♪ >> hello, everyone. it's high noon in the east, 9:00 a.m. in the west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." the gop battle for puerto rico. a new bin laden threat. duchess of cambridge, kate middleton, march madness and marg vet thatcher's reagan doodles. we'll have that for you in the next two hour, but first --

today we finally know the name of the u.s. soldier expected to face charges in the killings of 16 afghan civilians. army staff sergeant robert bales was flown out of kuwait and is in custody in the maximum security prison at fort leavenworth, kansas. we're learning things more about sergeant bales, his family and career. john yang is there with the very latest. good day, what it is the latest? >> reporter: hello, alex, bales is making his first day on u.s. soil since he was deployed in afghanistan in december, but he is not back in his own house in washington state. he is in fort leavenworth in solitary confinement. staff sergeant robert bales seen here training at a military facility in california is housed in a pre-trial detention facility. he's awaiting formal charges in connection with the shooting rampage that left 16 afghan civilians dead including women and children.

he's the married father of two young children of his own who have all been moved on to a military base in washington state for their own protection. >> they're suffering a lot. they're confused a lot. more than anything, everybody is very concerned. they're scratching their heads more than anything else. >> neighbors in his washington state community are shocked. >> super nice. super nice family, nice people, nice parents, nice friends. i am completely blown away. >> according to his lawyer, bales enlisted shortly after 9/11 and decided to make it his career. he'd been sent to iraq three times suffering a head injury and losing part of a foot. >> he was told he would not be going back to the middle east. he was training to be a military recruiter and then overnight he was told he was going back. >> in afghanistan, he was witness to more of war's brutality. >> there was an incident right before these allegations where

one of his fellow soldiers was mortally wounded. >> reporter: he's described as a highly decorated number of the 3rd stryker brigade 2nd infantly division. he is said to live a quiet, unassuming life not far from base. his lawyer questions allegations he was drinking the night of the shooting. he suggests bales may be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and that it might play a role in his defense. legal analysts say insanity defenses are rare in military trials. >> you would have to assume that that's going to be an uphill battle just on general principles. >> reporter: we are learning more about bales. according to court records in washington state, twice since he was stationed there in 2002 he's been in civilian court facing misdemeanor charges and both times the court ordered him to go go anger management training. it will be a requirement to see

if the military can continue holding him while they continue their investigation. alex? >> john yang, thanks for that live report. so many are still asking how exactly could something like this happen? a bit earlier i spoke with matthew akins who has been covering afghanistan since 2008 and he tried to put the shootings into perspective for us. this kind of small, special forces base where bales is living there's not a lot of supervision and he was able to bluff his way past the afghan guards guarding the outer perimeter and they were used to night raids in the area and they were used to u.s. soldiers kicking down their doors at night and they knew in those situations if they put up any resistance they'll be killed. so, you know, he was able to go from door to door, trying different doors and killing 16 people, men, women and children in their beds. >> sergeant bales was on his first trip to afghanistan after three tours in iraq.

>> let's go now to front-page politics and three big republican contests. first to missouri where gop caucuses are taking place. rick senator up is on the heels of a sweep through illinois. >> and people are going out there. they like the guy who is scrappy. they like the guy who is trying to overcome the machine. >> next to puerto rico where nit romney is rallying voters today. it's the second day on the island ahead of the primary there. >> on sunday, please go vote and get your friends to vote. together we'll make sure that we keep america the strongest nation and the earth, the world. romney the lead there with 37% and santorum is second with 31 followed by gingrich and paul, and the illinois primaries tuesday and newt gingrich taking a campaign detour to a zoo in louisiana where gingrich got up close and personal there with one of the elephants. louisiana's primary is march 24th. joining me now national

political reporter for "the washington post" amy gardner and msnbc contributor perry bacon, jr. hello to the both of you. nice to see you. >> you, too, alex. >> santorum claims momentum with recent wins in alabama and mississippi while romney claims the lead in the delegate count overall. do you think it can translate to the number of delegates that he needs to challenge romney in tampa? >> i mean, probably not. it seems like it's less of a race about momentum and more about geography and demographics. in a state like illinois where a small number of evangelicals santorum would have a hard time and romney will likely win. if you go to louisiana, santorum and gingrich have a much bigger advantage. it will be hard to get momentum and in the south, santorum will do better. >> heretofore, you would have heard newt gingrich saying that he would do better in the south. amy, i know you've been following the gingrich campaign. it's been helping and hurting the gop.

how's that? >> i think this past week the view from the washington and the media and the political classes and within the romney campaign is that gingrich staying in the race was helpful to romney because it sort of blocked a one-on-one contest between santorum and romney, and i think that that shifted a little bit this week with gingrich's second place finishes in louisiana and alabama where he was widely expected to do better than that, including by himself and his own advisers. i think there is a view that gingrich's momentum is continuing to slip, and so now you hear romney advisers say privately that they actually would like to see gingrich step aside and to get that one-on-one shot at santorum and this nominating process and move on to the general election. >> perry, i want to turn to president obama because he addressed the high gas prices in his weekly address today. >> it's easy to promise a quick fix when it comes to gas prices. there just isn't one.

anyone who tells you otherwise. any career politician who promises some three-point plan for $2 gas, they're not looking for a solution. they're just looking for your vote. >> of course, he's referencing newt gingrich there, though not by name. this is the fourth straight weekly address that the president has talked gas prices or energy futures. does this suggest to you that the administration is worried about gas prices come november? >> absolutely. he's talking about that on thursday and and the humidity plan as well. they're absolutely concerned about it. the challenge with what they're trying to do is make sure that other data, particularly unemployment shows that the economy is improving, but to make the case, gas prices are going up, but they're trying to make sure that the gas price story doesn't take away from the general optimism of the economy and voters aren't going vote on the gas prices themselves or they will vote on how they feel about the economy and where it's going in november. >> you know, amy, the president is referring to newt gingrich's

