are kicking off their most coordinated effort yet to highlight not guilty inequality. the president travels to boca raton, florida tomorrow for a speech on the buffett rule, named after billionaire investor warren buffett who has made his secretary, who he says pays more in taxes percentage-wise, than he does, a nationally known figure. the obama campaign will hold a conference call today pushing romney to explain why he opposes the rule and hold buffett rule events in other swing states on tuesday. and a week from today, on the eve of tax day, senate democrats scheduled a proceduralal vote on a stand-i alone buffett rule bit. they stay would raise at least $50 billion in revenue by raising taxes on millionaires and billionaires. the president is making an argument for what he calls tax fairness. >> if these the choice that members of congress want to make, then we are going to make sure every american knows about t if you make more than $1 million annually, then you should pay at least the same percentage of your income in taxes as middle class families do and i intend to keep fighting for this kind of balance and fairness until the other side starts listening because i believe this is what the american people want. >> meanwhile, republicans will use tax week to make the case that all the president want does is secretly or not so secretly raise taxes and not just for the higher earners. a message mitt romney has been trying to push on the trail. >> this president believes in higher taxes now, he doesn't want to say that he just wants to do that i want to reduce the marginal tax rates for everyone across america, cut out the special deals, limit the deductions and exemptions and get america working again. >> finally, worried that the president's message on income inequality may be taking hold with some voters, the super pac american cross roads is planning to launch an advertising campaign blitz against the president with the first phase scheduled to run over the next three months, focussed in swing states. the goal, according to the group, "to better connect americans' disappointment with the economy to their views of the president, especially among crucial swing voters. "now why do they do it that way? because they have found in their polling, like others have found, is that president obama has a higher favorable rating among crucial swing independent voters than maybe a job approval rating and disconnect, the republicans hope to push toward the republicans but the problem there is those same voters a letters favorable view of mitt romney, even if they want to lean more toward the republican message. well, mitt romney was off the trail this and with, did he sweet photos of easter egg painting with his grandchildren and caught boogie boarding near the romney home near la jolla, california. when it comes to the primaries ahead, romney wasn't relax, we wloernd he would play hard. and there is the answer, romney and the super pac go up with several million dollars in advertising over the final two weeks before the pennsylvania vote the question will be is what's the message going to be? meanwhile is it going to be anti-santorum or simply pro romney or anti-obama/pro romney. rick santorum canceled campaign events in pennsylvania scheduled for today to stay with the daughter, bella, the 3-year-old hospitalized. she was born with a chromosomal disorder and hospitalized in january for pneumonia. santorum will be back on the trail tomorrow in south central pennsylvania as calls from supporters from him to call it quits are growing louder. >> as his friend, i would say to him, you know, you ought to seriously consider leaving the race now. in eight years, he will be three years younger than romney is now. but, you know, running for president is a very personal decision, when to get sought a very personal decision and he is going to have to make that. >> that's what would convince ready santorum to call it quits, a top strategist for santorum's campaign told "the wall street journal," "if we come to a conclusion that another candidate will get 1144, we are going to respect that" on fox news sunday, newt gingrich all but acknowledged romney will be the nominee. >> well, i think you have to be realistic, given the size of his organization, given the number of primaries he has once, he is far and await most likely republican nominee. >> gingrich also acknowledged he is millions of dollars in debt, and did a little finger pointing at his staff. >> we are not going to go broke. >> no personal funds? >> no well, a little bit but not dramatically. we owe much more than we wanted to florida got to be a real brawl. >> i bet. >> and i think unfortunately, our guys tried to match romney and turned out that we didn't have anything like his capacity to raise money. >> we shall see. finally, talk about a tepid endorsement, if you will. check this out from republican governor john kasich. ohio couldn't be more crucial as far as the path for 274, the republicans. and yet once again, we see romney getting one of these unenthusiastic nonendorsements. take a listen. >> i haven't endorsed. i said everybody i either endorsed or was for dropped out or didn't run, so i will wait until we have a nominee. >> this is one of those weird challenges for romney. there still seems to be a tepidness among some republicans out