ith your pnc advisor, so you can make better decisions and live achievement. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," must win michigan. mitt romney today slipping behind rick santorum, picking up the endorsement, though, of governor rick snyder. >> we have the right man here to help lead our country, but there's a special bonus. he was born and raised a michigander. he understands our state. he's one of us. an iowa homecoming today for chinese's president in waiting. revisiting the town where he first met americans 27 years ago. with us, former u.s. ambassador to china, jon huntsman, who made his china connection a calling card in his presidential campaign. [ speaking foreign language ] >> he can translate for us.

and war of words, is iran serious about nuclear talks a day after bragging about nuclear progress, iran's president ahmadinejad arrives in pakistan. and the fourth generation of kennedys enters politics. >> my family has had the great privilege of serving massachusetts before. they taught me that public service is an honor, given in trust, and that trust must be earned. plus, a white house surprise. visitors to the white house get the ultimate vip tour, bo and his mom. >> oh, my goodness! congratulations. proud to have you here. absolutely. absolutely. china is america's biggest creditor and we are their biggest customer. and will be joining us in a moment is former u.s. ambassador to china, and former presidential candidate, jon huntsman, but first we want to go to muscatine, iowa, where nbc's jo kent is covering the

extraordinary visit of china's next leader, xi jinping. jo? we'll try to revisit jo in a moment there in snowy iowa. we're having a little audio difficulties, but fortunately you are here, ambassador huntsm huntsman. first of all, you know jo -- you know xi jinping. you've seen him in china. you visited and had lunch with him yesterday here in the u.s. how important is he and how different is he? could he be the transformational leader that people have been waiting for? >> well, time will tell. all we know is that he comes from the fifth generation of leadership. hu jintao will be leaving the stage in october. >> a lot of people have been disappointed with him, that he hasn't been a larger figure. is xi jinping a bigger figure? is he, perhaps, more western, better connected, even from that brief visit 27 years ago to

iowa? >> my guess is that he has a much better orientation of the west, and specifically of the united states. he's done a very good job in terms of winning over the people's liberation army, which is absolutely critical if you're going to succeed in politics in china. he's won over the princeling community, of which she is one. and of course, he's been able to win over the communist party, which tells you that he's in line to take the mantle in october. it's not 100% done, but this trip to the united states for xi jinping was critically important, because he's playing to two audiences here. he's playing, of course, to the u.s. audience, but more importantly to him and his future, he's playing to the beijing audience. so everything he's said in his public appearances, this visit to iowa, is pretty much geared towards the decision makes who up a the standing committee of the bureau in beijing, those nine members of the board of directors, so to speak, who will ultimately make that final decision as they approach october, the 18th party congress. he stands in line to get it, and i think he'll be more a

transformational leader than people might think at this point. >> i was a guest at the state department when vice president and secretary clinton hosted him the over day, and i was very struck by how frank and tough vice president biden's remarks were, much tougher than what the president said publicly in the oval office. perhaps being a vice president, one on one, you can say that. but he brought it to him directly on trade unfairness and on human rights. >> these are conversations that are important to have. and we need to be who we are as americans. we're always better in the u.s./china relationship, speaking up about issues of democracy and liberty and human rights and open markets. it's when you get in those private meetings, andrea, where you really see some fireworks from time to time. that's where the issues are really hashed out. but we telegraph and we signal where our issue priorities are in some of these public gather er erings. and they do the same thing in return. >> he himself was sent for seven years into work exile, really,

during the cultural revolution. so there's a lot of analysis as to whether those experiences made him more pro-reform or made him perhaps more reluctant to take on the establishment. >> the fifth generation of which he is the leader. they're a much younger group, and the events that have transformed their world view more than anything else. they don't much remember the great leap forward, 1960 to 1964. some do remember the cultural revolution, 1966 to 1976. they all remember 30 years of 8, 9, 10% of gdp growth, where china has emerged from poverty and now to assume the position of second largest economy in the world. that has transformed their thinking more than anything else. they know what their economy is capable of. they know the trade and investment issues that they have on the agenda that must be worked out, with the u.s. negotiators in the years to come. and they know the years ahead are not going to be easy on the economic front. >> now, at the same time, you

