they think the demographics are good for mitt romney. they think the politics blow his way in some parts of the state. how do you think what you're describing about the state of the republican party infrastructure in nevada affects the republican nominees' chances in november? >> well, i was getting e-mails and phone calls even while the caucus disastrous caucus was going on from representatives of the presidential campaigns. and from other prominent campaigns including we have the big senate race here between dean heller and shelley berkley saying we're going to avoid the party, won't have anything to do with it. we'll raise money outside. you mentioned the karl rove, we talked about him last time, crossroads will pour a lot of money in here. the rnc will pour money in here to try to make up for the lack of a state republican party. as i said to you back then and i believe it now, you can't just erect those things overnight or in one election cycle. the democrats here spent two or three election cycles building up the formidable organiz

we still have no idea whether mitt romney supports that. would he have signed it if he was president? most republicans voted against it. what should we read into the fact that the surrogates that are talking on this issue themselves voted no on the fair pay act. mr. romney once the wisconsin primary embattled republican governor of wisconsin scott walker. not only does scott walker not support the equal pay for equal work concept, he did just repeal wisconsin state level version of the equal pay act. he repealed that law on the same day that he signed abortion rights in wisconsin. this is not hypothetical stuff. this is not about whether they are using approximate pc language, showing up with nouf women around them or whether or not they are women themselves. this is policy. that's where the whole concept of the republican war on women and subsequent problem with women in the polls has come from and not recognizing that, not recognizing that it's subs stan sif, it's about policy, is i think why republicans keep striking out on this issue. t

. >>> it looks like mitt romney problem relating to women has intersected with mitt romney's problem relating to poor people. the romney notion of what work means up next. they have names like idle time books and smash records and on small business saturday they remind a nation of the benefits of shopping small. on just one day, 100 million of us joined a movement... and main street found its might again. and main street found its fight again. and we, the locals, found delight again. that's the power of all of us. that's the power of all of us. that's the membership effect of american express. >>> you guys remember the tea party and how every tax day we used to be treated to tricorner hats and the occasional misspelled racist sign. whatever happened to that? we sent a zermg party out for the tea party, just ahead. according to the signs, ford is having some sort of big tire event. i just want to confirm a few things with fiona. how would you describe the event? it's big. no,i mean in terms of savings how would you sum it up? big in your own words, with respect to selection, what woul

this was mitt romney's argument two years ago. it's not a new idea to mitt romney and isn't new to the republican party either. >> last year the house of representatives passed legislation to build on the successes of the 1996 welfare reform law. they did so because they want more americans to know the prize and success that come from hard work. the law passed the house, that passed the house, require 40 hours of work each week. >> the first stage of welfare reform brought unprecedented success. millions of americans now knows the rewards of work. welfare mothers have found their long lost self-esteem. >> we want to stop the dependency the government has created with all these entitlement programs. we want to give people the opportunity of dignity to work. >> in welfare reform we reached the conclusion that giving people money for nothing is a bad idea. >> the romney campaign was forced to respond to that clip of him we played from january even though i don't think they wanted to. their response was instructive. it was basically a

. >>> it looks like mitt romney problem relating to women has intersected with mitt romney's problem relating to poor people. the romney notion of what work means up next. lik it's me against my hair. [ female announcer ] weak, damaged hair needs new aveeno nourish+ strengthen. active naturals wheat formulas restore strength for up to 90% less breakage in three washes. for strong, healthy hair with life, new aveeno nourish+ strengthen. 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. you can adjust it to whatever your needs are. so whatever you feel like, the sleep number bed's going to provide it for you. now, sleep number redefines memory foam, combining coolfit gel foam with sleep number adjustability. during the final days of our white sale, receive $400 in free bedding. only at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699. >>> you guys remember the tea party and how every tax day we used to be treated to tricorner hats and the occasional misspelled racist sig

