>> someone who doesn't have my policy positions written on an etch-a-sketch, and i carry one of those around now. >> this isn't a joke or a game. we're talking about important things in our society. >> organizationally, a general election campaign takes on a different profile. the issues i'm running on will be exactly the same. >> right now on "andrea mitchell reports" can mitt romney shake it up and start all over again? can president obama hit the restart button on pipeline politics. cries from the heart. the parents of slain teen trayvon martin join hundreds of protesters in new york city. >> our son is your son. i want you to stand up for justice and stand up for what's right. this is not about black and white thing. this is about a right and wrong thing.

>> as the outrage grows should the sanford police chief step down? with us his boss, sanford city manager. plus, who will protect the children. joining us civil rights pioneer and congressman john lewis. woman power, our state legislators rethinking their controversial health care proposals. rachel maddow joining us. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. mitt romney's political rivals pounced on the campaign's etch-a-sketch flub serving up political theater with props. >> he said it's like an etch-a-sketch. >> he said it was like an etch-a-sketch. >> like an etch-a-sketch. >> this is an etch-a-sketch. >> an etch-a-sketch. >> an etch-a-sketch. >> how many ever you used an etch-a-sketch? >> my children had etch-a-ske h etch-a-sketch. >> she could now be a presidential candidate. >> this is the first of what i'm going to now call my

etch-a-sketch tour of america. >> chris is an msnbc contributor. well, chris, we have entered the silly season. but it is damaging because it takes romney off message when he should have been celebrating a victory in illinois. >> right. quickly two points. you're exactly right in that this should -- we should be talking about jeb bush's endorsement in the wake of mitt romney's victory in illinois and whether this is officially wrapped up for mitt romney or unofficially wrapped up for him. but point number two, a little bit in defense of mitt romney that the truth of the matter is both rick santorum and newt gingrich have at best a slim path in the case of santorum, and in the case of gingrich no path to overcome romney's delegate lead. romney is likely to be tnominee. they are seizing on anything

they can to try to reverse what looks like mitt romney's trudging to the delegates he needs to become the party's nominee. so it's a little bit of romney stepping on his own message and a little bit of those guys seizing what they can. >> sure. you could say it's desperation tactics by those who see their chance, their hopes for the nominati nomination, slipping. but at the same time the romney campaign, one would argue, inflicted this wound on itself. the campaign today, a statement saying you know you have reached the end after long hard fought campaign when your opponents are waving around children's toys at campaign events. arguably also there's something that mitt romney said that perhaps they should have seized on. listen to what he said about t.a.r.p. >> there was a fear that the whole economic system of america would collapse, that all of our banks, or virtually all, would go out of business. in that circumstance president bush and hank paulson said we

have to do something to show we're not going to let the whole system go out of business. i think they were right. i know some disagree with me. i think they were right to do that. >> some people would argue that is a principled position, he is sticking to his guns about. it was what george w. bush, what hank paulson and the incoming president, the president-elect, barack obama agreed to. but t.a.r.p. is tox wick a lot of republican voter, particularly the tea party voters. >> i wonder if he would be -- back up a month, put it in reverse, i'm not sure you would hear mitt romney saying you know, this is a controversial position but i support t.a.r.p. it is something, i remember when this campaign got started there were candidates john thune thinking about run hoog the big knock on them was well, they voted for t.a.r.p. they can never win in a presidential primary. you know, to the point about this being a minor thing that the romney campaign is trying to paint it as. it's not going to change the

fact that mitt romney will almost certainly be the republican presidential nominee but it's also not going to go away, andrea. one of my deputies was calculating the democratic national committee sent 18 separate e-mails yesterday, 18 separate e-mails about etch-a-sketch. i just can't imagine them -- it's not going to be as prominent -- you know, in six mlts as today but they are not going to give up on it because they think it goes to the core or lack of a core. even if he wins the primary he's not done on the etch-a-sketch comments. >> it isn't the last we'll see of etch-a-sketch. blowing up your blackberry. see you later. coming up next, the killing of trayvon martin. civil rights leader john lewis, and up next also women's health care with rachel maddow. you have a question you want me to answer. join me for a live web chat online at andrea.msnbc.com.