have endorsed one of your former rivals, mitt romney, and he, today, has an op-ed in the "wall street journal," really blasting president obama's china policy, saying that president obama came into office as a near supplicant of beijing, almost begging for continued buying of our debt. also saying that we were not tough enough on human rights. you were the ambassador, leading that policy. is mitt romney wrong? >> well, let's just say that it's not unusual for candidates to be saying certain things about china. i've seen a lot of candidates who later became president, who use a lot of rhetoric. it's much easier to talk about china in terms of the fear factor than the opportunity factor. i would disagree with some of what governor romney has said, and it's not surprising that republicans disagree with each other from time to time. then when you -- >> but why support him then? he's saying that president obama has been a supplicant to beij g

beijing. >> well, you're going to disagree -- >> you clearly disagree with that? >> i think on the economy, he's best placed to do what needs to be done on the creation of jobs. when it comes to china, i think it's wrongheaded about slapping a tariff on day one. that pushes aside the reality, the complexity of the relationship. you sit down at the table with somebody like xi jinping and you say, we've got north korea, we've got iran, we've got pakistan, we've got burma, we've got the south china sea, we have trade and investment. and they all kind of interrelate, one with another, when you sit down and negotiate a deal. that's just the way the u.s./china relationship is, and has been for 40 years. this month we celebrate the 40th year anniversary of richard nixon stepping off that plane. >> february 22nd, 1979. >> and we forget when nixon stepped off that plane, 1972, we were fighting the chinese in vietnam. we had fought them not too long before in the korean war, where the chinese lost 400,000 men. there was a cultural revolution still playing out in china. we had no trade, no cultural

contact. >> but nixon had the guts to step off that plane. -- >> can you imagine that happening today? >> have we gotten to the point in our presidential campaigns, and you've seen it from the inside, and now you're looking at it from the outside, where candidates say anything to play to audiences. and then they have to live with it once they get elected, and that's why we've had some very bad foreign policies from both republicans and democrats. >> and it was an election year for richard nixon, february of 1972. so it was a bold and courageous you. it was counterintuitive. you don't see that today. >> what would be your advice to mitt romney and to president obama as they proceed, and to rick santorum, or anyone else who ends up in this race, because it's far from over, perhaps. >> less pandering, take a step back, and analyze with a clear vision. the most complicated, the most challenging, and the most important bilateral relationship we have in the 21st century. it's not going to be based on sound bites, it's not going to be based on short-term fixes and solutions. it is a long-term play between our people. >> thank you so much. it's great to see you,

ambassador jon huntsman, thanks. and coming up next in our daily fix, don't count on home field advantage in michigan. plus, meet the multi-millionaire behind rick santorum's campaign. do you have a question you want me to answer? join me every monday for a live web chat between 2:15 and 2:45 eastern online at andrea.msnbc.com. this is "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery? ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for excellent fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion, also refreshing plus tea. could've had a v8. my dad and grandfather spent their whole careers here. [ charlie ] we're the heartbeat of this place, the people on the line. we take pride in what we do. when that refrigerator ships out the door, it's us that work out here. [ michael ] we're on the forefront of revitalizing manufacturing. we're proving that it can be done here, and it can be done well. [ ilona ] i come to ge after the plant i was working at

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welcome back. in our daily fix today, rick santorum now has a narrow lead in michigan. the state where romney was born and where his father, of course, served as governor. santorum now leads romney 34 to 30% among likely republican voters in a poll conducted for "the detroit news" and nbc affiliate wdiv.