and his praise for mitt romney and how america needs to get behind mitt romney and if these blood kurlding patriots don't get behind him they don't know what he's made of. i feel like hearing that ma ini me feel like it doesn't matter no what. >> the republican members of the house are now sending clear signals to romney that listen, we understand you got to pivot a little bit here but nothing fundamental. nothing on the paul ryan budget. nothing on taxes with the rich. nothing fundamental can you give up and expect us to go along with it. i look back at like dole in '96, bush in 2000. i look at candidates that had some suspicion along the base. they didn't face what romney is facing. >> because we need you on tv talking about that perspective, you're great. thanks a lot. >>> have you heard, republican congresswoman michele bachmann says republicans are for women's right to choose, which is new for michele bachmann and it's deeply, deeply confusing. and she's looking directly at your new lumia, thank you at&t. first, why don't you show her the curved edge... now move on to the slick naviga

what is mitt romney's position on this bill? what is mitt romney's position on north carolina's anti-gay constitutional amendment? we don't know. which is a little bit weird, because the barack obama re-election campaign has taken a stand on it. the obama campaign says it is against the anti-gay marriage amendment in north carolina and usually when a campaign takes an overt stance like that, that's the kind of thing that calls for a response from the other side. but so far, nothing from the romney camp. our own campaign embed, garrett hake, confirms to us tonight that mr. romney, even though he is in north carolina tonight, the night before voting starts, even though mr. obama has taken a side on this issue, mr. romney has not taken any position on it. we have not heard beep from the romney campaign about this. which, again, is a little bit weird. because in the context of trying to win the republican nomination for president this year, mr. romney has not been shy at all about matters like this. he gave the rabidly anti-gay nati

if you like super anti-gay romneys in the primaries, apparently you will love mitt romney in the general election, too. the other top contender what he might abandon in order to seem more moderate in the general election is his stance on immigration. on that one, [ ding ] ding, we may already have a winner. the big problem is mitt romney has a really bad problem with latino voters. george w. bush had 35% of the latino vote in 2000 and he won. john mccain had only 31% in 2008 and he got creamed. mitt romney has 14% among latinos in some of the most recent polling. it is not possible to win a national election with a number that low. the romney campaign knows it. one of the things mitt romney was overheard telling campaigners last weekend, his campaign would be doomed if he can't get his numbers up among latino voters. how do you get your numbers up among latino voters when you say you would veto the dream act or self-deportation, please see yourself out. and you adopt as immigration adviser, the guy who co-wrote the arizona papers please law where they can walk up to you on the street and

that says more about rick santorum than it says about mitt romney. should be noted, headingnto these contests tomorrow, it may be the last contested primaries of the republican contest. it should be noted that anything is possible. nothing is a fore gone conclusion in politics. wisconsin, in particular, is a place where it's been an unpredictable landscape recently for the past year as my colleague ed schultz demonstr demonstrated last hour. one of the things that could come into play tomorrow is that the wisconsin government accountability board told us tothd that there is a possibility and nobody expects this to happen, but there's a possibility this could come to pass that the wisconsin state supreme court at the very last moment could decide to take action to block the existing court rulings that have stopped the states new voter i.d. bill from going into effect in wisconsin. the wisconsin supreme court could at any moment require that as of tomorrow you have to show i.d. when you go to vote. we wouldn't know that until the polls open or maybe th

mitt romney finally wins one. he finally finds his club. among men over the age of 50, mitt romney is the clear choice. an 11 point favorite. mitt romney over barack obama. he's losing every other age and gender demographic. when it comes to the older men, he's winning. there's one for him. one out of four. his advantage in his lone demographic cot goir is a little more than half mr. obama's advantage in the strongest of his winning three categories. romney's best among older men. his best is only half as good as obama's best. that's bad news for mr. romney. if only men were voting in the next election, if the race were being held a century ago, mr. romney would be delighted. in 2012, sadly for him women vote a lot. charlie cook spelling this out. mr. cook writing quote, given that women make up 51 to 52% of the electorate, when ever than lose women by men, they can skip ordering champagne on election night. it's great that they are winning among older machine and men overall because they are winning so much among older men just as they are

