. >> should the romney campaign be making the argument or saying let's remember we actually have a message problem. we are only winning by bludgeoning. >> looking at places, jonathan ran through all the places that romney needed to win. florida. he had to win and he won. he had to win there. how did he win? the only state where he won on a positive message was new hampshire and nevada. one is the form on population. i just feel like if you get the campaign, the obama team started to make this argument. regular people don't care about the math being determined. they don't care about mitt romney winning there. that's not how it works. >> i got this question a lot. why aren't you declaring it over. you declared it over for hillary clinton. look how the republicans reacted when the establishment spoke in 2010. >> exactly. they got a huge backlash and back to where the party is and why it is so hard for romney to wrap up. the party is in a different place than it has been historically. this will be romney's challenges. it will be the party to your grandfather or is it going to be the sharing. i think it's a mixture of both. quickly, i think that's why the establishment doesn't want to get involved. the establishment got involved against christine o'donnell and she got stronger. sorry. >> you guys know this issue. i have to too. it's my job. >> i have to do the market preview and find out why greece is screwing up the 401(k)s again. we are taking a deep dive into the upcoming primary contest. republican primary voters, this should be your theme song, guys. but first today's trivia question. who was the first democratic woman from maine elected to congress. they sent women to congress more than most states. who was the first democratic woman? tweet me the answer. the first correct answer will get a follow thursday. 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[ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. only hertz gives you a carfirmation. hey. this is challenger. i'll be waiting for you in stall 5. it confirms your reservation d the location your car is in, the moment you land. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. >> this senior defense official said the president has not asked the u.s. military or the pentagon to drop plans for military intervention in syria. the pentagon drafted a long-term vision of what a military operation in syria would look like that had to do with miscommunication at panetta's testimony yesterday on capitol hill. the deputy oil minster has reportedly defected and posted a video on you tube that make him the highest ranking official to leave since the up rising began a year ago. >> per new concerns about the nuclear program today. images of a facility appear to show trucks and earth moving vehicles at the site. diplomats say that indicates a clean up of radioactive traces. senate leaders struck a deal clearing the way for a vote on $109 billion overhaul of the skmoi transit programs at the same time john boehner is struggling to get his colleagues to pass a version of the bill. we will talk about that later in the hour. >> the opening bell just rang. time for the run down. really late. i am sorry i have been doing this. >> this is good because we can tell you where the market is opening. 70 points on the dow. gains yesterday and we haven't made up the gains we lost. a lot of people thinking there is going to be a deal reached in greece. we will find out late tonight or early tomorrow. the weekly jobless claims this week and the number came in at 362,000. a little bit higher than last week, but we are talking about levels that are near-year lows. that's good news for the market. the big number is tomorrow when we get the monthly number. that's what the market has been keying up for. the other thing is the golden arches. mcdonald's came out with the same store sales. restaurants that have been open at least a year. this was the best way to measure the health of any restaurant. the numbers were very, very strong, but shy of what the street had been expecting. the weakness is coming from europe and asia and that has people talking about the idea of a global slow down and what it means for the economy. sales of restaurants open at least a year in the united states were up by 11.1%. guess what they listed and the reasons for why. what do you think you have seen that have been selling really, really strongly. >> it better be the mcrib. >> no. the mcrib i like, but that's not at every store. the filet o. fish is selling like hot cakes. >> i don't get it. i go to long john silver's. >> you can't eat meat right now. >> fair enough. >> the deep dive takes the march through march. it's finally happening in 30 seconds. we are looking at the long month of march. super tuesday didn't clarify things for some. there big election days in march that could help solve the problem. we shall see. let's start with the first contest that comes up. we have our nifty calendar and that is kansas. these are caucuses that take place this saturday. 40 delegates available. we will see 12 of them and that's winner take all. there is 25 at large. that will be proportional and 20% threshold. this is the party of sam brownback, by the way. what does it mean? this is a place where santorum should not just do well, but very well. does he get closer to 30 than he does 25 delegates? he has to start winning at that clip if he's going to make up ground. let's look at the rest. of course on tuesday, you have alabama and mississippi and then for most of us it will be wednesday when we find out what happens in hawaii. let's look at alabama. 