and that is within the poll's margin of error. chris cillizza is an msnbc contributor and managing editor of postpolitics.com. great to see you at the table. >> hello! >> so how big a deal? >> yeah. >> the trends seems to be with santorum. i know this is a virtual tie, but he's the one gaining. >> if we did this poll two months ago, mitt romney would be ahead by 25 or 30 points in michigan. so, yes, andrea -- i hate to say it's a probable, because, look, rick santorum would kill to be in this position that he's in right now, which is at least tied in michigan. the problem, though, is the primary isn't next tuesday. it's not the tuesday -- it's february 28th, not february 21st. >> so do you think the rick snyder endorsement and a ton of money, obviously, is going to make up the difference and get back on top? >> having the endorsement of the governor of michigan is fine, but the last time i checked, mitt romney and his super pac were outspending rick santorum and his super pac 29 to 1 on the airwaves in michigan. we saw what happened when there

was a funding disparity like that in iowa. it was mitt romney versus newt gingrich there. we saw what happened in florida, where it was again mitt romney versus newt gingrich. i don't know if any candidate can withstand being outspent that drastically. that margin will narrow a little bit. rick santorum's super pac is now on air with $17,000 in ads. but mitt romney's super pac will weigh outspend rick santorum. and if past is prologue, it may be hard for rick santorum to weather that onslaught. >> and this is mitt romney, just now, giving a speech in michigan. >> i love the businesses of this state. i love the auto industry. i want to see it thrive and grow. i'm glad it went through a managed bankruptcy process, which i recommended from the very beginning, to shed unnecessary processes and get its footing again. i'm delighted it's profitable. >> that's mitt romney in an echo chamber, somewhere in michigan. >> this is part of mitt romney's problem. is that michigan -- you pointed this out. michigan is where he was born.

it's where his father was the governor of the state. he cannot -- i mean, i really believe -- >> i believe from talking to republicans, he cannot lose. >> he cannot weather a loss here. i just can't see. and i said that the time is on mitt romney's side. he's got a few weeks here before michigan. time would not be on his side if he loses michigan. february 28th, the next tuesday is super tuesday. all his money, all his organization wouldn't matter, because rick santorum would be the momentum candidate and a momentum candidate in a short period of time, a weak period of time, matters a lot. so i think mitt romney will literally spend whatever it takes to win michigan. and we'll see if money makes the difference, ultimately, or if the messaging, just talking about the out bailout, he's trying to explain the auto bailout. i don't know. that's not a great sell for him. social conservatives in the washington part of the state, not an easy state. not a guaranteed win by any means. >> and i agree entirely with you. and in talking to republicans from all over the country, if mitt romney loses michigan, they

are going to start talking about a brokered convention, because there are still doubts about rick santorum's viability on other issues and about newt gingrich. >> the weight of being the front-runner, which has bolstered him throughout, will crush him. it will follow over and crush him. because he will not -- it's like -- you were the front-runner, why did you not win the state where you were born and where your father was the governor? there's no explanation mitt romney would have for that. >> meanwhile, president obama has another victory in his notch, because the house republicans have really backed way off and he's gotten what he wanted on the payroll tax. >> this has been, without question, except for the first three months after his inauguration, the best three months of president obama's presidency, politically, at least. >> thanks so much, chris. and rick santorum has made a giant ad buy. his campaign is also going all-in with a nearly $500,000 buy. but can he compete against mitt romney, who still has that 2 to 1 advantage?