mitt romney can't be trusted. we have to draw the contrast now in about who is standing with women in this country and protecting their freedom and their privacy and who are those that will say one thing, say one thing but literally to get elected trump their own value system. >> why do you think there was a tipping point on this issue on the right? we've seen the strength of the anti-abortion movement wax and wane over time. we have seen the number of republicans that are willing to be pro-choice. something happened in 2010 where the number of anti-abortion restrictions in the states spiked. we're at that same level again, that same pace now this year even though it's an election year. we did see this collapse around the long standing republican n consensus that there ought to be exemptions around rape and incest. why did this start happening so quickly? >> they ran on one thing and kind of did a bait and switch. you saw this cumulative effect of women seeing it. the american public said, enough. stop this. i thi

it's not what mitt romney said at all tonight. i think him coming out and saying i'm the food stamps guy, if you're on food stamps and you nevering thought you would be, i'm your guy. i think it's for him to be the paul ryan guy. >> i think what he is talking about is how we grow the economy and create opportunity. he outlines the countie contourt economic line. we have disagreements. i think there's big vision about how to create prosperity and economic opportunity. i think he outlined that speech tonight. >> you're hearing it, but he's not saying. it's great to have you. steve schmidt. we have news. nbc news is projecting that mitt romney wins the gop primary in the great state of new york. shocking. i know. lots more to come including latest primary election results. richard clark is here. stick around. [ male announcer ] imagine facing the day with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chroni

it's not what mitt romney said at all tonight. i think him coming out and saying i'm the food stamps guy, if you're on food stamps and you never thought you would be, then i'm your guy, i think it's amazing for him to also be the paul ryan budget guy. >> i think what he is talking about is how we grow the economy and create opportunity. he began to outline the contours of that economic message. it's obvious we have disagreements on it. i think there's big vision about how to create prosperity and economic opportunity. i think he outlined that speech tonight. >> you're hearing it, but he's not saying it. it's great to have you. steve schmidt. senior strategist for the mccain-palin 2008. nbc news is projecting that mitt romney wins the gop primary in the great state of new york. shocking. i know. lots more to come including latest primary election results. richard clark is here. stick around. [ kate ] many women may not be properly absorbing the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus

it's not what mitt romney said at all tonight. i think him coming out and sayi i know. lots more to come including latest primary election results. richard clark is here. stick around. >>> i don't want this to be a country where a shrinking number of americans are doing real well but a growing number of people but a growing number of people are struggling to get by. that's not my idea of america. i want this to be a country where everybody get a fair shot and everybody is doing their fair share and everybody is playing by the same set of rules. this country has always made a commitment to put a good education within the reach of all who are willing to work for it. pit. that's what makes us special. that's what made us an economic super power. that's what kept us at the hugely important for democrats in 2012. and for this president in particular. when then senator obama beat senator john mccain there in 2008, that was the first time a democrat carried north carolina in a presidential election since jimmy carter back in 1976. the ob

remember, kris kobach is mitt romney's immigration adviser, and this is what mitt romney says should be a model for the nation. what is motivating these guys? why are they writing these laws? what do they think they are doing with these laws that mitt romney says should be a model for the nation? "immigration is on track to change the demographic makeup of the entire country. you know, what they call minority majority, says hethmon. how many countries have gone through a transition like that, peacefully, carefully? it's theoretically possible, but we don't have any examples." wait, that's why we need anti-immigration bills like the ones you guys wrote, that mitt romney says are a model for the nation. to make sure that america stays white enough. to keep the number of non-white people in america low? that's why we need immigration reform. that's what's motivating these bills. you know, what they call minority/majority. how many nations have gone through a transition like that, peacefully or carefully? it's theoretically possible, but we don't have any examples. if that kind of reason

points instead of eight putting governor mcdonald on the ticket does give mitt romney a one-point boost in virginia. obviously that's not enough. that said i'm sure the romney campaign expects the numbers to tighten and maybe a one-point bump from governor ultrasound might be good enough. even though he's not allowed to run for governor and he's not declaredfully other off, he started running, i'm bob mcdonald, vote for me tv ads. vote for you for what, big guy? he clearly wants to be picked. nestled within the obviousness of bob mcdonald's desperationç what the republican party is doing. what they are acting like in policy making terms, it's impossible to figure that out. republicans have introduced more restrictions on abortion rights than at any time since roe very issues wa erer issues wade. this year another 75 anti-abortion bills have passed. democrats are taking note of this trend. democrats are taking note of the anti-abortion, anti-women's health climate in the republican party of 2012. they see it in this election year as a real political weakness. want me to prove it? here

