the united states? i don't think so. >> in your years of congress, government has doubled in size. you voted to raise the debt ceiling five times without compensating cuts in spending. >> you're entitled to your opinions, you're not entitled to misrepresent the facts, and you're misrepresenting the facts. you don't know what you're talking about. what happened in the earmark process -- >> i'm joined now by the washington bureau chief at msnbc political analyst and terry bacon. wasn't that fun last night, gentlemen? >> it was fun. >> let me start with you, mitt romney i think had one critical job last night. he had to stop rick santorum's momentum. he had to regain his footing in this race. do you think he did it? >> i'm not sure he regained his footing, but put a foot in front of rick santorum. there's an old saying, if you're explaining, you're not gaining. and last night rick santorum got stuck in the tar pit of explaining his votes in the

senate and earmarking and positions on contraception. and rather than good comebacks to easy attacks, he got mired down in overly explaining his positions and being defensive throughout most of the debate. >> and you heard it in that last little clip, he got booed more than once. this was not a friendly crowd to rick santorum. he also got booed when he explained his vote for no child left behind and ron paul piled on. take a look at this clip. >> i have to admit, i voted for that. it was against the principles i believed in, but when you're part of the team, sometimes you take one for the team for the leader and i made a mistake. politics is a team sport, folks. >> he calls it a team sport, he has to go along to get along, that's how the team plays. that's what the problem is with washington. that's what's been going on for so long. >> he threw a softball to ron

paul on that one and, boom, at least a triple there, i think. >> he did, chris. the team player line in this election when tea party republicans are mad at everyone in washington, republicans, democrats. that was one of the worst for santorum. since santorum's voting block is the tea party, is evangelical conservatives, the most conservative parts of the party, i feel like on some levels santorum was santorum's biggest barrier. santorum had a lot of unforced errors. >> let's talk a little bit about a mitt romney and what i thought was a missed opportunity. each of the candidates was asked to identify the greatest misconception about them. here's how romney responded. >> the question is misconception. >> lack -- you get to ask the questions you want, i get to give the answers i want. >> it seemed to me, david, that was a set up to say, you know, he is a conservative. he just didn't answer the question. >> you know, i'm not sure he should've said, you know, i'm really a conservative, because

that gives credence to the attack he's not. >> he said he was severely conservative. >> i know, but to say there's a misconception about how conservative i am only would give an opening to santorum and give legitimacy to that line of attack. if voters would vote against candidates who didn't answer questions in the debates, no one would win. >> each candidate was asked to give a one-word description of themselves. let's listen to that. >> please define yourself using one word and one word only. congressman paul? >> consistent. >> senator santorum. >> courage. >> senator? >> resolute. >> mr. speaker? >> cheerful.

>> and david, the point you wanted to make about that. >> resolute is sort of a yankee-style word. it's better than saying flexible or multi-facetted or changeable. but he could've said strong leader, executive, management. it was just once again was like talking about the trees being the right height. he lacks this part of a dna that a politician should have to make a strong connection with the voting masses. >> and i think the happy warrior newt gingrich showed up last night. let me bring in the florida congresswoman who is also chair of the democratic national committee. let me ask you first what one-word answer describes the republican field? >> extreme. and i think that extreme is what they demonstrated last night on immigration, on health care reform, on tax policy, and, and out of touch although that's

three words, but all three words apply because they didn't talk about the number one thing that americans care about right now, and that's jobs. and getting the economy turned around. i mean, i just -- if i was a middle class american, which i am, sitting and watching that debate, i just had to be thinking out of touch. these guys don't understand what i'm going through. >> well, let me ask you about some of the more specifics of this debate. the question has been in this election, you couldn't watch that debate and not see it. they went after the president on health care law, on immigration. there's a new quinnipiac poll out today that shows voters say we should overturn the health care law, 64% say they support arizona's tough immigration law. are you worried about those kinds of numbers and the president might be on the wrong side of those issues? >> well, if you didn't know. if you dig down and ask whether

