good day, i'm veronica de la cruz. i want to get you live right now to breaking pictures out of illinois. we're hearing about evacuations at the scott air force base. you're looking at live pictures right now. we're hearing they evacuated a few buildings including the mail center, bowling alley, the recreation center. looks like they have dispatched a local fire department there. you can see them on the scene. we're going to continue to monitor the developing breaking story and get you more details as soon as they come into the msnbc newsroom. again, live pictures of illinois at the scotts air force base where people have been hospitalized with a rash. we are following tropical storm katya, which continues to turn in the atlantic and could be upgraded later today, but all along the eastern seaboard people are still trying to recover from the last hurricane.

>> take a look at this. you know, the river is supposed to run under the bridges of patterson, new jersey. a raging river runs through it. along the posaic river here in downtown paterson. >> officials ordered the evacuation of 1,000 people. >> you're seeing boats being put into the water as we speak. >> crews floated along flooded streets saving one family after another. governor chris christie again toured areas where residents told them they are flooding. >> don't tell me i'm in a flood zone. >> that might be easier said than done. the disaster relief agency's budget is stretched to the limited. right now, less than $800 million is left. >> i'm worried about the people that work in the help right now,

we're going to keep working and supporting the governors and citizens that have survived this disaster, so we're doing my job. >> in upstate new york, this woman's job is helping her family. >> she lost everything. she has a 2-year-old baby, and she's having a baby any time now. that's all i can get for her. >> and right now in vermont, fema is getting emergency supplies to a dozen completely cut-off communities. >> three miles to our west is a major washout. three miles to our east is a major washout. there's no way out. >> flood waters damaged or destroyed bridges and roads. authorities are already rebuilding parts of some. this is for emergency crews to get up the mountain. they are bringing much-needed supplies, food, and water to those remaining at the top of the mountain. the latest now from rutland, vermont.

>> we're in the town of menden. you can see where this road was washed out. this is route 4, from the west you cannot get access to the mountain. we are told by officials this morning that as of this morning there is one town that's completely inaccessible off of route 100. they are working today to try to get those folks out of that area, as they have for 12 other communities trapped by the flood waters from tropical storm irene on sunday. officials are telling us there's still one person missing from the brattleboro area. they'll be working hard to get roads like route 4 reopened to keep traffic going back and forth, people need to get to work, and other sources. it's only just beginning. that's the latest, let's send it back to you. >> janet napolitano and craig

fugate. raging river has crested. look at all that water. >> yeah, it has crested, but veronica, a lot left to go with receding waters here. this could be a little bit of what federal officials see today if they come to that paterson area, all this flooding still cutting off some of the neighborhoods. of course, we've had some dramatic rescues here in the last few days too, hundreds of families taken by boat to safety yesterday as well as 1,000 other people evacuated from this area. down river they are having a problem just as much as they are having here. it's a story all along here in paterson, many families out of their houses for days don't know when they are going to get back. >> what is the transportation

system? i know roads have been closed, what about railways? >> well, the railroads also are in tough shape here. certainly, new jersey transit is trying to get back up as well as local bus service in the area, but it's not just about the trains, it's about the roads here, because some of the secondary roads are flooded, and if you're trying to get around whether you need to go to work or run errands, traffic in the entire region is impacted by all of this flood waters that are on the move. >> michelle franzen there in paterson, new jersey, thank you for that report. right now there's a raging wildfire in texas and oklahoma that's destroyed 150 homes and evacuated hundreds of people. the area is suffering from drought conditions, making the dry vegetation a perfect fuel for the blaze. and there is bad news in the forecast. north texas is expected to have high winds in the coming days, that could hamper containment

efforts. i want to get you breaking news right now, president obama has been asking for a joint session of congress on september 7 where he'll officially unveil the jobs plan. the president is saying that he can go ahead and put one million jobs together to get the economy back on track again. he's requested a joint session of congress. that's going to happen at 8:00 p.m. eastern on september 7. of course, msnbc will have live coverage and continue to bring you all the developments on that. the congressional black caucus wraps up the jobs tour today. black unemployment is at a staggering 16%, compared to the national average of 9.1%. the tour began august 8 in cleveland. there were also stops in atlanta and miami. lines stretched for miles as struggling americans showed up hoping for a lead. look at those lines. msnbc is in los angeles, the

