romney to do anything? not ask us to do a single dime's worth of sacrifice? >> the obama campaign rubbed salt in the wound by releasing this ad today linking romney's tax returns to his 47% comments. >> mitt romney attacked 47% of americans who pay no income tax including veterans, elderly, the disabled. >> my job is not to worry about those people. >> doesn't the president have to worry about everyone? mitt romney paid just 14.1% in taxes last year. he keeps millions in bermuda and the cayman islands. he won't release his tax returns before 2010. maybe instead of attacking others on taxes, romney should come clean on his. >> what's going to happen? the american people are going to render judgment on mitt romney based on whether they think he would be a fair-minded leader. romney is making a pitch to the american people by saying that he is fair. but his tax returns and the tax policy he believes in tell a totally different story. this might be a reason why so many people have trouble connecting with mitt romney. >> polls consistently show you trailing and yo

be predwrrblsh and he can't have this conversation. >> when you went to interview mr. soptic about his experience and being outsourced, did you know about the situation with his wife, did you know about the situation of losing health care, or did he offer that up to you? >> he offered that up. we talked to a lot of folks around the country in places where they were effected by the layoffs. and you know, we sat down with them and just let them tell their stories. the truth is, a lot of it is sad. a lot of it is tragic. some of it we won't even use, to be honest, because it's so emotional and devastating. >> your response to the accusation by first of all, romney, saying it's inaccurate but that the ad should be pulled. >> well, i mean, i don't see why we would pull an ad that is fully accurate, that tells an important story. the impact that mitt romney had on a community. people lost their jobs, they lost their health care. the communities are still recovering in many cases. i think this is an important part of the discussion to be having. >> is this -- well, about that

romney could only say those weren't the words he would have chosen. mr. romney, you are not going to be the candidate we choose. because if mr. romney can't stand up to extreme voices in his own party, then we know he will never stand up for us. >> let's bring in sandra who is an attorney and women's rights activist who hit the trail earlier today with president obama. nice to have you with us tonight. you are in the mix of it right now. no doubt. the director of colorado's future project, a conservative group said president obama's approach to men voters is insulting and called your presence a side show. what's your reaction to that? >> that's completely incorrect. president obama was in colorado today and i was there to try to talk to the women of colorado about the important choice that we have in this election. a choice between a president who helped to move us forward on women's access to preventive care and health care and making sure it's affordable to all of us versus a candidate who promised to take us backwards and kill obama care and defund pla

romney, you're not going to be the candidate we choose. because if mr. romney can't stand up to extreme voices in his own party, then we know he'll never stand up for us. >> let's bring in sandra tonight, attorney and women's rights activists who hit the campaign trailier today with president obama. sandra, nice to have you with us tonight. you're in the mix of it no doubt. krista cafer, director of a conservative group, says president obama's approach to women's rights is instults and what is your thought about that? >> that is complete plea incorrect. i was trying to talk to the women of colorado about the important choice that we have in this election, an approach that has moved us forward on women's access to preventative care and health care and making sure it's affordable for all of us, versus a candidate who has absolutely promised to take us backward, to and that's why we were there, to make sure that it was clear that this affordable care act has economic consequences for women and is so vital to both our health security and economic security as

the "new york times" is out with an insider piece about mr. romney's campaign and their vice presidential vetting process. hinting that a likely short list of potential vps has emerged. according to the "new york times," the finalists are tim pa -- sorry, the mild mannered former minnesota governor tim pa-- pa-- tim pawlenty. in addition to governor snoozy, there's george w. bush's budget director, rob portman, and then what the "times" refers to as the two dark horse choices, paul ryan, the guy who became nationally famous when he suggested taking away medicare from old people and giving them coupons instead, and also louisiana governor bobby jindal. yesterday, he joins bobby jindal in louisiana for fund-raisers. the beltway press describing him as buzzed about as one of romney's most visible supporters and as a vp short lister.

