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Buchanan in '92, but it was really in '96 that really, i think, the republicans with pitch forks just decided we're not coming out for bob dole. and it killed him in the fall. >> and that's a big issue. they have to get control, first of all, of the delegates and make sure they have enough and get control of the convention. and there's going to have to be some people who are honest brokers between the various factions of the republican party. and there are now a lot of them. and if the objective is to defeat obama, it's not that we beat up each other all through the summer and at the conventio...

Congressional district. meaning santorum will ultimately leave the state with roughly the same number as mitt romney. good morning, it is wednesday, february 29th, welcome to "morning joe." with us onset, we have msnbc and time magazine senior political analyst mark haleprin. we also have the executive editor at random house and pulitzer prize winning historian jon meacham. and in washington, msnbc political analyst michael steele. good morning to have you on, michael. >> good morning. >> and we'll start out with the primaries, but olympia snow. >> yeah, big news, she's out of it. but no doubt...

>> it does. he looked good last night, mark. >> one of the things that romney did. you're right, santorum had self-inflicted wounds. but did what he did to gingrich, went directly at santorum. and he's shown, first with gingrich and now with santorum they have feet of clay too. santorum voted to raise the debt limit and voted on behalf of unions. >> he voted for the $7 trillion medicare drug plan without paying for dime of it. >> but by showing that for the tea party and the pitch fork people, there's no pure candidate out there, i think it makes it easier for them to rally around romney becau...

People and -- mr. >> got a couple cadillacs. >> more days than not, he's got to avoid saying that. he said something yesterday about the base if hillary clinton said four years ago, she would have been killed on. i forget the exact words, i'm not going to say things to excite the base. he said you can say outrageous things and excite the base, but i'm not going to do that. >> you're talking about your primary voters. and i think he's got to stop. >> michael? >> no, mark, you're making the point. and that's exactly the frustration that a lot of folks around the country in those blue-collar town...

Momentum, go to the base with that and say i get it. i'm ready, let's do this. and hopefully begin to -- coming on the other side of that -- putting together the pieces that's going to be a building blocks for a victory in november. >> mark, you talk about political athletes. i guess the best way to talk about romney's campaign is it's three yards and a cloud of dust. they're just grinding it out. and they plan to keep grinding it out until tampa. >> they have a very decent operation. strong in some places, weaker in others. but it is worlds ahead of everybody else and that allows them to grin...