honestly, nobody knows who the campaign will pick more mitt romney until the pick is made. and more importantly, perhaps, the vice presidential pick usually means nothing to the campaign, other than the first initial blip once the announcement is made never has a fact on the presidential horse race except very occasionally in a negative way, john mccain. this is all unavoidable in election years. it's fun. i think it does have one useful and substantive purpose, which we are experiencing right now. watching people jockey to try to get picked as vice president turns out it can be a really clear window into something that's otherwise hard to figure out which is what are the limits test. what are the bright lines on policy within a party? what policies are acceptable or desirable to a particular political party? what's a policy position that you're not allowed to have if you want to rise in stature in your own party in way that being picked as vice president would mean? we're good in this country at covering the horse race. the who's ahead side of politics. we are less good in

but this is mitt romney's competition. and heading in to tomorrow's contest in the presidential primary, mr. romney is favored in the latest polling to win the state of maryland by 25 points. in washington, d.c. there's not really any polling but it may help in your predictions to know that santorum is such a serious candidate he didn't bother to get put on the ballot in washington. it is not like he tried and was rejected. he didn't ask. in wisconsin it is contested. mr. santorum told reporters he may sneak in and have an upset victory in wisconsin and sure that is possible. but even the pro mitt romney late developments in wisconsin ahead of the primary tomorrow reflect the main die nam nick the republican race this year is not about the strenth of mitt romney as the front runner but the weakness of his rivals the milwaukee sentinel did endorse mr. romney today but this is not the endorsement that is easily quoted by the romney campaign. i'm sure they will find a way to creatively excerpt it to make it look awesome but i

in may mitt romney may have some trouble. mitt romney may face some states that may make this year's long slog of romney still longer and sl sloggier. we bring in john and steve. thanks for being here in in maryland and washington good night for mr. romney. he's leading in wisconsin. it's too early to call there. rick santorum is talking about may and future contests. that's in part to say i'm not leaving, don't call for me to get out of the race. does he have a point that he may do well in may and if the race is still seen as being alive that mitt romney might have trouble? >> yeah. the reason he could have trouble in may is because there's been a resistance to mitt romney that's been demographically per sis tent. if you look at the republican voting universe, if that voting universe is 50% or more composed of evangelical christians, rom has not been able to win it. nothing in maryland, nothing in the district of columbia and nothing in wisconsin will change that. if you heard that list that rick santorum rattled off there,

when mitt romney gets this nomination, what case can he make to those voters? that he hasn't already been able to make to them? what can he tell them that has not persuaded them already? or does he just have to count on them falling in line? it's going to be fascinating to watch. stay tuned. that does it for us tonight. we will see you again tomorrow night. now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." have great night. >>> after two quickly calle

romney tonight, going 3 for 3 in >>> a big, big night for mitt romney tonight, going 3 for 3 in today's presidential primaries. mr. romney is projected to win in wisconsin and in maryland and in washington, d.c. so three months to the day after voting began in iowa, governor romney has had the type of night after which republican voters should kind of be expected to rally around the nominee, right? i mean, that's the conventional wisdom. there's even a saying about that. democratic voters fall in love. republican voters fall in line. so is now the time that we can expect republican voters to start falling in line behind mitt romney? maybe? look at this. this is from the exit polls that nbc news conducted in wisconsin tonight. i think this is really interesting. if mitt romney is the eventual nominee of your party, will you, republican primary voter in wisconsin, be satisfied with that result, or will you be dissatisfied with that result? these are the overall numbers for people who voted in the wisconsin primary. 66% say they'd be satisfied. 32% say they would be dissatisfied if mitt ro