there for him. he needs at some point to get these folks to stop going public with their trepidation. anyway, finally, a big loss for all of must the television news business. mike wall, what the famed journalist on cbs' "60 minutes" died this weekend at the age of 93. he covered more than half a century of american history and no one asks tough questions quite like he did. >> doing what? with you? why? why? why? really? when you bill to down to low gravy -- you demand special treatment. you needed money. it is almost an embarrassment, sir to hear from you? what? why are you so reluctant? >> iconic images the times, whether he was pressing world leaders, scolding celebrities, his long-time friend morley safer said yesterday, his visits were proceeded by the four dreaded words, "mike wallace is here." >> he calls you, imam, forgive me, his words, not mine, a lunatic. mr. chairman there are palestinians who would like to kill you. why would brian mcnamee want to betray you? >> wallace won 21 emmy awards, five du pont columbia journalism awards and five peabody awards. wallace started his career in radio as an announcer. he then made the switch to tv, starring in commercials and game shows, believe it or not. his first tv news job was on the local new york show called "night beat" in 1968. he helped launch a little program for cbs called "60 minutes" and through his 60-year career, he interviewed presidents and first ladies among them. >> a good many people hated your husband. they even hated you. >> yes. a great many do still. >> even his friends were not spared from tough questioning. >> why hasn't this job weighed as heavily on you as it has on some other occupants of this oval office? >> well, mike, i don't know what the answer to that would be. well, maybe none of them had a nancy. >> he was very close friends with nancy reagan. nancy reagan's mother and the reagans in general. in a statement, nancy reagan remembered wallace saying "my shatter broken today over the death of my dear friend, mike wallace. my parents introduce node mike more than 75 years ago and we have been fast friends ever since. mike was on old-school journalist and one of the most astute people i ever met. the news business will be a different place now and our lives will be forever changed for having known him. requests requests in 2005, wallace told nbc news that he would like to be remembered by three simple words. >> tough but fair. and that really -- i mean, for a reporter, tough but fair. >> mike wall, what he was 93. one day before a crease fire was supposed to take effect in syria, the violence is getting worse with reports of crossborder attacks in turkey you cold-blooded excuses in the streets. amman mow had dean is live what is the likelihood there will be a real cease-fire now? >> less than 24 hours to go,000 look at the evidence on the ground, you would be easily capable of making the argument that this cease-fire is not going to take place. preparations for a cease-fire not even visible. the state department released satellite images showing the military was redeploying around town, not pulling back to the barracks like they were supposed to. adding of that on sunday, sittian foreign ministry says they now want written guarantees from rebel opposition force these lay down their weapons and also want written guarantees from the united nations that countries like qatar, saudi arabia and turkey hedge the forces there stop funding and financing them. today we saw another deadly incident where syrian forces opened on refugees inside turkey and according to eyewitnesses there, there were casualties in that incident. so you are getting really a grim sense of the violence that is continuing to escalate inside syria on the eve of this cease-fire. >> i want to bring up that you just brought up the turkish -- the refugee camp that was fired upon. that was on turkish soil. what was the turkish government's response to this? >> that is correct. the turkish government has confirmed that the incident took place. now, according to eyewitnesses and the syrian observatory for human rights based out of london, based on their assessment of what happened, a group of syrian rebels attacked a syrian military post on the syrian side of the border, they then opened fire but in opening fire, they -- i guess directly or indirectly hit the refugees that were on the turkish side of the border. the turkish military did not respond but it gives you a sense of the tension that exist nous all along syria's borders and the fear that something like this could spill over. we have seen these incident he is happen on lebanon, the lebanese/syrian border, now seeing them happen between syria and turkey. fanned it continues to escalate there could be serious concerns that the violence will spread to nearby turkey. >> all right, amman, live for must cairo, thanks very much. mitt romney tries pivot to the main event, general election, but the santorum factor still stands in his way. coming up, will romney need to carpet bomb pennsylvania with negative ads to get santorum to step aside? and still ahead, making every vote count. a cunning plan to change the way presidents are elected in the united states. but is it fair to a state-centric federal government as we have put together? but first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. easter