today politico.com got access to a political ad that never ran against mitt romney when mitt romney was running for the united states senate in massachusetts in 1994 against ted kennedy. this never aired, but it was given to politico.com today. check it out. >> mitt romney says he saved bain & company. but he didn't tell you on the day he took over, he had his predecessor fire hundreds of employees. or that the company was rescued with a federal bailout of $10 million. the rest of us had to absorb the loss. romney and others made $4 million in this deal, which cost ordinary people $10 million. maybe he's just against government when it helps working men and women. >> that is from 17 years ago. the only thing you would have to change in order to run that ad against mitt romney now is you'd have to like change mitt romney's hairdo slightly. see? there you go. that's all you would have to do, and you could just run that ad today. he is running for president now on the exact same basis on which he was running for senate 17 years ago. he is running on his business record as a job creator at

>> jon: the anti-romney. he's a handsome mormon ex-governor with perceived softness on social issues. ( laughter ) he's not the anti-romney. he's the candidate for people who would vote for romney but are concerned romney has too much name recognition. ( laughter ) come on, people! give me somebody truly different. >> i personally think michele bachman, your colleague, is going to be a real challenger to mitt romney. >> jon: there you go, michele bachman. she couldn't be more different. he's a man. she's a lady. he's tall. she's short. he looks directly into the camera. she looks just to the right of it. ( laughter ) her campaign got off to a running start when she declared her candidacy in her birth place of waterloo, iowa. >> what i want them to know is just like john wayne was from woortly, iowa, that's the spirit i have, too. >> it looks like she got her john waynes confused. john wayne lived about 150 miles away from waterloo. john wayne gacy, who raped and killed 33 men and boys did live in waterloo bef

not just romney. she said last night on fox news that maybe she would continue to think about this, make a decision, oh, you know, maybe at the end of the summer. listen to this. >> now i'm not holy confident that we have that field set yet, that that one individual that is in the field. so i'm still thinking about being one that would offer myself up in the name of service, knowing confidently that i have those common sense, fiscally conservative pro private sector policy experience and ideas that can be put to good work for this country. >> now, in the polls that show michele bachmann at the top in iowa, she is trailing tim pawlenty. she is running like fifth, fifth, in those polls. how much longer can "hannity & company" play the charade that this is a credible discussion? >> lawrence, you called this months ago. obviously, it's going to turn out the way you said. but i think we can all engage in a little guilty pleasure of toying with the possibility of palin. but, look, it's the same as it ever w

is mitt romney the tea party stuff? >> i'm not sure he's trying to present hoimgs as a tea party -- he presents himself as a conservative, certainly. this is a classic battle that -- >> every republican primary. the movement conservative person and the more establishment person, but regardless of how it shakes out, when people are actually voting, this setup, this context could not be better for mitt romney. >> because -- >> because right now michele bachmann's presence is completely freezing out tim pawlenty and huntsman, the two guys that were trying to occupy this same space that romney is occupying. the better michele bachmann, the worst for them. >> people say i'm a lightweight for this. how come mitt romney cowers when his button at the top doesn't stay together. amazing, explain this to me. how does he keep them together like that? >> custom shirts that mitt romney favors, a single thing that you -- >> let's get back in business. skidsoid situation there. the body and the head thinking go to the middle with romne

. >> romney tried to use one lie to fix another lie. nice try. as for stage craft, romney has got it down. >> we are stand on the side of the allentown metal works. this was the place that president obama visited about a year and a half ago and indicated that this was a symbol of the success of his stimulus program. and as you look around and see the weeds growing and the windows boarded up, you can see that it's more a symbol of the failure of obama's economic policies. >> but again, the truth gets in the way. a close analysis shows the plant closed not because of federal stimulus spending but because there wasn't enough stimulus spending. there wasn't enough spending on infrastructure to keep this plant alive. and remember, the stimulus was one third tax cuts, and the republicans still didn't vote for it. but romney is all about blaming the president and getting in some digs after obama's own news conference. >> and the president's time has been focused on playing golf and campaigning, campaigning in pennsylvania today, and blaming. the preside

