al... when, hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. it can relieve pain all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lois... who chose two aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. [ female announcer ] and try aleve for relief from tough headaches. right now on "news nation," we have news audio from what went on in the chambers of the supreme court today. the main event, you might call it. the argument over whether the individual mandate in the health care law is constitutional. in the last few hours, some court watchers say there are signs the court is showing it is skeptical over the constitutionality of the mandate. the mother and father of trayvon martin are set to meet with democrats in congress on capitol hill to address issues of racial profiling and hate crimes. hi, everyone. we'll begin the "news nation"

with some breaking news. the u.s. supreme court has wrapped up possibly the most critical day of arguments on whether president obama's health care law is unconstitutional. already some analysts are predicting the law could be in trouble. today's arguments centered on the heart of the law. whether congress has the authority under the commerce clause of the constitution to require almost all americans to have health insurance or pay a penalty. here's justice anthony kennedy whose often swing vote in the court's decisions. >> assume for the moment that this is unprecedented. this is a step beyond what our cases have allowed. the affirmative duty to act, to go into commerce. if that is so, do you not have a heavy burden of justification? >> nbc news correspondent pete williams was inside the supreme court chamber watching the arguments may out. give us your analysis and what happened today. >> i'm not sure justice kennedy ever found the answer he was for. toward the end of the argument,

he said, well, perhaps we can say the health care market really is different. that that is the limiting principle here. that the government can do this, can require everyone to buy health insurance, and that won't necessarily mean a broader power to buy anything else. that's clearly the thing that he is tossing around in his mind. some of the justices made it quite clear that they don't buy that argument. what the opponents of this law say is that under the commerce clause power, congress can only regulate people who are involved in commerce and have insurance. they cannot make you buy insurance if you don't have it. what the obama administration says is no, we're regulating the health care market. and everybody gets involved in that. all the law does is regulate how you pay for health care. that clearly didn't impress justice antonin scalia. >> could you define the market, everybody has to buy food sooner or later so you define the market as food. therefore everybody is in the

market. therefore you can make people buy broccoli. >> that's what one of the lower court judges who found the law unconstitutional. he said if congress can do this, it can require everyone to buy broccoli. here's the bottom line. it would be wrong to try to predict today what the supreme court will do based on the oral argument. because what happens today, how they feel right now doesn't matter. it is how they feel and how they finally come down when they get into the business of actually writing the decision and focusing their thoughts. and things can change. having said that, it doesn't appear today that there are five votes to uphold the health care law. justice kennedy seemed quite skeptical today. he may well turn out to be the swing vote. he didn't give any indication today that he strongly felt that this law could be upheld. he didn't outright say it should be struck down but he showed great skept civil. i'm never sure that he said anything that completely satisfied him on that point.

>> beyond what was happening, set the stage for outside. we saw people on both sides of this debate out front of the courts there. >> reporter: we've seen a lot of that for two years, frankly. and there's been protests for two years and it is what the supreme court says inside that really matters. having said that, you asked, i would say there was a more organized protest this morning than yesterday. more people turned out today who opposed the law but people were well represented on both sides. >> that's interesting. the reason that i ask, if i might explain to you, there are many who believe the democrats are more organized on this issue because if the law is found unconstitutional, they somehow, some analysts believe, that this will rally democrats come november. so some of the tone that we're seeing to your point for two years that's been out there is seemingly more organized in the last few days than you might have observed over the past 24 months, pete.

>> could be. you know, i'm probably not the best one to ask what effect the decision would have politically. all i'm saying is that having two days into this argument now with another day to go, i would say that the health care law is in trouble. >> that's all i needed to know. thanks very much. meantime outside the supreme court as mentioned, this was the scene. deueling demonstrations, they're coming out to voice their opinions. today's demonstrations are much larger than we at least saw yesterday on the first day of the arguments. >> i get to keep my house. i won't go bankrupt. my kids are going to get to go to college and i am going to live. >> is tyranny when your government starts telling what you services you have to buy even if they violate your religious or conscience beliefs?

