together again. >> boehner can't count the savings. >> will you vote for it? >> no, i can't. >> and can't count the votes. >> my god, shouldn't we be worried about the country. >> we are, mr. speaker, so do the math. tick tock, goes the clock and down goes the dow for a third straight day and now house speaker john boehner place a frantic game of follow my lead in a mad dash to revise0his det plan, rally the troops and avoid catastrophic default. he's telling uneasy gop colleagues behind closed doors to, quote, get your rear into gear. of course, mr. boehner chose to use much more colorful language to persuade republicans, many of whom are losing faith in the speaker's plan so last night republican leaders used a scene from bank heist film in which

blen affleck's character asks a fellow criminal for help doing a dirty job. no questions asked. the wheels started coming off the boehner bus right around tea party favorite joe walsh said on this very program that he wouldn't vote for it, regardless of the deadline. >> all i know is we can do better, and we have to do better, and if it means we go a day or two or three beyond august 2nd to get this right, that's what i think we should do. >> and then it got worse after an analysis by the cbo. the non-partisan congressional budget office says the proposed cuts are only $850 billion, thus failing to meet a key demand by conservatives to match spending cuts to the debt limit increase. now the bickering among republicans has increased, and

speaker boehner is busy revising the details. meanwhile, the cbo says senator harry reid's plan may also fall somewhat short of its claim saving 2.2 trillion, not $2.7 trillion, but still almost triple the savings being offered by the speaker. the revelation inspired a fresh offensive with senator chuck schumer scolding republicans for using a cops and robbers film to motivate members and majority leader harry reid criticizing the speaker for allowing the tea party to holdç compromise hostage. >> nobody believes that the boehner problem is anything more than a big wet kiss to the right wing, and -- and i mean the tea party. that's who i mean. it's too bad his caucus is being run by such a small number of people. >> what will happen between this very moment and a potential vote tomorrow is anyone's guess in the town that is washington, d.c. amid all the bickering and

tinkering, the nation is just six days away from a first ever general default, and the treasury reiterating in a statement moments ago there is no guarantee the government can meet all its obligations after an august 2nd deadline, so what are the remaining options for our dysfunctional government? nbc's kristen welker is at the white house and let's also bring in luke russert on capitol hill. kristen, we know both sides are crafting their budget deals, both trying to take the high road, but are there any signs that the differences between the two sides are narrowing, and does it seem as though they may conflate these two plans? >> reporter: well, at this point we don't have any indication that they are going to conflate the two plans. we should say there are, of course, a lot of meetings going on behind closed doors. i just came from the briefing with white house press secretary jay carney who reiterated that point. there are a lot of meetings going on right now that aren't being read out necessarily to the public, but at this point in time, at least publicly, it

seems these two sides are still very far apart, as you said. there's the two bills that we have before us, and speaker boehner's bill was supposed to be voted on today, martin, but as you said it's going to be voted on tomorrow due to those issues that the cbo brought up. he's also trying to rally the troops, as you mentioned. you know, one democratic aide said to me this is really like a game of hot potato. this is going to come down to what bill is left and who is left holding that bill. they might have to restructure it a bit, add somuç amendments o make sure it passes both chambers. that's what it comes down, to and at this point in time it doesn't seem as though we're any closer to having a clear path forward. >> a steaming hot potato. tough talk from speaker boehner this morning telling his caucus to get their rears into gear, and now we're learning some in the gop have been rallying ideological opposition from the outside so how much is politics at play here? >>. >> reporter: pretty much republican on republican

violence this morning, martin. you had in fact the rsc, republican study committee, the ideological right wing faction of the house gop with about 170 members. it turns out a staffer on a conservative list serve was trying to solicit outside concern from the interest groups saying kill the boehner bill, trying to rally support saying if you think these members are a target, they haven't gone one way or the other, on the fence, can you target them and put them against the bill with your outside influence and pressure in the gop leadership was quite upset by that news. eric cantor saying he doesn't like republicans versus republicans. this staffer is in a load of trouble. at the closed gop caucus this morning the staffer was there and mentioned and they all said fire him, fire him, fire him. so this has caused a little bit of consternation amongst the republicans here on the house. that being said, when it comes to the ultimate goal of the 217 votes they need, mar tip, in order to bass a john boehner bill later tomorrow, this in