americans think that insurance companies should be able to drop them or deny them coverage for pre-existing conditions, they say no, overwhelmingly. if you dig down and ask them if they think young adults should be able to stay on their parents' insurance until they're 26, they say, yes, they should. if you ask seniors whether they think the donut hole should be reopened and that coverage gap in prescription drug to medicare should be remain open, they say, no, of course not. health care reform when you ask americans about them, they overwhelmingly support them and that is exactly what the republicans on the stage last night would repeal and go back to putting the insurance industry in charge of our health care decisions. and to add insult to injury, they would tell women what we have to do with our bodies and control when and whether we could have a family by not allowing us access to contraception without a co-pay and without a deductible. that's why i say the one-word application to that field is extreme. >> well, and, again, stark

contrast. women's issues. the candidates were asked about contraception. let me play a little clip for you on that. >> since birth control is the latest hot topic, which candidate believes in birth control, and if not, why? >> i just want to point out, you did not once in the 2008 campaign, not once did anybody in the elite media ask why barack obama voted in favor of legalizing. so let's be clear here. >> i'll just let you answer that. >> well, newt gingrich wasn't even able to pinpoint what he was talking about and what he meant. and he couldn't answer the question directly because he and the rest of the republican field, mitt romney, rick santorum, ron paul are extreme when it comes to women in america who simply want to be able to control when they have a family. and barack obama has made it

possible for them to do that because it's $600 or $700 a year to pay for birth control, whether it's the pill or the patch, that's real money, and if you're trying to figure out how you're going to pay for your groceries, chris, or whether you can make sure you can be on birth control and make sure you don't expand your family the a time when economically you're not ready to do that, then the republican field would make that impossible or extremely difficult. and barack obama has given women control of when they -- when and how they plan their families and made it affordable. >> can you hold on, congresswoman? i want to go back our panel. the point she makes is a point that a number of republicans and republican columnists have made, that if these candidates keep focusing on social issues, it'll be to their detriment. what do you think we'll hear in the next five days? are we going to stay talking on these social issues for michigan and arizona? >> well, the interesting thing is, if you ask the priorities of most voters are these days, it

would be jobs, the economy. but what the priority seems to be for the republican primary electorate is obama hating. they want him out. and the social issues i think are really one of the forefronts one of the chief battlegrounds for that. which is why the race has veered in that direction. and so mitt romney is unveiling this week a new corporate tax plan, tax reform, and yet he barely mentioned it last night. he can do something on jobs and the economy, but he still didn't talk about that last night and hasn't been able to for weeks and the whole image of the republican party which gets -- gets the congresswoman here very, very excited is all they care about is sex. whether it's gay marriage or contraception or abortion, that's what they're obsessed with it. >> it led his surge in the polls

because people saw passion there where they feel that mitt romney has either flip-flopped or he's been very flat. but does he have to pivot to economic issues? >> i think for the next few days, he's got to stay on the social issues part. you noticed last night romney made a very aggressive comment about obama trying to get rid of religion in america. i think what you see in the primaries, whenever he tries to veer to the economy, they gain on him. he has to stay in the over the top rhetoric to win the primaries, to win michigan and arizona. he can't go back to the old economic only romney because that doesn't work in the primary. >> congresswoman, one final point. we haven't talked really about ron paul. but he brought up $6 gas in florida. and you were talking about issues that are important to the middle class. i looked it up, there are a couple of stations in the orlando area where they're in the $5.70 plus range.

there are a lot of stations in the $4 plus range. how important is this? and how potentially threatening is this to barack obama's reelection? >> well, energy, and making sure that energy is affordable is a high priority for president obama. he's going to be in south florida today talking and giving a major speech on energy. president obama has employed an all-the-above strategy. we have more production in the united states today than we've ever had. we have investment in alternative energy. we're making sure that when it comes to solar and wind and the other kinds of renewable fuels that barack obama is talking about making sure we make those kinds of investments. and the republican field like mitt romney thinks that we just need to remain tethered and dependent on foreign oil because all they would do is more and more drilling, which is a very shortsighted approach and it

would do nothing to prevent the people who are struggling to put $80 into their gas tank to be able to make sure that's more affordable. and that's another example of how they're economically out of touch. so romney's got to face voters in michigan, which is really his home state. he's dealing with a situation where he said let detroit go bankrupt and the 1.4 million jobs in the auto industry would be gone if it were left up to him and rick santorum and the rest of the republican field in arizona, they support an extreme immigration policy that romney is the most extreme presidential candidate on immigration in history. and you've got a tremendous number of latino voters in arizona who really believe that they should be able to find a legal path to comprehensive immigration reforms remaining here because all they're trying to do is to be able to provide for their families. we're not talking about people who are committing crimes here. we're talking about people who just want to make sure they can live the american dream. >> well, it is going to be fascinating to see the debate in

