this is the beginning of his bus tour. let's watch. >> a lot of uncertainty. and you have the situation in europe where they're dealing with all sorts of debt challenges. and that washes up on our shores. a tsunami in japan. and that broke supply chains and created difficulties for the economy all across the globe. so there were a bunch of things taking place over the last six months that were not within our control, but here's the thing, the question is how do we handle these challenges? do we rise to the occasion? do we pull together? do we make smart decisions? and what's been happening over the last six months and a little bit longer than that if we're honest with ourselves is that we have a political culture that doesn't seem willing to make the

tough choigss to move america forward. we've got a willingness to play partisan games and engage in brinkmanship that not only costs us in terms of the economy now, but also is going to place a burden on future generations. the question is can we break out of that path? can we break out of that path? think about it. we just went through this debacle with the debt ceiling. an entirely self-inflicted wound. it wasn't something that was necessary. we had put forward a plan that would have stabilized our debt and our deficits for years to come. but because we've got a politics in which some folks in congress not the folks who are here, but

some in congress would rather see their opponents lose than america win we ended up creating more uncertainty and more damage to an economy that was already weak. now, we can't have patience with that kind of behavior. i know you're frustrated. and i'm frustrated, too. we've got to focus on growing this economy, putting people back to work. and making sure that the american dream is there not just for this generation, but for the next generation. [ applause ] another way of putting this is, we expect our political representatives to show the same level of responsibility that all of you show. i don't know most of you. but i can guess that you're all

working hard. you're managing your budgets. you're putting something away for your kids' college education. maybe for your retirement. you're at the local church. working in the food pantry or doing something to help out your community coaching little league. you are following through on your responsibilities and that's true all across the country. people are doing the right thing. well, if you can do the right thing, then folks in washington have to do the right thing. [ applause ] and if we do that, there is not a problem that we face that we cannot solve. think about it. our biggest challenge right now is putting people to work. biggest challenge is getting the economy growing as rapidly as it needs to grow. it's been growing.

we've been able to reverse the recession. we've added over two million jobs in the private sector over the last 17 months. [ applause ] but we're not growing it as fast as we need to do drive down the unemployment rate in a significant rate and give people confidence. here's some things we could do right now. i've been talking now for months. we could renew the payroll tax cut in december that put $1,000 in the pocket of a typical family so that you got more money in your pockets to spend to meet your obligations. it also means businesses have more customers. and it means they might hire a few more folks as a consequence. all we need to do is renew it. it's already in place. if we have certainty nextier that that same tax cut is going to be in place, that's going to make businesses make decisions to hire people and open up and

make investments. that's something we can do right now. congress can do that right now. congress right now could start putting folks to work rebidding america. one of the biggest things that caused this recession was the housing bubble. and all those sub prime loans that were going out and packaged in wall street and folks were making millions and millions of dollars off and the whole thing came crashing down. no one had been hit harder than construction workers. and so for us to say at a time when interest rates are low, contractors are begging for work. construction workers are lining up to find jobs, let's rebuild america. we could be rebuilding roads and bridges and schools. and parks all across america right now. [ applause ] to put hundreds of thousands of folks to work right now.

there's a bill sitting in congress right now that would set up an infrastructure bank to get that move attracting private sector dollars not just public dollars. congress needs to move. right now we've got our veterans coming home from iraq and afghanistan. who have taken their place among the greatest of generations that made extraordinary sacrifices. i meet these young people -- [ applause ] i meet young people 23, 24 years old. they're in charge of platoons, making life and death decisions. they're in charge of millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment and they come home and they can't find work. so we said let's give tax credits to companies who were hiring our benefits and put them back to work to use their skills to get this country moving again. congress could do that right

now. trade deals haven't always been good for america. there have been times where we haven't goten a fair deal out of our trade deals. but we've put together a package that's going to allow us to start selling some chevys and some fords to korea and we don't mind having hyundais and kias here. we want some made in america stuff in orcountries. that's something that congress could do right now. it's something a lot of folks don't talk about. when our entrepreneurs come up with a big idea if we could reform how that system works and cut the red tape, we could have entrepreneurs creating businesses like google and microsoft right now all across the country. we have to make this investment and congress could make that decision to make it happen. there is no shortage of ideas to