foster friess is a longtime santorum supporter and bankroller and donor to his super pac. good to see you. thanks for joining us. what about this disparity? are you willing to put up as much money as it takes to match mitt romney in michigan? >> andrea, mitt romney has way too much money for us to compete, and rick was outspent, i think, 40 to 1 in colorado, but still won colorado. and to a certain extent, i think it wins to rick's benefit. because people love the underdog. they love to cheer for the guy who's coming from behind, the fact that he's the grandson of a coal miner, the fact that he's been able to win in democratic places where he had a million more democratic votes registered against him, voters, that is. and so i think the rick santorum story is getting more and more mileage as people understand who he is in terms of national defense, in terms of his stand on the economy, and he's not just a one-trick pony, as people have tried to make him out to be. >> do you have any concerns about some of his comments on

social issues, on cotntraceptio, about women in combat, and whether that would hurt his general election campaign would he be the nominee? >> i get such a chuckle when these things come out. here we have millions of our fellow americans unemployed, we have jihadist camps being set up in latin america, which rick has been warning about, and people seem to be so preoccupied with sex. i think it says something about our culture. we maybe need a massive therapy session so we can concentrate on what the real issues are. and this contraceptive thing, my gosh, it's such inexpensive. back in my day, they use bayer aspirin for contraceptives. the gals put it between their knees and it wasn't that costly. >> excuse me, i'm just trying to catch my beth from that, mr. friess, frankly. sheldon addleson is, of course, supporting newt gingrich, and supporting that super pac, he's

apparently said in the "wall street journal" that, or "the wall street journal" is at least reporting in a bit of political chess that mr. addleson is ready to not only direct support to the former house speaker in the republican primary, but to use his cash to push rick santorum from his position atop the latest national polls. do you think addleson's support for newt gingrich as a way to also topple rick santorum? >> well, i don't concentrate a lot on this political maneuvering. i'm just basically in love with my country. you know, i started out with $800 of accumulative leave pay. i've seen other people become successful, multi-millionaires, steve jobs, mark zuckerberg of facebook, jeff bisos of amazon, and i think this is what america's great about and i want to do everything i can so your grandchildren and every grandchild that's listening to this has an opportunity to run for president as rick has or to become wealthy and contribute to others. i've been rich and i've been poor. and i've been able to help

others more since i've been rich than when i was poor, so i think we have to honor the american ideal, the american dream, and make it happen. and i think rick santorum, he honors everybody. he isn't trying to pit rich against poor, black against white. and he's really, truly the post-partisan candidate that everyone thought barack obama was. and he turned out to be one of the more corrupt -- i mean, can you believe that 20% of the health care waivers in april were granted in nancy pelosi's district to high-end restaurants? we've turned into a banana republic. and i believe rick santorum is known for his authenticity, his honesty, his integrity. rush limbaugh the other day said, you know, if santorum makes a decision, i know it's going to be made for the right decision. so i'm just concentrating on looking forward. i've been so blessed, god has given me in life a vehicle to drive with a huge wide, wide open windshield and took we all my rearview mirrors. >> but at the same time, what

about some of santorum's views? don't you think that they are outside the mainstream? isn't contraception an accepted practice, even among most, the majority of catholics in this country? aren't we going back decades with some of the social issues that he has espoused? >> i don't -- i didn't realize he said he was against contraceptives. has he made that statement? >> well, he didn't say that as president of the united states he would be against contraception, but he has said that personally he thinks it is a violation, that it is not in a woman's interest, that it is -- that sex should be done for procreation and that contraception should not be used? >> who cares? why is this going to have anything to do -- >> because presidents -- presidents have a lot to say about social policy. you just discussed president obama and the health care policy. >> but do you honestly think that if senator santorum becomes

president, that we're going to get rid of contraceptives? >> what i think doesn't matter. what the women voters and men voters around the country think. i'm just asking about the politics of this and his viability in a general election campaign. >> well, i'm amazed that some of the approaches that come up. i think the media has created this extremist idea. i walked into a country club and said, you've got to get behind this guy rick santorum, he's what america's all about. he's standing on the shoulders of the founding fathers and once they've won freedom, we have to gain freedom each time ourselves, each generation. and they said, he's too extreme. i said, what do you mean by that? and i said, you know, same-sex marriage. and i said to this guy, through the beginning of time, not just the various religions, but various african tribal people have said, man as marrying a woman. and at what point in your life did that suddenly become an extreme idea? obviously he couldn't answer. the whole idea of extremism seems kind of a bizarre