fact actually may have helped them because it was showing the divisions so deep within the party that in fact it said, look, you can't circumvent leadership this much. eventually you have to fall into line, what boehner was saying, and that's had an impact on a lot of younger members who just came here saying we are ideologically conservative but against the leadership is not acceptable when you have a fellow house republican staff trying to circulate an outside conservative interest group against folks who are on the fence. many of those folks who are actually party of the rsc republican study commission, martin. >> kristen, house democrats are urging the president to raise the debt ceiling on his own, possibly invoking the 14th amendment. we note that stocks are now down around 160, 140. here we are, down 165. is the white house appealing to this evidence, the dow down further to 168 now. is the white house appealing to

this evidence and saying to the house, look at what you're doing? >> reporter: well, you know, i just spoke with white house officials earlier this morning about that very topic, would you revisit the idea of invoking the 14th amendment, and what they are saying is that they still don't think it's a viable option. you know, the president addressed this issue himself just last week during a town hall meet when he said he did have his counsel look into this, and they decided it's just not a winning argument. but you do have some pressure from democrats saying, you know what you? really need to rethink this option, but the white house says this really has to be something that's done with congress. it has to be done together with congress, so they are not revisiting that option at this point in time, martin. >> reporter: martin, i would just add to that, we've heard possibly a 0-day extension, maybe the deadline can be pushed back a week. folks on capitol hill feel august 2nd is the day, chaotic atmosphere, reflects badly on both parties. urgency to get something done this weekend, saturday and

sunday, late nights. look for the compromise to emerge there. >> thank you again so much. and, again, with so much uncertainty we're seeing some nerves on wall street. the dowç climbing downward for third straight day, as i was just saying, and time for congress to act running out. for an inside look at the debt drama we're joined by democrat of new jersey, senator robert menendez, good afternoon, sir. >> good afternoon. >> it seems like the negotiations have led to complete dis arrarray with spea boehner getting his figures wrong, signs he may not have enough support from his own caucus and now we're six days to sorting this mess out. do you think that it's possible that this will be resolved before the deadline? >> reporter: i do think it's possible. and all republicans have to do is say yes, and what i mean is, you know, they gave us two conditions. number one, we had to cut an amount equal to the amount that we're raising the debt ceiling by. senator reid's plan does that,

cuts about $2.4 trillion to $2.7 trillion, and secondly they wanted no new revenues, including closing loopholes for the oil industries and other tax breaks. and so we have no new revenues in this bill, so at $2.7 trillion with no new revenues it seems to me that it's time for our republican colleagues to say yes. >> but you know, mr. menendez, that speaker boehner is working on his own version of a plan at this moment. they have been rallying support. last night showing a clip from "the town" movie and that's the way he wants to take this, so i don't think your republican colleagues across the aisle are interested in following senator reid's approach, are they? >> well, speaker boehner's approach which by the way, congressional budget office scored as far insufficient, even for his own goals. he's retooling it. secondly, it cuts far less than senator reid. it does far less than senator

reid's does in the first couple of years, andç so in every respect it puts us back in this quagmire in six months which the nation should not withstand nor can our economy withstand and so i think he needs to put up for his caucus, his plan, send it to the senate and show that it cannot pass in the senate, be amended and send back by senator reid's proposal and ultimately that will be their decision. do they pass in essence what they asked for which is a debt ceiling that is fully paid for by cuts and no revenues. >> just a final question, mr. menendez, do you have a sense of how angry and dissatisfied ordinary americans are with what's happening in washington? >> i do. i've been on the phone, talked to people back at home. last time i was back in new jersey when we had the last weekend, i heard from people in new jersey, and they are certainly dissatisfied, and it's fully understandable, but as

i've said to many people, you know, we as democrat have come a long way in this negotiation. who would have thought that a democratic senate would offer $2.7 trillion simply in cuts on domestic discretionary spending and on some defense issues without any revenues, without having the wealthiest people in the country pay anything more, without closing tax loopholes for major corporations and yet that's exactly what we're offering. at some point in a negotiation when you have ceded, the only thing we've not ceded is our unwillingness to end medicare as we know it, but other than that we've ceded to where our colleagues on the house side, our republican side wants. it's time for them to say yes. >> senator robert menendez, thanks so much for joining us this afternoon. >> thank you. coming up, can the speaker put his humpty dumpty of a plan back together again? stay with us. [ barks ]

