>> okay. so have you ever said that publicly before? >> i don't know if i've been asked publicly. >> six months out, new polls show it's a tie. today mitt romney heads toeds ohio while the president's team makes its biggest ad buy so far. >> instead of losing jobs, we're creating them. over 4.2 million so far. we're not there yet. it's still too hard for too many. but we're coming back. >> and austerity loses in the french election. sarkozy is out and for the first time in a generation, a socialist is in. good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. let's get it straight. vice president biden finally said what supporters of same-sex marriage still have not heard from president obama. even though the white house says it is a distinction without a difference. chris cillizza is managing editor of post politics.com. they say there's no difference between the two but biden

clearly was speaking from his heart and saying what he believes. >> yeah, you know, andrea, i don't think this was kind of -- i know there's some speculation this was a trial balloon that the obama administration sent out there. i don't get the sense that's the case. i'll tell you why, because they haven't -- they quickly very quickly backed away and said no, this is not a thing that we're purposely doing. this is not a change in position. david axelrod on a conference call with reporters this morning said take a look at mitt romney's position. don't look over here, look over here move. >> i was on that conference call. he basically ducked it. they came out so quickly with this walkback. this was not a trial balloon. this was joe biden being joe bide. >> and and you know what's interesting, andrea, is that president obama himself has repeatedly acknowledged he struggles with this. he uses the word his position is evolving. but has not been willing to say he supports gay marriage. i think the reason is, there's politics in everything. i think the reason is, it would

help him with a portion of his base, absolutely, gaze and lesbians it would be a huge deal. but african-americans, another key pillar of president obama's base are among the least supportive groups of that legalization. i think his attitude is why do it now? it's not a slam-dunk issue. why not wait if i win a second term, then maybe tackle it then. i think they want to quickly move on from this. >> i have two states to mention wes we talk about why not. how about north warnl whicaroli is going to be voting on a more restrictive law. and west virginia. >> too culturally conservative states too, to your point. >> i wanted to quickly bring in president obama's new ad buy. $25 million in key states. it tells you what they're looking at. let's take a quick look what he is trying to say in this ad. >> he believed in us. fought for us.

and today, our auto industry is back. firing on all cylinders. our greatest enemy brought to justice by our greatest heroes. our troopses are home from iraq. instead of losing jobs, we're creating them. over 4.2 million so far. we're not there yet. it's still too hard for too many. but we're coming back. >> so, this is the message we're not there yet, about you. >> yeah. >> they use the term forward. they're trying to say that this is what we can look forward to. we're in the right direction. >> yeah, it's a fascinating message in kind of your big kickoff positive ad, you have the narrator say we're not getting there, things are still too hard for too many, many. it's why president obama's message path is complicated to november, andrea, because republicans can say are you better off than you were four years ago. what will president obama has to say is okay, things are not

where i want them to be or where you want them to be. they're not that much better than they were four years ago but they're getting better thanks to my policies. one fits on a bumper sticker, one barely fits in a 60-second ad. that's the difficult message question and complication the team faces. clearly they're aware of it because they're going at it with that first ad. $25 million, they are not messing around. >> not messing around at all. chris cillizza and than $25 million ad buy is in nine states where the president and the campaign believe the election will be fought. spending a lot of money to reintroduce the president to voters. meanwhile, two new battleground state polls show mitt romney has closed the gap with the president in key swing states. stephanie cutter, deputy campaign manager for the president's campaign joining us from chicago. thanks so much. that is a lot of money. $25 million, nine key states. but as chris was just pointing

out, this is a develops complicated message. it doesn't fit on a bumper sticker. well, it's not meant to. it's a television advertisement. and you know, it tells the story of where this country has been over the course of the last four years when the president was running for president in 2008, what was going on in this country when he took the oath of office and what we've done since to turn this country around and put us on a forward track to move this country forward. whether it was passing wall street reform to ensure that everybody, whether it's wall street or main street plays by the same set of rules. it's rescuing the auto industry and i noticed today that gm is number five on the fortune 500 list. can you imagine saying that four years ago? i can't. so all of the things that we've been able to do, ending the war in iraq, repealing don't ask, don't tell all the things we've done to move this country forward. as you and chris were talking, you know, we're not there the yet. we're not where the president wants this country to be.

