wonderful pistachios. it is the rich getting much richer. i don't want to like that. that does it for us tonight. rachel will be back monday night. until then, check out my work at "the washington post" and follow me on twitter. "weekends with alex witt" is up next. a big development overnight with this rocket set to blast off into history. we'll tell you what happened. bracing for protests. thousands of cops on the beat this hour as nato demonstrators are expected to hit the streets. the age divide. new numbers that suggest a clear advantage for president obama with one group of voters. and that new study on coffee drinking. we'll ask nbc's doctor nancy snyderman, can it really make you live longer? good morning, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." we begin with the breaking news from florida overnight. the space coast air history is

on standby right now with the scrubbing of the first private rocket to reach the space station. the computer noticed a half second before liftoff there was a computer problem. they will attempt a launch next tuesday. this is a critical plan for nasa's plan to outsource trips to the space station and focus on larger missions. also breaking news overnight, chen guangcheng is headed for the u.s. he and his family left on a flight moments ago to newark, new jersey. he escaped from house arrest and sought refuge at the u.s. embassy in a move that strained diplomatic ties between the u.s. and china. meantime, world leaders are gathering in the u.s. for two big back-to-back meeting this is weekend. the first one, the g8 summit at camp david. the second, the nato meetings in chicago. today's agenda at the g8, the global economy. mike baqueros is there this

saturday morning. go rpg to you, mike. >> reporter: good morning. outside of laurel cabin that they went inside to have a working dinner, among the discussion, iran, the embargo sanctions and iran's nuclear ambitions as well as the situation in syria, which gets worse by the day. but the big issue, even more important issue, the more urgent issue hanging over this meeting, this g8 here, is the situation in europe. in particular, greece. another crisis, it zeem seems like one after the other with the greece crisis. they rejected the austerity plans imposed on them by the rest of the european union. there are elections, of course, last week in france. francois assumed the presidency meeting with president obama last week. and there's a renewed essence on growth. more of a fiscal stimulus emphasis that the united states is trying to encourage. while president obama and the administration are trying to leave it to europe to solve this

economic problem, there's a great deal of concern that this economic con they conagen could spread. then it is off to chicago for another summit, this time the nato summit. he'll be joined by many of the same leader there is with a whole different set of problems. >> thank you, mike. thousands of police officers are bracing for demonstrations in advance of the nato summit meeting. that one starts there on sunday. kristen welker is already in chicago with us. good morning to you, kristen, what's the latest from there? >> reporter: good morning to you, alex. police have been out in force preparing for the protester that is you mentioned. actually, security on public transportation. we are at mccormick place, a number of road closures around mccormick place, where the large majority of the nato summit will occur. some of the protests have already begun. the biggest one so far on friday. about 2,000 protesters turned

out. it was really a mix of people, some nurses, occupy wall street protesters as well as war veterans with their message varying, be new general, they were protesting wall street and thor with a. the protest was peaceful with one person arrested, but several people were arrested earlier this week. three of them still held on terrorism conspiracy charges. authorities alleging they were making moll to have cocktails, however their lawyer maintains they were simply brewing beer. the large protest is expected to take place on sunday, the first day of the nato summit. so it is against that backdrop that president obama will welcome 50 world leaders when he arrives here in chicago later on this evening. the top of the agenda will be afghanistan, alex, and how to fund the troop draw-down there. >> very important meetings to be held there. crest ten, thank you for that setup. we appreciate it. now to front page politics and what can be a clear

generational divide in the next election. a new goal lup poll shows mitt romney with an edge over president obama among registered voters 40 and older. meanwhile the president leads among voters under 40. we'll get reaction to the poll in a moment. on the campaign troll, american is comparing america's situation to the debt crisis in greece. he spoke at an unfinished bridge in new hampshire on friday. romney responded to a group of protesters also. >> you know, we have behind us a greek chorus, and i say that because they remind us that this president is leading us towards greece. and one reason we are going to get rid of him is to make sure we don't continue to have the kind of debt deficits that lead to greece. >> new this morning the romneys are throwing more money of their own into the campaign. mitt romney and his wife contributed $75,000 each to the romney victory fund. and president obama is getting help from holly woods friends. actress sarah jessica parker is

hosting a fund-raiser for the president at her manhattan home in june. george clooney raised $15 million in one night for the obama campaign earlier. joining me now is amy gardner and politico reporter for "the national journal" is alex. alex, i'll begin with you. we'll somehow the new gallup poll showing the majority over 40 torte romney, support romney. >> older people tend to vote in greater numbers, so you have to get the early edge in that poll to romney. you know, the one thing obama can take heart in is, at least just like he did in 2008, he had enthusiasm among young people. he's banking on in 2012 to still count on that. not just for them to vote on him, but just to bring enthusiasm to his campaign,