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>> there is intense pressure on the city of sanford, florida to suspend or fire the police chief for his department's handling of trayvon martin's death, the teen who was killed and the man who shot him is still at large. rather still not been arrested. last night the sanford city commission passed a vote of no confidence in the police chief bill lee. one member went even further. >> because of the situation being so poorly handled and because of this no confidence level in our police chief locally, statewide, nationally,

even internationally, i would ask the chief to step down. >> norton bonaparte is the city manager of sanford, florida. thanks for joining us. there have been reports unconfirmed by nbc news that there is in fact a decision for the police chief to step down or to be suspended. can you clarify that? has anything changed on this? >> no, nothing has changed at this point. >> at this point. is something about to change? are you considering a suspension or a firing or a temporary leave or some other change of status for the police chief? >> i think it's fair to say that yesterday the city commission took a vote. that's something i take seriously. on the same token as i stated repeatedly we need to have information, i asked for an investigation, mayor triplet, corinne brown, asked for an investigation into the shooting of travon martin and the handling of the matter by the sanford police department. i'd like to have that

information before making any decisions. >> but as i understand it, that would require empaneling a grand jury that might not take place until april at the earliest. the question now is why the police chief is not at least being temporarily asked to take a leave of absence or himself stepping aside even temporarily until this is clarified. >> well, i'm not looking for the grand jury results. i asked for an independent review of the actions of the police department and there are some other actions i can look at, avenues in looking at investigating the actions. the police department acted a certain way. i want to know if there are things that they did that they shouldn't have or didn't do things they should have. >> is that review under way and when do you expect the answers? >> one independent review has been asked for and i'm looking at seeing if the we can expedite to the get other entities involved. that has not been finalized to answer your question. >> when would you get answers? >> i'm looking to get them as

soon as possible but i also know that whomever i ask to make sure that it's credible would have to have some time to do their investigation. at this point as much as i would hate it there is not a time frame. >> a lot of people are asking, especially the parents of trayvon martin, why is george zimmerman still not under arrest, why has he not been brought in again for questioning, why does he still have a gun. can you answer those questions? >> all i can say is that our hearts and sim pothys go out to the members of the martin family. losing trayvon, as a father and grandfather i can't begin to imagine. we extend to them our heartfelt sympathy. in terms of mr. zimmerman, the police have turned over their investigation to the state's attorneys office. the state attorney's office look to empower the grand jury as you mentioned in addition to that the governor has asked for the department of law enforcement to look at this matter the mayor and the congresswoman and myself met with the justice department.

we asked the united states justice department to look at this so there are a lot of eyes on this. what we want here is justice. >> clearly that's what trayvon martin certainly, what his parents want, what the community wants. you want the city -- you are the city manager. you are empowered to take immediate action. why do all of these answers have to be forth coming before you can ask the police chief to step aside? he has become a lightning rod for your community. >> i agree he has become a lightning rod. i would have some conversations with him but i also say let's not rush to judgment. i will be looking to see what the police department did, what chief lee did, in terms of this situation. >> have you been in conversations with him about stepping down? >> chief lee and i meet on a regular basis. >> well, with all due respect, sir, have you talked to him since the killing of trayvon martin about him stepping down

over the way this was handled? >> i think it's fair to say chief lee and i had a number of conversations, some of them involving his status as the police chief of the city of sanford. >> should he step down, do you think he should step aside? >> i think we need to look at the options, i think the fact that this is such a high kindling point we are reviewing matters and i look to see that something happens. i think it's important for the community to have a respect for the police department but i also think we need to not rush to judgment. there's a lot of high tensions here and i recognize that and we have to be sensitive to that. >> there is a record there and a lot of it preceded you of racial incidentses with the police in sanford, florida. at this stage, if there were a shootings in tans in any major city, a shooting incident involving a law enforcement officer, that officer would be put on temporary desk duty, would give up his or her weapon