the fall once we figure out who the republican is going to be. congresswoman, always great to have you on as it is david and terry. we also heard a lot about foreign affairs last night. a couple of big stories this morning about that breaking news, defense officials telling nbc that seven u.s. marines were killed when their helicopters collided. this happened over arizona. the marines were conducting training exercises out of miramar, california, when their choppers struck each other in midair. there were no survivors. meantime, two u.s. soldiers killed today in eastern afghanistan amid major protests over the burning of copies of the koran at a coalition military base. nbc's atia abawi is live. what's the latest there? >> reporter: despite apologies here as well as the president of the united states to the president of afghanistan, we saw a third day of protests here in afghanistan. we saw protests sprouting up in various parts of the country, some peaceful, others violent.

one of the most violent in eastern afghanistan when demonstrators were trying to take over a u.s. base. they were being egged on by loud speakers. what we've heard is that religious leaders on loud speakers were telling these demonstrators to take over that base. a police official in the area said that the u.s. soldiers first fired upon the crowd angering an afghan soldier who was actually fighting alongside them. that soldier, the afghan soldier turned his weapon on the u.s. soldier killing two of them and injuring four more. another very deadly day here in afghanistan. and this time cost the lives of two americans. chris? >> thank you for that update. and straight ahead, does our improving economy put the republicans in a bind? ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪

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will the real fiscal conservative please stand up? even with all the heated rhetoric over social issues, last night's debate did have a lot of fire on the economy. >> in my view, we should not raise the debt ceiling again until we get compensating cuts in spending, a cut, cap, and balance approach must be taken. >> if you look at my record on spending. i'm taking on entitlements, never voting for an appropriation bill increase. >> you have to have jobs and economic growth to get back to a balanced budget. >> vote against the spending. >> and president obama making economic news of his own, unveiling a proposal to overhaul corporate taxes, reducing the rate from 35% to 28%. joining me now is steve forbes. good to see you. good morning. >> chris, thank you. >> let's start with the president's corporate tax overhaul. it would eliminate oil and gas industry subsidies, do away with certain corporate tax shelters, which obviously will be part of

the fight. what's your reaction? is this the right task to take? >> reducing the tax rate is good. unfortunately, he ends up increasing taxes on business. it does so by putting taxes on small businesses the way they're organized, so called s-corp.s and llcs. that's going to hurt job creation. and he takes a whack at the life insurance industry. that's going to hurt. he puts the tax on overseas earnings even if you don't repatriate them. at the end of the day, this will come out to several hundred billion dollars of a tax increase and that'll do more harm than good. >> what about the overall. as you know places like the former owner of nbc, general electric, who essentially don't pay taxes, does there need to be something that happens in the corporate tax structure so these kinds of huge corporations are at least paying at a minimal level? >> well, the way you do that is

something like i've been advocating for a long time, the flat tax. instead of picking winners and losers and you can get the corporate rate down to 15%, 17%, and collecting more money because if you make it, you pay it. and that's the way to do it. do a thorough cleaning instead of picking and choosing, which at the end of the day, politically, is not going to get you far. >> at the end of the day, there's something having a big impact on people's pocketbooks, that is gas prices. the average for unleaded jumped 3 cents overnight, it's now $3.61 a gallon. is there something in the short-term that can be done about this? and do you think these prices are artificially inflated right now? >> well, among other things they're worried about iran and that could very well blow in the next few months, that is a very real crisis that's coming to a head. and the other thing that's hurting, though, is the continuously weak dollar. gold took another surge yesterday. and whenever you have the fed printing a lot of dollars, that

sends commodity prices up. and before this financial crisis, oil was about $25, $35 a barrel, now it's about $100 a barrel. we saw this in the 1970s when we trash our money, that leads to higher oil prices. so stable dollar would go a long way. we will when i think israel's going to be making very real decisions soon about whether they're going to have to take action against iran. i would put it better than 50/50 they're going to do it. temporarily, for about 60 days, that'll send oil prices soaring. when the crisis abates, as i think it will, then you'll see it come down again, but if you don't have a blow-up with iran, i don't think you're going to get $5 a gallon gasoline, probably around $4. >> let's talk about this campaign. we've got to talk about these super pacs and their influence on this election cycle. 25% of super pac money has come from five wealthy donors.