mr. romney claims that he's mr. fix it for the economy because of his business experience. and so i think voters entirely legitimately want to know, well, what exactly was that business experience. >> for the american people, it comes down to what? responsibility. mitt romney cannot adequately explain his involvement with bain capital between the years 1999 and 2002. the latest line is romney retired retroactively. >> he actually retired retroactively at that point because he ended up not going back to the firm after his time in salt lake city. he was retired from bain. >> just in case you thought ed gillespie made a mistake, he repeated it on cnn. >> he took a leave of absence and ended up not going back at all and retired retroactively. gr did romney give back the salary he made between 1999 and 2002 when he retired retroactively? look here, folks, here's the bottom line, the s.e.c. filings shows romney made at least dlr $100,000 a year as he was allegedly doing nothing at the ceo of bain. maybe he should have followed the lead of his father, he stepped down of the americ

his speech was more like a cow pie of distortion. >> mr. romney has to rely on a cow pie of distortion because he can't rely on the truth. romney likes to say president obama has made the national debt larger than all other presidents combined. actually, the debt is up by about half under president obama. it tripled under ronald reagan. don't forget the majority of our current debt is from the bush tax cuts and unpaid wars in afghanistan and iraq. federal spending under president obama is growing at the slowest rate since the 1950s. mitt romney needed to distort president obama's record in iowa because romney seems to have problems when he tries to talk about his own policies in iowa. >> there are various ways of doing that. one is raise taxes on people. that's not the way -- corporations are people, my friend. we can raise taxes on. of course they are. everything corporations raise goes to people. where do you think it goes? people's pockets. >> there was also a time when a struggling iowa worker asked mitt romney how he could keep jobs in

. >> if he wants to defund planned parenthood, mr. romney and mrs. romney should give back the money they contributed to planned parenthood in 1994. the hypocracy shows how weakest. he's running disgrace fully, pandering to everything that moves because he will say anything to get elected. >> here he is, another infamous comment yesterday about women's health care. here it is. >> of course you get rid of obamacare, that is the easy one. planned parenthood we'll get rid of that. >> he previously attended a planned parenthood fund-raiser and sought the endorsement when he was running for governor in massachusetts. this is as big a flip-flop as you can find in his entire repertoire. >> also a flip-flop for the republican party this, is not new to many listeners. think about the fact richard nixon and george bush father helped found title x, the family planning program which mitt romney wants to roll back. this is not a women's issue, ed. you know what it is? it's an issue for families in the country. any partner, any man who has a partner or spouse or d

romney? is she concerned about this at all? when you have the president of the united states call sandra fluke, when you have questions from the media to the president at the press conference about this, we'll get to that in a moment how can the republicans say he's an entertainer. that what is they're saying. >> you know what this reminds me of, there was a moment in the campaign trail when a woman was spouting off about obama's a muslim and john mccain bumbled his response but he at least had the courage to say you know what, ma'am, we disagree but he's a good man. what will happen when romney has the same chance when faced with the same moment, this is a similar moment and he failed the test. >> nina turner, how this is playing in ohio, big night last night, people paying attention to politics, will this run the female vote right in the democratic camp, what do you think? >> absolutely, ed, i have been hearing from women and also men across the state of ohio and actually the country who are absolutely outraged. everyone that

had mitt romney lost ohio to mr. santorum, i think that it would have been seen as a spectacular night for rick santorum. the states that he won the night included north dakota, tennessee and oklahoma, but in the end, not ohio despite having been close all night. this has been a heck of a night. super tuesday tonight, and we are waiting for some of the results from alaska. which, you never know, might end up being definitive at any point. >> and sarah palin voted for newt. >> did she? >> sarah palin voted for newt so anybody who tells newt to get out, she will be all worked up about that. >> well, mitt romney owes thank you letters to newt gingrich and ron paul without whom he could not have won ohio. >> and no question that going for ward a vote for newt gingrich is a vote for mitt romney. so it is wise for the santorum campaign to start articulating that and see how much pressure they can bring, because they don't have much of a path with gingrich in in the race. >> how do you do that? where does the pressure come

mr. romney is ahead of mr. santorum there, and again, this race has not been called. more than 90% of the vote in and it is not called. nbc's ron mott is with us, and we have a report that the santorum campaign is moving on to intimating that newt gingrich should get out of the race to clear the way for rick santorum to actually calling on the party activists and tea party supporters and others to speak to that issue on the santorum campaign or does that seem right to you? >> well, hey, there, rachel. maybe a little divide in the santorum campaign, because the national spokesperson said they are not going to ask newt gingrich to get out of the race, but a senior strategist is saying that they will ask that of the conservative tea party voters is to persuade newt gingrich to give up the bid. if you look at the scorecard, rick santorum with victories tonight has seven primary caucus and victories to newt gingrich's two, so they want to make the case that he is the conservative choice in the race. the spokesperson is saying that if newt gingrich did in fact drop out of t

