>>> out there. good morning from washington. it's thursday, july 5th . daily rundown." i'm chuck todd . i had no idea this show would be as busy as it is today. let's get right to my first read of the morning. even if mitt romney runs the table winning every other battleground state he has no pat to 270 unless he wins one swing state in the rust belt midwest. iowa to wisconsin, pennsylvania . iowa, pennsylvania and michigan in between. the president is kicking off a two-day bus tour of ohio and pennsylvania . aimed at selling the struggling economy to a white working class voters and is bringing a tax on romney 's private sector experience to bringing capital to place where's the campaign thinks it will resonate. the president's first bus tour of the 12012 campaign will coincide with this week's most important political event. the release of the june jobs report tomorrow.
>>> both ohio and pennsylvania had unemployment rates below the national average in may. 7.3% and 7.4% respectively. this betting on america bus tour will fake america across the ohio belt with stops in maume,and sandusky today. and hold one in parma tonight. and tomorrow he makes several more stops many ohio before ending the tour in pittsburgh. the president won pennsylvania by 11 poibtsz in 2008 and ohio by 5, both states likely to be more competitive this time around. while the campaign bloefs swing voters may not be happy with the economy they can create an a. contrast to make romney unacceptable alternative for those decided and anxious voters. playing ads like this one on outsourcing nonstop and trying to call attention to a new story in vanity fair " and how much of that fortune may sit in tax shelters outside of america . now, the campaign calls attention to the story again this morning in a new video with, quote, man on the street quotes."
>> i don't know if he's doing that because he's trying to shelter his money from taxes or whether he just doesn't believe in the american economy . but either way it's not a very good sign.
>> and now you understand the whole betting on america theme of this bus trip . it's got a number of layers, because the president is also going to talk about the auto bailout. now, two names mentioned as possible romney running mates. former minnesota governor tim pawlenty and louisiana governor bobby jindal are there in their states to rebut the attacks. they have the unglamorous job of trailing the president through ohio and pennsylvania on what the romney campaign calls a broken promises tour. in romney prebutted the president in part of that interview tape with cbs yesterday.
>> the reason i'm run for president is that i believe i have the experience and know-how and vision to help americans, to have the middle class american. the president is going on the a bus tour. he's got no new answers. i've laid out what i do to get this economy going and as long as i can continue to speak about the economy, i'm going to win.
>> well, this is the news going forward. of course, the big story in this campaign has been what's been going on in the last six days. after 48 hours of silence from his campaign romney conceded yesterday that the health care mandate is, as republicans have insisted, attacks and not as a senior adviser eric told me on monday, a penalty. romney was caught on a rope line in new hampshire, and hoarse what he said.
>> the supreme court is the final word, right? the highest court in the land. they said it was a tax, didn't they?
>> so it's a tax, of course.
>> as you can see it was a concession. he sort of conceding the point, not necessarily glorifying it. but he made the same concession in an interview taped earlier in the day with cbs news where he also took panes to try to argue it was the supreme court that caused him to have to change his view on this issue.
>> i said that i agreed with the dissent. and the dissent made it very clear that they felt it was unconstitutional. but the dissent lost. it's in the minority. and so now the supreme court has spoken. there's no way around that. you can try and say you wish they would have decided a different way, but they didn't. they concluded it was a tax. that's what was it is.
>> that point defending the view of the mandate is a penalty by saying romney agreed with conservative justices on the court is a line of defense fehrnstrom shared with me monday. but he dent further.
>> the governor believes what we put in place in massachusetts was a penalty and disagrees with the court's rule that the mandate was a tax. again --
>> so he agreed with the president -- he agrees with the president that it is not -- and he believes that you shouldn't call the tax penalty a tax, you should call it a penalty or a fee or a fine?
>> that's correct.
>> well, yesterday in a series of verbal gymnastics romney tried to explain why a mandate is a tax nationally but a penalty on the state level in massachusetts .
>> the chief justice in his opinion made it very clear that at the state level, states have the power to put in placeman dates. they don't need to require them to be called taxes in order for them to be constitutional and, as a result, massachusetts mandate was a mandate, was a penalty, was described that way by be legislature and by me, so it stays as it was.