final stop on the tour. what is it looking like in los angeles? >> well, veronica, it looks like the turnout here will be as massive as it's been in other cities. that line stretching over a quarter of a mile long. the earliest people got here was 3:00 this morning. soon they'll be filling up the space here, all here for one reason, and that is jobs. there are 167 employers participating in this job fair, one of the conditions employers to be here is they have to have open positions. this is a community that really needs the help. the unemployment rate in california is the second highest in the nation. the black unemployment rate in los angeles is above 19%, so in this area in particular, you can see why people lined up at 3:00 in the morning to come to this event. as you mentioned, this is part of a jobs organization, this is the last stop on their nationwide tour and they said after this they will be making

recommendations to the president and putting together a jobs bill of their own to see what they can do to help the black community in this unemployment crisis. >> we appreciate that, mara. we're getting more details on the president's upcoming jobs plan now. the official rollout is september 7, 8:00 p.m. today at the white house the president announced he's renewing his push to invest more in the nation's transportation system. yesterday on tom joyner's radio show he said he hopes for up to one million jobs. >> there is no doubt that we can take steps that would mean the economy was growing a percent or percentage and and a half faster. that could mean half a million to a million additional jobs. that gets the economy moving and businesses confident they are going to have customers and puts people back to work. >> joined now by congresswoman maxine waters and karen finney

will be joining in on the conversation as well. good morning, thank you for joining us. >> i'm delighted you're covering this. >> we want to begin with you. the president hoping his proposals could create up to one million jobs. progressives have been urging him to go big with his proposals. do you think this is enough, up to one million jobs is what he's saying. >> i am pleased, number one, the president is going to roll out a proposal. of course, we need a lot more than one million, but we are delighted he has targeted one million. we need it. the statistics were cited about what was going on here in california and across the nation. i'm standing in a community where the young people are unemployed to the tune of maybe 30%, 45%, so the african-american unemployment, latino unemployment too, is extremely high. we need jobs.

this jobs fair is just a way to say we feel your pain, we understand, we're going to get out of washington. we're going to do something while we're doing the public policy in washington. we're also going to put together job fairs and employers looking for favors and tax breaks to bring those jobs into our community. >> you know, what has the feedback been, specifically from employers, i know cbc chairman started out the tour saying we want to get 10,000 people hired. how has the progress been, what have employers been saying? >> we're going to do the followup. i was just reminded that in atlanta we had one company alone that hired 63 people, and so we're hoping that that will happen here in los angeles and a combination of all of the jobs, all of the hiring, will add up to about 10,000. we think there may be about 3,000 jobs available today. >> we want to bring in karen finney to talk about this.

karen, we heard from the white house, the president is going to be making that speech on september 7, one million jobs, what do you have to say? >> that's an important start, but i want to get the congresswoman's thoughts on this, one thing we've seen as a trend, we saw a report out just this morning from the economic policy institute that when you kind of dig below the top layer of numbers, what we're seeing is it's not just unemployment and underemployment, but it's also loss of wealth and prosperity that we've talked about, whether it's home ownership, whether it's the fact people's funds aren't going as far as they used to, so i'm wondering, congresswoman, jobs are great, but we need a multi-faceted approach, don't we? >> well, absolutely, but jobs are a start. every american who wants to work should have a job.

