hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. topping the agenda today, apparently some same-sex couples in north carolina didn't get that big, fat, whopping memo that voters sent them last night when they overwhelmingly approved defining marriage as being only between a man and a woman. the vote putting president obama and the democrats between a rock and a hard place as lgbt activists demand the president speak out now. >> this is about civil rights, it's about taking away rights. they've messed around in our bedrooms and our classrooms. the people of north carolina, i hope, are sick up. >> he should man up and say, this is what i believe. >> this is a chance for him to step forward at a point where it could make a difference. >> this is the question, who do you love? >> starting today, same-sex couples will be lining up to ask for marriage licenses in counties across north carolina. in fact, two demonstrators have

already been arrested in asheville after they showed up demanding the right to wed. protesters hoping to spread the campaign to eight counties by the week's end. if you look at the breakdown from the vote, it's telling where the battle lines are drawn. urban cities with younger population like charlotte and greensboro voted to defeat the amendment while more rural areas with older voters overwhelmingly supported the measure. and we were all watching for how the african-american vote would break down. well, those voters who overwhelmingly supported president obama in 2008 also voted overwhelmingly to support a ban on gay marriage. so where does this put the president who really needs a state like north carolina in his win column come november? joining me now is evan wolfson, executive director of freedom to marry. good to have you this morning. in passing this amendment, a lot of people in north carolina have come out and said their peace on this. have they kicked a hornets'

nest, these people are going to be out in force bringing attention to what they feel is an unequal system? >> the passage of this amendment was the last gas of discrimination in a state where there hasn't been enough conversation about who gay families are and why marriage matters. this amendment has propel that had discussion. and we're going to see more of that and what we're going to see in north carolina as in the country overall is a bump in support for the freedom to marry as more people have a chance to think it through and not be stampeded in a political attack but to actually talk neighbor to neighbor. >> as we look at this on a state level, we pull back and talk about it on a national level. president obama's campaign release add statement saying he was disappointed with the passage of amendment one. and forcing president obama to take a stand on this, do you think this is for lgbt advocates of same marriage equality -- that want to see marriage equality go forth, do you think the americans are asking the

president to cut off his nose to spite his face? >> not at all. this president has taken many steps in the direction of defending rights of gay people and in the direction of freedom to marry. it's time for him to complete the journey so many americans have taken, most recently, vice president biden, in thinking about values of fairness and equality under the law and loving and committed couples and being authentic about what he believes. >> the president's campaign would fight back or the administration would tell you they've done more for the lgbt community than any other campaign or any other white house in history with the corepl of "don't ask, don't tell." >> the fact that the president's taken so many important steps underscores he'll never be anti-gay enough to appease that small slice of voters who are going to cast their vote based

on opposition. but until he's fully forthright in support of the freedom to marry, he is not really totally mobilizing and energizing not just gay people but the overwhelming number of young people, of independent voters, of democrats, people he needs to win. >> evan, nice to see you this morning. also in a few minutes, stick around, because we're going to talk about if the dnc should move the democratic convention from charlotte because of this or now does it make it the perfect place for president obama to unveil whether he is for or against marriage equality? our political power panel is going to weigh in on that coming up. this just in to us right here, nbc's pete williams talking about a formal investigation now under way to find out who leaked details of a successful covert operation against al qaeda. it's the story everybody's talking about. the cia pulling off a mission impossible and getting a spider agent to infiltrate al qaeda's web. we're also learning even more

details about how that mission foiled al qaeda's plan to blow up a u.s. airliner with a new and improved underwear bomb. joining me from minneapolis is former cia officer and criminal defense attorney jack rice. jack, great to see you here with us this morning. as i'm sure you know, that old cia company mottos, our failures are known, our successes are not. this clearly was a success for the cia. but it's not going over well because, first of all, how did they get this done? and what other details are now bubbling up to the surface that they'd rather keep private? >> well, i agree with you. lots of questions. first of all, it is an amazing success based upon what it is that we have. this was the ability to actually cooperate and work very closely with other intelligence organizations around the world, which the agency sometimes has not done particularly well. the ability to place an asset that close to an al qaeda operation is almost something we've never been able to do. so under those circumstances, it's extraordinary. now, on the other side of this,

