from former governors to former ceos and speakers of the house to current congress members the fight to be the front-runner of the gop field became rough and tumble right from the start. >> it's an undisputable fact that in congress, her record of accomplishment and results is nonexistent. >> you said the era of small government was over. that sounds a lot more like barack obama if you ask me. >> she said she's got a tie tyn yum spine,' not her spine we're worried about. it's her record of results. if that's your view of effective leadership with results please stop because you're killing us. >> i was at the tip of the spear fighting against the implementation of obama care in the united states congress. nancy pelosi, harry reid and barack obama ran congress, but i gave him a run for their money. >> hmm, nbc news deputy political director mark murray joins us from des moines, alongside him philip rucker, national reporter with "the washington post." mark as we heard minnesota nice

has become minnesota nasty. listening to the attacks, did they help pawlenty, was bachmann thrown off her game? what do you think? >> the person it helped the most was mitt romney. he got to stay above the fray with the back and forth. a lot of the back and forth was with michele bachmann and tim pawlenty. the biggest move the target being president obama to the candidates trading barbs, a significant shift and we'll see this throughout the rest of the primary season. >> philip, the candidates like mark was saying attacked president obama. let's listen to what mitt romney had to say, he slams the president on his debt deal. >> look, i'm not going to eat barack obama's dog food. what he served up was not what i would have done if i had been president of the united states. >> i know but that bill was the

deal on the table -- >> i'm not president now though i'd like to have been. if i were president what i would have done is cut federal spending, capped federal spending as a percentage of the total economy and worked for a balanced budget amendment. >> we have mark's take. what did you think of his performance last night? >> he was clearly trying to aim his fire on barack obama. he's been doing this throughout the campaign, he's tried to avoid direct engagement with the primary opponents in the republican primary here. he was on stage with them but all of his comments, even the criticisms about his own record he used them as opportunities to attack president obama and the debt ceiling. he faced criticism for not being quite as vocal on the debt ceiling debate as michele bachmann and tim pawlenty but he has had that consistent position on the cut, cap and balance act. >> in the meantime michele bachmann touted her tea party credentials on the "today" show this morning.

>> i've also stood up against my own party. i've stood on principle rather than party and i think that's what people are looking for. i have people -- i've been a voice for a movement all across the country. >> so rick perry entering the race, michele bachmann is she going to lose some of the key part of her base, the evangelical conservatives here, what do you think? >> veronica, there is the potential for that which is why the ames straw poll tomorrow is so important for her. it's hard to say that one particular straw poll is do or die but for her to retain that front-runner status she has in iowa with rick perry about to come in, it's important for her to show some organizational strength, some muscle. she's only been in the race for a month and a half but she needs to be able to have some enduring good news as another candidate who may be a more potential establishment threat is about to get in the race. >> in terms of last night's debate, you know, gingrich got good reviews for his performance.

i think huntsman has been described as an afterthought. who do you think will get knocked out by the straw poll this weekend? >> well, we'll see. governor pawlenty has staked a lot in the straw poll here, spent a lot of money on the air. he spent most of the last month here in the state of iowa. he has the most at risk here. if he does well it could provide momentum, a jolt in fund-raising. if he does poorly he may be running out of money and it will be unclear where he goes. >> nbc's mark murray and phil rucker, live from des moines thank you so much. after weeks of speculation, rick perry jumped into the race with both feet. over the next few days he'll travel to several key campaign states. the governor told mark palperin of "time" and msnis nbc he had intention of running until a couple of weeks ago. i went from no to today to being fully engaged in this process of

making a decision. the issue of is this what i want to do was dealt with about 45 days ago in a conversation with my wife. >> nbc news campaign carrie joins us from charleston, south carolina. hello there. >> reporter: hi, veronica. >> what is the latest? perry will make his announcement tomorrow. what are the plans beyond that. >> reporter: he'll be here at the red state conference in south carolina, an event he had scheduled for several weeks, conference of conservative governors. he'll make that announcement and flying to primary state new hampshire where he'll be attending a house party. on sunday in waterloo, iowa. the hometown of michele bachmann and the place where she made her formal announcement earlier this year. and then he'll be in des moines on monday and he will be heading