-- $113,000 as opposed to $5,000 in the african-american community. that's structural unemployment. the lost of homes, foreclosures, all of these things have a big impact, negative impact on our community, so we need jobs, find ways to have investment to create small businesses, we need all of that, so this rollout, of course, it's important. one million is a good start, we need a lot more. >> it also strikes me that we forget when we talk about unemployment, we're also talking about children and families, because when the participant is unemployed, that means more children are living in poverty and those numbers in the african-american and latino communities are also particularly high. go ahead, representative. >> 39% of the homes of detroit are unemployed, and that's where children are in those homes. >> representative waters, i want to go ahead and switch the

conversation for a second, a new poll said 51% of voters say the president doesn't deserve to be reelected, but african-americans still overwhelmingly support him, are you concerned this public disagreement can hurt his reelection? politico was reporting black leaders, like yourself, have been so worried about this. the white house is saying the president isn't getting credit he deserves for social programs, health care reform, medicaid, student aid, are you giving the president the credit that the white house said he deserves? >> well, absolutely. i think people recognize what the president has done. we're focussed on jobs. the statistics don't lie. the 16% national unemployment in the african-american community is real, so yes, give credit for everything that's done, but we need jobs now. we need to focus on jobs. i know a lot of time is taken up on health care, the debt ceiling

debate, all of that, but that has nothing to do with the fact we have to push very hard, fight very hard for job creation. without it we cannot revitalize the economy. when people work, they spend money and the economy is revitalize, everybody does well. without that, the recession is going to continue to come in our direction and families and people are going to be hurt. >> you know -- >> representative waters, i also just got some sound into the newsroom that i wanted to play for you, take a listen to this, this is something you said at a town hall meeting in regards to the nation's housing crisis and foreclosures. >> it's time for the bully pulpit of the white house to bring the gangsters in, put them around the table, and let them know that if they don't come up with loan modifications and keep people in their homes, that they've worked so hard for, we're going to tax them out of

business. >> representative waters, can you respond to that? >> yes, i said that. yes, well, as you know, what we discovered with this foreclosure problem is that a lot of our financial institutions created these exotic products. no money down, resets where people could get in for very little money, and they reset the interest rates, kwquadruple, th liar loans, we discovered fraud, we discovered why there was this sub prime meltdown in this country, a lot of it was fraud. a lot of it was the financial institutions knew what they were doing, and they absolutely led this country down the drain. we cannot have that anymore. yes, i do want the president to use the bully pulpit. i want him to get chase manhattan and wells fargo and

citi and bank of america, i want the president to look them in the eye and tell them they've got to be a part of strengthening this economy. they owe it to the people. that was citizen's tax payers money that bailed them out. now that they've been bailed out, they are making profits, and they are not putting that money back into the community either in mortgages or investments in small businesses. it's time for the president to get very tough with them. >> all right, karen, let's bring you and talk about that. use the bully pulpit, what are your thoughts in. >> a couple of things, i agree with the congresswoman and other democrats that i'd like to see the president use the bully pulpit, but also something that struck me both in what we saw last week on the road -- last couple of weeks on the road with congresswoman waters and the cbc was not just the black elite, if you will, sort of voicing concerns or liberals saying you need to use the bully pulpit,

but i heard rank and file low and middle income workers expressing a level of frustration that thus far we haven't necessarily heard from the black community in such an outward way. congresswoman, i'd love to get your thoughts, because that seems to me to be a larger problem when we look to the election and whether or not the president will be able to hold on to african-american support. >> well, the african-american community is very supportive of this president. they are very proud of him, you know, it's historic that an african-american was elected to be president of the united states of america. they don't take that lightly. they give the president every opportunity to use his power, to use his leverage to work with congress and get something done, particularly relating to jobs, so they are very slow in coming forward voicing their discontent or displeasure. they want us all to do something. they want the congress of the united states to work with the

president, the black caucus has taken the lead now. we're going to do that. >> representative maxine waters, karen finney, thank you so much for the enlightening conversation. we're looking for the unveiling of the jobs plan on september 7. thank you so much for joining me. all right, it's the decision day now for the man held in aruba for the death of robyn gardner. plus, a man catches a burglar in his own home. markets up right now, dow up 77 points, s&p 9 and nasdaq up 10. we'll be right back. first, breaking news out of washington right now, the justice department announced it's suing to block at&t's take over of t-mobile. it claims the combined companies would lead to higher prices and fewer choices for consumers. in response, at&t says it is surprised and disappointed by