$2.50 gallon gas prices. you've been following him. has he explained how he would get to that figure? >> his general principle is there's much more energy to be explored in this country than the public is aware of and that this current administration's taking advantage of so his general policy proposal is to open up all kind of energy exploration whether it's offshore drilling, drilling on land in north dakota. he talks a great deal about the availability of new drilling technologies in north dakota and also alternative energies, too. wind, and he, too, thinks he should be doing more toy explore alternative sources of energy. so we have the resource here. we don't need to rely upon the middle east and we can drive the price down ourselves by opening up exploration here. >> but, with the exception of perhaps new technology affording the ability to do that state of north dakota, is there anything

new in what newt gingrich is saying? >> he wants to encourage offshore drilling, for instance, by giving states the right to demand royalties which would encourage states to allow offshore drilling and that's the other main source of new e mro raising that he talks about on the trail. >> perry, i was mentioning romney's lead on the delegate count and ahead of the other three candidates combined. we also have the primaries in puerto rico and illinois. how much longer do you think we'll be talking about a three-man gop race? >> gingrich is declaring this week saying that he wants to make sure that he keeps delegates from going to romney. i think we're talking about until june at this rate. we'll have santorum, romney and gingrich all competing and i think romney will have a hard time securing delegates until june if all three of them are still in the race and still competing. >> your take on this? >> i think that's right. the real question right now is what is newt gingrich's

trajectory in term of his momentum and if he continues to take the non-trivial fraction of delegates that he's been taking state by state by state then he and santorum together could block romney from getting to the magical number of 11:44 that he needs to secure the nomination without going to the convention. if newt gingrich continues to slip, then maybe that's not the case. there's really only one person that can get to 11:44 now before the convention and that's mitt romney. either romney locks it up or we'll have an interesting summer as we approach the convention. >> any bets on what the prediction there is? no, you're not taking it. >> no. amy gardner, perry bacon, jr., thanks so much. new federal filings indicate the ron paul campaign is short on cash. the texas congressman spent more money last month than he brought in. the campaign has the smallest stash on hand than at any other point in the campaign only $1.3

million. paul, of course, has the least amount of delegates thus far. after today's caucuses in missouri. puerto rico holds the primary tomorrow and march ends the month with louisiana's primary on the 24th. moving to april, washington, d.c., maryland and wisconsin hold primaries on the 3rd. >> president obama targets big oil. how might that affect what you pay at the pump. i'll speak with katherine crier about that next. catch lucky. hearts, moons, stars, clovers and diamonds. >> plus, what you didn't know about lucky charms including a fashion icon who starred in a commercial as a child here on "weekends with alex witt." this is $100,000.

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>> in his weekly address today, president obama is taking on a big target, tax subsidies for the oil industry. >> for the next few weeks i expect congress to vote on ending these subsidies and when they do, we're going to put every single member of congress on record. they can either stand up for the oil companies or they can stand up for the american people. they can either place their bets on a fossil fuel from the last century or they can place their bets on america's future.

so make your voice heard. send your representative an e-mail, give them a call, tell them to stand with you. >> if this sounds familiar it's because it's the fourth week in a row that president obama has focused his address on oil prices and his energy future and not coincidentally because fuel prices have risen 9% over the past four weeks. it is an issue that could be a big hurdle ahead of the election. joining me is catherine crier and author of "patriot acts. what americans must do to save the republic." how great to have you back. good to see you again. >> good to see you. let's talk about what's happening right now with the president? do you think he's doing election-year posturing right now or do you think congress can really do something to put these tax breaks and end all of that for the big oil companies? >> it's obviously a big issue. it's an issue that impacts the consumer very, very directly, but people don't remember a lot of things. one, this time every spring

you've got production facilityities that are shutting down to transfer different kind of gas -- >> it's more expensive. >> that's right. and it falls off again in the fall. gas prices always escalate in the summer. we've got a global economy. we've got the threat of war in iran and all of these things and the speculators are playing their role in the market. so politically, i understand targeting the president, but the reality is very, very different. now he's having a conversation at a dangerous time to start talking about the subsidies and tax breaks for the oil company. so i give him a lot of credit because it's a courageous position. it's a position we need to be taking. i don't know, whether -- that would step up to that plate right now even though i think they should. >> this was addressed when the democrats were in control and it could not get past it.

so the luckily hood now -- >> i mean, the power on capitol hill, but we this year are exporting crude. we are exporting petroleum products. so people need to understand the industry is looking to china and india going, who will pay us the highest prices right now and the american consumer has to stand in line. and if in pack, zee to stand in line that at $4.50, $5 a gallon they're not concerned. >> another topic that is up for public consumption 24/7 it seems jobs. you wrote a column on "the huffington post." you made the argument that republican candidates, job creation policies are inherently flawed. you say wealth does not trickle down and deregulation does not equal job growth. so it does create jobs. >> it's quite interesting. there's almost universal agreement around the world that

education, supporting innovation and entrepreneurial innovation which may or may not include the big, multinational corporations and infrastructure and we have ignored our infrastructure and infrastructure not only includes roads and bridges, but it includes a national wireless system so that anyone in rural america can be just as productive and active as someone sitting in new york city, and we do not pay attention to that, and it's puzzling to me because when you go back in history that i do in the book, it is the republicans starting with alexander hamilton who was all for using federal money and building infrastructure to make us this great, competitive nation, and it wasn't really until post world war ii that all of a sudden republicans became this -- we're not going use the federal government to grow everything to lift all boats. >> can you give a reason for that? was it the timing?

>> this is very disturbing that in '09, a very prominent economist said for the first time there is no correlation between our gdp in the stock market and the help of the domestic economy meaning we're reporting all of these great numbers, but they're coming from the multinationals who don't need to rely on the american consumer anymore. so 50 years ago they said to congress, put money into this country, build infrastructure, we'll support the taxes and the policies to do this. now we don't really care because we want more development in china over india. so when you've lost that correlati correlation, the american people, and that's not just the workers of the poor, the middle class. that's everybody needs to fight for the well-being of our domestic economy because a lot of the money on capitol hill, the big money and the big

contributors are investing overseas. they're saving their money and we know big corporations are sitting on billions in cash so the whole argument has been debunked. you've cut capital gains and cut taxes and those are going to the second, third, fourth home and they're going to the savings account or being invested overseas and they're not coming here. >> all of this being outlined in the patriot act. we appreciate that discussion and we'll keep talking about politics. you get a short coffee break. see you in a bit. mixed reaction over the hate crime of dhar un ravi. he used a web cam to spy on his roommate's intimaten counter with another man. he faces several years in prison and potential deportation to his native india. you'll remember his roommate tyler clementi committed suicide

days after that video was taken. gay rights underscores the division of hate crimes legislation, but legal groups say these laws criminalize beliefs that are not considered politically correct. we've been asking you all day this question, dharun ravi, how much time should he serve? >> dmj 43 tweets not crazy about making examples of people, still we need to make some sort of statement on his behavior. dharun ravi should be released when he turns 30 years old. at that point it's time to be an adult 24/7. not long enough to bring the young man back. keep talking to me. my handle is @alexwitt. i'll be reading your tweets later on. >> now to number five on the first five web stories. margaret thatcher and her fascination with ronald reagan. she took a page from his doodles of the g-7 summit. here they are. a torso and an eyeball and a few heads as well.