egg roll day but also a big bilateral meeting, one of the fastest growing economies in the world, the president of brazil. you are watching "the daily rundown," only on msnbc. ♪ oh. let's go. from the crack, off the backboard. [ laughs ] dad! [ laughs ] whoo! oh! you're up! oh! oh! so close! now where were we? ok, this one's good for two. score! [ male announcer ] share what you love with who you love. kellogg's frosted flakes. they're gr-r-eat! then don't get nickle and dimed by high cost investments and annoying account fees. at e-trade, our free easy-to-use online tools and experienced retirement specialists can help you build a personalized plan. and with our no annual fee iras and a wide range of low cost investments, you can execute the plan you want at a low cost. so meet with us, or go to etrade.com for a great retirement plan with low cost investments. ♪ power, precision, cutting edge the new lithium-powered worx g will save you time and effort. you'll never again hassle with mixing gas and oil. no more struggling with tangled extension cords. the powerful worx gt suast wiuh a simple touch of a button andm a powerful trimmer to a machine to a perfect cut every time. a clean, straight edge makes a big difference in the appearance of your yard. well, as we head toward the general election, how does mitt romney recover from what his bruising hits rivals keep clobbering him with. like this one from rick santorum just last week. >> a moderate massachusetts governor is not gonna make that strong contrast. he will pull out etch a sketch and we will be stuck again. >> joining me now, republican admaker brad todd, former -- in fact, consultant at the crnc and tony fratto, deputy press secretary for george w. bush. during my opening, i talked about the ads that the romney campaign is running, the romney campaign sent me an e-mail saying they have pulled any negative ads against santorum right now and they say we have done this out of deference to senator santorum's decision to suspend his campaign for personal family reasons. brad, not sur pricing this is not the time to go negative on santorum, but actually, it is a larger question. when they go after pennsylvania, are they targeting it as a general election state against president obama or are they trying to sort of end this primary campaign so that he is not in the race in may? >> i think the question somewhat academic, i think the vase over a lot of other states on this day. romney is going to win all of them. probably win pennsylvania and a few negative ads against santorum might aid that in that process but the mindset of the romney camp has to be looking it he general election now and it is just time to do that. >> if the mindset is that -- still spending a couple million dollars trying to win a pennsylvania republican primary and granted, tony, you can say it is not wasted money, but a large chunk of change, i would assume the reason is not crazy about the idea of losing primaries in may. >> it is not wasted money if mitt romney is talking about mitt romney and barack obama, if he is spending that money talking about rick santorum, then it could be wasted money, because he doesn't need that right now. he has got four months heading into the convention, until we get to the convention, a chance to rebrand mitt romney and talk about the issues he wants to talk about and talk about barack obama. >> how concerned would you be in the romney campaign if santorum does stick around and does win a bunch of primaries the may? >> i think you have to hold your stomach. you know, president obama has taken the luxury away from romney of being able to worry about rick santorum at this point. i mean, with president obama on the air negative against mitt romney, it is time for him to focus on that. and for senator santorum, you know, just because you refuse to look at the scoreboard doesn't mean the game's not over. >> right. >> and so romney has to just start running his race against president obama. president obama has kick started that with the starting gun, so it's time. >> tony it has been interesting watching team obama here target romney and i have talked to a lot of -- and feels very familiar, to how team bush pivoted and never gave kerry a moment to breathe after he became the nominee. it feels like the -- >> the obama campaign wants to take up all the oxygen that they can and keep the fist in the face of the mitt romney campaign. that's why it is so critical for mitt romney to be able to turn his direction back towards the president. use some of the resources and messaging opportunity that he will have to take up some -- put his own fist in the obama camp. >> you know, brad are you are a consumer of a lot of polling data and seem there is are a couple of interesting things that came out, you had the head of american cross roads are, this issue, the president has a hire favorable rating than job rating with some critical group, a democratic polling firm out this morning with a similar finding and this is -- and i have heard this from folks close to the romney campaign, this is an issue that they have, the president, higher favorable rating than mitt romney with a group of voters that maybe they are more open to the republican argument, but not to mitt romney making. how do you fix this? >> if mitt romney's campaign tough keep the