yeah, i did make a couple dollar. >> the first big test of 2012. gop presidential contenders scramble to take the top prize in iowa. the key question, who will survive past this weekend to fight another day? party crashers rick perry and sarah palin stirring lots of buzz. what kind of impact will they have on the gop race moving forward? sign of the times. thousands wait in line for hours for a free service and more will be standing in line today. what does this tell us about our economy? the saga continues. a new twist for casey anthony. will she be forced to head back to florida soon? good morning to all of you. i'm alex witt. welcome to msnbc saturday. a huge day in politics to share

with you. the first big test of the 2012 presidential campaign. the drama playing out in iowa right now with the ames straw poll just hours away. it's make or break by a for some republican presidential hopefuls. straw poll success is vital for candidacies of tim pawlenty and michele bachmann who spent last night in full campaign mode. >> we get to make that promise and send a message to washington, d.c. so loud that barack obama can't possibly miss the sound of tomorrow in ames, iowa, that we are taking our country back. >> ames straw poll, it will have a lot to say about who candidates are going forward as president of the united states. we need you to come by for an hour or less. >> mitt romney won the straw poll four years ago but is not actively competing this time around. a financial disclosure by the

romney campaign says he's worth between $190 million and $250 million. romney spent last night in new hampshire talking to the voters there. >> i respect deeply the ames straw poll process and i don't want to try to draw a distinction about where i am relative to the other folks. they are participating in the straw poll. >> texas governor rick perry is threatening to overshadow today's iowa straw poll by officially entering the republican presidential race. last night he spoke to republicans in alabama about the need to send more conservatives to washington. >> if we don't get the federal government under control and don't get this debt issue addressed, we break this choke hold that washington has on the private sector. the consequences are going to be unthinkable. >> all right. let's get the latest on today's straw poll. for that i'm joined in studio by

holly bailey. good morning to you on what promises to be a very busy day. we'll put up a candidates list right now. everyone competing today and speaking. let's talk about the texas governor rick perry factor. he's not competing in iowa. he's announcing today his candidacy for the presidency. how much will that overshadow the things going on in ames? >> i think it's going to overshaove overshadow it big-time. people are focused on the straw poll wondering if tim pawlenty will have a good showing. so much attention is focused on trying to find an alternative to mitt romney and for many republicans that's rick perry. and so a lot of iowans are upset about the fact that rick perry is deciding to announce today in south carolina. it really does threaten to overshadow everything happening there. >> speaking of the word overshadow, what about ron paul?

he's a guy whose got a well organized and productive campaign in iowa. there are some who could suggest he could win this thing. if he does, what does that say about iowa straw poll and the relevancy here? >> the straw poll really -- there's been a lot of debate about whether it matters or not. it really is a test of organizational strength and ron paul has been down this road before. he's got a lot of money. he has a lot of activity and grassroots going on there. but the fact is, you know, you have to look sort of beyond that. four years ago mike huckabee did not win the straw poll but he still sort of established himself as an alternative to romney and then went on to win the caucuses. so it will be more of a fact that people are getting their first upclose look at these candidates and a sign for what's to come in the coming months. >> i'm curious about the surviveability of tim pawlenty

and michele bachmann. targeting each other as if one is trying to get the other out of the race. what the do you think of their viability as candidates past today? >> for bachmann, there's a sign she will continue. she's expected to finish in the top three. the bigger question is for pawlenty. this really is a test for his campaign today. he's blown a lot of his money and most of his campaign war chest on trying to have a good showing here so it will be a real test if people turn out for him and if they don't, you know, tomorrow is a big day for him. >> here we have mitt romney who won this four years ago and yet is not anywhere there today. not actively campaigning as is john huntsman. how does that play out for them? do you think it's a smart move for them to sort of stay out of this? >> romney spent over a million dollars four years ago to win the straw poll only to lose iowa. it's smart to him not to

