support same-sex marriage, why is the president back and is he risking campaign support from a key constituency? this as north carolina votes today on defining marriage as being only between a man and a woman. and the scramble to find out what al qaeda is up to in the wake of a yemen plot to blow up planes in the u.s. using a device undetectable by those airport security scanners. what it means for flyers here at home. and astounding new statistics on obesity in america, the price tag in terms of health costs staggering. hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. a lot on the agenda this morning. we get straight to it. now that he's off the campaign trail, it appears that rick santorum is a late-night kind of guy. his first appearance since endorsing former rival mitt romney will be later today on "the tonight show" with jay leno. santorum's written endorsement was also released while many of you are probably sleeping. he didn't get to the actual

endorsement part until paragraph 13. in that part he wrote, above all else, we both agree that president obama must be defeated, the task will not be easy, it will require all hands on deck if our moum is to be victorious. joining me for today's political power panel are nbc news political analyst and former governor of pennsylvania ed rendell, michael steele and jonathan capehart. great to see you this morning. former chairman, i want to start with you about this endorsement. rick santorum doing it by e-mail. jeb bush doing it by tweet. santorum going on leno first instead of appearing with mitt romney. i don't want to take anything personally here from mitt romney. but what does it say about how conservatives are feeling about their nominee? >> not feeling the love. just not feeling the love. it raises some questions. as we've seen from the very

beginning of the cavalcade of endorsement, they've been less than warm and fuzzy. they've been a little bit tepid at times. some have actually criticized romney in the course of endorsing him. i still think it reflects an uneasiness that exists within the rank-and-file conservatives, particularly conservatives like rick santorum. i think the reality is that rick still is coming to terms with this campaign in many respects. he wants to get out and be supportive of the nominee. but there's still work that needs to be done. >> there is a reaction from mitt romney. this was just handed to me. mitt romney making this announcement today saying senator santorum made a spirited race. the race for the republican presidential nomination has always been about restoring the promise of america. ann and i extend our sincere gratitude to rick for his

endorsement and our continued prayers for the health of his daughter, bella. another announcement could be coming soofenlt he met with mitt romney last week to secure future promises. are santorum and other social conservatives going to prevent romney from making that pivot to the center that he needs to win this general election campaign? >> before i answer that, thomas, i want to figure it out. if rick types the way i do, if he started at 11:00, the endorsement in paragraph 13 probably occurred after midnight which would be somewhat phenomenal. that's the key question. what the romney campaign, in my judgment, has to do is look at the polls and figure out that conservative voters are going to vote for him. two ways people vote -- one out of love, two out of hate. and those conservative voters do not like the president and they are turning out to vote against the president regardless of who the candidate was. so governor romney should be pivoting to try to get suburban

republicans in suburban philadelphia to try to get independents. if he hues to the conservative line, for example, in picking a vice president who's overly conservative, who's overly divisive, i think he makes a huge mistake. he's got to look at the polls, understand that he doesn't need the love. a vote that's tepid counts the same as a vote that's wildly enthusiastic. >> jonathan, let's talk about the president's schedule today. he's going to appear in albany with new york governor andrew cuomo. cuomo's the one who spearheaded new york's attempts for marriage equality. let's take a look, the gallup research showing support for marriage equality has grown over recent years. when you break it down by the party, the majority of democrats and independents support it. however, the president is reticent on coming out and saying that he has a fully

evolved stance. what is the president waiting for? >> well, that's the $64,000 question, thomas. what is the president waiting if r? all we're asking the president to do, we, those of us who favor marriage equality and just those folks who just want him to say the obvious, his actions speak to someone who favors -- the department of justice has declared the so-called defense of marriage act unconstitutional and won't defend it against court action at the direction of the president. the president has even said that he would sign -- he supports senat senator dianne feinstein's act to repeal. >> a lot of people say it's always about, what have you done for me lately and what's coming next? chairman steele, i want to