put people to work right now. what is needed is action on the part of congress. a willingness to put the partisan games aside and say we're going to do what's right for the country, not what we think is going to score some political points for the next election. [ applause ] now, we also need to do this in a way that allows government to live within its means. that's the president of course in cannon falls, minnesota. he's been speaking to a town hall meeting there. this is the first state in his three-state trip across the midwest. joining me from cannon falls msnbc's chuck today. chuck, thanks so much for joining us. this is the first day the kick off it had all the earmarks of a political campaign rally. the fact is this bus tour comes

on the heels of what the republicans have been doing the past couple of days in iowa and across the midwest. let's talk about that in that context. the poll numbers down in the gallup to 39%. how much of this is driving the president's game plan? >> reporter: well, a lot of it is, not this poll specifically, but the fact of the matter is when you hit 39, when you hit the low 40s, anything below what, that means you're losing normal supporters. those folks who are disapproving. i found them here. we were talking to a whole bunch of folks here before this started. we could hear the support for the president but hesitantsy about certain things. for some it was he compromises too much. for others it's i'm just tired of this washington fighting. i wish he could just unit them and bring them together. i hope he shows some leadership. it was the type of thing that it would give david plouf an upset

stomach. the speech that we've been listening to, i think it's pretty clear he's not going to be responding to republicans running for president. he's found his target in congress. congress needs to move. congress can do that right now. that's something congress could do right now. what is needed is action by congress. i think he thinks he's find a foil and why, congress does have a lower approval rating than the president. >> chuck, it sound to me as though he's campaigning as though he were harry truman. this is out of the old play book running against congress. let's talk about the divide that you said in the folks you were talking to out there, that is mirrored by the divide inside the campaign and the white house. people wanting him to be more of a compromiser. perhaps led by bill daly and others wanting him to be more aggressive and go after the republicans and just forget about trying to come up with a negotiated solution. >> that's exactly right. when you hear the we know that there was for instance,

disagreement on the idea, you know, of inside the democratic party at least disagreement on the idea do you call congress back. that's why i perked up when it's something that congress can do right now. no, they couldn't. they're in recess. he could have asked them to come back. he decided not to do that because he thought they needed to get out and listen to what folks were saying. and it's clear that everybody's getting hit hard when you see these town halls and you see members of congress. some republicans getting hit hard by the tea party conservatives who say they've compromised too much. the bottom line is it's a pretty unsettled public out here. you're lull right. what was remarkable is i was hearing the buzzword leadership coming out of this crowd. and these people waited in line to get tickets. these are supporters. they didn't get handed out to supporters. it was open to the public, but you had to wait two or three hours and hope you could get it.

they didn't hand out very many tickets. so they were excited to be here. excited to be at the event. they were all excited supporters you could tell of him in 2008. and they felt very nervous. nervous supporters of him is the best way to describe it. >> chuck, if you could hang for a while. let's go back to the president. this be and then i want to ask you about the republicans that we were covering the last few days as we were all in iowa together. >> that didn't go over so well. the point is something he's happened in washington where we think the kind of compromise that we do every day in our families with our neighbors, co-work workers, friends that somehow that's become a dirty word. that's got to change. that's got to stop. [ applause ] so here's the bottom line. obviously with the markets going up and down last week and this downgrade a lot of folks were feeling a little anxious and

distressed and feeling like we've been working so hard over the last two and a half years to get this economy back out of recession and some folks worried that we might be slipping back. i want all of you to understand there is nothing that we're facing that we can't solve with some spirit of america first. a willingness to say we're going to choose party -- country over part. we're going to choose the next generation over the next election. if we are willing to do that, then i have absolutely no doubt that we can get this economy going again. we can put people to work back again. small businesses can start growing again. but i'm going to need your help to make it happen. you've got to send a message to washington that it's time for the games to stop. it's time to put country first.

it is time for the games to stop. some folks were asking me, why don't you just call congress back? i said, i think it's going to make people feel real encouraged that we have congress come back and all they're doing is arguing again. what they need to do is come to go back to their districts, talk to ordinary folks, find out how frustrated they are, and hopefully when they get back in september, they're going to have a new attitude. [ applause ] but i want everybody to understand here, that i'm not here just to enjoy the nice weather. i'm here to enlest you in a fight. we are fighting if for future of our country. that is a a fight that we are going to win.