>> let's bring in our panel. the center filed a brief defending the health care law. josh is the white house the reporter for politico. and you are a constitutional law professor at nyu. let me be clear. we're showing the folks outside here. i'll start with you because the tone of this, obviously what we hear from people outside, will not impact the justices in their decision. we'll get to the specifics of that. but you have? their political article out yesterday talking about how this case went mainstream and how initially during material parts of the debate. and you didn't hear arguments over the individual mandate. now there is a possibility that this point, if ruled by the supreme court, that it is unconstitutional, will be the caring point here. >> that's right. this gives law professors a good name. a law professor was a mastermind of this and initially, his argument against the individual

mandate was, scoffed at or many people gave the back of their hands. but over time it has gotten traction. i want to emphasize that even though we're hearing a lot of doom and gloom for the individual mandate, we actually went into this knowing that we had before a liberal justice, probably being sympathetic to the affordable care act and justice thomas on the other side crusading against it. those four other votes were in play. i think we've learned that justice alito was left empathetic. he was a dark horse going into this. i don't think the other justices are that much of a surprise. they're all looking for a himming principle. ? we played the sound from justice kennedy who said assume for the moment this is unprecedented. this is a step beyond what our cases have allowed. the affirmative duty to act, to go into commerce. if that is so, do you have a heavy burden of justification? people williams pointing out the answer was not provided to justice kennedy. let me get your thoughts on what kenji referred to. this gloom and doom that some of

these court watchers have come out with today. >> i'm completely opposite. i was in the courtroom today and i thought contrary to what pete said, that argument business the challengers were incredibly thin on the court over the course of it. the justices came out kind of swinging at the law a little bit. i think by the end of the two hours, you had both chief justice roberts and justice kennedy asking very skeptical questions of the challengers of this act. and i think the end of the day, i think the thinness of the claims against this law that were called frivolous at the beginning of this lawsuit started to look very frivolous at the end of the lawsuit. justice kennedy talked about how this was, the conduct here. the not buying insurance was uniquely approximate to the risk of unpaid health insurance bills. and i think he gets at that. and a key point of this, this is a regulation of interstate commerce. it is at the core of what the federal government is supposed to be able to do under the

constitutional authority. i think that's why at the end of the day, the courts will uphold this law. >> let me bring you back to justice scalia and the comment about the broccoli in that that has been actually, i don't want to call it a talking point for a justice. i've heard a lot of people on the right and those opposed to this health care law bring that up as a comparison. meanwhile on the left, you have many who tweeted me and sent e-mails saying what about car insurance? people are required to have that. how do you balance these analogies, if they are even analogies of what we are really talking about here. >> i thought what was most disappointing about the argument today was justice scalia seemed to be a partisan advocate for the side, the claimants against this law. he wasn't seriously considering this law as you would expect, given his pint in a case that upheld federal regulation of medical marijuana. i guess that was just about the subject of the race case, which was about regulating marijuana,

which he is favorable toward. i wouldn't count him as one of the justices who i think at the end of the day will uphold it. i do think that both chief justice roberts and justice kennedy were listening carefully. by the end of the day, were much more sympathetic to the federal government's claims than they were at the beginning. >> let me bring you in. it is your article that i was talking about. the headline. how the health care case went mainstream. and i've pointed out again these people who are protesting out front on morning joe today. it was noted that depending on who is the quote/unquote loser in this, you can rally your side in november. perhaps to your advantage, even if the supreme court does not go to the side you wish or hope that they should here. >> there is no question people will try to make political hey out of it and being defeated at the court can be more of a rallying cry politically than being successful there. that said, i think from the obama administration's perspective ask from the

president's perspective himself, it would be a pretty tremendous blow. you have to remember this was sort of the main thing the administration was doing for about a year. it's really the key stone of obama's policy. and if the supreme court strikes it down, if you set politics aside, just in terms of the practical accomplishments of the first term of his presidency, there really wouldn't be a lot left on the table beyond the economic issues and the stimulus. so it would be a serious body blow to the white house. i do think they could run the usual liberal campaign against the supreme court saying it is an activist court. where conservatives are out of control, striking down legislation that we need. i'm just not sure that's the way the white house would want this to come out. >> oxley, we do know the white house is now at least attempting to embrace the obamacare moniker that really came from a lot of tea party members as an insult. now the white house and team obama trying to embrace that. josh, let me ask you. you talk about the blow, if the

supreme court says it is unconstitutional, this individual mandate. the blow that it would provide to the obama administration if mitt romney is the nominee here. what kind of blow does it provide to what david plouffe referred to as the godfather of the health care law we're at. we're waiting on new sound from rick santorum who was there in washington in front of the supreme court, taking rightfully advantage of this opening with this health care debate and where mitt romney has stood when he was governor of massachusetts, and now he's obviously offering up something else. now that he's running for president. >> if the law is upheld, it does leave the political issue of obamacare on the table. you can have republicans run against it saying we'll repeal it. that's clearly what rick santorum is doing, saying as he more logical vehicle for repealing obamacare than is mitt romney who proposed something similar in massachusetts. we should say that legally there are two very different questions about whether a state can impose a scheme like this on its