remind everybody about north carolina voting today on amendment one. that defines marriage between a man and a woman. the president hasn't taken a firm stance on marriage equality. but he has come out against amendment one. if the president does voice support of marriage equality, does he risk alienating voters in key battleground states like north carolina, florida, virginia? >> yes, he does. that's the political calculation here. i would agree with my friend jonathan capehart on the substance of it in terms of what the president should do. we all know where he stands. this idea floating around washington that the president is going to come out for supporting gay marriage after the election is just inane. people looking for principle leadership, if it's a part of your core, we expect you to stand firm in it, regardless of what the polls say or how a particular group in a battleground state may interpret it. the reality is right now, the country is looking for principled leadership as much as people want to jam up mitt romney on what happened in that little moment yesterday with the

voter, the same is true here with the president on a larger constituency on something that's important to them. so just show your true colors and let the political chips fall where they may. people will believe or not believe or support or not support you. but you have to take that first step. and the president hasn't. >> as we look at this african-americans overwhelmingly support president obama but a majority object to legalizing same-sex marriage. our latest nbc news/"wall street journal" polls has african-american opposing marriage equality by 50% to 41%. why not use political capital within the african-american community to lead on this issue? >> look, i don't think -- i've been making calls in preparation for a piece on this. if the president were to come out in favor of same-sex marriage, the impact on his support within the african-american community would be zero. i think that pride in having an

african-american president in the white house and as president of the united states will trump anything that he could possibly say about marriage equality. so for those who are looking to maybe use -- the folks at the national organization for marriage trying to use in as a wedge issue between african-americans and gays and lesbians, it's not going to work. if the president were to come out in favor of marriage equality, there would be no impact on the president's support, just none. >> take a look at this. president obama is attending a $2,500 a plate lgtb fund-raiser in new york on monday hosted by ricky martin. there's the invitation there. "the washington post" reporting today that certain lgbt donors are withholding money from the president's campaign. how does the president walk this political tightrope? >> i think he should do exactly what michael steele said he should do. he should man up and say, this

is what i believe. and i think he doesn't lose any african-american votes. jonathan is absolutely right. and the people who vote solely on this issue, single issue voter, gay marriage, none of them are voting for barack obama now and they're not going to vote for him whether he says he's against it. >> former governor ed rendell, michael steele, jonathan capehart, thank you for your insights this morning. a global hunt is on for a man described as al qaeda's most ruthless bomb maker. he's said to have survived multiple bomb assassination attempts. he's designed the 2009 christmas day underwear bomb that nearly took down a detroit-bound jetliner. feds say he's the man beyond the latest plot to bomb another jet using a device similar to that incident. >> ibrahim al asari, the fbi is

taking a look at this ied and seeing what changes he made. >> this was not an active threat, they infiltrated this plot. but someone reportedly that is safe out of yemen -- what else do we know about this bomb maker and the potential for other plots like this? >> thomas, as you said, he's got a long track record. he tried to kill the counterterrorism and intelligence adviser, prince naif in saudi arabia. killed his brother, didn't kill naif. he is incredibly capable and ingenious in how he designs these bombs. the other thing to keep in mind

is asseri has taken on an important role in al qaeda and the arabian peninsula. and he's training others with the understanding that by doing so, this type of capability is spread through multiple levels within the organization so if asseri is killed, and he's going to be at some point here, there will be others who can continue on his trade craft. >> the plot originated in yemen, that is widely considered a hornets' nest of activity after the bombing of the "uss cole" back in 2009. >> it has tried in the past to carry out attacks against aircraft, it's carried out assassination attacks in the arabian peninsula. it is a lethal organization. it's a dangerous one. that's why we have to continue to work very closely with our yemeni partners to stop the attacks before they get under way. >> if you had to isolate one country that represents the biggest threat to the united states, does it remain to be

yemen and why haven't we been more -- being able to get our arms around a situation in yemen where we learned so much when we lost our service members back in the bombing of the "cole"? >> i would say al qaeda central in pakistan, we're in really good shape there right now because of all of our successful activities. yemen is probably the most pressing country because of the capability of aqap. the inability and civil war are going on inside yemen right now. that's why we've ravrped mped u drone campaign in yemen. what everyone needs to understand is that this campaign against al qaeda in the arabian peninsula has been going on for some time and it's going to have