gingrich supporter sheldon adelson says he might give up to $100 million. what do you think about this? is this undue influence in the presidential race? and does it need to stop? >> well, i think what -- i don't mind anyone giving anything to anyone as long as it's publicly displayed, it's on the internet on the day in which you do it. and then people can see is somebody trying to get undue influence. and in terms of sheldon adelson who we just did a cover story on him, his extraordinary success. and if he wants to use his own resources to do it, fine. remember, on the union side -- >> $10 million or $100 million. >> but on the union side, they contribute literally hundreds of millions, billions of dollars by taking dues from workers without getting their formal permission. so this level of kind of crazy field we have. so i believe throw out these restrictions, let everyone give what they want as long as it's fully disclosed and people can

then say you're selling yourself out or making the other decision they want. but trying to restrict it has clearly not worked which is why we have all of these crazy independent committees, shady organizations set up by soros and others. clean it up, let the sunshine shine. >> well, let me ask you really quickly. you originally endorsed rick perry for president, he was in the audience last night. are you willing to endorse any of the other four there last night? >> not yet. and even though it's remote, maybe there'll be another candidate coming in in the next few weeks. >> anybody we know who has been on this program perhaps? >> i don't know if you've had jeb bush or mitch daniels or chris christie or paul ryan on, but it might be one of them, but not me. >> steve forbes, it's always good to have you. thanks so much. the syrian government denying responsibility for the bombing deaths of two journalists, including veteran american war correspondent marie

colvin. here is some of colvin's final report heard on the bbc. >> shell eed rockets in coming hitting buildings. and the wounded and dead i have seen i would say about 80% civilians. >> activists say syrian forces have resumed shelling in homes today. secretary of state hillary clinton will attend meetings on syria during her four-day trip to london and north africa. who are the your business entrepreneurs of the week. seven years ago jesse and greg brought a run down movie complex that couldn't compete with the chains, they upgraded are renovations, it's one of the few independent complexes in the new york city area. for more, watch your business sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. piro.obert

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the united states show some courage. come on this program, look into the camera like i'm looking into the camera and say his position. he won't because he wants to have it both ways. i'm not looking to have it both ways. i vetoed the bill. that's my position. >> christie's candidate, mitt romney is a target of a new ad from priorities usa. >> his message was clear. >> let detroit go bankrupt. >> mitt romney, there's no question he made a fortune from businesses he helped destroy. >> bankrupt. >> and newt gingrich says he is giving up dessert for lent. but he and calista will not be giving up the golden arches. february is black history month, and civil rights scholar was born on this day in 1968. as an advocate for political representation for blacks, dubois helped found the naacp. he spoke against social

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[ male announcer ] 1, 2, 3 percent cash back for the things you buy most. the bankamericard cash rewards card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. some other stories people are talking about right now. just about two months after the u.s. pulled out of iraq, a wave of violence targeting security forces. at least 48 people have been killed across baghdad and ten other cities in just two hours in an effort to destabilize the country. for the first time today, the army private accused of spilling secrets to wikileaks will enter a plea in court. private bradley manning faces 82 counts, that charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. a lacrosse player facing up to 26 years in prison. last night a jury convicted george hugueley of second-degree

murder in the beating death of his girlfriend yaerdley love. >> it's devastating to wake up and realize she's no longer here, we'll continue to keep our spirit alive by performing works of kindness in her name. two very different kinds of shootings to tell you about. an 8-year-old washington state girl is fighting for her life at a local hospital after she was shot at school. her 9-year-old classmate had a gun in his backpack that discharged while they were in class. police are investigating why he brought that gun to school. and a connecticut man heading to court today after he allegedly shot two of his supervisors during a disciplinary dispute. the 65-year-old worker was arrested later at his home. the victims are in serious, but stable condition. house democrats at this hour with a big pushback against republicans in the debate over contraception. right now the committee is