the fact that all of those things are coming out is very public. this has blown that asset completely and everything up the chain from that asset. that means, whatever we were able to get, we're done. unfortunately, it's good on the front end, not so good on the back end. >> you make a great point. as this is exposed to the open air, people are giving their reactions. here's what nbc national security analyst michael leiter had to say about it. >> i understand the desire to know exactly how these operations develop. but the fact is they now know the partnership we have with the saudis, they're going to look for future operatives and question them more stringently. it's going to make it difficult for us to get people on the inside and foil the next plot. >> this is all about intelligence one-upmanships, it seems.

>> in this case, it cuts a couple of ways again. i think what the agency can do on their end, what the intelligence community can do is realize the effectiveness of actually working very, very closely with other intrejs. i'm talking about not just the saudis, but the pakistani isi. but the limitation is they have their own interests and their interests aren't necessarily ours. it's difficult to determine who the good guys are and who the bad guys are and sometimes it's all very gray, the nature of this business. on other side of the coin, you realize that al qaeda and al qaeda on the arabian peninsula, in this case, is going to be even more careful in terms of what they're doing. they realize they will change their operations. there are a lot of very, very smart people and they will take additional steps to thwart anything we do.

that's going to be the fight from this day onward. >> the one step ahead is all we need for right now. jack rice, thank you, sir. really appreciate it. in the wake of that foiled plot, alarm bells out west. investigators are giving the all-clear after a pair of overnight bomb scares. the two southwest flights were isolated and inspected following a threatening phone call. fortunately investigators say no explosives were found. right now, heavily armed fbi agents from mississippi and tennessee are resuming a search for the man suspected of killing a tennessee woman and her daughter. authorities have been tight-lipped about the search for adam mayes. mayes is suspected of killing jo ann bain and her 14-year-old daughter adrienne. they believe 12-year-old alexandria and 8-year-old kyliyah are still with mayes and they've taken the extraordinary step of arresting mayes' mother and ex-wife on kidnapping and

conspiracy charges. i'm joined now by clint van zant. as we get the information about this and it really is eye-opening to see how it's all unfolding. authorities appear to be pulling out all the stops on this one, especially when we talk about the fact that they've gone ahead to arrest the mother and the ex-wife in this. what do you think that their potential connection could be in the aliangleged kidnapping? >> it appears the ex-wife was a co-conspirator. i use that in hedge terms, thomas. she cooperated but she may have done it under duress. she is suspected of having driven the victims from one state to another in this kidnapping. and the subject's mother supposedly knew about it. knew that two of the victims' bodies were going to be buried in her back yard and didn't pick up the phone and dial 911. so this web is all coming together. the big issue right now is, we know we have two people dead.

but we have two young girls. we're going to presume they're alive and we hope this guy has the good sense to stop this activity right now. he may have a special relationship with one or both of these young girl. let's bring them home, save these two children. he has the chance to do this. >> clint, let's talk about that web of connectivity in all of this. as it's been revealed, mayes was a family friend of the bain family. do the investigators have any indication that this relationship with the family went south in some way and how that was strained? >> well, part of it, thomas, was that the relationship was really going west. when i say that, i mean that the adult woman and her three children and her then-current husband were all moving from tennessee and moving out west. i think what happened is the subject in this case had some special relationship with the family, perhaps with the wife, with one or more of the children. he saw the family moving west.

he knew he was going to lose that contact. and somehow he panicked. this is the worst form of panicking. but he panicked. he grabbed these four women, carried them away. we know two of them have been found dead. but these two that we hope and pray are still remaining, it appears if there is a special relationship between him and one or both of those girls, they may still be alive. >> nbc analyst, former fbi profiler, clint van zant, thank y you. why is mitt romney now taking credit for the auto industry. and two allegations against john travolta from two male masseurs? esting dashboard shows you where your money is, live. e-trade pro is so usable you'll actually use it. and our apps are the ultimate in mobile investing. become a better investor at e-trade.

