this morning why the news this week proved that the arc is bending just a little bit more. and it is shrouded in secrecy, but right here in america, young girls are being bought and sold. plus, mitt romney is starting the long trek up the presidential campaign mountain for real now, and he is going to need a sherpa, but first, i'm a woman, and you are about to hear me roar. good morning. i'm melissa harris-perry and the proverbial war on women has received a little help from cnn contributor and democratic strategist hilary rosen. whether spended or not, it has added fuel to an already burning fire. let's take you back a few days, and watch this.

>> what you have is mitt romney running around the country saying, well, you know, my wife tells me is that what women care about are economic issues and when i listen to my wife. that is what i am hearing. guess what? his wife has never actually worked a day in her life. >> yikes! now that might not be the appropriate first response, but it is the one i had when i heard it. how did ann romney react? well, she took to twitter that night with the very first tweet saying, i made a choice to stay home to raise five boys, and believe me, it was hard work. so let me show you the extra matches that rosen tossed into the flames as witnessed by her flurry of tweets after her comments. tweeting, i have nothing against ann d. romney, but i don't want mitt using her as an expert on women struggling financially for their families, because she isn't. and this one from ann romney, i

am aware that struggling to raise children, and i am raising children, too. and #heneedsmore. and anndromney, you will find twitter exhilarating and awesome place. okay. when i think of the tweets, this is the first thing that comes to mind. >> all right. zip it. you can't even -- >> zip it. zip! >> look, all i'm -- >> ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit a. >> would you back me up. >> look, i'm zippy long stockings, and when a problem comes along you mustt zip it. zip it good. >> zip it. rosen finally got the hint and tweeted one more time friday morning after more television appearances about this matter saying that i deeply apologize

again toing home moms and not going on hashtag and so this is an opening for a fresh appeal to women. this is ann romney at the nra conference. >> this is what i love the most. women are talking about the economy and jobs and about the legacy of debt that we are going to leave our children, and we are mad about it. we are going to do something about it in november with your help. >> so if there was any doubt that the romney campaign wouldn't take full advantage of this particular dust-up, take a look at this. a bumper sticker with the slogan, moms drive the economy or if you prefer the republican national committee offers for the low, low price for $15 that you, too, can have a travel coffee mug with the words on it, moms do work, vote gop. all right. that is enough on the hilarity of the issue, because the fact is that there is serious

matters. if raising five children is not work enough, what do we consider work? so the types of jobs that men and women get are different. less than three years ago, women were 92% of registered nurses and 81.9% of elementary and middle schoolteachers and 97.8% of preschool and kindergarten teachers. and men were 7.1% civil engineers and 9.4% electrical engineers and 10% air row space e -- aerospace engineers. and so when women get home, they are still starting a job. 66% of men say they are responsible for household duties while 85% of women say they are. and what is at issue is the values that we place on the roles that women occupy whether a woman is splitting her time between the office and the home or whether the home is her

office, both are equally vital and important, and when we try to devalue the role of domestic labor, it is a recipe for disaster and adds fuel to the fire of the political game. joining me are the press secretary for rick santorum and former communications director of communications for michele bachmann for president, and also the editor of punditmom.com, and author of "mothers with intention." and from madison, wisconsin, joining me is ellen bravo, executive director of "family values at work." thank you for joining me. i want to have a conversation about what has been political discourse over the past several days, and we will get to that, but i want to start with tissue of the work that women do, and how we value or don't value in a very real way economically the work that women do. so ellen, since you are not in the table, i want to bring you in first. we have been having fun with this idea, but talk to me about the work that women do and how

the notion that there is actually women's work impacts the kind of renumeration that women receive. >> well, it is really interesting to see what happens when women do for a living the work that women do in the home. these are the jobs that are paid the least. you know, the people who watch our young children make less than the people who care for our cars or our pets or our lawns. that is what this society really thinks of mothers. and you know, i'm happy to be talking to you from wisconsin where our governor and several other politicians are adding fuels to the flame on the war on women and where many of us are resisting, because let's talk a little bit about the people who for example domestic workers or home health workers who take care of the elderly or the sick, and not only are paid minimum wage, but sometimes not even, because they are often not protected by the employment laws for overtime. they are seldom getting any benefits like the right to stay

home when they are sick or when their children are sick or even when they give birth. that is the problem. if you really want to know what this society thinks of and conservatives think of women's work, let's see what they say when women want to stay home with their children who happen to be poor, then they are call lazy, irresponsible, and refusing to work and told they should take any job, any shift, and really what about their kids? well, they have their pride. >> i want to follow up on exactly that point, because that has been part of the angst is this sense of the it is good for a middle-class married woman with resources to be home with her underaged children and you know the kids who are not yet school aged, then shouldn't we also think it is good for a poor woman to be home with her children who are not yet in kindergarten, and in that sense the entire welfare to work politics was moving against valuing stay-at-home moms. >> one issue is that the democrats fight so hard for a women's right to choose, and

that should apply here as well. the woman should have a right to choose whether she stays home or is a stay at home mother and spends time with the mother. unfortunately many times economic condition don't allow that, but they should have a right to choose and it is insulting for ms. rosen to say that just because you stay home, you don't have to understand the economic situation of the time, and you don't have to punch a clock to know that the gas is higher and the groceries you buy for the kid are more expensive and moms who stay home do certainly understand that. and ann romney asking women what is on their mind, and it is key issues that mothers care about it, it is the health care, and the goes ri prias prices and th prices and the debt. >> and i have two major areas of

agreement and disagreement of how the story would wrap. and i kept saying, zip it, stop saying that a mom is not working. but i also fundamentally agree with the idea that one need not experientially know something in order to have information and knowledge and be able to express that politically. i think of eleanor roosevelt who was, herself, wealthy and a womanp of privilege who did a great deal of work around the poor in this country, but the differences though on this question of choice if i agree with you and say that a woman should have choice to stay home with her kids, then shouldn't a poor woman and why should it be then that only a wealthy woman has that option? >> because if everybody has the choice, then we have to have the societal programs in place to be able to do that. so it is sort of a you can't have it both ways the ways that the republicans are talking about it. you can't have a world where it is okay for privileged moms, middle-class moms who have the

means, who are able to figure it out and piece it together somehow, but that it is not okay for lower income class women to do that. so if you want to make the argument that mom should be staying home, and republicans want to make that argument, why do they then go against the family medical leave act and paid leave for women and sick leave and child care issues? you can't have it both ways. >> and ellen, let me bring you in on this, but a it does seem that the work you are doing around policy is exactly about this question of how do we -- and i agree, it is fascinating to suddenly watch the choice language shift, and now the choice language is coming from the right, where obviously for the past few weeks we have had a lot of choice language coming from the progressives. are there policies that could legitimately make it more possible to choose staying home? >> absolutely, and they are pending right now on the local, state and national level. unfortunately, the people who are wrapping themselves in the flag of motherhood not only don't support these, but they are standing in the way.