hearing from georgetown student sandra fluke who was shut out from this picture. last week's all-male panel. here was house minority leader nancy pelosi's response to that image a couple of moments ago. >> the purpose of this meeting is one i wish didn't exist. seeing that panel before her, our colleague congresswoman maloney asking where are the women? indeed in this debate, nothing could be more critical than hearing the voices of our nation's women. >> nbc capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell joins me now. this is unusual. not a hearing. tell us what's going on here, kelly. >> yes, they're actually in recess. and with all of the outrage the democrats felt about the hearing that you showed that image from, which was an oversight committee hearing that was chaired by republican darrell issa and began as a hearing about

religious freedom. that's where it started. where it ended was very different. because women and many democrats felt that there was an attempt to silence the voices of women when it comes to the issue of contraception. the republicans who held that hearing said no, no, no, it's about religious freedom. but democrats were able to take this moment and in a sense create a new hearing. the democratic policy committee isn't a normal hearing that does traditional business. so you've got just a handful of democrats there and they invited the law student from georgetown. and also unusual, she received applause at the end of her remarks. what she was talking about is all of the health care needs women have who use contraception not just for birth control, but to control hormones and a lot of the medical issues that come with that. she gave testimony about a friend who had some very serious health issues and was not able to pay for her contraception because it wasn't covered at a

student at georgetown. it was religious-based institutions like catholic universities or hospitals that rejected to the requirement and the white house adjusted that to not force institutions to pay for birth control if it is against their religious beliefs. and georgetown as a catholic university said that's one of the things. this is something for nancy pelosi and the democrats to shine a light on to give that woman a forum today and to bring this issue back into the spotlight. democrats have done a good job about making this about contraception and have used this issue to put some of their concerns foremost. and it's been a real political potato as you know, chris, and this is one they've been able to really give a moment to this woman and the concern she represents. >> kelly o'donnell on capitol hill for us. thank you, kelly. so 20 gop debates, 20 opportunities for candidates to make claims leading us wondering, is that really true? take this comment from rick santorum.

>> governor romney raised $700 million in taxes and fees in massachusetts. >> join me now for some fact checking, the washington post. i always love this. so did mitt romney raise taxes and fees in massachusetts by $700 million? >> well, you know, one person's loophole closing is another person's tax increase. and, you know, we looked into this. romney -- yes, romney likes to say he cut taxes in massachusetts. but santorum has a point there. there were hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe even more than the $700 million senator santorum mentions in loophole closings as well as fee increases, which were raised at governor of massachusetts was able to balance the budget. >> all right. the next one comes from mitt romney and his opposition to the auto bailout. he mentioned his "new york times" op-ed back in 2008 titled "let detroit go bankrupt." here's what he said about it.

>> i wrote an op-ed in the paper and i said absolutely not. don't write a check for $50 billion. these companies need to go through a managed bankruptcy. just like airlines have, just like other industries have. go through a managed bankruptcy. >> what's the truth here? >> well, this is a real political hot potato for romney because he was calling for a managed bankruptcy even though the headline on that opinion piece said let detroit go bankrupt. but the problem which even bush officials say there was no way you could do a managed bankruptcy in the midst of the economic crisis. there wasn't any public financing, private financing available. and so ultimately they did go through a managed bankruptcy, but that's only with the help of government loans. >> and we have newt gingrich weighing in when it comes to balancing the budget. here's what he claimed during his time as speaker of the house. >> when i was speaker as i'm sure he remembers, we balanced the budget for four consecutive

years for the only time in his lifetime. >> i feel like it's deja vu all over again. didn't we talk about this already? >> yes. by now it's like a pinoccio statement because it's just wrong. he wasn't speaker for half of those years. the reason the budget was balanced was mainly because of bills he opposed. there was a president named bill clinton who had a role in this. and if you actually do, you know, look at the debt the way conservatives like to look at it in terms of gross, that went up during that period. >> if i say it enough, maybe people will believe it anyway. >> as in every debate. >> always love your fact checking. thanks for coming on. >> glad to be with you. with last night's debates on the books, the focus moves to actual voting and it's michigan on tuesday that could be the force of this race. let's talk strategy.