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welcome back. developing right now in charlotte, north carolina, dozens of occupy wall street protesters and struggling homeowners protesting a bank of america shareholders meeting. thousands of protesters are expected for a full day of marches. participants say they're targeting the bank for consumer abuses. at least five people have been arrested so far. we'll keep an eye on that in charlotte. new demands this morning that democrats move their national convention now less than four months away out of charlotte, north carolina. this after the passage of amendment one, change.org post this had online position, urging president obama and democrats to boycott north carolina over the issue of same-sex marriage and amendment one. the petition already has well over 14,000 signatures. joining me for today's political power panel are doug thornell, susan derl percio and richard

wolf. doug, i want to start with you, talking about what's taking place on twitter, some of the tweets we found. one person has written, the dnc in charlotte is going to be rather awkward on several counts. another has recommended the dnc be moved to west virginia. a third suggested the conventiongoers should boycott business that is don't fly a rainbow flag. should the democrats consider moving the convention out of north carolina or is this the perfect place to hold the democratic national convention now? >> i think it's the perfect place. and i think what happened yesterday opens up a discussion that we should have about the differences between the two candidates on this issue. mitt romney once said that he wanted to be to the left of ted kennedy on gay rights issues. now he's taken positions that put him to the right of pat robson. the president's taken historic steps ending "don't ask, don't tell," opposing doma, supporting

the employment nondiscrimination act. he has a very good record on this. i think that really contrasts with mitt romney who's regressed. having this discussion is a good thing. and i think charlotte's a great city. i imagine that we're going to keep the convention there. and we should. i think it's a great place to host it. >> richard, forgive me, i said washington -- >> right, right. >> let's talk about debby wasserman-schultz releasing a statement -- she says, the passage of amendment one in north carolina is very disappointing and unfairly singles out gay and lesbians and is discriminatory. >> what's more important for the president right now is to actually put out his stance on gay marriage. does he support it or not? he can't play these games back and forth.

his record is there, but as he's evolving, he really needs to take a position especially for the convention. >> richard, do you agree? do you think this is going to be, if you cut off your nose to spite your face, you risk potentially a second term? >> this comes down to what he believes in. that would be the right position for a politician to take. but he's also thinking about turnout and the regional varications and the different interest groups at play here. north carolina is very much mixed, it's changing. that's why they want to have the convention there. and attitudes are changing in north carolina as they are everywhere else. but you have strong groups who will turn out against these kinds of measures. you have strong groups who will turn out for, if the circumstances are right. and the balance between the two, as we saw with this vote, doesn't always match the national polling. the national polling is moving in one direction. but you can get one cycle, one state where it moves badly against you. >> while this is percolating over here on the left, on the right, mitt romney having his own set of problems. rick santorum last night on jay

leno, his first appearance since endorsing mitt romney via e-mail and he couldn't help but rip into the so-called romneycare of massachusetts. >> with romneycare, he was the author of that. and that was clearly a predecessor to obamacare that -- it's going to be harder for him to make that case. certainly i would have been a better person to make the case. but governor romney has said he'll work with the republican congress to repeal it. >> does the romney camp look at this and say, the guy with the sweater vest, we don't need out there talking about us. we don't need this? >> no one's got over it. but you can understand why santorum would feel this way. he got beaten up really badly and for endorsing romney by romney. he used that against him. it's incumbent on romney and his camp to heal this wound, to give santorum something where he can come into the tent instead of being on the outside doing what he's doing right now. >> also mitt romney taking a lot of heat for telling a local ohio

reporter that he deserved credit for the auto bailout. look at this. >> my own view was that the auto companies needed to go through bankruptcy before government help. frankly, that's finally what the president did. he took them through bankruptcy. i argued for it from the very beginning. it was the uaw and the president that delayed the idea of bankruptcy. i pushed the idea of a managed bankruptcy and finally when that was done and help was given, the companies got back on their feet. i'll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry's come back. >> the president of the uaw responded saying, mitt romney has made a long list of absurd statements but this one might be at the top of that list, the statement is tone deaf and blind to reality. susan, i want to talk to you about this. if you say it while you're smiling, does it make it true? is mitt romney getting a little off message here. >> i think he did. it's one thing if he wants to say this was his position. but taking credit was a stretch. >> a lot of credit. >> a lot of credit, he believes