47 delegates and a place that mike huckabee won. a place we will see mitt romney later today. primaries told me this will be a place hard for the business man wing of the republican party to pull this off. they seem to have transitioned from the days of bob reilly to the days of where business men republican couldn't win a primary just two weeks ago. you look over to mississippi. i have a sneaky suspicion that if there is one place and a haley barber machine at all that might want to wrap this up, i am curious to see how they can have a close second. if newt gingrich is doing what he is doing, romney should be able to cross the stresh hold. if you have newt and santorum, can this be the state where with just 34% that romney can take it, this is a way that we will see. it strikes me as the one place that maybe and i'm not trying to set a bar here for romney. false media narrative, keep an eye on mississippi. hawaii, the paul campaign and the only one up there, they are doing everything proportionally. paul has to win somewhere. you can see the frustration on the campaign is starting to show. we have all of these great rallies and don't seem to be able to translate anything. if mitt romney is 0-4, we will be moving to illinois and we will be seeing early voting and started over a week ago. we know in states where there is significant early voting, i hope he padded his lead and will try to put stuff away. we know that advertising has start and this should be a place, funky delegate rules here. none of these are technically bound at all. the congressional district ones are supposed to follow the presidential preference followers. they are unbound there. these are places where everybody has a different way to count the numbers. that brings us to louisiana at the end of the month on the 24th. this is not going to be a good place for mitt romney. should be a good place for santorum. large catholic population. romney has overperformed in the midwest. maybe he can do that here. i have my doubts whether that can happen. as you can see when you look at that month of march, there is one state that you have to feel okay about if you are mitt romney. that's illinois. if he can pull an upset in mississippi. others say alabama. the recent trends indicate that that's less likely. i want to show you one other thing. here's how the money has been spent so far. mitt romney spent a lot of money. $1.2 million. he's at $879,000 and louisiana and santorum barely spending any money. 25,000 and $8,000 in mississippi. winning the future bunch of money. they have been spending a bunch in kansas where he is not going to go anywhere. if you don't buy memphis. one candidate spent money in hawaii. that is ron paul. he has to win somewhere. couldn't do it in alaska. maybe he will do it in hawaii. his son of the same name got the tough duty of being the chief surrogate on the ground there. our political panel will be here next. for the latest political news, your home page should be nbc politics.com. first before i leave you, the white house soup of the day, easily my favorite soup. black bean. you can't go wrong when you throw in black bean and sausage. ♪ we were skipping stones and letting go ♪ [ 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. for the spender who needs a little help saving. for adding "& sons." for the dreamer, planning an early escape. for the mother of the bride. for whoever you are, for whatever you're trying to achieve, pnc has technology, guidance, and over 150 years of experience to help you get there. ♪ aflac! ha! isn't major medical enough? 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[ male announcer ] new bengay zero degrees. freeze and move on. >>. >> it's a filibuster. >> the filibuster rules require 60 votes. >> filibuster. >> filibuster. >> they just filibustered. >> the filibuster. this is the daily flash back. this day in 1917 the senate adopts the cloture rule. it allowed them to end with a 2/3 majority rule. today it takes just 60 votes. stop blaming the 70s. you can blame all these guys in 1917 who decided they would like bathroom breaks. republican voter may be weary of asking are we there yet insisting they will stay in and fight all wait to the convention in tampa. romney is expressing confidence. >> we have the time and the resources and a plan to get all the delegates and we think that will get done before the convention, but one thing i can tell you for sure is there is not a brokered person who comes in and becomes the nominee. >> we have a republican strategist and former bush 43 director and contributor to cnbc. former spokes woman for the transportation secretary ray lahood. you counted delegates before and have been in the game. is it over? >> it's largely over. if you look at the delegate race as it is currently configured, romney has a strong lead. even if gingrich and santorum combine, it's not as strong, but it's substantial still. santorum and gingrich, they need 65 to 70% of the remaining delegates to knock off romney. that's not going to happen. >> if it's over, i know you didn't get into journalism to do math and i won't make you do it, but we went through this four years ago and i do remember the obama campaign made this argument after losing ohio. she didn't get the delegates and they made the case that it's over. guess what. clinton campaigned and said no, i'm staying in. they did have to go through and i feel that's what you have. >> i think it is and this underscores the fix that mitt romney is in when all else fails. nobody wants to be seeing it appealed to the math. for him this is not exactly a great strategy. it underscores the fact that he is having trouble connecting and going into a bunch of primaries that will be in southern states where he will have trouble. again, when he is coming out and say if you look at the math, i've got it. the rest of these guys fall in line. that's not exactlyly sounding le a winning strategy. >> the phrase act of god, it struck me as walking this fine line. they want to say it's over, but at the same time they know there is a sensitivity there not to push too hard. every time they have push back and look what santorum said. >> what won't they resort to to try to bully their way through the race? if the governor thinks he is now ordained by god to win, let's have it out. i feel very, very good that we are running a race and energizing people and we are the man versus the machine. we have the machine and they have the insiders and the big money and we have the people. i like my chances. >> it is always fun to come up with the underdog message. it is easy. that message is easy. >> santorum is at minimum accusing him of serious arrogance. voters don't like arrogant candidates. romney has to appear inevitable, but at the same time not make voters feel like he is taking all power away. the other part of the equation is the media. the media rushes the campaigns and they start a year before they really start and they try to wrap them up fast. >> i'm confused here. we have been accused of removing the goal post or we have been accused of wrapping it too fast. or they are accused of no, no, no, we want this thing to go on forever. poor us. i throw this question out to you first. is he being punished for who she being? we would all have said look, pawlenty ran a good race, but it's