compete. at the same time there's the question of what rick perry's candidacy is going to mean for mitt romney and perry getting into the race means romney can't overlook iowa as much as he planned. >> all right. we'll be tuning into yahoo! news to try to figure out what you're thinking at the end of this day. it's a long one. thank you. one of the most recognizable figures in republican politics made a stop at the iowa state fair and she's not even on today's straw poll ballot. former governor sarah palin and her bus tour stopped by the fair to join in on the festivities. and as the former governor of alaska shook hands and signed autographs, she refused to close the door on a potential candidacy. >> in the heartland talking to the good folks of iowa, these folks who are feeding if the rest of the country and working so hard and installing work ethic in our kids, governor perry and all the rest need to be here. >> are you a potential candidate? >> still thinking about it. >> the beat goes on for sarah palin. we invite all of you to stay with msnbc today for the live

coverage of the iowa straw poll. we'll have live reports from ames throughout this afternoon and at 4:00 this afternoon, we'll have a special edition of "andrea mitchell reports." and then we'll have the poll results. president obama is telling voters this morning if he's as frustrated as he is with congress, they should pick up their phones and tell their representatives to shape up. >> if you refuse to settle for politics where scoring points is more important than solving problems and it's time to put interest of our children before you are own is more important than our own, maybe they'll get back to washington and be willing to compromise. >> good saturday morning to you, john. what's the larger strategy at work here? >> larger strategy for president obama is that he's now deciding that any gains he gets or achievements he gets from the republican congress are going to

come because he leveraged public opinion against them and not because he negotiates in private. he tried that strategy for an extended period this summer trying to work out an agreement on deficit reduction with john boehner. even though the speaker wanted to deliver on that grand bargain, didn't have his caucus behind him so the president decided to go out in public and hammer the republicans as he did on friday -- excuse me, on thursday, in holland, michigan, where he used that same language and in this radio address he's going to do it next week when he goes on that three-day bus tour of the midwest. i'll be with him in minnesota. i'll use the bully pulpit and see if he can use his communications ability to punch through. it's not easy to do. he's tried that at different points of his presidency but he'll try it again. >> i'm curious about democrats making their presence felt in iowa. we have david axelrod. even the president is going to be there next week.

what's their calculation there in the state? >> first of all, iowa is a swing state. it's a state that democrats want to have in their column. the president won it four years ago. he wants to hold onto that state. it's also modern politics that when there's a big event by one side, you don't want to let them have access to the communications media unimpeded so democrats want to put their story while you have so much attention focused on the iowa straw poll, they want to get themselves into that story, rebut what mitt romney or what john huntsman or michele bachmann or tim pawlenty are saying and try to get their two cents in. that's what david axelrod is doing. if sarah palin is going to show up and get herself into the story, why shouldn't they be there. >> thank you for your two cents which is worth three here. thank you very much. we'll see you next hour. casey anthony is going to have to return to florida after a new court ruling.

anthony was free after she was acquitted last month of murdering her daughter and she's been in hiding ever since. the judge in her trial ruled she has to come back to serve one year's probation for an earlier conviction of writing bad checks. one week after standard & poor's downgrade of the united states, calm returning to wall street on friday spurred by positive july retail numbers, the dow rose 126 points to close the week. s&p and nasdaq saw modest gains. somewhat mild end to a five-day period that included two of the top ten single day market drops in history that were then followed by jumps of more than 400 points. for the week the key averages were down one percentage point or more. nearly 900 miles away and in stark contrast to billions of dollars changing hands on wall street, another picture of the american economy. this one a sign of gloom. a crowd of nearly 4,000 people came to receive dental care for free at a church in a suburb of atlanta. many of those who waited in line

for hours to be seen are blaming the tough economic times for their plight. with more, here's nbc's mark potter. >> the line to the clinic stretched around the block with more than 1,000 people already there when the doors opened at 5:00 a.m. with it 200 dentists, this free clinic north of atlanta is sponsored by the georgia dental association caring for those who can't pay. >> they are getting fillings, root canals, extractions. >> among the chronically poor and their families are new faces in line. for 15 years before she lost her job as an administrative assistant, karen spears had dental insurance but not cannot afford care. >> never anticipated it. my mother got sick and had to care for her while she was in hospice and just could not get a job. >> clinic organizers say they are seeing many jobless people