so let me give you some examples. rush limbaugh the other day was ranting how women have so much flexibility at work. unlike rush, i like to start with the facts, something that you will appreciate, melissa. so look at the few facts. the united states is one of four countries in the entire world where women don't have paid maternity leave, and as a result, half to women who give birth go back to work without having received a dime in income while they were out in leave. and those who do the majority of them, you know what they are using? vacation time they have saved. anybody with a newborn knows, it is a great joy, but not a vacation. i am talking about the right to choose to stay home when you give birth even long enough to heal or the right to stay home when the school calls and says that your child is sick or any of us who have kids have had it happen that your kid wakes up sick, and you have to figure out what to do. my husband and i raised two sons and we tried really hard to train them to get sick only when

it was convenient, and we failed. >> it does not work that way. >> most of us know what that is like, but for most people, it is not a problem, but a crisis, and all in the campaigns, we have activists whose kids have asthma or diabetes, and when the school calls and says you have to come, they do what good moms do, they go. not only may they lose a paycheck, but many of them wind up lose inging a job. that is why we need these policies and if candidates are smart, they care about the women's vote which is afterall what started this whole c conversati conversation, they should know that these issues pull way off to charts across the demographics and across all political parties and if you want the support of women and men who care about families and economic security then you should be supporting policies like paid sick days and affordable family leave. >> everybody stay right there and i want to continue to talk

and talk a little bit about michele bachmann's candidacies in the ways that motherhood was that part of the narrative and not only the policies of what we make for women and policies, be new the next hour an actress will join us to talk about a major human rights crisis going on in our country. next, more on why women's work is not 9:00 to 5:00. ♪ working 9 to 5 ♪ what a way to make a living ♪ barely getti lly getting by ♪ ♪ pop goes the world ♪ it goes something like this ♪ everybody here is a friend of mine ♪ ♪ everybody, tell me, have you heard? ♪ ♪ pop goes the world ♪ pop goes the world [ female announcer ] pop in a whole new kind of clean with new tide pods... a powerful three-in-one detergent that cleans, brightens, and fights stains. pop in. stand out. how about the beat of a healthy heart?

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last week here at mhp we took note of how the romney campaign was putting ann romney out in front, and now she is way out front, thanks to hilary rosen's comments which also reminded us that political wives are never off limits.

but there's something else that we have been given the opportunity this week to work out, and it is our own gender politics. so to discuss that joining me again are republican strategist alice stewart, and joanne bamberger of ivillage.com, and 2012 elections editor and also with us is jeff johnson, msnbc contributor and executive editor of politics 365.com, and still from madison, wisconsin, ellen bravo, executive director of family values consortium. and now that you are at the table, jeff, we will give you a hard time. we found all of the great data from the bureau of labor statistics about the second-shift work. so we left saying that women's work is never just 9 to 5 and i want to show you how some of the these data break down, and on the household activities, women are at 51% of women saying that they are in charge of most of the housework. on, let's see, what else, food preparation, and again, 68%

women saying they are in charge of mostly food preparation and cleanup. this is one we love on the lawn and the garden care, men getting it in at 11.5% are more likely to say they are in charge of it, but on the household management women are winning. so there is a sense that even after we have finished up with the day at work, if you are working out of the home, you still have this, and there is no working woman who's not a working woman in every single circumstance. >> so, i am lucky enough to be the man you invite. >> so defend yourself and your sex, please. >> well, i don't want to defend the sex, but this is clearly a conversation that we don't have enough. so if anything that hilary did, she incited a conversation to take place that we don't have enough. whether it is from the churches or the leadership, there is an onus on the men in many cases to start having the conversations differently, because whether it is my friends that i work with or the leaders that i know in church, there is not kind of

this discussion around shared and partnership labor, especially when it comes the raising children. so there's this notion for those in my generation to really in some cases still carry on some of the gender roles. and i have male friends who won't do these certain things, because they want a woman to do that and my concern is that we are not having the discussions, and partnerships and marriages are suffering in many cases because of it. >> i am wondering about the politics here, and here you worked for a woman running for president, and they have a large family and both of the children, and the bachmanns have their own and foster children, and this question of the we have ever a first woman president we will have the first gentleman and what happens around the gender roles when it is the woman who is the candidate? >> well, with the experience of my campaigns i have worked on whether it is a male candidate with a wife, spouse or the inverse, the spouses are always equally supportive and they generally find where they can help.

sometimes they feel like they are not doing anything, but being there is important. to his point, it is important to have the conservation, and this week, we have been talking about the gender gap and the war on women, and they have shown the light on governor romney. this is nothing different. traditionally throughout history women have tended to vote democratic, and it is not a reflection of mitt romney. and the reverse is true for the gender gap in both ways, because obama is lower in number bes when it comes to the men. and asking the question what has he done to alienate men? this is an important conversation. >> hold on to that, because it is an interesting way of phrasing it, right in ways that we never ask about men's work and we don't ask the question of what has he done to alienate, i don't agree with the formulation, but it is an interesting question. >> the questions are not being asked, and the female discussion is important, and to the broader point, women are not just concerned about the women's issues, but broader fare of

health care, and gas prices, and other issues that women have a lot to bring to the table. unfortunately, i'm not a stay at home mother myself, and they do have a lot to contribute to the conversation. >> a person who could contribute a lot to the conversation was rick santorum who went off of the campaign trail when his daughter was ail. we had discussions around sarah palin saying she should not run for vice president, because she has five kids and one of them is still at home, and one of them is special needs and in the news constantly, and with rick santorum, you never heard of how he was such a great dad and how he struggledled to make the decision. until we can get to the point of talking about everybody's family commitment in the same way, we are going to keep having these discussions about whose work is really more important. >> ellen, let me come to you exactly on that, because it feels not only when we do this women's work into the workforce and assume that being a mother

is natural, then we assume that we don't have to pay a preschoolteacher very much money if she is a woman, but also devaluing when men are doing nurturing work. so if the best thing for a woman to be is a stay-at-home mom, then the assumption is that she is a stay-at-home mom in a heterosexual marriage with a man who makes enough to allow her to stay at home so that the value of men is sort of assumed to be rooted in the paycheck? >> absolutely. i remember that my husband and i -- i was asked to be on the show early in when i started 9 to 5:00 in milwaukee and a woman had written an op-ed that the problems with the families is because of omothers who work outside of the home. they wanted me to debate her if her husband could come on, and so i invited my husband to come on. and they didn't speak, because we went after it.