to continue to go on because they're the affiliate with the intent and the capability still to target u.s. interests. this is the long haul. >> let's talk about the bomb experts. they're picking apart this improvised explosive device. it was devised to be used in underwear. what does this say about the security loopholes that we have here at home, especially now that we have more relaxed security measures in place? >> i think some people would probably disagree that they're relaxed in any way. it says two things. the first is that the adversary is continuing to adapt to our defenses. they're not stupid. they're watching what we do and trying to find seams in our security and take advantage of prospective vulnerabilities. there's no silver bullet in security on the defense side. these body scanners, the advanced imaging technology

devices, they're one layer of defense. you have to combine that with mag magnotometers [. in total, all of these efforts have layers to them. if these plots get close to happening, one or more of the layers will detect and ultimately disrupt it. >> roger, great to see you this morning. thank you. four democrats face off in a primary battle in wisconsin today determining who will face off against governor scott walker in that recall election this summer. i'm going to talk with the democrat leading that field, milwaukee mayor tom barrett. a gruesome discovery in the search of a missing mom and her three daughters. this just hurts to watch. a hit and run all caught on camera.

wisconsin voters go to the polls today to choose the democrat who will challenge that state's governor in next month's recall election. four democrats are vying to take on governor scott walker in the june 5th election which has gained national attention because the governor effectively ended union bargaining rights in that state. joining me today is one of the democrats vying for the spot on that ballot, milwaukee mayor tom barrett, who's hoping for a rematch. he faced off with governor walker in 2010 in the race for governor losing by 125,000 votes, which is about 5%. mayor, good to have you here this morning. let's talk about what's taking place now. polls show you with a 17%-point advantage over your closest rival, kathleen falk. she picked up some endorsements,

though. what do you think it is about your campaign, your message that you're hoping is going to gain traction with the voters? >> thomas, i've been focusing this entire time on scott walker and his failures as governor. at the end of the day, this is going to be a referendum on scott walker. th this is a historic recall in the state of wisconsin. it centers around several questions. since he's been governor, it's cost us more jobs than any other state in the entire country. between march of 2011 and march of 2012, wisconsin was the only state to lose jobs. second, he has divided this state like it's never been divided before. he has relied very heavily on out-of-state contributions. and finally i think he's the only governor who has a criminal defense fund right now. and those are the issues that i've been talking about. for me, it's really about ending the civil war here in the state of wisconsin that scott walker began. that's resonating with the voters right now. >> let's talk about the money

that is coming in from out of state. it's an insane amount of money pouring in for this race. the governor has raised $25 million toward the recall election, mostly from out-of-state donors. new jersey governor chris christie campaigned with him. what do you think about all of this, the outside influence and what it means for the state politics right now that you, yourself, consider to be this wisconsin civil war? >> it's amazing because by any objective criteria, he should be crushing me. he's raised $25 million. i've raised about $1 million. for every commercial i run, he can probably run 25 commercials. if you look at it from that standpoint, this should be no contest. but the most recent independent poll actually showed me leading him by one point. i think what that means is people in wisconsin are starting to get it. there's something wrong when your sitting governor has to rely on huge contributions, $500,000, $250,000 contributions from people outside the state of wisconsin to fund his campaign

because it really says that what he's trying to do is he's become a rock star for the far right in this country. he goes to california. he goes to illinois. he goes to new york. he goes to florida. you name it, he's going there. and he gets these great crowds and he is ecstatic because he can talk about how he's gone after workers' rights. here in wisconsin, we've lost jobs. from my standpoint, he's taken his eye off the prize. >> the anger over the bargaining fight has fueled this focal point. the unemployment rate at its lowest rate since 2008 since governor walker took office, annual 5,900 private sector jobs in the state have been created. let's talk about the general in november. who's going to get the blame or the credit for the economic picture there? >> what's so interesting is if you look at a graph of last

