republican party is engaged in a war on women? >> and david brody of the crist janua christian broadcasting network. i'm candy crowley and this is state of the union. in an election expected to somewhere on the economy, both parties got something to schu on this this week. 120,000 new jobs were added to the economy in march, but that was way off the 200,000 expected. unemployment dropped a tenth of a percent, but economists say some quit looking for work. mitt romney called the report weak and very troubling. the president said there's a lot more work to do. joining me now from miami, florida is the chair of the democratic national committee, congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz. thank you for joining us on this holiday weekend. i want to start out -- >> you're welcome -welcome. >> -- with the jobs report. mitt romney described it as weak. we've heard various economists describe the economy as sluggish. how would you describe the latest jobs report? >> well, because we've now had 25 straight months of private sector job growth, more than 4 million jobs created, and where actually at will this point in our recovery, we've created seven times more jobs than at the same point in the recovery in 2001, i'd say we're making slow but steady progress. and like the president said, we have a ways to go, we need to keep pushing. but what's really bothersome to me is that it almost seems like my republican colleagues in congress and mitt romney are rooting for economic failure. i mean, they've been hyper focused on one job, barack obama's, for really the last two years. and we all need to be pulling together to focus on moving the economy forward for the middle class and for working families. and mitt romney's plans, the republican budget take they just put out in the house, they're focused on making sure millionaires and billionaires can continue to do even better. and that's a pretty huge contrast. >> republicans would disagree that they're rooting for a bad economy and in fact they out of their way to say we welcome any progress, but this isn't fast enough. i want to read you something that your counterpart said on friday. over three years ago, president obama projected that the unemployment rate would be below 6% by now thanks on his stimulus. but the stimulus failed and unemployment has been far above that level ever since. is that legitimate criticism because in fact that is what the president's economic folks projected with the stimulus that was passed. >> again, that's another example of where the republicans just refuse to acknowledge that we've made -- that we've made progress. we have made significant progress. >> but it was your benchmark, it was the president's benchmark. and is holding him to that fair? >> that's -- what -- what prince priebus and other anyists are saying is that he's inherited the worst economy since the great depression and the recovery act, as much as republicans can repeat it over and over, it didn't fail. it created and saved more than 3 million jobs. >> but it failed to do what was promised. isn't that -- is that a legitimate criticism? >> no, i don't think it's a leg legitimate criticism. it succeeded in jump-starting the economy. we needed to give the economy is shock to the heart. we needed to make sure that we didn't lose millions of teachers jobs and first responders like firefighters and police officers. we needed to invest if our infrastructure because we hahav crumbling roads and bridges. that's what the recovery act did and it helped jump-start us to the point where we've had 25 straight months of job growth in the private sector. remember, we were losing 750,000 jobs a month when the president took office. hang thanked to the paled poli policies he inherited.thanked t policies he inherited. >> let's me ask but gas prices now over $4 a gallon on average. we all know when gas prices go up, consumers spend less and companies tend to hire fewer people simply because their overhead has gone up. do you worry that these gas prices should they stay here will inflict some damage on what i think you still admit is a fairly weak recovery. >> as a representative of my constituents, i worry anytime there is an impact on their wallet and on their bottom line and obviously higher gas prices does that. but that's why i'm really glad to see president obama focused on an all of the above energy strategy because previously under the bush administration and what the republicans now under pit romney want to continue is a drill, baby, drill strategy. which is hot a strategy, it's a bumper sticker. and it's also sticking our heads in the sand that we'll be able to continue to rely on our dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels. we know those are finite. we need on focus on investing in biofuels and alternative energy sources like wind and solar. so for my children and my constituents' children, we can have an abundant source of energy that's renewable for years to come. and in fact gas prices over the long term. >> let me turn you to one of the democrats' favorite subject these days and that is what they call the republican war on women. again, from the republican national committee, a spokesman said it is down right pathetic, they, meaning democrats, would use a term like war when there are millions of americans would actually have engaged in a real war. to use a term like that borders on unpatriotic. the war on women, i understand that you disagree with a lot of the policies that have come out either at the state level or things that have been said on the floor. but do you think war on women actually helps the dialogue? is it a little overstretched? >> i think we need to look at what republicans are saying about the policies towards women themselves. is look at what senator lisa murkowski said in her