back to the granite state of new hampshire on wednesday for an event there. >> carrie dann following the perry campaign, carrie we appreciate it. thank you. >> reporter: thanks, veronica. the wild stock market indices on wall street, the futures are rising after massive losses and gains much of this past week. the s&p 500 rose or fell more than 4% the past four days, only the third time since the great depression. the s&p has seen that kind of volatility. u.s. stock values are taking a major beating losing nearly $3 trillion in just the past three weeks. bloomberg reporter simeon hyman joins me now. >> reporter: we're glad it's friday, that's for sure. we don't think the volatility is the norm. what we're dealing with now are a couple of different aspects of

both economic and what we might call financial stress. there is a concern of having liquidity crisis, sovereign risk and what we found over the last two weeks is that you know what? in the u.s. we don't have a sovereign debt crisis, the downgrade has become a nonissue. we do have one, however, in europe. i think a lot of the volatility is the market trying to come to terms with, is this just an economics question, is it a question of recession or no recession or something different going on at this time? >> if you had to give investors advice, what should people be thinking at this time? >> well, you know, if you get a phone call saying it's time to rebalance my portfolio, remember rebalance means buy in this context. the stock market has taken a big hit and don't think of it as a completely innocuous term. you need to think about the volatility that we're seeing and the risk. it might be a small one, we don't know right now. we had good retail numbers this morning but the risk that we could have a recession and no

matter how cheap stocks are if we have a recession, they could get a little cheaper, so when that call comes to say rebalance the portfolio, there's certainly no harm in saying hey, maybe i want to wait a week, a month, maybe i want to average into that. you want to get back to that over the long-term but in the midst of this volatility, there's no harm in taking a little bit of a breather. >> lots of people very nervous. simeon hyman we appreciate it, thank you. >> thanks very much. with the hopes for re-election in 2012 hinging on his rablt to get americans back to work, president obama vowing to create new ideas for getting americans back to work. yesterday he placed the blame for the u.s. credit squarely in the lap of republicans in congress. >> see t didn't happen because we don't have the capacity to pay our bills. it happened because washington doesn't have the capacity to come together and get things done. it was a self-inflicted wound.

>> i'm joined by msnbc political analyst jonathan allter. >> hi, veronica. >> the president is meeting with business leaders at the white house, talking about the economy. a lot of democrats are saying we want more decisive action. how much longer can the president keep on shifting the blame around, if you will? >> i'm not sure he's shifting the blame. he's taking some ownership for this economy. >> what just happened with the downgrade of -- >> he didn't take responsibility for the downgrade because he didn't deserve blame for if you read what s&p wrote they pretty squarely placed the blame for the brinksmanship if they called it, on the republicans for not agreeing to at least discuss new revenues, that's very clearly in their statement, it hasn't gotten very much attention, so you can blame him for a lot, you can blame him for the overall state of the economy because it's on his watch. i don't think it's fair to blame him for the downgrade, but

having said that, he has a serious political challenge. the president does not have a clear economic message that people can understand. he's been saying a lot of different things about the economy, but no one big thing that resonates. so the challenge for him over the next few weeks and months is to develop a truly coherent political message in an environment where it will be very difficult for him to get much done, because the republican congress is imposing it not just on jobs programs but even on future tax cuts. he wants to continue what's called a payroll tax holiday, which puts more money in everybody's pocket by reducing payroll taxes. there are republicans in the congress who are against that as well, and you can't really avoid the conclusion that pretty much anything that this president wants to do in this kind of political environment will be

