be with us in the after the show show. log on right now. >> eric: i will see you at 5:00 o'clock today. >> gretchen: have a great day. bill: let's get it going here. good morning. fox news alert. two major earthquakes striking off the coast of indonesia. earlier today a tsunami watch had been in effect for 28 different countries. there were concerns after killer wave and aftershocks that could send thousands to higher ground. that is video we're taking from overseas. good morning, everybody. i'm bill hemmer. good morning, martha. >> good morning, everybody i'm martha maccallum. this first quake measured 8.6 in magnitude. the second, 8.2 in magnitude. that struck soon after. parts of indonesia sumatra island now in danger. this quake sparked fears of that deadly 2004 tsunami.

who can forget those images that look lives from hundreds of thousands of people. david piper live in bangkok. >> reporter: martha, yes, millions of people in southeast asia are on edge after those twin earthquakes watched the region the first quake, 8.6 struck undersea bed under the indonesian coast. the pacific tsunami center in hawaii immediately issued a tsunami warning. warning alerts were issued along the coast of indonesia. there was panic on the streets as people tried to escape to higher ground. hospitals also evacuated. tsunami alerts were issued across the indian ocean. here in thailand people were told to evacuate the coast which borders the indian ocean like the holiday island of puk et. hundreds of thousands of thai people flock to the

coast because this is start of the new year water festival. earlier reports suggest there was no actual damage. minimal damage in indonesia. people here in southeast asia are breathing a collective sigh of relief. martha. martha: david piper in bangkok. thank you, david. bill: the battle in the general election for the white house in 2012 is effectively on. rick santorum despite vowing days earlier to stay in the race officially suspending his campaign just yesterday. >> ladies and gentlemen, we, we made the decision to get into this race at our kitchen table against all the odds. and we made a decision over the weekend that while this presidential race for us is over for me, and we will suspend our campaign effective today. bill: that cementing mitt romney status as

prohibitive republican nominee. romney issuing a gracious good-bye to his former rival. >> he has made an important contribution to the political process. has brought forward issues he cares very deeply about and able to gather a great deal of public support and interest in those issues and in himself. he will continue to have a major role in the republican party and i look forward to his work helping assure victories for republicans across the country in november. bill: we'll talk to mitt romney next hour. for now though, president obama is ready for a fight. his campaign sending this warning shot with the following statement. quote, it is no surprise mitt romney was able to grind down his opponents under a avalanche of negative ads. neither he nor his special interest allies will be able to buy the presidency with their president attacks. the more american people see of mitt romney the less they like him. stephen hayes, senior writer. fox news contributor. good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: it is april, how do

you see this race playing out between these two? >> it has really started. we had the false starts where we heard the general election has started, the general election has started. i think with the dropping of rick santorum yesterday, the suspending of his campaign we have finally reached the beginning of general election. the romney campaign will want to frame this about leadership. president barack obama had an opportunity to lead the country at a time of crisis and he didn't get the job done. today he is spending his time talking about things like the buffett rule rather than talking about entitlement reform. you heard how jim messina and obama campaign want to frame this they think mitt romney is not likeable candidate. republicans are not popular and barack obama will be reelected on the strength of things he has done to this point. bill: newt gingrich may have a completely different view of all this. we'll talk to him about that in about 10 minutes. back to what the president said just this week. it's the biggest contrast and vision since 1964. lyndon johnson against barry

goldwater. explain that. >> you know i actually agree with the president on that. this is the kind of election that we're going to see. two strongly differing idealogical visions. two strongly differing world views presented by each of these candidates and we're likely to see a fight. the problem i think for the obama administration or maybe the challenge for the obama campaign is that the country is lot further to the right today than it was in 1964. so if barry goldwater seemed like somebody who was too conservative to have been elected in that election, that certainly not the case. mitt romney is not barry goldwater despite the fact that i expect him to present a pretty conservative message in the general election. the country is more conservative today than it was back then. bill: steve, thank you for. you mentioned the buffett rule. we'll hear that live from the white house next hour. we'll get reaction from the other side. stephen hayes, check you out later in the week. >> thanks, bill. bill: martha? martha: interesting take from him and the main election is on, folks. so mitt romney will be our

guest right here inside "america's newsroom" right in the studio just a little while from now. it is his first national interview since rick santorum suspended his campaign. we'll get his take on the fight ahead for the white house. a whole bunch of issues we'll talk with him. that is at the top of the hour right here in "america's newsroom". bill: looking forward to that. if mitt romney indeed the nominee somebody forgot to tell newt gingrich. former speaker says his campaign has new life. he says san francisco's exit clears the way for him to go one-on-one with mitt romney. >> i got to be the frontrunner a little while. i was way ahead of romney one point. 21 points in rasmussen and 15 in gallop. then romney piled enough money on me i wait a minute ahead. then we had the santorum surge. i told folks covering me, i said at the time, oh, yeah, this is the new one. if in fact he is getting out today, we have now survived that surge. so we'll see. bill: that was in north carolina yesterday.

he is in delaware today. this is the delegate count as of this morning. gingrich trailing romney by more than 500 delegates. even newt gingrich admits very likely romney will clinch the republican party nomination. we'll put all that to him and the question, why stay in now? we'll talk to newt gingrich in about seven minutes. he will join us live here in "america's newsroom." which will be very interesting. has not won a delegate since puerto rico. that was about what, four weeks ago now? we have had five or six contests since then. the other report two weeks ago he and romney got together and talked one-on-one down in new orleans. that is coming up on our plate. martha: there is talk of having conversations over the course of this whole thing between the top candidates. it is shaking out in a big way. we'll talk to mitt romney at the top of the hour here that's coming up. also this for you this morning. a credible bomb threat against a jetliner sending two f-15 fighter jets scrambling and forcing a

korean airlines flight with 150 people down in a canadian air force base. steve centanni live in washington. steve, what is the latest on this investigation? >> reporter: all the passengers are safe. there is no sign after bomb yet. officials are not taking chances. this is the statement from the royal canadian mounted police. the aircraft is being screened and once we can assure there are no further concerns the decision to resume flight will be made in consultation with the airline. the call came last night to korean airlines u.s. call center saying there was an explosive on the plane which had just taken off vancouver, british columbia, bound for zoll. it was turned around and landed at canadian military base on vancouver island. plans are to let the passengers continue their journey to south korea. martha: does this have anything to do potentially, steve, with tensions we've been talking about and reading about with north korea? >> reporter: there is no

confirmation on that. a bomb scare came on monday. this comes as north korea is planning to launch a rocket later this week a move the u.s. and allies say is violation of u.n. security council resolutions. korean airlines and other asian carriers have been scrambling in recent days to change their flight paths on many routes to asia to avoid the rocket launch the boeing 777 was moved to a secure location. baggage was searched carefully. so far no sign of a bomb. martha: steve centanni in washington. bill: watch this north korean story. because the window we believe opens up tomorrow morning. our time here all the way to monday. those are just some of the stories we're watching today. yet another embarassment though for the gsa. what it was planning that really has people shaking their heads now. you will never guess where the former head of the agency was when its employees were in las vegas. oh my. martha: wonder how moms and

dads of those people feel today? arkansas university head football coach, what he is now admitting to that got him fired. what a story this is. we'll tell you about that. bill: down to three, three men fighting for a chance to win nomination. two of them are live in "america's newsroom" and both their first interviews since rick santorum suspended. former house speaker newt gingrich is on deck next. >> obviously we'd like to get his delegates and, frankly, on values and on conservatism i'm much closer to senator santorum's delegates than governor romney is. are you receiving a pt from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. that's good morning, veggie style.

