a record number of middle and high school students entered a video on the theme "the constitution and you," showing which part of the constitution is important to them and why. watch all the winning videos on studentcan.org. join us in april as we show the top 27 on c-span. we'll talk with the winners during washington journal. from the associated press, president obama warned china today it would not be allowed to gain a competitive advantage in world trade by, quote, skirting the rules. making an election year pitch aimed at working people, the president announced that wash wafsh was bringing a new trade case against beijing. the goal, to pressure the rising asian economic power to end its restrictions on exports of key materials known as rare earth. now, politician and policy, live on c-span radio's washington today.

>> -- serving as ambassador to the u.n., russia, el salvador, also jordan. undersecretary of state for political affairs back in the second clinton administration speaking at a national u.s. arab chamber of commerce ambassadors forum yesterday here in washington. this is c-span radio, wcsp, channel 119. it is time for "washington today." >> we're bringing a new trade case against china and being joined by japan and some of our european allies. this case involves something called rare earth materials, used by american manufacturers to make high tech products like advanced batteries that power everything from hybrid calls to cell phone. >> the president in the rose

garden earlier as he announced the u.s. joining the european union and japan filing a challenge to the wto against china's export restrictions. china produces 97% of all rare note materials. we'll be focusing on this story coming up in just a moment. welcome to hour one of "washington today." i'm steve skully. thank you for being with us. the afl-cio announced it is endorsing the president for his re-election bid and will mount a massive effort for democratic candidates to counter the flood of money by republican groups, especially with the so-called super pacs. by the time the votes are counted from alabama and minneapolis, newt gingrich's candidacy may depend on a win has told reporters he's feeling good about his chances. rick an tropical storm who is spending annual evening in

louisiana with an eye on the louisiana primary. a week from today, the illinois primary. live coverage at 7:00 eastern on c-span radio and live on c-span television, a psych all cast of politico's coverage of the results. we'll take you to the speeches. we expect to hear tonight from gingrich and santorum. earlier mitt romney holding a campaign rally in missouri. news on the economy. the federal reserve says four major banks, the citigroup, the nation's third largest bank, the feds saying 15 of 19 major banks did pass the test. also the fed today with more optimism on the overall economy saying the unemployment rate will gradually decline through the rest of this year and the crisis in europe continues to threaten the global economy, but the threat for the moment has eased. strong day on wall street with the market up more than 200 points. let's begin with our lead story, the president coming to the

roads garden on a summer-like day in our nation's capital as he took aim at china and trade policies. the president telling reporters the case ceases to force china to lift export limits on certain minerals known as rare earths. here is more from the president's announcement earlier in the day. >> one of the things i talked about during the state of the union address is making america more competitive in the global economy. the good news is that we have the best workers and the best businesses in the world. they turn out the best products, and when the playing field is level, they'll always be able to compete and succeed against every other country on earth. but the key is to make sure that the playing field is level. frankly, sometimes it's not. i will always try to work our differences through with other countries. we prefer dialogue. that's especially true when it comes to key trading partners like china.

we've got a constructive economic relationship with china and when efr possible, we're committed to working with them to addressing our concerns. but when it is necessary, i will take action if our workers and our businesses are being subjected to unfair practices. since i took office, we've brought trade cases against china at nearly twice the rate as the last administration. and these actions are making a difference. for example, we halted an unfair surge in chinese tires which has helped put over 1,000 american workers back on the job. but we haven't stopped there. two weeks ago i created a trade enforcement union to aggressively investigate any unfair trade practices taking place anywhere in the world. as they ramp up their efforts, our competitors should be on notice. you will not get away with skirting the rules.

when we can, we will rally support from our allies. when it makes sense to act on our own, we will. i just signed a bill to help american company that is are facing unfair foreign competition. these companies employ tens of thousands of americans in nearly 40 states. because of subsidies from foreign governments, some of their foreign competitors are selling products at an artificially low price. that needs to stop. this morning, we're taking an additional step forward. we're bringing a new trade case against china, and we or being joined by japan and some of our european allies. this case involves something called rare earth materials which are used by american manufacturers to make high-tech products like advanced batteries that power everything from hybrid cars to cell phones. we want our companies building those products right here in america. but to do that, american manufacturers need to have access to rare earth materials which china supplies.