terminology for someone who believes that marriage is between a man and a woman. why is that extreme? >> mr. friess, how long are you willing to support this campaign and this super pac if he does not win some races coming up? are you willing to stay in this for the distance? do you think that he can go all the way to the convention against mitt romney? >> well, i'm honored to think that i could be that important, that influential. i do have some additional funds on the sidelines, but they don't need me now. right now, another fellow put in a million and a half, just recently, and there's other people putting in smaller amounts and i think one day, they took in $800,000, three days in a row, i think they accumulate $3 million. so people are realizing that this is a person now who is viable because he is a candidate that has strong national credentials in terms of authoring iran freedom and security act, authoring the syria accountability act. these are people -- these are things that put him on the front

burner, the front line, i'm sorry, of taking on the challenges that our nation face. and he knows those better than any other candidate. but i was delighted to see governor huntsman, who is i'm a huge fan, i just think if rick santorum could be president to include a man like that, i hope he would serve with and we need people like that. i always joke, rick should give herman cain a visit, have him come into the oval office, and say, herman, here's the keys to air force one. i want you to go around the world just telling everyone how great american is. and we're going to be a very, very great country. if you can imagine having the senate, the house, and the white house in about 60 to 90 days, we're going to be that shining light on the hill again. >> foster friess, thank you very much, thanks for joining us. and coming up next, the president's closer, the politico briefing here next on "andrea mitchell reports." [ male announcer ] if you think tylenol

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briefing, mrs. obama surprised white house tourists today as he continues to raise her profile and prove that she is the most formidable campaigner of all, in or outside of the white house. >> how are you? nice to see you. arizona! absolutely. absolutely. he would be insulted if he was not petted. >> politico's carrie brown joins us now from politico. the role that mrs. obama is playing, she is taking a star turn at every corner, and just surprising those tourists today. obviously, that's something that was a big excitement there. they then tweeted that out. but she is now really the star player out of the white house. >> i mean, she really is. you know she, as we know, has been a reluctant campaigner in the past. eased into the role in '08. did not go out much in 2010. this time around, she's saying she will go out. she'll do three days a week when the campaign heats up. the campaign advisers really

want her out there. i mean, she is someone who's more popular than the president. they can put her in front of almost any audience. we've seen her so much in the last few weeks jumping in burlap bags with jimmy fallon, convincing jay leno to eat his vegetables. this is a role that she comes off as an appealing person. someone that voters can kind of relate to, even though she's telling them at the same time for their kids to do their homework and for them to eat their vegetables. but they're, i think, quite happy that she's out there, speaking on the president's behalf and is going to be doing more than she has since she's entered the white house a couple years ago. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, andrea. next up, a standoff with iran. are tougher sanctions deterring iran's nuclear program? we'll talk to a former iranian nuclear negotiator. plus, the gop gender gap. rick santorum's trouble with women. [ female announcer ] feeling that flu all over your body? immerse yourself in all over relief with alka seltzer plus. it's specially formulated

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today, top military and

intelligence officials told congress that economic pressure alone will not stop iran's nuclear progress. >> iran today has the technical, scientific, and industrial capability to eventually produce nuclear weapons. while international pressure against iran has increased, including through sanctions, we assess that tehran is not close to agreeing to abandoning its nuclear program. >> iran has agreed now to return to nuclear talks with the west, even as israel claims time is running out before tehran will have crossed the point of no return in its suspected weapons program. ambassadors say hussein is a former negotiator for iran and is now at princeton university. thanks so much for joining us. first of all, do you believe that sanctions will stop iran from continuing to build its nuclear program? >> hi, andrea. my greetings to you and your audience. no, i don't believe sanctions