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long way from over. bill: big shake-up on the trail. rick santorum's departure from this presidential race happened at gettysburg, pa, that is not detouring newt gingrich in the least though. he joins me live. the state of delaware today. good morning, mr. speaker. >> good morning. good to be weather you. bill: and you as well. thank you for coming back. you said in a statement yesterday you're the last conservative standing. if that's what you believe, what does that make mitt romney? >> well i think in terms of a long commitment to conservative values, having helped balance the federal budget four years in a row, having helped pass welfare reform, it's pretty clear my record is one of a consistent approach to both american exceptionalism and innovation and bold solutions. so i decided to stay in the race. we've had over 3500 people go to newt.org to donate money since 2:00 yesterday afternoon. the signal they want somebody who is articulate,

conservative to stay in the race. and make the case we need to have very dramatic solutions given the size of our problems in washington. that is what i will be talking about in delaware today. bill: to be specific, what does that make mitt romney again if you're the last conservative standing? >> i think romney certainly much more conservative than barack obama but i think on issues like the american energy independence plan that i've outlined to get gasoline below 2.50 a gallon and eliminate reliance on the middle east, the idea of a creating a debt repayment plan where all royalties from oil and gas would go into paying down the national debt, the concept of a personal social security savings account that would allow every young person to have an opportunity as they do in chile to have control over their own savings, to have two two or three times as big a retirement they get from the government, there are a number of places where i stand for bolder and more solutions-oriented conservatism. that is part of what this race is all about. as we get closer to the convention we'll see if we

can't put together a platform that is very effective against barack obama and very effective defining republican party that can actually solve the country's problems. bill: i want to get to that here. the last delegate, according to my count that you won was in puerto rico on march 18th. now there have been at least five primary battles since then and you did not get a single delegate in those five or six contests. >> right. bill: now what do you gain from staying in at this point do you believe? >> well, first of all i gain the opportunity to explain these kind of ideas. second i believe that now that we're down essentially to the two of us we're going to gain delegates. we're actually gaining delegates through the process in places like louisiana. we have consistently done better than our vote in the primary. same thing in washington state. this is a very long process. remember in iowa they had a preference contest in january. they pick the final delegates in june. so this is a long process. and it didn't hurt the

democrats to have hillary clinton and barack obama compete all the way into the end of june and it didn't frankly help the republicans much to get it over with in march last time. i don't worry about the calendar right now. i care about presenting new ideas. bill: perhaps there is a different way for me to ask the question. what do you want to get out of this? >> well, first of all i would like to win as many delegates as possible. i'm here in delaware because i think we have a chance to win here. i was in north carolina yesterday because we're certainly going to win delegates in north carolina and i'm campaigning selectively in places where we believe we will pick up delegates. we'll continue to pick up delegates. and i think that's a part of what we're going through. i also want to continue to shape the debate and continue to frame a reference here that we are a conservative party. it's very important that we go into the general election committed to american exceptionalism and committed to the constitution, to the declaration of independence. i frankly agree with president obama's characterization yesterday.

i just disagree with him who will be in the minority. this will be a bigger choice election than 64. bill: lyndon johnson against barry goldwater. >> right. bill: we asked stephen hayes a few moments ago. he agreed with that assessment. are you saying you agree as well? >> i agree in this sense. president obama is the most radical president in american history. he wants to centralize power in washington, d.c. he is running up enormous deficits. he lead the weakest economy in american history since the great depression and i think it is fair to say that he is far outside the mainstream of american political life. so i think it will be, extraordinary choice. the republican nominee, whether it's governor romney or newt gingrich is going to be substantially more conservative than is barack obama. the gap is going to be very wide where i think the president is wrong is, when you have high gas prices, high unemployment, huge deficits, failed programs of the federal government,

billions of dollars lost to various special interests dpim micks like solyndra, he is the one who carries the burden. my guess he will end up losing by a margin that will surprise the news media. bill: there are reports that you met with mitt romney in private two weeks ago. >> sure. bill: in new orleans it was. can you confirm that? >> we both said publicly we talked regularly. there shouldn't be any question about this we're both committed to defeating barack obama. we're both grandparents and we both think the future of our children and our grandchildren and the future of our country will be decisively affected by this election. bill: okay. >> if mitt romney ends up earning 1144 delegates i will be for him. i expect he will tell you if i end up to his surprise being nominee we will both work to defeat barack obama. bill: would he make a good president, mitt romney. >> look he would make such a better president than barack obama that i will campaign for him if he is the nominee

and i will campaign for him enthusiastically. and i think he will tell i would make a lot better president than obama too. bill: we'll find out next hour when he is here. thank you, mr. speaker. >> all right. bill: newt gingrich in delaware. we'll talk again. martha: very interesting. we'll see what mitt rom nip has to say about that. bill: we've kind of taken this turn in this campaign, it's quite obvious. martha: it's game on as we say. we'll talk to mitt romney coming up. stick around for that at the top of the 10:00 hour. we'll ask him a little bit what mr. gingrich had to say. we'll see if he is on board as well. this coming up. tsa seems to shock us every day with new details, don't they? the next big retreat they had on their plans, remember this clown, when the scandal broke? [applause] then there is this, chris christie saying we have a big problem in this country, saying that we are essentially in some ways becoming a nation of couch potatoes.

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bill: right about 20 for minutes past the hour now. wildfires prompting a state of emergency for parts of new york. dry winds and heavy weather. former miss usa is in court her drink driving police. they found an open bottle of champagne in her car. her alcohol level was twice the legal limit. former federal election

commission shows he got help from former rivals from michele bachmann and mitt romney. that must be a pretty good day. free of debt and romney and bachmann get a nice big christmas gift i guess in december. martha: thank you very much. there is this morning. folks, there are some new revelations at a troubled federal agency that's under fire for a over the top las vegas retreat. a video that bragged about wasting your taxpayer dollars. lovely, right? turns out that the gsa was in the midst of planning yet another trip. they had such a good time that time and they were going back to sin city. at least that was the plan. there is new testimony from the former administrator who did not attend that infamous vegas, that conference in vegas because she was at some meetings and a conference for guess what? solyndra. bill: oh. martha: peter doocy joins me live. he is in washington. what is the latest on the vegas trip that just never

happened? what a shame. how sad? >> reporter: it was supposed to be at the hampton inn tropicana out in vegas and was supposed to start two weeks from today on 25th of april. it would be one day at slightly less ritzy venue than the last conference. we got a letter from the gsa that basically said they are scrambling to make changes so customers will have faith in the gsa one of the way they're doing that by quote, reviewing all planned and proposed conferences or meetings that involve travel or substantial expenditures of public fund and by quote, canceling a number of conferences or only or primarily involve internal staff. this gsa boss is telling his troops now that they will need be to better moving forward about explaining business justification for conferences. martha: yes. i'm trying to picture what our bosses would say, if we said, we need an america newsroom's meeting in florida next week. you don't think that would go over too well, peter?