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a disturbing new report highlights the stunning effects of this struggling economy in recent recession. new figures from the pew research center show that the wealth gap between white americans and minorities has reached unprecedented highs, with the median wealth of white households 18 times that of hispanics and some 20 times that of black households. and while americans search for much-needed solutions amid the tense negotiations under way in washington, well, republicans are choosing to motivate themselves by playing a scene from the film "the town," a bank robbery thriller starring ben ìyrñ i need your help. i can't tell you what it is. you can never ask me about it later, and we're going to hurt

some people. >> whose car are we going to take? >> hurt some people. i'm joined now by msnbc contributor goldie taylor and judging by this research, aren't the people hurting enough already? >> you know, obviously they are, and, you know, i consider it downright immoral what's happening in washington today, and i think that the american people are frankly fed up, that we can't for the life of us determine how to raise this debt ceiling in a reasonable way while closing some of these wealth gaps out there. i mean, it's -- you know, you're asking us to cut medicaid, social security, but you won't close the loopholes -- the irs tax loopholes for the wealthiest americans and some of the corporations who came to us, by the way, for loans to bail us out because they were too big to fail. i really feel we ought to be on a much more sane ground here. >> at a time when republicans are refusing to increase any taxes in america, the gap in

wealth between whites and minorities is now in its widest in something like a quarter century. it seems like the economic downturn has been literally catastrophic for minorities in this country. >> catastrophic is right, you know. if you look at african-american and hispanic households, fully a third of them report zero wealth. not even a dollar in positive wealth. a lot of that wealth was tied up in the homes that they spent more than 75% of their income either buying or maintaining, and so when those homes were taken away, the wealth went with it. if you put on top of that affordable health care and access to health insurance, then, you know, most of the bankruptcies in this country, especially from black and brown people, are driven because of health care çcosts, and so whe you ask yourself what has happened to black and brown americans, i can tell you what happened to them. corporate america happened to them. people who are, you know, literally raping these people over medical costs, exorbitant medical costs and then to turn around and swipe the homes that they worked their lives to build, you know, over some

subprime lending issues, so i think that we ought to re-examine our priorities as a country and re-examine how to go forward. i don't think that's the america we're banking on, the america we all believe in. >> with washington deadlocked in cutting welfare programs, how much more damaging do you think that this is going to prove to the minorities who we already know have been hardest hit by this down economy? >> when you start to look at people who receive those social security checks, people who receive those veterans benefits, people who, you know, are on the receiving end of some of these entitlements like medicaid and medicare, who are going to be the hardest hit when these programs begin to get stripped down? i'm hearing language now that people want to take away the mortgage tax credit. that is a credit that encourages homeownership and ebb kurnlgs people to build more wealth, when you strip that away, talking about cutting pell grants, you need to step back and ask this nation what kind of priorities it has. we're talking about raising a debt ceiling.

black and brown people hit their debt ceiling two years ago so when we forget to talk about those kinds of things, just got to question our priorities. >> one expert, and i want to quote him has said you're not going to be wealthy so long as you're someone else's employee, so to what extent do minorities need to embrace business and the notion of self-determination? >> well, i'll tell you that they already have. the number one, you know, consumer segment who goes out and starts their own businesses has to be african-americans. when0w hit a ceiling in our own careers, we take that institutional knowledge out and we open up our own independent consult sis, per se. you know, we absolutely go out and will start our own businesses. it is ironic, however, that republicans will say that they are fighting for small businesses, individual enterprises when, you know, they are fighting for people who make more than $250,000 a year, but truly the small business owner, the person who is the number one driver of new jobs in this entire country, they have stripped them down to nothing,

and so the wealth that was lost over the last several years, it wasn't just homeowners who lost the wealth. it was small business owners as well, and they happen to be black and brown disproportionately. >> goldie taylor, thank you so much, and if i may, i think your new hairstyle is fabulous. >> thank you, thank you so much. >> thank you. the clock continues to tick, and we are no closer to a solution. will anything break this impasse? my doctor told me calcium is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. new citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs.