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because the future is where i'll be serving up humble pie. a la mode. [ male announcer ] at&t introduces the samsung galaxy note. phone. tablet. both. ♪ >> tech watch now. the much-anticipated ipad 3 had people around the country lining up to buy the iconic tablet. if you're the owner of an earlier tablet edition you can get a fhelp. for instance, with an ipad 2 with just wi-fi that's less than i year old and pretty good condition could get you a $205 credit and that would help you buy a new ipad which is why they're putting that out there. >> in today's "then and now," the iranian revolution and energy crisis of 1979. here's a clip from "nbc nightly

news" 33 years ago at an upcoming meeting at company david with james schlessinger. take notice, many of the ideas sound very familiar. >> they help draw up strategies for dealing with energy shortages and inflation. >> the plan drawn up by energy secretary schlessinger for coping with the loss of oil from iran. officials say the iranian cutoff may abe blessing in disguise because it forces the country to deal now with energy problems it would face anyway in a few years. the schlessinger plan calls for weekend gas station closings and other mandatory conservation steps. an easing of some environmental rules, cutting red tape in the nuclear power industry and speeding up the flow of alaskan oils and putting an emphasis on other synthetic fuels. at the time gas prices were -- ready for this? 78 cents a gallon. they certainly went up from there.

with the average price of $3.84, just 30 cents from just one year ago. >> the 21 jumpstreet" movie is a must see or must avoid in the answer coming up, but first, number four on our first five on the web, march madness. a new poll shows 86% of workers will be following gains on the job and that could lead to a loss of $170 million in productivity. 2% of the i.t. professionals say they'll be watching if it gets a while to keep your computer fixed. if you're one of them folks who gets heartburn and then treats day after day... well, shoot, that's like checking on your burgers after they're burnt! [ male announcer ] treat your frequent heartburn by blocking the acid with prilosec otc. and don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] one pill a day. 24 hours. zero heartburn. the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from? ♪ that's why right here, in australia,

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>> welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." this hour mitt romney is meeting with candidates in puerto rico. romney's time on the island mostly in and around san juan has been described as more street carnival than political rally. peter alexander is in san juan. hello to you, peter. >> reporter: alex, good day to

you from the steps of the capital here in san juan, puerto rico. mitt romney getting a taste of puerto rican politics. this is a place where the people cannot vote in the u.s. general election, but they will have a significant say tomorrow in who becomes the republican nominee. romney alongside the man who hosted him here, the governor who endorsed him luis fortuno. romney up on the stage in what was more a carnival rather than a get out the vote rally. there was music and there was dancing as his wife ann noted, was there a lot of hugging and kissing and a unique energy and passion to the crowd here. she said to the audience you show us how to party and mitt romney said to the puerto rican crowd that he respected them as americans and cared for them as well. he's hoping to take advantage of the fact that rick santorum that when he was here earlier in the week left with a firestorm of controversy in his wake after his remarks that if puerto rico wanted to become the 51st state

in america it would be necessary that it first embrace english as its primary language. that upset some voters and some of his supporters and he tried to do damage control and said more specifically what me meant to say, knowing he was maliciously misquoted saying english was the preferred language, but it wasn't necessary that it be the official language. puerto rico with 20 delegates at stake tomorrow is more than new hampshire, vermont or hawaii. alex, that's the latest from san juan. back to you. >> all good points. thanks so much, peter alexander. let's go to "strategy talk." there's a pair of new articles out that suggest the presidential election could come down to three key states and a growing demographic within them. talking about virginia, north carolina and colorado which are home to growing populations of young, college-educated and high-salaried voters. they all have burgeoning tech corridors. they've seen a transition from solid republican to toss-up. in 2004 they all voted for

president obama. in 2008 they all voted for president obama. joining me now is larry sabato and former vermont governor and dnc chairman howard dean. good to see you both. >> thanks. >> good to see you. >> i'll begin with you, governor dean, had ohio gone to john kerr ney 2004 he would have won the election. according to this article, virginia, and colorado now old that distinction. what's your take? >> we actually in '08, our strategy was to have a western strategy and that is colorado, nevada, arizona and new mexico and that would offset the possible loss of ohio. i personally believe that this is now a good analysis that colorado is still a swing state. i think we'll win virginia hands down especially over the last controversies over the last weeks and north carolina is still tough and they're putting the full court press on. you have to look at ohio and florida and that's what will put

us over the top. >> so, larry, does the premise of a more educated and higher paid constituency mean democratic votes will hold water there? >> well, it has. certainly in 2008 it did and you have a very different electorate showing up in presidential years than you do in off years. generally speak, democrats tend to do better among those who are low income and those who are high income. they tend to do very well among those with the least education because there's strength with minorities, but also among those who are best educated. they've been winning those with any graduate school education for some time now. >> may i ask you, larry because you heard the governor saying he thinks verge verge wi s virgini. >> am from virginia and it's one

of the best swings toups and the governor is optimistic from the democratic perspective. so we have a long time to go until november. if the election were held today i think actually obama, assuming a good presidential turnout would win verge verirginia, andd not win north carolina and colorado would be very, very close. >> president obama held five fund-raising events yesterday and this morning in his address he challenged congress to end $4 million in tax subsidies for the oil industry. do you see him being in employ qaa camp mode from this point out? >> to be honest, he's in campaign mode since the job speech in august. his numbers have gone up for two reasons and the economy is better and that helps a lot. two, there are not that many people who are better than president obama, and three, the republicans have done just about everything they can possibly do to make his life easier with his

huge fliakos birth control and all of these things that are way out of the mainstream. that's why i am so optimistic. i respect larry very much. i do sound optimistic, although i agree with larry, north carolina will be a very heavy lift, but i think the republicans and governors have destroyed their brand in ohio and that will help us enormously. if you look at governor kasich's signature piece of legislation 60/40 in a special election and that does not bode well for the republicans in ohio and governor scott is well under 40% approval rating and has been for about a year and a half. these things all help our costs and i agree it's a long way to the election. >> what do yoi say to that, larry? do you think governors will kill some of the prospects in these states? that's a great argument for democrats. they will undoubtedly use it in the advertising. they're going to associate the republican nominee with governor kasich who is still unpopular in

ohio and governor scott in florida who is very unpopular in florida. if i were to compare the two again, i would say florida is a heavier lift than ohio. if you forced me to pick, i would say obama has a better chance of ohio over florida. the two times that ohio has been wrong since grover cleveland, they went to the republican who lost to a democrat in 1944 to doing instead of franklin, instead of john f. kennedy. you can find a path to 270 from obama that doesn't require either ohio and florida. you can't do that with the republican nominee. what if mitt rom. >> were to pick florida's marco rubio? >> i think that would be a smart pick. he's in trouble with hispanics. he's 6 to 1 rid now and he has