if china would simply let the market work on its own, weed have no objections. their policies currently are preventing that from happening. they go against the very rules that china agreed to follow. being able to manufacture advanced batteries and hybrid cars in america is too important for us to stand by and do nothing. we've got to take control of our energy feature. we can't let that energy industry take root in some other country because they were allowed to break the rules. so our administration will bring this case against china today. and we will keep working every single day to give american workers and american businesses a fair shot in the global economy. we're going to make sure that this isn't a country that's just known for what we consume. america needs to get back to doing what it's always done best, a country that builds and sells products all over the world that are stamped with the proud words "made in mir ka."

that's how we create good middle class jobs at home and that's how we'll create an economy built to last. thank you very much, everybody. >> the president earlier today in the rose garden making his announcement about china and its trade practices, the official complaint led by the u.s., the european union and japan to the wto. meanwhile china's ministry of energy and industry and information technology telling reporters, quote, we feel sorry for their decision, the u.s. decision to complain to the wto n. the meantime, china will actively prepare to defend itself. we'll talk more about this with doug palmer. he's following the story for reuters in washington, d.c. he'll join us in the ekt next half hour. let's turn our attention to capitol hill. the top democrat and republican sparring today over whether judges or a house-passed jobs bill should be next on the agenda following the expected passage of a new transportation bill. the standoff between harry read, the senate democratic leader. he allowed a swift vote on the

jobs act in exchange for republicans agreeing to drop their objections to the judicial nominees. republicans accusing senator reid of holding the jobs bill hostage until they relent on some of those would-be judges. the exchange back and forth. let's take you do the senate floor with harry reid and mitch mcconnell. >> it's a question of priorities. we do agree we ought to pass this jobs bill. certainly if it were called up, it would be open for amendment and the majority leader could offer the xm bank amendment if he chose and other senators could as well. it's a question of priorities. do we want a big fight in the senate over procedure. we've had procedural differences which i'll address later, not right now, but later, relating to the confirmation of judges, responsibility of the senate under the constitution of the united states. or do we want to turn immediately to a jobs bill that we overwhelmingly agreed to as the majority leader has just

conceded in his remarks. it's a question of priorities. deyou want to have the senate in a billing fight over procedure after we finish the highway bill, or do you want to turn to an overwhelmingly bipartisan jobs bill supported by the president, passed by the house. it's a question of priorities. what do we want to do next for the american people? >> mr. president, i am stunned by a controversy over nothing. under the rules of the senate, we filed because there's been a stalling, obstruction on the lives of 17 men. i didn't file in the appellate judges, only the trial court judges. each one of these men and women's life has been brought to a standstill. they have the opportunity of a life time to be able to become a federal trial court judge. they shouldn't have to wait until october. i say to my friend, we can

approve these judges in one minute. let's do that. it's not fair just to say that life of these 17 men and women is unimportant, put it over until some later time. we have no probable with the ipo bill that we got from the house. how could we? got 39 votes in the house. the president of the united states supports it. we support it. we want to get this done. we'll do it as quickly as we can. it may not be ten minutes from now or 20 24 hours from now, but we'll move to it as quickly as we can. we'll move to it very quickly. as soon as we finish this highway bill, we could move to those judges, get those disposed of. we could be on this -- might take an hour after the highway bill, that's about all. >> the back and forth earlier in the day between senator harry reid and senator mitch

mcconnell. the judicial nominations still held up in the u.s. senate. it is 11 minutes past the however v hour. this is "washington today." the headline on politico.com, mitt romney could seal the deal with races in alabama and mississippi, also in american samoa and hawaii. a look at some of the latest polls, obama stuck in a poll roller coaster. first some of the latest ads from the campaigns and their super pacs. we'll begin with rick santorum. his fund is called red, white and blue. >> how can mitt romney beat barack obama when on the vital decisions they're not much different? like obama, romney drastically increased spending, increased stated tax ps and fees. even worse, romney-care is the blueprint for obama-care.