opposed by congressional republicans. >> so in the meantime david axelrod was on "the daily r rundown" and talked about what the president wants to see from the congress when they come back. >> he's going to challenge congress to act instead of acting out but it's important for them to go home and get out of the hot house of washington where partisanship and dogma, you know, it just rules the day, and let them go back, hear from their constituents, hear the outrage out there. you've seen the polls. congress at its lowest point in recorded history. >> you talked about what his strategy should be. what can he really do at this point to get congress to make a move? >> not a whole lot. he's going to have to look for more unilateral kinds of actions, and there's a very good possibility, veronica, not very much will happen, substantively between now and the elections. then it becomes a question of

appearances and perceptions of the president, and that's why this nine-day vacation on martha's vineyard coming up is not going to look good. does the president need to recharge and spend some time with his family? i think everybody can agree, yes, he's a hard-working guy, what everyone thinks of his policies, but the timing of this right now is unfortunate for him and i think you can make a good case he should cut that vacation short and do more of what he's been doing this week, and that is being out in the country talking about jobs. >> exactly, and how does this play out in 2012? i mean how vulnerable is he to candidates like mitt romney, who are basing their entire campaign on jobs, if you will? >> well, it's going to be a close election, i think, by most indications now and romney will tout his experience in the business community, but as we heard last night in that debate which teed up things important in a general election, when he was governor of massachusetts,

massachusetts was 47th out of 50th in job creation, which will make it a little hard for him to make the argument he created jobs when he was in power and the president has not and also something else that came out last night that was interesting came out from fox was that spending under mitt romney went up 40% when he was governor, so he'll make the argument that he cut taxes as governor and so forth, but it's not going to be clear sailing for him in making an economic attack on the president. >> exactly. jonathan alter, thank you so much for your time >> thanks. >> good to see you. author of "the promise, president obama year one." a decision could om on whether casey anthony has to return to orange county, as child welfare rules she did fail to protect her daughter. could she have to come out of hiding? comes with some risk,

north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas.

♪ [ country ] our communities and the environment [ man ] ♪ gone, like my last paycheck ♪ gone, gone away ♪ gone, like my landlord's smile ♪ ♪ gone, gone away ♪ my baby's gone away with dedicated claims specialists... and around-the-clock service, travelers can help make things better quicker. will your auto and home insurer... be there when you need them most? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage... or visit travelers.com.

breaking news out of ohio, the judge in the case offanty sowell, the serial killer accused of murdering 11 women and burying the to bodies around his property will get the death sentence. he was convicted july 22nd on 82 counts. the counts including aggravated murder, kidnapping, corpse abuse and evidence tampering. we'll go ahead and bring you more information as we bring it to you. casey anthony pleaded guilty a year and a half ago to a check

fraud case. a judge issued a new report on the 25-year-old found guilher gy of not reporting her daughter's disappearance, but she won't face any additional charges as a result. joining know now defense attorney and former prosecutor anne bremer in concerning whether she'll be forced to serve probation. the issue is whether she served it during her murder trial. >> the judge said you don't serve probation in jail. that's the issue, has she served it, is it double jeopardy and should she not have to come back to florida. >> is it a reasonable argument? >> we saw some poll that says she's the most hated woman in

america, so i think it's anybody's guess she's in great peril anywhere she goes and of course people are looking for her, there are sightings all the time, things like this claimed. he's going to look into whether or not she needs to be protected in florida. he's said that. the issue is the oral ruling of judge strickland controlling, the answer is yes. did he amend the order too late, the answer is no. he did it nunc pro tunc. it protects against double jeopardy. i think that's the way the judge can go with a clean legal analysis. >> lots of people are watching at home and wondering a new report out, is it too little too late here and why couldn't she face new charges? >> i think it's like did she get away with murder? some people's minds?