year, nationally we gained jobs every month. on the national level, every month this nation gained jobs. at the same time, wisconsin, the slope of the line was going in the opposite direction. if wisconsin had simply matched what the national performance would have been, we'd have an additional 64,000 jobs in this state. we're one of those rare states where one line -- the national line is growing in a positive direction. the state line is growing in a negative direction. and as people realize that, again, they're saying, there's something fundamentally wrong here with the way this governor is leading the state. >> we'll continue to watch and see how things play out today. thank you for your time, sir. >> thank you very much. the prosecution might be wrapping up their case against john edwards this week. new details of a super early morning. super secret flight out of town for his mistress, rielle hunter. plus, mark zuckerberg could make a whopping $25 billion when his social network site goes public next week. we'll look at some of his

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facebook valued at about $96 billion. that's good enough for its ipo to claim the title of all-time largest for a u.s. company. last week, the company said it would sell more than 337 million shares valued between $28 and $35 each. founder and ceo mark zuckerberg could net more than $18 billion once he sells his more than 533 shares. i'm joined now by dan ackerman. dan, good to have you here. this is obviously something that has a lot of people's attention. let's talk about this. one of the greatest risks for any company, post-ipo, is the fact that it now becomes more politically presented, so to speak, in the public arena.

privacy regulations become a challenge. how do you think that's going to be handled for facebook and the people that want to invest in it? >> facebook has already spent a lot of money on lobbying and they're going to continue to do so because they know the privacy thing is not going away. once you're a public company, you have all these shareholders who have bought in who then feel like they have a say. >> how do you think this is going to work with the leadership style that we've seen from zuckerberg so far? >> what he's done is very smart. he's retained enough of his ownership stake, especially in terms of the voting rights, to really still control the company. even if you're going to buy facebook stock when it finally goes public, nobody can buy enough in order to really influence that. he may temper it somewhat. >> let's highlight this guy, the best story to come out of this is probably the ipo story of david cho, the graffiti artist, who pocketed almost 4 million shares of facebook, his payment for the murals he painted in the

palo alto offices. he was a homeless guy not too long ago. >> he was a fairly successful artist by the time he did this. he said k i'm going to take shares in this company. i don't know anything about this company back in 2004, 2005. but some people have sold some of their shares on a private market. if he held on to them, he's a pretty smart guy. >> going to be a rich guy. dan, thanks so much. a big vote is happening right now in north carolina, getting a lot of attention across the country, an amendment that would ban marriage equality. we'll hear from both sides of that debate straight ahead. over a third of the country is considered obese. that number is expected to balloon just like our waistlines over the next two decades. but there is something we can do about it. nk tylenol is the pain reliever orthopedic doctors recommend most for arthritis pain, think again. and take aleve. it's the one doctors recommend most for arthritis pain.

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but that label can lead to prejudice and discrimination, and we don't want to go there. so let's try to see people for who they really are.

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the problem is i sometimes say all that i mean. [ laughter ] >> so that was vice president joe biden referring to some of his well-known gaffes. most recently his comments on marriage equality is stirring the political debate. if an amendment passes today in north carolina, it could deal a huge blow to the national fight for marriage equality. north carolina is the only state in the south without a constitutional ban on that issue, even though it's already outlawed by statute. jeremy kennedy is campaign manager for the coalition to protect all north carolina families and dr. mark harris is the senior pastor of first baptist church and a member of the executive committee of "vote for marriage n.c." jeremy, i want to start with you. as we've been researching this, we're learning that both of the organizations have thrown a lot of money at this issue. the coalition to protect n.c. families has spent $457,000 compared to $230,000 on tv ads

by vote for marriage nc. despite all that, there is talk that same-sex marriage advocates have given up this fight. what is your prediction for what's going to happen today after the vote? >> well, i honestly think that anything could happen today after the vote. what we've been saying all along is this electorate is anything but likely. a lot of the public polling we've seen on this issue is only of likely primary voters. what we saw come out of the early vote period is that over 500,000 voters in north carolina have already cast a ballot. that means that the turnout for this election is going to be almost double, which is historic for an election in north carolina. and we think that within those voter that is we tend to have an edge here. i think that tonight after the polls close that we still have an opportunity for what many would consider a great upset. >> dr. harris, your organization is against marriage equality, also is against civil unions. is there anything that you would say is fair for lgbt protections