but my husband said, we should be grateful to the women's movement, because it has given us the opportunity to parent. and i say thanks. i agree, jeff, there is a struggle for men to take more responsibility, but there are many men who want to be good fathers and sons and husbands and they are punished for it on the job because they don't have paid leave. and that has to change. anyone who values families, that is where they have to stand. >> and feels like when we talk about the parental leave not only women physically giving birth, but the parental leave and the question of fathers as well. >> as a faer, th ether i feel t way, and again, i feel there has to be a movement and so much of the political piece is women championing it, and i don't see necessarily men championing it the same way of i will push it at the workplace, because i want to have the rights personally, but i don't know if i will step out to lobby on these, because

it will diminishing who i am as a man. so from a political lobby standpoint, the pressure for men's rights as it relates to being a father and a husband and ultimately kind of the changing of the political discourse as it relates to what these roles are comes from the men beginning to step up from a political standpoint, and lobbying for the issues in a way that frankly, we have not seen them do. >> and i was thinking about that last night. >> and go on the website -- >> and about whether men, many men are not lobbying about that because they fear not only the roles as dads be diminished, but also in the professional place. and if more and more women are moving into the profession they have chosen, are they going to feel that their jobs are more threatened? >> well, melissa, an issue from the policy standpoint even with child support and fathers in the home, because fathers' roles have been reduced to, did you pay the check? not did you show up, not -- >> and the only thing valuable about the man is the income he brings in.

so if you are in a economic downturn and more people struggling with the income, then we have more complications with the gender roles. i am glad we had this conversation, because it is more than the left and the right. and so thank you all for joining us. the rest of you are sticking around with us. and we have been using this phrase "war on women" phrase, but when we come back, i will do a reality check about a real war on women. ♪

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the very real war on women taking place on the other side of the globe in uzbekistan. a remarkable report done by the bcc this week is shedding light on the horrifying reality for women in that country, uzbek authority s ha authorities have been ordering regional doctors to forced sterilization on thousands of w uzbeck women. the predominantly muslim nation has struggled with human violations, but strategically placed on the border of afghanistan, they have been an important ally of the united states since the invasion of afghanistan and received numerous visit s bes by the secy of state hillary clinton who has criticized the country for the human rights violations, but this issue has largely flown under the radar.

the wasbeck government denies the claims and calls them slanderous according to reports of the bcc, but recent reports of the women's rights group cans and the united nations and the u.s. state department have alleged that forced sterilization was going on in uzbekistan, and some given hysterectomies without their knowledge usually during a c-section, and resulting in irreversible sterility. and the working group counted upwards to 80,000 sterilizations over a seven-month period in 2010. though there is no way of verifying this number, we are deep deeply concerned. the number of women forcibly sterilized in uzbekistan cannot be completely verified in part because the women are fearful of speaking out and fearful of being met with more violence which is why i wanted to bring some noise and attention to the invisible battle that these women are in. up next, justice is served

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it took 46 days and just about seven weeks since trayvon martin was shot and killed in florida. it was a 46 days since a national outcry for justice for trayvon and a national demand for his killer to be arrested and charged. and wednesday, that man george zimmerman was arrested and charged having foregone the grand jury, angela cory announced that zimmerman was in custody and charged with second-degree murder, and also said that all of the protests calling for the arrest did not have an impact on the investigation. >> let me say that we do not prosecute by public pressure or petition. we prosecute on the facts off any given case as well as the

laws of the state of florida. >> so zimmerman had a court hearing the next day. his arraignment was set for may 29th, and he is expected to plead not guilty, but his new attorney mark o'meara is requesting a new hearing to say that zimmerman should post bail and remain free before a trial. he expressed concerns about the judge in the case may have conflict of interest as her husband works for a law firm that zimmerman contacted for legal contact. so what comes next? joining me are two criminal defense attorneys. and you are also a former prosecutor? >> yes. >> and so i want to ask you about the social movement over the past seven weeks is that we need an arrest, and we need an arrest, and an arrest will bring justice. what is next now that we have had an arrest? >> well, the next order of

importance is the bail application and that is the risk of flight and whether he will respond to the processes of the court, but the big ticket eitem is that at some point in the future he will make a motion to dismi dismiss the case due on immunity. immunity differs on the defense, because here in new york justification of defense, and just that, defense. in florida, it is a question of the immunity, and his claim will be that he shouldn't be put on trial in the first place. so the judge has the ability to dismiss the case. >> what is the likelihood of that happening? >> i don't believe there is any likelihood. i wonder if mr. shargle agrees with me, because if the motion to dismiss is granted, then it is over. whereas in a normal criminal proceedings like in new york, self-defense is a defense, and even if self-defense works, you have to go through the process and you have to go through the trial. i think that there is zero

likelihood that the case will be dismissed. >> because of the media attention or because of how the stand your ground law, itself, is written? in other words, is there something legally that is binding the judge and making it likely? >> well, here is a case in front of me, the garcia case, where only three weeks ago a judge sitting in miami dismissed a case, and dismissed a case based on the defendant giving his account of what occurred. there were no other witnesses to support him, and the judge found that the defendant credible, and as a result, that was dismissed. immu immunity is a situation where both sides have appellant rights. if the case were dismissed the state has the opportunity to appeal. if the case were not dismissed before any trial, the defense would have an opportunity to appeal. on the notion that he shouldn't have been put on trial in the first place. that the immunity is a bar to being prosecuted. >> did we learn anything from the decision to charge with second-degree murder versus

manslaughter on the likelihood of any of this happening in the particular direction? >> second-degree murder, and while many people were surprised by this, i was not surprised. second-degree murder is showing that there was in this theory, the depraved indifference and reckless and look at that versus the manslaughter. the manslaughter charge would have been voluntary, and the reason it was not charged is because voluntary manslaughter is typically the heat of the passion argument, you know, the wife comes into the bedroom and sees the husband with the other woman and she stabs him. you see, in that case, the law recognizes that there is mitigation and we understand why she flipped the lid. in this case, and again this is going to go to the political pressure and the media outcry is that ms. cory is not giving zimmernan benefit of any doubt. she is not going to give him an

inch of mitigation here. >> and on the mitigation and the notion that the defendant when there is no other eyewitness, and right. there was one eyewitness or other people who heard things or the girlfriend on the phone? but the only other person who stood and saw it of course is trayvon martin who cannot te testify. so, on this question of whether or not there was something mitigating and whether or not this defendant, george zimmerman, is credible, i almost hate to say this, but is race part of this? because in other words the notion that zimmerman was afraid and that he found trayvon martin to be frightening, part of the claim at least as i have heard it thus far and although i have not heard it as a courtroom argument yet is that this young black man dressed in a hoodie walking at night is someone who, maybe not the girlfriend in the bed, but something like that. >> well, you are right. you are right on track with this, because the charging instrument indicates this profiling. >> yes. >> so there is this issue of was

george zimmerman profiling? and racial profiling while it is different from a hate crime, and racial profiling is some components are race and also is law enforcement going to act upon that? so therefore, yes. trayvon martin's hoodie and the color of his skin all comes into play. >> so, let's first look at the florida manslaughter statute which is different than new york, because under florida it is a person who causes another person's death without justification, and the self-defense is embedded into the manslaughter statute and we have to recognize that. this is a very, very aggressive prosecution. going back to the core question of whether race is a factor here, it is a huge facer to. i mean, george zimmerman just looked at trayvon martin and saw a perpetrator and asked him no more and called the 911.