>> reporter: probably depends who you ask. martha: i don't know about that. what about solyndra? how does that fit in all this. >> reporter: there is another gsa higher up, jeff neely, he was talking to their inspect tomorrow general when he said something house investigators believe administrator martha johnson missed the vegas conference in 2010 because she was at some other meeting somehow involving solyndra. the reason that becomes relevant now, the absent administrator, johnson, instead did a very videoconference with the vegas crew that cost 3500 extra dollars. we have another part of the transcript where neely explains, i personally explained to them i had concerns about this because we were spending $3500 to save $1500 in travel. he is talking about the cost of johnson's travel versus av costs. gsa is disputing claims made by the oversight committee here. they think the committee is using selective wording trying to make a connection. it is true that the word solyndra is missing from the

entire transcript. martha? martha: very interesting. that is not good math. that does not add up on the ol' trip calculator. peter doocy from d.c.. bill: gets deeper every day. concern if this continues and if it continues what kind of liability. i'm not sure. martha: where there is smoke there's fire. bill: perhaps. martha: perhaps in other agencies as well. bill: this could be a drag on any administration the longer it goes on. we'll see how it plays out. santorum's out. how does that change the race for mitt romney? we'll ask him when he joins us for his first national television interview since that bombshell was dropped just yesterday afternoon, martha. martha: we're looking forward to that. then there's this. his lawyers now say they can't find him. so they have quit. they say george zimmerman should not be making calls to people even like our own sean hannity, which happened yesterday of the so what did mr. zimmerman have to say to sean hannity? >> now yesterday i was contacted by an individual

that we in fact believe was george zimmerman. he reached out to me. choose control. introducing gold choice. the freedom you can only get from hertz to keep the car you reserved or simply choose another. and it's free. ya know, for whoever you are that day. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

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up to this point we've had contact every day. he has gone on his own. i'm not sure what he is doing or who he is talking to but at this point we're withdrawing as counsel. if he wants us to come back as counsel he will contact us. bill: zimmerman may not be calling his attorneys but he is making some phone calls, speaking with our own sean hannity. sean addressed that last night on his show this way. >> for a few weeks we've been pursuing an interview with mr. zimmerman to give him a chance to tell his side of the story. yesterday i was contacted by an individual we in fact believe was george zimmerman. he reached out to me. we spoke on the phone about his case and i agreed not to report on the contents of that conversation. that's it. i know nothing about his relationship with his now former attorneys. bill: that from last night. now this morning, phil keating live in sanford, florida. phil, good morning there. >> reporter: good morning, bill. according to one of george zimmerman's neighbors

telling fox news orlando they say he spoke with zimmerman on monday but according to the now former attorneys for george zimmerman he is not answering the phone when they call. he is not returning their voice mails. but in perhaps the most bizarre of all of these extraordinary developments yesterday, george zimmerman apparently did make one very important phone call yesterday and that was to jacksonville, directly to the special prosecutor's office wanting to speak with the woman who is currently deciding whether to criminally charge him in the shooting death of trayvon martin. even though the attorneys are now off this case, no longer representing zimmerman, they insist he acted in self-defense. >> what becomes important is the moment in time when somebody confronted somebody and the first person went from sticks and stones could break my bones, words can never hurt me, the first person that swung, as far as we can tell was say von martin. that is what changed the character of this entire situation what might have

been unfortunate misunderstanding into a crime. and the crime was battery against george zimmerman. bill: and according to the former attorney, they say all of the evidence and testimony from witnesses will support these facts. they say that zimmerman will have grass stains on the backs of his clothing. they say medical records will show he had a broken nose, lacerations on the back of his head. even when i spoke with trayvon martin's parents yesterday, they concede only two people know exactly what transpired from the very beginning to the very end. today only one of those two people are alive, phil. bill: what about his parents, trayvon martin's parents, reaction from them is what, phil? >> very disturbed by these developments last night. they fear if the special prosecutor decides to file a criminal charge against george zimmerman he won't be found. they think he is a flight risk. however just like everyone else around the country they're awaiting on the special prosecutor's decision. until then, nothing is

normal. >> we are on pins and needles. we're waiting patiently. we're hopeful that we'll get a call very soon that she will meet with us and tell us what her decision is. so we really don't know. we are being patient and we are saying a prayer. >> reporter: according to the special prosecutor's directive last night, either today, tomorrow, or friday the media will get a three-hour notice as to when and where this news conference is going to take place. it will be either in jacksonville or here in sanford, florida. and then the media will have one hour to get the trucks all set up. of course the nation will watch her news conference explaining the charge or no charge decision. bill. bill: what a twist this is. phil keating thank you in sanford. martha has more. martha: meanwhile we could get that big decision you were talking about any day on george zimmerman and whether or not that prosecutor will indeed press charges. the prosecutor says she will announce that as we've been

discussing sometime over the course of tomorrow. judge andrew napolitano is our fox senior judicial analyst. what about the timing of that announcement? what will that tell us itself? >> if she is very savvy in terms of public relations she will charge him she will want maximum publicity. will do it around noon on friday. if she will not charge him with some form of homicide, she will do it friday afternoon so it will be buried with the weekend news. this will not go away no matter how she addresses this. the clamor for justice is almost overwhelming. she needs to do something. not the to please those clamoring for justice but to do the right thing with the evidence. only she knows how strong the evidence is and what's credible. what charges if any will hold up in a courtroom in florida. martha: before we get to zimmerman and his strange behavior right now, why not put it to a grand jury? why not put the burden on the grand jury? >> i don't know what's in

her head. she has the authority to bring all of this to a grand jury and put the burden on them. she may feel this is so incendiary she doesn't want to burden ordinary citizens with it. she might have difficulty getting 23 people getting on the grand jury. might have difficulty dizzy guysing their identity. grand jurors meet in secret. she may put all the burden herself. in florida, prosecutors are publicly elected. they run for office. this prosecutor was appointed this job just for this case by the attorney general. her job does not depend on her popularity. martha: no reason to think she is making any political moves in that sense. >> doesn't appear to be. martha: she as appointed to do that as you say. talk to me a little bit about george zimmerman's behavior and what he has just done to himself by legally disappearing essentially? >> well, cutting off communications with his own lawyers is a terrible thing to do but the worst thing you can do is for, from the point of view of his own legal future is to agree to

talk to the prosecutors investigators. that is a dream come true for the prosecutors. a defendant willing to dump his lawyers and speak to you directly without the lawyers there? this is almost unheard of. it's another sign of personal recklessness on the part of zimmerman not unlike the recklessness which he probably engaged at the scene of the killing of trayvon martin. martha: can that in of itself come back to bite him if it goes to trial the behavior right now undercutting his credibility how he is handling this case? >> look, when a potential defendant agrees to speak with prosecutors in the presence of lawyers there are rules that govern what the prosecutors must tell the lawyers. martha: right. >> and what the lawyers can do about interferinging with that conversation. martha: to protect him. >> he removed that protective barrier. he exposed himself and literally, anything he says and does can and will be used against him. >> judge, thank you so much. >> pleasure. we will be watching this,

absolutely. martha: friday we'll hear that decision. bill? bill: what a difference a day can make, huh? check out the 401(k). we're doing better right now. the dow is up triple digits. after a lot of weakness yesterday. we were down 213 points at the close on the dow 30. after the close alcoa came out with a shocking number. the company is doing all right. we'll see what impact that may have on the markets as we go forward. 9: who in the morning here. a shocker at the university of arkansas. the head football coach fired over an alleged scandal of secret sex and lies involving a woman half his age. martha: and chris christie is known of course for speaking his mind. what the new jersey governor is saying about america's future if we don't change course. >> we're turning into a paternal listic entitlement society that will not just bankrupt us.