citizens and whether the country as a whole can have a scheme like this under the u.s. constitution. so the supreme court will be ruling only on the issue of whether the federal government is entitled to impose this kind of a mandate. >> could you let me bring you back in? the atlantic wire had a survey. a survey of supreme court clerks and lawyers found that most of them expect that at least the central portions of the president's health care law, only 35% survey thought the high court would nix the individual mandate there. i'm not one to run the numbers games here. but when you look at this and you also look at josh mentioning in his story that a former clerk to justice scalia, d.c. circuit court judge lawrence silverman voted to uphold the law that legal scholars like yourself took notice with this. >> it is not just silverman of the d.c. circuit but also judge sutton on the sixth circuit.

they are emthen, respected, conservative intellectual judges who have voted to up hold the individual mandate. i want to go back to what josh was saying with regard to how this is a federal/state issue. nobody is saying the state is requiring people to get car insurance. this is about whether the federal government which has to point to a power in the constitution has the power to do this. >> we are looking at, and josh, these are live pictures of a pretty big group of people out front. obviously passionate to see what happens on day three tomorrow. but doug, i was watching and you have a number of people who come out and say, listen. i should not be required to pay this individual mandate. i should not be required to pay for insurance. the counter side, and you know this argument, is that if you're in a car accident, chris matthews had an elegant and fantastic interview yesterday. you're in a car accident in oklahoma. you're waiting for the ambulance

to come to go in and provide you some kind of health assistance. whatever your injuriesful are you don't have money to pay for it. somehow the rest us end up paying for your health care if you don't have money. so we are in a sense, if you believe this argument, being penalized already to cover those who don't have health insurance. >> that's exactly right. our clients are 500 state legislators from every state in the country saying only the federal government can solve this country. and you do. you don't have a constitutional right to freeload. you don't have a constitutional right to impose uninsured costs on other taxpayers. that's all the mandate does. it requires you get a minimum amount of coverage or you pay fine because it costs us, all of us, a ton of money when people go uninsured and then go into emergency rooms. that don't pay their health care bills. that's exactly what justice kennedy at the end of the argument seemed to recognize. is that the step of being

uninsured is very close to the economic problem that congress is trying to solve here. >> let me get josh in quickly before we wrap this up. we've talked to many legal scholars i love this story that you published. what are you hearing we should watch for at least tomorrow on day three? the final day. >> you're going to have a lot of arguments on this question of how the law fits together. if the individual mandate goes down, do other provisions in the law like requiring companies to issue insurance, like the provisions on preexisting conditions, which are a lot more popular. so we may get more hints from the justices about what they think about how this law fits together. does it fit together like a jigsaw puzzle or do they think they can go through it and knock provisions out one by one? if they think they can do that, that will be more indication that the individual mandate is in trouble. if they do it as kind of interlocked, it might be an indication that they will have to either say the whole law is

okay or reject the entire thing. >> thank you, gentlemen, for your time. i greatly appreciate it. thank you. coming up, trayvon martin's parents will be on capitol hill within the hour for a meeting with democrats. to discuss racial profiling and hate crimes in this country. we'll have the very latest on where the investigation stands and their visit to capitol hill. plus, rick santorum says, well, he'll take it. santorum makes some pretty interesting comments about being the second man, you might say, to mitt romney. >> i'll do whatever is necessary to help our country. >> and join the conversation. that's my twitter page. read it in the break and tell me what you think. all right, let's decide what to do about medicare and social security...