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now to oslo where today we're learning the names of the victims who were lost in that horrendous tragedy. the prime minister stottenberg has said the country will rally back after the attacks with, quote, more democracy, going on to add that an independent commission is being formed to investigate the massacre and assist the survivors. with all of the latest news i'm

joined now by neighbors's jay gray live in oslo. jay, i understand that police visited breivik's farm and discovered even more explosives there. what on earth was this man planning? >> reporter: yeah. in fact, they did, martin, and bomb teams exploded the explosives that they found there, detonated those, but the bigger concern seems to be right now that there are a lot of chemicals, a lot of supplies missing, and they don't know where they are at this point, don't know if there's another bomb somewhere so they are trying to find out exactly where those chemicals are and what they may have been intended to be used for. it's a -- it's a very important part of the investigation right now, martin. >> the prime minister talked about wanting to come back with more democracy. what did he mean by that? did he mean, for example, that multi-culturalism as a philosophy is not going to be dropped within norway? >> that's absolutely what he meant and a graphic explanation of that, martin, is this behind

me, a memorial that continues to grow in the people and hundreds who continue to come here. look, this man was an isolationist, someone very anti-immigrant, especially anti muslim immigrant so what the country of norway is trying to show right now that they are indeed united and that's how they believe that they are going to win this fight, so they want to show that çunity, and they y it also helps them with this grieving process that, martin, as you know, will take some time here. >> and crowds continue to gather. we see images behind you just now of individuals just observing the scene. >> yeah. >> presumably continuing to pay their respects to those who lost their lives. >> reporter: yeah. it's amazing, martin, to see the outpouring of emotion in this community, and we've seen this behind us, but understand as you walk through this town and you walk through the city center, there are displays like this all over the city. everything covered in flowers, all the scaffolding on buildings that are being worked on,

fountains. anywhere you go, all you see is flowers. all you see is people gathering with candles. on occasion you hear the national anthem break out as emergency teams walk out and spontaneous applause so there is that sense of being together, being united, that they are really leaning on right now. >> nbc's jay gray in oslo. thanks so much for describing that scene to us. >> reporter: thanks, martin e. coming up, the search for the magic number, anything to keep washington from defaulting on its debts. stay with us. jeff, lunch! uh-huh. jeff! honey, i can't walk any faster. [ female announcer ] oscar mayer deli fresh turkey comes in a clear pack... [ cellphone beeps ] [ jeff ] ooh. thanks hun! [ female announcer ] ...so the freshness you see is what you taste. ♪ it doesn't get better than this ♪

as democrats endure another day of haggard frustration battling republicans over the nation's debt crisis, the president himself is also facing increasing dissatisfaction. a new "washington post" poll found that the number of liberal democrats who strongly support obama's record on jobs plunged

22 points from 53% last year to 31%. some on the left are even calling for primary opponents to step into the fray and challenge the president in 2012. senator bernie sanders may be chief among those. he's an independent from vermont who caucuses with democrats, and i'm delighted to say he joins us now from capitol hill. good afternoon, sir. why are you so disappointed in the president, and -- >> let me just say, martin, let me just say -- >> yes. >> most people who are calling my office now are really not worried about presidential politics. what they are worried about is the collapse of the middle class, the increase in poverty, the growing gap between the very rich and everybody else, and a deficit reduction debate right now which is moving in exactly the opposite direction of where the american people want to go. you quoted the "washington post" poll. let me tell you soluthing else about the "washington post" poll. you may have seen this. recently 72% of the american people said they thought wealthy people should pay more in taxes

to help us with deficit reduction. they also said in very strong terms, they do not want to see cuts in social security, medicare, medicaid and other important programs. you know what's going on here in washington? we're moving in exactly the opposite wrong direction. >> i understand that, sir. >> that is the issue -- that is the issue that i believe that we were going to discuss today, and that's the issue i would like to discuss. >> can i ask you this question, isn't this current deadlock actually all about divided and dysfunctional government as opposed to any specific failing on the part of president obama? >> it's a combination of factors. i think there is -- clearly you have right wing republican extremists who are doing everything they can to protect millionaires and billionaires and say let's do deficit reduction by cutting back on social security, by cutting back on education. we're in a recession, people are hurting, and what they are saying is let's hurt them a little bit more but let's do everything we can to protect