romney can't seem to decide which romney he is today. likely republican voters in the primary, mitt romney does lead, followed by michele bachmann coming up, but only to 12. ron paul and rudy at 7%, rick perry, the new kid on the block at 4. pawlenty getting nowhere at 3%. >>> i'm being nice tonight, david corn, i'm always nice to you, writing for mother jones. is this thing gelling the way it usually does? do you know who the field is? >> of course you do. >> who has a good chance? >> i think romney hats a very good chance. pawlenty has a good chance. >> a good chance? >> sure. if pawlenty were the nominee, i think he could give obama a run for the money. >> who else? >> i think you'll laugh at this, but i think rick perry -- >> i'm not laughing. >> he's a hell of a politician. >> i'm crying on the inside. >> he's a hell of a politician. >> is he going to run for the texas republic of the united states? his latest comments lead me to believe he may not be part of the union. >> a lot of people, especially in the 202 and 212 area codes li

is romney up to it? bill clinton out in aspen this weekend, at the so-called ideas festival, he said romney's a candidate, getting way better. much improved candidate versus 2008, but that series of clips showed, either that's grading on a curve. >> you think they might be sandbagging the guy? >> look, he's had good days and not so good days and he a run of not so good days and it really raises -- it reminds people anew why they're somewhat skeptical of him. he's clearly the front-runner but among the weaker frnt front runneers we've seen in some time. >> looks like he's sandbagging, saying what a great job romney is doing when he isn't doing a great job. blow him up so he looks big and fat so we can eat him? >> well -- >> clinton is that strategic? >> that's strategic times ten. i wouldn't put anything past bill clinton in that area. there is a means a notion, that romney is better and on the stump, i can say i've seen him a couple times today and yesterday, i think it's generally true. he is more comfo

and romney is not competing in the straw poll. so, you know, the two -- romney is the national frontrunner but not competing in the straw poll. so you've got a wide open situation. congressman michelle bachmann was born and raised in iowa. i think she got off to a really good start here. governor pawlenty, the former governor of minnesota, although he's not done well in the polls, he may surprise some people i think he may do better than people expect. also, you got ron paul, who's going to be competitive in this. herman cane. rick santorum. just recently rick perry, although he's not going to be on the ballot. there is an effort to get votes for him that could make an impact so it's a wide open situation. and, again, the straw poll, you know, isn't the iowa caucus. so i would expect -- you know, it's going to be a very open and fluid situation. and obviously the people are due better expectations as huckabee did four years ago. he could give them a real boost for the iowa caucuses and for the subsequent primaries and caucuses in

virtual sty with -- virtual tie with romney. bachmann dropped but only other candidate in double digits. perry aides say it could take a week to a month before they have the information they want that the governor wants before making a time decision. the response and momentum so far has been so positive they are charging ahead as though perry is in. former new york mayor rudy giuliani last week said he is not really exploring slipped to nine. tied with former alaska governor sarah palin who inched up a point. and texas congressman ron paul whether or not gained two. the rest of the field is 5% or less. president matched up with the individual republicans is only six points up, barely outside the poll's margin of error. he leads romney and tim pawlenty, and michele bachmann. mr. obama yesterday contradicted his campaign rhetoric, aimed to frame it as a choice between the party's plans for the future, indicating instead little be a referendum for voter on the four-year record. i'll probably win and lose on the assessment of the st

mitt romney, false, and also mitt romney false about being false. true or false. the u.s. army outlawed five-toed shoes for all soldiers. these beauties. designed to increase your athletic performance, improve posture, add an octave to your singing range or bring back the latin you forgot from college or seriously make your toes fee better. seems weird to me. don't toes get lonesome like dogs when they're separated? army banned five toed shoes? true or false? true. some confusion in this community. some feeling it might have been a hoax or internet rumor. 9 five-toed shoes reporting in february the army had already banned them. birthday shoes get the scoop from an anonymous tipster, we cann cannot -- it may about hoax. kniss week we learned in fact that the army in fact banned the five-toed community by banning those. effective immediately only those shoes that accommodate all five toes in one compartment are authorized for wear. those shoes that feature five separate, individual compartments for the toes, detract from a professional military image and are prohibited for w