almost. maybe the probation is something. is there any justice inside or outside of court? not really to the majority of americans. maybe there's a period at the end of the sentence for everybody. lindsay low han is in court because of probation violations. when a judge makes an order saying that upon release she's going to be on probation, just because he didn't say that language "upon release" doesn't matter, because you only do probation when you're released from custody. so that's the general rule. is there something there? she'll have to get a job, she'll have to pay restitution and court costs and have to be law-abiding and truthful. can she do that for a year? we'll have to see. >> in the meantime you brought up a good point, she's one of the most hated women in america so what do you think her best bet is? right this second, how is she supporting herself? >> we've heard sightings of her in ohio and multimillion-dollar

attorney's home in california so she's relying on the kindness of strangers. she's got to stay low. she's not doing interviews and if it's true she's going to get help that's a good thing. her selling interviews, being out in public or anything else, she's just a target. she is the world's most hated woman and she's not going to change. it's like karma. something has to happen to her in people's minds where she has some just desserts, probation, anything, for her to benefit and come out in any way benefiting from this horrible situation, and it is a horrible situation from the death of her daughter to the end of the case in the public's mind, then she's got to be quiet, lay low and not say anything. it's best for her not to come back on probation. if she does she's got to behave and be respectful. >> we appreciate your insight. a bruising past few weeks

for u.s. stocks losing more than $3 trillion in value in that time. the dow trading up close to 90 points. 85. the markets are fluctuating. time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. lolita healey copyrighted her first character when she was 12. 20 years later she did the same with hand painted martini glasses. her collection took off so she licensed the brand for everything from pajamas to jewelry to towels. have i got a surprise for you! a mouthwatering combination of ingredients... i know you're gonna love. [ barks ]

yes, it's new beneful healthy fiesta. made with wholesome grains, real chicken, even accents of tomato and avocado. yeah! come on! [ barking ] gotta love the protein for muscles-- whoo-hoo! and omega-rich nutrition for that shiny coat. ever think healthy could taste so good? [ woman announcing ] new beneful healthy fiesta. another healthful, flavorful beneful. yeah. well we're the two active ingredients in zegerid otc. i'm omeprazole. and i'm sodium bicarbonate. just one pill a day ... gives you 24-hour relief. & one mission. two ingredients heartburn solved.

msnbc is focusing on early education this week, it caps off with sunday's two-hour special "making the grade." call it cursive, class it classroom calligraphy, no matter how you put it down on paper the rules of script are being rewritten by elementary schools across the country. as a result, that once required handwriting skill may soon be extinct. oh, my goodness. kelly wallace joins us to tell us more. this is happening in indiana but happening in other states. why is this happening? >> it's really interesting.

some 40 states have this core curriculum standard from cursive writing no longer a requirement. it's up to the individual school districts to decide. the why is a couple of reasons. we're in a digital age, kids are on computers and schools have so much pressure in terms of math and reading and national testing that some teachers say if something has to go i'm going to do the math and reading and cursive writing has to go to the wayside. >> can you imagine 20 years from now what people's signatures will look like, printed in black letters. >> this has been a popular topic, people are talking about it. hello, an "x" does not work as a signature for me. and one woman in the ivy league community said kids with terrible handwriting? they look like incompetent boobs. it's terrible. a 44-year-old woman said i don't use cursive anymore. i haven't used it. it hasn't stopped me from getting a job. my writing is kind of print,

cursive. could you really understand that anyway? >> i get it. i heard that they want to put kids on keyboards at the age of 5 which is smart but what about the socioeconomic factor, what about kids who don't have a computer at home? >> great point, because then we're relying on all kids thinking all kids have access to a computer. i'm making light of something but the cursive, people who are strongly supportive say there's a link between the writing and our learning, literacy, motor skill coordination so real strong supporters believe that will all go to the wayside, our kids might not learn as fast, even a test in terms of the s.a.t. and kids who wrote in cursive, 15 percent got a higher score on the s.a.t. and that's later in life and whether they were able to write faster or their thinking in a better direction so there is real knowledge and some research behind why cursive writing is important. >> what's next, p.e.? hopefully. all right, kelly wallace thank you. just a reminder msnbc's

airing a special two-hour program called "a stronger america: making the grade" live from detroit sunday at noon, hoe hosted by tamron hall and jeffson. rick perry is waste nothing time taking aim at republican rivals, dropping in on michele bachmann's birth place this weekend. how big of a factor will perry turn out to be? one of the richest men in the world sued by an ex-girlfriend 50 years his junior. did george soros break a promise worth millions? i love that my daughter's part fish. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care.