you know, this whole idea of the neighborhood watch is the a recipe for disaster. you have someone who is obviously, and nobody could follow this proposition, because he made how many calls to the police before that, and he was a gung-ho cop wannabe. that is a dangerous and he was armed. >> yes. armed. >> and with a 0.9 millimeter pistol, and that is a recipe for disaster. >> yes. we will continue to talk about the legal aspects, but i want to bring in voices talking ab the political aspects going on. because there is the case and the theory around it. and gist to let you know for the next hour, actress mira trevino is going to join us. first we have to talk about trayvon martin. who is the business

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the trayvon martin question, but there are political questions ahead. to help us answer them is joining us the criminal defense attorneys jeremy shargle and seema and as well joining our msnbc contributor joe watkins and also the former aid to george h.w. bush jason argyle. i want to join here where we left off with zimmerman being armed. is it poetic or awful and i'm not sure which that the nra met this week at the big convention and mitt romney went to talk to the nra. i found it interesting lack of conversation about guns in his nra talk. let's listen quickly. >> we need a president who will enforce the current laws and not create new ones that serve to burden lawful gun owners. president obama is not, and i

will. we need a president who will stand up for sportsmen and hunters who also want to own guns to protect their family. president obama is not. i will. if we want to safeguard the second amendment it is time we step up to defend the rights that president obama ignores. and i will protect the second amendment rights of the american people. >> okay. here we are in a moment when florida n has a stand your ground law, and in fact, there haven't been introduction of the new federal gun restrictions where we obviously have liberal gun laws in the states. didn't sound like mitt romney had a lot to say there about president obama on guns, and in part, because president obama hasn't been very active on the issue of guns, and yet now the zimmerman trayvon moment plops in the middle of the ongoing nra convention. >> well, the zimmerman case debuncts the idea that the gun is licensed so therefore the owner of the gun is responsible, and that the presumption is that

this is the second amendment showing the face, and he is entitled to have the gun, and passed muster with various licensing agencies. i think that it is just too easy to get a gun in florida. the idea that someone like george zimmerman, again, someone looking for trouble is walking around with a 0.9 millimeter is scary. >> and beyond that getting the gun is part 1, but what happens when you have a run-in with law enforcement. so the political issues are constant failures of the law enforcement, because if you have attacked police officers whishg are you carrying a gun? in the zimmerman case in particular you have that at play and also at play is the stand your ground laws, because to me, that is a license to shoot first. that is the political piece that i hope becomes an issue nationally. all of the people up in arms about trayvon, i hope they begin to get as aggressive about the stand your ground laws in the over two dozen states where they exist. >> i have been reading because

it was on the blog this week on one of my producers putting it up the case of john mcneil, the black homeowner in black cokalb county in georgia, that the stand your ground laws is not okay. he had several occasions with brian epp and shooting him and killing hem a ining him, and se because of a stand your ground doctrine. so they say it is scary because democrats are in office and the guns are going if go away. it feels like if that person is licensed then they are responsible, and if the dems are in office, then the gun laws are going to go away. >> there is no account for trayvon martin's life. this is a tragic reminder that any time a kid is going to stay with his father and his father's girlfriend coming back from the store with skittles and something to drink is a tragedy.

of course, i think that the president spoke very well, and he was very guarded in the remarks and appropriately so, but a it is a legalt matter, and we have to know the facts, but he said the right thing, it is a tragedy for every american, and sad thing and tragedy for the family. i am glad to see that the candidates are not trying to make political points on the back of trayvon martin. >> but what is shock iing to mes that i would have thought the same thing, this is a tragedy, and yet it has broken out consistently in the opinion polls along the ideological lines. >> at some point this has to translate to a change in legislation. this stand your ground law is cowboy country in florida. are you kidding me? first they have the show barely that the other person was not the immediatinge aggressor, so zimmerman is going to say that trayvon martin was the aggressor, and then, okay, did he stand his ground? is there a duty to retreat? now mr. shargle knows and like i know that some states have the

duty to retreat, and some states don't. so these are all -- mr. zimmerman's subjective point of view. >> and why is trayvon martin not protected under the stand your ground and this is something most confusing to me. if trayvon is in a place he is allowed to be and walking without any criminal intent, and if he is carrying, and then if he -- and i don't know whether or not he did, but if he beat up george zimmerman, why isn't that him standing his ground against somebody willing to stand his ground? >> well, he could have and george zimmerman could have responded in kind, and there has to be a proportionality here, because i can't punch you in the nose and then i take out my gun and shoot you. there has to be proportionality. and on the stand your ground law, there is a carve out, and if zimmerman got out of the truck after he was told by the 911 operator not to follow him, and told that the police will respond.

if he was the first aggressor by getting out of the truck and confronting trayvon martin in a way, stand your ground does not apply, because he has to retr t retreat, and get back into the car, because there is plenty of opportunity for that. >> and jerry shargle, i told you i am terrible at this. and thank you so much. >> and jeremy. >> everybody is here, jeff, john, joe, and seema. thank you for the expertise today. and interestingly today is the day in 1865 when abraham lincoln was assassinated in the theater by an unlicensed pistol, so it is worth thinking about the questions of gun control on this day. coming up we will talk about a system of modern day slavery happening on our own soil. and first, good news, because i think that we have come a long way when it comes to race. i will talk about it after the break. ♪ bored with your one trick lipstick?