over versus when you beat mccain in 2000, you guys beat somebody and -- >> i think there is an element of that that both gingrich and santorum acquitted themselves well. without operations and without resources. that has played into the narrative. however at the end of the day, mitt romney has done what he has needed to do when he has been tested. he won michigan and ohio and he built the infrastructure needed to go the distance in the race. it's not pretty and will get worse for him before it gets better. i think at the end of the day, just like with the 2008 race, obama they said women would never go for obama and they did. >> can you make the case that romney need this is to go longer because he needs to tie on a message that unifies the party? >> the longer it goes on the more it hurts him. the longer this goes on, the more he still is way at the right. he will have to move to the center for the general election. the argument that the obama people say is despite the length of the 2008 campaign and despite this fight between president obama and hillary clinton, you saw neither one of them taking out positions way to the left of the party. you have to come back from it. mitt romney was definitely out there. >> is it fair to hold romney responsible. >> no, absolutely not. he can't help it. who would have thought santorum was a credible candidate. everybody thought he didn't have business running and he believed in himself and here he is. >> we put bill clinton in there. stick around. we will make you do something that will be fun. who was the first democratic woman from maine elected to congress. shelly pingree. to make a bid for olympia snowe's senate seat. look for democrats to oddly rally around a man. we'll be right back. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. brad needs car insurance, but, uh, brad doesn't want to spend too much. who's brad? this is brad. ahh! well, progressive has lots of discounts for a guy like brad. brad's intrigued. paid in full, safe driver, multi-car, going paperless -- all can help brad save a bunch. sign brad up. cool! jamie will ring you up. show brad the way. who's brad? oh, here we go again. discounts that everyone can use. now, that's progressive. call or click today. let's bring back the panel. all right. i want to throw a different topic out here and sarah, let me start with you. it's this issue -- john boehner has been trying to get -- it's a little minute, trying to get a transportation bill out of the house. but what it is, it's about spending money and obviously the tea party republicans were not sent here to spend money. they were here to shrink government, but transportation is one of the things that everybody wants. >> right. >> this has been a real challenge for boehner and he can't get a bill done. how does boehner send a message, that hey, if we can't govern, they won't send us back? >> it is a real challenge and this debate illustrates that john boehner has one of the hardest jobs, if not the hardest job in washington right now. you know, he's signaling he might take up the senate bill if republicans won't come around and support his measure. and at some point, he's going to have to call their bluff and win and he probably knows that. >> you know, helene, the obama white house, they love this. because they sit there and say, see, these guys don't want govern and frankly when you're watching this, it's not the debt ceiling, but it's the same conversation. which is these tea party conservatives are going wait a minute, we weren't sent here to do business as usual. you're trying to tell us to do business as usual. they're like, no, no, this is different. bridges will crumble if you don't do this. >> they're not sent there -- they believe they weren't sent there to do business as usual, but yet this is the lowest approval ratings for a congress because of the gridlock over the past two years. it does play into the obama narrative. he's going around the country now and saying pass this jobs bill, pass this energy bill, pass this, pass this, pass this and he can then campaign and turn around during the general election and say, look, i proposed this, i tried this, and they won't, you know -- congress isn't doing it. >> no conspiracy, because you worked at transportation, clearly, i woke up this morning obsessed with the blind quotes that boehner was lecturing his republican colleagues saying, guys, we're going to look like we can't govern if we don't do this. you worked for a former republican, but this is not his republican party anymore. he's gone up to brief the members. what does he say when he does that? >> first of all, a transportation bill is a jobs bill. this the a different transportation bill than anything before because there's no earmarks in it. they have to get it done. i think it's very frustrating to the secretary. he called the house bill the worst transportation bill he had ever seen in 35 years. >> wow. it's just a different day and age. all right. shameless plugs time. >> troops need you is a great charity run by my buddy eric eggland. he's done a lot for a lot of people in need. >> helene? >> i called and woke up my mom to tell her i was on your show. i wanted to plug her. hi, mom, best mom ever. alise cooper. >> the three of us won't agree with that, but that he's okay. no offense to you, mom. >> game change premiere at the museum. tom hanks is going to be there. julianne moore. >> but donnie deutsche is not going to be there. you saw him the -- that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." coming up next, chris jansing. have a super thursday. bye-bye. here is your business travel forecast. rainy weather over the next couple of days, especially in texas, arkansas, louisiana. one more beautiful day in areas of the east. a chance of showers in the great lakes as we go throughout the day. the chance of thunderstorms, maybe severe thunderstorms from dallas to shreveport. have a great day. i knew it'd be tough on our retirement savings, especially in this economy. but with three kids, being home more really helped. man: so we went to fidelity. we talked about where we were and what we could do. we changed our plan and did something about our economy. now we know where to go for help if things change again. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get free one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. trouble with a car insurance claim. 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