temporarily while the investigation is under way. why couldn't the police chief take a temporary leave especially given how volatile this is in the community, and the pain in the community and the lack of trust in law enforcement, and be replaced temporarily while this is being investigated? >> that certainly is something that could be considered. >> are you considering it? >> that's something that could be considered and i look forward to discussing various matters with chief lee. again i say this is something that is very serious, and we are looking at various options. >> when can we expect some sort of a decision temporary or permanent on his status? >> i'm not putting a time frame on this matter. this is too serious to rush. >> all right. i'll take that as your final word. some people would say mr. bonaparte that it's too serious to delay. but thank you very much. thanks for joining us today. >> i understand that.

thank you. >> and women's groups are marking the 40th anniversary of the equal rights amendment passed but fell three states short of becoming part of the constitution. it comes as advocates for women's health are pushing back against what they say is an attack on women's health care. there is evidence that the tide might be turning. rachel maddow is the hoeps of "the rachel maddow show" on nbc. i want to talk to you what you examined last night and what we've been talking about here which is all of these legislative efforts around the country, notably idaho really blew up but let's take a deep breath and talk about what we just heard from the city manager in sanford, florida. i'm still trying to get my head around -- >> i wake up grateful that i've never been on the pointy end of an andrea mitchell interview like that i want to say. you pressed him very hard but this is a difficult subject. for me the real question right

now is whether or not the police chief was acting within his discretion, or whether that law ties his hands. that stand your ground law is a radical piece of legislation. florida did it first, 17 other states did it there after. the fact other states followed florida's lead doesn't make it more radical -- any less radical that florida did it. >> there is so little attention to this. i have, i give you this here, a personal connection because of jim brady and what happened to him, with having covered the brady legislation and all of the handgun issues in this country. but i have to tell you i did not know about that florida law. i follow this stuff pretty closely so i hold myself at fault that when there are not incidents that draw our attention to it, we don't pay attention. we're very you know, attention deficit disorder. >> we went back last night and looked at msnbc coverage from 2005. it was a different animal in 2005 but we looked at some of the debate when that law was

passed. it was seen as a radical piece of legislation. but florida governor jeb bush had the kind of reputation then that he has now which is as a sort of good government, reasonable, moderate, bush family, republican. and when governor jeb bush signaled that he thought this was a common sense measure it took sort of the stain of radicalism off of it and validated it. governor bush is back in the news because i think he has that reputation and endorsed governor romney for president. and when you look at some of the decisions made by people like jeb bush and others that doesn't change the radicalism what florida has to live under because that was passed. and that law when it was passed, there's a number of killings that would have been prosecuted that have not been. since then it has spread around the country and it is a radical reconceiving of american criminal justice. >> though the sponsor of the law, the legislator who first

conceived it says it should not apply in this case, it should not be an excuse for george zimmerman not to be held to account for what happened. >> a lot of the legislators who originally supported it including the sponsor now casting that doubt on it are saying i guess we didn't think it would be used this way. a lot of people critics at the time totally over whelped, said this will be used for racially motivated killings, for the kinds of bias motivated suspicion based incidents now that are prosecutable and those will let people off. it was predicted at the time and it's played out like they said it would. >> tragically. let's talk about women's health. under attack, some would say. if you look at legislature after legislature, we've seen what's happened following the progress of is a seal richards traveling from texas to arizona trying to stop what in fact the governor of arizona said she would veto as now written. there seems to be people taking