we have to continue moving forward tore create that economy that's meant to last where everybody has a fair shot at success. we have a lot of work to do ahead of us. this is no time to go back. we know what going back looks like, right? just three years, four years ago, we were looking at what going back would look like, the worst recession in our lifetime. two sets of rules for people living on main street versus people on wall street. an auto industry on the verge of collapse. so all of those things, the american people understand that. that's why this ad we think is going to be so powerful. it tells the story of where we've been and where we're going. >> what about jeff merkley, the senator from oregon hog tweeted that he's glad that you ever@vp biden voiced support for marriage equality. you've got a key vote coming up in north carolina tomorrow. and at the same time, the vice president was speaking of equality in marriage for men and men, women and women, and

heterosexuals. arne duncan was asked about it on "morning joe" today by our friend mark halperin. he said he does believe that there should be the legal right to gay marriage. what is taking the white house -- why is the president taking so longing to quote evolve on this? he doesn't hesitate to take a lot of money from gay supporters. it's a key part of his base. and i guess the calculation is that they have no other place to go because the romney campaign is certainly not going to support them, but it does seem as though the president is taking a long time to come to this position. >> well, i would take issue with a couple of your points. first in north carolina, as you know, the president has spoken out against discriminatory amendments that would roll back rights and against what is happening in north carolina tomorrow. and secondly, the vice president, you know, has made similar remarks before. many times. and he's really expressing exactly where the president is, that for committed loving

couples, whether they're gay or lesbian or straight couples deserve the same rights and protections as anybody else. >> but the question he was asked. >> why the president has taken -- let me just finish one point here. we wouldn't be not stopping enforcing doma or trying to repeal doma in congress through the freedom to marry act if the president didn't believe that committed couples deserves the same rights and protections. we wouldn't be repealing things like don't ask, don't tell and removing every federal barrier that we can on our own to ensure that gay and lesbian couples have the same rights and protections as other couples. throws significant steps forward in just 3 1/2 years of this administration. so when you say that gay and lesbian voters have no place else to go, i find that completely wrong because we have a record that we're proud of. and we have a record that gay and lesbian voters across this country have been drawn to. they appreciate the progress

that we've been making. after years of fighting to pass hate crimes in congress, we finally got it done. there are significant accomplishments in this administration to ensuring equality for everybody. >> the question to joe biden was not about the civil unions. the question to joe biden was about marriage. marriage is different from equal rights, civil unions, equal protection under the law. marriage is a sacrameant and a legal sacrameant that the vice president was asked about it, and he said he had no problem with it. that is not the same as what the president said. >> no problem -- i don't want to parse his words because he can speak for himself. >> he did speak for himself. >> he was expressing the same policies as this president as this administration. and these are policies that we're very proud of. >> david gregory asked, what all marriages at their root are about? the marriages of lesbians or gay man or heterosexuals, is that

what you believe now? >> vice president biden, that's what i believe. david gregory and you're comfortable with same sex marriage now? >> look, i'm vice president of the united states. the president sets the policy. i'm absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same equal rights, all the civil rights and liberties. and quite frankly i don't see much of a distinction i don't understand that. is the president of the united states comfortable as the vice president said, with men marrying men, women marrying men and heterosexual men and women marying it another? >> i'm not going to make news on the president's beliefs on gay marriage today. i am going to say that the vice president was detailing and describing the very policies that he and the president have implemented together to ensure that these same-sex couples do enjoy the same rights and protections as any other couple. one last point when you said gay and lesbian voters are going to the president because they have

no place else to go, let's not forget that this is an election and elections are about choices. the big difference here is that mitt romney wants to write discrimination intoure constitution. he wants a federal anti-marriage amendment denying same-sex couples from marrying. so there's a big difference here. so number one, gay and lesbian supporters believe this president has accomplished a lot, which is why they're supporting this president and they also fully understand that mitt romney wants to roll back the protections that they have and actually instates where states have adopted marriage, mitt romney has funded efforts to roll back those protections. funded campaigns to roll back state decisions to grant same-sex couples marriage. so elections are about choices. these are facts that shouldn't go unknown in this election because there's pretty critical if we want to continue moving forward towards equality. >> as you know, i'm going to be asking them as well all of these points. thank you very much, stephanie. >> good. thanks, andrea.