would compel iran to change its nuclear program. not only sanctions, i believe even sabotage military strike would not change iran's nuclear program >> you were a nuclear negotiator for a number of years, and you've seen the inside of the regime and how it approaches this issue. what do you think the regime is trying to accomplish here? because israel has one take, that iran is leaning towards a decision to actually proceed to produce weapons. the united states is not so sure that that is actually happen. what do you think is happening? has iran decided that it wants to go beyond a civilian program and actually produce a weapon? >> no. definitely iran has not decided and i don't believe iran is after nuclear weapons. iran's red line is its legitimate rights on their npt,

to enjoy peaceful nuclear technology, which includes enrichment like any other member state of npt. >> if israel were to attack iran and we hear a lot of signals from israel, would the united states get dragged into that conflict? >> i believe no u.s. president would be able to resist and they would have to have some kind of support and at the end, military strike would be a disaster, for israel, for iran, and for the u.s. >> right now, there seems to be a growing tensions, obviously, and a proxy war of sorts, where iran is being blamed by israel and is believed by many in the u.s. to be responsible for these recent terror bombings, these explosions, this week alone. and israel is being held responsible for what has happened in tehran, with the killing of nuclear scientists.

although israel denies this. there's been denials on all sides. is there a risk that this proxy war, if you will, is going to get out of control? >> yes, the risk is there. and i think it was a big mistake, whoever did, to assassinate the iranian nuclear scientist from the beginning, because this is clearly an act of terrorism, and especially the nuclear issue is a matter of national pride and consensus. therefore, the iranian nation, they have great sympathy toward the nuclear scientist. i believe this should stop anyone who is behind this terrorist activities. >> ambassador, thank you for th

self-insured catholic organizations do have a problem, because they don't have a waiver, and they have no place to turn. they can't just go to the insurance company. >> oh, sure. as a technical problem, the compromise, i think i called it a fig leaf in the newspaper, that the president worked out is not, from the catholic church's point of view, an entirely unsatisfactory compromise. and i think there is a legitimate question, and the

administration acknowledges it's a legitimate question about how the self-insured catholic institutions will handle this. and that's a little bit of can kicking. but it got them past this immediate hurdle. so now we can all focus on rick santorum and his women issue. >> to be continued. >> exactly. >> thank you, ruth. great to see you. thanks for coming. and up next, whatever happened to no new taxes? the "national journal's" major garrett is next right here on "andrea mitchell reports." nola , rich dark chocolate, toasted oats. perfect combinations of nature's delicious ingredients, from nature valley. ♪ nature valley granola bars, nature at its most delicious. but we couldn't simply repeat history. we had to create it. introducing the 2013 lexus gs,

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violence. we'll see you in 15. and president obama continues to campaign, swinging through california today, taking his populist message of increasing taxes on the wealthy on the road. this is what he has just said, well, he said yesterday, in milwaukee, wisconsin. >> so we've said, from now on, every multi-national company should have to pay a basic minimum tax. and every penny should go towards lowering taxes for companies that choose to stay and hire here in the united states of america. give them a bigger tax break. >> joining me now with an exclusive first look at the latest cover of the "national

journal," major garrett. you've taken a deeper look at the historical context of calling for higher taxes. but higher taxes for the wealthy, that's populism, that's good politics for a democratic president, is it not? >> that's poppopulism. the president's taken that message, put it in his budget, and it's a very interesting moment. i looked back to see if there had been any democratic incumbent president since harry truman to proposal higher taxes in a re-election year. no, there has not. barack obama has according to the administration, $1.7 trillion over ten years. republicans say it's $1.9 trillion. whatever. it's a huge chunk of change. it's not the tax increases that he campaigned on under 2008. you've got the buffett rule. airline security taxes, higher capital gains and dividend taxes. he's added on to the idea of raising taxes, in an election year. and that strikes me as more than mildly interesting. because democrats have historically been extremely traumatized by the entire tax debate. it's not just a victory on payroll taxes, which everyone