a breath, 3 have seen a lot of protests and i think politicians are beginning to say not so fast. but idaho was the recent example. you were following that. >> the idaho case was interesting. we saw so much controversy and national attention over the virginia forced ultra sound bill. in its original language would force a transvaginal ultra sound for women who wanted an abortion in virginia, the language was later slightly changed although there are some who say the virginia law would still require that. in idaho it was the same thing. it is a forced transvaginal ultrasound bill even as some of the people supporting it and its main sponsor said that's not what i intended. it's what the language would require. the sponsor also of that legislation had gotten into the news recently for saying that a woman who was seeking a rape exemption from the forced transvaginal ultrasound would have to talk to her docker if it was truly rape. >> that rape and incest was used as a reason to oppose this he said. i would hope that when a woman goes in to a physician with a rape issue that physical will

indeed ask her about perhaps her marriage, was this pregnancy caused by normal relations in a marriage or was it truly caused by a rape. >> that was -- that's the sponsor of the forced ultrasound bill. because i think of his indelicacy in discussing this, because of the radicalism of the bill, because of the national now building outcry about this stuff, and because even in idaho women are really mad about this sort of thing and there were protests at the state capitol over and over again in idaho about this, it seems like, it's not for sure but that this bill might be dead in idaho. i'm sure they expected no push back on this. i don't think bob mcdonald expected pushback. the accumulated weight of all of this legislation in these states added up and the push back is now i would say very, very tough. >> the push back there and in texas already, women are not getting their screenings because already governor rick perry has given up $35 million in federal

money to planned parenthood not for abortions but for normal screenings, this is the state as you well know, which has the highest number of uninsured women in the country, kay balily hutchison was on with chuck todd, and was asked about it. >> the contraception issue was made into something that it was not. it was a religious freedom issue that a lot of people felt strongly about. and certainly no one is saying that we should have a role in telling women they can't have contraception which is what the democrats are suggesting. that's absurd. >> you know, i'm going to speak bluntly. this is a scam. this is a scam. the types of things that republicans are now saying is some sort of infringement on religious freedom are laws that they have happily lived with at the state level and the federal level since well into the george w. bush administration, never a peep. a lot republican sponsored laws.

it's a scam to advance a very, very aggressive and emboldened anti-abortion and anti-contraception agenda from the movement that wanted that and they are cloaking their efforts to get even more extreme on this issue, in some sort of made up scandal about women's health. as if planned parenthood's existence is a scandal. as if the existence of cont contraception is a scandal. these have never been before and making them into some sort of new scandal is a scam. i'm sorry to put it in those blunt of terms but it's to advance a radical anti-contra sechgs agenda that republicans never would have tried to get away with. and what kay bailey hutchison is saying there is patently ridiculously false. >> i think we'll have to leave it right there. to be concontinued. great to see you. thank you for all of the kind words. and i can't wait to read the book. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. thank you. >> and up next, the politico

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>> more about today's political stories. great to see you in person. mitt romney is in washington, we're in new york today. mitt romney is in washington making the rounds on the hill. this sounds like sort of trying to coalesce support. luke russert is reporting that he met with kevin mccarthy, who has not yet endorsed to our knowledge. he also met on the senate side with jim demint, and she is tweeting that jim demint said he never questioned romney's conservative kred. >> which is technically true. a nice way for jim demint to not endorse but make clear she receptive to the fact that

romney appears to be the likely nominee. i think that people thinks the process is winding toward a close. this allows him to maintain his tea party cred and acknowledging where things are heading. he also met with the wisconsin delegation. >> that's important. >> right. >> that's a big test for rick santorum who is in texas today and was taking shots at mitt romney for meeting with jim demint. >> senator, there are reports that governor romney is meeting with jim demint today, paul ryan tomorrow. are you worried he may be shoring up support? >> i'm meeting with folks here in texas who are going to vote for me. if this election was about endorsements and money, i wouldn't be standing here. i don't spend my time chasing around elected officials who are part of the system. i'm looking to talk to people who want to change the system. >> and while that was going on, jeb bush, whose endorsement of

mitt romney was about as low key and off camera as it could be did talk to a pittsburgh paper and said -- marco rubio as a v.p. possibility and said that he is dynamic, joyful, disciplined and principled. he has managed to find a way to communicate a conservative message full of hope and optimism. >> it was interesting the pitching jeb bush did for mitt romney was sort of demure and he's acceptable to us essentially. this was not an in person embrace. the pitching of marco rubio was much more embracing, more supportive and he really went all out suggesting that marco rubio should be considered a ticketmate. he also is under consideration but it was interesting that was his second message of the day. >> great to see you. thanks so much. and coming up, what's the buzz about hillary clinton. ben smith tells us more. plus, civil rights leader congressman john lewis about the tragedy of trayvon martin and