billionaires and millionaires and large corporations who in some cases aren't paying a nickel in taxes. >> mr. sanders though, you i'm sure would agree that we need an agreement before the deadline, and if you look at stocks today, we had a figure just now falling for the third consecutive day, it's now down to 174 on the dow, 24 points on standard & poor's 500 and the nasdaq down 71 points. >> of course we need -- of course we need to reach a conclusion. of course we have got to do everything we can to prevent a default which would be disastrous for this country. >> does that not mean, sir, that notwithstanding your own desire to assist the middle class, to tax those who earn more, we need to reach an agreement and at the &háhp &hc% seem to be viable. there doesn't seem to be a compromise available. >> well, you know, you asked a minute ago about president obama, and i think the issue here is where people are

disappointed is he has not been as strong for many, many months in bringing the american people together in the ways they believe. they believe there must be shared sacrifice. we have got to put right wing republicans on the defensive and not continuing to concede, concede, concede so that today, right now, we're looking at two proposals, as you know. the reid proposal which calls for major cuts which also doesn't ask for a nickel in revenue, and the boehner proposal which is far worse because it would bring up this whole circus six months from now. all that i'm saying -- >> you mentioned the president -- many have accused him of leading from behind, as it were, but could you negotiate with speaker john boehner? could you -- >> no. >> have a productive meeting with mitch mcconnell? >> probably not, but that's exactly the point. the solution will be found outside of the beltway when millions of people go to their

congress people and say, you know what? and i believe this is true in every state in this country, not just vermont, but every place. sorry, mr. congressman, you're not going to cut social security and medicare and give tax breaks to billionaires, and people are going to be organized, and by the thousands. holding meetings around the country. that's not what's happened. >> isn't that what's going to happen in 2012. that's the opportunity for people to decide that, but at the moment we desperately need an agreement before august the 2nd. >> sure we do. no argument from me. we need an agreement, but what i'm simply suggest sergeant american people have not -- have been kept out of this debate. the american people absolutely are on the side of those people who want shared sacrifice, and if it's simply a question of sitting down with mr. boehner, we lose. if it's mobilizing tens of millions of people who don'tç want to see cuts in social security, who want to see large corporations who don't pay a nickel in taxes start paying their fair share, we're going to win that debate. >> senator bernie sanders, thank you very much for joining us

this afternoon. >> thank you. in the wake of the anxiety surrounding washington and what seems like everything being thrown on the table in order to reach a deal comes an interesting insight into the physical benefit of welfare. new research has found that social safety net programs which aim to reduce psychosocial stresses for low-income families may actually also reduce childhood obesity. to shed more light on this i'm joined by craig gunderson, a professor at the illinois of illinois. good afternoon, sir. the fight in washington is these days everyone on edge and yet you believe, i think that it's children who should really -- who could really suffer as a result of all this political economic bickering. >> that's exactly right. in the united states we have an excellent social safety net designed for children, in particular excellent food assistance programs, particularly the supplemental nutrition assistance program, s.n. a p., better known as food stamps. through the prosignificance of benefits, food stamp benefits,

children face less stress, their parents feel less stress and we've seen many studies recently that shown that stress is an important determinant of childhood obesity so by alleviating the stress of the families by continued provision of food stamps we can help of prevent childhood obesity. >> and food stamps is something that president obama has been accused of in an extremely contemptuous way as if he is the president of food stamps. that's the point of criticism for him, from many of the republican candidates for the next election. >> that's -- right. that's correct. i think to recognize the important benefits that are cured through food stamps, so iç think any efforto make sure that these benefits continue at their current level and perhaps even expanding food stamps and other programs like national school lunch program can go a long ways towards both alleviating food insecurity and hunger in the united states, alleviating child obesity and a whole slew of other problems. >> but the fact of the matter

is, sir, many people who receive food stamps don't necessarily spend on the correct and the best foods that are available. i mean, you can't control that, can you? >> no. that's exactly right. here's -- whenever you give people more money, whether it be through cash assistance programs or pay raises or any other means is people have a choice to consume -- they could potentially consume worse foods. however what, we generally see in the united states is when people see increases in income, it gives them the opportunity to purchase more healthy foods, and this is something similar we see with food stamps, when people get food stamps, they can purchase healthier food and in contrast if you don't have food stamps, oftentimes people are forced to purchase energy dense high-calorie food in order to relieve their hunger. >> professor craig gunderson of the university of illinois, thank you very much indeed. >> thank you. the late night comedy programs have been on a roll as of late thanks to all of the material washington keeps handing them, and until politicians get their act