and democratic strategist debbie. >> good morning. >> as you know, mitt romney and rick santorum failed to hit a home run. talking about his tax plan in the "wall street journal" today. he's also got this major economic speech at ford field tomorrow. what does he do for the next five days? does he do his thing? lay low? focus on the economy? what's mitt romney got to do to take michigan? >> well, governor romney's got to close. and he's going to spend all his effort and resources in michigan because a loss in michigan could be devastating for mitt romney. he's going to do all the things he needs to do. i'm sure all the candidates will be in polling tonight. they'll do necessary traffic changes over the weekend they have to kind of change their message the last couple of days. i think what you're seeing with governor romney is the economic speeches of detroit, economic club talking about jobs which didn't get talked about last night. he's going to try to make the

focus about jobs and the economy and try to close with those issues, which i think is the right thing to do for mitt romney. >> in the meantime, rick santorum i think needs to go all out. is this the time to throw everything including the kitchen sink at mitt romney? pay for advertising, schedule as many events as humanly possible? because if he doesn't win michigan, does he just become the latest also ran that mitt romney has left by the wayside? >> i think you're both right. i think it's absolutely correct, i think rick santorum has a lot of expectations on how well he's going to do here. and quite frankly, i don't think the momentum has done in either direction. there was a poll yesterday that showed mitt romney two points up. today there's a poll that shows santorum three points up. and what all the polls show is that approximately 45% of the people are undecided. so the speech is so critical for

mitt romney. that could take and move the momentum in his favor or take it the other way. rick santorum's working the out state areas, doing the bus tour. it's more likely to turn out. they've got more emotion and passion. if they turn out, they're going to vote for rick santorum. this race has not broken yet. >> and, chip, obviously passion if you're working out among the candidates, you've got to give that to rick santorum over mitt romney. does he stick to the social issues? does he do exactly what it looks like he's going to do? get on that bus the way he was going door-to-door in iowa. obviously a much bigger state in michigan, but pound these social issues? >> he's a passionate guy, he stays with what works for him -- >> he doesn't have the organization that mitt romney has, obviously. >> no, but he's got a great, passionate speech, and his believers are fervent, and if you look at the polling and the second layer is his voters are coming and governor romney's challenge is making sure his voters and others get to the

polls. this is about counting votes. whoever gets the most votes wins, which is the most obvious statement, but you've got to get to the voters to the polls and that's what these campaigns are focused on. getting their voters to vote on tuesday. >> we talked about the debate last night, but one of the things that struck me was the talk about union and anti-union sentiment we heard last night. let me play some of it for you. >> you have to stand up to the federal teachers union and put the kids first and the unions behind. and barack obama's people, oh, no, we can't go through managed bankruptcy. six months they wrote, i think it was $17 billion in checks to the auto companies and finally realized i was right. the president gave the companies to the uaw, they were part of the reason the companies were in trouble. giving these companies to the uaw was wrong. >> debbie, michigan is a state where we said this repeatedly, democrats and independents can vote. there has been some sort of murmuring underneath the surface that union folks were going to

go up. they would much rather vote for rick santorum than mitt romney who they view as a stronger candidate. do you buy that theory? and it's only 10%, 15% of the electorate who is not republican. could it shift a tight race? >> it absolutely could shift a tight race. the michigan democratic party chair yesterday sent out an e-mail sent out by two republican state senators encouraging republican senators to vote. i have been very surprised at mitt romney's anti-labor rhetoric. it's energizing labor. he talks about selling out or giving the auto industries to the uaw. what he did was protect pensions and health care and that's what's happening across the country as everybody's facing these tough economic times. how are you making sure people have secure after they worked hard for a lifetime. his rhetoric is not playing well and could backfire on him super tuesday. >> thanks to both of you. we should just note for you

movie fans out there that the location of this weekend's oscars is the hollywood and highland center. it's been known since 2002 as the kodak theater. but kodak filed for bankruptcy last month. so hollywood and highland is the name of the whole complex there, which is a lot of shock to restaurants too. when bp made a commitment to the gulf, we knew it would take time, but we were determined to see it through. today, while our work continues, i want to update you on the progress:

bp has set aside 20 billion dollars to fund economic and environmental recovery. we're paying for all spill- related clean-up costs. and we've established a 500 million dollar fund so independent scientists can study the gulf's wildlife and environment for ten years. thousands of environmental samples from across the gulf have been analyzed by independent labs under the direction of the us coast guard. i'm glad to report all beaches and waters are open for everyone to enjoy. and the economy is showing progress with many areas on the gulf coast having their best tourism seasons in years. i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp. we're committed to the gulf for everyone who loves it, and everyone who calls it home.