state. if republicans don't position that our policies are an attack on women, they need it on go home and talk to their wives and daughters. because the policies that have come out of the republican partying saying we should have to have a debate again over contraception and whether we should have access to it and whether it should be affordable, saying that like governor scott walker in wisconsin, you know, he tried to quietly repeal the equal pay act. women aren't going to stand for that. governor walker just signed a bill that repeals the equal pay law that they had in wisconsin for years. you have republicans that have engaged themselves on trying to redefine rape as only being forceful brain oig. depunding planned parenthood. the lilly led better act that put teeth behind the notion that women deserve equal pay for equal work. that was the first bill president obama signed in to law.overwhelming majority of republicans voted against it. so the focus of the republican party on turning back the clock for women really is something that's unacceptable and shows how callus and insensitive they are towards women's priorities. >> congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, always too short of time. please come back. >> always is. thanks. swing voters. latinos and women. are key to winning the white house and you can bet the presidential candidates are looking at the polls for answers even though they might not admit it. >> you didn't know a poll to know that it wasn't a sure thing. >> there's one poll that's redi ridiculo ridiculous. >> we started off 15 points down. now we're leading. thanks, you guys. all energy development comes with some risk, but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. 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. ahh, cloudy glasses. you didn't have to come over! easy. hi. cascade kitchen counselor. look! over time, a competing gel can leave cloudy hard water deposits, but cascade complete pacs help leave glasses sparkling. cascade. love it or your money back. let's see what you got. rv -- covered. why would you pay for a hotel? i never do. motorcycles -- check. atv. i ride those. do you? no. boat. house. hello, dear. hello. hello. oh! check it -- [ loud r&b on car radio ] i'm going on break! the more you bundle, the more you save. now, that's progressive. george gallop conducted his first public opinion poll in the 1930s and almost eight decades later, business is booming about. >> mitt romney in this match-up, 48% you'll see to obama 47%. >> our new poll shows president with a double digit lead. >> nearly two-thirds of americans disapprove of how the president is handling gas prices. >> the capped cndidates want yo know they're not preoccupied in polls. >> i've never had much pait in the pollsters. >> but behind the scenes, campaigns poll constantly on the candidates and the issues. can you believe the numbers? >> they're scientific because they're random samples. >> part of a questionnaire is looking at a series of questions so that you can determine what you can reasonably rely upon. >> strategist linda divall and mark penn on what the poles say about the battle for the white house next. and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy. joining us now, mark penn, democratic strategist and wherein today divall, republican strategist and president and ceo of american viewpoint public opinion pirm. thank you both for joining us. i want to show our viewers, this is independent votes in swing states. obama 48, romney 39. so how did romney lose the independent vote. >> i think will this is a significant reversal. i think romney through the primaries has been beaten up by the others, seen as removed from kind of the middle class average voter. has trouble with women now, with latinos. boy, i think he's entering the general election how kind of a totally beaten up candidate and this poll is a reflection of that. >> and he's not the first to arrive beat up. the very nature of the swing voter is that they swing. so is there anything in this that gives you hope that he can get them back, that romney could get back some of the swing voters? >> certainly. number one, it's early april. number two, when you look at with registered voters, the margin becomes much closer. and this is not atypical that our nominee tends to go down. >> we want to talk about women. in this same poll, again, this is swing states, and this is the women vote. obama 54%, romney 36%. is he being tainted from some things fellow republicans have done or is it something about romney? >> i think when you look at it, it's mostly about the republican party, but romney has failed to distinguish himself from the pack. i think when you had the dust up about contraception, i think women said, wait a minute here. this party, this republican party and whoever is the nominee, will be driven by an agenda that is socially way 00 conservative for me in he's times. and i think that shifted a lot of voters. >> and the contraception argument for republican, they wanted to be seen as a separation of church and state issue and instead the democrats have framed very well this sort of war on women. and looks as hthese it's hurt him. sgrits eat inept ham handling of the republican party on the issue. if you look at what happened in 2010, republicans were very competitive and in fact won the vote with women voters. so there's an important lesson here. when we get the focus back on the the economy and the president's record, things dramatically. >> we've had soccer moms, security mom, weighait recent r. what's the target voter here? >> there is no monolithic group that describes the female vote. i would probably look at two or three. one are what i would call medicare grand mads who are more concerned about the fate of their children and their grandchildren