president obama officially kicked off his campaign this weekend and took direct aim at the republican phenomenon neil, presumptive nominee mitt romney in events in ohio and video. >> he and his friends in congress think that the same bad ideas will lead to a different result. or they're just hoping you won't remember what happened the last time we tried it their way. >> joining me now the republican national chairman reince priebus. thanks so much for being with us. well, first of all, the battleground polls that are out today show this is basically a tie going into the final six months of the race. what about the president's charge and it was laid out very well by stephanie cutter that there is progress, there's progress on the jobs front, there's progress on the economy, that he inherited a mess. and that he is digging the country out of a huge hole? >> well, it may be the best that

barack obama can do, but andrea, it's certainly not the best this country can do. it's not up to the promises and the standards that barack obama set for himself four years ago. i happen to believe that people ought to be held accountable to their words and promises, and clearly, on the most basic promises that this president made to the american people whether it be jobs, whether it be the debt, the deficit, health care, even green jobs, i mean, even his own pet issues, he just hasn't completed the mission and so i'm not going to list everything else. but you know what i'm talking about. he hasn't met the numbers. he hasn't met the standards that he made to the american people. and that's why you're seeing such a close election because ultimately, whether people like it or not, presidents running for re-election, it is a referendum in this particular case on barack obama. that's the first question. did he fulfill the mission that he claimed he would fulfill? yes or no. and the answer to that is no, the

next question is, the republicans providing a clear articulate alternative to this president, but the first question is a referendum on barack obama. >> but it's also a choice, of course, and while the republicans, you would like to say it's a referendum on obama's record, what the democrats are saying is that there's a choice. are they moving in the right direction and would romney take them in the wrong direction. let me ask you about this whole issue of gay marriage and give you a chance to what has been said by both the president, the vice president, and this north carolina vote that's coming up tomorrow. what is the latest position of mitt romney and the republicans on this issue? >> well, i think governor romney and the republican party have been pretty clear. we believe marriage is between one man and one woman. we believe ultimately that you can't federalize that kind of mandate which is why we believe that individual states can make those decisions on their own and they're doing that across the

country. so we've been clear. i swear to you, i still can't figure out what stephanie, where her position is, and the president's position on then issue to me, it's not so much the issue that is as important as watching how the president is trying to play this game. they want to have everything. they want the vice president out there you nuancing the issue, fully embracing gay marriage. then they march out arne duncan and embrace gay marriage. >> they didn't march out arne duncan. he was coming on to talk about the teacher program and he was asked that question. i wasitying is right here on the set. he was asked that question by mark halperin. there was nothing deliberate about that, believe me. >> fair enough. the president wants to be able to play both sides of this issue. he's obviously concerned about what's going on in north carolina. he doesn't want to the fully embrace what his vice president is saying. but he wants the benefit of what the vice president is saying.

and to me, this is what i think this country has had enough of. if there's any vulnerability i think of obama, you can say he hasn't fulfilled the mission and the economy and the jobs and all of these other things. but i think his biggest vulnerability, he's not authentic anymore. people aren't buying what he's selling because they don't believe he's real anymore. he has become the ultimate washington politician and this latest episode in regard to gay marriage is a great example of that. >> but doesn't your own candidate, mitt romney have an issue of authenticity? of persuading people even within your own republican party that he is the real deal? and also, as a conservative, as a true conservative, what could be more conservative than a committed relationship between a man and a man and a woman or a woman who want to embrace the sangity of marriage? i simply do not understand the

position by true conservatives who say they don't believe in committed relationships. >> well, i mean, it depends on you know, what i would tell you is that in regard to mitt romney's position on this, quite frankly, andrea, the president's position as it sits today is the same position of mitt romney because isn't the president saying that he believes that a marriage is between a man and a woman? isn't that obama's position? you're buying into this -- >> mitt romney is against civil unions. there is a difference between romney -- there is a difference between mitt romney and barack obama, is there not? one is in favor of civil unions and legal protections. the other is not. >> the difference is that mitt romney is being honest about his position the whole way through. he's claiming that marriage should be between one man and one woman. it's barack obama who if he got on your show and you asked him that question, he would say the same thing. then he would march out the vice president to confuse the issue and have all of his surrogates talking about obama's nuanced

position on the issue, but yet, when confronted on the issue, obama says marriage is between a man and a woman. what i'm suggesting to you, andrea, barack obama will say and do anything and have other people around him say and do anything to help him get elected. that's what this is about. >> thanks very much. we'll have to leave it there. the republican chairman reince priebus. >> you bet. >> coming up, we'll talk about what's happening in europe. the french elections when we come back. i'm a coach. but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. free-credit-score-dot-com'sur boargonna direct you ♪ts ♪