together, there's no sign of slowing down. >> and here's what we got for that massive spending binge, a new health care bill that most americans never asked for, a stimulus bill that is more effective in producing material for late-night comedians than it was in producing jobs. >> are you kidding me, boehner? you think comedians enjoy fiscal incompetence and bureaucratic paralysis, let me show you something. see this right here? the guy in the tiger costume is congressman david wuç of orego. apparently he resigned today because of inappropriate sexual contact towards an 18-year-old. did i mention that's a real picture of him dressed like tigger? so let me explain something to you. you really think i'm going to do this stimulus stuff. [ bleep ] with this guy, would be, how would i put it, grreat! >> a laugh a minute at a moment when we sure could use it, and if you have a minute, why don't you check out our revamped twitter page at twitter.c

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i'm brian sullivan with your cnbc market wrap, and it is another tough day for the stock market. investors continue to be spooked by the debt ceiling debate as well as fears of an economic slowdown. here are your numbers right now. the dow jones industrial average off 188 points. we're down nearly 400 points in the last few days. the s&p and the nasdaq are also

lower. nearly every stock in the dow 30 is down. a couple of highlights including boeing which was rising on better than expected earnings. now outside of that, still a big day for çdunkin'brands, parent company of baskin robbins. the company expects to pick up $420 million to pay down debt and expand operations. and after the bell here in a few minutes, martin, we'll get a big earnings number from visa. key to see if consumers are still spending. can you read a lot into confidence and the overall economy but looking into earnings of companies like visa, moved card and amex. those numbers will be crossing here in 15 minutes. another tough day at cnbc for the markets, but i'll send it back for you. >> thanks, brian. while how much of the focus has been on the looming debt ceiling deadline the political race to 2012 is continuing to gear up and front-runner mitt romney may be in for a tough fight for the nomination if new

republican heavyweights enter the race. take a look as the current list of candidates stand, former governor romney leads with a 10% marg margin, but that strong lead could take a dramatic turn if a handful of contenders step up to take the run. rick perry, sarah palin or rudy giuliani are pulling strong numbers even though they haven't taken the plunge. doug high is the former communications director of the republican national committee, and i'm delighted to say he joins us now. good afternoon, doug. >> can i say off the bat by saying thank you for talking about anything other than the debt ceiling for a few minutes. >> great to have you on, because the 2012 race feels like it's an irrelevance given the seriousness of the budget debate in washington, but isn't it also the case that the race itself is a bit of a ferrago because as we've seen mitt romney is the front-runner but the moment you mention rick perry or sarah palin, his ranking collapses. >> certainly if other candidates get in, and we don't know if they are getting in, certainly rick perry is making more

substantive stwps than sarah palin has been at least thus far, but the important thing to remember when we look at national polls is there's not a national primary, and so what we need to do is really drill down to those key primary and caucus dates, in iowa where tim pawlenty looks to be going all in. new hampshire which is where mitt romney expects to be real strong, south carolina and nevada, all four states that take place in february before any other states will have primaries or caucuses. those are the real states that matter. i'm from north carolina which is going to be a key battleground state in the general election, but in the primaries right now doesn't look to be so polling from north carolina is interesting, but doesn't really tell us who is going to get out of the gate in a fast start. >> indeed, tim pawlenty seems to have emerged as the coward of this campaign, and first he refuses to use the term obamney care and makes a comment with michelle bachmann's migraine problems and withdraws. does mr. pawlenty have an

avoidance problem? >> the times i've met him he's been up front and direct as what he sees as challenges for the party and step forward. his game plan comes down to iowa, and iowa is a different kind of politicking. in primaries people vote to have their voice heard. in a caucus like iowa, you show up to have your presence felt and that's a dramatic difference of the pawlenty campaign going all in in iowa, it appears, a strong organization there, and certainly not only do we have the debate coming up in about two weeks, but we also have the straw poll and that will be a key test of his strength. organization is one thing that they are betting objection and if he does well there, he'll continue to be a strong candida candidate. >> others are talking up the character and panache of governor rick perry. isn't the stage set for him to step inç in. >> if he's going to run, he's in a good position to do so. just last week we did a tougher cities in california to meet with donorses which is a substantive step to demonstrate that he's serious about a

