ego trip. loading up with debt. tuning out on politics. president obama tries to recapture the passions of young voters. we'll take you live to his speech momentarily at the university of north carolina just minutes from now. plus, men behaving badly, the tarnished star witness versus the more tarnished former candidate and defendant. new twists in the john edwards trial today. listen up, a girl in china learns the hardware walking and talking on her cell. she falls 20 feet into a sinkhole ace quick-thinking cabbie rushes to her rescue, but not before sinking in himself. she was all right. i'm andrea mitchell live in wug. busy day today. republicans voting in five states, the largest single day of voting since super tuesday. 231 total delegates at stake. mitt romney's first ballot test, as the presumptive nominee. chris cillizza is an msnbc contributor and managing edere .

first of all, a lot of bitterness in the romney camp that i am hearing about rick santorum holding out -- they're voting in pep pen today, would have been ideal to kiss and make up, figuratively, before today's voting. that's not happening. i'm told even an appearance at the convention is at stake because they're not happy with the way rick santorum has behaved. >> the thing that's odd about this, everyone knows that mitt romney's the nominee, you know? rick santorum, i think, and i thought this when he was in the campaign at the end, you got to look out for your future. he's young, he'll be in his mid 350 50s in 2016. remember, john mccain 2000 em bittered with what happened in 2004. by '04 he endorsed bush. 200 8 he had the support of people who supported bush. in politics you have to play the long game and rick santorum doesn't appear to be doing that.

>> speaking of someone not playing the long game, newt gingrich, he's now said to our own alex that depending on what happens in delaware he may be out of it that's a hint. he's got secret service coverage, four years ago mark sullivan, head of the secret service then and now, testified that it costs about $38,000 or $37,000 a day to protect barack obama and hillary clinton in their primary. why we are, according to jonathan capehart, he awe newt gingrich and calista gingrich, they had four agents with them on the train, two more on the platform, and i'm told there were ten more at the event, at least, waiting for his arrival in wilmington, delaware. he's clearly not a viable candidate. >> you know, andrea, to add a few numbers. newt gingrich has won two states, he won south carolina on january 21st and his home state of georgia march 6th. he's not won a state since then. 31 states have voted, newt gingrich has finished fourth, that is fourth, behind ron paul,

rick santorum and mitt romney, 16 times. 16. that's more than half of all of the states that have voted. he's finished in fourth place. you know, this has been, i think, since probably he finished second in florida, a vanity campaign. it continues to be that. as you point out, it's one that's really costing taxpayers a lot of money. >> chris cillizza, thank you very much. joining me now, speaking of taxpayers and a lot of money, pennsylvania republican senator pat toomey, a hawk on the deficit. pennsylvania votes today. why are we still spending money on transporting newt and calista gingrich around the primary states? >> that's a good question. i think it would be in everybody's interest if newt gingrich would acknowledge the inevitable and focus his support and his supporters on electing mitt romney and defeating barack obama. but you know how this is.

this is a personal decision that only he can make. >> with the caveat that you never know what the threats are out there but the bottom line is, once the service joins a campaign and they did in gingrich's case, after super tuesday, he won georgia, so on march 7th they joined his campaign. it was already well onthe point where anybody thought he was a viable candidate. once they go and are launched it takes the candidate, him or himself to pull the plug by saying i'm no longer a candidate. >> well, that's the nature of the process. as i say, i certainly hope that speaker gingrich will come to that conclusion soon. >> what about the fact that rick santorum, you know pennsylvania republicans so well, senator, rick santorum has been less than eager to climb on board to anoint the presumptive nominee. is there reason to hold out at this point? >> you know, i haven't spoken with rick about this, so i have no idea what he's thinking or you know what his thought

process is or is going to be. honestly i done think it's going to matter terribly much. i've been traveling around pennsylvania, i do that continuously, i've been speaking with a lot of republican voters, supporters of mine, people across the spectrum and there's tremendous enthusiasm for governor romney. there's energy. there's a feeling of relief that this primary season is essentially over and we can focus on the job at hand which is electing governor romney. so i think, you know, obviously we go through the rest of the process, that's the nature of it. but the party and the act innists and rank and file voters are going to be squarely behind governor romney. >> we've seen tryouts, marco rubio yesterday in pennsylvania, philadelphia, and other parts of the state. what are you thinking of the test runs for possible running mates? what do you want to see? do you have a favorite possibility? >> not really. you know, i think i share a very