now who could approve private dentists a year ago. >> they lost their jobs and their benefits. >> the demand for this clinic is so great that after the first 1,400 patients admitted, another 1,000 were given these yellow i.d. bracelets and were told to come back. among those told to return is shielda phillips who had a 30-year sales career before losing a job at ibm two years ago. now she struggles. >> it doesn't say anything about me. it says something about our state of our economy. >> an economy where for many, even basic care is now a luxury. mark potter, nbc news, woodstock, georgia. the frantic church under way in utah after a 12-year-old boy scout goes missing. you'll hear from his mother next. more on the iowa straw poll. who will be in today's top vote? we'll check in with chuck todd next. a couple with more than 200 million reasons to smile. you're watching msnbc saturday.

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>> iowa is the state that launched barack obama and iowa will be the place where that presidency is coming to an end. you get to choose tomorrow and i couldn't be more excited. >> michele bachmann just one of nine republican presidential candidates on the ballot today in the iowa straw poll and that voting will run for six hours during the day. for a preview i'm joined by ames, iowa, by host of msnbc's

"the daily rundown," you need no production but i'll say it any way. good morning, chuck todd. >> good morning. >> baseded on what we've seen over the last week, who do you think the top three are and does that match up with who will most likely be the overall primary front runners? >> when you talk to iowa republicans both affiliated with campaigns and unaffiliated they will say it's michele bachmann, tim pawlenty and ron paul. they poured the most resources and money. pawlenty and bachmann have bought tv ads. with an expected turn out to the straw poll and festival of 10,000 to 15,000, means it may only take 3,500 identified supporters to win this thing. the more people that show up, the better that might be for michele bachmann for instance. the fewer the closer that is to 10,000, the better that might be for a ron paul. to answer the second part of

your question, you know, because this is the day that rick perry announces, it really puts a premium, i think, on victory particularly if you are michele bachmann. she is the quasi-iowa front runner if you will. a win today continues that march for her. keeps her sort of in the top tier of candidacies even as on the same day that perry is getting in. if she doesn't win here, here's the person leading in the polls, if she doesn't win here, and it's a day perry gets in, she's got a little bit of scrambling to do in order to make sure she doesn't get overtaken or overshadowed in this conservative bracket if you will by rick perry. >> is it enough for tim pawlenty to just finish in the top three or does he really need this win? >> no. he's running low on resources. he's put everything into this thing. he needs a win probably more

than any other candidate participating today. if he can get this win, it would be a booster shot if you will. prove to maybe some naysayers in the donor community that maybe he does have the chops. he certainly had the iowa organization that he is sort of the tortoise and the hare here. victory is crucial. anything short of that and i think we'll have hard time being seen as a potential challenger to mitt romney's front runner status and potential nomination. >> as you know candidates all seem to agree on the economic issues at least to a point. how do they differentiate themselves out there? is it social issues that they focus on to do that? >> if you looked at the debate the other night, i found it interesting. that's what happens in primaries, right, when you sort of agree on everything from 30,000 feet as the primary gets

heated up, you look for smallest distinctions. so take tim pawlenty and michele bachmann. they've been fighting it out over whosee bachmann talks a go game. she fought t.a.r.p. and you got t.a.r.p. she fought health care and you got health care. she's not a leader. small slivers of thing. rick santorum could surprise people here today. if there was somebody that popped into the top three unexpectedly, he would be one of those folks that could do that. but he's been hitting rick perry and michele bachmann because he says they are so into the 10th amendment and states rights that they are overlooking this issue of marriage and they're not against gay marriage enough. they try to take little disagreements and blow them up into big disagreements. that's the nature of primary

campaigning. >> what's the sarah palin factor there today? making a stop on her bus tour and not being on the ballot or saying whether or not she's going to run. what's it about? >> well, look, other campaigns fear that she's here almost as a rick perry surrogate. she herself said no, i'm still thinking about it but she is politically fairly close to rick perry and let's see how he does. she has nothing but nice things to say about him. that's not the case about mitt romney. if the perry campaign and the announcement this weekend does look like a rocket ship and takes off immediately and he looks like he's a national front runner fairly quickly and chief challenger to mitt romney, i wouldn't be surprised if you saw her continue to say nice things. i think that's what she's laying back for. if perry doesn't catch fire and if this thing is fred thompson