knocking on doors to tell others to support his candidacy. >> amy, your latest article talks about launching a new idea this time around with the new voter id laws this time around. how serious of an issue do they think this could be? >> 12 states around the country have passed these laws. some of them are very critical battleground states. ohio, florida, virginia. the most common kind of law we are talking about is voter id requirement, when you have to present an id in order to vote. the obama campaign believes this could be serious. the populations that tend to not have an id are minorities, young people, the very constituencies we just talked about a second ago that are going to be important to obama's victory if that happens in the fall. this is a big push for them to educate voters and to educate volunteers on how to get around some of these laws and make sure people are prepared, know what the new rules are, know what they need to do to vote in the

fall. >> alex, there's an interesting article in "the national journal" written by your colleague that writes, swing voters are virtually non-existent these days. what does that mean? >> i think it is sort of representative of the fact that it is increasingly a polarized electorate, people don't identify down the middle, they identify strongly with the conservative movement or the democratic party. what you see in the presidential campaigns really not focusing so much on the middle anymore. mitt romney is focusing more on turning out his base in november, just the same way the president is focused on turning out the democratic base to put him on the top. >> alec, can i talk about this article as well, it talks about the locations of the obama camp opening 24 offices in pennsylvania, 19 offices in ohio, is this the same m.o. that won him the presidency in 2008? >> the president is trying to build a big massive ground game

on the ground with volunteers and staffers knocking on doors and trying to get people to vote for the president. you know, and he spent a lot of money on it already, but they are counting on that really to give them the edge against romney in the fall. >> yeah. amy, what about the flap that we saw this week over the super pac presented with a pitch for an ad campaign to use reverend wright against president obama? what is the takeaway over that today, what have we learned? >> i think what we have learned is that there's a lot of reluctance on the part of the republican establishment to go after president obama's past relationship with reverend writhe and the insidiary speeches that have been reported that he has said over the years. governor romney came out and said that's not what i want to do. you know, the gentleman who was going to finance this ad campaign, mr. rickettess, the

owner of the chicago cubs, came out and said, this is not my kind of politics either. so it seemed the lesson learned is that this is a bridge too far, even for republicans. will there be a group out there deciding to do it? we don't know yet, that's one of the uncertainties of the new terrain we are in with citizens united in the supreme court decision that allows some of the independent groups to spend unlimited money. >> alex, you wrote about this in your latest "national journal" article. didn't we go down this road before and figure out it wouldn't work and didn't work? >> some groups ran an ad in 2008 that sort of focused on jeremiah wright. look, it didn't have much importance then. the person who ran the ad in 2008 was interviewed in the article and said, look, i don't think it is going to work this time around. everybody knows about jeremiah wright and it is old news, it happened four years ago. so this sort of potential

potency this ad has has been diminished if it could have any benefit for the republican party. >> well, perhaps lesson learned, we shall see. alex and amy, many thanks, guys, appreciate it. >> thank you. >> take care. >> you too. taking a look at your saturday forecast. it is quiet and dry in the northeast and gorgeous, look at that live picture there of new york city. but that won't be the case for the rest of the country necessarily. meteorologist bill karens is here with the forecast. good morning to you, bill. >> good saturday morning to you, alex. what a beautiful weekend in so many areas of the country. of course, we also have a few exceptions. we'll take you to the middle of may and how quiet the weather has been so far this month. yesterday we didn't see many strong this mornings thunderstorms down there in southern florida. one tornado report in the far southeast corner of wyoming. this has been a quiet may for tornadoes. i don't mean to jinx it, but so far more than halfway through the month, only 72 tornadoes, typically we have 257. and we have not had any tornado fatalities this month, which is

fantastic. last year we had over about 150 in this month alone. today's severe weather threat is a minimal severe weather threat not wide spread. at most, one or two tornadoes. don't expect strong tornadoes, but from sioux falls to topeka, kansas, to the north and west of town we have the threat of strong storms. this is a cold front moving through the midwest right now. we are still watching showers and storms near sioux falls and sioux city. we have another round of stronger storms later today with multiple bouts of showers and storms near minneapolis, des moines, maybe that's where we'll have the best chance of wet weather on and off throughout the day. the eastern seaboard, alec, i mentioned that it is a beautiful day today. areas like new york city to d.c., fantastic, down to atlanta. the west coast looks good. we'll do it all over again. the east coast and the west coast, this is about as good as it gets for a spring weekend. enjoy it, everyone. back to you. >> we will. thank you for that in, that,

bill karins. can you believe the new study on coffee? in our office politics today, dr. nancy snyderman is going to give us her take on it right here on "weekends with alex witt." ♪ with the spark miles card from capital one, sven's home security gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! how does this thing work? oh, i like it! [ garth ] sven's small business earns double miles on every purchase, every day! woo-hoo!!! so that's ten security gators, right? put them on my spark card! why settle for less? testing hot tar... great businesses deserve the most rewards! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? here's your invoice.