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. >> this week, we saw george zimmerman put behind bars and the tulsa police department quickly arrest the two men accused of shooting five african-americans and killing three.ecutors are charging them with hate crimes and mud rder. trayvon martin has shown us how far we have come racially. and you didn't think i would say that? come take a walk down memory lane. tulsa's district was known as black wall street, and the segregation was very real and the community thrived. that changed on may 21st, 1931, when an incident occurred between a white woman and a black man. there are several versions of what happened, but what we know for sure is that armed white men burned and looted and destroyed greenwood leaving 300 people

dead and 8,000 homeless. the african-american community was blame and there were no convictions, and no government compensation for lost property. the next stop on history lane is 1923, rosewood, florida. maybe you are more familiar pause of the 1997 film by john singleton which brought the horror of rosewood to america's attention. there was another incident of a pred predominantly african-american community destroyed. there was a sexual assault accusation of a white woman by a black man, which led to a already tense racial situation. both black and white men were killed. then this legislature passed the rosewood bill to give $50,000 for each of the living members of the massacre. that was 70 years waiting for some sort of justice. but in the past few weeks it may

have felt to you that nothing has changed in america, but that is not true. despite the delays in the trayvon martin case, and the shootings of five african-americans in tulsa, there has been a massive outcry by people of all ages and media coverage that reaffirms the value of the lives lost, and even southern justice systems acting on behalf of slain african-americans. yes, the struggle continues, but we have come a long way. i can see that long arc bending ever so slightly towards justice. coming up next we will talk about a present day injustice in our country that has to be righted, trafficking children for sex. ♪ ♪ pop goes the world ♪ it goes something like this ♪ everybody here is a friend of mine ♪ ♪ everybody, tell me, have you heard? ♪

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welcome back. now, first a quick warning to parents, we are about to have a very frank conversation about topics that are not appropriate

for kids. every year an estimated 1.2 million children, most of them girs, are exploited by sex trafficking worldwide including here in the united states. they are sold and trade and coerced into sex world. child sex trafficking is underground work whose work is marginalized and invisible, and because there is are difficult to pin down. but if you look closely, the evidence is there, children are being bought and sold for sex by adults in all 50 states in cities big and small, and even a casual scan of news headlines will attest. this week, we found story after story with sex trafficking in the headlines and in everyone underaged girls forced to have sex with adult men for money. now n the united states, an adult having sex with a minor is a crime, period. a minor forced through rape,

coercion, threats, torture, mental and physical abuse to have sex with an adult is a crime, but robbing that child of the personhood and treating her like a commodity is not just a crime, but it is also something more sinister as spelled out in the victims of the trafficking and protection act passed by congress in 2000 in a bipartisan vote. the purpose was of the division are to combat trafficking in peshs, a con temgporary manifestation of slavery whose victims are predominantly women and children. trafficking in persons is a morn modern form of slavery. and the amendment to this in 1935 is a crime. and according to testimony yesterday in a briefing on sex trafficking at the u.n. commission on civil rights.

>> the exploitation of children by traffickers is heartbreaking and the approach of the criminal justice system toward these children is tragic. we ask questions like, where do we find the victims or we want to help the victims, but we don't have any in our community. i urge you to go to the jails and apprehend the children who are there for prostitution. >> and that, the jailing of the victims of children for sex trafficking as criminals for sex trafficking is a crime. with me at the table today is rachel lloyd, executive director and founder of girls educational mentoring services, and joining us via satellite los angeles u.n. goodwill ambassador actress mira trevino. this is something that is beginning to resonate in the american consciousness that it is happening here in the country, but it does feel that when we talk about sex trafficking or contemporary sex

slavery that so many people assume it is happening in an international context. can you talk with me a little bit about what the scope of the problem is here in the united states? >> we are a center of sex trafficking. we are a center of child prostitution, and it should be noted that anyone under the age of 18 according to the u.n. and the federal law is the victim of human trafficking, and you don't have to prove force, fraud or coercion in the case of a minor being bought or sold for sex. every state has it. you know, the numbers could be as high as 300,000 at any one period of time of underaged people being bought for sex, and it is really grim. there's been a special report presented to the u.n. by a group of ngos which basically said that at the time of the report, there were 50 beds available in

the u.s. now that number has grown a little bit, but neterms of the shelter for kids who are sexually exploited, that is all that is out there, so one of the biggest tools that we have in to fight this in the u.s. is state laws. not just federal, because federal does not reach the victims and something called the safe harbor law which one of five states has right now. ten states have it, and 40 states need it. it decriminalizing the underaged victim of sexual orientation, and provides that 5 of the 10 states bring the incredibly needed services of rebuilding the lives of the young women, girls and boys who are exploited by our very own u.s. citizens for sex. the sad fact is that when a john is caught with an underaged victim, they get sent home by the police saying that we don't want to ruin your life, and the girl or the child is the one who is criminalized and that is

insane. >> rachel, talk to me about the set of policies and the literally the criminal justice policies that seem to do more criminalizing than creating justi justice, and make these vulnerable children even more vulnerable, so is what puts a person at risk initially and how do the policies create more risk to them? >> it is the risk factors that we know that 70 to 90% of both children and adult women who end up in the sex industry were abused prior to the recruitment. the correlation is very high. >> and so they are victimized initially, and that is in part creates a greater vulnerability for a second round of victimizatio victimization. >> yes, in this country talking about low income girls and girls of color, and race and class and that determines how much of a victim we believe you are. new york state passed the first

safe harbor laws. in 2000 we became the first state, and nine states followed suit, but as mira said, 40 states to go. we are beginning to get there and in five years we will say, really, we sent 12-year-olds to jail for being bought and sold by adult men to adult men? >> this is not completely new and part of the reason i was so engaged with this story and wanted to talk about it is that i'm the child of a woman who was a juvenile parole counselor back in the '60s and the '70s who saw young women put into the juvenile for status offenses, so they would run away from home, because they were often being sexually abused at home and run away, and then they were the ones who were criminalized, so this is not an entirely new reality. talk to me a little bit how now we may be at a moment though that we can take what we know, and this is not new, and it has

been happening a long time, but there is kind of new technology to allow us to ultimately start to put this on the political agenda, and where do we go from here? >> well, there is good news. there is a lot of progress, because i delivered legislation last year where there are several bills and several hundred pieces of legislation up for discussion this year on the state level and 31 have passed and 161 are still at play. so that is a lot of movement. there is only one state now, wyoming, which has no human trafficking law whatsoever. but, you know, a lot of times people will tell you that we don't have the resources to go out to combat it and i say, well, you have vice squads, right? you routinely sweep the streets for prostitution, and how about you educate, and this is huge everywhere in the world, edgebication of the police force and the judiciary and the

prosecutorial staff to be educated on the human trafficking, and the sad fact that in the u.s. only 10% have any anti-trafficking protocol whatsoever, and the officers are not trained in it. they are not looking for the victims and don't know how the deal with the specific needs of the victims of a human trafficking when they meet them. a trafficking victim if they are sexually trafficked victim, they have been raped repeatedly for sometimes years on end. this needs to be handled extensively. and if they are a female, they have been raped as part of the experience. and although we are talking about the sex trafficking we should not forget the other 50% of the cases which are labor trafficking. just because a young woman who is being sexually trafficking is very, very compelling, we should not forget her brother who is a migrant worker in the fields being denied all of his human rights. >> we will take a break, and this is a issue that we will have more to say about it, and a