focus squarely on whether president obama has done a good job as president, period, end of story, not an election where voters dislike the president and they don't have to. they can like him and vote against him because he has been a bad president and that's the needle the romney campaign has to thread h. >> but it seems to me, i remember the john kerry campaign saying this you don't understand these swing voters, they agree with us on these issues -- >> didn't agree with him on a lot of critical issues. >> some of these economic issues. >> no question about it, but it was a different economic situation back then that race was a different race, wouldn't try to pull too many lessons from it. i think brad is right, you don't have to be the most likable candidate although i think mitt romney can be a pretty likable guy. he has time and opportune i do the it, no question about it not where he is now, but six months away from leeks day, he has a chance to do that if he cannot have to deal with primary challengers right now putting up millions of dollars of nasty ads about him. >> very quickly, brad, every time you turn around there is another tepid endorsement or nonendorsement for mitt romney. how do you change this sort of conversation with -- it seem there is are too many republicans -- and the latest number referred to john kasich, heard marco rubio, heard from other -- almost a little nervous about what supporting romney will look like in four years. you think there is too much of that calculation? >> not bean bag, nobody said running for president was easy. and so you know exmitt romney just those keep working hard every single day as he starts to make the case against president obama and he starts in that role, plenty of republicans are going to be plenty fired up. >> you think conservatives are looking at it with one eye over their own politics. >> wonder if some conservatives will teach him a lesson and hold his feet to the fire in this campaign, make sure he those work for the nomination, work hard conservatives in this nomination fight you conner is vat i was in the back of their mind thinking maybe that will anchor him. >> tony fratto, brad todd, thank you both, happy debated easter and passover. we will get a check of how the markets are going to start the week in react to the friday job numbers. game on, as team obama refs up the election machine, why are some are worried the campaign is getting too cocky. today's trivia question,ry which former attorney general's wife donned a full easter bunny costume for six consecutive easter egg rolls at the white house? the answer at chuck todd. the first correct answer will get a follow monday from us. we have two car insurances that we're going to have you taste. the first one we're going to call x. go ahead and take a sip, and then let me know what the baby thinks of it. four million drivers switched to this car insurance last year. oh, she likes it babies' palates are very sensitive so she's probably tasting the low rates. this is car insurance y, they've been losing customers pretty quickly. oh my gosh, that's horrible!, which would you choose? geico. over their competitor. do you want to finish it? no. does the baby want to finish it? no. you're probably muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. zyrtec®. love the air. 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[ jennifer ] weight watchers. believe. because it works. 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. another story we are watching this week, south korean intelligence officials say recent satellite images show north korea is digging a new underground tunnel in what appears to be preparations for a third nuclear test. officials say the excavation is in its final stages and comes as north korea plans to fire a long-range rocket some time in the next week that they say isn't about weapons, that it is about other things than that. but we will have a lot of reports from on the ground there. see how truthful -- koreans are being. first date markets get react to those tepid job numbers. how are they going to react, brian shactman? >> not pretty, chuck. not going to pull any punches with you. if the dow were to open right now and it is gonna in four minutes, be down about 140 points. obviously trying to figure out if this weak jobs report is a one-off, a positive trend or a sign of something more and right now, people are taking a little bit of a bet on the fact that maybe things aren't as robust as we once thought but if the fed puts quantitative easing further, quantitative easing back on the table, maybe this is just a short little selloff in the stock market, that will be the debate we are having on cnbca couple things i want to talk about quickly i gas prices up toed 3.96 nationally, many places much, much worse than that the one thing i want to point out, the lund berg survey increased four cent necessary the last two weeks, previous two weeks 11% pop, the rate is slowing, the bottom line is we are 15 cents off the all-time record from july of '08. sony, they say they are probably going to lay off 10,000 workers worldwide, 6% of their workforce. they are not been profitable in four years. how about this, chuck, they are asking certain executives to return their annual bonuses. that you don't see every day. also, i mean -- i think we are basically