in virginia, mitt romney won a two-man race over ron paul, mr. gingrich and mr. santorum were not on the ballot in virginia. in vermont, mitt romney is the projected winner of the vermont republican primary. and i should tell you the caucuses are underway in north dakota. we have no characterization from north dakota, we don't expect one for some time. here is where the race stands right now. mitt romney's win in massachusetts is his tenth victory of the campaign. you can see his wins marked in green. mr. santorums in purple, mr. gingrich's in orange. those are the states that mitt romney has won, massachusetts, vermont, virginia, washington state, arizona, michigan, maine, nevada, florida and new hampshire. chris, too close to call right now in tennessee, too close to call right now in oklahoma. >> those are two states -- >> too early. >> it will keep him in the race if santorum wins. if he can't win in ohio he can't win the nomination but he can stay in it. >> a close race in ohio is not enough to keep rick santorum viable? >> it's close in ohio i'm guessing he

the romneys are trying hard to appeal to joe six pack. mitt's quoting davy crockett. mrs. romney says she doesn't feel rich. howard fineman and john nichols tell us all about super tuesday what makes the sleep number store different? the sleep number bed. the magic of this bed is that you're sleeping on something that conforms to your individual shape. wow! that feels really good. it's hugging my body. it works in a minute. i can get more support. if you change your mind once you get home you can adjust it. so whatever you feel like, the sleep number bed's going to provide it for you. at our semi-annual sleep sale, save $400 to $700 on our most popular bed sets. sale ends soon. only at the sleep number stores. where queen mattresses start at just $699. >>> ed show survey tonight i asked you would you listen to a radio station that continues to carry the rush limbaugh show? 6% said yes, 94% said no. >>> coming up howard fineman and john nichols preview super tuesday and if mitt romney has the momentum for a big win. does he? stay tuned. >>> please welcome mitt and ann romne

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mr. gingrich, mr. santorum, mr. romney, would have no interest whatsoever in considering that. there are employment implications. if you listen to john boehner he says 50,000 jobs will be created. cornell university did a study. they think a total of between 2,500 and 3,000 jobs. the fantasy that newt gingrich beautifully uses that term is theirs and not this president. >> alan west attacked the president on facebook. he said it took $70 to fill the tank of my 2008 h3 hummer. what does it cost you and what does it cost the president to fill his gas tank? richard, what's wrong with this statement? >> the guy should get a smaller car. something more efficient and up to date. there are a number of options out there. but his bigger problem is his party's problem, right? this is a party that says we understand the private sector. we understand business. this president is clueless. we could be producing any amount of gasoline and crude oil in this country and it would not affect the price of crude oil around the world. it is so much of a bigger market. saudi arabia has more direct im

and i want to go right to the money here with mitt romney. will mitt romney's failure to disclose financial information, is this a real potential problem? and i ask this under two laws that have been passed. one of them, the ethics and government act, and also, the false statements accountability act, which really goes at people if they do not fully disclose. what about all this? >> well, ed, thank you for having me. and i wouldn't pretend to be a legal expert on this matter, but, certainly, if there is a discrepancy between the tax returns and the financial disclosure forms, that would certainly pose a very serious question. both a legal question and also, most undoubtedly, a political question in terms of why was this the discrepancy presented the way it was, and was something being hidden for some reason? >> how quickly do you think the romney camp has to clean this up? >> well, assuming that there is some kind of discrepancy, first we have to learn for sure if there is, then i would imagine very quickly, because you would not want, if you

i tell you what, mr. reich, it just seems to me mitt romney's releasing of the tax returns is the right place at the right time for a good political discussion in the country about fairness, what do you think? >> it's not just a political discussion, ed, it's an economic discussion, discussion whether we're on the same boat together as americans. look back in the 1950's under dwight eisenhower, republican president, nobody ever accused of being a socialist, the top tax rate was 91%. now you have mitt romney earning $20 million a year, more than anybody, how many people do you know who are earning $20 million a year, top one-tenth of 1% taking in more money than a percent age of total income since the late 1920's and he and most other very wealthy people are paying 15%. we have a budget deficit, we are laying off teachers, our roads are impassable. we don't have money to do what we need to do and here you have the wealthiest people in america getting off not doing their patriotic duty. it's morality. >> yo