jobs, jobs, jobs, mike. >> romney, romney, romney. that's romney's issue. >> by the way, let's speak about mitt romney. take a look at this ad from mitt romney and they're putting up these amazing web ads. and this ad, of course, playing off of some of the obama people, saying the unemployment rate doesn't matter. take a listen. >> unernt is is probably the one thing. >> am i going to have my job next week? is my company going to be here? >> things have to change. they have to change. >> wow. you know, that's something. >> yeah. >> pat buchanan, mitt romney is really focusing on jobs. at the end of the day, that will be what this election is all about, huh? >> that's the general election strategy. that's exactly right, joe. and i think romney's doing that very well. he's running a general election strategy. all i'm saying is, when you get out to iowa and some of those places in iowa and south carolina, you've got to have some other cards besides a long string of your strongest suit. and you ought to -- >> mike huckabee won iowa in 200

the hitch, it was mitt romney's rally. this priceless shot of him reaching over to pose with the candidate. the huntsman camp says, will simply wanted to see another campaign event. he meant nos did respect. to who? his dad or mitt romney? and hundreds of new state las go into effect. july 1st. some of the most noteworthy. in virginia, dead people can vote. starting today, if someone sends in an absentee ballots and then dies before election day that vote is still good. how about that? forget that, chicago. over in maryland, have trouble leaving your dogs? the news, dogs are now allowed in restaurants with outdoor patios and tables, provided they're on a leash. good luck with that. and annapolis, bring your own shoving. starting today in new york state, it's not mandatory for students -- they can opt out of dissecting frogs in biology. they can instead watch interactive films. no dodgeball, can't get your hands dirty with a frog. you've got to learn what the guts of an animal look like. but whatever. you've got to do the r

romney was rich. does he get stuck with this tag during all of this discussion? i think some of this is obviously metaphor. corporate airplanes, 100 of them? i don't know. hedge fund operators, a thousand of people. the president said i can balance the budget if i go after these rich guys. the republicans defend them. >> mitt romney when he worked for bane capital, he will try to make that into a wall street firm and bane capital destroyed jobs rather than create jobs. they will point to the record saying it's very, very poor. the problem for the president and this feeds back into something joe said a little while ago, i actually agree on substance, the president has been the adult. i agree with the president on substance has been that and he looked like the bigger figure. the problem is 15 months from now, he will be saying i looked like the bigger figure, i was willing to make the deal, you're all controlled by extremists, here's what's wrong with mitt romney and what joe said, where are my jobs? you may be right about all of that, barack obama, but for the las

romney say anything. i mean, if you are going to say i'm the guy that should be the president, should you be able to say, this is what i do rather than the president? and when they were confronted with, are you going to support the boehner plan? he didn't even answer. his spokesman answered and said, governor romney thinks the president's leadership has been a failure. he applauded boehner for standing firm against raising taxes when our nation can least afford them. what does that mean? do youç support the boehner pl or the tea party plan? i mean, and do you say something yourself? i mean, how do you have an alternative leader that doesn't lead in the middle after crisis? i remind you and david, in the middle of the financial crisis, george bush was president. even john mccaine suspended his campaign, ran to washington. senator, then senator obama came to washington. mccain had anything to say when he got there but he made a dramatic entry. romney is not even doing that. >> sure. although people would

romney did his press conference on. what's really ironic is that the region as a whole is one of the fastest-growing regions in the state of pennsylvania. it is -- it has declined in its job loss. we're about 8.4% lower than the national average, and mack truck even, which has been a symbol of some of the recession's decline, actually added 125 jobs within the last year. >> all right. so, mayor, what do you make of mitt romney standing in front of that plant saying that plant is shut down because of president obama? >> i think it's wrong. i mean, i understand why he's flip flopping. he's flip flopping because he's wrong. if you just look at his statements, he has to backtrack because he was wrong on the facts. he's wrong about the facts in this particular plant. he's wrong about the facts and he's tainting the city of allentown and the entire region. he's wrong on the facts of pennsylvania and the facts about this country. you said it yourself many times. we've added jobs. over 238,000 manufacturing jobs have been added