in the same demo graph rick if you had a sony train nah tron when you were little, you were doing okay. that was the tv set to have. >> who buys sonys right now? everybody wants a samsung. they are getting -- that's the bottom line. you go in, what is the best tv now samsung, not sony. that stays off. brian shactman, thank you, sir. >> all right, buddy. up next, changing the way we elect the president without changing the constitution a deep dive into the national push that wants to essentially eliminate the electoral college. it wouldn't officially do that, but it would supersede it the handful of states that could make it happen and the lawmaker that warns it would result in a nightmare scenario. you are watching "the daily rundown," only on msnbc. ♪ i'm michael bazinet, president of creative digital imaging of bangor, maine. we have customers all over the united states. we rely on the postal service for everything that we do. the eastern maine processing facility is vital to our operation and our success. if we lose this processing facility we could lose clientele because of increased mailing times. we would have to consider layoffs as a result of that. closure of this plant will affect all of us. ♪ ttd# 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about the typical financial consultation ttd# 1-800-345-2550 when companies try to sell you something off their menu ttd# 1-800-345-2550 instead of trying to understand what you really need. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, we provide ttd# 1-800-345-2550 a full range of financial products, ttd# 1-800-345-2550 even if they're not ours. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 and we listen before making our recommendations, ttd# 1-800-345-2550 so we can offer practical ideas that make sense for you. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck, and see how we can help you, not sell you. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 our deep dive today, we are going to do something here on the national popular vote. mitch mcconnell called the it the biggest fight no one is paying attention to, a national movement to change the way the president is like theed by awarding the white house to the candidate with the most popular votes, not the most electoral votes. we will explain here. senate minority leader the leading critic of the effort and on friday, he became the subject of this new tv ad. >> lucky for kentucky fans, the team that scores the most points always wins. why then does mitch mcconnell defend an electoral system where the presidential candidate with the most votes doesn't win? a system that makes kentucky a flyover state? half the states needed already support a national popular vote. tell mitch to join them and let our votes really count. >> well, that's the pitch from a group called make every vote count, but there's a catch, not all states have to agree before the change would be made. instead of a constitutional amendment, the plan would go into effect once it is enacted by enough states whose combined electoral votes hit 270 or half the total number available, plus one. those states would agree to cast all their electoral votes to whomever won't national popular vote regardless of how votes were tall floyd their own states that way the candidate with the most actual votes would always win t is possible because the constitution allows each state the right to decide how it appoints its own electors. currently eight states and washington, d.c. have signed on to this movement. that's 132 electoral votes or about half the amount needed. supporters argue it is a logical solution to make sure every vote counts equally and make sure all voters make an impact even if they don't live in swing state bus critics stay would shift political power to the laernls and in cases the most liberal states. senator mcconnell made the case that such a love would violate fairness established under the constitution. >> when would be the next time, if odd state with one congressman or two congressmen and you had a tiny population, when is the next time would you see or hear from any candidate for president? this is a major shift of power in the direction of the population centers and as we know, the fundamental compromise in the united states constitution was that every state was treated equally for some purposes. >> leaked 1259 states were popular vote legislation has been introduced including a few red states like south carolina, georgia and kansas f you assume it passes in all 12 and combine them with the states where it is already law, would you hit the 270-vote threshold. note that more than half the states including you the ones like text and florida, which have a vested interest in the current system, could be left out of the decisions but advocates say it is not the states that matter, it's the people. joining me now is joan cosa, chairman of national popular vote inc. so, let me start with one of the leading criticisms from senator mcconnell, you heard it there, which is the idea that basically, it takes power away from small states and puts it all in the hands of essentially the five or six most populace states. >> well, both of those points are wrong. first of all, the small states are the most disadvantaged now in presidential elections. of the 13 smallest state, only new hampshire