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martha: a newly-released dash-cam video captures the chaos on scene of a deadly shootout with police on utah. [gunfire] this happened last january. according to court documents mark stewart opened fire on narcotics officers searching his ogden home. officer jared francon died in that shootout and five other officers were wounded. stewart is behind bars. prosecutors there are seeking the death penalty. bill: what a story that was. get off the coach and -- couch and do something. that is the advice from new jersey governor chris christie. >> american people do not believe this is a place where only their willingness to work hard and to with honor and integrity and ingenuity determines their

success in life. then we'll have a bunch of people sitting on a couch waiting for the next government check. bill: he had a lot to say there. tucker carlson, editor of "the daily caller". fox news contributor. tucker, good morning to you. >> good morning. bill: right next to him, fox news political analyst, juan williams. what is going on? good morning to you. >> good morning. bill: what do you think, tucker is he onto something? >> definitely onto something. nice to see someone articulate and able to explain himself and republican at the same time. that is not something you've seen a lot recently. he is onto something. one examples look at disability payments. they have dramatically skyrocketed in last 10 years. the american work place is not more dangerous than it once was. 43% of all social security disability payments people claim to mental illness. you know percentage of people getting disability go back to the workforce? less than 1%. a lot of people sitting on the couch. bill: juan, can you disagree? >> i don't think there is

any question everybody worries about people who want to live off society like parasites, bill. but the fact is the critical issue in terms of money in this country increasing class divide. we've seen after-tax income for the very rich grow rapidly. it is not as if the poor are all sliding by. we see more people in poverty in the country today and some of these social safety net programs are either keeping people out of poverty or reducing the impact of poverty, particularly for america's seniors. bill: but his bigger point was not against rich or poor americans or dividing americans at all. his bigger point is about government. because he went on to argue that the blame falls at the feet of politicians. and he said, quote, that's why we can't say no to anything as government, as politicians. because we care too much about being loved. then he said i'm loved enough at home. believe me on occasion. but, tucker, i think that is his big point. that government and politicians don't have the courage to change. >> of course.

america is not going broke because much rich people. you can take all their money and give it to the treasury we would still be in debt. we're not in debt because of poor people. there are not enough of them. there will always be in poor people. we're in grave debt that the middle class is addicted to entitlements. it goes to medicaid, medicare, social security, interest on the debt and pentagon spending that is the expenditures. middle class that benefits. when you see large numbers of middle class folks getting government checks that's when things start so break down. that's what you're seeing. bill: do either of you see this changing? juan, do you see people on capitol hill have the guts to make a move other than perhaps somebody like paul ryan? >> no i think a lot of people want to make the move. the grand bargain that went astray twain president obama and boehner was about tax hikes and cuts entitlements. tucker is absolutely right. i was pleased to hear him say it. it is not demonizing the

poor laying on the couch in governor christie's language. these are programs that go to middle class americans, children, senior and they're politically popular, bill. it is a big cost for politicians who get reelected saying i'm bringing home the bacon. the same people who complain about this, particularly thinking about tea party folks, are often people hold up a sign, say government get your hands off my medicare. that is ridiculous. bill: tucker, give you the last word here. one more thing christie said. this will not just bankrupt us financially. it will bankrupt us morally. >> i don't think there is any question, a country where the majority of the americans, over 50% receive more from the treasury than they pay in is a country in financial and moral peril. by the way, why didn't christie run for president? a guy, i think america hungers for a person this straightforward, this willing to tell the hard truths. i think there's a hole in our politics waiting to be filled by someone like him. bill: apparently not running this time. >> no. bill: that's clear.

gentlemen you agree on this? >> yes we do. bill: next week we'll try to find another one. i like that. take care, guys. martha. martha: let's go overseas now and ask this question. is north korea about to step over the line? the rogue regime saying they are ready to launch a new rocket that some belief has the belief, has potential to reach our shores. reaction coming in today from the pentagon. bill: out of work, what this young woman was on doing on the back of his motorcycle and how that caused his job. >> coach pet treen know, knowingly misled the athletics department and the university about the circumstances related to his accident. he had multiple opportunities over a four-day period to be forthcoming with me. perfect. crisp, clear, untouched. that's why there's brita, to make the water we drink, taste a little more, perfect. reduce lead and other impurities with the advanced filtration system of brita.

martha: fox news alert just

coming in. tsunami watches now officially canceled in the indian ocean. that has got to be a big sigh of relief for folks there. two massive earthquakes struck off the coast of indonesia. initially 28 countries from africa to australia were under those tsunami watches. thousands of people fortunately got the message and they ran to higher ground and they remembered of course that devastating indonesian tsunami that hit back in 2004. those alerts now have been lifted. the pacific warning center in hawaii says,ed good news. threat has indeed passed. bill: in this country car buyers hit with a case of sticker shock. true car.com, average price after new vehicle broke an all-time record. analysts do not expect to see the price coming down soon. car sales rebounding faster than parts of the economy. there is good news. look in to trade in older car those are worth a bit more as well.

>> there is new job opening today at the university of arkansas. they are taking rest mays there for the -- resume's for the head football coach position. bobby petrino canned for a laundry list of offenses including putting his 25-year-old mistress on his staff. never a good idea, folks. abusing his authority on the list and misleading school administrators. rick leventhal joins me live now. what is this doing to a program that had hopes of winning a national championship, rick? >> reporter: a lot of turmoil now, martha. coach bobby petrino built the razorbacks into a powerhouse. they finished 5th in the nation. hat a 21-5 record over past two years. petron knee's off field behavior got him fired. married father of four. hired his mistress and gave her 20 grand in cash. more importantly the pet pet--

petrino tried to hide that durell was on the motorcycle. he hid it from police, his boss and everyone else. >> coach petrino knowingly misled the athletics department and about the circumstances related to his accident. he had multiple opportunities over a four-day period to be forthcoming with me. he chose not to. he treated the news media and the general public in a similar manner. >> reporter: petrino was fired with cause, meaning he loses his $3.5 million salary and $18 million buyout clause. martha: so rick, the athletic director says there was no way petrino could save his job given all this, right? >> reporter: he said it was an issue of broken trust. he says that they expect the same character and integrity from employees as they do from students. petrino did apologize in a statement saying quote, all i have been able to think about is the number of people i have let down by making selfish decisions. i chose to engage in an

improper relationship. i also made several poor decisions following the end of that relationship and the aftermath of the accident. i accept full responsibility for what happened. before arkansas petrino held 15 jobs for 11 different programs in 24 seasons including head coach of the atlanta falcons. he says he wants to return to the sidelines once he is quote, healed the wounds he created. martha? martha: interesting. rick leventhal, thank you, rick. >> reporter: sure. bill: we're awaiting a statement from the president on that proposed buffett rule. already there is republican reaction to what he is going to say. it is hot on both sides. the president will lay out his case for what he calls a fair tax plan. we'll ask mitt romney what he thinks about that, won't we? martha: it is his first national interview since rick santorum suspend his campaign. a big, big day in the gop nomination, folks. mitt romney coming up live in the studio next. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future.

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martha: fox news alert. it is a big, big day in the gop race for the 2012 presidential nomination, folks. rick santorum gave up his fight for the republican nomination, that happened late yesterday as you know and that indeed cleared the path for a likely mitt romney victory, that is how we start a brand new hour of ""america's newsroom" pms, i'm martha maccallum. bill: good morning, martha, i'm bill hemmer. good morning to you at home, the tide turning toward the general election showdown and governor romney giving his first national interview since the headline of yesterday afternoon which came when rick santorum suspended his campaign. >> martha: governor romney joins us now. welcome back to "america's newsroom". >> martha, good to be with you. martha: you said you said -- you said yourself it was a big day in what has been a long and hard fought battle for you. were you surprised when rick santorum, when he gave that speech, he didn't take a moment to sort of reach out and say something about you and sort of make an effort to heal the group and bring

everybody together in that moment? >> i think we'll all come together as time goes on to make sure we see a new change in direction in washington, in the white house, the senate, the house, we'd like to keep in republican hands. and i think senator santorum throughout the campaign has been speaking about issues that we care about very deeply. so we're on the same page on those issues, and i think you'll see us all come together in a very powerful way, but the time for that will happen down the road as we spend more time together, hit the trail together. martha: so you expect to do that. >> oh, i expect when i finally become the nominee, i hope that happens soon, that we'll be campaigning together, we'll be working together, we share very much the same beliefs about the course the nation must take and the fact that under this president, america is not going in the right direction there are just too many people out of work and really feeling economic stress under a series of failed economic polices. martha: i want to talk to you about that. just one last thought on the folks that you're still in the race with, newt gingrich