we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

i'm veronica de la cruz and here is what's topping the news right now. the u.s. postal service wants to cut as many as 120,000 jobs as it faces a second year of losses. workers with the federal retirement and health benefits also stand to lose. the agency is considering setting up its own benefit system and pull workers into it because it believes it could offer benefits at a lower cost. the postal service's two largest unions issued statements

criticizing the job cutting proposal. well today we are learning more about the eldest sibling in the so-called dougherty gang appearing in a wheelchair because she'd been shot in the leg. lee grace dougherty told investigators she deserved it, after pointing a gun at the police as her run from the law was ending. lee grace and her brothers ryan and dylan are the siblings accused of beigoing on a bonnied clyde crime spree. they're being held in colorado and are expected back in court on monday. the fbi is getting involved in the search for a missing 35-year-old twom from maryland. doubts are growing about the story told by robyn gardner's travel partner, now a suspect in her 10-year-old disappearance. gary giordano told police she never came back after snorkeling in aruba. training wheels have turned up where a 3-year-old disappeared a week ago, the

wheels were found near the home of breann rodriguez went missing. police are unsure whether they were from her bike but they've been sent to a crime lab for analysis. a mississippi army wife got a major surprise at a minor league baseball game. darla harlow thought she was randomly selected to throw out the first pitch. turns out that's her husband in the catcher's mask, home from afghanistan, giving her the surprise of her life, it all went off without a hitch thanks to his support team on the ground, with daughters molly and casey. minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann is crisscrossing iowa today straight off the heels from last night's republican debate, bachmann is getting major attention for an answer about being submissive to her husband. >> you described a moment in your life when your husband said you should study for a degree in

tax law. you said you hated the idea, and then you explained "but the lord said, be submissive. wives who are to be submissive to your husbands." as president, would you be submissive to your husband? >> what submission means to us if that's what your question s it means respect. i respect my husband. >> nbc news campaign embed jamie novogrod is live from iowa. bachmann came back late after breaks and back and forth with pawlenty. what is the campaign saying about her performance? >> well, veronica, the campaign is saying she did really well. god bless blackberries, i e-mailed with the campaign during the event, i was told she's confident and in command of the issues and back to the in command part. this was as much the campaign

strategy as it was the candidate's strategy, the debate had hardly begun and the campaign was inside the media filing center, there were room packed with media an laptops and the campaign was handing out literature and tim pawlenty's record as the debate was in progress. >> what about rick perry, what is the campaign saying about rick perry's appearance in her hometown sunday? >> exactly. that's the other dynamic at work. the important thing to recognize here this dinner is happening, veronica, in michele bachmann's hometown in waterloo, iowa. to the extent there's a turf war element here the campaign isn't saying so. they say she feels it's important to honor her hometown by attending the dinner. >> here is how candidates

reacted when asked about perry jumping into the race. >> maybe he didn't want to accept the challenge for all we know. >> welcome to the contest, from my perspective it doesn't bother us for my campaign. that's just one more politician and that makes this business problem solver stand out that much more. >> we all need prayers and i hope he offers a whole lot for everybody here on this stage. >> join me publisher journalist and msnbc contributor karen hunter, along with republican strategist susan delpursio. susan, who in the presidential field does the perry candidacy hurt the most, in your opinion? >> probably bachmann, michele bachmann because that's where the most conservative movement is right now within the field so it throws some water on her. that being said, it depends how much money he raises. she's known as a very good fund-raiser so if the two of them could potentially duke it out if he doesn't raise enough money. >> he's never lost a race,