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good morning, i'm luke russert in for thomas robert. on our agenda next hour, rick santorum on the defensive in last night's debate. did romney do enough damage to stop santorum's surge? the birth control battle dominating capitol hill today with house speaker nancy pelosi holding her own hearing. i'll speak with her number two congressman steny hoyer, and the only witness. and the koran burning fire storm claims the lives of u.s. troops, now president obama is offering an apology. all that in the 11:00 a.m. hour on luke russert in for thomas roberts. >> thanks so much, luke. in an abrupt change, virginia's republican governor and legislature backed down, gone from a bill just tasked into the requirement to get an invasive -- that women get an invasive ultrasound before an abortion. but the fight continues. today virginia's legislature holds a hearing on a bill and nancy pelosi a hearing on contraception. richard lui is here now with a

look at virginia and maryland so close, richard, and yet, boy, so far apart on these kinds of business. >> the potomac separating virginia and maryland by just miles here, but they're oceans apart on women's issues. for instance, pre-abortion screening. maryland rejected tight restrictions to its abortion clinics last year. across the river, virginia's republican-led legislature almost passed a bill some democrats callied "akin to rape" -- should get the right and privileges of other people. maryland has no such bill. the potomac also divides views on same-sex marriage. yesterday virginia passed a bill allowing private agencies to deny gay couples from adopting. on education, illegal immigrants have a choice of dream or a nightmare. maryland signed into law allowing illegal immigrants to

pay in-state tuition. virginia, on the other hand, is considering banning them from state schools altogether. as for the actual state border, it's on the side of this side of the river here, chris, like the issues that separate the two states, it's not down the middle. >> who would've thought it. thank you very much, richard. always good to during the debate lastnight, now that we all agree that contraception is a bad idea, let's take a harder look at electricity and soap. ude what? no, no, no. he's, he's on my back about providing for his little girl. hey don't worry. e-trade's got a totally new investing dashboard. everything is on one page, your investments, quotes, research... it's like the buffet last night. whatever helps you understand man. i'm watching you. oh yeah? well i'm watching you, watching him. [ male announcer ] try the new 360 investing dashboard at e-trade.

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lowe -- let's get down to the wire. as lindsay lohan's saturday night live appearance gets closer, so does the end of her probation. at a status hearing, the judge told her she's in the home stretch. lohan has been doing volunteer work at the l.a. morgue and attending therapy. the hollywood walk of fame has a new member.

jennifer aniston got her star right in front of the "w" hotel. she has a new comedy "wanderlust" out in theaters this weekend. watch out academy awards, here comes sasha barron cohen, threatening to show up as his new character "the dictator." he was asked to be a presenter in 2007, but when the academy told him he couldn't come as borat, he declined. there are sure to be a lot of jewels on the red carpet, but none like this. a rare pink diamond has been found in australia almost 13 carats. the stunner is being cut right now, polished, and prepared for sale later this year. and that wraps up this hour of "jansing and company" luke russert is filling in for thomas roberts, and he's up next. i'll see you back here tomorrow. ♪ [ spa lady ] i started enbrel. it's clinically proven to provide clearer skin.

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supported over pat toomey in pennsylvania arlen spector, the pro-choice senator of pennsylvania, that you supported and endorsed in a race over pat toomey, so don't take a look at me, take a look in the mirror. >> mitt romney lets it rip. tearing into rick santorum again and again at the final republican debate before arizona and michigan vote. did santorum just blow his best chance to take down mitt romney? president obama apologizes to afghan's president. as the koran burning leads to the death of u.s. troops. the issue of women's health and who controls bodies dominating the debate both in washington and virginia. i'll speak with the democrats' sole witness on capitol hill. and i'll talk with the virginia lawmaker opposing that state's ultrasound bill. hello, everyone, i'm luke russert filling in for thomas roberts. and we have a lot on th