he should have. he shouldn't be worried about stretching it out, i think he shows that he wasn't very good on his feet at the moment. >> romney has been dropping bill clinton's name a little bit more and more. we're going to see if a trend pops out of this. >> president clinton, remember, he said the era of big government was over. president obama brought it back with a vengeance. president clinton made efforts to reform welfare as we know it. but president obama's trying to tirelessly expand the welfare state with more promises and more programs, more benefits, more spending. >> so this might be some newfound clinton love there from mitt romney. can he effectively use this to his benefit moving forward? >> absolutely not, this is just ridiculous on the part of mitt romney. the fact is that he doesn't support the policies that bill clinton implemented. he supports the policies that george bush implemented.

and george bush had the worst job creation record of any president. that's based off -- "the wall street journal" said that. he can try to get points with independents. but the fact is, the policies are the issue at stake. and the policies he could be -- he is so different from bill clinton, it shouldn't even be a question. >> doug, susan and richard, thanks to all three of you. great to have you here. so dick lugar's 36-year career in the senate is over. what did him in? not necessarily the tea party. we'll take a look at this. plus, without a trace, a russian passenger jet vanishes into thin air. did it crash? was it hijacked? details ahead. ♪ i'm michael bazinet, president of creative digital imaging of bangor, maine. we have customers all over the united states. we rely on the postal service for everything that we do. the eastern maine processing facility is vital to our operation and our success.

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civilian plane that disappeared from radar last night was either hijacked or crashed into a mountain? these are pictures of that missing aircraft. it was on a demo flight for journalists and potential buyers. the plane was carrying in all 46 people. we're just learning that the first arab american to be crowned miss usa was sentenced to six months probation and 20 hours of community service in her drunken driving case. the 26-year-old former beauty queen faces $600 in fines and costs and must attend an alcohol safety class. authorities say that disassembled handgun found inside several stuffed animals at a rhode island airport was never really a threat. officials say the weapon was found in a carry-on bag belonging to a 4-year-old boy traveling with his father. investigators believe the parts were placed inside the toy as part of a custody battle. take a look at this one. you remember the new jersey mom accused of taking her young daughter tanning? now she's got her own action

figure. hero builders has create what had they call the tannerexic doll based on on patricia krentcil. krentcil's pled not guilty to the charges of child endangerment. the family is now being monitored by the state. why barack obama and his presidential campaign were reportedly warned about john edwards' affair and his baby daughter with rielle hunter. plus, salacious allegations against actor john travolta. what he's saying about the sexual assault lawsuits that have now been leveled against him. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm.

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"the daily rundown." >> it was resounding, much more so than we even expected on our team. i think the biggest thing was that for a long, long time, senator lugar had been out of touch with this state. >> joining me now is dominoco. senator lugar said of mourdock, he's pledged his support to groups whose prime mission is to cleanse the republican party. >> it's been this way, it's been a shift over the last four years. if you go back and look at the list of republican and democratic senators who were there in 2008, it is a lengthy list of moderates or at least people who could sometimes cross the aisle. and those people are gone.

and it's upwards of about 14 or 15 of those kinds of folks. and we've seen it on both sides. you saw the tea party come in in 2010 and it's been a big push for ideological purity. >> mourdock spoke of the ramifications of that victory that he got last night. take a listen. >> who's your republicans want to see, the republicans inside the united states senate taking more conservative track and we're looking forward -- [ applause ] >> what does this mean for bipartisanship going forward? obviously a conservative is going to replace a conservative. but what does it mean for the fact that he might not be open to looking to cross the aisle? >> might not be open is generous. he's not open at all to it. it's really funny because if you listened also to "the daily rundown" this morning, he also said, bipartisanship ought to consist of democrats coming to the republican point of view. that's hardly compromise. and it's certainly not the position that lugar took.