to cut that 3-1. i agree with florida is a heavy lift. i gave the president some very good advice, and florida is really tough and democratic parties, save your $40 million in some place else and they went down and won florida. i know how tough florida is. it's about six states in one. it's very, very complicated state, but they went before and he just has an unbelievable team. i think he knows where every vote in america is will vote for obama. i'm not kidding. >> he's the guy you want to have on your team then, larry sabato and howard dean. good to see you both. >> thank you. it is time now for another edition of "number ones." we begin with the woes of catching some zs. the website 24/7 wall street uses research to rank states with the most trouble sleeping. west virginia suffers the most with 26% of the people experiencing some sort of sleep

disturbance. oklahoma second, mississippi third. gallup's well-being survey shows folks in lancaster, pennsylvania, are doing the best. in other words, lancaster scores highest in overall physical and emotional wellness. other takeaways from the latest index, charlottesville, virginia, tops for treating each other with respect. boulder, colorado, leads the nation if going to the dentist. 80% of the people there say they've gotten a check-up at least witness a year. san jose, california, and surrounding metro tops big cities in providing safe places to exercise. >> oh, you can't go to the ball. >> you know that makes you the ugly stepsister. >> at 90 years of age betty swhiet still going strong, and thanks in part to her starring role in the sitcom "hot in cleveland." white is the most liked celebrity for all of 2011. in fact, it's the second straight year she's come out on top. sandra bullock was second with the most appeal.

michael j. fox third. ♪ ♪ >> bruce springsteen's no young chicken himself, but the aging rocker's latest album "wrecking ball kwp k ball" tops this year's billboard spot. play it up, christian. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ oh! [ baby crying ] ♪ what started as a whisper ♪

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that commercial. by the way, the new york parade under way right now. i swear we can practically hear it in the studio. a recravamp of the 1980s series1 jumpstreet" remake. check out this clip. ♪ ♪ >> yes! yes! yeah! yeah! yeah! >> what's up? what's up? >> just ridiculous. >> we were all hysterically laughing all over the studio. >> amy palmer is here. she needs no introduction, but nonetheless she's here with purewow.com. must see or must avoid on this one? >> must see. this one is laugh out loud from beginning to end. jonah hill and chanum are hilarious as cops that go back to high school. the genius of the movie is not

about the cop buddy film. it's about going back to high school and what would you do over again? >> it's the genius of this movie and social media has been all abuzz over it and i was pulling tweets for your producer. your life is not complete and you haven't lived and seen funny until you see "21 jumpstreet." it's that universally loved so i think it will be huge, and number one at the box office 35 million or more. definitely a sequel also. >> i have to tell you, that looks pretty fun. >> how about will ferrell who is such a funny guy and "casa de mi padre." >> it's all in spanish? >> he said he had to study it. of course, it's not really fluent, it's broken which kind of makes it funny, however this movie fell flat for me. of course, maybe that's just my opinion. he has incredible legions of fans who are devoted to him.

he's brought a million dollar to the box office alone, but for me this didn't work. i loved "anchorman" and "old school." i'm a fan. >> fans tend to go to him, but he does have some hits and misses. >> he does. he's not consistent across the board and i don't think this is in the old school genre. i don't think this is the will perrel that we love to see. >> okay. what about "titanic" in 3d set to be released coic si iic insi with the release. >> i like to remind people that this is the business of making movies. so this is a genius part on hollywood's pay insane. we think a new generation is going to watch this in 3d. this movie brought in hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide. it's going to bring in hundreds and hundreds of million dollars in 3d and you can expect to see so many other movies following "jurassic park," the star wars trilogy and get red for a new generation of audiences to be in

love with these. >> including me. >> it's nostalgia and that's what they're counting on. >> amy palmer, thank you very much. the duchess of cambridge celebrated, and she presented shamrocks in about an hour south of london. earlier this week, kate donned a sweatshirt, some coral pants and sneakers to play field hockey. she is an ambassador for the london olympic games and the former captain of her high school team. since her appearance, sales of coral-colored jeans have been through the roof. you saw that one coming. [ jane ] how did i get here?

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last year before osama bin laden was killed, the al qaeda leader was reportedly plotting to assassinate president obama. the washington post reports the

material found in bin laden's compound of pakistan detailed his plans to attack the planes of president obama and general david petraeus who was then the u.s. commander in afghanistan. joining me now msnbc military analyst colonel jack jacobs. good to see you, sir. >> the officials told "the washington post" that this obama-petraeus plot was never a serious threat. do you agree? >> i do agree and not because he didn't want to do it, but because it's very, very difficult to do. roots of high-level aircraft, air force one, air force two, marine one and so forth are secret. the air routes are closed off. you can't even get into the repair parts supply area of any of these aircraft. not only in washington, nor anywhere else, not even where the aircraft are manufactured where there is very close clearance, security is very, very high and the aircraft, and helicopters when they fly over difficult territory they're 50

feet off the ground and 175 knots. you should never say never, but it's extremely difficult to take out one of these aircraft. >> you're offering up a reason based on security surrounding that particular aircraft, the secret service and all of the rest of it. how aboutal al qaeda? are they organized enough? >> that's a good question. the short answer is now. they're very much more difficult to find. that's also the good news. central direction is difficult. osama bin laden and al zawahiri, the guy who took over were at odds over what the focus should be of al qaeda. al qaeda is something of a franchise. it doesn't make it easier to knock it off. we've had some success, but it also means that it's difficult for al qaeda to order issues and instructions and expect them to be carried out at the local level. al zawahiri's focus on muslim countries and osama bin laden really wanted to work hard to knock out the united states and

never got to it. after a decade plus, jack, of our focus being discussion on al qaeda and the kinds of terror problems they might pose. today might the number one problem know agents from iran? >> yes, we do have problems with agents from iran and we keep close eyes on people who are potential agents here, but anything that winds up occurring in the united states is the gauntlet of cooperation between american intelligence operatives and foreign intelligence operatives and there's lots more cooperation between the united states and our allies. and others who were a threat from places like iran than ever before. it's going to be really, really tough for agents to penetrate this failing. >> you mentioned that the cooperate in our own domestic corridors. the integration of our organizations. >> it is on israel and africa, saudi arabia, and it doesn't mean that we're immune from any attack, but it's tough for them

to break through. >> colonel jack jacobs, good to see you. >> surveyors are trying to solve a sink feeling at the washington monument. preliminary data has shown the structure has sunk two millimeter since 2009. the landmark was should the down after it was damaged in last year's earthquake. the mono up, however, remains structurally sound. it's time now take a look at stories that caught my eye. in mexico, the number of monarch butterflies dropped by 28%. experts blame drought where they begin their migration. others blame the deforestation of mexico's forests and look at this. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> i've always been the leadoff person. i love to sing. i love david bowie and that's my formative years. >> that's hard to do, to sing and workout at the same time and that's happening in maryland at a gym combining cycling and