that is a promise that i make with your help. thank you very much, everybody. [ applause ] and now we're joined as well chuck today is still with us from cannon falls, minnesota. joining me now from new york msnbc political analyst johnthon alter and mark zandy. chuck, let me ask you about what you saw in waterloo last night. the match up of perry versus bachmann. her hometown, her birthplace in waterloo, iowa. it was noticeable to many that she didn't work the crowd. she didn't talk to people. she got right back on her bus. she seems to not be quite with the iowa vibe of retail politics. rick perry came. he stayed. he ate dinner. he stayed through her speech. he seems to be mixing it up with people more than she is. >> reporter: that was very

noticeable and there was this back and forth on lighting. you love this behind the scenes stuff sometimes that campaigns have these fights over the lighting. so perry had brought their own lighting people and bachmann had their own lighting. one was a very soft version of lights. one was tongue sten. neither one wanted to light the other. bachmann wouldn't even enter the room until the lights had been fully changed until her announcer had been there to announce her entrance then she didn't come through the front door. she came through another door. so as not to get crowd crowded out. just the other visual on this, you described this rick perry he got there early. he mingled. he dealt with the press scrum at the beginning. then mingled with the 300 or so republicans that were there. sat down, ate dinner. got up, gave his speech. went back down. finished his dinner. listened to bachmann's speech. as everybody was emptying out, she after her speech didn't leave the stage.

she stayed up there, let people come to her. she did it that way. the organizers are very upset about this, why? after bachmann the actual pitch for donations was supposed to come from the local party leaders, but her exit music and the fact that she stayed up will and didn't go down and mingle, but stayed on the stage blocked that out. they still tried to do it, then people started leaving thinking the event was over. i would say in short, yes, she didn't make a lot of the organizers very happy there. and then i talked to a whole bunch of people coming out. nobody wanted to say a bad word about them. but he does have a big record. he seemed to be able to do some things. she as one person described it, she's a little ra ra.

>> that's really interesting. that kind of thing those missteps if they were missteps become more important as we get closer to the iowa caucuses if everyone is still in the race. mark, let's talk about the jobs claims from all of these candidates. you heard the debate on thursday and the candidates over this weekend speaking in iowa. just today rick perry defending his jobs record in texas. is there first of all anything that the president or any of these candidates can do short-term that would change the unemployment numbers on the ground? what about that texas jobs record where frankly rick perry claiming that more than 40% of the jobs created in the last year or so came from texas, but the counterargument is that a lot of them are low wage jobs and a lot of them came from the oil patch which he didn't really have that much to do with. >> reporter: both good questions. i think the necessary condition to keep the economy together is to for congress and the administration to follow through

on their debt ceiling deal. they need to come up with some additional deficit reduction otherwise there will be more downgrades and more financial market turmoil and that would do substantiative damage to the economy. the damage done to the economy is quite substantiative. they need to follow that through and get it done. i think there's a reasonable argument that the economy needs some additional support in the near term. and that would include things like extending the current payroll tax holiday through 2012 and extending emergency ui benefits. policymakers might consider more help to states with unemployment insurance funds. those funds are busted. they're going to start raising taxes on businesses to refill those funds. there are some things that they can do. it's important to realize that none of these steps really add to growth. all they really do is take away some of the restraints on growth. it's not like this is going to

make a big plus. at least not not going to be kwiert the negative. turning to your second question -- do you want to ask me about question about that? >> no. go had. the texas thing is becoming a critical selling point of rick perry in the brief 48 hours since he's announced. >> reporter: the texas economy has done well relatively well in the last decade. now there's a number of reasons for that. the state never experienced the housing boom and bubble that many other parts of the country did and therefore hasn't experienced the debillating bust. it is an economy that depends more on agriculture products and energy and other kinds of commodities. those parts of the economy have done very well globally. if you're in those kbizs you've done fabulously well. moreover texas has benefitted from its links with mexico. the mexican economy has held up

very well and that's helped mexico, too. a lot of things have gone well for texas. it's hard to draw the line between state government policy and those job gains. that's a reasonable debate to have. it is fair to say that the texas economy has done well throughout -- has weathered the storm very well compared to other parts of the country. >> how does the white house and the campaign bridge this divide between those out there and those internally who want the president to be tougher and just beat up on the republicans and those who want to see compromise and some results out of white house? >> reporter: it seems to me like they have made a decision, andrea, as you say, we're on a 149 v 1948 give him hell harry truman kind of campaign. that campaign was waged against the quote do not congress. and so the president is beginning in his own sort of