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that's the power of german engineering. right now lease the 2012 jetta for $159 a month. >> topping the headlines now, the french gun man who held police at bay has been killed in a raid this morning. when police stormed the home of the 23-year-old terror suspect he opened fire with a subma machine gun, jumped out a window to his death. the suspect killed three army paratroopers and claimed links to al qaeda. israel's defense minister says his country disagrees with the u.s. how long to wait in order to stop iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. he says that israel cannot afford to wait but sanctions and negotiations would be given a few more months to work. harvard says it's allowing army

recruiters back on campus. it is allowing the recruiters back afro years. it's ready to lift its vietnam war era ban which became controversial during "don't ask, don't tell." the shooting death of trayvon martin is exposing old wounds around race relations. martin's parents call for justice saying their son's tragic death should outrage all americans regardless of skin color. >> trayvon martin did matter. i want new york to know that we're not going to stop until we get justice for trayvon. >> since this happened i've been wanting to talk to a legendary civil rights activist, congressman, this does have a terrible resonance for you who lived through the civil rights era, it reminds me of the

stories we read about emmet till. what can we draw from this and what it tells you about the state of race relations especially in florida. >> well, it tell us a great deal. to me, it remind me of that awful day, august 28, 1955, when emmitt till was lynched in mississippi. it's a very sad and dark hour, not just for race relations in the state of florida but race relations in america. we cannot sweep it under the rug or in some dark corner. we have to deal with it. it's unbelievable, it is unreal. this young man, this young black kid, young, 17-year-old, was only armed with a dream, not with a gun, a knife.

he had candy and a can of iced tea. and for him to be murdered, shot down, there should be a sense of righteous indignation in america the same way we had during the days of lynching and people being beaten in the streets during the height of the civil rights movement. this must not be allowed to stand. it is very, very sad. and it pain me a great deal. the chilling effect on hundreds and thousands and millions of young black men in america. >> i didn't mean to interrupt. i was going to ask about the decision by the city manager whom i interviewed a bit ago on the program, a few minutes ago. he said that he's not reached a decision, that they are in conversations but there is no decision to even take a leave of

absence by the police chief responsible for the immediate decisions of his people, of his law enforcement officers to not take action against george zimmerman, to do a drug test posthumously on trayvon martin but not to drug test the man who shot the gun, fired the gun that killed him. there is no dispute about that fact. and not to take action to hold george zimmerman or take his weapon away or revisit this in any way. what do you say about that? >> it's frightening. it's unthinkable. i think somehow in some way the department of justice, the fbi and other federal officials, the justice department, community relations service, should be on the ground in sanford, florida doing the necessary investigation. when the local government, the city, county or state, failed to protect the people, then the

federal government has a moral obligation to act and must act. >> you just said that this has a chilling effect on millions of young black men. i was talking to charles blowe yesterday who has written about this and others have has well. share with us what the burden is on young african-american men from childhood who are told by their parents to, as jonathan gaypart has said, to not run, to not walk too quickly, to hold their hands in a certain way, to always be so careful that they are not mistaken or that they don't give some excuse to a law enforcement officer to take action against them. >> many young black men are told by their mothers and their fathers, be careful, my mother used to tell us over and over again, and i don't know where she got it from, but be

particular, keep your hands out of your pocket. and don't run. look straight ahead. i just think when people see a young black man today wearing a hoody, what are they going to think, is he dangerous, should i move to the side of the street, should i get off the road, what should i do, should i be afraid? we cannot live in a society such. >> john lewis, who brings so much history to this conversation, thank you very much for joining us today. >> thank you. >> and there is new buzz today surrounding a possible presidential bid by secretary of state hillary clinton. not this year but in 2016. new york democratic senator kearsen gill a brand who took her seat is facing a tough re-election fight told buzz feed i'm going to be one of the first to ask hillary to run. i think she would be incredibly well poised to be our next democratic president.

