the romney sons open up about their dad, the pledge for the when you say and what they plan to do to win. why one of them calls him goofy. "jersey shore" meets georgia pine. newt gingrich and snooki together at last. good morning from washington, d.c. thursday, july 19th, 2012. this is "the daily rundown." let's get to the first reads of the morning. president obama's sunshine state swing comes today as three new polls show the race is razor tight and declining confidence in the economy remains a president's biggest challenge. new polls of "the new york times" and cbs news and fox news and npr show it's margin of error race. 47% to 46%. 47% to 45%. the president's job rating underwater in two of the polls and the npr poll that shows him doing better than the other two still has him under 50%. why is obama facing such a tough environment? voters feeling the sluggish economy and "the new york times" poll 39% said they approve of the handling of the economy. 55% disapprove. that's up seven points of april. the president will try to introduce a new line of attack in florida. he stops in jacksonville and west palm beach today. ft. myers and orlando today. according to the obama campaign, the president swinging on medicare saying romney would end medicare as we know it and turn it in to a voucher program. in ohio wednesday, romney scrapped much of the stump speech and escalated the attack on the president for suggesting that business owners owe their success to government investment. the president's awkward "you didn't build that" line. >> let me ask you this. did you build your business? if you did, raise your hand. take that, mr. president. >> the romney campaign is out with a new web video this morning pushing that point. >> if you got a business, you didn't build that. somebody else made that happen. >> my father's hands didn't build this company? my hands didn't build this company? my son's hands aren't building this company? >> but the negative stories on romney's taxes and his time at bain are not going away. "the l.a. times" reporting bian capital started with offshore investors and tapped a roster of investors raising a third of the first $37 million investment fund from wealthy foreigners. most of the foreign investors' money came through corporations registered in panama. and then known for tax advantages and unusual banking secrecy. in an interview with abc news this morning, anne romney was asked to respond to thebain attacks and she came out swinging. >> i was beneath the dignity of the office of the president to do something as egregious as that. to attack somebody on that level is i believe beneath his dignity. >> nbc's senior political editor mark murray is here. he joins me now. and mark, fascinating numbers on the polls. we'll put it up there. 47-46. obama 47-41. razor thin race and obama seems to be just brought down by his handling of the economy. can't shake it. >> luke, there are two forces at play which show why the polls pretty much are the same. that this race is essentially tied or deadlocked, however you want to describe it. the economic forces keeping president obama down, but also, the fact that people aren't yet still sold on mitt romney. and these two forces are at play right now which explains why we see president obama up two or three points up in one poll. overall i don't think the race will budge until we get past the conventions and probably even past the debates. >> anne romney came out this morning playing the role of clarifying the husband's position of bain and taxes. she said this and then i want your reaction. >> you should really look at where mitt has led his life and been financially. he is a very generous person. we give 10% of the income to the church every year. do you think that's a person trying to hide things? no. as governor of massachusetts, didn't take a salary in the four years. you know, he is a person -- >> why not show that then? why not run -- it's moot point. >> there are so many things that will be open again for more attack. >> and while ann romney is saying we're very generous to the church, there are articles like we saw in "l.a. times" and a report showing mitt romney running the olympics bain ceo listed on the title. this story is not going away s. that how to blunt it? >> she has been a campaign and effective way i think. the last three weeks taught us about the romney campaign and decided to deflect the charges on bain attacks. fighting back. two, they're changing the subject. and three, they still haven't answered the questions and on the tax returns, we saw more republicans yesterday call for the release of the tax returns prior to 2010. as you mentioned that "l.a. times" story on bain capital and buzz feed mentioning the salt lake games listed mitt romney president and ceo of bain capital. the questions don't go away any time soon. might not pop up tomorrow or next week but after the conventions romney campaign still isn't able to answer them. >> president obama is in florida today talking about medicare, going to try to bring that line of attack back up. successful in the past with democrats with the budget. other thing to talk about is veep stakes. there's rumors of chris christie to be the keynote speaker and in theory probably take him away from being vp. any new update on that? >> usually the keynote speaker isn't the vice president. you can't do the same thing and why people are crossing chris christie off the list. i think the front-runners remain the same folks we have been talking about for a while. tim pawlenty, bobby jindal, maybe jon thune and paul ryan, the guy whose budget the president will mention in florida. >> i was watching tv last night. american cross roads ads coming in heavy in the virginia ad market. we mentioned yesterday, two to one advantage for team romney. is that going to ratchet it up going forward? seems like with a bad week they rescue them. is that something to see in the rest of the election? >> outside groups helping the team romney have an outspending effect on the advertising and seeing obama ads on the air waves, too. ever since 2008, for those of us living in washington, d.c., next door virginia is a battleground and seeing it. >> good to finally see them. we never saw the political ads. thank you. appreciate it. the united nations security council will vote in the next hour on new sanctions against the syrian government that may be too tough to secure russian support. the vote comes as new reports whether the president assad is hiding. nbc's eamon mohadine