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between 2004 and 2008 the number of child prostitution complaints processed by a child task force of internet crimes against children increased 914%. according the a 2011 report prepared for members of congress by the congressional research service said that another factor for increasing the demand for commercial sex is the technology boom. it is advertised extensively on the internet and connected quickly through cell phone and you can conduct business quickly over the phone rather than face

to face. so the internet's role of easy marketplace for trafficking children for sex has been the subject of a public debate. nick christoph has led a crusade from the column games at website called back page.com which he calls the biggest forum for underaged sex trafficking in the united states. he says that attorneys generals have linked back page to child trafficking for sex in 22 states. and the voice media is the largest alternative news publisher. and also new york weekly activists added their voices to christoph's because they have been holding it responsible for sex trafficking and demanded that the parent company shutdown the adult section of the classified adds. still at the table is rachel lloyd author of books "girls like us" and kantrin henderson,

and still with us is goodwill ambassador mira savoino. and liz, i want to come to you and ask you about that particular page backpage.com. >> well, great to be with you, melissa. it is a very serious issue and we at auburn have taken it on through ground swell, the social action initiative, and we have gathered a group of 600-some religious leaders across the country from different traditions, and now 200, and almost 250,000 citizens out there who havem cop together calling on village voice media to shut down the adult section of backpage.com. why? because children, and you can

buy a toaster or a car on backpage.com, and you can buy people for sex including sometimes children. so we are taking this, you know, very seriously. we are flanked in this effort by the 51 states attorneys general who may disagree on other things, but on this, they are coming together. and certainly many other nonprofits like rachel's and others. so it is a ground swell movement now that are people who are concerned about this and it is growing. >> now, liz, i know that village, the village voice has responded to nick christoph and claimed that really this backpage.com issue is primarily a first amendment issue. >> you know, i would not say that this is primarily a first amendment issue. >> okay. >> the primary issue here is fighting human trafficking, and especially the sexual exploitation of children. we are in full agreement with

all of your panelists today with rachel, with mira and with reverend henderson about the severity of the problem and the fact that this problem exists in the united states not just globally. it is long overdue for recognition in the united states. the difference that we have is the role of technology in fighting human trafficking online. we certainly, we don't deny that the internet has become a tool that traffickers and pimps are using in the exploitation of children and women and in labor exploitation as well. however, the internet has always offered tremendous opportunities for combatting human trafficking at unparalleled levels, and we believe that the, i, personally, believe that coming from more than a decade of cyber crime that to stop human trafficking online, you have the fight it online, aed on the fight it

online, you have to have allies online. and what we are trying to be is an ally online. to do that we have to come together with the law enforcement and the ngos to do it in the most effective manner. that is why i have joined village voice media and backpage.com is to lead that fight and that effort. but we, you know, fundamentally in terms of the issue and the problem, we have no disagreement with any of what i have heard this morning. >> and i'm sitting here at the table rachel seeing you from the expression, because you are listening to liz there, that you do seem to have disagreements on this. >> it is interesting to hear liz say that she does not disagree with the severity of the backpage.com and they have devoted a series of investigative articles to kind of disprove that commercial exploitation, and domestic trafficking is really happening in the u.s. i think that is one of the

biggest problems about backpage, it has a journalistic arm that it can use to kind of put out propaganda, and it has really tried to denigrate the entire anti-trafficking movement. so to hear liz say that they see themselves as allies, i think that it is challenging. and right as somebody who works directly with girls and young women who are sold lady on backpage, right, i don't see backpage who makes $22 million a year as an ally. i see them, right, as part of the problem. they are not the only problem obviously in addressing this issue, but when i go on line, and i see the girls, and kids and young women online being sold, right, then they are not an ally. they are providing a marketplace for the modern day slavery. >> mira, this question that rachel brought up of what counts as propaganda here. obviously, here in nerdland as we were putting together this segment, we were reading

everything. you know, on one hand i was hearing that there are huge numbers and all of the young people being trafficked and then i was reading a lot of stuff that was saying, no, this is a moral panic, and very similar to what you have heard about other kinds of things turned out to the be not such a big deal later. how do we parse that out? how should the view iing public now sort of know how big is this problem, and how to address it? >> it's a very big problem. it is impossible to be absolutely specific with the numbers, because it is a clandestine crime. and the criminals don't want you to find the victims to count them. but the u.n. does estimate that only 1 in 100 victims of human trafficking will ever be discovered and rescued and saved. so, i have met several young women who have come off of the streets of the united states of america, and some of them 18 blocks from the white house being sold on tracks right

outside of the white house, okay. and when you meet one of these people, and as rachelle has done the work of the angels with these girls, even one life in this kind of misery is so abysmal that if we are going to allow our underserved youth, the at-risk youth, the throwaway or runaway kids to fall into this within hours of running away from home, and sometimes 48 hours from running away from home, they are put into service by a trafficker, it is morally impossible. it is just morally impossible, and it is not about 300,000 or 100,000 a year, but it is not about that, but it is about america, and this is a country that happens for the welfare of the citizens. i wanted to bring up a tool that is internet law that says that any internet provider who sells

sexual services over the internet has to prove that any of the purveyors are serving underaged clients so they have to do an i.d. check and age-proof, and it is a start. it is the only state that has watch passed this state, washington state, but that kind of regulation of internet sales is a beginning. i won't solve it, but until now the internet is the wild west and needs regulation. >> and i want to ask you, it is too easy to go after just backpage on the one hand? >> well, you have to start somewhere and it is clear that backpage, the adult section of backpage.com are is a place whe children are sold for sex. you have to begin somewhere, and that is why we rebereare beginn here. and in terms of the numbers one child sold this way is too many. i am here today as a mother, and

you and i share, that and this is the listening public this could be our daughters and sos.s and i also am here for us that there are lemg slay or thes working on this, but for us, this is a moral issue that a business is gaining revenue as rachel has said a lot of revenue from ads that sell children in some cases. you know, you and i are christians, and we come at this from a moral perspective, and you know, jesus said, you know, let the children come to me. don't push them away. for of such is the king dom of heaven. and you know, jews would say, you know, you save one life, you save the world. and so, all of our religious traditions and moral traditions call us to be people of courage. to bring this issue that is so hidden to light. >> we will continue, because

this topic is important, and liz, i want to give you a chance to get back n and rachel, i want to continue in the conversation, so everybody stay right where you r and we will continue talking about the issue of sex trafficking here in the united states. i love that my daughter's part fish. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

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[ car door shuts ] [ male announcer ] visit your local chevy dealer today. now very well qualified lessees can get a 2012 chevy cruze ls for around $159 per month. e.p.a. estimated 36 miles per gallon highway. still with me at the table, rachel lloyd of gems and catherine henderson president of the theological society, and mir ra sirov ishina and sarah mcdou voice of the village holdings. and i want to go to you, liz, because we didn't get back to you in the last segment, but if you could just, because it is hard to hear that we are on the side of addressing this issue of human trafficking, and then on the other hand knowing empirically, there are children being trafficked through this media source that is in fact earning an income.