was on a while ago, he spoke to bill and he said he's still in it and that's no surprise. he's pretty much made that clear yesterday. but he did definitely indicate that if you are the man, if you get the delegates that you need, that he will back you. what are you going to do to bring in those newt gingrich voters, the supporters who have stuck by him and supporters who gave you a very tough run for your money in places like michigan who were with rick santorum, how are you going to bring those folks in because you need them? >> we campaign together and make sure we see these people and get a chance to talk to them about issues that all americans care about. i think you see our party and you will see our party more united than it's been in a long, long time, in part because president obama has taken america in such a different course than we have ever gone as a nation before. we're becoming far more like a european social welfare state. and people don't want to see that. and we will get behind our nominee, i believe, as a party, and work very, very hard to get america, creating jobs again, leading the world economically, and

that's going to -- i think president obama in some respects is one of the reasons our party will be so united. martha: yeah, and no doubt that's the hope for republicans that now, you know, the target will be him, and when you look at -- he was in palm beach in florida, doing a fund-raiser and he basically said that, you know, this election is going to have the biggest contrast that we've seen in this country since johnson-goldwater, he also has a u tube video out this morning, very dark and stormy and has you saying that you are severely conservative, and that's something that he wants to warn folks about. what do you think about all that? >> i think the contrast is better not so much goldwater and johnson but more carter and reagan. i think this president represents a throw back to the old style democrats of the past. big government, welfare state democrats. and that most democrats have moved away from that, under bill clinton and others, have said look, we want small government, smaller taxes, a stronger economy. this president has gone the wrong way. i think democrats

increasingly recognize that, independents do. i think it is going to be a watershed election for america. will we remain a free and opportunity-based society, or will we instead be a society driven by large government, taking more and more, spending more and more, and dominating the american life. i don't think america wants to become like europe. i think americans know that the right course for us is to be quit essentially american, with opportunity, freedom, and respect for people of all backgrounds. martha: the president is about to come out and speak, we have a live shot, he's going to talk about the buffet rule once again. i want to play a little bit. that's the spot we expect him to do that from in a little while. i want to play a little of what he said about the buffet rule and i'd love to get your reaction to that. let's play that. >> do we want to keep giving those tax breaks to folks like me who don't need them, or give them to warren buffet, he definitely doesn't need them, or bill gates, he's already set, i don't -- said i don't need them. or do we want to keep

investing in those things that keep our economy growing and keep us secure. that's the choice. martha: so you know, when it comes time, if indeed this is the future that we're looking at for you to debate the president, he's going to come right at you with that same kind of idea, that folks like you, 13.9% tax bracket, i'm bringing it up because you know you're going to hear it from him, you know you're going to hear about the cadillacs and the homes and everything else, because we've already heard that, that that is definitely where they're going to head with you, that you're out of touch, a rich guy and folks like warren buffet want to do the right thing and you should also want to do that right thing, pay a little more, pair your fair share. >> you know, he's trying to divert from the failure of his record which is he has not created jobs, he's lost 800,000 jobs during his presidency and by the way, do you know what percentage of those jobs lost were lost by women? over 92 percent of the jobs lost under this president were lost by women. his polices have been really a war on women.

and so he wants to divert from that and see if we can't find someone to attack, some scapegoat. is there anyone who believes that congress needs more money? is there anyone who believes that dividing america and trying to find some group to tax more -- >> martha: but here's -- i want to ask you about women because that's one of the issues that's come up in recent weeks. here's the problem. when you look at "the washington post" poll that is came out the other day, you're way down in likability, favorability, way down in terms of inspiring the nation, you're ahead on the economy and jobs, which is the sweet spot you're speaking to right now, but you know, this argument seems to be working for them. the painting of you as a rich, out of touch guy, at this moment, in this campaign, is working. >> well, it's kind of -- >> martha: what are you going to do to turn that around? >> martha, the campaign started yesterday, the general election campaign, all right, so it's a little early in this process. martha: this is an area where you've got your work cut out for you. >> of course. we have time ahead. seven month necessary a general election.

martha: how do you do it? >> we're getting started with a general election campaign and people will get to know me better and him better as well and they'll look at his record, which ultimately is the record upon which a campaign is going to be waged. but the person i'm out of touch with is barack about him. i've been in touch with the american people. they want to see good jobs and rising incomes. they recognize this president has failed them. women in particular have been hurt by this president. they want someone who can get good jobs and get their kids to work. i mean, who was it, dick armey said the american dream has to be redwiebd, it's no longer owning a home, it's owning a home where your kids are no longer living in it. we're going to have to make sure that people understand that my job is to get people working, get america strong again, creating the job, create -- creating the job creating engine that creates a brighter future for the american people. martha: jim messiono said that you are promising to return to basically the economics of the past, and that that has sort of held

down hispanics, held down women, that it's very difficult to convince the large groups of people who are, you know, having these benefits, who receive these entitlements, that if you say that we're going to make sure you still get those check, we're not going to diminish those checks at all, yet you hear the conversation from somebody like chris christie who is basically saying you know, too many people in this country are getting check, too many people are depending upon the government for their security, but it's very tricky when you start to diminish those checks in any way or start to take away any of those benefits. how do you go about that? >> hispanics in this country did not through their ancestors come to america for a check. they came to america for an opportunity, a good job, a bright future for their families. they look at this president and this president's polices have failed them. look at unemployment rates among hispanics and other ethnic groups. they've suffered. women in particular, suffered you said this presidency. there were 5 million women that were out of work when

the president took office, now 5.8 million out of work. this presidency has not been good for various groups in the american economy, and people want jobs. if they want bigger checks, they can go vote for him. if they want jobs and a bright future and an opportunity, they can vote for me. i am in this race because i understand what it takes to make america strong again. economically. culturally. militarily. martha: you think people will take that pain, you think this is the moment they're willing to do it? >> a good job and opportunity is not pain. that's hope. hope and opportunity is what people come to america for. martha: understood. >> i don't think anyone is saying we're going to cut off peoples' support, the safety net is still there, if it needs to be repaired, we need to improve it, but the right course for the american people is not to say how can government do more. it's instead to say how can we help you do more, and achieve more and achieve your dreams. martha: paul ryan has put out a plan, been very specific. you've been very supportive of that plan, the president joked in a way saying you thought it was a marvelous plan that paul ryan had, but

donald trump, who also supports you, came out and he said that it would be a big mistake to embrace this ryan plan at this time, he said -- he's sort of -- he said -- he said bright guy, not a good inches player, and my takeaway is donald trump is suggesting that people will not tolerate having entitlements or government spending cut back at this moment in time. he thinks that's a bad way to play this election. what do you think? >> i'm glad he sees if that way because only one president in history that i know of has cut medicare. one of the two big entitlements, by $500 billion. president obama. president obama has cut medicare. republicans haven't cut medicare. he cut it $500 billion, and he cut it to pay for omabacare. so he is the one that's cut entitlements and what paul ryan described is a program not to change medicare or social security, for current retirees, or frankly for anyone over 55 years of age, he says for people in their

20s, 30s, 40s, early 50s, we're going to have to say that if you're a higher income person you'll have lower benefits than a lower income person. that i think is something which young people understand and recognize and they want to make sure that medicare and social security are there for them. the ryan plan makes sure that happens. it's something -- i know it's tough, but i think the american people are ready for the truth. they don't want to have people keep on pretending like we can go on forever spending money that we take in. martha: the people that are talking the way you're talking are paul ryan and chris christie. you know the focus has been turned to who you're going to pick, who the person is who you believe should be on that ticket with you. are they top contenders on that list? >> no list yet. sorry martha, i haven't got a list. martha: you've got a list! there's a list! >> i don't have a list yet! that will come soon enough and we'll begin sorting through the possibilities. there's a large number of people in the republican party who are extraordinary

leaders, including some of those who have run in this last contest with me, and so we'll go through that list and decide who could potentially become a president if that were necessary, and that's a process which has not begun yet, but will probably begin pretty soon. martha: all right, well governor romney, thank you for coming back to " "america's newsroom"", good to see you and hope to see you soon. >> good to be with you. bill: we'll in contact down the road. thank you governor. twelve minutes past the hour. the white house argues it's about fairness, republicans say it's only politics. we expect a statement from the president, in a matter of moments on the buffet rule. also, do you remember this? >> but we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy. bill: well, now we find support for the health care law is at an all time low. what now? [ male announcer ] what's the beat that moves your heart?