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reluctant to embrace gay marriage? joel is the president of the human rights campaign and joins me now. you watched all of that and have been watching the debate for the last 24 hours so biden said what he said. first of all, not a trial balloon. i watched what he said.

this was joe biden speaking directly and the fact that they so eager little tried to spin it back putting out calls to everyone right away tells you that they were nervous about the difference between what the two sides said. >> it's been interesting to watch over the last 24 hours everyone try to speculate and parse the words and determine weather this was some kind of deliberative move. i certainly don't think so. i love joe biden. he's a wonderful person, a great supporter of our issues but the notion that he said something off script or he was asked the question and answered from the heart i think is absolutely the case. >> i think he was influenced by the fact that he was recently at a campaign event and it was at the home of a gay couple with their children. >> right. >> and he was very personally affected by that. he was responding -- >> it is how people evolve on the subject of marriage. >> how frustrated are you with the white house? >> you know, i think that it's been interesting to watch over the last 24 hours parsing the words, the difference between

the vice president. >> it's almost. >> between the vice president and arne duncan. and the fact of the matter is i think stephanie was right about the fact that as a community, we're going to step into a big trap if we get all focused on the distinction between the vice president's words and the president's and don't focus on the difference between barack obama and mitt romney because the difference between the president and governor romney could be not be more stark. he signed a pledge to pass the federal marriage amendment. he doesn't believe that we should have repealed don't ask, don't tell. and to me, you know, what i hope the community is mindful of and i think we are smart enough not to lose sight of this is the fact that this is not about barack obama or mitt romney. it's about us. and these elections are a choice. >> yet, at the same time, your organization, your community wants the right for gay marriage. >> we want the president to be supportive of gay marriage. absolutely but i think we can

make a distinction between fighting for marriage equality as we are across the country, pushing this president to move in the direction to fully evolve or finish evolving on the question of marriage equality but understand the choice in these elections and understand that 80s critical to our future that we re-elect the president. >> what is this is business about evolve? we're not talking about charles darwin here. what's so difficult? and in fact, what he wrote about in his earlier memoir, barack obama wrote that he had some concerns about himself, that there was a lack of sensitivity to equal rights in his position. >> yeah, you know, i don't know. i don't know the exactly where the president is in this evolution. i just know that i've never known anybody to evolve away from anything. you know, you evolve toward something and again, i think that the example. >> isn't that a trap in some ways though? letting one side -- i mean, i understand that there is a very

big choice between the two candidates on this. but to let yourself as an advocate be -- accept the terminology i'm evolving. >> i didn't say that i accept the terminology. i said that that is the language the president has used. and for my part, to me, i interpret that to mean he's moving toward support of marriage equality. now, why he has not and when or he will or will not remains to be seen. and i in no way meant to say that anybody should accept that. i'm just saying i think we have a job to do which is to continue to push the president in that direction unquestionably, but never lose sight of the distinction to be made between the president and governor romney and never lose ith of the fact that the outcome of these elections have everything to do with the prospects for this community, not with the governor romney or president obama. >> joe salmonese, thanks for being here. how will the guy marriage

dispute play if the campaign? adviser stephanie cutter gave me her take moments ago on mitt romney's position regarding gay marriage. >> mitt romney wants to the write discrimination into our u.s. constitution. he wants a federal anti-marriage amendment denying same-sex couples from marrying. there's a big difference here. so number one, gay and lesbian supporters believe this president has accomplished a lot. which is why they're supporting this president and they also fully understand that mitt romney wants to roll back the protections that they have and actually instates where states have the adopted marriage, mitt romney has funded efforts to roll back those protections. >> kevin madden is an adviser to the romney campaign and joins me now. you heard testifyny cutter. she's made it very clear, there are very big differences. the question occurs, you know, why is mitt romney so opposed even to civil unions? >> i think -- i would not try to