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is in custody at a prison in fort leavenworth, kansas. we are learning more about sergeant bales, his family and his career. let's go to john yang outside fort leavenworth. good day to you. first up, let's get the latest on charges against sergeant bales. >> reporter: he has not formally been charged. it doesn't mean that charges are imminent. the fact gathering is still continuing. it could be a lengthy process, and so charges could be weeks, maybe even months away. alex? >> okay. what about sergeant bales. what do we know about his family? his military career, what did you piece together? >> reporter: well, he enlisted in the army shortly after 9/11 in november 2001 and decided to make it a career. he's been based in fort lewis in washington state since 9/112002, as a matter of fact. he's married.

he has two small children. he's had four deployments overseas, three in iraq and this last one in afghanistan. in iraq, he was wounded and he had a traumatic head injury from an ied explosion and also lost part of his foot in combat. his lawyer says that he was told that he would not be going overseas again, that he would be training to be a recruiter and remain state side and then was sent to afghanistan in which he says brought tremendous pressure on his family. the lawyer is denying reports of marital problems in the bales' family, but there are indications there might have been financial troubles, just a friday before the shooting, their house in the washington state was put on the market, and it was put on the market for a price below the purchase price and below, we understand, from

the realtor, below what they owed on it. so it's entirely possible that there were some financial troubles in the family. alex? >> i tell you, that description of a house being under water like that and him being so far away, that's tough. let's get to legal defense. do we know if he's been assigned an attorney? we know he's got the one, but is this something that this guy will stick with him for the long haul? what do we know? >> reporter: this sillian attorney that he's got is relatively a well known attorney in the seattle area, john henry brown. he defended ted bundy. he defended the barefoot bandit, and is not unusual. it's fairly common, as a matter of fact, for there to be civilian attorneys involved in cases like this. and what the attorney has said, i think he's beginning to show the signs of what his defense could be. he's saying that he believes that bales may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder

and suggests that may be part of his defense. alex? >> okay. john yang outside fort leavenworth in kansas. the family of robert bales lives in washington state just near his military base. many of their neighbors say they were surprised to hear this happened in such a good family. >> this is -- this is just tragic. a tragedy for everyone concerned and our heart aches -- aches for this family. >> i'm just waiting for smog come out where it wasn't him that did it or there's more involved because he was such a great guy, a great family. >> bales' wife and two children have now been moved to a joint base lewis-mcchord for their safety. for more on this tragedy and sergeant bales head to our website at msnbc. president obama focused his address on fuel prices and he put the own us on congress to

make big changes for the oil industry. >> in the next few weeks i expect congress to vote on ending these subsidies, and when they do, we're going to put every single member of congress on record. they can either stand up for the oil companies or they can stand up for the american people. they can either place their bets on a fossil fuel from the last century or they can place their bets on america's future. so make your voice heard. send your representative an e-mail, give them a call. tell them to stand with you. >> joining me now nbc's white house correspondent mike viqueira. good saturday to you, mike. >> to you as well. >> the president mentioned fuel subsidies as well, but he didn't without right call on congress to put an end to them. is it even a political possibility at this point? >> no. to be frank with you, it is not going to be taken up by congress. the price of gas averaging across the country dollar 3.83 from regular, that's up 30 cents

over the last 30 days and it shows no sign of slowing down, but it is a record high for this time of year and it's heading for an all-time record and this was een before the driving season that we've heard so much about. the president knows he has a political vulnerability, alex and that is clear and you mentioned this is four straight weeks he's talked about it in his radio address. he's had events in virginia and maryland over the course of the last two weeks talking about gas prices and trying to promote all of the above energy strategy and next week, alex, they're trying to get out in front of this issue. he's got some extensive travel plan. in nevada he'll go to the world's largest solar panel field. he's going go to new mexico and speak in front of oil rigs, some 70 oil wigs there outside of carlsbad. he's going to go to oklahoma and you have to ask yourself why is the president going there? he'll talk about the keystone pipeline. the white house wants to build the southern half of it that doesn't go through those

environmentally sensitive areas in neb feb. he's going to be talking about that and on to ohio for another energy event. two days, four states next week and this is a high-stakes issue here for consumers as wellas the president politically, alex. >> absolutely. you're talking about this hopscotching agenda he has. what about the whirl wind fund-raising tour yesterday. five stops, chicago, atlanta so on. >> yeah. >> what kind of reception is he getting? >> well, he got a great reception. these are typically enthusiastic audiences and he was on to atlanta, and the show business entrepreneur and empresario had two events there and people donated as much as the legal limit and $38,500. some $5 million raised yesterday by both obamas. michelle obama was at a fund-raiser as well yesterday. so a big haul yesterday trying to get the war chest together for a long campaign season. >> okay, we'll see you again. thanks so much. let's go now to "front page

politi politics" in the middle of a swing, and first up to puerto rico. mitt romney is meeting with voters between tomorrow's gop primary. >> it couldn't be more fun and more encouraged. i'm cautiously optimistic. we'll do well in puerto rico. >> "the chicago tribune" has endorsed mitt romney ahead of the primary there which is next tuesday. 69 delegates up for grabs. rick santorum is the favorite after getting 55% of the vote in missouri's non-binding primary last month. joining me now national political reporter for "the atlantic" molly wall and nia mallika henderson. hello to the two of you. >> all right, ladies. mole, i'll molly, i'll begin with you, gingrich taking third and fourth there. i know we've asked this before in previous contests, however,

if romney wins, is it over? >> i think if there's anything that we've learned over and over again in this primary is that it's never over. but seriously, there's no such thing as a knockout blow in this context. to extending the boxing metaphor, it will be decided on points. nobody will get laid flat and eliminated and between romney's rivals believing that they have reason to stay in and these contests, the voters in all of these states over and over again showing that they're not ready to coalesce behind romney and give him a convincing share of the vote that would show that they feel that he is the -- is their nominee, and is the one who they're ready to hand it to. absent that, he's got to keep cranking away, adding delegates a little bit at a time. >> nia malika it comes down to momentum to count. can his momentum gather enough

delegate counts to challenge romney? tampa? >> romney's campaign says no. math nematically it's impossibl so his strategy is to deny romney the nomination. this 1144, the magic number that he would need to go into tampa as the nominee. he, of course, has something of a wing man in newt gingrich because he will of course, divide up these delegates as these contests go on, but i think one of the problems that santorum will have moving forward is he's got louisiana coming up and he should do well, but the map going forward looks difficult for him. a lot of moderate states and big states are a romney favorite to win, so i think that will be hard for him to claim momentum if he keeps coming in second or third in some of these contests. he's not even on the ballot, so it will be a problem. >> molly, how much does that have to do with newt gingrich's presence in the political season