who can win? rick santorum. the principled leader who has fought against big government which a bold plan to create jobs and cut wasteful spending. red white and blue fund is responsible for the content of this ad. >> polls in mississippi and alabama showing a close race between mitt romney and newt gingrich. here is the latest from the romney super pac titled "restore our future." >> barack obama and his allies attack mitt romney. why? obama knows he'll beat rick santorum. san form says he's the principled conservative. that's not how he voted. here are his own words on voting to planned parenthood. >> while i have paernl objection to it, that i don't support it, i voted for bills that included it. >> 20 years in washington changed santorum's principles. restore our future is the responsible for the content of this message.

>> the latest radio ad beginning rich, here is the latest from team gingrich. >> alabama, look, they keep trying to shove a trial lawyer from pennsylvania and a liberal governor from massachusetts down our throats. wet don't like it when someone acts one way in boston and another in birmingham. we aren't buying what they're selling. we don't get what they keep telling us. what they don't get is us. we want to beat barack obama. we want america back, strong and sane. we want it drilled here, now. we don't apologize to terrorists and we're tired of playing games. we need a president with backbone. america needs newt gingrich to beat barack obama. on tuesday, make the media eat their words. no more pencil massachusetts mania full of sound bites and whining. expect a man that speaks the same in mobile as manhattan. let them get it. the south stands for newt.

alabama knows how to win back america. it's called volt for newt gingrich. >> the race in the deep south, vying for a win or strong second, jonathan martin who has filed the story for politico in richland, mississippi, writing that mitt romney has a shot to win both states. joining us live from politico's offices is the executive editor, jim vandehei. thanks for being with us. >> great to be here. >> what are you looking for tonight? what are the scenarios? >> well, the polling that's been done is fascinating. if you factor in the margin of error, it's a tie between the big three, between mitt romney, rick santorum and newt gingrich in both states. nobody thought these two states would be this close or this important. and once again, in what i think is the story of this campaign, you have a very sort of wounded, wabblely mitt romney benefiting tremendously from the fact that

there's two very conservative guys in the race dividing the vote. basically you have gingrich and sanitorium forces, the social conservatives split between the two of them to the benefit of mitt romney, the front-runner. >> as you well know, mitt romney is looking the fact this conservative vote is split. we've been hearing from newt gingrich and rick santorum asking one or the other to get out so they the have a clean shot at the former massachusetts governor. will that happen tonight? isn't it nice of them to offer that to the other? they've been doing that for two months where each time one of them wins and they ask the other to get out. i don't think there's incentive for anyone in this race, ron paul included, to get out until there's more certainty, more clarity. you look at the delegate counts, the states that will unfold over the next month or some why not stay in? who knows what's going to happen until the party coalesces around one candidate. they haven't done that. they've had the opportunity to do it in several states on several big days. on super tuesday, for instance,

had mitt romney had more emphatically clear wins in places like ohio, we'd be having a different conversation tonight. he didn't and so we're not. >> tonight's primary, obviously important in mississippi and alabama. next week is the illinois primary. depending on what happens tonight, someone may have the wind against their back moving into illinois. >> right. over the next few weeks you'll have a bunch of different states weighing in, whether it's missouri, louisiana or illinois. this race has been all about momentum. you gether get momentum from a strong performance in a debate and we don't have as many debates now or any for that matter, like we did earlier in the cycle. or you get it from having a big day on one of these election nights when there's more than one state voting. nibble that winless both tonight, and that would be the wish of all three of them, they'll undoubtedly get a lift. think about the headlines. we're always thinking what would we write tomorrow if. if newt gingrich wins two

states, you'll have stories about the third rebirth of newt gingrich, almost unheard of in campaigns, certainly plays with his own self narrative about how he's always the comeback kid, always counted out, but always comes back. if rick santorum were to win both states -- again i'm talking about mississippi and alabama, putting hawaii and the american samoa off to the side for a second -- he would be the clear, emphatic, undisputed, conservative alternative to mitt romney. if mitt romney wins both of them, he could start to argue that now i've won two very, very conservative states against two conservative opponents. i am the one who is going to win this nomination. so coalesce around me. i think he'll have a much more powerful argument to make if he has success in the south. >> many in the romney campaign have been complaining that the gold post continues to move. many saying the win in ohio doesn't count. >> that's true.