widely held view that the most important criteria someone's who ready to step into the shoes of the president of the united states and god forbid that becomes necessary. that's the most important criteria. we've got a deep bench. a lot of people across the country extremely capable would bring a lot to the ticket. if we know anything about governor romney, we know he'll be methodical and thoughtful and pick somebody that will be a real asset. >> people are looking hard at rob portman, among otherers, someone who knows the budget, you served with him. what do you think of the senator from ohio? >> i think rob portman's a terrific guy, very, very capable guy, well-qualify. he would be one of the people that i think a republican nominee would certainly want to consider. >> and chuck todd, my colleague, suggested today earlier that

conright should co condoleezza rice should be on the list. >> i suppose. certainly very capable. a person with a terrific resume, terrific background. as i say, we've got a long list of people who really would be great assets to a national ticket. >> i should point out what chuck was saying she's on a list, not that she should be on a list. he's not advocating for anyone. mitt romney quickly endorsed the president's position, there doesn't seem to be any disagreement, before july, when these interest rates on the loans to the poorest and middle income kids would go up, double, that congress should act. do you agree with that position? >> you know, andrea, i would want to make that decision in the context of the total aid to higher education. you know, we've got serious budgetary constraints. i don't think there's much that can be taken off the table entirely, as a category, i think that needs to be looked at.

i wouldn't suggest, for myself personally, one particular piece of it it just yet. i think the broad category probably has to come under serious scrutiny, though. >> you were quoted last week on the gsa skanld scandal saying there need tib cleaning of the house, clean sweep. what about the secret service scandal? >> we have to find out as much as we can, including whether this happened before, how many people were involved. it's very, very disturbing, and it's hard not to believe that at some level the president and some of his folks were not given the kind of security that they ought to have. it just does introduce a level of risk that should never be there as we as the embarrassing behavior in the first place. i think we have to take this seriously and people should be dismissed. >> do you have any reason to believe -- first of all, do you think that mark sullivan,

director, holdover from the bush years and has been widely praised by republicans and democrats looking into this, do you have any reason to believe he should not keep his position? >> i don't have any personal evidence or reason to believe one way or the other about his personal circumstances. but i certainly want to get to the bottom of who knew that this was going on, was this a pattern or an isolated incident, and then who should be held responsible, and then those people need to be dealt with. >> and finally, looking forward with all of the contentious issues right now between the president and mitt romney, what can we do to sort of elevate the quality of dialogue in this campaign? people are angry. people are angry at the super pacs, negative campaign ads. any way around it it? >> you know, i think we're going to see -- we're going to see this campaign eventually get down to the issues that are most

important to voters. one, how we get our federal government on a sustainable fiscal path, because everybody knows we're on a very dangerous path that we can't continue down. and the second is, how do we get this economy moving again? i think there's plenty of evidence that president obama has no answers for either of these. he's made the situation worse and so we see him with distractions like a buffett rule and things that will accomplish nothing but are distraction from the underlying issues. and governor romney's got very substantial credibility and specific ideas about both of these. i think in the end, the voters will force this campaign to be about these two issues, fiscal sanity, and economic growth, and that's going to be very much to governor romney's advantage. >> that is exactly the debate that we're about to hear. thank you very much. thanks. thanks for being with us. president obama about to speak. he's on a college tour, three swing states, trying to regain loyalty of young voters by

talking about the crushing burden of student loans. first stop, north carolina, before heading to boulder, colorado where we find kristin welker advancing the president's trip there. you have been so busy foe using can on the secret service scandal. you're out on the college tour today, not look agent colleges but waiting for the president who is speaking to three important constituencies, students, in three states. >> reporter: absolutely. andrea, president obama hitting three key battleground states over the next two days, as you mentioned, north carolina, then he comes to colorado and tomorrow iowa. he's focusing on young voters, as you say. he's going to be talking about student loans, pressing congress to pass a law that extends lower interest rates for student loans if they don't pass that law, the student loan rates will double july 1st, an estimated 7 million students have those loan. as you just pointed out, mitt romney also agrees with this.

so this is not about drawing a line in the sand with mitt romney it's more about really revving up this voting bloc that is so key and it was key to his election in 2008. he needs them to turn out again in force this cycle. andrea? >> there they are, in force. kristin, thanks so much. there's the president speaking to an enthusiastic kraut at unc, in the state where he will be having his convention in august. let's watch. >> i want to thank dominique for that unbelievable introduction. wasn't she good? you can tell she will be an outstanding teacher. and -- i love you back. i do. love north carolina. i love north carolina. i do. every time -- every time i come down to this state, i just love it that much more.