is a closely divided battleground state and gets some attention, but the other 12, alaska, idaho, montana, wyoming, north and south dakota, et cetera, receive no attention. and those 12 states are completely ignored whereas new hampshire, sway closely divided battleground state, gets 12 of the 300 postconvention visits and corresponding large chunk of money. so the argument that the small sta states are advantaged by the current system dead wrong. similarly it is dead wrong to say the power is transferred to the 12 largest states that contain all these big cities. if you look at a recent close election, 2004, the 12 largest state does have more than half the population and half the voters of the country, but john kerry only built up a margin of 250,000 in all 12 states out of 69 million votes cast in these big, scary states with their big cities. in fact, george w. bush rolled up a 3 million vote margin nationwide and easily counter balanced the 12 largest states. both are dead wrong.counterbala states. both are dead wrong. >> let me talk about a few points here, half the states would force all the other states to have to join in a new system, full, because the way -- what you're try dog is you create a -- you say these states and states can do this, basically create a contract with each other, a compact, if you will, and when you get enough to 270, they all agree to do it, therefore, it changes the system without having a constitutional -- you're sort of circum investigate the constitutional amendment is that really fair to the other states and it maybe more than half the states that don't agree with this idea? >> well, the constitution gives the states the exclusive power to award their electoral votes, the system we have did not come into place by constitutional amendment. in the first election, only three states used the winner-take-all rule, which is prevalent now. the change to most of the states using the winner-take-all rule occurred through state legislation, not a constitutional amendment. also in the first election, a majority of the states didn't let the people vote for president at all. there was no public input at all. so, the transition to what we now have, which is 100% of the states letting the people vote for president occurred without a constitutional amendment, the states have this power and the states disadvantaged, two-thirds of the states, remember, 200 million of 300 million americans will not matter in this election. in the last 30 minutes you used the words swing states three times, the reality is this presidential election, like the open, come down to a handful, maybe a dozen closely divided battleground states and the "new york times" quoted romney's campaign saying this election would come down to four states. now, what about the other 200 million people in the constitution gave the states the power to make a system that's in their best interest and in the best interest of the united states that a presidential campaign be conducted in all 50 states. >> there is a little bit of unintended consequences that go with any change and one that pops into my mind that if which go to a national popular vote is that if you like money and politics and spend more money in politics, you will love a national popular vote campaign because financially, the numbers that would be needed to galvanize, to campaign in these larger state, larger cities, larger media markets, would be astronomical figures, might double or trim the cost of a presidential campaign. healthy? >> money doesn't grow on trees. changing from the state by state winner-take-all rule to a system where every american's vote counts has not produced one single extra dollar in campaign contribution. the fact is all this money is concentrated now in just 12 states. we are not gonna raise any more money because of national popular vote, that money will have to be spread, those visits will have to be spread and that means presidential candidates will pay atennesse -- attention americans who are left out of the consideration. >> and the last critique from mitch mcconnell, if you like the florida recount, what would happen on a national basis? here's his argument. >> when the national popular vote total is the way the president is chosen, then every vote in america in every precinct in america becomes a subject for endless litigation. and with all the enterprising plaintiffs' lawyers that we have in this country, and the zeal with which both parties compete for power, not a single legal stone would be left unturned by both sides. chaos. >> what do you say to that? >> well, it's dead wrong. every vote in the united states and every precinct should count. the reality is the current system has produced five litigated state counts in a mere 56 elections, whereas in normal election, where there's a simple adding um the vote and the candidate with the most votes wins, the chance of a recount and a dispute is very rare, about 1 in 160. the reality is it's the current system that creates chaos because every election is 51 separate elections and there's 51 separate opportunities for a florida situation where, in fact, there was no closeness at all in the national popular vote. if there was so much chaos in adding up the votes in every precinct, woe see chaos in every governor's election and every senatorial election but in