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bill: got some breaking news right now. we mentioned that the general election campaign seems well underway and here's more evidence of that. in a moment, you'll hear from the president pitching his fair share tax plan in washington. it's called the buffet rule, named for the billionaire warren buffet who famously marveled that he pays a lower income tax rate than middle class workers which is kind of true. stephen moore of the "wall street journal," we say kind of because it depends upon where you're getting your income. in an economic sense, first of all, let's go over this with our viewers. buffet rule is what, stephen? >> reporter: the buffet rule says if you make over a million dollars, bill, that you have to pay a 30 percent tax rate and it takes away all the deductions except for the charitable deduction. the really interesting new element of that story, though, is the new numbers came out by the treasury department a few days ago showing that this tax will only raise about $5 billion

a year. we've got a $1.3 trillion decifit, bill. so that means that even if we impose this tax, it will only reduce the budget decifit by a whopping .5%! it is not going to reduce the debt, it's not going to reduce the decifit. one of the points that mitt romney made in that excellent interview martha did, this is about class envy, it's not about reducing the decifit. bill: it would raise $47 billion over the next ten years, $47 billion from the government for seven days? so just more than one working week projected decifit over ten years, at $7 trillion. so why do you bank on this, then? >> well, i think this is all about the theme that president obama has laid out in the last couple of months that he reiterated yesterday, which is this is about class warfare, it's about basically trying to tell the middle class, if he we could take more money from the rich that will make you better off. it's a theme that in history, bill, has not really worked very well. you know, americans have a

kind of reference for rich people and they admire rich people. you saw that story about those two young guys who started that internet company that was sold for a billion dollars? i mean, that's the great american dream. the idea that the government is going to take half your money if you make it rich in this country, i don't think that's what americans want to see. bill: can you remember a time when someone ran on raising taxes, ran on higher taxes? >> it's been a long time, hasn't it? the only time in the last, you know, 75 years or so that a president has won on a class warfare message was in 1936, when franklin roosevelt ran for reelection. it was a very similar kind of election, his economic polices had not worked very well. he ran a class warfare message against the republicans and it won. most of the time it hasn't worked. the best example of that is in 1980 when reagan ran, jimmy carter basically said he's going to cut taxes for the rich and the mesh -- american people said look, we want to be rich, we don't hate rich people. bill: the idea here is investment tax income, not the money you get in your

payroll. here's what mitch mcconnell fired off an hour ago, sadly an administration that promised it would focus on jobs is weighing yet another day on a political event that won't take a single person off the unemployment line. we should be focused on jobs and energy legislation that can pass, not tax hikes, show boats designed to fail. >> couldn't agree more. here's the problem i have with the buffet rule. as you know, bill, we talked about this a couple of weeks ago, the united states now has the highest cont tax rate in the world. that puts us in an uncompetitive situation. now under the buffet rule we would have by my calculations the fourth highest capital gains and dividends tax in the world. that's not a way to make jobs come to the united states. in fact one of the points we made in our editorial this morning, this is going to create an jevment in swrawbs, but not in the united states, they'll go to china, germany, india, other countries competing with us. this is one of my pet points i make over and over again. if we want to be serious

about competing with countries like china, we can't have a tax system that's punishing people for investing and saving and creating jobs, which is exactly what the buffet tax system does. by the way, half of those people rich, making over a million dollars, you know what they do for a living, bill? they own, operate and invest in small businesses. bill: is this a suggestion, then, that the number of arrows in the quiver at the white house are small in number? >> i think that mitt romney said it very well in that interview that the president can't run on his record, it's a pretty dismal record on jobs and investment and he's changed the subject to this kind of how do we divide this pie in a different way rather than growing the pie. it's a kind of classic political issue that we've seen over the years in this country, and look, i just hope that the american people vote for growth and opportunity and not greed and envy and i really think that's what this is all about. bill: stephen moore of the "wall street journal," thank you. republicans have already fired off, saying this is a

political gimmick. that's the one side. we'll hear from the president and his side coming up in a matter of moments when he comes to that microphone in washington. martha: we expect that very shortly, and one of the questions is how much money would actually be raised if you could implement the buffet rule, which i think is about $4 billion in a year, and that, according to some of these numbers, is about the same number as the u.s. government debt runs up per day. so it's a drop in the bucket, as you guys have been talking about, in terms of the actual numbers that would translate. so it leaves the question open as to whether or not the president, you know, just believes that that's the right thing to do, and that's what he's said a lot. he has said that even if you increase the capital gains tax and it didn't add to revenue in the end, he thinks it's still the right thing to do, because he believes that people have benefitted from the american capitalist system and owe more, that they should do more and that's very much the basis of what he has talked about with regard to this.

we're going to continue to keep one eye on that and will take to you that as soon as that gets underway. >> in the meantime republicans step up the pressure as americans struggle with pain at the pump, new calls for the president to change his energy polices. we'll be right back withr more. >> a car is indeed a luxury, or is it? >> if you want a luxury car or a standard car, your or a standard car, your options are limited. the lexus es. it's complete luxury in a class full of compromises. see your lexus dealer. the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from ♪ that's why right here, in australia, chevron is building one of the biggest natural gas projects in the world. enough power for a city the size of singapore for 50 years. what's it going to do to the planet? natural gas is the cleanest conventional fuel there is.

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bill: as expected, full swing campaign mode, the buffet rule and the president in washington. >> -- coming up behind them have the same opportunities that they had. they understand, though that, for some time now, when compared to the middle class, they haven't been asked to do their fair share, and they are here because they believe there's something deeply wrong and irresponsible about that. at a time when the share of national income throag to the top 1 percent of people in this country has climbed to levels we haven't seen since the 1920s, these same folks are paying taxes at

one of the lowest rates in 50 years. in fact, one in four millionaires pays a lower tax rate than millions of hard working middle class households, and while many millionaires do pay their fair share, some take advantage of loopholes and shelters that let them get away with paying no income taxes whatsoever. that's all perfectly legal under the system that we currently have. you've heard that my friend warren buffet pays a lower tax rate than a secretary, because he's the one who's been pointing that out and saying we should fix it. the executives who are with me here today, not just behind me but in the audience, agree with me. they agree with warren. this should be fixed. they, in fact, have brought some of their own assistants to prove that same point. it's just plain wrong that middle class americans pay a higher share of their income in taxes than some

millionaires and billionaires. now, it's not that these folks are excited about the idea of paying more taxes. this is a thing i've always made clear. i have yet to meet people who just love taxes. nobody loves paying taxes. in a perfect world, none of us would have to pay any taxes. we'd have no decifits to pay down, and schools and bridges and roads and national defense and caring for our veterans would all happen magically. we'd all have the money we need to make investments in the things that help us grow investments, by the way, that have always been essential to the private sector's success as well, not just -- they're not just important in terms of the people that directly benefit from these programs, but historically, those investments that we've made in infrastructure, education, in science, technology, transportation, that's part of what has made

us an economic superpower. and it would be nice if we didn't have to pay for them, but this is the real world that we live in. we have real choices and real consequences. right now, we've got significant decifits that are going to have to be closed. right now, we have significant needs if we want to continue to grow this economy and compete in this 21st century hypercompetitive technologically integrated economy. that means we can't afford to keep spending more money on tax cuts for wealthy americans who don't need them and weren't even asking for them. it's time we did something with it. -- about it. i want to emphasize, this is not simply an issue of redistributing wealth. that's what you'll hear from those who object to a tax

plan that is fair. this is not just about fairness. this is also about growth, this is also about being able to make the investments we need to succeed, and it's about we as a country being willing to pay for those investments and closing our decifits. that's what this is about. now, next week, members of congress are going to have a chance to vote on what we call the buffet rule, and it's simple. if you make more money, more than $1 million a year, not if you have $1 million, but if you make more than $1 million a year, you should pay at least the same percentage of your income in taxes as middle class families do. if on the other hand you make less than $250,000 a year, like 98 percent of american families do, your tax shouldn't go up. that's all there is to it. that's pretty sensible. most americans agree with me so do most millionaires.