get baited into the trap of always talking about what we're against. governor romney has made it very clear what he's for. he's for the traditional sangity of marriage between a man and a woman. he's made that very clear to people who care about the issue and he stood by the issue. >> and there's no evolution. there won't be any evolving for mitt romney on this subject? >> no, when this question comes up. >> if he's elected president. >> when this question comes up, he's made it clear a marriage is between a man and woman. we're the party of traditional marriage and he's made that very clear to republicans and tleer to people during this campaign. >> and six months out, we're talking about a $25 million buy in nine key states. we look at battleground polls now today. the politico poll other polls showing it's basically a virtual tie. how do you -- that's not a bad place to start from the challenger to the president. >> sure. >> but it does show that there is some big advantages that the president has, the gender gap

favoring the president. also, his ability to handle foreign policy. so the outlines of your campaign going forward. >> well, look, first of all, look, this campaign is right where it is today. i think probably about three weeks to a month out we're probably going to be in the same position. it's going to be a very close campaign. i think president obama is going to need $25 million buys because i don't think even that money is going to be help him change the american people's mind about the lack of leadership he's shown on the economy. the economy is still the central issue here. so as we go throughout this campaign across the country, many battleground states, we're going to make the argument that president obama hasn't done what he needed to do to put the american economy back on track. it's creating enough jobs to keep up this to economy. just this last month, 340,000 people dropped out of the workforce because they stopped looking for work. that's not the type of america we want to see in this country. that's not the type of economy we want to see. so the i think that's going to be the central argument to this campaign.

i think as we begin to go around the country and governor romney carries that message he has a better way forward, we're going to be in a very good position on election day. >> is rob portman, a former -- twice a cabinet member and from ohio, is he at the top of the list? >> look, you're always very smart to ask me these questions. i would be very dumb to answer. >> i can always hope that you're dumb. >> sometimes you'll probably catch me. >> not so far. >> look, this is going to be a very long process. i think there's going to be a lot of information involved about which one of these many very worthy candidates would make the best vice president. and then ultimately it comes down to a one-man decision. that's governor romney's decision based on ho thinks is the best person to help him put the american economy back on track. >> when mitt romney was running against teddy kennedy, he promised if elected that he

would sponsor a federal nondiscrimination act returning to the whole issue of gay marriage. why was he is in one place in massachusetts and another place running for president? >> that was a long time ago into if you believe in rights at one point -- >> i think there's a very important distinction between rights and whether or not we should discriminate against people based on sexual preference. there's also the question of marriage, whether or not you believe it is a contract and an institution that should be between a man and woman. he's made that very clear when he was running for office early on and made it very clear to today that that's a distinction and that's his position >> he also said at the time that he would approve of gays and lesbians in the military. >> right, and i also think he's made it very clear as you go through the process of making those types of decisions you have to rely heavily on those in the military positions and those on the battlefield. the generals making those decisions. he's made it very clear throughout this process that he would defer to the judgment of a lot of the military leaders.

in this case, many military leaders did not believe that don't ask the don't tell was something we should -- a policy we should get rid of. >> the chairman of the joint chiefs and secretary of defense men. the tonight military man the joints chief chairman and advisory group that advised the advisory group that advised bob gates then secretary of defense said they believed they should go. >> there was others within the military leadership who also disagreed. and i think that that opinion also has an effect on governor romney as he rook looked at that question. >> at the same time, when he was running for governor, mitt romney declined to oppose a constitutional amendment, a state amendment that would block domestic partnerships? >> declined to oppose and making it clear what your position is on the particular issues at hand, governor romney when he has been asked about the question of marriage and the sangity of marriage, he's made very clear he believes it's

between a man and a woman. >> kevin madden, you still don't prove yourself to be dumb on any of these questions. >> thanks very much. kevin. >> thanks. >> up next, the politte coat briefing all tied up in the battleground states. so brightene a healthy way with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only rinse that makes your teeth two shades whiter and two times stronger. ♪ listerine® whitening... power to your mouth. and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. when i found a plan that was as active and on the go as i was. weight watchers online is absolutely that tool. it was never further away than my pocket. my sidekick! the weight tracker really let me see that my real problem area was when i was traveling. it allowed me to kind of tailor my plan to my lifestyle. i lost 29 pounds with weight watchers online.