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we are giving you rock and roll tune this is morning. the top three big money headlines, in your facebook, bargain basements and upgrade downsides. morgan brenner is joining me to make sense of all this. good saturday morning to you, morgan. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> how has facebook lived up to the hype? we'll look at all the numbers. should investors be worried how facebook did after a full day of trading? >> well, for investors looking to jump in and maybe cash in on the pop that was expected yesterday, it wasn't particularly good news. the shares actually closed, the price was about flat, $38, the same price we saw at the ipo's debut. that being said, it did take up to about $42 in the morning. when it finally did get trading, there were technical glitches on the nasdaq to delay trades yesterday morning. pete did $45 and came down to

$38. it was not a good day for investors looking to jump in to make fast cash. that being said, we did see some big winners yesterday with this ipo debuting. the biggest one willing 28-year-old mark zugerberg. there are 1,000 people walking about newly-minted millionaires off this ipo. so some people have made money. >> that's a good day for some, that's for sure. how about buying a home right now, because people are doing that these days. it is pretty great reaching the most affordable level in more than two decades. talk to us about the national association of homebuilders in terms of what it says and the economy overall. >> so this report, it's the second straight quarter that we have seen housing affordability shoot through the roof. as you mentioned, it hit record highs. for about 78% of all the homes that were sold in the first quarter, they were affordable to americans making a median income

of $65,000. that's great news for people who want to buy a home and who can afford to buy a home. and who can actually qualify for a mortgage, because that's been the big hitch here. housing is concerned that lending is so tight, appraisals are coming in low. if you qualify for the mortgage, you'll get a good deal on a house, for the most part, around the country. what it says about the larger economy as a whole remains to be seen. a lot of it is going to depend on lending and a lot will depend on income. as i like to say, that other four-letter word, jobs. >> okay. that makes sense. how about verizon and at&t with different plans for upgrades, are either of them real improvements? >> well, we have yet to see the new plans roll out, but once they do, verizon, for example, made the announcement this week they are going to be doing a shared data plan starting this summer. that plan will allow subscribers to hook up multiple devices to one plan instead of having to sign up multiple plans with

multiple devices. so that's actually good news. that being said, when this plan rolls out, they have also mentioned that they will gradually roll back unlimited data plans that subscribers who signed on to verizon pre-2010, that those people are going to sh when they make upgrades on their phones, they will lose the unlimited data plans. so that's not particularly good news, but we are seeing the cell phone companies start to look at data plans as a place to make revenue because going back to facebook, so many people are not using minutes, not using text messages, they are using facebook to communicate. >> makes sense, morgan brennan, thank you very much. will facebook stock eventually live up to the hype? you can send me a tweet and i'll answer them throughout the day. new photos in the trayvon martin case. and could a triple-crown winner

be in the works? we'll look at it here on "weekends with alex witt." ♪ for three hours a week, 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.

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we could have a potential triple crown winner in the works today. the kentucky derby was one this year by the horse named, i'll have another. now he gets a second shot at the second leg of the triple crown. joining me is kenny rice, kenny, good morning to you. >> good morning, alex. >> i talk to you every time, every year at this time. so my question again to you, what are the chances of a triple crown winner this year? >> i would say outside chance

because it hasn't happened since 1978. this is the longest drought ever in horse racing, although i will say, based on how i'll have another came back to win the kentucky derby, he does look like a horse coming into this preakness with a shot of going on to new york in three weeks as a triple crown contender. >> you mentioned 1978, that was affirmed, why was it so hard to do, kenny? >> i think one of the biggest things that's happened over the years, is there are so many different trainers that are in the game, the horses are running a lot of 2 years old, it is more lucrative for their owners, sometimes the horse is a tired horse and doesn't make the transition to his 3-year-old son. or season. like a great college player who doesn't make the transition to the nfl. we have seen that with a lot of 2-year-olds. both races coming from the derby, they are both fresh

horses. bodemeister didn't run as a 2-year-old, so that's why coming in, we have two pretty good horses, two fresh horses here for the preakness. >> go out on a limb, help us make big bucks. we are waiting for it. >> that's what i like about you, alec. le alex. put all the money in. put it all on i'll have another. don't forget about bodemeister. keep a look at them. creative cause for the super effect. koseti is the long shot. i'll leave it up to you. put all your money on i'll have another or spread it out a bit. i don't know. >> you are the man, kenny rice. i tell you, thank you very much. i will have to make calls when we get off the hour in half an