mitt romney seen here at the romney fundraiser today in london, england, of all places. mr. romney leads in all scientific international polls at this point, in all iowa polls, new hampshire polls, and in fundraiser. he is the front-runner and is front running alone. that is truism number one. truism number two is that the influence of the super conservative tea party wing of the republican party cannot be overstated in the nomination process this year. the combination of grassroots purist conservative anger and the unlimited corporate money makes the tea party faction a gatekeeper to the republican nomination for 2012 if not a king maker. so two truisms. number one, romney's going to win. number two, no one wins without the tea party on their side. the problem is that those two beltway common wisdom axioms about republican politics right now cannot co-exist. to the extent that the tea party faction is organized around republican presidential politics at all right now, they are organized to nominate anyone but mitt romney. if you go to stopromney.org, stopromney.org does not

having said that, romney is in a stronger position than before. he's leading and he raised a lot of money last time and it didn't work. having said that it's interesting his strategy has been so far rather than to engage other republicans he's been engaging the president directly. he's trying to get into your point elevate it to that level as well. >> what's been surprising is the other republicans notably tim pawlenty at that new hampshire debate have not gone after romney. let's talk about gingrich for a second. his fundraising $2 million raised in the second quarter, we believe. $225,000 cash on hand. $1 million in debt is what's been reported. >> his financial situation is clearly not as all where he needs it to be. >> that's mirroring his political situation. >> here's his one -- his one moment. and we'll see if he can do it or not. this is a fellow who's known for his ideas. does he have a moment in a debate where that really comes through and people go that's the guy. having said that it's a high bar, but it's something he could potentially

he's endorsing mitt romney. obviously, there's a little bit of internal politic there's because of his connections to jon huntsman. one of the reasons he gave was, he said it's time to rally around romney, he's the guy ahead, got the bigger organization. if the goal is to beat obama what do you think of that idea there? do you buy in this idea you got rally around the nominee early or can you afford a long traun out process? >> it worked pretty well for obama. his process was drawn out all the way through june of 2008 between him and hillary clinton. and i'm not saying that that's the greatest thing either. but, you know, i happen to believe that primaries are a good thing. we had, obviously when i was chairman in wisconsin we had primaries for governor. primaries in the u.s. senate race. we have scott walker. primaries allow for much more vibrant debate. it energizes your base. it energizes your donor base as well. so i don't really subscribe to the theory that you have to have a front-runner. i know some peopl

that's the issue governor romney is focused on. it's a larger swath. >> very quickly. >> here is one thing to look for a comparison. clinton pushed them to the middle. obama is pushing on fiscal reform. >> make them fast, five seconds. >> the national journal daily, matt cooper. >> i love it. good stuff. >> my new column bloomberg view. >> a great new web ad called actions not words hitting the president. >> the only person doing a shameless plug. that's it for this edition of ""the daily rundown"" have a great fourth weekend. see you here after the holiday. coming up next, "jansing & co." after that, "andrea mitchell reports." stay tuned for that, too. i'll see you at 7:00 with chris for "hardball." new newtons fruit thins. real blueberries and blueberry brown sugar... crispy whole grain. newtons fruit thins, one unique cookie. whose long day starts with arthritis pain... and a choice. take tylenol arthritis and maybe up to six in a day... or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. happy chopping. ugh, great. you may be

things are wide open, and romney is not competing. he is the national front runner, but not competing. so you have a wide open situation. congressman michele bachmann was born and raised in iowa. i think she got off to a good start. governor pawlenty, although we has not done well in the polls, may surprise people. he may do better than expected. also, ron paul is going to be competitive in this. herman cain. rick santorum. recently, rick perry. although he is not on the ballot, there is an effort to get right-in votes for him -- write-in votes for him. again, the straw poll is not the caucus. i expect it will be an open and fluid situation, and obviously, people will do better than expectations. could give them a real boost for the iowa caucuses and the subsequent primaries and caucuses in other states. >> can you give us a sense about the history of the straw poll in? do you think that in recent years, its impact on the race at large has been diminished? >> actually, i think it has grown in its influence. more people participate, an