>> remember, congress described the tax as a penalty, not a tax as well use that same just justificati justification. however, of course, the massachusetts state supreme court didn't weigh in. the obama campaign jumped on romney 's comments. called him a flip-flopper and said, first, first he threw his top aide eric fehrnstrom under the bus, second he contradicted himself calling the mandate not a tax. he didn't necessarily throw fehrnstrom under the bus. they were both saying the same thing. what romney essentially did 48 hours after what eric fehrnstrom told us, he conceded, fine, if the supreme court is going to call it a tax, then we'll call it a tax. now you see the problem it's creating among conservatives. let's move to there. the penalty versus tax episode highlight what's many conservatives see as romney 's fundamental flaw. they simply don't trust him, eshl when it comes to health care . look no further than tad's scathing wall street editorial which slams romney 's tax confusion, unquote. the editorial comes out just days or the paper's owner rupert murdoch , i'm not implying anything there, they don't do this same thing but it comes at the same time that rupert said he had doubts about romney 's staff. the journal's editorial board writing, quote, this latest mistake is of a piece with the campaign's insular staff and strategy that are slowly squandering an historic opportunity if romney campaign thinks it can play it safe and coast to the white house by saying the economy stinks and it's mr. obama's fault. romney promised republicans he was the best man to make the case against president obama , whom they desperately want to defeat. so far mr. romney is letting them down. the editorial also went down to john kerry comparison road. even took a shot at romney fot photo-op. in short, it was a brutal takedown and conservatives now have their told you so moment if romney does end up losing in november. what's interesting there is laura ingram yesterday on her radio show hit the jet ski comment. others have picked up on this on the right as well. finally, don't miss this nugget that romney was asked by cbs , whether he would still nominate a justice in the mold of john roberts to the court now that roberts has upheld the health care law .
>> i certainly wouldn't nominate something who i knew would come out with a decision that i vehemently disagreed with and he reached a conclusion, i think, that was not accurate, not an appropriate conclusion. but that being said, he's a very bright person and i look for individuals that have intelligence and believe in following the constitution.
>> and asked whether he was troubled by report that claims john roberts might have switched his vote, romney went further.
>> it gives the impression that the decision was not made based upon constitutional foundation, but instead political consideration about the relationship between the branches of government. but we won't really know the afternoonses to those things until the justice himself speaks out.
>>> we'll see if that interview does anything to put to bed the uneasiness that conservatives have with romney on health care . but it's also worth noting, health care was never really litigated in the republican primaries . at least mitt romney and the issue of health care .
>>> both ohio and pennsylvania had unemployment rates below the national average in may. 7.3% and 7.4% respectively. this betting on america bus tour will fake america across the ohio belt with stops in maume,and sandusky today. and hold one in parma tonight. and tomorrow he makes several more stops many ohio before ending the tour in pittsburgh. the president won pennsylvania by 11 poibtsz in 2008 and ohio by 5, both states likely to be more competitive this time around. while the campaign bloefs swing voters may not be happy with the economy they can create an a. contrast to make romney unacceptable alternative for those decided and anxious voters. playing ads like this one on outsourcing nonstop and trying to call attention to a new story in vanity fair " and how much of that fortune may sit in tax shelters outside of america . now, the campaign calls attention to the story again this morning in a new video with, quote, man on the street quotes."
>> i don't know if he's doing that because he's trying to shelter his money from taxes or whether he just doesn't believe in the american economy . but either way it's not a very good sign.
>> and now you understand the whole betting on america theme of this bus trip . it's got a number of layers, because the president is also going to talk about the auto bailout. now, two names mentioned as possible romney running mates. former minnesota governor tim pawlenty and louisiana governor bobby jindal are there in their states to rebut the attacks. they have the unglamorous job of trailing the president through ohio and pennsylvania on what the romney campaign calls a broken promises tour. in romney prebutted the president in part of that interview tape with cbs yesterday.
>> the reason i'm run for president is that i believe i have the experience and know-how and vision to help americans, to have the middle class american. the president is going on the a bus tour. he's got no new answers. i've laid out what i do to get this economy going and as long as i can continue to speak about the economy, i'm going to win.