polite fashion to throw down the gauntlet to congress. we'll see if he does it more strongly and if he can package it in a way that resonates. that's been his problem recently is people don't get a sense of what his program is in a larger context. so today he launched the idea of country first. that sounded familiar. john mccain had said something similar in 2008 if you remember some of those posters of his convection. america first that was charles lindburg's isolationist, you know, plan in 1940. so they're kind of wrestling here looking, searching for some kind of a frame. they don't have it yet. they need it badly to start to crystallize the choices here and really challenge congress to either accept his program for jobs or to be viewed by the

american public stand manager the way of job growth and reliant on their approach which is cutting the deficit. that has nothing to do with job growth at all. but the democrats have not yet made that clear. >> and chuck, before we lose you to the bus tour, let's talk about what happened between these candidates on the substance. this was michele bachmann's first appearance on all five sunday shows what we call the full williamsburg in reference to monica lewinski's first attorney when he made the remarkable performance. how did she do on the debt ceiling when she said she wouldn't raise it under any circumstances? >> reporter: she did fine. she did the full ginsburg almost on purpose. knowing she was going to get a lot of tough questions. david pinned her down in a lot

of areas that she tried not to answer when it came on some issues involving her views on gay rights and gay marriage. on another show she was asked about can you name some specific cuts you would make if you didn't raise the debt ceiling you'd have to cut the budget by 40%. she didn't go there. it's been interesting to watch her sielistic versus the substance. i think what you're seeing right now is short-term the stylistic aspect of this allows her to keep going. and her supporters are still with her and it doesn't matter. but the inability to answer some of those questions or the tough ways to defend for instance, not raising the debt ceiling is losing her any opportunity i think she has to shift her campaign. she keeps trying to move it into the mainstream of the republican party a little bit. try to appeal to some of the chamber of commerce republicans. you look at "the wall street journal" editorial page you can see the empire of the republican

establishment is striking back big time on her. it's almost as if there's a concerted strap bachmann effort by the business republican wing of the the party. >> that's why it will depend if rick perry holds up as to whether the establishment wing those who aren't enthralled with mitt romney judge rick perry to be the alternative to bachmann or if they still want someone el. we don't know what that someone else would be. sarah palin is still toying with it. christie still says no. what about the wall street response to someone like bachmann, is that a viable choice for the establishment part of the republican party? >> reporter: well, you know, i don't know, andrea. i do know that it's very clear that the debt ceiling had to be increased. i think everyone came to that conclusion pretty quickly. and because of the sort of ran gor over the debate and how long it took for policymakers to come

together that has done very significant damage to the economy. i can't even imagine what would happen if they hadn't done it by august 2nd. i think everyone realizes that the debt ceiling had to be increased. there really was no choice. i'm surprised we're even having that discussion. >> that has been the surprise to a lot of people in washington and out. and certainly in new york. and the markets today, mark? last look at the markets? are things kind of quieting down? >> reporter: well, you know, there's still a couple hours to go here. given the last few days it could end up anywhere. it feels better. i think there was a fair amount of panic. that panic is fading. some of the better economic views has helped. hopefully we'll get good additional news over the next few days. we could use it. >> thank you very much. indeed. we'll be right back with more

from the politics of jobs, the economy and the 2012 campaign. f. way to go, coach. ♪ [ ben harper's "amen omen" playing ] we believe doing the right thing never goes unnoticed. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