candidacy, but i'll tell you, we saw that before with haley barbour where he was making substantive steps and hiring key personnel, like rob collins, which would have been a campaig really ended up not happening at the end of the day. so we think he's making the right moves to run, but until a candidate says yes, that answer is still no. >> absolutely. wonderfully put. thank you so much. >> thank you, martin. to london, in one year the 2012 games will begin. while there's still much to do, more than 3.5 million tickets have already been sold thus far. nbc's peter alexander is live in london with a look at how the city is preparing. peter, i understand there was a huge event today. was it at trafalgar square? >> it was, but also here at the aquatic center, 440 million to build it. when you enter, it feels like you're walking into i guess you

could say the mouth of a gray or blue whale. it's remarkable. a year from now, 80,000 people will come in here to the olympic stadium, and for the first time we saw the medals that the athletes will receive. the ioc's chair also invited the world's athletes to london. >> surronalded by some of the world's most iconic landmarks from big ben for buckingham, the skyline is getting a makeover, preparing to serve as a stage. >> when there's a big competition or sporting event,z we celebrate in the right way. >> among the heavily -- the royal horse guards parade, the very site where billions watched william and kate right home on their wedding day, will host beach volley ball. less than an hour away, the american invasion has already

begun, home to the kayak and canoe events. >> what fires you up? >> i love this course. it's big whitewater, and as americans we're historically good at big whitewater. >> the real celebrations are still to come, in a city that embraces the majesty of the old and the excitement of the new. >> we'll do it in the way that we believe is spectacular, and it would be spectacular. it's going to be great for the world to watch. it will be great for our children to watch. it's going to be exciting. >> reporter: martin, perhaps as you know better than me, here the folks like to say they are bang on schedule. that's what everybody told us today. six venues here at the olympic park already completed. they're even putting the track down in the not-too-distant future in the stadium behind us. >> we both covered the royal wedding, do you sense there is as much excitement there for

this huge event the olympics games for the wedding, for a young man, who as both of us know isn't going to be yet close to the throne, because his father will succeed the queen. >> reporter: that's certainly the case. for the young generation, this is something they're excited about. mind you, this is a year out, they came to watch a giant scream and to see a 17-year-old dive into the pool to kristin it. that alone brought out several thousand people to witness the ceremony in the aquatic center today. a short time ago, we spoke to the mayor of this proud city, boris johnson, who said, have you seen that water? it's gin clear? i said, did you swimç in it? he said i haven't swum in it yet, but it's good enough to drink. i think everybody is ready to celebrate. >> boris johnson again referring to his favorite drink. we'll be right back. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to

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it's time now to clear the air. a new book on parenting is provoking some controversy, because it seems to focus not on the joy that comes with a newborn, but the pain that a baby brings to his parents, especially when it comes to sleep. the audio version of adam mannsbach's book employs the voice of samuel l. jackson, and here's an example of the way it reads. >> the whales settle çdown, i will read you one more book, where if you swear you will go [ bleep ] to sleep. >> it's a chance to tell it like it is. children are hard work, sleep is disturbed, and even loving parents can sometimes crack under the pressure and swear at their kids. isn't that exactly how all of us feel about that ridiculously prolonged torturous and confused attempt to raise the debt

ceiling. one minute speaker boehner says he has a bipartisan plan that will fly through the house. the next his counting skills are exposed as entirely wrong being it is budget office. he can't even rely on members of his own caucus despite his bog us claims of bipar sanship. and this has been going on for six months. the trouble is just as parents see the clock ticking as they wait desperately for the child to go off to sleep, so now we have less than seven days to reach an agreement or trigger the first default in american history. it's desperate, and judging by the thousands of phone calls to congress yesterday, americans are become increasingly angry. yet what do we hear today from mr. boehner? another ludicrous lullaby. even if got to the president, he said he'll veto it, but still mr. boehner goes on singing his nursery rhyme of no cuts, more

taxes, cut, cap and balance, and don't you dare raise revenues. i've been thinking, maybe it's time for mr. boehner to hand over responsibility to harry reid and the president and for himself to go off to sleep. thanks very much for watching. dill is fired up, champing at the bit, ready to take usç forward. >> whoo, just say it, martin. come out and say it. >> i can't use expletives on the air, as you know, or expletives, as you like to say. >> i masterfully presented -- i will not attempt to add anything to what you have just achieved other than to thank you for the hand-off. we will commence or festivities. nice to see you, mr. bashir, our show begins right now. >> good afternoon, the big story is in the numbers, ar