joins me now. how much ground did the rebels gain yesterday? there's reports of opposition forces say assad in the coastal city. we can't confirm that. but is the assad government on the run at all right now? >> reporter: well, there's no doubt by many assessments the abad government is fighting for survival and the ways to measure that. large parts of the country are in the hands of the rebels. not under the control but they feel more emboldened after yesterday's attack to move freely city to city and more importantly they have brought the fighting to the seat of assad's power in the capital damascus itself with running gun battles taking place in the heart of the city. there are reports that, in fact, they have also taken over the border control or border crossing point between iraq and syria. the president himself, whereabouts unknown. not spoken publicly after yesterday's attack. there are reports based on eyewitnesss and other activist reporters that he is in the coastal city of latakia. perhaps preparing for the military. >> with this u.n. vote today, we don't expect russia to lend their support. correct? >> reporter: that's correct. all indications are that russia will not support a tougher u.n. resolution sanction to call on president assad to step down from power and the united nations to enforce that. that's the sticking point. not that they disagree with the political transition but a resolution calling for that transition and then goes so far as to enforce it is something that russia would not accept thinking it paves the way for an international military intervention in the country. >> ayman, thank you so much for joining us. we should mention that president obama had a conversation with president putin saying that russia needs to be on the right side of history. we'll obviously see how that vote plays out. most likely not going to happen, though, as russia doesn't want to be on the side of removing a powerful central leader as that's something that's pressing in their history. a few good days on wall street has the dow approaching the 13,000-threshold once again. but will earnings report and new economic numbers provide the necessary boost for investors? becky quick is here for the market rundown. what do we know, becky? >> luke, it is a mixed picture today. the dow will open understand once again -- you mentioned the run of good days. this morning opening up by 50 points and that's up pretty significant. s&p 500 sitting an at two and a half-month high and watching the numbers closely and things turned around. part of that has been because of the earnings picture. ibm reported earnings and the street looked at the guidance thinking maybe things aren't slowing down as much as we expected in technology and got us off on the right foot and since then we have lousy earnings reports or at least not as great as expected and jobless claims numbers. jobless claims up to 386,000. that is above the 352,000 from last week. and it's above the 365,000 that people were expecting this time around. so that's a huge concern. jobs picture's always the biggest factor particularly looking at the election and going to mean shaping up. and we did take a look at that. jobless claims, morgan stanley and verizon came in lower than expected, actually morgan stanley lower and verizon with numbers in the fios editions weaker than expected so the stocks are down and looking at the markets opening up about 50 points higher and we'll see if the gains continue towards the opening bell. >> 50 points higher but the jobless claims above 375,000, that will give a lot of poise to 1600 p p avenue. thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. promises, promises. they're easy to make but tough to keep. what does mitt romney really plan to do making it to the white house? we'll talk to the campaign next. plus, a straight talk express barrels in to the capital. john mccain takes to the floor and takes on a fellow republican, michelle bachmann. we'll take you out with kenny loggins. the president's in florida. the home of golf. mitt romney in boston. strategizing. whoa, look at all those toys. insuring that stuff must be a pain. nah, he's probably got... [ dennis' voice ] allstate. they can bundle all your policies together. lot of paperwork. [ doug's voice ] actually... [ dennis' voice ] an allstate agent can help do the switching and paperwork for you. well, it probably costs a lot. [ dennis' voice ] allstate can save you up to 30% more when you bundle. well, his dog's stupid. [ dennis' voice ] poodles are one of the world's smartest breeds. ♪ bundle and save with an allstate ant. if a nation has massive debts that ultimately become overwhelming to the overall economy, it slows down the rate of growth of the economy and that means fewer jobs. and therefore, i will do what is necessary to finally get america a balanced budget. [ applause ] >> mitt romney makes one heck of a campaign promise. vowing to balance the budget within eight years. at the same time, the heart of his economic plan is a series of tax cuts including a 25% reduction for corporations and cuts to the marginal tax rates, as well. how do you do both in tara wall is adviser for the romney campaign and joins me now. thank you so much for coming on the program. >> absolutely. thank you for having me. >> balanced budget by 2020. we have a deficit. how do you do that? >> there are a number of thing that is governor romney said he would do. lower the marginal tax rate across the board and tax breaks to all americans. not just certain americans but to all americans. of course, repeal and replace obama care. i think that would right away do away with the $500 million that in new taxes that the current administration enacted on american people under that act and again you have to look at some of the spending cuts and stream lining government overall. >> when we look at the numbers, when we crunch them, he wants to increase defense as part of gdp from 3.8% to 4%. that's increase in defense spending. build 15 navy warships. tax cuts would go down from 35% to 28%. the nonpartisan committee for responsible budget said this. estimated roughly, ignoring interactions and microdynamic effects we find that without offsets romney's plan on the whole would increase the debt by about $2.6 trillion. what are the offsets? what are we specifically going to do to balance the budget? >> i believe americans hearing more about governor romney's plan and to see in depth the plan you can research that and look at that more in depth, but