fact that the president has been a failure when it comes to reigniting america's economy. >> the romney pushback with senior adviser ed gillespie, then obama campaign senior adviser david axelrod. and the states brace for federal cuts. the view from the governor's office with virginia republican bob mcdonnell and massachusetts democrat deval patrick. plus, floods, fires, and drought. what it means for farmers and your grocery bill with agriculture secretary tom vilsack. i'm candy crowley, and this is "state of the union." in an election about the economy, the obama campaign has made it a mission to discredit mitt romney's business k credentia credentials. recently it zeroed in on filings to the s.e.c. from bain company tal listing romney head of bain three years after he said he left bain. it's important because camp obama is using some of the bain investments during the disputed time against romney. >> i think most americans figure if you're the chairman, ceo, and president of a company, that you are responsible for what that company does. >> obama's deputy campaign manager upped the ante considerably this week telling reporters the s.e.c. documents show essentially romney as either a liar or a felon. romney has tried to stay focused on the economy, explaining wednesday when you're responding, you're losing. friday romney was responding in five network tv interviews. >> is this the level that the obama campaign is willing to stoop to? is this up to the standards expected of the presidency of the united states? >> if he's responding, is mitt romney losing the message battle. joining me now is ed gillespie. ed, let me ask you that first question, which is is it a sign that you are losing the message battle that mitt romney having id if you're responding, you're losing the battle, goes on friday on five different networks to defend himself against the bain attacks? >> candy, we wanted to get to the issue at hand, which is the economy and jobs and the fact that 500,000 fewer americans are working today than when president obama took office. we had the consumer confidence index drop to the lowest level in a year, but there were questions that governor romney wanted to address and make sure people understood that he's not a felon. you know, i mean, that's what this campaign on the obama side, you know, was reduced to, and it's sad to see, and i think americans now know, you have got these baseless charges on moving jobs overseas, which independent fact checkers have said are not true, they're, indeed, a lie. and then a completely reckless and unfounded allegation that -- of criminal activity, and so it's sad to see -- we now know this president will say or do anything to keep the highest office in the land even if it means demeaning the highest office in the land. >> you can understand, can't you, that voters would still be confused because it's still going on, and here is one of the things. this came out of "the boston globe" on saturday. it said on july 19th, 1999, several months after mitt romney says he had left bain to go help save the olympics, a news release about the resignation of two bain capital managing directors describes romney as ceo and currently on a part-time leave of absence to head the salt lake city olympic committee. so there's all this documentation at the s.e.c. and in press releases that say he's still ceo, the sole owner, he's this, he's that, and you have him sort of talking business speak saying, well, no, i really wasn't all those things in the filings that i filed in the s.e.c. so why is there such a discrepancy. you can understand how people would think that looks funky. we're coming off a time, ed, as you well know that people think wall streeters and investment bankers get away with everything. doesn't this add to that? >> you know, governor romney took a leave of absence from his company to go save the olympics. if you remember -- >> this is a part-time leave of absence and there are signs that he -- >> he may have thought it could be part time, it was not part time. the olympic was in a shambles. there was corruption. there was -- the international olympic committee was going to pull the olympics from the united states of america which would have been a huge embarrassment. because of mitt romney's leadership skills he was called on to do it. he took a leave of absence and, in fact, candy, he ended up not going back at all and retired retroactively to february of 1999 as a result. democratic members of bain, one democrat who ran for the senate nomination as a democrat in massachusetts, said -- who was there at bain, said he wasn't there. he wasn't engaged in the day to day activities and harvey pitt, the former s.e.c. chairman, said it's standard procedure to sign the forms even if you have taken a leave of absence. >> is it your position that mitt romney was still technically the ceo, the sole owner, and the chief shareholder of bain, but he was not -- had nothing to do with any day-to-day decisions at bain after he left for the olympics? >> that's correct. he was not involved in the management, not involved in the day-to-day decisions, wouldn't have had time. he left a life he loved to go to salt lake city to save the olympics for a country he loves more, and somehow chicago, and classic chicago-style politics, the obama campaign is trying to make this something sinister. it's not. it's patriotic. >> do you see how people who don't run in those circles don't get how a man who no longer has anything to do with the company by your description is still listed as the ceo and the owner and -- >> and, candy, i think it's pretty simple. he took a leave of absence to go do something for the country -- >> despite it says -- the fact it says part-time leave of absence. >> that release -- if that's what it said, maybe that's what they thought at the time that he could do it part time. it was not a part-time job. it was a 16-hour a day job. anyone who was involved will tell you that's the case. again, his partners have all come out and said he was not involved in the day-to-day decisions and that's a fact. >> would he be legally -- would he at that time been legally responsible? we know what this is about. we understand that this is important in terms of a couple things. first, openness, honesty, that kind of thing. >> yeah. >> but also for the obama campaign because they want to use some