right, and i think huntsman might want to be on his campaign judging from his response last night. is he campaigning to be on his campaign? it hurts anybody who is a governor, hurts pawlenty and bachmann, because they appeal to the same party people. if michele bachmann can only serve up light bulk bs and this man has a history of doing well in the state he has a record to run on she does not. >> given the primary calendar money does matter. you can have winning in iowa, new hampshire and south carolina but you still have to have the driving power to make it through and the way they're doing the delegates you can come in second and that can matter now. >> there's a difference there as far as that goes. >> say perry is the guy, keep it on perry for two seconds because we're talking about him now. if he is the guy to beat and you

are david axelrod, what is your strategy? >> i compare him to george w. bush straight on with a couple of exceptions, george w. bush was favorable, he could galvanize the evangelical christian blacks in the south he can't. he's legitimate southerner, five generations. george bush was a transplant with a twang but could rope in the people. he has troubling things in his background, he wants to get rid of medicare and all government socially funded programs. he said that on the record. he's got a lot of problems and i would be rubbing my hands together getting ready for him. >> i'm being really careful if you underestimate rick perry. never run a race. that's how he likes to be known, he wants to be understimestimatt this point. given his record on job creations, out of the top five cities and jobs that just came out, three of them were in texas. >> how did he do it? using plans that obama wanted to push through but was blocked by our republican congress. >> you know as well as i do, you

get the credit, whoever is in charge whether for the good or the bad, that is who gets it, perry gets it. >> i have to split you two up i think. we have to move on to mitt romney for a second. >> okay. >> let's hear what mitt romney had to say. >> i understand how the economy works. herman caine and i are on the stage who actually worked in the real economy. people want to send to washington someone who spent their entire career in government. they can choose a lot of folks but if they want to choose somebody who understands how the private sector works they have to choose one of us. >> we've heard that from mitt romney over and over and over again. i'm a businessman, i'm a businessman. is this the best strategy? >> absolutely without question. that's one of the things he could say not only have i been an executive but i'm not a career politician, i'm an executive who has also created jobs and this is my record. so it's going to be a head-to-head. what's interesting, though, is

that as the new polling data comes out, no one has been able to enter this race beyond number two. no one's come in and beat mitt romney it seems, no matter whose name they stay number two for a couple of weeks and fall back down and romney keeps his lead. romney is planning the long game. you could tell by the way he goes after obama instead of his colleagues and also in the primary season. >> getting back to perry he has never lost a race and would not have gotten into this one unless he thought he could win the nomination. romney should be shaking in his boots. one on one he'll come off cheesy and phony and weird, and perry has that down-home feeling with the southern twang and that common man cs and ds in college like most of americans and really going to take it to him and he has a record of governing in a state like you just pointed out, romney can talk business all he wants. he didn't run again, why? >> but there's an interesting thing quick on when we start looking at all of the folks, republicans want moderates as

well. i understand the basis there but rudy giuliani is the only one winning against obama in a recent poll. the country wants a more moderate position. >> i'm geding the hard rap. you think mitt romney is a front-runner and you think he's done a great job. both of you have done a great job. we turn to the $50 million lawsuit filed against one of the world's richest men, a soap opera star forming her former boyfriend, claiming he attacked her after he promilessed to buy her an apartment in new york. mike taibbi joins us, after their may december romance fizzled. >> may-december love gone bad, it happens and not something that couldn't be predicted that wouldn't end up in a lawsuit and it has. it's a gold digger looking for a payday or a real promise of the

apartments and more importantly whether or not there was a physical assault. here is the background on it, a year ago yesterday, august 11th of last year, there was an argument about this apartment business. she says he promised twice to buy her an apartment, one for $2 million, one for $4 million in the upper east side lux building and broke the promise, they had an argument last august, the police were called. in the police report, which i have right here, it says she was not hurt, was the victim afraid, no, what happened, a lamp fell on the floor, cut her foot. et cetera. ten months later hires an attorney who i spent a lot of time talking to and tells them it was an assault, soros 80-year-old billionaire, threw her, slapped her, et cetera. is there any corroboration, any reason for the case to go forward. the spokesman for george soros says it's unfounded, nothing to it at all, a phony case in an