part is expectation setting, i think on their own part. they thought they would have a much bigger night last tuesday. part of it is results. there's a reality to these results that in any state that's a tossup, that mitt romney needs to show strength. he hasn't showed that much strength. that win in ohio was a win, but very narrow, much closer than they hoped for. a week before in michigan, a state where he has deep roots, should have done better. had you asked him a month earlier, they would have thought they'd get a convincing win. he barely beat rick santorum. there's a perception in the media among voters and certainly the republican party that he can't close the deal, particularly in the states that matter most in a general election context. he needs to be able to show republicans that he can do that. the truth is when you break down the polls, republicans believe as firmly today as they did six months ago that he's the most electable candidate. that's why that clipped you played earlier right before our

segment, his ad talks about how he's the one that obama fears. how he's the one that can beat barack obama. they know that resonates with republicans who, more than anything, are unified by the idea that they want obama out of office. >> we're talking with jim vandehei, the executive editor at politico. the headline at politico.com, the president's own poll ratings and the news from the cbs news/"new york times" poll showing the president dropped from 50% approval to 41%. your piece indicating that the president can't maintain that 50% level. a lot of concern in democratic levels about where the president is. this has been a relatively good week for the president in terms of economic news, lower unemployment numbers and the attacks on rush limbaugh. >> no doubt about it. i've been saying the same thing for about two years and i don't think it will change before election day. president obama and democrats

should be nervous about this election regardless who republicans nominate. the reason is that independent voters have been skeptical of this presidency dating back to the early summer of 2009 when they started to talk about health care reform. ever since that day, ever since that part of the season, independents started to feel that president obama was going too big too fast with the size of government, and they turned against him. in pretty big numbers. that hasn't changed that much if you look at the span of time. there are definitely moments where it goes up and goes down. but it's basically the line from two years ago through "today" shows that independents are skeptical, that president obama has a lot of work to do to convince them that he is a moderate governing force and that he's not intent on growing government even more than any independent voters are comfortable with. >> jim vandehei heading up the coverage tonight, the results show, with results in alabama,

mississippi. it's live here on c-span radio and c-span television at 7:00 eastern time. jim vandehei, an encore performance after last week. >> we or excited to do this. the feedback, particularly from the c-span audience has been fabulous. it's amazing how much people watch and listen. a lot of callers, a lot of twitter response, a lot of e-mails from folks who are listening to it on the radio in their car. one of the things we try to do with the program is bring the viewers or listeners, the watchers inasmuch as which can so they can understand the process through a reporter's eye and also deal and reckon with the news as we're getting it. i think it has more of a real newsroom feel than you might get from a traditional newscast on an election night. >> it gets under way in about an hour and 40 minutes on c-span and c-span radio. what can we expect tonight in terms of your coverage? >> in terms of the coverage, what we do is we have this no

talking head policy, where we just use our reporters or if we think there's a newsmaker intimately involved in the campaign, we bring them into the fold. for the most part we have reporters with each and every candidate. we have our editors and reporters in the newsroom and we try to bring them in the minute they're hearing something new, something fresh. if we have a debate internally about how to reckon with a piece of news, we try to bring viewers into the process so they can see how the sausage is made. then we do what you need do do on election night which is help everybody understand what we're seeing, what we're hearing in these states from the campaigns, why is it important and what does it mean? >> of course, we did find out where the voting will take place in american samoa. it's at a bar and grill with about 50 people participating. we'll be following that story as well. >> i should have gone there live. >> jim vandehei, executive editor of politico. thanks for allowing c-span to simulcast your coverage later tonight. >> thank you. >> politico's coverage getting