>> we love you. >> i said a while back, the thing about north carolina, even the folks who don't vote for me are nice to me. you know, i can't say that about every place. now, i want to issue a quick spoiler alert. later today i am getting together with jimmy fallon and the dave matthews band right here on campus, we're going to tape jimmy's show for tonight. so i want everybody to tune in, make sure it has high ratings. so dave matthews fan right here. we've got some wonderful people who are here who are doing a great job for you guys. first of all, your governor, bev purdue is in the house. give her a big round of applause. where's bev? there she is.

you've got your congressman, dave price. congressman david price. congressman g.k. butterfield. congressman brad miller. your mayor, mark klenschmitt. chandler of unc, holden thorpe. it is -- >> four more years -- >> it is great to be back. on the lady tar heels' home court. this is an arena with some serious hoops history. i know the men's team used to play here back in the day. i just want to remind you, right off the bat, i picked unc to win

it all in march madness. i want to point out. and if kendall hadn't gotten hu hurt, you know, who knows where we might have been. i saw mack ado at the parent, he said hello, which i was excited. i want you to know, i have faith in you guys. now, it's always good to begin with some easy applause lines, talk about the tar heels. but the reason i came to chapel hill today is to talk about what mote of you do here every single day, and that's study, i assume. higher education is the single-most important investment

you can make in your future. so i'm proud of all of you for doing what it takes to make that investment. for the long hours in the library, i hope, in the lab, in the classroom, this has never been more important. whether you're here at a four-year college or university or you're at a two-year community college, in today's economy, there's no greater predictor of individual success than a good education. right now, the unemployment rate for americans with a college degree or more is about half the national average. the incomes of folks with a

college degree are twice as high as those who don't have a high school diploma. a higher education is the clearest path into the middle class. now i know that those of you who are about to graduate aren wondering what's in store for your future. not even four years ago, just as the global economy was about to enter into free-fall, you were still trying to find your way around campus, and you've spent your years here at a time when the whole world has been trying to recover but has not yet fully recovered from the worst economic crisis since the great depression. the worst economic crisis in most of our lifetimes, and that includes your teachers. our businesses have added more than 4 million jobs over the past two years but we all know there's still too many americans

looking for work or find a job that pays enough to cover the bills and make the mortgage. we still have too many folks in the middle class that are searching for that security that started slipping away years before the recession hit. so we've still got a lot of work to do to rebuild this economy so that it lasts, so that it's solid, so that it's firm. but what i want you to know is that, the degree you earn from unc will be the best tool you have to achieve that basic american promise, the idea that if you work hard, you can do well enough to raise a family and own a home, send your own kids to college, put a little away for retirement. that american dream is within your reach. and there's another part of this dream which is, the idea that each generation is going to know

a little bit more opportunity than the last generation, that our kids -- i can tell you now, as a parent, and i guarantee you, your parents feel this about you, nothing's more important than your kids' success. you want them to do better than you did. you want them to shoot higher, strive more, and succeed beyond your imagination. so keeping that promise alive is the defining issue of our time. i don't want this to be a country where a shrinking number of americans are doing really well but a growing number of people are struggling to get by. that's not my idea of america. i don't want that future for you. i don't want that future for my daughters. i want this forever, to be a country where everybody gets a

fair shot, and everybody's doing their fair share, and everybody's playing by the same set of rules. that's the america i know and love. that's the america within our reach. i think back to my grandfather, he had a chance to go to college because this country decided every returning veteran of world war ii should be able to afford it. should be able to go to college. my mother was able to raise two kids by herself because she was able to get grants and work her way through school. i am only standing here today, michelle is only who she is today because -- because of

scholarships and student loans. that gave us a shot at a great education. we didn't come from families of means. but we knew that if we worked hard, we'd have a shot. this country has always made a commitment, to put a good education within the reach of all who are willing to work for it. that's what makes us special. that's what made us an economic superpower. that's what kept us at the forefront of business and science and technology and medicine and that's a commitment we have to reaffirm today in 2012. new everybody will give lip service to this. you'll hear a lot of folks say, yeah, education's important, it's important.