mitt romney does this all the time. in the speech that he gave last night when he won wisconsin and in a speech that he gave today, he used this tactic like a dozen times. it's kind of his only trick. all of his weaknesses as a candidate, he now just says are the weaknesses of barack obama as a candidate. so mitt romney lived in france instead of going to vietnam. he spent years and years in europe. so now mitt romney says that is barack obama's problem. he's the european! mitt romney signed on to the paul ryan kill-medicare plan, so now mitt romney says wanting to kill medicare, that's barack obama's problem. >> he has taken a series of steps that end medicare as we know it. >> mitt romney was 47th out of 50th in job creation when he served as governor of massachusetts and his record in private industry at bain capital is littered with all of these horror stories about shutting down factories and firing american workers. getting rid of american jobs for his own personal profit. so mitt romney opened his speech last nig

mitt romney's tax returns. they were hoping to leave that behind, but it's not something they have been able to pivot away from because they will not answer questions about it. turns out that doesn't help. when abc news did get a formal sit-down interview with mr. romney on sunday, his answer to a question about his tax returns was that he would go look and see if he had ever paid a tax rate lower than 13.9% on his tens of millions of dollars on annual income. >> we know that there was one year when you paid about a 13.9% tax rate. can we clear this up by asking you a simple yes or no question? was there ever any year when you paid lower than the 13.9%? >> well, i haven't calculated that. i'm happy to go back and look. >> i'm happy to go back and look. now, typically, the way a campaign, not even a presidential campaign, but any campaign, handles something like that is when the candidates says i will go back and look, the campaign then follows up and releases a statement to the news organization answering that

mitt romney has a plan it get america working. >> that was the mitt romney campaign from june. about a dozen different ads. the economy and the economy and down with obama care and tax cuts and the economy. the specific reference to chine a drill, baby, drill, the economy. jen july. >> where did the obama stimulus money go? >> they will run more than it had been run in the history of the world. >> another reason america has lost confidence in barack obama. >> time we had someone whoa believes in us. >> freedom creates jobs. >> everything will be focussed on getting the economy going. >> look at the 10 or so ads in the month of july to the economy. the economy and president obama is a liar. the economy, jobs, jobs, jobs, the economy. all but three were about the economy and jobs and the ones that were not were about how terrible and horrible president obama is as a person. say what you will, he has been very focused. his campaign has been focused looking at the thing that is the campaign did on their own terms, it's a great way to focus on what they were trying to do. what they

mitt romney has a plan it get america working. >> that was the mitt romney campaign in a capsule from june via about a dozen different ads. the economy, the economy, and the economy, and down with on care and tax cuts and the economy. the specific reference to china, drill, baby, drill, the economy. then july -- >> where did the obama stimulus money go? >> they will run more than it had been run in the history of the world. >> obama's dishonest campaign, another reason america has lost confidence in barack obama. >> it's time we had somebody who believes in us. >> freedom and free enterprise are what create jobs. >> everything i do is going to be focused on getting this economy going. >> so you look at the ten or so ads that came out of the romney campaign in the month of july, it's the economy. it's the economy, the economy, president obama is a liar, the economy, jobs, jobs, jobs, the economy. all but three ads were about the economy and jobs, and the ones that were not were about how terrible and horrible president obama is as a person. say what you will, he has been very focused.

for people like mitt romney. at the expense of the rest of the country. and if you look at the ryan/romney plan, that's what it does. and i don't think people want to go back to a souped up version of trickle-down bush economic policy. we tried that, it didn't work. the economy crashed. millions of people lost their jobs. why in the world would we want to go back to something like that? >> let's talk about the reality in life. you have constituent services on one of your constituents obviously, i live in the district, but older people when they get past 65, not just young retirees but old retirees come to the pen tremendously on medicare for long-term care. i'm just wondering what you think will happen if the government all of a sudden says you don't get medicare, you get a voucher and have to buy an insurance policy. some 78-year-old person or couple, how are they going to deal with that when they realize it doesn't cover everything? >> well, they are not going to be able to deal with it because that's a violati

program that mitt romney is running on. whether or not there's a little bit of an overshadowing potential there, despite the fact this is a young sort of relatively unknown person, i thought this was fascinating. it does say a lot about what mitt romney needs but where the republican party wants to go and whether or not in a lot of ways he's a passenger rather than a driver. >> we have another hour to go. don't go away. none of you go away. at the top of the hour, what the latest polls say about paul ryan. and will he hurt or help mitt romney in key states like florida? down here, folks measure commitment by what's getting done. the twenty billion dollars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean ou