in way of laws for the state of north carolina that you do support? >> well, i think that we recognize in our state that whether you're lgbt or whether you're straight, right now, everyone enjoys the freedoms and the rights here in our state and they're free to involve themselves in private ceremonies, free to do anything they want to do. this amendment is really more about that. it's more about marriage and what marriage is, the covenant of marriage itself. and so that's what we're standing on today. >> doctor, without religious references, what is your argument? >> well, i would first of all say i'm not sure you can say it without religious arguments because i think -- or references because i think first of all everyone agrees that when you look at marriage, marriage itself is a spiritual principle. god himself defined marriage. he tells us that in the bible in genesis 2:24.

but there's another reason we stand for it and the very sensible reason that we need this constitution amendment is because far too often we've seen activist judges and other states in our country, we've also seen legislatures that all of a sudden the pendulum had swung and very quickly by vote of those legislatures or by the stroke of a pen of an activist judge, we have seen some states have same-sex marriage become the law. and we believe it's critical to have a constitutional amendment in order to solidify that marriage will be between a man and a woman in the state of north carolina. >> as you talk about the fact that there really is no reason to talk about this without religious referencing, in the bible, though, jesus says nothing about homosexuality, dr. harris. there are thoughts about what is said and as you talk about the bible. in matthew, judge not lest you be judged. and in mark, love your neighbor as yourself. do you think it's fair for religious leaders to cherry-pick certain things from the bible to

hold up, like they would in the argument against marriage equality but yet there is nothing being done to put a constitutional amendment in north carolina's constitution about adultery or divorce? >> well, let me first of all say that it is a misstatement to say that jesus never addressed the issue of marriage and actually homosexuality. in the same gospel of matthew that you just referenced in the 19th chapter, jesus was asked a question. in reference to that question, he went back to general chapter 2 and said, have you not read that the one who cated created them male and female? and he also quoted the genesis reference, jesus did wrshgs he said a man would leave his father and mother and a woman would leave her home and the two shall become one flesh. we believe that's what marriage is. and, in fact, jesus did speak to that. >> also in the bible, it talks about stoning for adultery. it talks about death to children who curse against their parents. again, i get back to the argument about cherry-picking

from the bible. there is certain evolution that's involved in the way the bible has been interpreted and we certainly don't do everything the bible says, even down to mixed fibers or being with an unclean woman. how do you say the state of north carolina needs this type of marriage protection instituted into its constitution when the state already prohibits this type of marriage equality in the first place? >> well, you make a great point, this issue is bigger than just the theological because there are very practical governmental issues here. we do have a statute that was put in place in 1996. but as i mentioned earlier, we've seen activist judges who have cost statutes aside very swiftly. we've also seen where those decisions were made either by those judges or by the legislatures. the constitutional amendment keeps this issue in the hands of the people. that, to me, is the most important aspect of this whole thing. the citizens of north carolina are going to the polls today

because they're getting an opportunity to vote on a simple statement that says that marriage between a man and a woman will be the only recognized domestic union in this state. it's really that simple. and we're having an opportunity today to let the people decide democracy at its best. >> jeremy f amendment one does go ahead and pass, what do you think that type of message sends to the rest of the country about the potential for marriage equality in other states? >> well, what we've been saying all along, thomas, is that this campaign is actually not about marriage. and although our opposition has made it about marriage, if this amendment passes or fails tonight, marriage in north carolina does not change. as we've already talked about, same-sex marriage is already prohibited by statute in the state of north carolina. and that doesn't change tonight. but what does change is that the localities in north carolina that already offer domestic partnership benefits to its public employees will be hindered from doing so. and beyond that, we know this