but but it requires not just words but deeds. and the fact is, that since most of you were born, tuition and fees at america's colleges have more than doubled. and that forces students like you to take out a lot more loans, there are fewer grants, you rack up more debt. can i get an amen. >> amen! >> now the average student who borrows to pay for college now graduates with about $25,000 in student loan debt. that's the average. some are more. can i get an amen for that. >> amen! >> some folks have more debt than that. >> amen!

americans now owe more on their student loans than on their credit cards. and living with that kind of debt means that this generation's not getting off to the same start that the previous generations because you're already loaded up with debt. that means you've got make tough choices when you're first starting out. you might have to put off buying a house. it might mean that you can't go after that great idea for a start-up that you have, because you're still paying off loans. maybe you've got a-to-wait longer to start a family or save for retirement. when a big chunk of every paycheck goes towards loan debt, that's not just tough on you. that's not just tough for middle class families. it's not just tough on your parents, it's painful for the economy because that money is

not going to help businesses grow. think about the sooner you can start buying a house, that's good for the housing industry. the sooner you can start up that business, that means you're hiring some folks, that grows the economy. and this is something michelle and i know about firsthand. i just wanted everybody to understand, this is not -- i didn't just read about this. i didn't just -- i didn't just get some talking points about this. i didn't just get a policy briefing on this. michelle and i, we've been in your shoes. like i said we didn't come from wealthy families. when we graduated from college and law school we had a mountain of debt. when we married, we got poor

together. we -- we added up our assets, and there were no assets. and we added up our liabilities, and there were a lot of liabilities, basically in the form of student loans. we -- we paid more in student loans than we paid on our mortgage when we finally did buy a condo for the first eight years of our marriage. we were paying more in student loans than what we were paying for our mortgage. so we know what this is. we were lucky to land good jobs with a steady income. but we only finished paying off our student loans, collect this out, all right, i'm the president of the united states, we -- we only finished paying

off our student loans eight years ago. that wasn't that long ago. and that wasn't easy, especially because when we had malia and sasha, we're supposed to be saving up for their college educations, and we're still paying off our college educations. so we have to make college more affordable for our young people. that's the bottom line. like i said, look, not everybody's going to go to a four-year college or university. you may go to a community college, you may go to a technical school and get into the workforce and then it may turn out that after you've had kids and you're 35 you go back to school because you're retraining for something new. no matter what it is, no matter what field year in, you're going to have to engage in life-long

learning, that's the nature of the economy today we've got to make sure it's affordable, that's it's good for the economy and it's good for you. we've got to make sure you're not saddled with debt before you even get started in life. because i believe college isn't just one of the best investments you can make in your future. it one of best investments america can make in our future. this is important for all of us. we can't price the middle class out of a college education, not at a time when most new jobs in america will require more than a high school diploma. whether it's at a four-year college or a two-year program, we can't make higher education a luxury. it's an economic imperative. every american family should be

able to afford it. so that's why i'm here. now, before i ask for your help, i've got something specific i'm going to need you to do. but north carolina indulge me, i want to tell you what we've already done to help make college more affordable, because we've done a lot. before i took office, we had a student loan system where tens of billions of taxpayer dollars were going to banks, not students. they were processing student loan programs, except the student loans were federally guaranteed, so they weren't taking any big risks but they were still taking billions of dollars out of the system. so we changed it. some in washington fought tooth and nail to protect the status quo where billions of dollars were going to banks instead of students, and they wanted to protect that. they wanted to keep those dollars flowing to the banks, one of them said -- i'm going to

quote however because it gives you a sense of the attitude sometimes we're dealing with in washington -- they said, it it would be an outrage if we changed the system so that the money wasn't going through banks and they weren't making billions of dollars of profits off of it. said it was an outrage. and i said, no, the real outrage is letting these banks keep subsidies without taking risks while students are working two or three jobs just to get by, that's an outrage. that's an outrage. so we kept at it, we kept at it we won that fight. today, that money is going where it should be going -- should have been going in the first place, it's going directly to students, we're bypassing the middle man. that means we can raise pell grants to a higher level, more people are eligible, more young people are able to afford college because of what we did.