where the best day is the first day and suddenly everything starts to fall apart, then she only has a couple more weeks frankly to think about this. then i think that's what she's laying back for. >> okay. chuck todd, i'm glad we have you more this morning before you buckle down and get your own show ready. we'll see you in a bit. thank you. speaking of that special, we invite to you watch a special edition of "the daily rundown" live from ames tonight as part of msnbc's all-day coverage of the ames straw poll. chuck will host the coverage from 6:00 to 8:00 eastern here on msnbc and tomorrow morning michele bachmann will be on "meet the press." check your local listings for that which gop candidate or candidates will call it quits after the iowa straw poll? you can all talk to me on twitter. i'll be reading some of your tweets and answers to the question throughout this morning. some possible relief in texas today.

the weather channel's mike seidel has the latest on the texas heat. good morning to you, mike. >> reporter: good morning. it's actually raining this morning here in texas believe it or not. thunderstorms moved through. it did a number on the temperature. when i got up this morning it was 89 degrees at 4:00 a.m. it's now dropped down to 75. we have puddles out here. the airport has had a quarter inch of rain. we'll take what we can get. the entire state of texas is very dry. 94% of texas is either in an extreme or exceptional drought. two worst categories. you talk about how much rain they need to put a dent in it and you read numbers like 15 to 17 inches. that's a lot of rain and the heat continues. we didn't get to our streak. the day before yesterday we only got to 97 with a front coming in from a thunderstorm. yesterday 103. today and middle of next weekend forecasting highs at 100 or better. today a slow start with clouds and rain but how about waco now.

continuing to break a record. 44 in a row. houston on monday could set their record streak. right now houston has had 12 days in a row of record setting heat. the heat continues. drought continues. no big changes. just a little nice shower and thunderstorm action for some of us this morning here in dallas. back to you. >> cooling things off at least briefly. thank you so much, mike seidel in dallas. wall street's wild week. how will ups and downs affect the average consumer? we have answers at the bottom of the hour. 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.

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across the nation, busy night for police in philadelphia after dozens of teenagers were caught breaking the city's new curfew. three separate groups of teenagers were arrested for being on the streets past 9:00. that curfew was put into effect by mayor michael nutter after attacks by groups of teenagers. to utah where search and rescue crews are looking for a missing boy scout. 12-year-old went missing after

he and his troop went on a hike. sometimes her son's mind races too fast but she's hopeful that he's going to be okay. >> i don't know if he's freaking out and wondering or if he did stop to pray and to sit and to be still. that's what i've been praying that he would do. >> a minnesota couple hit the jackpot literally. we have thomas and kathleen morris who won the powerball lottery worth $229 million. the couple usually buys three tickets and decided to go for five this time. the question is if they want 123 million in cash now or go with the full payment over 30 years. if they take the cash now, they will keep about $84 million after taxes. decisions, decisions. today is the day texas governor rick perry expected to announce he's joining the field of presidential hopefuls. will voters want another republican from the lone star state?

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we're following developing news from pakistan this morning where the u.s. embassy has confirmed that an american contractor has been kidnapped. according to pakistani police he was abducted by gunmen from his house near the india border. joining me now is jay gray with the latest on this. a somber saturday good morning to you. what do we know about this kidnapped american? >> not as much as we would like. the state department does confirm a u.s. citizen was kidnapped early this morning in the eastern city of lahore. we are told the man is in his 60s and works for a private u.s. contractor there. pakistani police say the attack was carried out by ten gunmen around 3:30 in the morning. there are reports that the men persuaded security guards to open the gates to share food.

once inside they overpowered those guards and then forced a driver to knock on a bedroom door. when the american opened that door, the kidnappers grabbed him, loaded him into a car at gunpoint and sped away. at this point there's been no indication of a motive and no group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. abductions are common in pakistan rarely as brazen as this one and even more rare for americans to be the target though the state department has recently issued a travel advisory for u.s. citizens working or traveling in pakistan. >> in fact, they put a high alert on that travel advisory. do we know what's behind that? >> well, there have been several attacks. it's not uncommon for abduction there is. what we also know is that relations between the u.s. and pakistan have been declining over the last several months really since the capture and killing of osama bin laden so there has been some concern and worry about u.s. citizens working or traveling in the region. >> let's make it clear.