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to the other big news of the day. the trayvon martin case. in less than an hour, a group of house democrats will hold a briefing on capitol hill to discuss racial profiling. hate crimes and the controversial stand your ground laws. as i mentioned earlier, trayvon martin's parents are expected to join this forum. joining me from sanford, florida, ron allen. obviously, that is the central location for the investigation. let's talk about this visit to capitol hill by trayvon martin's family. what do we know? >> reporter: well, we don't think they'll testify. we think they are there for moral support. it's more of a forum than a hearing. it is not really an investigation. you're right. one of the big issues is this stand your ground law. what some people call shoot to kill. the self-defense law that george zimmerman here is essentially standing behind in his defense of what he did that night when he shot and killed trayvon martin. here the investigation continues behind closed doors. in the hands of a special prosecutor. the local police in sanford are largely out of the picture, they

say, at a press conference this afternoon, we asked a lot of questions. they said we can't comment. what the city manager said is he is taking some steps to address the concern in this community about how the police community relates to the african-american community in particular. it sounds like he wants to set up an indiana board to review citizen complaints. here's some of what towed say. >> i am process of instituting a mechanism whereby citizens with concern or complaints about the sanford police department can have their concerns heard and investigated by an independent agency. >> reporter: there's a lot of concern about what the parents of trayvon martin are talking about a smear campaign against their son. they say there are a lot of leaks appearing in the press from the police department, they say, from george zimmerman supporters that are trying to demonize trayvon martin and blame him for what happened. so the tone of things here continues to be very contentious, very emotional.

today we don't know of any protests going on. a lot of action is in d.c. where the parents are. there will be a show of support in the streets there for them as well as all this continues. >> back to the statements made by trayvon martin's parents yesterday. that the police or whoever is responsible for the leaks about trayvon martin's school record and his suspension, did the police say that that at least, the information about the suspension came from a source within the department who was not authorized to provide it? what are they specifically saying? how is this being leaked? >> i think the police acknowledge that the leaked information is consistent with the information they have sent to the special prosecutors. they're talk b the information about what happened that night. they're not talking about the school reports of three suspensions of trayvon martin during the past year or so. they're talking about the version of events that says what happened and how george

zimmerman reportedly maintains that trayvon martin attacked him from behind. knocked him to the ground. broke his nose. bashed his head against the sidewalk. and that zimmerman then shot him in self-defense. the police acknowledge that that is what they have told the prosecutors. they condemn the leak. they say they're investigating to find out who may have done this. and they say that person would be disciplined and perhaps fired if they can identify him. >> thank you. greatly appreciate your live report from sanford. thank you. and coming up, an all-time low following the massacre of afghan civilians and burning of korans. americans sharply turn on their support of the war in afghanistan. we'll have a live report and show you the latest numbers on what people are saying. uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently riding the dog like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket

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coming up, what rick santorum is saying about the number two spot from mitt romney. plus, pope benedict xvi arrived in havana where he is set to meet with fidel and raul castro. and strike a pose. how much would you pay for a picture with newt gingrich? for the first time, the gop candidate is charging for a click, click. c'mon dad!

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instead i got heartburn. [ horse neighs ] hold up partner. prilosec isn't for fast relief. try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast. yeehaw! here's what the "news nation" is following now. all time low for the support in afghanistan sharply drops after the massacre of afghan civilians and burning of korans. visit to cuba. the poach touches down in havana and is set to meet with fidel and raul castro. plus, dominique strauss-kahn

is charged with aggravated pimping. and doubling down on call to ban drivers from using cell phones behind the wheel, including those hands-free devices. is that going too far? first, american support for the war in afghanistan is plumbing after a years us of violent events involving u.s. troops. the latest cbs/new york time poll finds that 69% said the u.s. should not be involved in afghanistan. the 68% said the war was going somewhat or very badly. 44% thought troops should be withdrawn before the 2014. these new numbers come of course, after the burning of the koran in february on an air base. it sparked deadly riots and the killing of six american service members. and just three week later, march 11th. the u.s. staff sergeant robert bales was accused of murdering 17 afghan civilians. the chief correspondent jim miklaszewski joins me now and

mick, this change in direction, i should say more people now saying that this war has gone on long enough. is that a real surprise to people there at the pentagon? >> well, not actually. the first thing that senior military leaders will tell you is they don't devise a strategy or wage the war based on public opinion polls. nevertheless, this has to be disconcerting, particularly during an election year when there will be tremendous pressure on the white house and president obama. to accelerate the withdrawal of american combat troops from afghanistan. right now there are about 90,000 u.s. forces on the ground in afghanistan. that is due to go down to about 68,000 by the end of september. just a month before the november elections. but there are, there is already some talk about shortly after that time frame, drawing out another 10,000 forces. in testimony before, up on capitol hill last week before the house and senate armed