fact, that is not true. so, this is a hypothetical that's not based on historical reality, which you can get from looking at governors' elections. >> john koza, i have to leave it there. >> thank you todd. >> wait until we get a 269-269 result in the leak toral college then watch your movement flourish. thank you very much for your time. up next, our monday political panel. if you can boil down this week into one word, it would be taxes. but first, the white house soup of the day always a favorite of mine, mushroom and leek. more "the daily rundown" here on msnbc. we will be right back. guys. come here, come here. [ telephone ringing ] i'm calling my old dealership. [ man ] may ford. hi, yeah. do you guys have any crossovers that offer better highway fuel economy than the chevy equinox? no, sorry, sir. we don't. oh, well, that's too bad. [ man ] kyle, is that you? [ laughs ] [ man ] still here, kyle. [ male announcer ] visit your local chevy dealer today. right now, very well qualified lessees can get a 2012 equinox ls for around $229 a month. this week, as americans across the country are filing their tax returns, the two parties will lay out two starkly different visions for america. senator dick durbin, who is whip, democratic votes in the senate and governor john kasich of the crucial state of ohio laid out the argument yesterday on "meet the press." >> the ryan budget, which mitt romney called marvelous, ends up giving a tax break to the wealthiest people in america of $150,000 a year. we have seen working families falling further and further behind and mitt romney promises more of the same. >> we got to stop this whole class warfare business. we can, in fact, close loopholes, lower rates. look, all i'm interested in ohio and i think dick is interested in america, gout to create jobs, it is a moral issue. >> let's bring in our monday panel, molly ball covers politics, far refresh shack clear from politics.org and dan balz, washington bureau chief correspondent. let me start with you, dan. in hearing republicans are talking about the tax argument, i get the sense that they are concern that the democrats have figured out a way to sell tax increases the first time maybe since we have been covering political campaigns. >> i think it is a closer debate than we have been used to in the past. the tax cutting has been an article of faith for the republicans, in part because it has been successful politics. right r >> you can argue whether it has been successful economics that is a good debate to have and what this campaign will be about. but i think president obama and the democrats have found a way to talk about this that has put the republicans more on -- >> don't forget, in 2008, dan will remember, that we had a version of this debate with john mccain and president obama, with obama taking basically the same stance he has now regarding the bush tax cuts, he once, the exit polling after the campaign showed he wanted this argument. for romney to continue down this road i think a losing path having not learned the lessons that mccain went through i think shows just -- >> i guess pick up a little bit on what dan and faz were saying, seems as if the romney campaign and republicans know they can't have a tax fairness argument, they will lose that. instead, let's shift the conversation away from taxes. >> i think this is the way this issue always plays out, you have question of what is the tax code about? is it about fairness? is it about everybody being stake holders in the system and contributing what we feel is the right amount or maximizing economic potential, maximizing economic growth? economists say you want to adjust it in such a way, not so that it feels right to people but so it maximizes productivity and maximizes output and all those kinds of things so this is the sort of balance that has to be struck when you are figuring out a tax code and the political argument, i think, proceeds along those lines a little bit u. >> dan balz, not since, i had somebody point this out to me, not since 1948 arguably, has any sitting president run on a promise to raise taxes. >> any sitting president that is probably right. >> sort of stunning, but we are in a different place. >> we are in a different place. you know, the framing of this election, the 99 versus the 1, now part of the political lexicon, has helped to shift the aspects of this debate and i think that that gives the president some confidence that you can make the argument that people at the very top who have done very well are not doing their fair share. >> i want to shift gears here, come to you here, and this is this interesting little piece in buzz feed by ben smith, michael hastings, among others, that talk about is the obama campaign getting a little too cocky? obama allies fear the president's team will get caught flat footed on the economy if growth slows down between now and election day. they don't fear romney, he is viewed as joke in the chicago headquarters. david axelrod describes what he called as complacency among donors in the face of what is likely to be as 700 million, $800 million campaign. do you have a sense of that the democrats, those sympathetic to the president, are a little too cocky? >> i don't think cocky but not fully cognizant, if you win the inside bubble game, leads to appreciate how out of touch romney is