mitt romney is failing to win over latino voters, really badly. and it's not just for esoteric reasons. it's not for stylistic reasons. it's for substance. mr. romney called arizona's "papers, please" law, the anti-immigrant sb-1070 law, as a model for the nation. he helped the lawyer who helped write that bill as a model for the nation. he said he would veto the dream act if congress passe

mitt romney is failing to win over latino voters, really badly. and it's not just for esoteric reasons. it's not for stylistic reasons. it's for substance. mr. romney called arizona's "papers, please" law, the anti-immigrant sb-1070 law, as a model for the nation. he helped the lawyer who helped write that bill as a model for the nation. he said he would veto the dream act if congress passed it when he became president. and mr. romney did not pick to balance himself out with florida senator marco rubio or new mexico governor, susanna martinez. he did not choose one of the party's up and coming latinos, or someone who's more moderate on immigration. he picked one of the congressmen from the republican congress who voted no on the dream act, which >>> as we reported earlier in the hour, the secretary of state

anyone who took mitt romney's word for it back in 2002 got played for a sucker. because those tax returns did not say what they said they did. m. romney had not filed as a massachusetts resident. despite all the trust me, trust me, take my word for it. >> his utah residence was used to support the challenge. they also want to see his tax returns. >> we now learned that mr. romney lied yesterday when he said he had filed rident tax returns in both massachusetts and utah. >> romney acknowledged he amended his 1999 and 2 o000 massachusetts state tax returns to make him a resident here pop he went back and did it retroactively. every we know about his taxes is his herculian efforts to avoid taxes. his running mate's policies

mitt romney was on the board of marriott corporation. he was the head of the audit committee on the board when her marriott engaged in the tax avoidance scheme. son of boss. the cayman islands is an island sort of catty-corner from cuba and jamaica, an island where there are lots and lots of post office boxes that attend to people who do not live in the cayman islands. because pretending your money lives in the cayman islands is a famous scheme for avoiding paying taxes on that money in, say, the united states. the one year of tax returns we do have for presidential candidate mitt romney shows him having a swiss bank account. here in the good old usa we have an i.r.a. they were set up as a savings and investment vehicle for it convenient to hide money that would be somehow embarrassing. say money that represents the proceeds from some shady business or money that you are trying to shield from taxes. the one year of tax returns we do have for presidential candidate mitt romney shows him having a swiss bank account. here in the good old us

mitt romney was on the board of marriott corporation. he was the head of the audit committee on the board when her marriott engaged in the tax avoidance scheme. son of boss. the cayman islands is an island sort of catty-corner from cuba and jamaica, an island where there are lots and lots of post office boxes that attend to people who do not live in the cayman islands. because pretending your money lives in the cayman islands is a famous scheme for avoiding paying taxes on that money in, say, the united states. exotic anding a a agrees sif and occasionally shady tactics that he has used to avoid paying taxes. today after telling abc news a couple weeks ago that he would go back and look at his taxes to see what tax rate he has been paying, today mr. romney said he he finally did look and he says he has never paid less than 13% in taxes. he will not elaborate on what he means by that, he will not prove it, he will not release any documentation to back up that claim. he just wants us to trust him that if he were to show his taxes, that's w

and that's who mitt romney has h hired. some of them have ethical constraints on what jobs they would take. but some don't. this firm was also hired by the gap in 2007 to clean things up for them after it was discovered that gap clothing was using 10-year-old slaves in india. >> the pictures could not be more embarrassing. kids as young as ten in a sweat shop in india. the photos got immediate response from gap's president. >> i am grateful that this investigative reporter found this. because we can do something about it. >> good answer. when the gap needed some good answers when they wanted to clean up, not necessarily that problem, but the image problem created by their child slave labor problem, they hired this pr company called brunswick group. they also got the call when bp befouled the gulf coast with the spill. brunswick was who bp called not to clean up the problem of the oil but the image problem created by the oil. now mitt romney has hired the lead person from brunswick who was in charge so they can apply those s