it was almost a jerry mcgwi mcgwire-like manifesto. you can't blame it all on the tea party. lugar may have seen it coming but he didn't want to adjust to any of the changes that would be necessary to take lhis opponent out early. >> thank you very much. so we just learned in the last hour that john edwards' former mistress, rielle hunter, is not going to be taking the stand today. the big question now, will the prosecution call her before they wrap up their case by the end of the week or might she show up as a defense witness? stephen friedland joins us from greensboro. are you hearing more about whether rielle hunter will be taking the stand for the prosecution or the defense? has there been any forward

motion on deciding that? >> there's been no motion yet. but make no mistake, she'll take the stand. the prosecution will have to end strong. if they think she would not be a good ending, she'll get called by the defense. but the prosecution does not want to appear like it's covering up anything for the jury. so they may call her. she's the glue of their case. >> let's go over the other witnesses. edwards' former speechwriter, wendy button, retakes the stand today. let's tell everybody what was drafted by button. it was this never-released statement about edwards' affair with rielle hunter. also referred to the daughter that they had, quinn, the daughter they had together, as a product of that affair. in this statement, edwards says, i made a mistake, she is not -- she being their daughter, quinn, out of all of this. how damaging has button's damage been? >> she's a mixed bag. she actually helps the prosecution because she has an admission from john edwards to

her that he knew about the money from fred baron. on the other hand, she helps the defense saying that john edwards told her he only recently found out about the other source of money, bunny mellon's money. but she does add something really important for the defense, that john edwards did not want to disclose because he did not want his wife, elizabeth, suffering the public humiliation of a public statement. >> let's talk about elizabeth because edwards' former press secretary, jennifer palmieri, a current white house staffer, she also takes the stand today. she was present when elizabeth edwards confronted one of edwards' wealthy backers, fred baron, about he and his wife's support of rielle hunter. john edwards was reportedly present as well. explain why palmieri is so important? >> there are lots of underlying stories here. and elizabeth edwards is an important story. it was really not just about her but the john edwards act because of her and actually tried to

protect her after causing the initial pain. jennifer palmieri can add a lot of this information later today. and the prosecution is hoping to show that she and john edwards were acting for the campaign, trying to help his aspirations, if not for president, then vice president and attorney general. >> let's get to this because this is about the neighbor, tim tobin, he's a neighbor a buddy of edwards' aide, andrew young, testified that he warned the obama campaign in '08 about edwards' infidelities when edwards expressed interest in being on the ticket. why does that matter? >> it matters because the prosecution's theory is that edwards made this cover-up and took this money to help him in the campaign, if not for president, then to keep him in play for vice president or attorney general. that helps the prosecution. >> professor stephen friedland, thanks for keeping us up to date. so take a look at this, everybody. we go from a courtroom to what may end up in a courtroom.

pulp friction, that's how the two new york major tab papers have described these allegations. two masseurs claim they were victims of unwanted advances by john traefl ta. joining us now is courtney hayes. hitting it out of the park with a story like this for your first day back. tell us about the facts of the lawsuit, what they are alleging, how travolta's camp is firing back. >> because travolta's camp is saying this is absolutely ridiculous, the lawsuits allege that john travolta made unwanted advances that go into incredible detail. what's interesting here is that it's john doe number one and john doe number two putting these things forth. they're anonymous people saying

this happened to them. and john travolta's attorney, marty singer, one of the most powerful attorneys in all of hollywood, is saying it's ridiculous. he said john travolta wasn't even same state as john doe number one. he was filming in georgia. john doe number two says, oh, it happened in georgia, same attorney representing both people. so marty singer saying, let's look at this here. obviously you saw what my rebuttal was, that he wasn't there and you said, now i've got someone here in atlanta, georgia who recollects's going to say the same thing. >> what they're looking for is cash? >> absolutely. >> they have lawsuits claiming they want millions of dollars? >> let's face it, if john travolta wasn't who he was and let's say this happened or there's a shred of truth to it, if there was anything else, probably wouldn't be a lawsuit. but you're talking about a guy who's got millions of dollars. this is not the first time we've

heard these sorts of things about him. people question, how many times can you face this allegation or lawsuit? my answer is so many times if you keep making money. in the business of hollywood f you're a guy like john travolta and people love you, that's all anyone cares about. >> 20 years married to kelly preston. they have children together, we know. there's been gossip, ugly gossip about john travolta for years. how does this elevate that type of gossip to put a little more heat on his behavior and people trying to prove something? >> here's the thing. you bring up a great point. he seems to be happily married to kelly preston. you ate seeing this type of things. you hate to think of his kids seeing this sort of thing someday. and you want the facts to come out as they are facts. you don't want these sorts of allegations, doesn't matter if you're famous or not. if it's not true, no one deserves to have this happen to them. but we shall see.