attempt to shake down someone known to be wealthy and expects to have the case dismissed. we'll see where that goes. >> mike taibbi in studio, thank you. market is getting a boost as we hope to end the week on the upside. the dow up 157 points. we'll be right back. chloe is 9 months old. she is the greatest thing ever. one little smile, one little laugh. honey bunny. [ babbles ] [ laughs ] we would do anything for her. my name is kim bryant and my husband and i made a will on legalzoom. it was really easy to do. [ spits ] [ both laugh ] [ shapiro ] we created legal zoom to help you take care of the ones you love. go to legalzoom.com today and complete your will in minutes. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side.

♪ [ recorded voice ] onstar. we're looking for city hall. i'm sending directions to your car. [ recorded voice #2 ] turn right on hill street. go north for two miles. ♪ [ man ] this is onstar. i got a signal there's been a crash. do you need help? yes, please. i've got your gps location. i'm sending help. [ female announcer ] introducing onstar fmv. get it installed on your car at best buy or visit onstar.com for more stores. sure, but let me get a little information first. for broccoli, say one. for toys, say two. toys ! the system can't process your response at this time. what ? please call back between 8 and 5 central standard time. he's in control. goodbye. even kids know it's wrong to give someone the run around. at ally bank you never have to deal with an endless automated system. you can talk to a real person 24/7.

it's just the right thing to do. you ca i've tried it.l person 24/7. but nothing's helped me beat my back pain. then i tried this. it's salonpas. this is the relief i've been looking for. salonpas has 2 powerful pain fighting ingredients that work for up to 12 hours. and my pharmacist told me it's the only otc pain patch approved for sale using the same rigorous clinical testing that's required for prescription pain medications. proven. powerful. safe. salonpas. and form a layer called biofilm so strong it survives brushing. thankfully, there's listerine® antiseptic. its triple-action formula penetrates biofilm, kills germs and protects your mouth for hours. fight biofilm with listerine®.

the markets are up today after a seesaw on wall street. there's a small industrial town in georgia where unemployment has peaked at 21%. nbc's lester holt is the anchor of the "nbc weekend nightly news" and also co-host of "weekend today" and traveled to millen, georgia, and brings us a special "dateline" sunday. >> all of the numbers, charts and graphs won't give you as revealing a picture of the price of this recession as the three

women we met in this small georgia town, a town of honest, hard-working people, a town that got hit by the hard times but refused to surrender and for a lot of americans and other towns this story may ring familiar. the great recession hit millen like a ferocious southern tornado, between 2007 and 2009, all those factories that had kept millen running closed shop or relocated overseas. about 1,300 people lost their jobs. laid off, no severance pay. >> no severance pay. >> reporter: what did you tell the kids when you walked in the house that day? >> i didn't go home and say, oh, i got laid off, we've got to change things. i didn't do it like that. >> reporter: inside were you feeling this in. >> yes, i'm going to have make some changes. >> reporter: at the bank, sandy saw the crisis coming. >> our customers are not cashing

their checks, not making dpogsitidpogs i deposits. >> reporter: in retrospect sandy should have known she could be nexted but she was surprised when a woman called and asked her to come to bank headquarters. >> it was a monday, march 24th, 2008, she said this is going over the whole company wide today, 6% of the people are being eliminated and your position is one of they will. it was like i was in a dream. almost like a fog. and i felt like my world is crumbling around me. >> things got bad quick and it's almost like a blur when i think about it. i have chill bumps now. >> reporter: as millen's company left down krystal lost most of her catering business and her regular customers stopped coming. like her customers that showed