could put domestic violence laws in jeopardy of being overturned by lower courts. we've seen it happen in other states. to say this amendment is just about marriage is false information. >> we're going to continue to watch and see how things play out today in north carolina. dr. mark harris, jeremy kennedy, thank you so much. appreciate your time. a woman who put words in john edwards' mouth taking the stand in his criminal trial today. wendy butt season expected to tell how the former presidential candidate asked her to draft a public statement admitting to his affair. all this a day after testimony from a key prosecution witness seemed to backfire. joining us is e lon university school of law professor steven freedland. attorney alex forger is the lawyer for bunny mellon. he stephed forcefully all the cash payments she gave john edwards, this money used to cover up the affair with hunter, they were gifts.

how did that go over with the government and how do you think it affects the case moving forward? >> forger was a very good witness for the government. he showed that there were a lot of secrets and the secret about the money trail was even secret from him, the lawyer for bunny mellon. where this money went is still being discussed today with tim toben on the stand. it's showing that the money was diverted at least for andrew young and andrew young didn't disclose this to his friend. but alex forger was a key witness for the prosecution. >> a lot of people wonder why is the reason bunny mellon would give so much of her fortune towards john edwards' -- and people getting the impression in court that she was doing this just because she likes him? >> this case is all about why people did things. it's motivation. bunny mellon was a rescuer. was she rescuer john edwards the

person or was she rescuing john edwards the presidential candidate? remember, she helped the kennedys. the question was, was she also helping the new kennedy, john edwards? >> professor, great to see you this morning. thank you. a live look from capitol hill. the senate expected to vote on a bill to extend a lower interest rate for student loans. we're going to hear from ohio senator sherrod brown who's leading this fight. and the battle between senator john mccain and former nba star charles barkley. [ male announcer ] this... is the at&t network.

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cut 100,000 jobs. they're gonna be putting people out of work everywhere. the american people depend on the postal service. minutes from now, the senate scheduled to hold this key procedural vote on a democratic proposal to keep student loan interest rates down, those rates set to double in july. democrats and republicans are sparring over how to pay for the $6 billion proposal that would extend those lower rates for 7.4

million students. the education department estimates those students will borrow more than $31 billion in subsidized stafford loans beginning july 1st. that arches more than $42,000 per student. the loans generally are paid off over a decade or more of graduation. but lowing the rates to double would cost the student about $1,000 over the life of that loan. i'm joined now by sherrod brown. sir, great to have you here with us this morning. why is this bill so important to you? what are you hearing from your constituents? what are you worried about for the future of students in this country? >> well, in the last month or so i've been at cuyahoga county community college and ohio state and the university of cincinnati and wright state talking with students about what doubling the interest rate would mean to them. it's a lot of money. the average ohio four-year

college graduate has $27,000 debt burden when they graduate. i don't want to add to that. it means those young men and women are less likely to buy a house, to start a family, to start a business, to do the things that we want young people to do to contribute to the society. and doubling the interest rate for them when the burden is already so heavy makes no sense in a moral way and no sense in a practical way. >> that was democratic senator from ohio sherrod brown with me earlier today. we'll bring you the results of that vote right here on msnbc. mitt romney criticized by the white house after not quickly responding to a comment about the president. time now for the poli sidebar. a woman pose this had question -- >> we have a president operating outside the structure of our constitution. i want to know. i do agree he should be tried for treason. but i want to know what you are going to be able to do to help restore balance between the

three branches of government and what you're going to be able to do to restore our constitution in this country? >> if i'm fortunate enough to become president, i will respect the three different branches of government. senator john mccain faced a similar situation in 2008. this is how mccain responded. >> i can't trust obama. i have read about him. he's not -- he's an arab. he is not -- >> no, ma'am. no, ma'am. he's a decent family man citizen that i just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. that's what this campaign is all about. he's not. thank you. >> that was '08. now to today. there's a potential face-off between senator mccain and charles barkley over the presumptive gop nominee mitt romney. barkley said the other night

that romney's, quote, going down in november. mccain who supports romney responded on twitter -- dear charles barkley, don't take it personally, you seem like a nice guy but you're clueless. barkley made the comments during a sunday night playoff game between the boston celtics and the atlanta hawks. romney was at that game. no word if barkley accepted the bet. another victory for newly sworn-in president vladimir putin. he took part in a nationally televised hockey game. his team won. in the audience, silvio berlusconi. [ dennis ] switch to allstate. their claim service is so good, now it's guaranteed. [ foreman ] so i can trust 'em. unlike randy. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate.