that doesn't necessarily trickle down to colorado and -- >> just because they are wing the argument in the corridor doesn't mean -- >> doing wonderful skit showing your messaging but it doesn't mean that the structure of the election is close already, with the states and the economy numbers and i think you have got to continue press the argument. john kerry was a fundamentally weak candidate, per bush team's argument. >> how close the election was. >> super tight u >> it is interesting, molly, the romney campaign, they're little frustrated with -- they feel as if the national press is somehow buy nothing this messaging that, hey, obama's got -- when you look at the numbers, it isn't a big lead. >> no it is going to be a very close election no matter what and i think you do hear -- >> clear. >> do you hear a lot of confidence out of the obama team when they look at the improving economy and they look romney. it may be part of this fact that they're out there in chicago. the pint of that was to disconnect them a little bit from this bubble. >> and they seem disconnected. >> the disconnect may be going in a little business divorcing them from reality out here. >> i think the words are the same that come from the obama team but the tonality is different. they believe this is going to be a close election. they don't sound as convinced as they was six months ago. stick around, we're going to stalk about a little more about snl after this. down to full-body easter bunny costume for six consecutive easter rules in the white house. the sixth consecutive was the answer there. wife of president reagan's attorney general was known as the neaster bunny. martha mitchell did it once or twice but not six times. c'mon dad! i'm here to unleash my inner cowboy. instead i got heartburn. [ horse neighs ] hold up partner. prilosec isn't for fast relief. try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast. yeehaw! 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. you could spend as much as $200. olay says challenge that with an instrument that cleanses as effectively as what's sold by skin professionals for a whole lot less. olay pro x advanced cleansing system. in all honesty i can't remember a time when doungeons and dragons wasn't an parent part of my life. >> later, rm my made an appearance at the 2010 piercing conventi convention. >> people ask me, mitt, how many piercings do you have? >> governor romney appeared at meeting of the united jewish appeal. >> barack, adanoi. >> molly, this goes to what faz was just saying. the obama campaign has defined romney as far as media elitist. when that is the sketch you get from mitt romney, if that is what culture gets for mitt romney, that is a message for obama. >> this general election has been going on for months and months. the democrats have been pushing this definition of romney aided an abetted by romney's foes in the republican primary no, doubt. the point that it gels and sticks and hardens into concrete before they gets to talk to them. >> you sit there, dan, and you sit there and say, well, geez, he's becoming a punch line hop how does her recover? john kerry was a punch line. bob doyle was a punch line. but bill clinton was a punch line, too. >> that's true. the reasons bill clinton was a punch line is a different reason why romney is a punch line. that talks centrally to the problem. >> dna base. i would say there's a question of leadership and to what extinct is romney going to demonstrate -- part of the issue is that he looks anchorless and he's following the path. >> he needs to change. >> he's got to show he's a leader to some degree of his own party. i'm not sure that's going to happen. >> molly? >> the new issue of the atlantic is on newsstands now. i have a lead piece in the front of the book about conservative movement in japan and whether it can bring the energy of the american tea party to the land of rides rising sun. >> go national popular vote. and number two, we all send our condolences to the rick santorum family. >> and i'd like to offer condolences to chris wallace and all the wallace family in the passing of mike wallace. great journalist. >> it's been good to have everybody mike's career remembered in a way that it should be. tomorrow on the show, republican strategist mike murphy joins me. never know what he's got up his sleeve. coming up next, chris jansing. bye-bye. to roll over my old 401(k) into a fidelity ira. man: okay, no problem. it's easy to get started; i can help you with the paperwork. um...this green line just appeared on my floor. yeah, that's fidelity helping you reach your financial goals. could you hold on a second? it's your money. roll over your old 401(k) into a fidelity ira and take control of your personal economy. this is going to be helpful. call or come in today. fidelity investments. turn here. 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[ female announcer ] join now and get one month free. hurry offer ends april 21st. weight watchers online. finally, losing weight clicks. whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ good morning. i'm richard lui. mitt romney is not the nominee yet but his republican challengers seem to be fading. rick santorum for instance is off the campaign trail today to be h his sick daughter bella in the hospital. romney will probably be the nominee.