up for the pork shops. >> 15 guys, then 7, then 2. it adds up. >> reporter: the final realization came on a dismal friday in february 2009. >> that friday i said this is it. i cannot lose any more money. that was probably one of the worst times in my life. all these years i've been krystal, the food lady so when we closed the restaurant i felt like i was nothing. i lost my identity. >> reporter: in millen, an entire community couldn't recognize itself, and a closer look in the mirror would reveal it had all been inevitable, inevitable but not irreversible. as bad as things got, you quickly learn millen refuses to die. you'll see in the program, tough times lead to tough choices and what they do will teach us a lot about our delicate economy and the value of perseverance. veronica, i think for a lot of folks around the country this

will be like looking in the mirror and watching the story and if you don't understand like me economics, watch this and see how things unravel and how quickly they do, you understand how delicate and fragile our economy really is. >> you know, without giving away too much, delicate and fragile our economy is. >> absolutely. without giving away too much, what was the one thing that kept these three women going? >> it's the sense of this is my home. it's a town that refused to die. these folks grew up there. it was their home. the only place they ever lived. and they wanted to make it there. they're talking five, ten, 30, 40 more job interviews in some cases and opportunities. as we go along, there are opportunities. there are chances to turn things around. and folks hang their hat on that. so this is a story that will also uplift you as well. >> and they never thought about leaving. >> no jenkins county has been through some tough times. people hung in there.

the town has done what it can to attract new business. it's really as i said, a micro come in so many parts of the country. we think of the recession ended a couple of years ago. there's still in places like this this long effect. it takes a much longer time to dig out of the hole you're in. >> lester holt, it's nice to see you. we look forward to that. "dateline's" the town that jobs forgot airs this sunday. you can find awesome deals for places nearby. interesting... wow, i'm blown away. you look great. hotels.com summer sale, save up to 30%. and get a free kindle. hotels.com. be smart. book smart.

it is time now for the flip side, our look behind the headlines. with all time low approval ratings the 112th congress is deeply unpopular with the american people. but just how unpopular? apparently we even like banks more than we like congress. financial crisis and all americans have more confidence in banks than in their elected representatives by 6%. what else is more popular? some things we don't like much at all according to "the

washington post." corporal punishment for one. 31% of respondents told the l.a. times in 1994 it's a good idea to cane teen vandals. that's way more than those who think it's a good idea to re-elect their congressman. sheep cloning still has a much higher approval rating than congress. even human cloning is more popular. according to another poll, americans in 1997 were 3.5 times more likely get this to believe in alien abductions than they are now to approve of the folks on capitol hill. members of congress so unpopular we bet that they would get picked last for the baseball team. and that's going to do it for me. have a terrific weekend. you can always tweet to me about today's show. remember to follow thomas roberts op twitter. he's going to be back soon. and you can tweet at contessa brewer who is up next.

that's it? i got in early. you've got to get in early. get your name. don't let anybody else take it. >> i'm late to the party, always. we're ramping up for more coverage of the iowa straw poll this weekend. and how the candidates performed at the debate. michele bachmann here she's pulling out her own thesaurus on what submissive really means to be a submissive wife. and what about rick perry? how his entry in the race should shake things up. a california congressman's grandchildren abducted nearly four years ago found. four years ago found. more ahead. phillips' colon heah probiotic cap a day helps defends against occasional constipati, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. how'd you learn to do that? what'd you use?

every project we finish comes with a story built-in. it's how our rough ideas become "you did that yourself?" so when we can save more on the projects that let us fix, make, and do more... that just makes the stories even better. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now get this vanity and matching mirror for just $99. that'♪ he power of the home depot. ♪ ♪ ♪ introducing purina one beyond a new food for your cat or dog.

a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare,

call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses... not paid by medicare part b. that can save you up to thousands of dollars. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you'll get this free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare, i can keep my own doctor and choose my own hospital. and i don't need a referral to see a specialist. as with all medicare supplement plans, and help pay for what medicare doesn't. call this toll-free number now... we're keeping a close eye here on the market boards. dow jones industrials up on the day 179 points. watching that trend we'll keep an eye on it throughout this hour. it's so good to see you on t