services committee, the top u.s. commander from afghanistan told general john allen, told lawmakers that he would like to wait and see what that after that drawdown before any additional decisions are made on withdrawing troop. the one thing the military has always insisted upon is that the drawdowns be conducted in term of the conditions on the ground at the time. but given these number, the white house may not wait. >> and when you look at also these number and you break it down along party lines, if you will, just as many almost a very close number of republicans which traditionally have been this war say that they believe it is time, or that it going badly. which counters, for example, from senator john mccain who says there was success happening on the ground in afghanistan. >> well, u.s. military official will point to what they consider to be considerable successes in terms of forming up and training

up many of the afghan forces working in partnership withal of the afghan forces. but there is some concern among the military, even here in the pentagon that after these unfortunate incidents, that you ticked off several of them including this most recent in which it is alleged that staff sergeant robert bales shot and killed 17 afghan civilians. there is some concern that even the afghan people are tired of this war. >> thank you very much. a live report. also, as mentioned, pope benedict xvi has arrived in havana for day two of his historic trip to cuba. ♪ >> that was the scene as the pope touched down. that was happening about an hour ago. he is expected to meet with president raul castro for a second time. and possibly his brother fidel. the pontiff held a mass in santiago yesterday urging cubans

to abandon communism and build a quote, renewed and open society. mark potter joins us live in havana. i was watching your conversation. a fantastic conversation with andrea mitchell during her show live in havana talking about the number of americans that you've seen, that you've encountered during your trip this time around. >> reporter: well, that's exactly right. we used to come down here in years past even a year ago. we would be kind of lonely if we were seeking american company. that's not the case now. the hotels, the plaza behind me, the tourist locations, the restaurants are if i have with americans now. and that's again because of a change in american law, allowing them to come down here on tour packages. coming down here for the pope specifically are some ratted interesting americans. some cuban exiles who left this country after the revolution. they fled the revolution. many of them vowing never to return.

but this time they are coming back as part of a tour with the miami arch diocese. in this cathedral behind me at 5:00 eastern time, 4:00 here, the miami archbishop will be celebrating a mass here and attendance will be many of these cuban exiles who have finally concluded that it is time to come and talk face to face with the cuban people. their former neighbors. it doesn't mean they support the government but they are of the opinion now that it is better to engage than to disengage, so several hundred of them are coming now. that's a most interesting group of visitors that we are encountering here. >> and mark, as we reported, the pope will meet with raul castro. it is possible he will meet with fidel. what does that meeting hinge upon? the meeting with fidel? >> well, the reporting that we've done here suggests it is likely that he will also meet

with fidel castro. we don't know what they're going to talk about. that hasn't been said publicly. there are some hope and some speculations about that. the cuban church hope that as a result of those talks, there may be more openings for the church and cuban society. they've gained more ground. they're slowly doing that and their delicate relationship with this government. the main thing they want is more access to the state-run media here so they can promote their messages more broadly. promote their faith more broadly. dissidents would like to see the pope talk about human rights. he won't be meeting with dissidents here. he did say on the plane ride in to mexico at the beginning of this, he was urging the government of cuba to find alternatives to marxism. they're hoping there will be something built on that. and the cubans want him to fight the embargo. >> live for us in havana, thank you, mark. a second death is being blamed on a massive wildfire outside of denver, colorado.

that top our look at story around the nation. calmer winds, take a look at this video, are allowing firefighters to begin containing the flame which have scorched more than 4,500 acres, evacuating 900 home as a result. firefighter are waiting on how from federal fire management teams, expected to arrive in colorado sometime this evening. and rescue crews in florida are trying to remove, look at this video. that a propane truck. and it is actually stuck on a smallwooden bridge. the bridge had a sign, a warning sign. drivers with trucks weighing three tons or more should turn back. the driver was able to exit the vehicle without injury. this is an incredible video. the bridge is not collected to collapse because of steel beam supporting it. after a flood of controversy over the r rating for language, the new documentary quote bully" will be released without a rating. the weinstein company says it

will hit theater without the original rating that was given. that means some theaters may soon show it. activists had petitioned that a lower rating be given to the movie so kids who really need to see it will be able to go in and watch the film. to decision 2012 and questions whether rick santorum is running out of steam. he said he would consider the number two spot with mr. romney. >> if he for some reason asks you to be the vice presidential candidate after all is said and done, would you consider it? >> of course. look. i would do, in this race, i always say, this is the most important race in our country's history. so i'm going to do everything i can. >> so you're keeping your options open. >> i'll do whatever is necessary to help our country. >> conservative radio host joins me on the phone. we were supposed to see you face to face but we had a technical