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in today's politico briefing, battleground state poll shows the presidential race is in a dead heat. six months to go before the election, mitt romney and president obama are virtually tied. joining me now is executive director of politico, jim vandehei. this head to head match shows 48-47, a virtual tie. they're just -- going forward where 25 million dollars being poured into the battleground. >> i think kevin madden hit it on the head in your earlier segment that three weeks before the election, the numbers are probably going to look like they

do today. if you think about it, coming off a pretty tough and were securing the republican nomination, you still have romney tied. he's up 10 with independents. the candidates are essentially tied when it comes to who is best to manage the economy. i think that's the state of play today and probably going to be the state of play for the next several months. i don't think anyone envisions the economy changing dramatically for the better or worse in the next four or five months. the trajectory of this campaign is not going to change that much. we know who the candidates are and what the issues are. we know we live in a 50/50 country. i think it's going to be open warfare where you need the $25 million. heck, you'll need probably close to a billion dollars between the stuff you can do for your self and the friends from the outside to win this. >> jim, what do you think is going to make the difference now? >> i think the difference at the end of the day, again, politics is a 50-50 country. it's going to come down to independents, which way do they swing at the end of the day. those independent voters if you look at the issues they care

most about, it's all about the economy and jobs. so if you can tell us what the unemployment rate is going to be three weeks before the election and what growth looks like for the economy three weeks before the election, we could probably tell you who is going to be the winner come november. that's certainly the mind-set inside it the obama campaign and inside the romney campaign. they feel the economy is going to be the decider and it's going to be the thing that moves independents at the end of the day. the reason it's so close and both sides are prepared for a very negative campaign is that they think things might look very much three weeks out like they do today and that they're going to be very close. the economy's going to be a mixed picture and independents are you an then particularly divided. so then it's going to be grind it out, can you pull some hispanic votes here, female votes here, working class whites over here and patch together a victory. >> jim vandehei, thank you very much. politico's battleground state polls. coming up, an emotional appeal from an american aid

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for the first time since american aid worker warren weinstein was kidnapped in pakistan nine months ago, he's been seen on video making a desperate plea for help. we don't know when it was tapds. u.s. officials are analyzing that video to determine how and when it got out and to authenticate the message. amna, thanks so much for being with us. this is such a heartbreaking story for his family. a private aid worker, he lived in lahore. was kidnapped. al qaeda is claiming responsibility. and they have some demands that are going to be very hard for the u.s. or indeed pakistan to go along with. >> that's true. as you mentioned, it's impossible for us to know when or where their video was made. that said, just by watching it we can tell there's clearly an effort being made to show that this is a man very much alive, he's very much well and he is being taken care of at least in the this video. he appears in the video wearing

a traditional outfit. it's clean, neat, pressed. he's seated at a table. of book him. he has plates of food before him and even eats some of ta food as he delivers that message. that message is one in which he's speaking directly to president obama. it's important to note for the roughly 2:30 on which he appears on the camera, he makes an appeal toll president obama as an american citizen, asking him that he please consider the demands of his captors. those demands were made by al qaeda chief ayman al zawar hirery last last year, early this year and include not only that the u.s. stop all strikes around the world including afghanistan, pakistan, yemen, somalia and gaza, but also that all al qaeda and taliban prisoners worldwide be released. >> amna, the u.s. has recently resumed, acknowledges resuming drone strikes.

in fact, drone strikes in pakistan. and over the weekend, there was what they are telling us was a successful drone strike in yemen which they believe took out an al qaeda suspect one of those responsible for the attack on the "uss dmocole" in 2000. the drone strikes are continuing and they don't seem willing to release any al qaeda prisoners either. >> that's very true. the list of diamonds made in the audio and video statement are going to be almost impossible to meet. it the drone strikes in particular here in pakistan are of particular sensitivity. as you know, the relationship between the u.s. and pakistan has been on a steady decline for the last year and in recent talks, the drone issue specifically has been at the heart of those discussions. andrea? >> and we should also point out only today in india, hillary clinton said that she believes that al zawahiri is still in pakistan. amna, thank you very much for being with us today.

next it, the political shake-up in france. what it means for the u.s. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪ riding the dog like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade. check my investment portfolio, research stocks... wait, why are you taking... oh, i see...solitary. just a man and his thoughts. and a smartphone... with an e-trade app. ♪ nobody knows...