still. he's still out there in the primaries and were he to leave would that conservative vote better coalesce against rick san tour up. >> i love that he's the wing man. newt gingrich seems to be living in an alternate reality where i think he's become more of a saboteur to romney than a real contender in this race. i do think that by staying in the race and getting some delegates he does make it harder for romney to hit that mathematical threshold so staying in may be helping rick santorum. if you look at the polls of who newt's supporters would go to if he weren't in the race. it is not clear that they would all go to rick santorum and they would split in two directions and romney would have an easier time if he weren't in the race. here's what he said on friday. >> i'm a -- it's not as trendy

to be involved in the obama campaign as it was back then. some of you have, you know, rolled up those hope posters and they're in the closet somewhere. >> the president clearly acknowledging the enthusiasm gap. is it partly, though present because the democrats don't yet know who the opponent is going to be? >> that's certainly right, but i do think what this campaign is starting to do, they've got this 17-minute video out that folks are watching, and i think it's certainly reminding supporters of that -- of getting fired up and ready to go spirit that they had in 2008 and also honing in on the point that obama's raise is not just a campaign. i think things will get clearer once there's a contrast and opponent on the other side and they're trying to drum up

excitement in 2008. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. the st. patrick's day parade under way right now in new york city. today's march down fifth avenue marx the 251th anniversary of the first st. patrick's day parade in the big apple. the first march, rather, featured irish soldiers serving in the english military. people are celebrating in downtown dublin today. one of dozens of parades being held throughout ireland. up next, the case of the so-called invisible candidate for congress who won and then in "office politics," john harmon who says is operating on their ownest is rules and the impact on the white house. you're watching "weekends with alex witt." [ male announcer ] if you believe the mayan calendar, on december 21st, polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull

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>> turns out everyone really is irish on st. patrick's day. a new survey out from the national retail federation finds that more americans than ever are celebrating today and that's translating into big bucks for retailers and not just for pints of guinness out there. joining me with the details is msnbc's vera gibbons. hello to you. >> how much green are we talking about, and i'm talking about the cash green. >> it's up 11% over last year and 54% of will be celebrating st. patrick's day. the fact that it falls on a saturday and the weather's nice

is helping out to boost sales. >> how much of that money is going straight to the bar tab? >> that's a good question. there's a lot of that going on. >> yeah. >> about 30% of us say we'll go to the bars and restaurants and we're all decked out in our green and we have our hats and noisemakers and streets of new york are totally jammed right now. >> forget that. >> so, yes, we'll hit the bars and have plenty of beer and all of that, but 30% will be celebrating at home and corned beef and cabbage is the meal of choice, but this is a holiday that's celebrated by just about everybody. >> does this tell us anything about holiday spending for the rest of the year? i think it's expected to be up 11% this year over last is that it bodes well for the spring buying season and st. patrick's day is the kickoff to the spreng buying season. they get new stuff for the patio and garden accessories and a lot of retailers, too, use this opportunity to boost sales and they have special shamrock sales and anything they can do to bring those people in and

mcdonald's is offering a shamrock shake nationwide for the first time. we have burger king offering free fries with the special st. paddy's day sauce and anything to generate buzz and sales they're doing. >> head's up on all of the green. >> appreciate it. >> in keeping with the st. patrick's day tradition the chicago river was dyed green this morning. it's the 50th year that the river has taken on the verdant hue. kayakers took to the streets to enjoy the choppy waters. it began just about 20 minutes ago at the top of the hour. this one's for all us lawnsmiths. grass gurus. doers. here's to more saturdays in the sun. and budgets better spent. here's to turning rookies - into experts,

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i was 18 years old before i had my first fresh bun. the invention that i came up with is the hot dog ez bun steamer. steam is the key to a great hot dog. i knew it was going to be a success. the invention was so simple that i knew i needed to protect it. my name is chris schutte and i got my patent, trademark and llc on legalzoom. [ shapiro ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. >> the parents of a florida teen fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer are calling for that man's arrest after listening to new 911 calls of

the incident. last month 17-year-old trayvon martin was gunned down during a late night scuffle with george zimmerman. zimmerman says he acted in self-defense. he had just a few dollars and canned owe him at the time. here's what zimmerman told a 911 dispatcher moments before the shooting. >> this guy looks like he's up to no good or he's on drugs or something. he's coming to check me out. he's got something in his hands. i don't know what his deal is. these [ bleep ] always get away. witnesses say martin screamed for help before he was shot. the teen's devastated family is turning to church leaders for support. >> that was my baby and he was pleading for his life, and i don't understand how that is self-defense. we don't understand how he has not been arrested. we have two witnesses that came forth and the tapes, the 911 tapes tell it all. martin's parent accuse police of

botching the investigation. you can bet this is not the last you will hear about this story. call it the case of the empty politician, he is the nominee for the ohio's 2nd congressional district. he never has met with democratic party leaders. in fact, the only time his name came up in the primary season, a robocallen dorgs president obama. senator sharon brown and william r. smith of ohio. dave lane, democratic party chairman. dave, good day to you. nice to see you. >> thank you, alex. good to be with you. i just want to know, walk me through this, where did you first hear about this man? he's an ohio truck driver. how did this happen? >> you're asking the wrong person that, alex, but as best i can -- as best i can sort out, the william h. smith filed his

petitions and entered this race against david kerkorian within the time limits and the laws of ohio. i thought it was curious, you know, after the petitions were filed that he didn't make contact with myself and any of the other chairs across the southern part of ohio, but we heard absolutely nothing from him and to say the least on the evening of march 6th when we were counting the ballots and we were both surprised and a bit perplexed that he'd won without campaigning or making contact without any of the parties across the southern part of the district. >> do you know what he looks like? have you met him? >> well, you know, as of the 7th of march i never heard his voice or seen a picture, but on the day after the primary election john london with the nbc

affiliate here in cincinnati did track him down by telephone so i can now associate a voice with mr. smeth, and i think i'd see a still photograph of him, finally. >> do you look at this, okay, this is the case of the little guy getting his shot at the big time? >> well, i will, you know, but there are two distinct issues here, alex and one is that, you know, there's no question at the end of the day on march 6th, this gentleman, mr. smith did have 69 or roughly 60 votes more than david kerkorian, but we industrial 500, up to 500 provisional votes that have to be counted before we certify this election and in clairemont county, at least and the other counties will be doing the same tomorrow or monday morning at 9:00, we're going to start that

process of counting those votes. a big bulk of those votes are in clairemont county and eastern hamilton county which is the most populated area of the entire district. that's where david kerkorian is from, so this could still change. >> i understand there are allegations of voter fraud and this is brought by mr. kerkorian, he talks about his victory ohio super pac which put out mr. smith's name on he's robocalls. where does that stand? >> that's the second -- the other side of the blade of this sword. that's the issue. i think the voters across the country are having a difficult time with these super pacs determining who is supporting who and why are they supporting them, and that's what we have to

get to, i think, in this issue is who finance ed that robocall. i take mr. smith at his word. he says he doesn't know. i'll take him at his word for that, and now the u.s. attorney is involved in the fbi and the last i checked they had pretty good resources to get to the bottom of things like this, so we'll see. >> such a mystery. dave lane, thank you for sharing the latest on it, and we'll have what his platform is and what he's about. >> i look for it. >> it may be a landmark ruling in the court, but will the verdict make a difference in society? you're watching "weekends with alex witt." concentrated relief that goes to work in seconds and freshens breath. new tums freshers. ♪ tum...tum...tum...tum... tums! ♪ [ male announcer ] fast relief, fresh breath, all in a pocket sized pack.