problem. what do you make of rick santorum saying he would do whatever help the country including being a vice president. at winter point he admitted it but he said he could not beat president obama. >> i think rick santorum might have set political history yesterday. he had a rally at the u.s. supreme court. i'm not sure i've ever seen that while it was going into session. he started off you'ving that as a genius opportunity to point out the similarities between romneycare and obama care. by the time we got to the end of the day, we got to that clip you just played where he said, hey, that guy i just got done ripping at the u.s. supreme court, if he asks me to serve on his team, i would consider it. and i don't know that we've ever seen in the history of presidential politics, a candidate slam his opponent at the u.s. supreme court and then say he would be willing to be his running mate on the same day. and it it is a recurring pattern with rick santorum that he has to correct as we head into what

will be the strongest month for romney. as you look at the calendar, a lot of blue state primaries. a lot of victories for romney on tap this month. santorum has to survive this month in april to get to may where there is a lot more conservative states. when he keep reinforcing the idea that hey, romney will be the nominee and maybe i'll work with him as opposed to, no, i should be the nominee and here why i'm running. he makes it harder on himself. >> to your point, i want to play this back and for the on health care. what trul santorum had to say and then romney's response. lets play it back to back. >> there only one candidate who has the chance of winning the republican nomination who can make this the central issue that will be a winning issue for to us win the presidency back. and that's rick santorum. and unfortunately, the worst person to make that case is mitt romney. that's why as i said, we're here today and he is not. >> i'm not going to worry too much about what rick is saying these days. i know that when you fall

further and further behind, you get a little more animated. >> there you have it. to your point. you have santorum in front of the supreme court blasting the guy and then saying, well, i would consider being his vice president. couple that with the little mini meltdown we had the new york time reporter that he later bragged about, you haven't made it until you have cursed out a new york time reporter. what are we seeing? is it a meltdown for santorum at this point? >> i think that new york times exchange will help him with a lot of conservative who's have a lot of frustration with the new york time. i think what hurts him and he has done this repeatedly, he will stake a very bold premise that a lot of republican base that would like to rally to him agrees with. but then once he starts facing heat for it, he will begin backtracking it. he has to figure out, will i stick to this position. ifture principal candidate, and

folks know, just oodles of material of romney taking every position on every issue. if you're rick santorum and you're going to make the case, say i'm the guy with the courage of conviction, you have to stick to your guns when you articulate that. >> you've stuck to your guns so long on your endorsement of newt gingrich. i have to ask you, there is this report. it has been confirmed. that newt gingrich, the guy you've endorsed for now is charging $50 for people to take a picture with him. oxley, his campaign is cash strapped. he is struggling. $50? i'll let you finish on this one. >> we addressed this on our show last night, as a matter of fact. and i don't know why this really bothered me. maybe because, it sounds a little old-fashioned but the word packing come to mind. i'm not sure who in the gingrich campaign thought we're short of cash so let's charge the four republicans that actually live in delaware $50 a piece to try

to raise money. that's an unnecessary self-inflicted wound. >> is it just proof of what people said all along, even with the book, that he was really out on a book tour. when you look at some of the expenses of the account. how much of the money is going to him. is he really just out of the race at this point? to your own point, when you stoop to that point when you're charging $50, it reminds me of those sports memorabilia conventions that you go to and you see your favorite player, you get an autograph. you have to pay up to get it. >> i think it was martin luther said if you're going on sin, sin boldly. if you're going to charge at a campaign event, do it in your native georgia when you might have 3,000 people come out. not five in delaware. what it does to your point is newt has been the one candidate in this race who has consistently on the republican side been willing to address big ideas and bold solutions. but it obviously lowers his own stock in saying that i'm the candidate that does that. when you stoop to this kind of a level. i can't disagree with that.