over ten years, that's going to be $60 billion that's going to students that wasn't going to students before. then last fall, i acted to cap student loan payment fasters so nearly 1.6 million students who make their payments on time will only have to pay 10% of their monthly income towards loans once they graduate. this is useful. this is especially helpful for young people who decide, like dominique, to become teachers or maybe they go into one of the social work or helping professions, and they may not get pay a lot of money but they've got a lot of debt. being able to cap how much per month you're paying as a percentage of your income gives you a little bit more security,

knowing you can choose that profession. and then we wanted every student to have access to a simple fact sheet on student loans and financial aid so you can have all of the information you need to make your own choices about how to pay for college. and we set up this new consumer watchdog called the consumer financial protection bureau, and so they're now putting out this information. we call it know before you owe. know before you owe. when we were in your shoes, sometimes we got surprised. by some of this debt that we were racking up. so that's what we have done but it's not enough to increase student aid. we can't keep subsidizing skyrocketing tuition, or real we'll run out of money and colleges and universities have to do their part also to keep college costs down.

so i told congress to steer federal aid to those schools that keep tuition affordable, provide good value, serve their students well. we've put colleges on notice, if you can't stop tuition from just going up every single year, a lot faster than inflation, than funding you get from taxpayers, at the federal level will go down, because we need to push colleges to do better and hole them accountable, if they don't. now, public universities know well and governor purdue knows well, states also have to their part by making higher education a higher priority in their budgets. i know that bev is fighting hard to make tuition affordable for

north carolina families. that's a priority for her. but you know, last year over 40 states cut that higher education spending. these budget cuts have been among the largest factors in tuition increases of public colleges over the past decade. so we're challenging states to take responsibility. we told them, if you can find new ways to bring down cost of college and make it easier for students graduate, we'll help you do it. i want everybody here, as you're thinking about voting, make sure you know where your state representative and your state senator stands when it comes to funding higher education. they've got to be responsible. they've got to be accountable, as well to prioritize higher education. all right. so, helping more families, helping more young people afford a higher education, offering

incentives for states and colleges and universities to keep costs down, that's what we've been doing. now congress has to do their part. they need to extend the tuition tax credit that we put in place back when i came into office. it's saving middle class families thousands of dollars. congress needs to -- congress needs to safeguard aid for low-income students, like pell grants, so today's freshmen and sophomores knows that they'll be able to count on it. that's what congress has to do. congress needs to give more young people the chance to earn their way through college by doubling the number of work study jobs over the next five years. that's what congress needs to do. and then there's one specific thing, and this is where you come in, there's one specific

thing that congress needs to do rit now, to prevent the interest rates on student loans, federal student loans, from shooting up and shaking you down. so this is where you come in. i want to explain this. everybody listen carefully. five years ago, congress cut the rate on federal student loans in half. that was a good thing to do. but on july 1st, that's over two months from now, that rate cut expires. and if congress does nothing, the interest rates on those loans will double overnight. so i'm assuming a lot of people here have federal student loans. the interest rates will double unless congress acts by july 1st. and just to give you some sense of perspective, for each year

that congress doesn't act the average student, with these loans, will rack up an additional 1,000 in debt. an extra $1,000. that's basically a tax hike for more than 7 million students across america. more than 160,000 students here in north carolina alone. anybody here can afford to pay an extra $1,000 right now? >> no! >> i didn't think so. so stopping this from happening should be a no-brainer. helping more of our young people afford college that should be at the forefront of america's agenda. it shouldn't be a republican or a democratic issue. you know, this is -- this is an american issue.

you know, the stafford loans we're talking about, they're named after a republican senator. the pell grants that have helped millions of americans earn a college education, that's named after a democratic senator. when congress cut those rates five years ago, 77 republicans in the house of representatives voted for it. along with a couple of hundred democrats. including the democrats who are here. so, this shouldn't be a partisan issue. and yet the republicans who run congress right now have not yet said whether or not they'll stop your rates from doubling. we're two months away. some have hinted that they'd only do it if we cut things like aid for low income students instead. the idea would be, all right, we'll keep interest rates low if

we take away aid from other students who need it. one republican congresswoman said because, you know, i know you guys will think i'm making it up, she -- no, no, no, she said -- she had very little tolerance for people who tell me they graduate with debt because there's no reason for that. i'm just quoting here. i'm just quoting. she said, students who rack up student loan debt are just sitting on their butts having opportunity dumped in your lap. i mean, i'm reading it here, i

didn't make this up. now can you imagine saying something like that? those of you who have had to take out student loans, you didn't do it because you're lazy. you didn't do it lightly. you don't like debt. a lot of you, your parents are helping out, but it's tough on them. they're straining. and so you do it because the cost of college keeps going up and you know there's an investment in your future. so these folks in washington and were serious about making college more affordable, they wouldn't have voted for a budget that could cut financial aid for tens of millions of college students by an average of more than a thousand dollars. >> absolutely! >> they certainly wouldn't let your student loan rates double overnight.