welcome back to "weekends with alex witt" at just after the half hour. "the chicago tribune" is endorsing romney. here's part of the editorial in today's paper. only one of the four republicans

still in this primary race has the personal skill set, the painfully won experience to appreciate this peril and to guide americans through their own financial rescue. romney is in puerto rico right now campaigning ahead of the primary there tomorrow. he heads to a rally in collinsville a bit later on this evening. and there's a new poll showing republicans less excited about mitt romney and rick santorum. the republicans were about john mccain four years ago. the gallup poll shows 35% of republicans saying they vote enthusiastically for romney if he becomes the gop nominee for president. just behind him 34% say the same for santorum and compare that to john mccain during the same time period in 2008 when 47% of republicans said they will vote enthusiastically for him. in this week's office politics we talk game change with coauthor john heylman. he tells us about one special st. patrick's day and we begin by sizing up the gop candidates in the matchup against president obama.

newt gingrich's negative ratings are so high in the country it's hard to imagine a newt gingrich nominee will be able to brag about, it's not impossible. it would be hard for newt gingrich to win. >> why is it that the gop doesn't put pressure him to get out and allow the conservatives to gather around -- >> and as long as he will write checks he will continue on and have an effect. he's operating by his own set of rules and pressure only works if you have something that you can use as leverage and newt gingrich will probably run for president again and unlike ron paul who has a son who might run one day, newt gingrich will do that. he's a weaker general election nominee because of mitt romney because of his problems with women voters. i think for those reasons these existing candidates, romney is the general election candidate for president. he's much more moderate than much of the party. that's a good thing in the

general election. >> right. >> it would be easier for him to make his way to the middle than it would be for rick santorum to make his way to the middle. >> so you think theria a method to the madness of this flip-flopping that is constantly associated with mitt romney. do you think he's looking ahead to pull in the primary voters as best you can and really i'm looking to pass the convention. >> yes. all of that could be said at every single, successful presidential nominee in both parties. this is what they do. his problem is that his history is filled not just with that kind of tacking, but he had started out more moderate and then he's moved to the center and now he's thinking i'll move back in the middle again and that created suspicion among republican voters. he was winning those people where they don't believe that they're right for him. >> he's had trouble winning other people who are just going to be comfortable with him. here is a guy who goes down to the south and he knows he's in the south and he's trying to appeal to them by speaking their

language, but for some reason it goes over like a lead balloon for mitt romney. why is that? >> he is an awkward, political per former. he's a guy who, by every indication, of the people who talk to him, his family loves him. he can be very charming, very funny and very witty, one-on-one and people look for him and a der him and talk about him as being a funny, witty, great guy. on stage he's never been that comfortable. >> it's a problem for romney, and because of the fact that for a lot of people it's been baked into hissinage. fairly or not fairly, but he's a phony one of the charges against him and people are always on the lookout. you have that as part of your public image, it's people don't find it charming when you put on a southern accent because then they're going say he's being a fake again. that's a challenge for him to

contend with. romney seems like he's trying too hard somehow, and he's trying to overcome the challenges. >> they a little bit of a different look than this prized possession that you bring in. >> and the most prized political photograph. it has been over on my desk, and a picture of me and the great pat buchanon. number one, it's taken really, it's st. patrick's day in chicago. >> yeah. >> one year from this airing. >> exactly right. >> st. pat rec's day airing. >> 18 years ago. you will notice the key differences. number one, i have a lot more hair. >> you did. look at that. >> back then, at least system. number two, pat has a tartan driver's cap on and carrying a shillelagh. >> when i can't figure out how to finish the piece i being look up and i think about patrick joseph buchanon. >> so pat buchanon inspires you?

>> every day. >> our conversation continues at this time tomorrow. we'll talk about what could derail president obama's election plan and he will describe his behind the scenes role on the set of "game change." it's pretty funny. in new jersey, not funny at all as defense lawyers plan to appeal the guilty verdict in the spy cam suicide trial. a jury found dharun ravi guilty of the most serious charges which include bias intimidation and. tyler clementi later killed himself. the victim's father had a message for all students. >> you will meet a lot of people in your life time. some of these people you may not like, but just because you don't like them does not mean you have to work against them. you can make the world a better place. the change you want to see in the world begins with you. >> ravi can spend up to ten years in jail and faces deportation to his native india. here in the studio is the deputy

legal attorney for lamb da legal. sure. >> what kind of message does this verdict send? >> i think the message sends to all of us that we need to do more to take seriously the threat of anti-gay bias, particularly for our young people. >> okay. does this set any sort of precedent for future hate crime cases? do you think they'll be looking at this as something to compare it to? >> i think a lot of people are looking right now at hate crime prosecutions and what this all means. to me, the visibility of the case is particularly important because it means that we're all going to understand better that we need to take care of our youth and to heighten the awareness of people to the damage that can be done without better education about prejudice and at the reach of these crimes. >> but this is not a classic hate crime case, right? >> there are all sort of almost

nebulous area that you have to factor in here, using social media to do things and get things out. let's face it, when you or i were at school we didn't have to deal with it. are we now trying to regulate morality? a sense of morality? >> i really think that the questions being leveled about hate crimes and whether this was proper and whether they're going into new terrain are blinding us to the real question we need to be asking which is why we are not reacting more and not better understanding the inherent bias that's in this society right now against lgbt people. that's the real question that we need to be addressing and the questions that are leveled about new technology and now was the internet used? well, i don't think that the use of the internet here and the role that it played in serving

as proof in the ravi trial takes us into new terrain really we are -- really what's happening here is that we have the records statements that were used here. yes, they were made on the internet. they could have been witnessed by other people live. they could have been written -- i mean, recorded statements are used to prosecute crimes and have been for many years and to instead focus now on what's going on with the internet or how are these staples being -- >> it's getting off topic. >> what i would analogize it to, is if you have trouble with how the internet was used here to record statements and implicate someone in a crime, well, i wouldn't have any more trouble or concern about that than i would about, you know, a stabbing conviction implicating my use of cutlery or knife in a