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of the american postal workers union. ♪ back to the 2012 race and the newest republican candidate to jump into the fray. today texas governor rick perry is taking his turn on the soap box at the iowa state fair. joining me from the fair carey who is traveling with the campaign. he was pretty feisty and emphasizing his agriculture roots in texas. how did the crowd react to him? >> reporter: iowans are the group of people who want to hear all these candidates stand on the soap box and give their take on what america needs. one of his biggest applause lines today was him saying i want a president who's in love with america. he talked a lot about american exceptionalism. he was implying last night that members of the military may not

respect the current president and he would be himself a military veteran he would be the kind of person in the white house that would really bring that message of america as a unique country in the world home. i talked to some voters afterwards, i heard a positive response from those who are there. i heard from one voter who said americans are not ready for this guy. and he said we don't need anymore texas swagger. referencing how perry's southern twang and texas roots are going to remind a lot of voters as long as he's out there at the beginning of this race remind them of george w. bush. he's got a little bit of work to do there. >> thank you very much traveling with rick perry and not wanting to miss out on the party in iowa, sarah palin dusted off the one nation bus tour just in time to stop by at the state fair ahead of the ames straw poll. alex mo joins us now by phone. how had a busy time following

and keeping up with sarah palin who stopped at ronald regan's boyhood home in dixon. tell us about the palin effect and your questions to her about whether she's really going to run? >> reporter: i caught up with her at the fair where she did mention she was still considering herself a potential guideline. still no word on that time line. we did go on to dixon, illinois, the boyhood home of ronald regan. we visited a local river where he was a life guard for many years. from there we went to eureka college which is his alma mater and saw the robld regan museum where governor palin was just very impressed with all the memorabilia that they had and really remembered his humbleness and graciousness that built him to be the president that he was. >> i remember eureka college well, that's where regan gave

his first great speech the soviet union. we were there for what some believed was the speech that led to the beginning of the end of the cold war. it was all interesting. did you get any sense from her as to whether this is just a tease and whether she just wants to gravitate too the limelight like a moth? >> we really don't know. the last day, yesterday we stopped at the abraham lincoln library museum in springfield, illinois. i asked her if the news of governor pawlenty dropping out was going to have any impact on her. she spoke highly of governor pawlenty. she said we have many months to go and she thinks there's more people coming and going which leaves us all to wonder if she's one of the ones coming into the race. we really don't know. hopefully labor day when she comes back to the hawkeye state for a tea party rally, thab ma will give us some indication. we don't know her time line or

if she's going to announce. >> thank you very much. and while his two republican rivals are battling it out in iowa, mitt romney is campaigning in new hampshire. garrett joins me by phone. do you think he's going to be propoled to pay more attention to iowa? >> reporter: today he had two evens in new hampshire. he toured a small factory in the southern part to the state and drove north with a number of voters. he took questions about governor perry. he made the point of saying he was going to continue with his current strategy. they want to campaign in every early state and later state. if you look at the campaign schedule coming up in the next week or two, they're all here in new hampshire.

i'm sorry, we lost him. joining me now is mark. mark, you spent the weekend before you got back to new york traveling through iowa. you've been at all the events. let's talk about romney's strategy. is this a good strategy to hang back from iowa and really not engage or does he now to have engage rick perry head on? >> reporter: it's an interesting choice. i think it has to play out on a fast schedule. bachmann has been in iowa for two months. rick perry is going to spend as much time in iowa this week as mitt romney has for the whole year. perry's going to force romney to make some choices. there's an argument for going in. he could argue that the social conservative vote would be split not just between perry and bachmann, perhaps palin and some of the other candidates like rick santorum. perhaps he could win iowa based on the more mainstream republicans.

on the other hand, romney has pretty bad memories of what happened four years ago when he fought mike huckabee in iowa and on the second front in new hampshire with john mccain and that cost him the nomination in some ways. romney's decision about whether to compete in iowa and if so, how to compete in iowa is a very big pending thing in this race right now. >> mark, let me play a little bit of rick perry at the iowa state fair today on the soap box in. several of his speeches you were there in waterloo when he made the speech, he seems to be trying the challenge the president's foreign policy and commander in chief credentials which is sort of an interesting take. let's watch. >> we are an exceptional country and we're going to stay an exceptional country. we don't need anybody apologizing anywhere in this world about america. >> he even suggested that american sefs men and women would respect the commander in

chief if he were the president. is this an attempt to try to make president obama seem less presidential, less commander in chief? >> reporter: it is. of course, as you know for our span of our careers democrats have had a weak spot on national security and many presidential contests it's been decisive particularly during the cold war. now while everyone believes na the focus is going to be on jobs, it almost certainly will be, there is an argument certainly in rallying the republican party and some independents to say to cherry pick and criticize the president on foreign policy, this mean of the president apologizing for the united states, he doesn't stand strong, he doesn't respect our allies, those themes within the republican party create a lot of emotion. rick perry who served in the air force is able to go out there and drive the military message in a way that certainly mitt romney and michele bachmann for instance can't. they're both within the republican party and in the general election if republicans