i think she is extremely well prepared. her experience has secretary of state elevated her stature but she is someone who can get things done and would be an outstanding candidate. ben smith, great to see you. first of all this does take me back to when charlie rangel was the first to mention why not the first lady to succeed daniel patrick moynihan. we were covering that race and we were off to the races. here, again, the early morning, a lot of people were talking about this i have to tell you with the women in the world conference last week because when she got up there on the stage and was introduced by meryl streep, hillary clinton was, in what could have been a nominating speech at a convention. you had 2,000-plus women organized by tina brown getting to their feet, there is a lot of buzz about this. >> you know, you talk to people around clinton. they don't know. somebody who is in her world. for her to say that seems to me

it's not something right out of thin air. i think it's something why wouldn't she seriously consider it. she would be the instant front-runner. >> there is one job she is not interested in, this is going to be supposedly decided, the deadline tomorrow, the president has to nominate someone for the world bank, it is considered to be by tradition the american position, hillary clinton was suggested, we have been told she has absolutely no interest in that. we've been told john kerry has no interest in that. susan rice has been named. but hillary clinton not interested in that. people tell me she's going to go off and do foundation work, maybe combining with her husband's work. but that she's -- she could be a candidate in the waiting. >> it's tough to raise money for presidential campaign when you have a government job. the clinton foundation -- incredible vehicle for that. it's really if she at some point i imagine she has not made up her mind but there's going to be a lot of people pushing her to run.

>> kirstin may be the first to say it publicly. it's the kind of story that you can't actually say is not true until it happens. >> it is what it is. i think that would be an amazing race. i'm sure governor andrew cuomo is watching. >> new york politics. tortured world of new york politics. ben smith, great to see you. this is busy indeed. >> thanks for having me on. >> last night i attended a moment, a century of service ceremony, 100 years combined honoring bob dole and howard baker who also served as ronald reagan's last white house chief of staff. it was a bipartisan tribute for two amazing political leaders for their enormous contributions to compromise and civil discourse in congress, outside of congress. vice president joe biden led the celebration. >> i can say without fear of contradiction by the press, by any one who has served with you,

by historians and i presume to speak for every man or woman you ever served with, that it was a great honor and a genuine privilege to serve with each of you, to learn from each of you. i know you wished i had learned more, bob, but to learn from each of you. and quite frankly, just simply to know you both. ♪

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and the latest on the each and sketch shake-up. the etch-a-sketch made by one of his advisers. this is not child's play. how this could hurt romney later on. >> and it's america's longest running war, afghanistan, nearly 1800 american service members have been killed since the war started in 2001. today the top u.s. commander in afghanistan general allen testified before the senate armed services committee and said he knows the war has taken its toll. >> this campaign has been long. it has been difficult. and it has been costly. there have been setbacks to be sure and we're experiencing them now. and there will be more setbacks ahead. i wish i could tell you that this war was simple, that progress could be easily measured. >> the topic is in the latest issue of "time" magazine. joining me is columnist joe

klein who spent time covering the war, traveling there, you know it so well. i wanted to play an exchange from the senate hearing between senator susan collins and general allen. >> i just wonder if this is doable. >> ma'am, if the i didn't think it was doable i would tell you. and i'd tell you very quickly because i wouldn't want to spend another life in this fight if it wasn't doable. >> with all due respect to general allen, is it doable? >> define doable. >> and what is it? >> yeah. >> what is success. >> i think that we've kind of come to the end of the line here. you know, i don't think that anything really radical needs to be done but what should continue -- we're drawing down to about 68,000 troops in september and then there's going to be a pause. and i think we should just continue to bring back the troops, maybe brigade a month, and get them out of there.