has sort of digested and internalized. the president is now saying, the speech i gave in osawatomie, kansas, is now in black and white, in an election year, and if i get my way, marginal rates will be higher than they were in the clinton administration, adding the health care taxes from the health care law next year, close to 44 or 45%. that would be a whole new dynamic in taxation in this country. and the president feels that's a political asset, not a liability. >> and is it a political asset, not just because of the populism, but because he can then say with some credibility, i'm doing something about deficit reduction in this post-tea party era. >> eck say, i'm doing something about deficit reduction, but it's much more about equity. and i've talked to a lot of democrats who have been arguing this for a long time. they don't give the president all the credit for innovating on this, but the public has shifted. for many, many years, americans put up what they received to be income inequality, because they didn't think it inhibited their

ability to grow themselves in the u.s. economy. now they're not so sure about that. consequently, they may be more open to a populist message. now they're delighted the president has put all of this in black and white in his budget and will engage him this in his. i think it's an important moment that in a re-election campaign a democrat is doing something we haven't seen since harry truman. >> thank you. what political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? that's next right here. first, because we can't get enough of this story or maybe because i can't get enough of it. let's talk about jeremy lin for a minute. let's watch him. last night he led the team to their seventh straight win. can he make it to eight? i'll will watching along with everyone else when they play tomorrow night. [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery?

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i'm joe kennedy. i'm announcing a campaign to be your democratic nominee. i believe this country was founded on a simple idea. that every person deserves to be treated fairly by each other and by their government. that's not happening in america anymore. >> which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? jonathan capehart joins me now. another generation of kennedy's. joe kennedy, i don't know joe kennedy. but barnacle says he's a very, very good young man. >> yeah, i also heard that this morning on "morning joe". the son of the former congressman joe kennedy ii.

the grandson of robert f. kennedy. we'll be assessing his prospects this time tomorrow. there are three other people running for this seat. one is a businessman. the other is a sociologist. it's not guarantee he'll win the seat. an early poll shows him to be the early favorite. >> thank you very much. names do count if they're a kennedy in massachusetts. that does it for this edition of "news nation." thank you f for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tamron hall has a look at "news nation." the fireworks are all over the place. congresswoman caroline maloney and other female members leave the event furious that no women are being called as witnesses in this hearing.

we'll explain what's going on. there's been big reaction all over the internet. this one is big. josh powell's family says it won't try to bury him near his sons over his mother's plan and drastic action by some law enforcement officials to make sure he was not buried next to the boys that he murdered. who will be appearing at whitney houston's funeral this saturday. ♪ uhh! [ alyson ] just keep walking... ♪ oh, come on! ♪ ugh, again! [ sniffs ] that's what i'm talkin' about. [ female announcer ] new head & shoulders green apple, with an enticing scent. works on the scalp for up to 100% flake-free hair that's irresistibly fragrant. [ both laugh ] [ female announcer ] new head & shoulders green apple. should we be letting him p-l-a-y with our t-a-b-l-e-t?

[ mom ] i think it's fine. it's the new element from at&t so it's w-a-t-e-r proof. cool. what else does it d-o? it's fast. it's 4g lte. 4-g-l-t-e? mhhmm. i think it's time to stop spelling? ok. a-y. [ male announcer ] introducing the waterproof pantech element. buy one for $249.99 and get a 4g burst smartphone free. only from at&t. i see your cup of joe goes with you. how nice of joe to, how you say, have your back. try something different. a delicious gevalia kaffe, or as i like to say, a cup of johan. will johan power walk the mall with you? i don't think so. but he will spend time rubbing your feet, discussing your feelings. ♪ joe may have your back, but johan has your feet. gevalia. meet me in the coffee aisle.

i'm tamron hall. the "news nation" is following developing news right now. two democratic congresswomen walked out of a heating hearing over the obama administration's contraception mandate and whether it crosses the line between church and state. this hearing was called by republican congressman darrell issa who said they wanted to vet the most knowledgeable people on the issue. that set off