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it is decision day in the case of missing maryland woman robyn gardner last seen in aruba a month ago. today is the deadline for prosecutors to prove they have enough evidence to keep gary giordano behind bars. nbc's jeff ralton has the details. >> combing aruba's sweeping shoreline and hidden caves for robyn gardner. no sign of her, not a body, not so much as a piece of clothing. robyn's boyfriend in maryland

doesn't know why. >> it's been nearly four weeks now. obviously, i'm frustrated. what i'd like to see happen, canines, more people, more searches, comb the island, look under every rock, under every leaf, and find her. >> this is where it all began, on the south end of aruba, giordano says he and robyn were snorkeling here in this area around 4:00 p.m. he reported her missing around 6:00 p.m., leaving two hours unaccounted for. police and divers into the water as soon as robyn went missing, but after four days of searching and no sign of her, they gave up and haven't been in the water since. which leaves the rest of aruba's rugged terrain. >> this is my side of the island. >> dan is a novelist living in aruba on and off for nearly two decades. >> aruba is about 17 miles long, seven miles wide, you can drive

the entire island in an hour. >> he drove us 15 minutes from the spot where robyn vanished. he says police still haven't been here. >> this is a very typical location, foliage, crags, hundreds of locations like this around the island. >> back in the car, we're moving again. >> if you wanted to get rid of something and have it never be found, it would be relatively easy. >> this spot is 20 minutes from robyn's last-known location, untouched by investigators. >> long way down to choppy water here. >> at least 50, 80 feet down. >> would they find anything here? >> never find anything that fell off of here. >> police suspect gary giordano has something to do with robyn's disappearance here in aruba, locked up as the prime suspect, though he denies any wrong doing. taco stein is aruba's top prosecutor. what's the plan to search for her going forward? >> we have no concrete plans to

start a large search again, we want to concentrate on other parts of the investigation. >> piecing together robyn's final moments while putting together a case against gary giordano. >> most important here is finding robyn, that's number one. >> gary giordano has not been charged with anything, he's being held on suspicion of committing a crime. graphic photos were found on giordano's camera. witnesses say he had scratches on his throat and two of his former girlfriends tried to get restraining orders against him. all right, how is this for a breath taking view, a man spotted people robbing a house down below, and not just any house, it was his own home. not only did he film the whole thing, steven lynn actually tracked the thieves from the

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i want to get you live to washington, we have some breaking news coming out of the white house press room, that's jay carney talking about the jobs plan scheduled to be unveiled on september 7. he's taking questions from reporters, let's go ahead and take a listen. >> is that an indication of the scale of proposals? >> no, i think if you look at the full quotation, full context of that by the president, he was speaking generally about economic models that -- economic analysis and models that say every 1% -- roughly, i'm not an economist -- every 1% of growth equals this many jobs, so that was not a reference to his proposal. i'll leave the details and the

projections of added growth and job creation to the speech itself and to the analysis afterwards. that was more a reference to general economic analysis says if you take measures to increase economic growth, it will -- by this percentage it will result in this many jobs. >> reporter: secondly, is this a jobs speech or jobs and deficit speech, because the president referenced the importance of bringing down the deficit. >> the president made clear his commitment to present to the so-called super committee, special committee, joint committee in congress that will deal with further deficit and debt reduction. he will do that. this speech next week he'll certainly put the need for jobs, job creation, and economic growth within the context of an overall long-term plan for dealing with growing our economy and getting our fiscal house in order, but the speech tomorrow,

next week, rather, will focus on the immediate need to create jobs and spur economic growth. it will contain, there will be many elements of it, i don't want to overpreview here, but the commitment to present a detailed proposal on deficit reduction remains, and as you know, the committee meets for the first time the following week, next week he will focus on jobs and growth. >> reporter: so he will not lay out a goal? >> again, i'm not going to get into the specifics. it will be a significant speech with many elements to it, but i want to be clear that the president is focussed very much on steps we can take, together, congress, the administration, to grow the economy and create jobs at this important time in the american economy. >> reporter: on housing, is the white house working on a new