except for a residual force. by you know, by next spring. i don't think we should spend another fighting season with our troops deployed on the ground there. what we should do, here are our interests. two interests in afghanistan. one is that the taliban don't march back into kabul and to prevent that we continue to support the afghan national army, we train them, we give them air support. they are mostly non-posthoon and this is going on for hundreds of year, andrea. and so i think that they will be able to defend kabul. the other thing we want to do is use a base, maybe kandahar air field in southern afghanistan as a base for special ops and drones. if the afghans don't want us to do it from there, do it from ships positioned off the -- off of pakistan in the indian ocean.

that's it. those are our remaining interests. we have pretty much taken care of al qaeda. it's time for us to go. >> and of course, if we cannot persuade president karzai, perhaps he was saying for domestic consumption only. if we can't persuade him to reverse what he suggested, we can no longer have our troop in the villages and afghanistan is a country of villages which you know. we cannot perform in any fashion if we are restricted to those few bases. >> except for the training. >> except for the training. i want to share with you of course what senators, the three amigos, mccain, lieberman and graham in their op ed. if we abandon the millions who have risked everything to be our allies in the head coaches succeeding together, the consequences will be disastrous for both our peoples. >> at a certain point you ask of senators mccain, lieberman and

graham, what wars are you against? >> and what can we accomplish? >> look, we have accomplished a great deal there. we got rid of the taliban government. we have really degraded al qaeda. we just got rid of osama bin laden. and we've had a major impact. it's over? enough. >> enough. >> joe klein. great to see you. >> what political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? that's next. [ kareem ] i was d by balsa wood airplanes since i was a kid. [ mike ] i always wondered how did an airplane get in the air. at ge aviation, we build jet engines. we lift people up off the ground to 35 thousand feet. these engines are built by hand with very precise assembly techniques. [ mike ] it's going to fly people around the world. safely and better than it's ever done before. it would be a real treat to hear this monster fire up. [ jaronda ] i think a lot of people, when they look at a jet engine, they see a big hunk of metal. but when i look at it, i see seth, mark, tom,

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thank you says it all. president obama signs his gratitude when he meets a hearing impaired college student on the rope line last month in maryland. the student had signed the phrase, i am proud of you. president obama immediately signed back. thank you. developing now, sanford city manager says he will hold a news conference at 3:30 eastern today from city hall to investigate the investigation into the killing of trayvon martin. the city manager spoke to me

about 45 minutes ago about the calls for the city police chief to resign. >> i'm not putting a time frame on this matter. this is too serious to rush. >> trayvon martin's parents would certainly hope that 3:30 when bill lee or some action will be taken. chris cillizza is back with us at what will happen in the next 24. and we cannot just wait forever for this. >> andrea, i think the caution is because they know how dicey politically this is. the reality is what you say, there is a demand for some level of action. my interest here is how far up does this go. president obama, governor rick scott, are they asked about it? what do they say? where does it go from here? 3:30 today, the next big moment in the story. >> it is a question for all the presidential candidates. thank you very much. we'll talk to you tomorrow. that does it for this edition of

"andrea mitchell reports." my colleague tamron hall right across the table. >> really pressing him on that issue of what happens next. we're following the news from sanford as andrea reported. there will be a news conference in just over an hour regarding trayvon martin's death. how long can the police chief hold on to his job. also tonight, a huge rally will be held in sanford. plus i'll talk with one writer who says he will never look suspicious because he is white. he also happens to be the political adviser to russell simmons. and the latest on the etch and sketch shake-up. it is day two of mitt romney's rivals literally using etch a sketches. this is not child's play. we'll tell you why this could be brand damaging. o about medicare and social security... security. that's what matters to me... me? i've been paying in all these years... years washington's been talking at us,

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