have an advantage in national security that has been important in previous presidential campaigns. >> the white house felt that after the bin laden kill they had put that issue to rest this is a resurrection of the of this on the campaign trail. since we've been on the air the dilly tracking poll from gallup is inching back up, bouncing back up to 41. it was down at 39 which was certainly a red light warning sign for the white house. but people live and die on this. and the politicians at least do. this is a marginal change, but back up to 41 for the president at least, the approval rating. now, michele bachmann. i caught up with marcus bachmann who is not been talking too much out on the campaign trail. they have a very controlled operation there, the bachmann team. this was right after the ames big victory for her. i asked him about that question, the controversial question which was asked at the debate about whether his wife's comment about being submissive to him was an

appropriate question and his reaction to it. take a look. >> i think the american people are really looking for serious questions. and that question just didn't need to get in the way. how do you argue with the point of what as a couple as a married couple we love each other, we respect each other, and that's what it's all about. that's how marriage works well. and that's really one of the keys of our success. >> what would you say about the way back hahn handled that issue, other issues. she handled it well on the debate. what about on the five talk shows on sunday and in other exchanges with people out on the trail? >> reporter: i think both bachmanns are using the statement strategy, which is they're trying to rhetorically defuse the tougher questions. try to turn every question about a past statement or position into a slight push back against the media saying these aren't the issues voters care about. taking a risk that their social

conservative backers say we want you to embrace the positions you had. she's not repud dating things, she's glossing over there and shifting to jobs and the economy. after she got through all the shows, you saw her avoiding questions, there was no gaffe or confrontation that became a big news story. for now that's worked for her. at some point particularly when rick perry is being relatively open, talking to reporters, talking to voters, taking questions at events at some point that could hurt her. i think she's in a weaker position than some of her colleagues. i think she has to really have a strong second act to avoid being cut out of a two-person race between romney and perry. i think answers like she's giving there and her husband gave there are too tentative and too much treading water at a time when she needs to be going fast forward that's what rick perry is going to be doing. >> where does the pawlenty

support go? >> reporter: i think some of it will go to romney, some perry. i doubt bachmann. i think the biggest threat you'll see some establishment people who are weary of perry go to romney and some of the pawlenty people will fall into that ka t goir. >> su so much, mark. a busy weekend for everybody. >> reporter: great to see you. >> the iowa to new york to d.c. trail. a new threat in the fight against famine in africa. we're with nbc's ann curry next we're with nbc's ann curry next on "andrea mitchell reports." 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. add some style to your sink, with this moen banbury faucet for the new lower price of $79.

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for a body in motion. doctors trying to help victims of the horrific famine that has crippled africa are dealing with cholera. the disease has claimed the lives of 181 people. the lack of sanitation in the hardest hit areas is only making matters worse. meanwhile the somalian military continues the fight to keep

local terrorists from stopping the flow of aid to those most in need. nbc's ann curry joins us on the phone. from what you're seeing cholera as you see in haiti is the second wave that is such a dreadful attack on the most vulnerable. >> reporter: that's right. in fact, children are the most vulnerable, andrea. the real issue now is getting international aid through. today we went to the front line of battle behind the al qaeda supported militants known as alshrks d bab and the african union peacekeepers. at this point the peacekeepers after urban warfare have gained significant territory. this is important because it means that humanitarians may not have safer passage to reach more of the millions of people who have been dwaesed by the famine and are threatened by the cholera. i hope you have these images,

we're able to give your viewers an exclusive first look at a munitions factory seized just yesterday. inside we found homemade hand grenades, mortars, artillery shells and bombs made triggered using cell phones. these devices are very similar to the ones used by al qaeda. the fighting is still ongoing even today. and there is worries the african union peacekeepers are being now stretched too thin as they widen out to gain more of the territory that they're seizing and today members of the u.n. security council called on the international community to contribute more to these peacekeepers to maintain control and allow more of this international aid, this vital international aid to get through so that fewer people will die. >> we're watching those pictures right now of you in the camps and you in the munitions manufacturing area. it's extraordinary. from what you've seen, is more