proposal at this point? >> as you know, restoring the health of the housing market after its dramatic collapse is an important goal and is not an easy task. we have been committed since the day this president was sworn into office to taking measures, taking steps, to help us do that, and we continue to look at new ideas for how to do that. there's many measures we have taken that resulted in many, many families being able to stay in their homes, to restructure their mortgages and allow themselves to stay in their homes, and we think that's very important and we continue to look at measures over the summer. as you know, the president put forward an initiative of expanded forbearance and began the excess of foreclosure properties to help stabilize communities. and we continue to look at new ideas. >> reporter: the unemployed,

unwater, and the state's help, those things are incremental. and hamp, especially, have served fewer people than the administration initially said they would. how imperative is it to help those people, millions of people, who are underwater on their home loans to refinance? >> the president is continued to focus on this issue. i would note over 760,000 home owners have obtained modifications to their mortgages and on average over the past six months 35,000 home owners are receiving modifications each month, and when you combine that with the assistance provided by hud, the private sector taken more families, and we'll continue to look at measures and to take steps that can improve

the prospects for home owners and to allow them to stay in their homes, and including evidence of the fact we're constantly looking at new ideas on this issue are the two measures that i just referenced. >> reporter: sounds very decoupled from jobs and deficit reduction, sounds like a lesser priority when you look at the timing? >> i think these are all priorities, and the housing challenge that we continue to face is part of the economic challenge that we face. there's no question, and he is focussed on that as part of his overall highest priority, which is the economy and jobs. yes? >> reporter: 9/11 report card being released virtually as we speak, three of the big concerns it addresses intel sharing and coordination, explosive detection and communication were three of the big lessones from

9/11 itself. given we are ten years later, as we approach that anniversary, what happened and what is the president doing? >> i haven't spent a lot of time on this, i think it was just today it came out, but the -- if you look at the number of recommendations the commission made and the number that have been filled, it's a very high percentage. obviously, there are some outstanding and some of them are technical, the answers to which i would refer you to the department of homeland security. i think, overall, we continue to be intensely focussed on taking the fight to al qaeda and the terrorists who threaten the united states and protecting the homeland, and the record that this administration has in those tasks is one worth reviewing, and it doesn't mean we don't constantly look for ways to improve. >> reporter: some of these are

not that technical, they are saying it's not the intelligence community integration we envision, this is not technical stuff. >> when you talk about -- i think that's a broad statement about the set-up of d.n.i. and other things, and some require congressional actions to change, as i understand it, so what's your broader question, can we constantly take measures to improve, there's no doubt that's true. >> reporter: no question. >> we've been listening into jay carney there in the briefing room answering questions about the anniversary of 9/11, but mostly about jobs, the economy, also the housing market. i want to get you right now to jose diaz, he joins us from telemundo where he anchors the evening news. we were talking about how the job crisis affected the african-american community, i believe it's at 16%. this is one of the highest rate since the depression, the

national average around 9%, what happened the hispanic community? >> good question, about 11%, 11.1% is the official hispanic unemployment rate, but that doesn't include the people that simply stopped looking for job or simply run out of unemployment benefits. the fact of the matter is just like the african-american community and just like all of us in this country, we've been feeling very difficult economic times for years now, and that includes in the hispanic community, for example, the incredible number of foreclosures that the hispanic community is going through. you know, there's a large hispanic community in nevada, florida, california, the states that have most hard-hit by the foreclosure crisis, so a lot of people in my community are wondering if another speech, if another series of proposals to throw more money that the government doesn't have at a

problem that hasn't been solved, is going to be something that we as a community are going to see in the near future increasing, you know, the opportunity for people to get jobs. i've got to tell you, there is a lot of sadness in hispanic community over what people see as the inability in washington for people to understand how jobs are created and how best o to -- all of us, you know, the unemployment rate at 9% is a huge amount of people that simply can't find a job out there. >> and have you -- have you witnessed that sadness maybe turning into anger? we were talking to maxine waters earlier, the african-american community, again, that unemployment rate hovering around 16%. what has the general reaction been to the president's handling