this man was not just a tourist. this is someone whose home is in lahore who has been working there for some time. >> absolutely. there are some reports he's been there as long as seven years. very entrenched and working for a private company there. >> nbc's jay gray in london. thanks, jay. from there to politics and first big test of the 2012 presidential campaign is happening in iowa for a full field of republican white house hopefuls. today's iowa straw poll is the first measure of the gop pack on the road to the 2012 presidential election. joining me now is mike allen. good morning. >> good saturday morning, alex. >> let's talk about buzz, momentum, what you're sensing about anyone in particular there ahead of the vote today. >> well, already the candidates are setting up their villages here. they call them tents but they are really pavillions.

they have place for hot dogs and giving out pocket constitutions, declaration of independence. he's made himself an honorary founding father and written the introduction and across the way in tim pawlenty land is smells good. famous dave's barbecue has 40 racks going. a christian band near by. michele bachmann bus will have three country bands and she also is going to have food and goodies for her people. she's doing a fair food theme complete with funnel fakes. >> okay. this is for how many votes and does all of this hoopla translate to votes? >> well, you are exactly right about the point you made at the top about momentum. a very small number of votes. many smaller than even small number will get in the iowa caucuses when they actually

occur in january or february. this is a way for them to give a boost to their candidacies and their fund-raising as they go into a busy fall coming out of here it will be easier for some people to raise money so they are bringing people in on buses from throughout the state for this. who is raining on ames? rick perry is getting the buzz. how will things are different if the texas governor were part of this contest? people seem to agree that the first, second, third places win, place, show, are probably going to go to ron paul, michele bachmann, congresswoman from minnesota, and to tim pawlenty. no one knows what order. it will depend on turnout. smaller turnout better for ron paul who is very organized. tim pawlenty has an elaborate organization including shuttles that will pick you up in the suburbs of des moines, bring you here, let you vote, and take you

back. you don't have to hang around if you don't want the ribs and then this evening they will announce those results right here in the coliseum where i'm standing. >> how much do you believe tim pawlenty with all of his big plans there in the organization will make it into the top three? how important is it for him in particular and does he really need to get first place? >> he needs to do very well. he needs a booster shot of momentum. he had a bad debate that sapped the energy from his campaign and made it hard for him to raise money. his team was excited after the debate the other night. we did a playbook breakfast with him yesterday where he was very relaxed and engaged talking depth about issues so his people are optimistic about the road forward if he has to go on. you look in the polls and we've seen a generic republican, no particular name, does very well

against president obama. that's tim pawlenty. doesn't have baggage and other issues. he's one of the people who is at risk of being filtered out here. if he's disappointed here, hard to see what will give him a lift going into the fall. >> you want to go out an a limb and give me a prediction of who will not survive past today? >> i will say that mitt romney who is not here deliberately not participating may do better than we think. he does have an organization left in iowa where he participated last time. the entry of rick perry who looks strong in iowa and that heckling incident that we saw on msnbc was because he's engaged now. he recognizes that he can't run a stealth campaign in iowa. he would love to surprise. there may be write ins for rick perry here. john huntsman. interested about what buzz for him. it's a very chaotic field. with sarah palin saying at the

fair last night that she may still do it. >> we heard that. thanks so much. good to see you from politico. the iowa straw poll grew from a party fund-raiser into a test of campaign strength. only been around since 1979. only held when incumbent is not a republican which means there have only been five straw polls. to cast a ballot you have to be 18 years old, legal resident of iowa and buy a ticket to a fund-raising dinner. stay tuned for speeches from the candidates and announcer of today's vote. that's all ahead today on msnbc. the wild stock market seesaw that rocked wall street for much of this past week is showing signs of calm after a rebound in the dow on friday with a gain of 125 points after four straight days of 400-point swings. that's the first time in the 115 history of the index it went that way.