aid getting through now that alshabaab has been moved out of mogadishu? >> more aid is getting through. there's millions of people who have not been reached by humanitarian workers in somalia. but still, more aid is getting through. we're seeing food from the world food program is reaching the people. we're seeing medicines in mogadishu's central hospital are reaching the people. we're seeing a number of humanitarian organizations from the west effective here on the ground. but there are millions of people who have not been reached mostly because of the security issue. even though as you mentioned the alshabaab have been pushed back. there's now concern about what will happen in their wake. will they left ieds. just recently a suicide bomber was stopped at one of those camps where these refugees,

hungry people have fled to. so there is a real effort here to stabilize this government and i cannot actually after having covered humanitarian disasters over all of these years, i cannot imagine a worst place for humanitarian disaster to occur than here in somalia. and in mogadishu a place that by many is considered the most dangerous place in the world. >> ann curry, extraordinary pictures. extraordinary reporting. your first person accounts. thank you. don't miss ann's exclusive report tonight on "nightly news with pryian williams" and tomorrow on "today." we're joined by michael elliot president and ceo of the one campaign fighting poverty and disease. you saw the pictures, they're breathtaking. seeing the weaponry of what's involved in the civil war that has led -- partly led to this

disaster. what can people do? we've been looking at the countries that be helping and the countries not helping. who are getting good reports and who's not getting a good mark on your list? >> i thought that was an extraordinary report by ann, andrea. it really underlies the amazing difficulty that everyone has in making sure the supplies get through to this awful situation. that's evolving in the horn of africa and particularly in somalia. the u.n. has asked for tleerl $2.5 million in terms of emergency aid to fight the growing famine and disaster in the horn of africa. there are about a billion short of the funds that they want. we have organized a petition at one.org 150,000 people have sfo aid to be delivered. and in looking at the aid, the u.s. has been generous and so has the uk and australia and canada, and there are some laggard of the european

countries who can do more, france, italy and japan and some of the gulf states, too, with the exception of the saudis who have stepped up. but ann's report, as i was watching it, riveting, andrea, really indicates the extraordinary difficult situation it is facing us all here. >> and finally, michael, when you talk about the countries not delivering, greece, portugal, italy, we are talking about the countries having extraordinary efforts itself, and it is amazing that japan is giving anything given what they have experienced so this is a crisis occurring at the time of the global crisis, and it is not negate it, but what is your take on it? >> yes, compassion fatigue is something that everyone understands. there are enormous number of claims on people's goodwill in the last year, and we all know that these are very, very tough times for people around the world. but i think that there is an important principle at stake

here, and it can be put simply like this, even in tough circumstances when people are suffering and war an violence and instability going on as there is in somalia, we hold dear as a value the proposition that children should not be allowed to starve. i think that if we remind ourselves of that, and get in touch with our inner generosity, if you like, we will be able to do something to help those who ann curry reported on in your clip just now. >> michael, thank you for bringing us back to first principles on that. thank you for that. >> thank you, andrea. for more of what you can do to fight famine in africa check out andrea.msnbc.com. [ male announcer ] this is lisa, who tries to stay ahead of her class.

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we are having fun with our friend chris cillizza and which political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours -- i'm cracking myself up. >> yes. just for the record as context, yes, my rental car did get stolen in iowa yesterday and i realized it at 4:15 in the morning, fact. >> i got the e-mail at 5:00 in the morning when we were both racing to the airport, fact. >> well. >> achris, what are you looking for in the next 24 hours, as we are almost out of time. >> well, i wanted to focus on the fact that what the president is doing two town halls in decora and pella there, and his

campaign numbers are down there, and this is part of the midwest tour. he needs to win there, and that is a fact, and he knows it. that is why he is there. >> okay. thank you very much, chris cillizza and we will have more time to talk about all of that, and for whoever took chris' car, call hertz. that is going to do it for us on "andrea mitchell reports." and tomorrow, we will have joe mcdonald was. and my colleague richard lui is in next. the president just kicked off a bus tour, and the president is sayi ing that we nd to send a message to washington, it is time to put country first. and now to minnesota, where i will talk to a woman who took this dramatic video of a stage that collapsed at a state fair, and we will get the latest. "newsnation" is minutes away. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief

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hi. i'm richard lui in for tam ron hall. th