sur sun vay found that two-thirds of millionaires support this idea. so do nearly half of all republicans across america. so we just need some of the republican politicians here in washington to get on board with where the country is. i know that some prefer to run around using the same reflexive false claims about wanting to raise peoples' taxes. what they won't tell you is truth, that i've cut taxes for middle class families each year that i've been in office, i've cut taxes for small business owners not once or twice but 17 times. as i said, for most of the folks in this room, taxes are lower than they've been or as low as they've been in 50 years. there are others who are say well, this is -- who are saying well, this is just a gimmick, taxes millionaires and billionaires and imposing the buffet rule won't do enough to close the decifit. well, i agree. that's not all we have to do

to close the decifit. but the notion that it doesn't solve the entire problem doesn't mean that we shouldn't do it at all. there are enough excuses for inaction in washington. we certainly don't need more excuses. i just point out that the buffet rule is something that will get us moving in the right direction, towards fairness, towards economic growth, it will help us close our decifit, and it's a lot more specific than anything that the other side has proposed so far. and if republicans in congress were truly concerned with decifits and debt, then i'm assuming they haven't would just proposed to spend an additional $4.6 trillion on lower tax rates, including an average tax cut of at least $150,000 for every millionaire in america. they want to go in the opposite direction. they want to double down on some of the iniquities that already exist in the tax code. if we're going to keep

giving somebody like me or some of the people in this room tax breaks that we don't need and we can't afford, then one of two things happens. either you've got to borrow more money to pay down a deeper decifit or you've got to demand deeper sacrifices from the middle class and you've got to cut investments that help us grow as an economy. you've got to tell seniors to pay a little bit more for their medicare. you've got to tell the college student, we're going to have to charge you higher interest rates on your student loan or you're just going to get smaller student loans. you're going to have to tell that working family that's scraping by that they're going to have to do more because the wealthiest of americans are doing less. that's not right. the middle class has seen enough of its security erode over the past few decades. we shouldn't let that happen. we're not going to stop investing in the things that create real and lasting growth in this country, just

so folks like me can get an additional tax cut. we're not going to stop building first class schools and making sure that they've got science labs in them, we're not going to, you know, fail to make investments in basic science and research that could cure diseases that harm people or create the new technology that ends up creating entire jobs and industries that we haven't seen before. bill: so the president making his case about the buffet rule, arguing it's a case of fairness and trying to dig america out of its hole. republicans argue it's political gimmickry and in fact there are others coming out with statements already, suggesting that the real rule here regarding warren buffet is the amount of tax he pays on the investment income that he earns, and not the payroll income that he does not earn. hence, the argument back and forth. heritage foundation is out with a couple of reports already on this.

mitch mcconnell has a statement online. there is an expected vote on the floor of the senate next week, the senate, controlled by democrats, that we are told does not even have enough votes at this moment to pass now or if ever. so watch that next week. from the white house. thirty-four minutes past the hour. martha: and we've got this fox news alert just coming in right now as well. north korea, fueling its controversial rocket at this hour. despite the white house warning that there could be serious consequences if the regime decides to go ahead with this planned launch in the coming days. joined now by jennifer griffin, live from the pentagon. so the big question is why is north korea going at this right now. >> reporter: well, for one, so that the son of kim jong-il, kim jong-un, the 20 something-year-old leader of the north korean nation since december, so he can consolidate power. he's being advised by the same military leaders, the same generals that advised his father for 25 years,

they are pulling from the same play book. today the north koreans took the unprecedented move and showed concern press the rocket launch site as the rocket itself was being loaded with liquid fuel. this is a 3-stage rocket that they say is carrying a satellite, but which also is a ballistic missile that could carry a nuclear warhead at some point. this loading of the liquid fuel suggests the launch is eminent, the window opens tonight and coincides with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the father of north korea this weekend. martha: jennifer, thank you. jennifer griffin at the pentagon. bill: 25 minutes now before the hour. we've got a new poll this morning showing public support for the health care law, sinking now to an all time low. take a look at this, abc- "washington post" poll showing 53 percent oppose the law, largely because of that individual mandate. republicans senator mike lee out of utah, member of the senate judiciary committee, with me in the studio. good morning to you.

fifty-three against. what do you make of that? >> i make of it the fact that the american people are resistent to the idea of the american government telling them where to go to the doctor. this is an intensely personal decision, not one that should be made from washington, d.c. bill: in your opinion the court during the hearings and you used to clerk for justice alito. >> i was his law clerk at the supreme court and before that on the third circuit. bill: you're listening with a keen ear in court last week and i'll ask you about that in a moment. i want you to react to me what this poll says, is the supreme court ruling based on politics or law, 50 percent say politics. only 40 say law. what does that say to you? >> i'm not sure what it says. i think americans are divided generally on the issue and some perhaps believe that the political ideology of an individual justice might affect his or her vote. at the end of the day i can tell you in confidence, with great confidence, that each member of the court is going to vote according to what he or she believes, and the law requires, and that's what's going to happen here.

bill: what do you think they do? >> i think based on their prior writings and based on what i saw at argument, this case is likely to be decided 5-4 with 5 justices concluding that the individual mandate is unconstitutional. i didn't expect the message to be as clear as it was, and i usually am very reluctant to predict how the supreme court is going to rule, especially in a case likely to be decided on a 5-4 vote, but in this case, there were some really strong signals, especially coming from the swing vote justice in many cases, justice anthony kennedy, indicating that he and his conservative colleagues have real concerns with the individual mandate and that they're likely to invalidate it. bill the individual mandate is not valid? what is page two in that story? >> page two in that story is does the court then decide to invalidate the entire law with it or just take the individual mandate out. i was surprised by the number of messages senate

oral argument, based on the questioning and the intonation of the judges while asking the questions and listening to the answers. it suggested to me that as with the individual mandate issue, on the severability question, they seemed to be suggesting if the individual mandate is unconstitutional, the rest of the law has to go as well. bill: wow. >> because otherwise they're essentially rewriting the bill and can't do that. bill mike lee, thank you sen to, we'll talk again. nice to see you in person for a change, thank you. >> thank you. martha: they are of course the critical voting bloc in the 2012 presidential race and mitt romney says the obama administration's polices are, quote, waging a war on women. >> women in particular suffered under this presidency. there were 5 million women that were out of work when the president took office, now 5.8 million out of work. i mean, this presidency has not been good for various groups in the american economy. martha: that from our conversation moments ago. how do the candidates win the women's vote in our panel weighs in.

bill: also a big boo at ucla, why the school is apologizing to hundreds of students over an accidental e-mail. oops! >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ ♪ spread a little love today