>> thank you, melissa. there are a lot of crucial points here, and first of all, i would agree that reguardless of what may have been published previously that there is a tremendous amount of misinformation and empirical data about the child exploitation, but it is irrelevant, because the fact is that there is a problem and there is a technological component to the problem. we are not in denial about that in any shape or form, but i'm not interested in talking about the law here, because i agree it is while i might not characterize it as a moral issue, this is a social atrocity, and a social problem, and a social atrocity, and it needs to be dealt with by all segments of society. it needs to be dealt with by all relevant segments in a collaborate manner. the reason that, you know, reverend henderson said that

focusing on backpage is the right thing, because she believes that they are one of the largest sources of advert e advertisements for adult content, but what we have seen is that eliminating one source is not the answer, you know. i think that the shutdown of the adult category on craig's list is proof positive it did not solve the problem of child sexual exploitation on the internet, and it drove it elsewhere. that is going to continue to be the problem. and one of my greatest fears, and i'm the mother of a 15-year-old daughter, and i come to this job with the background in fighting cyber crime. one of my greatest fears, and it is a very real fear because i have seen it happen is that ultimately we keep whacking these websites that are in the united states that are highly cooperative with law enforcement both voluntarily and in response to subpoenas, and in making voluntary reports to the national center for missing &

exploited children, and -- may i please finish this one key point. >> sure. >> we will drive this traffic to the black hat, the underground criminally operated web sites, and ultimately what we will do is to drive this traffic to offshore sources where not only will the web sites and the operators not cooperate, but they are outside of the jurisdiction of u.s. law enforcement, so that law enforcement can't get the information to find these kids and to rescue them and to put together some data to prosecute the pimps and the johns. >> i have some sympathy with this argument that this is the problem that any one source would prevent the problem, and one would not solve the problem. with that said, we are towards the last words here and let me give you a last statement around this. >> on this that one point i agree with liz that backpage is

not the only issue, and there is so much media around backpage and little media around homelessness and poverty and all of the issues that make so many young people in this country at such high risk for recruitment into the commercial sex industry, and if we don't address the systemic core issues, we can keep, and liz is right, we can keep shutting down, but if this is a way to get people to talk about it, and to begin to get people to care about girls and young girls in the sex industry and change that perspective, that is critical. >> i want to give you the last word here, because it does feel that these are the big social issues. >> these are the big social issues, and i believe that you have to start somewhere. where i would start, and we agree with the 51 states attorneys generals who are the law enforcement experts in their states that things need to start

with shutting down the adult section of backpage.com, so i urge liz to move in that direction and consider that with the mirror being held up. i would hope that other citizens would join us on the petition. >> unfortunately, we have to wrap, and this is a huge issue and one in which there are many complex issues, and i appreciate all of you joining me at the table to discuss it today. and mira out in l.a., and liz mcdougal out in seattle, and also thank you to rachel lloyd and catherine henderson for being at the table. coming up, we will talk about mitt romney and his long trek towards the presidency or not. [ male announcer ] capri sun has 25% less sugar

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>> earlier in the week we bid good-bye to rick santorum, and we will miss him at nerd land, but he vowed out of the presidential race to allow mitt romney to begin the presidential trek in earnest. it is a steep trek in fact. romney has to close the jend eerp gap and wing support in the swing states where he is behind. he has to also secure the gop base. can he do it alone? i don't think so, but i don't believe he has to, because other men have not had to do it alone. they have had the super sherpa, you nknow the guyer to gal who leads the way. and think back to 2004 when the democratic party was contending with a swift vote candidacy and a candidate who said he had famously voted for funding a bill before he voted for it and john kerry was losing support for those who were core voters, the women, and enter the sherpa, and remember this guy.

>> there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and the negative ad peddlers and those who embrace the anything goes politics. s, there is not the liberal america or the conservative america, but there is the united states of america. there is not a black america, and a white america, and latino america, and asian america -- there's the united states of america. >> ah! that speech launched a campaign trail partnership, and obama was the best story that john kerry could ask for. he didn't win and obviously obama won later and it did make it a close race and now mitt romney needs that help. with us once again is alison stewart, republican strategist for rick santorum's campaign and republican strategist joe watkins and msnbc contributor jeff johnson and joanne bohnberger who is editor of

ivillage.com. >> well, he doesn't need it. i will tell you. >> that is a very, very bad model for mitt romney. john kerry went on the lose the election and barack obama went on to win president of the united states, because he is a superb speaker and campaigner among other things, and so i guess that maybe the case is that mitt romney continues to need good people around him. he has many of those, and i know that ron kauffman who worked with me in the white house is a smart guy, smart person who is somebody to advise him well, and there are going to be many, many others. including people who opposed nim the primaries to help him as well. >> but this is about him being able to energize a base that don't respond to imhim. he doesn't need a super surrogate, but he needs the avengers. >> and the whole super heroes. >> the incredible chris christies and the iron man, but what he needs -- >> super sarah. >> palin for that matter.

>> but who can speak to the folks who he cannot yet speak to and excite a base he needs. but there is not one -- >> i believe there is one, and i will go out on the limb and that is laura bush, because she will tap into the whole as we were talking earlier that he needs the moms, and the evangelical moms and the women who loved rick santorum. rick santorum, i'm not sure is going to come out -- >> i love you. i was just trying to think of who is it. laura bush. >> because the bushes love him and george has not come out, and laura has the whole stay at home vibe, and kind of -- >> and not so big on george bush, but laura, everybody likes. >> yes. and the talk about the gender gap is going to close up, because women are concerned about the e kconomy and jobs, a people trust mitt romney more than president obama when it comes to debt and deficit in creating jobs, but in terms of who he will have as the running mate, the talk of marco rubio,