s&p announce and nasdaq saw modest gains. let's check out the boards at the end of our trading day yesterday. things were up in the green and that looks good but wow, wasn't that way all week for sure. 125 up for the dow. six and change for the s&p 500 and 15.30 on the nasdaq. i'm joined by mandy drury. welcome to our weekend. glad to have you here. let's talk about the wild fluctuation now and then fortunately lifting up on the good note at the very end. it wasn't positive for the entire week overall. >> we had incredibly wild swings. you know, if you had done absolutely nothing with your money, if you had not panicked and pulled it out or not bought at the end of the week you would have only been down 1.5% because that's what the dow was at the end of the week 1.5% to the downside. i think what we are seeing here is a market that is really struggling to find direction. there are so many unanswered

questions out there. questions like what did the downgrade made for the united states, what's the fed doing to try to stimulate the economy, is the economy back sliding into recession and what is europe doing about its debt problems. you have all these unanswered questions, it's a lot of uncertainty and uncertainty does tend to be something that creates fear and irrational moves and that's partly what we saw this week. >> how did these kinds of things affect every day consumers? does this make people draw in their purse strings and say i'm not sure what i can spend or do people go out thinking they'll get a deal? >> i think it does create a level of uncertainty at home and if you're at home on your couch watching wall street going wild, you think i should hold off on that big picture and bide time until i do this or that. there are silver linings here. mortgage rates are at record lows. that's a really good thing. that's one good thing come out of market turmoil.

yields have been pushed down and interest rates across the board. mortgage rates are at record lows. that's good for the housing market. what's not good. gasoline prices have come down. what we've seen at the pump from a week ago, we're down 2.3%. if we continue to come down at the same pace of decline, we could be at 3.50 or under for the national average by the end of the month. that's a silver lining out of this. >> we spend a lot of time talking about housing and epicenter of this crisis since way back when and we know what we pay at the pump, but what about the confidence level and consumer confidence number hitting the lowest point since 1980. what do you think it will take for consumers to get back that confidence in the economy? >> number one, people want jobs. they want to look to washington for leadership. they want concrete action that will put jobs back on the table. i think also we have to put into context that number. it was the lowest number since 1980. think about all of the things that the average consumer had to

contend with in early august. they were dealing with a market that was very bumpy. we were of course all in the midst of the problems with the debt ceiling. i think that is clearly reflected in that number. going on from here we're not sure whether consumer confidence number will translate into a lack of consumer spending but it is something that's weighing on people's minds. >> cnbc's mandy drury thanks for joining us. see you again. making cuts on capitol hill. who is on the so-called super committee and how will they go about trying to cut the federal budget? you're watching msnbc saturday. the safety of onstar is now available for your car.

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texas governor rick perry is looking to take momentum out of the iowa straw poll this afternoon. last night he spoke to voters in alabama. >> what we're doing is we're

experiencing now what happens when a country founded on the tennants of individual liberty is governed with no regard for that freedom. >> joining me live from charleston, south carolina, via skype, good morning to you. i am curious what we can expect to hear today. >> we should hear about his jobs record. it's a centerpiece of his campaign. we'll hear about it today and throughout this race as long as it goes. he's a leader who has been the longest serving governor in texas and throughout that time he looks at things like environmental protection agency or litigation rules are things governor perry sees as washington based programs that take away from job creation. over the last ten years and especially since the recession ended, job creation in texas has

been actually accounted for the majority of new jobs in the country since the recession ended. we'll hear a lot about his record on that and his philosophy of how that helped this state come out of the recession. >> okay. jobs is certainly not bad thing to focus on these days. it's really the questions topping most people's minds. how about the calculation of the timing here of this announcement on the same day as the iowa straw poll. >> they are getting into this race fairly late as we know. they are going to be again competing with those folks who are in ames and this gives an opportunity for him to announce in south carolina a very key primary state where he really wants to do well and one reason that south carolina is so important for rick perry is that there is a high evangelical population that votes in the gop primaries and people in line with the tea party. two key groups he'll go after. in doing this announcement, it's siphoning attention away from