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bill: from the cat lower of man, i wish we could take this one back, ucla now apologizing for mistakingly telling 500 applicants they were accepted at school, the e-mail blast went out to high school seniors a week ago. the high school -- they say it was human error. the seniors waiting for admission are told they will remain there for the time being. a swing and a miss for 900 ucla applicants. martha: all right, back to this presidential candidate, mitt romney, now focusing on a crucial voting bloc for the general election. at least that's part of what

he spoke to. we spoke to him moments ago. the women's vote a major issue now, in all the conversations that surround this election. mitt romney says that the obama administration's economic polices are hurting american women, that is his contention. here is governor romney from our interview just a few moments ago: >> over 92 percent of the jobs lost under this president were lost by women. his polices have been really a war on women. and so he wants to divert from that and see if we can't find someone to attack, some escapegoat. is there anyone who believes that congress needs more money? is there anyone who believes that dividing america and trying to find some group to tax more -- >> martha: but here's the -- >> is going to create jobs? martha: meanwhile the latest "washington post"-abc news poll shows that president obama has a 19 percentage point lead over mitt romney with women. joined now by k.t. mcfarland, fox news national security analyst, former deputy assistant secretary for defense for president reagan, jahmu greene is a

former hillary clinton is a former hillary clinton scissor -- adviser and from mature citizens, we're all in favor of being mature! we'll try for the next few minutes. k.t., you say that you are be a conservative woman but you think that republicans have got a problem. >> huge problem. they say all the right things but they're saying it with the wrong words. i think of it as like high school. remember there was that cool guy who told you exactly what you wanted to hear, everybody liked him, he was charming, cool, charismatic, he was never going to deliver, then there's that boring guy who didn't know how to talk to the girls, but actually, he was the reliable one. the problem the republicans have is they've got the right message, they just have to really figure out a way to talk to women and you don't do it with wa lot of statistics and polls and numbers. you do it with words. reagan knew how to do it. when i worked for president reagan he had people in the galleries when he would give

the state of the union address, first president to do it, because when he talked about defense policy he wanted to show here's sergeant so and so and this is what he done. reagan knew you paint words with picture, you don't just do it with a bunch of statistics. martha: the argument that romney made today, jehmu, when you look at statistics, to look at numbers for a minute, 92 percent of the jobs that have been lost were lost by women, and eeg saying the obama administration may be painting this picture of having been helpful to this part of society, but that they really haven't been. >> well, i think going back to k.t.'s high school example, i think of high school, and that boyfriend who cheated on me for the last time, and there was nothing that he could say to make me trust him again, and that -- >> that is where the republican party's brand is, and in particular, governor romney. the first step is admitting you have a problem. and the interview you did with governor romney was

great. the only thing is he didn't admit he has a problem. martha: what's the problem? what is it you think women are angry about with republican? >> 1100 bills introduced in 2011 to restrict a woman's right to control her health care decision. the attack that has happened on planned parenthood. clinics that 5 million women depend upon every single year for their health care. just a few days a. governor scott walker, one of governor romney's most visible surrogates, repealing the state's equal pay law. governor nicky haley saying women are fine, there's not a problem. martha: but look at -- >> then he has his lead chair in maryland saying once we get to the general election, the real romney will come out. that goes back to that trust issue. women can see through that b.s. >> the republicans don't have a policy problem. they have a pr problem. for some reason, they fail to take their message to female voters. barack obama will hold seminars and speak directly to women and women are less

feeling like they -- he did it last week. let mitt romney go out and talk to these women. women are pocketbook issue voters, they care about gas prices, they're the ones who get in their cars, drive kids all over the place, basketball practice, they know what the costs are. those are the ones unemployed. mitt romney, what he said, under obama the number of unemployed women has increased 558,000. talk to women, explain the polices. explain omabacare. martha: you say they should talk more to women's groups. in some ways i'm offended at women's conferences and things like that because i don't think that women feel like a separate group anymore, and in that sense i think that what mitt romney is saying is you know, let's treat women as what they are, an equal part of society, and of this economy. let's not break them out. what jim messino was saying, he wants to return to the politics of the past and we're protecting hispanics and women, well protecting, perhaps the buzzword for protecting is we're not going to take away money from the entitlement programs. isn't what they're saying?

>> it's a tough sale, because here's the problem. are you going to vote for the person who's saying to you tighten your belt, i'm not going to give you what you had before, and i think it calls into the whole question of a democracy and unless any of our candidates are able to make the sale to the american people that i'm going to take stuff away from you because it's going to be much better for your children -- >> martha: and are they will to go tighten the belt, are they willing to have less in terms of entitlements? >> i think there probably isn't any other group in this country who is more willing to tighten when necessary. women are two-thirds of either the primary breadwinner in the household or cobreadwinner in the household. they know how to tighten up when necessary. and president obama said very clearly last week that women aren't a monolithic block, they shouldn't be looked at as a special interest, but i think what governor romney, his issue he's having with women, he hasn't really put forth any sort of vision that would show women that he is on their side, that he trusts

them. here's one example. he always defers to his wife and how her job was a lot harder than him. then why doesn't he put forth a plan that says we're going to value home making more than we do right now, a tax deduction, tax credit for home makers? he could win women voters with that. >> he's a business plan. -- man. show us in business what you've done with woman. >> unless they make the sale, it's not going to work. martha: thank you very much, great to have you all here, thank you ladies. bill: like ladies night! only it's in the morning! martha: there you go. bill got that, right! jenna lee, standing by, coming up, "happening now", 11 minutes now. oh no, that's jon scott! jon: mens day in the studio h! bill: indeed it is, how you doing jon? jon: great, thanks, how it you -- are you? the world is on edge as north korea prepares this possible missile launch and maybe a nuclear test to follow. one of our guests upcoming

says we should shoot that missile out of the sky. good idea or not? we'll also ask why some prisoners get better health care than many law-abiding citizens. take a look at the new poll on health care, the supreme court taking up the case is not doing the president any favors when it comes to public opinion. plus guess who's here? bubba watson will join us on set in his master's green jacket! bill: did he bring that 68-degree wedge or whatever that thing was? jon: we'll see if we can get him to swing it. bill: please do, off the studio floor. we'll really give him a challenge! jon, thank you. a bridezilla now, what did she fake to score a luxury ceremony? >> there's lots of ways to trick people. why would you do that, come up with that story? it's a pretty hurtful story. [ male announcer ] if you think any battery will do...

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bill: now to energy in america, you've heard of fracking, taking resources from deep below the earth but some explain it's bad for the environment. that view changing? john roberts went below ground, now above ground, in atlanta. good morning. >> reporter: it's up to the vast new supplies of natural gas that opponents of high dral uk fracking say it's polluted water supplies across pennsylvania, but now even environmental groups say that there is not one case of gas migrateing from this level up into waterwells. listen: >> even environmental groups now acknowledge fracks hasn't polluted water wells. the fracking that takes place in the large natural gas scale plays take place many thousands of feet beneath the ground. >> reporter: far below the

acoo aquifers that supply drinking water. >> this is a critical time when you're drimming the well to actually get that isolated directly. >> reporter: range resources has drilled 350 gas wells in pennsylvania. each one is sealed with layers of metal casing and cement to ensure no methane gets into aquifers that supply drinking water. they have not had a leaky well there but other companies have. three years after their water supply was contaminated by a leaking well craig and julio sotner can still collect enough methane to light it on fire. the epa says their water is now safe to drink but they're not buying it. >> basically what you're saying is you don't trust the epa. >> nope. not at all. >> a few miles up the road, matt and tammy manningswell suddenly began erupting in december when a gas company drilled nearby. >> they just got the process, the hot water heater, all that, there was pretty alarming levels of methane coming out of those.

>> reporter: the pennsylvania dpe, environmental department of protection is investigating the well's operator. the energy company says it's not to blame. it goes to show how important it is to seal the first few hundred feet of that well, bill. bill: interesting development there, john, thank you for bringing that to us. john roberts in atlanta. martha. martha: well, the supreme court is making a final ruling on president obama's health care law. but are those who are serving time in jail already getting better medical care than you? really? we'll be right back.

>> congratulations to american bubba watson who won the masters golf tournament this week [applause] did you notice that? did you notice on the news they say american bub with watson. have you ever met anyone named bubba who wasn't american? what are the odds, please welcome from london, england, sir bubba windsor, ladies and gentlemen. martha: when you hear bubba