under way at 7:00 eastern here on c-span radio and on c-span television. the results available online at c-span.org. it is 24 minutes past the hour. the president today issuing his strongest condemnation so far of the killings of the 16 afghan civilians over the weekend. he is promising that anyone who is involved will be held fully accountable. meanwhile defense secretary leon panetta says that could mean the death penalty for the u.s. soldier expected in the killings. a tell gags did visit the area where the killings took place early on sunday. many had to flee after the taliban insurgents opened fire on them. the associated press reporting that one afghan soldier was killed in that incident. today as the president talked about trade issues with china, he began with his comments about afghanistan. >> over the weekend as many of you know, there was a tragic incident in which a number of afghan civilians were killed.

what i've made to president karzai when i spoke to him is that the united states takes this as seriously as if it was our own citizens and our own children who were murdered. . we're heartbroken over the loss of innocent life. the killing of innocent civilians is outrageous and unacceptable. it's not who we are as a country and it does not represent our military. for that reason i've directed the pentagon to make sure we spare no effort in conducting a full investigation. i can assure the american people and the afghan people that we will follow the facts wherever they lead us. and we will make sure that anybody who was involved is held fully accountable with the full force of the law. yesterday i met with general allen and ambassador crocker who were here in washington, and i

have extraordinary confidence in them and in the many americans who are serving in afghanistan and who have made extraordinary sacrifices to be there. today i'll be meeting with prime minister cameron who is part of our broad coalition serving in afghanistan. we'll have an opportunity to consult about the way forward as we prepare for the nato summit in chicago later this spring. make no mistake. we have a strategy that will allow us to responsibly wind down this war. we're steadily transitiontion to the afghans who are moving into the lead. that's going to allow us to bring our troops home. already we're scheduled to remove 23,000 troops by the end of this summer following the 10,000 that we withdrew last year. meanwhile, we will continue the work of devastating al qaeda's leadership and denying them a safe haven. there's no question that we face

a difficult challenge in afghanistan, but i'm confident that we can continue the work of meeting our objectives, protecting our country and responsibly bringing this war to a close. >> the president with his formal remarks about the killings that took place over the weekend. the soldier has yet to be named. he is accused of leaving a u.s. base and gunning down afghan civilians including nine children and three women. that incident taking place in the middle of the night between saturday and sunday morning. as you heard earlier defense secretary leon panetta saying the soldier, if convicted, could face capital punishment. on capitol hill senator mitch mcconnell commenting as he spoke to reporters at the ohio clock, an area set aside for senators to speak to members of the press corps. >> two of the members of your party have said a reassessment of the u.s. military force in afghanistan is due.

what do all of you think about our current military posture and whether we should be pulling the troops out faster than that? >> i can only speeblg for myself. i support the policy the administration has laid out to move toward a transition over the next couple years. it certainly has been a very difficult period where the incidents that have brought this all so much to home again. i still think it's important to remember the reason we went there and what happened when the taliban was running the country, and i think we ought to stick to the process that we're engaged. we're in the middle of the fighting season right now in afghanistan. the president has a plan to transition this mission over to the afghan army over the next couple of years. i know it's been a very challenging period. but i think we ought to stick with the plan that's been laid out by the administration.

>> the comments of senator mitch mcconnell speaking to reporters earlier in the day on capitol hill. again, the soldier who has yet to be named could face the death penalty and there are new pictures available online at cbsnews.com as the outrage continues to build in afghanistan as a result of the koran burning last month and the shootings that took place over the weekend. taliban insurgents opening fire on two brothers of afghan president karzai as they left a memorial service today for the 16 villagers killed by the u.s. soldier. you can get more by logging on to cbsnews.com. this is washington today. >> other news today, wall street, dow up 217 points closing at 13,177, the highest close since the end of 2007. this puts the dow within 1,000 points of its all-time high which is 14,164. also