john travolta has a lot of money to make things go away. a lot of people are talking about that. i'm not saying anything anyone doesn't know. if this goes away, people are going to say, is that the only reason why. >> and he has marty singer, powerhouse attorney. courtney, great to have you back. >> thank you, thomas. drowning in debt a growing number of americans who owe way more than they actually own. plus, president obama has a sizable lead over mitt romney with hispanic voters. but the republican party may have made things even worse for him. [ male announcer ] they were born to climb... born to leap, born to stalk, and born to pounce. to understand why, we journeyed to africa, where their wild ancestor was born. there we discovered that cats, no matter where they are... are born to be cats. and shouldn't your cat be who he was born to be?

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the rnc is playing defense today. romney's trouble garnering support from hispanic voters was underscored when a top gop hispanic outreach official said the former governor is, quote, still deciding his position on immigration.

meantime, a new poll has president obama leading romney among hispanic voters by a 68-point margin, beating the presumptive republican nominee 80% to 12%. i'm joined now by victoria de francisco de soto. how can romney stand to beat the president when he's so far behind on hispanic support? talk about the strategy moving forward belong that crucial bloating bloc. >> we have seen how far behind he's fallen. but romney has to do three key things. he has to hold the line with cuban republicans in florida. they love him, they support him. keep that support. that's going to get florida in his column in november. he has to throw in the towel with latino democrats in other places. he's not george w. bush. he's not going to get latino democrats or independents to cross over. and finally, he's got to court that small latino republican vote of mexican americans.

they don't like his stance on immigration. but they believe his stance on government. so he's got this three-pronged strategy and that is the only way he's going to eke any numbers out of these key latino swing states. >> victoria, the rnc official who said that romney was undecided now says she misspoke on that point and his position is clear. his campaign website says he opposes amnesty and wants to build a high-level fence. has romney really defined this clear stance on where he is on immigration? >> he's been very much an enforcement-only advocate of immigration. so self-deportation, building up more fences -- he did say he would veto the dream act if he were to have it come across his desk. and he's tried to inch back from that saying, i'd maybe consider a dream act that a marco rubio would propose. he is a hardliner when it comes

to immigration. but true to his flip-flopper nature, he's probably going to soften more. >> between now and election day, 50,000 latino americans are reportedly due to turn 18 and some project that 12.2 million latino voters will be turning out in the fall, in november, a 26% jump from what we saw in '08. with a record number of deportations u under the president's watch, no comprehensive immigration reform, are hispanic voters feeling buyers remorse on that front? >> they have forgiven but they've not forgotten. the president has put up promises he will deal with it in his second term. what's really going on here is it's a mobilization game. latinos know they cannot fit in with romney so they're going to go with president obama. but president obama needs to translate that support, that 70-plus support we were just talking about in going to the polls. and second he has to steer away from immigration.

he failed on that promise so he has to focus on more tangible outcomes. so improvements in education for latinos. improvements in employment and some growth factors that latinos can actually see. we're also going to see a very aggressive airwave campaign. in 2008, obama and the dnc spent over $20 million courting the latino vote. we're going to see more of the same. >> victoria, great to see you this morning. thank you. it's a take no prisoners kind of primary in virginia. president obama won last night's democratic primary. but he had tough competition. that guy, keith judd, a.k.a. this inmate in texas. he won about 40% of the vote. the president got 60%. judd is serving a 17 1/2-year sentence for extortion. if michele bachmann runs for