>> all right. we'll see you soon. thank you. still ahead, an iraqi woman is brutally murdered inside her home in california. disturbing details and now the fbi is investigating the circumstances. some are asking if it is a hate crime. we'll have the details on the investigation. the man once thought to be the front-runner in france's election, he has now been charged by french official with aggravated pimping. authorities say dominique strauss-kahn was involved in the ring. the lawyer claims he did not know he was having sex with prostitutes. the case against his client will be dismissed. mitt romney's southern california beach house could soon get a mega upgrade, according to politico. if the project is approved, romney's cars, well, his vehicles would have their own

separate elevator. romney also wants to build an outdoor shower and a 3,600 square foot basement. he has even reportedly hired a lobbyist to help get the plans approved. throws the thing we thought you should know. [ todd ] hello? hello todd. just calling to let you know i'm giving you the silent treatment. so you're calling to tell me you're giving me the silent treatment? ummm, yeah. jen, this is like the eighth time you've called... no, it's fine, my family has free unlimited mobile-to-any-mobile minutes -- i can call all i want. i don't think you understand how the silent treatment works. hello? [ male announcer ] buy unlimited messaging and get free unlimited calling to any mobile phone on any network. at&t.

in absolute perfect physical condition and i had a heart attack right out of the clear blue... he was just... "get me an aspirin"... yeah... i knew that i was doing the right thing, when i gave him the bayer. i'm on an aspirin regimen...

and i take bayer chewables. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. so he's a success story... [ laughs ] he's my success story. [ male announcer ] learn how to protect your heart at i am proheart on facebook. coming up at the top of the hour, we'll have a lot. president obama famously said, we have to get our budget deal. today supreme court suggested at least one member that we don't have to eat our broccoli. that might be bad news for the white house. a pivotal day in the nation's high court. in a short time. this woman was beaten to death. they fled iraqi nearly two decades ago to escape saddam

hussein's rule. the mother of five died after she was hit in the head with a large object. police also say they found a threatening note near her body. i'm joined now by investigative crime reporter michelle. and this story is starting to pick up more national attention because there's a question of the motive here. what are investigators telling you? >> reporter: i spoke with investigators two time today. what they tell me is that the note as you mentioned, was threatening in nature. they will not go into the details as to what was behind the note. but they are investigating all aspects of this case. they're not ready to label this murder at this point. but they are maintaining objectiveness, that this could possibly be a hate crime or possibly be something else. and so they're moving forward with this particular murder investigation. there was a window that was broken into the home. i can confirm that. that her daughter was actually asleep upstairs when the crime

occurred. shama's husband, he took four of the younger kids out to go to school on the day of the murder last wednesday. >> what are neighbors saying -- and lose her life in this brutal way? what are neighbors saying? >> it's horrible. here's what i can tell you. her and her husband were married in a refugee camp many years ago. they moved to the united states in 1993 going to detroit. and then moving to san diego. she was loved in her communicate, loved by her family. loved by so many. and we'll just see how big that love is today later on at the memorial service. as more funeral plans are set to take place in this case, we can only hope if someone has any information, they'll pick up the phone and call the el cajon police department. i also spoke with the fbi. they are assisting local officials in this investigation. and so we need to be able to bring her family justice today.

>> all right. thank you very much. we'll continue to follow this story. thank you. uncer ] this is coach parker... whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ [ coughing continues ] [ gasping ] [ elevator bell dings, coughing continues ] [ female announcer ] washington can't ignore the facts. more air pollution means more childhood asthma attacks. [ coughing continues ] log on to fightingforair.org and tell washington: don't weaken clean air protections. the charcoal went out already? [ sighs ] forget it. [ male announcer ] there's more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford charcoal.

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we're following a jet blue flight. the captain of that flight began to behave erratically. this is video that we've been able to obtain. the co-pilot was able to land the jfk-las vegas flight to amarillo after the captain began to behave erratically. the co-pilot was able to take over. another offduty pilot and an offduty police officer on the flight. they were able to restrain the pilot. jet blue has released a statement. they will work to get more details on this and the rest of the coverage of our dayside coverage. the bottom line is this flight, 191, departing from new york's jfk airport. it was supposed to land in vegas. it was diverted to amarillo

after the pilot and command had a medical emergency and began to behave erratically. this is video that has been placed on youtube already. we'll keep you up to date. that does it for this edition of "news nation." thank you for joining me. i'm tamron hall. chuck todd has a special live show for you, in for martin bashir. men... for me, it's really about building men... this extraordinary community. american express is passionate about the same thing. they're one of those partners that i would really rely on whether it's finding new customers, or, a new location for my next restaurant. when we all come together, my restaurants, my partners, and the community amazing things happen. to me, that's the membership effect. avoid bad.fats. don't go over 2000... 1200 calories a day. carbs are bad. carbs are good. the story keeps changing. so i'm not listening... to anyone but myself. i know better nutrition when i see it: great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole.

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