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i'm thomas roberts. coming up in 15 minutes on "news nation," we have new comments from the white house on the same-sex marriage detainee after vice president biden came out in support of marriage equality. will the president be the next to join him? plus the latest on the investigation of the death of an army soldier who was skyping with his wife from afghanistan. and then in the "news nation" gut check, a mom tells her son to bring a stun gun to school to defend himself from bullies. the teen and his mom will join me live. >> and now to frarngs once again, another european lead area the ninth since the financial meltdown has been voted out as france re-bells against austerity proposals and says we just don't like scar sarkozy's brash style.

a personal verdict helping to elect the first socialist since francois mitterrand. francois hollande now is going to be leading the world's fifth largest economy. joining me is lee gallagher. thanks so much for being with us. this is really a huge challenge now for merkel, for all of those pushing austerity programs throughout europe because francois hollandee is going to go his own way and also on security issues when he comes here for the nato meeting. >> absolutely. this is a referendum on this sort of austerity measures that had been you know all throughout europe. we saw it in greece, as well. the challenge to this austerity only is really ascendent and it's what the people want. this has been a really tough sell to the population at large in europe, and you know, this as a resounding, you know, referendum on that. >> and it's also a verdict, of course, on sarkozy, his personal

style and the really tough anti-immigration positions that he took to try to capture some of la pen's right wing vote and that shows that it really only outraged people even more. francois hollandee is not very well-known. he isn't very experienced in terms of any kind of cabinet or parliamentary position in the past, but he's been a figure in french politics for quite some time, and what do we know about whether or not he's going to be able to mobilize the forces that are necessary within the french government? >> that's the big question. we don't know. it's very, very soon. we're still justdy gisting the news which was you know, i think to a large degree unexpected. and so you know, it's going to take awhile. there's a big difference between you know, this kind of rush of support and actually turning this into policy measures. esthere's a lot of hurdles he faces there. and we're just going to have to wait and see what happens. >> and just turning also to the

fortune 500, the top most the ten most profitable companies, it looks as though it's pretty good to be it is pretty good to be in the oil business. >> and speaking of global growth, all of the companies on the fortune 500. this is the most profitable year ever. especially if you're an oil company and a company expanding overseas. many of the companies have really sought out profits in developing countries that are growing faster than we are here and that's another way that they've been able to do so well. so it is definitely an interesting year. another trend that i wanted to point out, there are 18 women ceos on the fortune 500 and that's another record. it is far from even but it is something that is a big change from the past couple years. >> slow progress at least. thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. >> what political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? that's next.

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hollande. this wedding note. congratulations to american hikers sarah shourd and shane bauer. the two were married this weekend in san francisco. they became engaged while in prison in iran. the third hiker served as best man. a happy ending. which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? chris cillizza joins us once again. i want to talk to you about the race tomorrow. he is way behind according to the polling and his tea party challenger looks like he could unseat this veteran republican senator. but also, right now, at the romney event in ohio, i wanted to point out that warming up the cleveland crowd, dave yost is certainly taking a very nasty tone saying that obama taking credit. president obama taking credit for osama bin laden's death is like giving ronald mcdonald for the big mac you ate for lunch.

everybody knows it is the guy on the grill who deserves the credit. not the pitch man on tv. just saying it looks like this campaign is only going to get nastier and nastier in the final six months. >> you're exactly right. i always say with campaign events, what's hard is the surrogates. so many time we've seen people who stand up and introduce the candidate say inappropriate things. we saw this in the primary, too. then the candidate has to answer for it. quickly we take since 1976. it's an upset if he wins tomorrow. part of that is because he did not grasp the depth of the challenge before him. he looks old, out of touch. and this is someone who is incredibly well regarded in washington but has not been able to sell himself the right way to indiana voters. >> or maybe he just refused to change his positions to meet the tea party imperatives. thanks so much. we'll see what happens tomorrow. that does it for this edition of

"andrea mitchell reports." >> thanks so much. great hour by the way for you. we are just getting this in. new comments from the white house on the same sex marriage debate after vice president joe biden came out in support of marriage equality. will the president be the next to join him? plus, the latest on the investigation into the depth of an army soldier who was skipg with his wife from afghanistan. what the army is saying today. and then gut check. a mom tells her son to bring a stun gun to school to protect himself from bullies. because of that, he could be expelled. the teen and his mom join me live. [ kate ] many women may not be properly absorbing

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go to cymbalta.com today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. the white house press secretary getting question after question from reporters to respond to remarks made by vice president joe