president again, know one will be able to criticize her if she has money in a swiss bank account. she's now a citizen there. she was eligible because of her husband and his parents' nationality. rick santorum is back to wearing his famous sweater vests now that he's off the campaign trail. apparently he thinks other people should start wearing them, too. >> i just wanted to present you with the uniform of the day, which is the rick santorum sweater vest made in minnesota. actors matt damon and ben affleck will host a fund-raiser for elizabeth warren in california. one of my colleagues made a late-night appearance -- mika

brzezinski. >> what's your father's first name? >> that was good. >> she got the spelling right. they had a lot of fun with mika today on "morning joe." always count on "morning joe" right here on msnbc. you are what you eat. that's particularly true as we get older. you can slow the aging process by adding certain foods to your diet. blueberries contain antioxidants which combat inflammation and help boost memory. greek yogurt is high in calcium to prevent osteoporosis. and the antioxidants in red wine

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all right, we're glad you're back with us. let's take you out live now to colorado, where mitt romney is campaigning in the key

battleground state today, talking about high gas prices, also talking about the economy, reminding people that president obama appeared in front of those greek columns four years ago. the candidate stood there as the democratic nominee. talking about the economy, that brings us on to our next subject, because there is troubling news this morning on the state of the cash-strapped american out there. a new study from the university of michigan's institute for social research shows one out of every five u.s. households is drowning in debt, owing more money on credit cards, medical bills and student loans than they have in savings or other liquor assets. this personal debt crisis also extends to home mortgages, with 1.7% of families saying they expect to fall behind in their payments. that's not good news. personal finance expert and president of wealth management carmen wong ulrich, is joining me now. as we look at this study, the proportion of families with no savings, no savings or other liquid assets at their disposal rose to 23.4% in 2011, up from

18.5% in '09. so how do we explain that spike, given the fact that unemployment in the country is slowly dropping? >> actually, because the relationship is inverse. if you think about the time when the savings rate was near zero, that was when we had an incredibly low unemployment rate. but the trick is when folks have jobs, when they feel the economy is getting better, they don't save anymore. they do a couple things. they spend and they put the money someplace else. we're at the lowest in two years in terms of personal savings, commerce department saying 3.7%, where we've been close to 5% the last few years. for americans, there's a lot of spent-up spending. so we've been spending more, and we've seen that in the numbers. but also, too, for example, we're putting money in other places. there's no impetus to save. saving rates are 0%, so more folks are putting money into their 401(k) plans. those balances are up 8%. also health savings accounts, up 61% from last year. so we're putting that money

either to work for us in our future or we're spending it. >> quickly, though, it's a catch-22, because this country wants to see consumer confidence bounce back. >> right. >> however, you don't want to do it to put the american family in peril. >> exactly. and that's the trouble we got back to back in 2007 and 2008. what we were doing was basically mortgaging our houses. we saw $7 trillion of home value disappear when the housing bubble burst, and we were way, way over our heads with debt and we have no cash. so we need to be careful to make sure we don't end up back that way just because we're frustrated that we're earning zero on our savings. >> hold habits die hard. >> the savings is worth it. >> thanks to all of you. i appreciate your time. that's going to wrap things up for me. see you tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern, every weekday morning you can follow me on twitt twitter @thomasroberts. now alex wagner is coming your way next. hi, alex. >> hey, thomas, happy mum hump day! richard mourdock's idea of bipartisanship, democrats coming around to republican viewpoints. will the man who defeated

six-term senator dick lugar do more damage to his party come november? michael steele will weigh in on "tea party 2.0." plus, president obama may have more than independents to win over. chris matthews joins the bull pen to discuss the road ahead. and the spy who loved us. more on the double agent who foiled the latest al qaeda terrorist plot. all of this when "now" starts in just three minutes. [ fe male announcer ] tide pods three-in-one detergent. pop in the drum of any machine... ♪ ...to wash any size load. it dissolves in any temperature, even cold. tide pods. pop in. stand out. and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers.

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♪ power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. on the heels of a resounding defeat in the hoosier state, senator dick lugar is excori affecting the "rigid opposition" of some people in the republican party. meanwhile, president obama was given a run for his money in north carolina by rask farran christian candidate keith judd, or as the state's correctional facilities know him, inmate number