in terms of the jobs that they will get and their ability to pursue the american dream as i talked about earlier. second, there are what i would call wall street blues women. those who are very worried, they work a job, their husband works, they're worried about their benefits being cut back, hers worried about their retirement security and their 401(k) losing steam.rs worried about their retirement security and their 401(k) losing steam.s worried about their retirement security and their 401(k) losing steam.s worried about their retirement security and their 401(k) losing steam.ths worried about their retirement security and their 401(k) losing steam.es worried about their retirement security and their 401(k) losing steam.ys worried about their retirement security and their 401(k) losing steam.they'res worried about th retirement security and their 401(k) losing steam.they're worried about their retirement security and their 401(k) losing steam. dealing with the day to day stress of living and always lurking is a concern that a benefit will be cut or one or the two of them will lose their job. >> i would k3 x. band i think there are four key groups. record numbers of independents. record numbers of latino voters probably break 10%. record number of voters making over $100,000. a new college educated professional class that obama did very well with and needs to do well with again. and finally, the over 60 electorate will for the first time be probably five points bigger than the oout electorate. >> baby boomers keep getting older, don't we? >> and they keep voting. >> let me move to latino voters. i want to put up from our exit polls from 2000 on forward from republicans. george w. bush got 37% of t5% o latino vote. and i want to show you what the pew center poll shows between president obama and mitt romney. 68% of whlatino vote, barack obama. 23%, mitt romney. that's the biggest growing demographic you've got. that's a huge problem. what has caused this big drop? >> well, again, you have perceptions of the republican party on the immigration issue that are very much hurting the republican party here. it doesn't take a genius to figure out those numbers will not provide and you pathway to a winning coalition. so it is incumbent upon the republican party to do a better job of embracing the hispanic/latino vote. they're very entrepreneurial oriented. they're very family oriented. they place a high emphasis on education. there's no reason why the republican party and it candidates do a better job of appealing to them. you also have to look at key senate races. new mexico, nevada, arizona. those three states will be very important for the presidential coalition, but also very important in terms of control of the senate and republicans must do a better job with the hispanic vote. >> probably more in the are a t latino vote, that's where a down ballot really begins to be affected in states.e a latino vote, that's where a down ballot really begins to be affected in states. a latino vote, that's where a down ballot really begins to be affected in states.a latino vote, that's where a down ballot really begins to be affected in states. latino vote, that's where a down ballot really begins to be affected in states. the latino vote may be a real exception here. >> what happened here is that romney, who has found himself with moderate positions on a lot of issues, took rather harsh and conservative positions on immigration. and so i think quite the opposite from where president george bush was, where his immigration precision seems more moderate, romney has put himself in the isolated component of that and along with his ryan budget are two biggest errors giving him problem going forward. >> one last question about the number two pick. throughout history, i think we'd look and say the lbj pick for jack kennedy maybe brought him texas. do you think it matters, certainly if you get a bad vice presidential candidate, people might vote against you, but does it matter one way or the other if a presidential nominee picks someone who fills in his degraphic weakness or picks someone who fills in his perceived policy weaknesses? >> i think the number one criteria for any presidential candidate picking a vice presidential choice is can that person accept in and do the job of president from day one should that circumstance a rise. and one thing that happened in 2008 is that increasingly as you got closer to election day, there are many people that doubt that had sarah palin could do that job. so first is that person ready to be president of the united states and second is probably do no harm. >> yeah, because i you might vote against someone who has a bad number two, but would you vote for someone because they had a great number two? >> typically number twos don't make a big difference. could make a can i have in a state. could make a difference for a particular group. a lot of people have talked about rubio. but there's one henk we definitely agree on here. sarah palin was one of the most disastrous vp picks in history. she turned off a lot of college educated voters who might have considered voting for the republican party. and that's why democrats got and barack obama got an unprecedentedly high vote among college educated over-100,000 voters. >> we'll see if he can keep them this time around. thank you both so much for coming. my thanks again to mark penn and linda divall. ahead, president obama says he's confident the supreme court will uphold the health care law, but his comments about the justices are drawing some heat. >> i think what we have here was a direct effort by the president to intimidate the court during a time when they're making a decision a one of the most important cases in the history of the country. 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