>> well, this is the news going forward. of course, the big story in this campaign has been what's been going on in the last six days. after 48 hours of silence from his campaign romney conceded yesterday that the health care mandate is, as republicans have insisted, attacks and not as a senior adviser eric told me on monday, a penalty. romney was caught on a rope line in new hampshire, and hoarse what he said.
>> the supreme court is the final word, right? the highest court in the land. they said it was a tax, didn't they?
>> so it's a tax, of course.
>> as you can see it was a concession. he sort of conceding the point, not necessarily glorifying it. but he made the same concession in an interview taped earlier in the day with cbs news where he also took panes to try to argue it was the supreme court that caused him to have to change his view on this issue.
>> i said that i agreed with the dissent. and the dissent made it very clear that they felt it was unconstitutional. but the dissent lost. it's in the minority. and so now the supreme court has spoken. there's no way around that. you can try and say you wish they would have decided a different way, but they didn't. they concluded it was a tax. that's what was it is.
>> that point defending the view of the mandate is a penalty by saying romney agreed with conservative justices on the court is a line of defense fehrnstrom shared with me monday. but he dent further.
>> the governor believes what we put in place in massachusetts was a penalty and disagrees with the court's rule that the mandate was a tax. again --
>> so he agreed with the president -- he agrees with the president that it is not -- and he believes that you shouldn't call the tax penalty a tax, you should call it a penalty or a fee or a fine?
>> that's correct.
>> well, yesterday in a series of verbal gymnastics romney tried to explain why a mandate is a tax nationally but a penalty on the state level in massachusetts .
>> the chief justice in his opinion made it very clear that at the state level, states have the power to put in placeman dates. they don't need to require them to be called taxes in order for them to be constitutional and, as a result, massachusetts mandate was a mandate, was a penalty, was described that way by be legislature and by me, so it stays as it was.
>> remember, congress described the tax as a penalty, not a tax as well use that same just justificati justification. however, of course, the massachusetts state supreme court didn't weigh in. the obama campaign jumped on romney 's comments. called him a flip-flopper and said, first, first he threw his top aide eric fehrnstrom under the bus, second he contradicted himself calling the mandate not a tax. he didn't necessarily throw fehrnstrom under the bus. they were both saying the same thing. what romney essentially did 48 hours after what eric fehrnstrom told us, he conceded, fine, if the supreme court is going to call it a tax, then we'll call it a tax. now you see the problem it's creating among conservatives. let's move to there. the penalty versus tax episode highlight what's many conservatives see as romney 's fundamental flaw. they simply don't trust him, eshl when it comes to health care . look no further than tad's scathing wall street editorial which slams romney 's tax confusion, unquote. the editorial comes out just days or the paper's owner rupert murdoch , i'm not implying anything there, they don't do this same thing but it comes at the same time that rupert said he had doubts about romney 's staff. the journal's editorial board writing, quote, this latest mistake is of a piece with the campaign's insular staff and strategy that are slowly squandering an historic opportunity if romney campaign thinks it can play it safe and coast to the white house by saying the economy stinks and it's mr. obama's fault. romney promised republicans he was the best man to make the case against president obama , whom they desperately want to defeat. so far mr. romney is letting them down. the editorial also went down to john kerry comparison road. even took a shot at romney fot photo-op. in short, it was a brutal takedown and conservatives now have their told you so moment if romney does end up losing in november. what's interesting there is laura ingram yesterday on her radio show hit the jet ski comment. others have picked up on this on the right as well. finally, don't miss this nugget that romney was asked by cbs , whether he would still nominate a justice in the mold of john roberts to the court now that roberts has upheld the health care law .
>> i certainly wouldn't nominate something who i knew would come out with a decision that i vehemently disagreed with and he reached a conclusion, i think, that was not accurate, not an appropriate conclusion. but that being said, he's a very bright person and i look for individuals that have intelligence and believe in following the constitution.
>> and asked whether he was troubled by report that claims john roberts might have switched his vote, romney went further.
>> it gives the impression that the decision was not made based upon constitutional foundation, but instead political consideration about the relationship between the branches of government. but we won't really know the afternoonses to those things until the justice himself speaks out.
>>> we'll see if that interview does anything to put to bed the uneasiness that conservatives have with romney on health care . but it's also worth noting, health care was never really litigated in the republican primaries . at least mitt romney and the issue of health care .