energet energetic, and inspirational story. >> but marco rubio told us in a presser on april 49, quoth, i wt be the vice president. and like nikki haley said if i am offed any position by governor romney, no, and edwin martinez was no, and -- >> you are smart to say i'm campaigning for the vice presiden presidency, and say, i want to do my job and do it well. >> but that is the next day. >> and also, the person who leads you up to the top of the mountain. >> and also, chris christie has a great story and the media loves him, but he helped to reach out the blue collar folks that romney needs assistance with that, but those are great names. >> and sherpa is different than a vp. >> but the best sherpa right now is ann romney his wife. she is a great speaker, and when we see her. >> and she has been energized at this point in a way she wasn't two weeks ago and there is some strength there, but i think that

he is weak in enough areas where there's going to be to be a consortium of folks to get not just the women, but the cracking of the tea party. >> and jeff, there are 12.7 million not working and millions more working, but underemployed and part time jobs without benefits, and they are listening closely. >> the trend is in the president's favor in direction, but i am starting to get a visual of the ann romney and laura bush sherpas for romney and we have more to say about this, and i will tell you what my vice presidential pick is on the other side of the break. who is the your business entrepreneur of the week. like many small business owners, the owner of this florist is struggling with the cost of gas. he has figured out a way to streamline deliveries and bought a more fuel efficient van all

while trying to stop any increases to his customers. find out more on your business.com.

your finances can't manage themselves. but that doesn't mean they won't try. bring all your finances together with the help of the one person who can. a certified financial planner professional. cfp. let's make a plan. before we get back to the conversation, i want to take you to colombia where president obama is attending a summit of the americas focusing on the economies of south america. let's listen. >> in isolation, those days are

long gone. what happens in wall street has an impact in rio. what happens in bogota has an impact in beijing. and so, i think that the challenge for all of our countries and certainly the challenge for this hemisphere is how do we make sure that globalization and integration is benefiting a broad base of people, that economic growth is sustainable and robust and that it is also giving opportunity to a growing wider circle of people and giving businesses opportunities to thrive and create new products and services and enjoy this global marketplace. now, i think that the good news is that this hemisphere is very

well positioned in this global economy. it is remarkable to see the changes that have been taking place place in a relatively short period of time in latin and central and south america and the the caribbean. when you look at the extraordinary growth that has taken place in brazil first under president lula and now under the new president. when you think of the enormous progress made here in colombia under president santos -- >> that is the president at the summit of the americas talking about the future of the global economy. so back to our conversation is alice stewart, former press secretary for rick santorum, and jeff johnson and msnbc contributors. we saw a sign for the romney

campaign holding up signs, and how does he do that? how does he convince the folks who were santorum supporters or bachmann supporters -- >> easy, get people back to work. for the people who really liked rick santorum, they are sorry to see him get out of the race, but he will back governor romney who will have the supportf all of the supporters. >> but stay iing on the messages not enough. people came out in droves for rick santorum, and nobody thought he had a chance really, but look at the amazing support that he got, and he really energized the base. >> it was stunning to watch. >> it was stunning and mitt can't run on the notm obama platform. he has to find a way to energize the people, and convince them that he is the guy. >> and of course, rick will do whatever he can to make sure that the con is -- conservatives

rally behind mitt romney, because job number one is to get barack obama out of office. we need to repeal the obama care. >> well, the supreme court may do it for you. >> knock on wood. >> and seriously, if they do to pause on that for a moment, if in fact the economic trendline is moving in the president's direction and if the supreme court were to get rid of the affordable care ak, what is the message that mitt romney runs on? >> well, you think that many people feel that the country is headed in the wrong direction and look at all of the people who are feeling displaced and the people with small businesses who feel that the war is waged against them and they provide the jobs and they are not treated well over the years and feel of the folks who are not working and the folks who are working, but working a part-time job and not making the money they are used to working, and they are very engaged and saying i am not be a republican, but i will vote for somebody who can put me back to work and consider my business. >> but the reality is if the trends continue in the way, it will be that obama is making the

numbers bet ter, so that the rel question is who messages better? can the democrats and president obama do a better job of messaging what they have done and not allow the republicans to control the message machine in many ways they have. the onus is on jim massena and his team to be able to really keep knocking down here is what the president has done, and here is what the president has done here and where he has done it. that is going to be a problem for romney. >> well, i will tell you that the -- >> and thehe conservative voter will stay home. >> and yes, and hopefully they have taped part of the conversation, because i love this panel with great energy. before we go, i want to say that i want to make a completely outrageous call for the v.p. pick, governor mike mead of wyoming, and why? because last time they picked a governor that nobody has heard of before, and i am convinced it is governor matt immediate of

wyoming the fiscal conservative. okay. >> on tape. >> yes. >> and now how wearing running shoes going on, we will today. >> i can't wait for the movie you're talking about with me. that would be a good one as well. a rare early warning this hour from weather officials. potentially deadly storms bearing down on the nation's midsection. a secret service scandal brewing. why a dozen members were sent home from a summit president obama is attending in colombia. and energy independence, a report that the u.s. is using more and less oil. could the u.s. be free of foreign energy in a matter of a few years? she might be the richest person in britain. news today on the woman behind the harry potter novels. melissa, back to you. >> i love harry potter. >> everybody does. up next, we find this week's foot soldier at the boston marathon.

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our foot soldier this week did not march her way into historic social change. she ran. 26.2 miles to be exact. and in two days, bostonians will be celebrating marathon monday as more than 27,000 runners take to the streets of the city for the world's oldest annual marathon, the boston marathon. as she started running as a teen discovering stamina, solace and what would become a lifelong love of going the distance, she kept right on running into history at 1967 as the first woman to enter the boston marathon, which had been an all male event for 70 years.

she took her place among the male runners. she was four miles into the marathon when an official tried to forcibly take her number off her sweatshirt and physically push her out of the competition telling her, quote, give me those numbers and get the hell out of my race. the official in the photo here is jacque simple. and it's worth noting that he and switzer developed an eventual friendship. but he's telling a woman what too many of us have been told for too long, be at a prestigious golf club, at a university or in the political race. the message is simple, get out, you don't belong, you woman, this is not your place. but when switzer ran her first boston marathon, we are intentions were not political. when asked by reporters what she was trying to prove, she said, i'm just trying to run. thanks to fellow runners,

switzer finished the race and started something essential. in 1972, the boston marathon officially opened to women. and in 1974, switzer even won the new york marathon. that's how it is when women charge into places or we've been told we don't belong. even if it's personal, it's political. we've heard a lot about women's choice this is week. but you can't choose to walk through a door that is closed. if you decided to lace up your shoes and hit the pavement, you can dream of boston because katherine switzer has opened the doors so that you can run on through. you might even think about a different kind of race, the kind that leads to elected office because women deserve to be in any race where we have the stamina to compete for reminding us of that, katherine switzer is our foot soldier. and she-sñ going to be here nex week in studio. that's our show for today. thank you to our panel for sticking around. thanks to you at home. i will see you next week.

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