whoever comes away from the ames straw poll as a winner. this announcement in the middle of the day will grab the spotlight. >> okay. thank you. the fight over the national debt has entered a new phase now that the 12 members of a supercommittee are now in place. it's a bipartisan group of six democrats and six republicans tasked with finding a trillion dollars in deficit savings. we have a congressional reporter for "the washington post" and lead author of the two chambers blog. good morning. >> good morning. great to be with you. >> why do you think americans should believe this group will come up with something? >> that's true. the committees, gangs, commissions, whatever you call them in washington don't have a good track record. this committee now as you mentioned, this bipartisan group of 12 members from each chamber and each party have a tough task ahead of them going into november. they have to come up with a deal to cut $1.2 trillion from the deficit over the next ten years

by then and right now it seems a lot of the members are making statements that show that they are open to some kind of bipartisan deal here. but the question is there still are a lot of things working against them. >> there's a new poll out this week which shows six in ten americans want this supercommittee to compromise even on a plan they personally his agree with. 35% want to see them hold out instead of doing compromising there. do you think most americans will be pleased with what they see from this committee? >> the question there is not so much what the committee is actually able to achieve in terms of the cuts themselves, but just whether they are able to assure the american people they are able to come together >> i sfoek with several members this week, and all of them, which was quite surprising compared to the previous round of debt talks, all of them said that they are keeping very open-minded and keeping everything on the table. i'm sure as this process goes forward, we're going to see that

change, of course. especially if it's an open process chshgs it seems like it's going to be. right now everyone is striking a tone of bipart sfwlan ship, and i think it's because of that goal and other ones that show about 24% of americans think that congress -- only 24% think that their congress people deserve re-election. that's one of the most dismal numbers we've seen. all of these members are aware of that. >> i'm curious, with ten of these 12 having voted for the debt ceiling, and two that did not, one republican, one democrat, what does that indicate to you? >> it's one of several factors that are a part of this. yes, you have the two members who did not vote in favor of this debt deal, so to have them serving on the committee itself is quite interesting. you also have four members who served on president obama's fiscal commission at the ebtd of last year, and all four voted no to that proposal. you also don't have any members of the bipartisan gang of six in the senate, which is what many consider to be one of the groupz that has produced the most serious deficit reduction proposal. the fact that the membership

itself has a lot of people who have already voted no on things, it's interest something to consider. on the other hand, these members do have a trigger that if they don't agree to some kind of proposal, they will have to automatically accept this across the board spending cut. that could be a motivating factor for them. >> okay. washington post felicia sanchez. many thanks. >> thanks. still ahead, ominous signs in the disappearance of an american woman in aruba, and why the man reported her missing is in jail and may stay there for some time. you're watching msnbc saturday. 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.

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the mystery of a missing woman in aruba this morning. they believe robyn gardener is no longer alive, but they have many unanswered questions about what's happened to her. janet shamlyan is in aruba. what's the latest in this investigation? >> reporter: alex, good morning to you. authorities here in aruba say

gary giodado has stopped cooperating. last night at his home in maryland two dozen fbi agents spent several hours in that residents. they came out just before midnight with bags and boxes of what is potentially evidence in this case. here in aruba the investigation continues as well. yesterday arubaofficials searched a vanished phosphate mine. it's close to the beach where the couple went snoshgelling when robyn gardner went missing. they did leave that mine with a pink t-shirt and sandals. of course, the two were supposedly snoshgelling in this area, but officials say it's a curious choice, alex, for snorkelling. it's way dune in the different part of an island. it's a rocky beach. it's not known for good snorkelling. there's a lot of questions about gary giordano's story. the authorities have been holding him.

on monday afternoon there's a court appearance, at which time authorities here are expected to ask for another eight-day extension while they continue to search for evidence in this case. alex. >> okay. nbc's janet shamlyan in aruba for us. it is a symbolic vote in the nation's heartland. who are the leading contenders in iowa's straw vote. we'll look at that. lady liberty stands tall and inviting, but she needs some work. you'll see why the statue of liberty will be temporarily closed to visitors. stay with us. you're watching msnbc saturday. [ female announcer ] so you think your kids are getting enough vegetables?

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