so when you ask them, why aren't you making this commitment? they say we've got bring down the deficit. of course this is the deficit they helped run up over the past decade. didn't pay for two wars, didn't pay for two mass intive tax cutd this is the reason you want students to pay more? they just voted to keep giving billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidied to big oil companies raking in record profits. they just voted to let millionaires and billionaires keep paying lower tax rates than middle class workers and their seconds. they even voted to give an average tax cut after at least $150,000 to folks like me, the wealthiest americans, a tax cut paid for by cutting things like

education and job training programs that give students new opportunities to work and succeed. now, that's their priorities. and that doesn't make any sense. do we want to keep tax cuts for the wealthiest americans who don't need them and didn't ask for them, or do we want to make sure they're paying their fair share? do we want to -- do we want to keep subsidizing big oil, or do we want to make sure we're investing in clean energy? >> president obama at the university of north carolina, chapel hill, a populace appeal to young people a key component of this in 2008 electoral victory, at a time when statistics show 53%, more than 53% of young people under the age of 25 are either unemployed or underemployed. that's the highest number in 11 years. meanwhile, as we continue to watch the president and as he

continues on his way to colorado and iowa on the three-day trip, we'll talk about madeleine albright, a path break, one of the best known women in the world, first to serve as secretary of state, when mad len al bright became the highest ranging woman in bill clinton's cabinet she discovered her identity buried in the moral complexity of the holocaust. now the best selling author has a new book that came out today, exploring her family roots within the context of one of the darkest chapters in world history. "prague winter" and i was able to sit down with allbright to talk about it. >> what motivated me was that i needed to go back and figure out my family story and really search for questions about identity. then also to look at what i think is a very important period of history, 1937 to 1948, and so many things that happened at that time are still affecting

our lives today in some form or another. and then i also wanted to examine what it was like for people to make some very, very difficult decisions, personal decisions and decisions by leaders that affected a lot of people's lives. >> what did you learn about your roots, because i remember covering you, you were a very public figure, you had been active in public life, at the white house in campaigns, for decades. you became secretary of state and then you first learned that you were not as you had thought raised roman catholic, became an episcopal onin later life. you learned about your own family and the hollow cast. >> i begin the book by saying, i was 59 and i learned a lot about my own identity and also about czechoslovakia. and what i did learn is that, my family, both sides, were of jewish origin, they had -- were the ones that actually, my parents were baptized, so i was

i, but basically the very large numbers of my family that died in consecentration camps. as it turns out, 25 members of my family on the maternal and paternal side died in concentration camps, and it was a horrible story, in terms of learning that people were exterminated for just who they thought the people thought they were, not anything that they'd ever done and the tragedy of that story. >> and the emotions, when you went back, you went to the camp, terezin, as secretary of state, public senior, you went with the hero, liberated czechoslovakia, became the czech republic what are emotions going back to the place where so many ancestors had been buried? >> i've had so many different emotions about the czechoslovakia and the czech republic and going back and dpig out what would have happened if

my parents never came to america. terezin, i went the first time i was secretary of state in '97, and then i went back a year ago, terezin was set up as a spa, as a village, and it's two parts. one is the camp and the other is the prison, and it's very quiet. and then all you can do is imagine the horrors that took place. they'd take you to the crematoryium and take you to the railroad station where people came in and show you a school that the children went to that looks like a normal place, and a great square where people had parades that were all set up. so it's a very weird place, and it's very, very quiet. and it's scary and creepy, and all i could do is visualize my family that was there and all of the other people. >> tell us about the train that

rescued children from czechoslovakia and brought them to england. >> my cousin is the one that went on the train. she was -- her parents -- and this is one of the things i talk about, the difficulty of decisions, is that she had a little sister and at the last minute, her parents decided not to send the little sister along with her to england, in order they thought, to protect her, and then as it turns out the little sister and her mother, my aunt, and her husband, uncle, all died in concentration camps. and the cousin who was with us in england, obviously survived. and so the horror of the decision making process, how you -- she was just a little girl, she was 7, and her older sister was 11 and he didn't want to part with her and that ultimately was a death sentence. >> what about the decisions that your parents made, not to explain your family history? how do you come to understand that? >> well, i can speculate about