of the decisions that bain made during those three years -- >> yeah. >> -- against governor romney. >> yeah. >> are you saying that he holds no responsibility for bain decisions in those three years? >> that's correct. and, look, let's be honest, the reason that the obama campaign wants to do this is because they want to talk about anything but president obama's dismal record when it comes to the economy, and it's working. you know, we're spending a lot of time on it here today as opposed to the fact that again last week we had a record-breaking 41st month unemployment above 8%. hushold income has dropped $4,300 under this president. we had the index for manufacturing jobs drop again last month. this is a result of president obama's policies and his policies are misguided because he doesn't understand the economy and mitt romney does and that's why they're trying to attack him on this front. >> for argument's sake i'll accept this theory. it is frustrating to you all because you all want to talk about the economy. why then doesn't mitt romney release all of his tax returns? why is he limiting it to two? his father, as you kno sort of set the standard with more than a dozen tax releases. you now have people like haley barbour, also the governor of alabama, john weaver, who i'm sure you know, say just release the taxes, the tax returns. just so people can see. there's ads out there, he has swiss bank accounts, he has offshore holdings in bermuda, and people are really sensitive to this sort of thing now, and why not just release them? you're an old hand -- >> he is going to release them, we've made it clear. >> this year and last. >> that's the standard john mccain said was the relevant standard. it's the standard that senator john kerry as the democratic m nominee said. that's above and beyond what the law requires. >> swiss bank accounts? >> governor romney's holdings were in a blind trust. he doesn't have direction of them, and by the way, if they weren't in a blind trust, you ca bet the democrats would attack him for not having his holdings in a blind trust. >> if there's nothing there to hide, this is not your first rodeo as we were talking about. you know how these things go. the pressure just builds and builds and builds. if there's no reason not to put it out there, why not just do it? >> we're putting his tax returns out there, more than is required by the law. the reason we're talking about some of these things is because he put those tax records out there. that's why you're talking about the blind trust and some of those accounts. the fact is the american people are, you know, very concerned about am i going to get a job? they look at what this administration is doing, shifting stimulus money -- >> and who can best bring you those jobs is what american people are -- >> exactly. what they're saying is if you're a political donor to barack obama, you're going to do fine because you're going to get a payoff. if you're a middle class worker, you're in jeopardy, facing a layoff. that's the kind of economy we're seeing with president obama. his buddies do well, political supporters do well, they get green jobs, money, stimulus dollars. if you're a middle class worker, you're struggling and mitt romney can make things better for you and he has a plan to do and that's what we're talking about while president obama is trying to talk about everything else. >> a quick question about the vp choice. we keep getting e-mails about how you're close to a decision. this month? >> i believe that governor romney is -- i think he's narrowing the list. i'm not going to betray any confidences obviously, but i think it's something he's rightly taking his time and weighing. it's bean important decision. i'm sure that cnn and others will be the first to know right after the person who wins the contest for contributing money to our website learns. >> this month do you think we'll see an announce snment. >> i'm just not sure to be honest. and i don't want to set expectations one way or the other and then not meet them. >> ed gillespie, thank you. >> thanks for having me. mitt romney is demanding an apology for president obama. will he get one? obama campaign adviser david axelrod is next. 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[ male announcer ] learn how to protect your heart at i am proheart on facebook. joining me from chicago is obama campaign senior adviser david axelrod. david, thanks for being here. let me start with you. >> good to be here, candy. >> and ask you if i am sitting in my living room watching this and i'm worried about my job and i'm worry fd i'm going to be able to pay my mortgage, i'm worried if my kids are going to be able to have a good life. can you make the link between those fears and when mitt romney left bain capital? >> well, absolutely, because when you think about what's happening to our economy and what we have to do to move forward, one of the big questions is, questions like outsources and is outsourcing a good policy for this country. governor romney's firms were involved in outsourcing. he bought firms while he was theres who pins pal mission was to provide outsourcing services to other companies. this informs your decision. perhaps that's why he supports tax cuts for companies that move jobs overseas. we lose $100 billion a year to offshore tax shelters. we've learned from the limited disclosure that he's made that governor romney takes advantage of these. he had a swiss bank count. he has a bermuda holding company -- >> can i just ask you, david -- >> when we reform the tax code, when we go to reform the tax code, candy, how does that inform his judgment? he's told us his business experience is the lens through which he's going to look at these decisions. we're getting a look at that experience and people need to ruge is that the kind of experience we want in the oval office. >> can you tell me when you do your taxes, don't you use every available way to pay as little as you can? >> i can tell you that i have never had a swiss bank account, never put money in the cayman islands, i don't have a bermuda holding company. >> are you suggesting then -- >> no one is suggesting -- i'm not suggesting that based on what we know that he's done anything illegal. i'm not suggesting that, but what i am suggesting is that he's taken advantage of every single conceivable tax shelter and