of the economy from the hispanic community? >> i think, veronica, it's pretty much consistent with what the polls show, the american people at large feel about the economy, the overwhelming amount of americans polled say the united states is going in the wrong direction economically and that holds true for every segment of our population, but i've got to tell you, you know, the problem that the president has, and it's a problem politically speaking is that now all of his actions, decisions, or proposals are being seen by many in the united states through the prism of someone looking for reelection, and, you know, when you have republicans in the house having the lowest popularity margins in history and the president being seen as a man who's really not taking the united states economically in the way that the united states majority would like to

see, it doesn't bode well for both republicans and democrats in the upcoming elections, people may be turned off to participate and that's the biggest problem a democracy can have. >> what happens next, jose? there's been so much political gridlock in washington. the president unveiled his jobs plan on the 7th, then what, will we ever be able to get anything done in washington? >> that's the question, and i think that that is something that is being debated around kitchen tables throughout the united states, regardless of the color of your skin or the language your parents speak, the fact of the matter is if you're not able to find a job or if your children don't have the opportunity to reach out for their dreams and start a career because there simply aren't enough job openings in their desired field of work, those issues really kind of, you know, come down and great debate of things going on in our country

to the discussion of what's the children's future looking like and who is doing something about trying to unclog the problems that exist for americans to get back to work, and i think that that is going to have a very interesting voice or a reaction come november next year. i think both political parties are going to suffer severely because of that, which many people in our communities perceive as the inability, as you say, the inability of both political parties to get their stuff together and work for the american people. >> one last question, because there's been lots of finger pointing and criticism as to why things can't get passed in congress, as to what's been happening with the president and his handling of jobs in the economy, what's your take, who's to blame here? >> that's a question that i'm not qualified to answer as far as who's to blame, but i will tell you, i will tell you that a

lot of people that i serve on a daily basis, the 55 million hispanics that live in the united states, 50,000 hispanics turn 18 years of age every month in the united states and the majority are u.s.-born. this large and growing part of our country is seeing with deep preoccupation the fact that their children possibly will not have the same opportunities and will not have the same benefits of american dream that the parents had, and that concern in the community continues to increase on a daily basis as the economy continues to falter. >> all right, jose diaz-balard, always good to talk to you. it's great to get your valuable insight, sir, good to see you as well. all right, andrew komo says damage from irene will likely reach $1 billion, but residents

are still dealing with raging flood waters and the devastation left behind. chris christie toured hard hit wayne and he described seeing extraordinary despair. new jersey continues to be deluged, hundreds of people had to be evacuated again. even as residents try to recover from irene, a new tropical storm is growing stronger, katia, greek for pure, could become a hurricane by tonight. let's get the latest from vivian brown. another hurricane on the horizon, vivian, and by tonight? >> i know, veronica, we're talking about katia. actually, there are two systems we're concerned with, but let's talk about katia first of all. here's the latest with winds of 65 miles an hour, it's moving west to northeast at 21, and you can see that it's about 1,000 miles west of the cape verde

islands, but because it's moving away we are very, very concerned. here's a look at the projected path. take a look, by saturday morning we're talking about this system becoming a category two hurricane, and by labor day morning, it could be a major hurricane, not just a hurricane, but a major hurricane with winds of 120 miles an hour. the thing about it is all of the overall model tracks, if you will, are consistent, and i was speaking with our hurricane expert, dr. rick nabb, and he said all of these tracks are plausible, so definitely watching katia very, very closely. there's the tropical wave we are watching. >> looks like we lost her signal. that was vivian brown with the latest on katia, we're keeping a close eye on the storm. move over mitt romney, looks like there's a new frontrunner. plus, what one auto maker is doing to help college kids get