it. i obviously don't know the answer. i think that what happened is, we came to america in 1948, after the communists had taken over czechoslovakia, they had actually been exiled twice, once by the nazis and again by the communists, and i think they wanted a new life. they had suffered terribly. i found a novel that my father had written, which i didn't -- hadn't known about, in which he really talks about not having any words to describe what happened. i think my parents were very like all parents, very protective. and i think that they just wanted to put it behind them. >> now you've been so active, a leader for women, and you were the first woman secretary of state, now we've had three women secretaries of state, memberbly at women in the world conference, you were asked about why there aren't more women in power, women in politics, women

in government, and you responded. >> well, i think men, is what i said. i think that there is a sense that women would have all of the good -- it's hard to figure out what it is, whether it's jealousy or fear, and partially the excuse that people make is that they're not enough qualified women, to which i uttered an ex-plaive, but basically i think that it's an excuse. there are obviously very important and powerful women, and women in the chain that are ready to have a high-level national security job or be ceos. and i think that any society that doesn't use the resources of its women and we are 50% of most populations in the world are actually impoverishing themselves in terms of women's economic and political abilities. >> hillary clinton, there's a lot of speculation about her future, clearly she has years to decide what she wanted to do. but there's a lot of excitement

about the possibility of her running in 2016. >> i have no idea what she's going to do. i think she's been a fabulous secretary of state. and has represented us brilliantly and has been so focussed and smart. i think she'll do whatever she wants to do in terms of continuing to do public service in some form or another. she's obviously a really good friend and i think that we have to see. >> you know, your experiences in central and eastern europe and with the former soviet union and of course with the holocaust, all of those experiences shaped your world view and there were moments with boddia, when you were in the cabinet, you went in as ambassador before secretary of state, frustrated at the reluctance of some of the men, colin powell, you're both writ been this, what have you learned that would influence decision making now about syria and the

slaughter, even though we're reluctant to get involved in the opposition is disorganized? when you look at slaughter slau that is going on, what are our options? >> i think that there are obviously lessons about standing up to evil and not appeasing and a variety of issues that one learns from world war ii. but this is a very different situation. i think that each country is different. what we have learned, i think, and that comes, i would say, from my own experience in the balkans is that it is very important to get international support for what happens. and i think that what we're seeing is president obama and secretary clinton gathering that international support in terms of using every tool that we have and tightening the screws on syria. secretary clinton has been talking more and more about, again, going back to the united nations and making sure that the sanctions regime is very tightly

wound. and that we have international support. but that we need to assess what is going on and realize that we can't just stand by. that there has to be a variety of ways of dealing with it. >> madeleine albright, the book is "proud winter." it is such an unusual exploration of a period, a time, the heart of the holocaust. your own family. memoir and history combined. thank you very much. >> thank you. and i hope that people learn a lot from it. i tried very hard to do a little teaching in it. >> and succeeded. >> thank you. >> madeleine albright. for those of you with very sharp eyes, yes, the pin that she was wearing was the skyline of prague. what political story will make headlines next? that's next.

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which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? chris cillizza rejoins us. we're at election results, obviously. strong romney territory in new york, pennsylvania. what about newt gingrich? is this the end of the road if he doesn't win delaware? what's the prospect in delaware? >> i always hesitate to predict the end of the end for newt gingrich. he's basically set himself up in some ways, if he doesn't win delaware, come narrowly close to winning, he is probably going to get out. delaware is winner take all. he would win 17 delegates. this is all at the margins. he is not going to be the nominee. it is a question of when not if he drops out. >> okay. thanks so much. we'll see you tomorrow. that's it for this edition of

"andrea mitchell reports." we have a big show tomorrow. david axelrod joins us. olympia snowe and roy blunt. a new report shows social security is driving up -- drying up even faster than previously thought. the reason? babyboomers, a weak economy, and politicians afraid to step up on the ledge to reform it. plus, developing news after the disastrous rocket launch we all witnessed. north korea has reportedly completed preparations for a third nuclear test. and for eric cantor to marco rubio and yes, even the president. all are proclaiming they have a real love of hip hop. so is there a hip hop strategy we should be paying attention to? with the spark miles card from capital one,

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