lawful purpose. >> we put out on twitter today a question to our viewers and what kind of time should dharun ravi serve? it won't happen until may, but he could face ten years behind bars. what do you think is a fair sentence? >> the sentence is out of my hands and i was not in that courtroom to hear any piece of evidence or to deliberate as a juror. none of us here were, but the fact that there's a conviction and that there is likely to be a substantial sentence has us all, i think, re-examining as we should the pervasive damage that is done to young people when they are targeted on the basis of identity for who they are and particularly for their sexual orientation or gender identity and it is so pervasive in this country in society that now we find ourselves, some people, anyway, shocked at the result

when the crime and the actions are actually taken to task and a jury does that hard work of grappling with and coming to a conclusion that actually follows the law. >> hayley goldberg, appreciate it. >> sure. >> we have the release of president obama's 17-minute documentary and will that make a difference in the campaign? ♪

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i'm gonna...use these. ♪ give me just a little more time ♪ [ female announcer ] unlike mops, swiffer can maneuver into tight spaces without the hassle and its wet mopping cloths can clean better in half the time, so you don't miss a thing. mom? ahhhh! ahhhh! no it's mommy! [ female announcer ] swiffer. better clean in half the time. or your money back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ that leprechaun got caught up with things there. >> it's time for the st. patrick's day edition. green beer test. president obama's lucky charms. get that, and pot of gold. let's bring in my panel, former white house deputy communications director and msnbc contributor and republican strategist susan del%io and author of "patriot acts"

catherine crier. ladies, hello to you. >> happy st. patrick's day. we'll have to celebrate later, but we'll start first with president obama's lucky charm. his new documentary debuted this week. >> his advisers would ask where to begin, which urgent need would he put first? >> which is one, which is two, which is three, which is four, which is five. where do you start? >> if we don't do this now we'll be a generation before 30 million people have health insurance. >> susan, the auto industry and mitt romney's sort of tortured explanation of why he didn't support the bailout. low-hanging fruit for the president, right? >> absolutely. it was one of the reasons why people are so frustrated with our political system. i, for one, was against the auto bailout, but i can say now that it actually worked and there's nothing wrong with giving credit where credit is due, but that's why romney is so tortured as you said. >> catherine, not only does tom

hanks narrate the documentary, big names make cameo appearances. let's check this out. >> he took the harder and more honorable path. when i saw what had happened i thought to myself, i hope that's the call i would have made. >> catherine, how much does it buy president obama to have bill clinton endorsing one of his moves? >> it buys a lot because the republicans and democrats alike have so approved of what bill clinton has done since he left office. you know, certainly, his work on the global stage. his advice to republicans as well as democrats, so this is a big plus for the president obama. >> jen, we have president obama and vice president biden switching into campaign road this week. let's check it out. >> mitt romney, rick santorum and newt gingrich, these guys have a fundamentally different economic philosophy than we do. >> every time prices start to go up, especially in an election

year, politicians dust off their three-point plans for $2 gas. i guess this year they decided we're going to make it $2.50. >> we don't have a gop nominee yet, but is this what the campaign mode looks like? >> i don't think it's any surprise to anyone that the president and vice president are running for re-election, but i will say that the republicans have dominated the public debate and they've been laying out what their plans are and every election in this one include side about a choice and what the president and vice president are doing is laying out not just what they accomplished and what their vision is moving forward and that's what you saw them do over the last couple of days and we have many months to go before november. >> catherine, we'll move to our next topic which is the rising gas prices whether this could be a pot of gold for the gop. a washington post/pew research center blames the oil companies

and 38% blame something else. so let's get a reality check in terms of how do high gas prices fit into the political picture? >> the good thing about this becoming a top story is that people learn all of the intricacies of the argument. it is so simplistic to say the president can control everything signing up to release more from the strategic reserves. there's not an awful lot. we are exporting petroleum products in crude. we are producing more than the country ever has. so did you say he shut down production, he's inhibiting gas development in this country is wrong. the prices are influenced by so many things from the speculators big time and democrats on capitol hill are calling for the investigation to summertime changeover fuels, more expensive and those numbers may come down

again in the fall, but we talked about it. people can make up their own minds. >> jen, talking about the gas prices earlier today in his weekly address. the president wouldn't be talking so much about gas prices if he wasn't concerned, right? >> absolutely. he's not new to the debate or to the discussion. this is something he's been working on since the day he entered office. we decrease our dependence on foreign oil. domestic production has gone up every year of the presidency. you heard him say, look, there's not a silver bullet. we need an honest conversation about the challenge. we need a medium and long-term solution. >> susan, we have reports suggesting americans are not blaming the president for the gas prices. does playing this hand help the republicans? >> it does. at the end of the day when

people go to fill up their gas tank and realize they're paying more at the pump or when they go to the super market because rising gas costs affect the price of food and everything we else we use as consumers, people know they're still spending more than and they are not doing any better today than they were yesterday. and that is what they hold the president accountable for. whether a democrat or republican. >> okay. susan, katherine, jen, ladies sit tight. up next, sharing a st. paddy's day brew with the presidential candidate. which one would you choose?

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by the way, you're allowed to vote multiple times. by getting a friend to go with you. i know this is chicago.

>> i was referred to by many in the state. >> that was mitt romney and rick santorum on the campaign trail. we're back with the big three st. patrick's day edition. time for the green beer test. we're talking with jen, susan and katherine. jen, first up, out of all the the gop candidates with whom would you like to sit down and have a green beer? >> i take st. patrick's day pretty seriously, as you can tell by my green. >> and the red, too. >> i would say probably ron paul, because i think it would be the most fascinating conversation. if i were to cheat, i think spending a day with vice president biden on st. patrick's day in his home state would be a good time. >> a good time there. susan, how about you? >> i think the fifth person that shows up in the polls, the other than romney candidate. whoever that may be. >> come on. you're not going to put out there with one of them? >> i guess i would go with ron paul. it would be a little more fun.

>> how about you, katherine? >> that's tough because ron would be the one to play with. you want someone with a sense of humor. interesting conversation, green rooms over the year, newt gingrich might be interest iingo talk to. let's talk about the president's lucky charm. >> four years ago on the campaign trail he carried lucky charms in his pocket. they would jingle around. anybody who works on a campaign knows, often times when the candidates are working the rope line, they're given things by people. he had a feather that represented someone's spirit. lucky coins. all sorts of things. i don't know that he still does. but he did four years ago. >> it worked the first time around. ladies, thank you so much. i'm going to keep those of you in studio with me, susan and katherine really quickly. indulge me everyone.

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