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welcome back, i'm veronica de la cruz, texas governor rick perry is looking more like a frontrunner today. a new poll puts him way ahead of the republican field, he's also gaining against the president. mark murray joins us now with the latest on the poll numbers that have just come out. mark, according to the poll numbers, it looks like perry is coming out swinging. >> veronica, another day, another poll showing rick perry in the lead. rick perry has a 6 percentage point lead over mitt romney, and in head-to-head matchups, rick perry is tied with the president 45% each, and rick perry trails the president 45% to 42%. not as well there, but he's pretty darn close to mitt romney. veronica? >> you're saying 6% ahead, so

how is the mitt romney campaign reacting to these numbers, are they in panic mode? >> i wouldn't put it in panic mode, but we are seeing the romney campaign adjust somewhat. over the last several months since romney has got in the race he hasn't engaged with the other republicans, kept his focus on the economy and president obama. with rick perry, he's had to change focus, and we heard him yesterday take a little bit of a subtle swipe at mitt romney -- at rick perry, take a listen to that sound. >> now, i'm a conservative businessman. i spent most of my life outside politics dealing with real problems and the real economy. career politicians got us into this mess, and they simply don't know how to get us out. >> well, career politicians certainly is code for president obama, the other people in washington, but it's also code that rick perry spent most of his adult life, professional

working life in government service as an elected official of the of course, mitt romney has spent much of the past 20 years running for office, and he served as governor of massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, but you're going to probably see that type of rhetoric from mitt romney in the days ahead. >> all right, all right. lots, lots happening in the days ahead, mark murray, mark, always good to see you, thanks so much. veronicadon i'm digging, i'm nesting in this fluffy stuff. i've already had like four babies. i'm the smartest raccoon i know. and if you got your home insurance where you got your fifteen-minute car insurance, you could be paying for this yourself. [ laughs ] so get allstate, you could save money and be better protected from mayhem like me. [ dennis ] dollar for dollar nobody protects you from mayhem like allstate agents. ugh, great. you may be going up, but those roots are bringing you down!

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welcome back. college students returning to classes may spot a new presence on campus, ford. starting tomorrow, the auto maker is sending 1,000 cars and suvs to colleges around the country, part of a new partnership with zipcar. the behind the wheel blog covering the auto industry, he joins us from chicago. phil, these car shares are usual usually seen as a threat, so why is ford joining forces with

them? >> it's all about exposure, veronica, for ford and zipcar, this is a partnership they can increase exposure to potential customers. look at it from ford's perspective. if you have a college student that's going to take a ford focus out for four or five hours through the zipcar program, that's an extended test drive and you can't beat that in exposing your cars to potential buyers down the road. to zipcar's perspective, it's already established itself in new york and boston and is branching out in college towns, and hooking up with ford allows them to accelerate. so both companies are getting something out of this. the question is whether or not it pays off in increases members for zipcar and sales for ford. >> you can't lose. phil, you're in chicago, i'm in new york, and we both understand how zipcars work. what about for other folks,

what's the process here? >> there's a membership, and then once you join, it's usually $35 or in this case for college students they are dropping the fee to $25, and after that, a certain fee depending where you're at, you can rent a car, if you will, for an hour, two hours, three hours, it's usually about $7.50 an hour, the rates may vary, but it's a designated parking spot, go and get the vehicle there, return it to another designated parking spot, and if you are somebody who needs transportation but don't have the space or the money to own a car, nor do you want the hassle, this is a way in urban settings where you can, in essence, rent the vehicle for three or four hours, or if you need if longer, you can, but that's the idea behind zipcar. >> zipcar is going to be on college campuses, this is good news for college students because lots of car rental places you have to be 25, and

for zipcar it's not the same case. >> car rental companies are looking at full-day rentals, and this is different. this is where you want to buy the car or use the car to go out and run errands and be back in two hours. it's a much different business set-up than the rental car companies. >> cool cars too, ford focufocu they have the mini-cooper. i'm veronica de la cruz. thank you so much for spending this busy hour for us. we appreciate it, coming up next, we've got "andrea mitchell reports" with chuck todd. we are looking good today in the northeast, lots of sunshine, that's good news, especially after last weekend, may encounter travel issues. in the state of florida,

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