but the romney people are very a jury trial. they are agile and they are smart and took advantage of the opportunity. the fact that the president talked about allen town and then allen town is actually closing manufacturing jobs. the ad is brilliant. he has consistently got very good ads that are provocative and well put together. i think the thing i think about romney is he is running against obama. everybody else is fighting it out and he is just like i'm the frontrunner, i'm going to act like it. >> laura: he is acting like it. joe, lime looking at all these polls that a republican fairs very well against obama in these polls. individual candidates not as well. in my theory what romney is doing, he is running as a generic republican. that's a winning formula, perhaps for him. >> right. and taking on obama, this ad is very effective in making a case, particularly one that primary voters will respond to right now. the problem is there is sort of this leaping ahead of time here where it's, you know, sort of setting yourself as t

turns out the lie romney told that day was exactly 20% true. the campaign did not raise $10 million that day, it raised only $2 million. so please, rewind all those comments from pundits impressed with romney's $10 million in one day and see how their statements sound when the number turns out to be 1/5 of that. former house speaker and big spender newt gingrich ended the quarter over $1 million in debt without the campaign buying any jewelry at all. the gingrich campaign owes nearly $1 million for the use of private jets -- half a $1 million for private jets. the name of the company gingrich uses for renting private jets is -- this is not a joke, moby dick airways. joining me now, alex wagner, nbc analyst and reporter for the huffington post. alex, you're the only last word guest who could follow moby dick airlines. >> it's quite a lead-in, lawrence. >> just go with it. when i say we talked to the owner of moby dick airlines, of course, i mean the staff of the last word today, and we find out he bought the company in 2006, has no idea why it w

is this something romney will overcome? >> i think romney has a lot of problems. he won the great quarterly fund-raising primary, right? except he lost to one person. and that is mitt romney, at the same quarter, in 2007. he outraised himself four years ago. it is an interesting time because clearly, just like wealthy republicans are not creating jobs, they are sitting on a lot of political money. they are not sold on this field and they are not generous with anyone. no one is really blowing everyone away cared with past races. since we all lived through 2008, and i remember the beltway clamor. this field is terrible. we will get somebody else in here. we got fred thompson and he went nowhere. at a certain point it is too late to get in. i know that says sarah palin but i don't see it. i do not see her running. >> will slin sarah palin or rick perry entering the race be their solution? can either one of them come in the race and energize and bring vigor into what seems like a dull bunch right now? >> i think they can, reverend sharpton. er with looking at a short

romney raised $18 million in the second quarter. that was much lower than many people expected him to raise. reflects the difficult fundraising environment. he was a lot more than other republicans. tim pawlenty and others who are his competitors. we're still waiting to hear whether rick perry of texas who could be a heavy weight financially in this race where he gets in. when the race is fully formed, when jon huntsman is wrapping up his campaign in new hampshire, when rick perry when he gets in the race if in fact he does and we start seeing the television ads and whether mitt romney can take attacks from others which will include in the intro his on opponents are going to argue he was not so effective as governor of massachusetts in creating jobs. rick perry's going to say he's got a much better record on that score. mitt romney has to see if he can take a punch. >> john, thanks. >>> side bar now, it's all about iowa. and rick perry is looking more like a candidate. politico reports even though perry's still not officially in the

mitt romney picks a brand new target. all the way to the top. >> the president's time is being focused on playing golf and campaigning. >> frontrunner offering the president some advice. >> you thought fireworks were dangerous. take your kids to the parade and they might just vote republican. >> uh-oh. >> it's the fourth of july g.o.p. propaganda in the skies. you won't believe a new report. "fox & friends" begins right now.

i liked your line about obama care and romney. pretty good. >> let me ask you, what did you think of the president's statement today? >> i was actually on an airplane during part of that, but i've listened to your comments and read about it, talked about it with people. he's right. the democrats have compromised already. we have made major cuts, proposals of major cuts in many things that we don't really want to cut. they have not been willing to take away tax breaks from oil company, they have not been willing, the rpg, to deal with issues like hedge fund tax breaks or raising taxes on upper income people who have had their way for most of the last ten years. just back to the clinton levels when we had great economic growth. so they don't want -- they are so imprisoned by the far right wing that governs by the way david brooks, that conservative columnist, really governs from this ideology that's way out of touch with the american people. >> but, you know, "new york times" says the white house is offer tens of billions worth of c