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welcome back, everybody. buffalo police have released this new surveillance video of a hit-and-run accident that left a teen injured last week. just look at this. a city surveillance camera was

rolling as the driver slammed into a crowd of people and continued driving. the 19-year-old driver was arrested within five minutes, charged with assault, reckless driving, and fleeing from a police officer. the victim was taken to the hospital with multiple injuries, but as since been released. this alarming new report out now warning that 42% of americans may end up obese by the year 2030. 11% could be severely obese. study lead researcher says that the nation's expanding waistline will likely get much worse without a major public health intervention. >> it makes sense to focus on children to prevent obesity in the first place, but we also need to reach out to adults. >> i'm joined now by joy bauer. she's also the author of the joy fit club. great to have you here. this is scary stuff when we think about what's coming down the line. for parents that would read this report and worried about what they're doing to prevent their children from falling into this category as they grow into

adulthood, what's the advice? >> first, i think that worrying is good. it ignites some action. i think there are a lot of things you can do in the house. first, you want to feed your kids wholesome, home cooked meals the majority of the time. you want to go out of your way to make sure there's at least one produce item in each and every meal. maybe it's a bowl of cereal in the morning with fresh berries. maybe you layer lettuce and tomato on whole grain bread for lunch. for dinner, start with a vegetable and have another side vegetable. get rid of the liquid calories in the house. the soda, the fruit juice. kids guzzle thousands and thousands of calories that don't fill them up. >> there's been kick back. the first lady has the get moving healthy agenda, talking about what kids eat in school, and the choices they have in front of them for their options. it's really not all that great. so it really does come from the parents teaching their kids these healthy habits early on that they can then initiate on

their own later in life, but why do you think there's such, gi else, leading a horse to water? you know, this stubborn approach to people realizing this is a problem for americans that we need to take more seriously. >> i think we're definitely realizing it. there's so much in the media right now. it's not only about the parents. i think we need to institute more education in the school systems as a very, very young age. then the government needs to come up with some strategy to make sure that the low-income communities have access to all of these great healthy foods that we're preaching about. the fruits, the vegetables, lentils, beans, lean meats. >> it's not about e limb nagt the stuff we think is the good stuff. the ice cream, treats, candy. >> it's all how you position it. i always teach kids 10/90. if you go out of your way to eat smart foods 90% of the time, there is 10% room for fun foods like the ice cream and cookies and other fun things like chocolate. even french fries.

but 90/10. 90% of your foods needs to be smart. >> okay. joy bauer, thank you so much. thank you for your time. that's going to wrap things up for me. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern every weekday morning. until then, you can follow me on twitter. don't go anywhere. "now" with alex wagner is coming up. >> thomgs thomas, i like you that you made a special concession for ice cream. >> i told joy i have almonds at my desk waiting. >> almonds, ice cream. >> it all balances out. >> it does. it all works out. rick santorum endorsing mitt romney in the dead of night. former santorum communications director will discuss with us. also, will senator dick luger's 36-year career fall victim to the tea party? and mitt romney on treason and president obama on gay marriage.

we'll tackle the issue of leadership when "now" starts in three minutes. 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.

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and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? if rick santorum endorses you in the middle of the night and no one pays attention, does it count? only mitt romney can really know. it's tuesday, may 8. this is "now." joining me today, msnbc political analyst richard wolf, katherine crier, journalist and author, katrina is editor and publish of the nation, and msnbc contributor steve of salon.com. it is the 21st century definition of maiming it in. 11 months after launching his presidential bid and 27 days after ending his campan,