loophole that we can see, and now is he the guy who is going to clean you have our tax code and make it advantageous to average taxpayers in the country or is he going to look at it through the lens of his own experience. >> doesn't president obama use every means he can to pay as little taxes as he can? >> well, i'm sure he could have a swiss bank account if he wanted it. he could have a bermuda holding company. he could put tens of millions of dollars in the caymans. he could use loopholes in the tax law to have a $100 million i.r.a. the president could do those things, but he doesn't do those things. he looks at this through a different lens. but we don't even know the scope of it because as ed said again today and governor romney said friday, they won't release any more tax returns. his father said if you release one year, it could be a fluke, it could be just for show. he released 12 years of tax returns. we don't know what he was doing back in those bain years with his taxes. we don't know all the loopholes he might have taken advantage of. i can only conclude they think with all these republicans asking him to release these returns that whatever is in those returns would be more damaging to his campaign than simply not releasing them. >> and why not -- would people not buy into the theory from republicans that you all would rather talk about swiss bank accounts than about why unemployment is still over 8%, why the housing market has yet to recover, why the middle class has lost a lot of wealth? why this is so -- ffocused on b capital and mitt romney's tax returns. >> i invite you to go out and travel with the president. every single speech he makes is about how we rebuild this economy, and most specifically how we rebuild the middle class. there are fundamental differences between him and governor romney about policy, about whether tax cuts for millionaires are worth more than paying down other deficit, educating our kids, and do other things we need to grow the economy. that's what the president is talking about. governor romney is the one who has run a campaign that's predicated on the negative. i'm not barack obama, therefore, elect me. and i'm a businessman, so i know how to fix the economy. well, if that's the experience he's running on, then, of course, that experience is going to be scrutinized. >> let me read for you a couple things. our john king wrote an article friday quoting two democratic members of bain capital who said the following, mitt romney left bain capital in february 1999 to run the olympics and has had absolutely no involvement with the management or investment activities of the firm or with any of its portfolio companies since the day of his departure. that's from the managing director, and other employee said, he was just gone, meaning romney, and it happened very suddenly. after that he was not on calls or writing memos. he was gone. at what point will you be ready to accept, if ever, that mitt romney, you know, may have been on a lot of filings, listed as the owner, but he had no day-to-day management, and, therefore, when you talk about outsourcing, he was not there when those decisions were made. >> well, it's interesting, candy, because he's very willing to take credit for everything good that he thinks happened after that point that bain capital was involved in, but he's not willing to take responsibility for this. if their story is that he was the chairman, esident, chief executive, and sole shareholder of the company and took no interest in any of the decisions they made, then they can make that case. we know that "the boston globe," the ap, bloomberg news have done reporting that calls these assertions into question. there, too, they could release their board minutes from that time and other records that would show gl what his involvement was. we know that he said he had no involvement with any of the tities bain wasinvolved with and yet he came back for board meetings for meetings of a couple of those entities, but the larger point, candy, is he was in charge when they bought these firms whose principal mission was to facilitate outsourcing and offshoring. what he's saying is, well, i left before they actually moved these jobs to china and to mexico, and i'm not going to be held responsible for it. you know, harry truman had a plaque on his desk saying the buck stops here. if mitt romney became president he would have a placard on his desk saying the buck stops there. if you're the head man, you have to take responsibility, and, you know, he's going to have to explain that to the american people. >> let me ask you, your deputy campaign manager, stephanie cutter, said this week that the s.e.c. documents show that mitt romney is either a felon or he's lying to the american people. do you think it's possible mitt romney is a felon? >> actually that's not what she said, candy, and i was listening to the call when she spoke. she said if he was, in fact, not the chief executive, the president, the sole shareholder, and chairman of the company at the time and that's what was filed, that that would be a felony. she didn't say he's a felon. >> no, no, i'm asking you -- she said he was one or the other. >> that's entirely different. >> not that different. >> the point is that -- the point is that he was the person of record in charge of the company, the sole owner and shai shareholder of the company. it may be he's misleading people now when he says i had nothing to do with it. i'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and say those documents were accurate and what he's telling the people -- the american people now is not. i'll give him that. but neither is a recommendation to be president of the united states. >> let me ask you a final question here, david. the president remains under 50% approval, which isn't a great place, as you know, for an incumbent. this race has not changed in months despite the fact that both sides and the obama campaign particularly has been just pouring money into these negative ads, some 60% of your ads have been negative. your fund-raising is lagging behind romney's. why? >> well, let me just correct one thing you said, candy. 90% of the ads that have been run by romney and his allies since march have been negative and named at the president, so i think it's a mistake to say that our advertising has somehow been more negative -- >> no i