romney is the most transparent phony. he is rolling his -- rolling up his shirt sleeves and getting a few hairs fall out of place and he is from "the grapes of wrath ." a few years ago, he presented himself as a religious conservative. that is really a paper tiger if obama is going to be the real tiger. tavis: frank rich's back. i am happy about that. his first piece is out. we will talk about this in the coming days and weeks. "something rotten." welcome back, but to see you. >> great to see you, my friend. tavis: a new documentary about the hip-hop group a tribe called quest. michael rapaport is a talented actor who has gone behind the camera for a documentary about the grammy-nominated him pop group a tribe called quest. here now a scene from "beats, rhymes and life." >> the yin and yang, that was the perfect marriage. >> he picks the best loops. we would not be here. >> the only change is seeing those guys' relationship deteriorate. what's he had a problem with me. >> i am in a group with you. you are not my daddy. >>

i like governor huntsman, i like governor romney. i think governor romney is doing a better job it this time than he did last time. he's moor comfortable and seems to be willing to take some of the heat you get if you stand up to people in your own party that you think are in his case too far to the right. but i don't know who is going to win. i'm not surprised that congresswoman bachmann's off to a good start because she's a compelling public figure. i don't agree with her on a lot of thing, but i think she comes across as real. and they've got other candidates that are quite good. i don't think we can tell yet. we have to let it play out. the main they think i want to do -- look, i had two republican governors here at this conference. former chairman of the democratic party bought a car plant in china and moved to america and he put the first one in mississippi with haley barbour, the former chairman of the republican party. if he would do more of this in waup washington, we'd get further. i'm just trying to solve practical problem

i mentioned that mitt romney was not a christian. he is a member of the jesus christ of latter-day saints church, and that church does consider its members christians. >> jon: oh, and one other thing, time for lutherans to [bleeped] or get off the pot. reformation is over. you're in or you're out. you're in or you're out. we'll be right back. vo: if you like facebook, come to best buy. where an expert will find the perfect phone for you. like the at&t htc status. it let's you post instantly to facebook with a push of a button. and it's just $49.99. with no mail in rebates. of course, just because you can share on a whim, doesn't mean you should. the at&t htc status. only $49.99 at best buy. something caught my eye yesterday. congresswoman debbie wasserman-shultz caused a bit of an uproar when she laid into a florida republican, his support of the cut, cap, balance bill. >> incredibly, the gentleman from florida, who represents thousands of medicare beneficiary, as do i, is supportive of this plan to increase costs for medicare benefi

mitt romney tried and failed in 2008, losing the nomination, of course, to john mccain. correspondent steve brown reports romney has a different approach this time. >> republican presidential candidate mitt romney is running like the general election campaign has already begun. with the gauntlet of state nomination contests not even scheduled to start for another seven months, today in the battleground state of ohio, touring an equipment manufacturer, the gop frontrunner once again challenged president obama on the economy, jobs, and standing up to china on trade. >> and the president, when he was a candidate, said that he was going to take china to the mat. well, i'm afraid most of us thought he meant the wrestling mat, but instead he and we have been taken to the door glute new gallup polling finds american voters prefer a generic republican candidate over president obama by eight percentage points, and among declared presidential candidates, romney remains on top with 27%. only minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann is reasonably close at 18. but while the rest of t

mitt romney is happy, tim pawlenty, jon huntsman, chasing romney, and frankly chasing michele bachmann, not so happy about it. >>> john boehner isn't the only leader feeling heat from members of his own party. president obama is now hearing from a lot of democrats including senate democrats who aren't sure they like where the debt talks are heading. >>> joining me now senator claire mccaskill, she's a democrat from missouri and somewhat who likes to speak her mind. senator, nice to see you this morning. >> thanks, chuck. >> all right, the outlines of this deal that we're hearing about that would have cuts up front and the revenue conversation on taxes taking place over the next 18 months with penalties, if nothing gets implemented, is a broad outline. i know you want to see details. what do you think? >> well, you know, first of all, i've been working on cuts for a long time, and jeff sessions and i came close to passing a cap on spending even before last november's elections. so, i think that cuts are very important. having said that. i think it's going to be very important that we ge