overall, number one, there have been a number of new regulations, overzealous regulations on businesses, small business es across the country and we have to look at those things and again we have to look at where our growth comes from and where the economic recovery comes from. and that is our small business. >> regulations on small businesses, if you eliminate -- >> not maligning the small businesses and not demoonizing our small businesses and this administration has done. i think when you look at the comments just recently made about the president, when he said that these hands, these small business hands, entrepreneurs like me is something that we didn't do ourselves. that we had to have the help of the government and i think there are folk that is look at it as a displaced way to not look at the real issues of how we deal with -- >> okay. but if you cut the cuts and regulations, they're in the billions. we are talking trillions with a "t." nonpartisan. increase the debt. mr. romney's plans. why are there no specifics? you want to talk about big ideas and not the bain an enthe tax issues. i'm asking you specifically. >> yeah. >> how does mitt romney's plan balance the budget by 2020? >> if you look at the economic numbers, i'm not an economist and not going to play an economist, i do believe that mitt romney has a proven record of bringing economies back. he brought down unemployment as govern governor. he created jobs as governor. he was effective as a business person overall and i think you have to apply the principles. when you have someone with a record and understands the concept of growing this economy through businesses and streamlining and savings and all of these things, i think you have to take it to account and look at that and see how he'll apply it to the country overall. you can't discount that and the fact that we have to be able to look at how we begin solving the debt problem and bringing the problems down. and to do that, number one, is to start with streamlining our tax code, bringing down the marginal tax rate, the regulations that have been overburdensome and making real, true spending cuts. >> we can have a conversation but the romney economists i hope the campaign provides them some day. let's talk about communications here. interesting numbers, "the new york times"/cbs poll. who do the policies favor in romney, rich, 53%. middle class, 11%. obama, rich, 21%. middle class, 22%. 24%, romney 2% favor the poor. equal 25% to 30%. interesting numbers. mitt romney viewed by the public even ahead in the poll by one point as being in favor of the rich. how do you tamper that? >> listen. polls are just what they are. you know, they are snapshot in time and they vary. i think at the end of the day if you look at some of the recent polling relative to how governor romney would handle the economy a majority of americans right now feel that he would be better at handling the economy and i think as we go on in these next few months and people hear and learn more about governor romney and what the plan is for america and bringing jobs back, creating jobs and bringing this country back, i think they'll come to understand who mitt romney is and what his vision is for america overall. and i think there's a stark contrast, again. when you look at the government's approach to wanting to handle the problems of america, i think that's not the right approach. governor romney's approach is a better approach and i think americans will understand that overall. >> governor romney will embark on a trip aboard, london, israel. he was asked around capitol hill in regards to the afghan policy. lindsay graham, he was asked by the media mr. romney's afghanistan policy. he goes, what is it? i think romney's policy is listen to the commanders and if that's that, it's okay with me. does mitt romney have to have a more specific policy on afghanistan prior to going on to this trip? >> well, you know, look. i think that overall -- overall governor romney has been clear about the plans and about this trip and what his goals are and i think that when we look at protecting and securing the homeland, that's something he's articulated over and over again. i won't get in the details of that. i'm here to talk about the job situation, the economy, the growth. that we need and what this governor is planning on doing in that regard and what this president has failed to do. we are, again, at 41 straight months of 8.2% unemployment overall. we have millions, 23 million people out of work, underemployed. this is what we need to talk about and the issues to be talking about and how this president has failed to address that, has failed to talk about that and continues to malign small business. that's what i'm here to talk about and continue to focus on. this campaign will focus on. we need to get people back to work and talk about the issues and i think this president's failing to do so. unfortunately, it's disappointing that the attacks, these recent attacks on all these issues outside of the issues relative to mitt romney are diverting away from what real americans want to talk about and real americans want to talk about getting back to work. >> it is fire say real americans want to talk about paying down the debt. >> absolutely. there's plenty of time to learn more about the candidates. there's plenty of time to learn and hear from the candidates when he goes in to the cities and the towns and hears from real americans about the issues, they're disappointed that the president has yet to understand where our economy, how to grow our economy and where these jobs come from. and that's our job creators. >> thank you for joining us. >> you're welcome. >> love to continue. up next, a hollywood superstar drops a million dollars in the presidential race. plus for us political nerds, there's something new to like about facebook. supreme court justice scalia speaks out for the first time since the landmark health care ruling. first, today's trivia question. which foreign capital is named after a u.s. president? tweet us. the first correct answer gets a follow thursday. the answer and more coming. time for your business entrepreneur of the week. ohio based interior designer was doing well serving big corporate customers and passing on smaller kleins. she had to rethink the business plan. thinking big and small. she made sure every customer knew they were valuable to her. for more, watch sunday morning. if you are one of the millions of men who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so