hour. thank you. have a good day. nbc sports has the full coverage of the preakness at 4:30 p.m. eastern time. in our one-minute playback, chuck todd's visit to "jeopardy." he won two daily doubles and did well when it comes to the subject of the constitution. >> excluding the 27 amendments, this country's constitution is among the world's shortest at just 4,426 words. >> what is the united states. >> you got it. >> 1200 constitution. >> you got it, the daily double. and we're running out of time. >> i'm not. let's do 3,000. >> here's the clue. he was emperor when japan's the emperor shall not have powers related to government was written. >> who is hirohito.

>> hirohito. >> chuck won that match raising $50,000 for a samaritan's inn, a homeless shelter in washington, d.c. congratulations, my friend. you go, chuck. way to go. it's time to live wider awake. only the beautyrest recharge sleep system combines the comfort of aircool memory foam layered on top of beautyrest pocketed coils to promote proper sleeping posture all night long. the revolutionary recharge sleep system... from beautyrest. it's you, fully charged.

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♪ this is the next chapter for the rx. this is the next chapter for lexus. this is the pursuit of perfection. world leaders are waking up to begin a day of discussions at the presidential retreat. talks about iran and syria were on the agenda at last night's working dinner. this is the largest ever gathering of foreign leaders at camp david. and then these world leaders will head to chicago later today where protesters and police are getting ready for more demonstrations against the nato summit starting tomorrow. at that summit the leaders will talk about the war in afghanistan among other issues. well, president obama's approval numbers have continued their decline at 48%, but it is a mixed bag when it comes to the latest national poll against

mitt romney. joining me is the senior political analyst, mark murray. >> good morning, alex. >> both gallup and mason dixon have mitt romney in the lead. what do the polls really tell us at this stage? >> well, alex, overall it tells us it will be a close election. there was another poll that was taken in the past few days by fox that had president obama ahead by a few points. there has been a lot of volatility in the past two weeks. let me just kind of run through all the things that have happened. you had president obama's gay marriage announcement to kickoff his presidential campaign. the osama bin laden anniversary. a lot of stuff that is actually happening. and we are kind of seeing volatility in the polls. i will say we have a brand new nbc wall street journal poll coming out early next week. we should probably get a pretty good indication of where things are with that poll. there are a lot of different polls out there, but our

nbc/wall street journal poll is interesting to see where romney and obama are in the survey. >> that said, one part of the mason-dixon poll market is interesting because it is about independent voters where the president is six points behind. by all accounts, independents will be key in this election, so should the president's campaign be concerned? >> i think they are concerned. i think the romney campaign is concerned because everyone is gearing up for a very, very close election. as you point out, independents will play a very big role. president obama, his campaign probably wants to break independents even, almost a 50/50 split. hoping to turn out their base to hopefully get a victory. alex, as i look at this election, there are several key components. one are independent voters, not the people really republicans or democrats and say, i'm an independent, but people who are truly independent swing voters. look at latinos, female voters, you look at people who live in

the suburbs, and whoever ends up winning those categories or at least breaking even probably is going to be the president in november. >> let's switch gears now with you. vice president biden was asked on thursday about the west virginia democratic primary earlier this month, in which a convicted felon currently serving 17 years in prison won 40% of the vote. let's take a listen here. >> look, i come from a household where whenever there's a recession, somebody around hi grandpop's table lost a job. a lot of people are still hurt because of this god-awful recession we inherited that cost 8.4 million jobs before we could really get going. so i don't blame people. they are frustrated, they are angry, but at the end of the day they are going to decide, is the way back to their employment, is the way back to them being able to get a job and raise a family, is that under the values set

under romney or under ours? and we feel confident we'll do just fine. >> anything about what he said did you think this indicates vice president biden is going off script again here? >> i don't think he was going off script. he was trying his best to actually reconcile how a convicted felon could end up getting 40% of the vote in west virginia in a democratic primary. and it does really highlight in what biden was trying to talk about is trying to reconcile why president obama struggles so much in a state like west virginia compared to some other states where president obama hasn't had any trouble. the other state where president obama had trouble in a democratic primary was in oklahoma. and so he was trying to reconcile that people are fed up, frustrated. it was a classic bidenism, he was revealing truth even though it was not all that pretty about things. almost kind of speaking the truth. but joe biden ends up being both an asset and sometimes a

liability. but overall when you look at what he was campaigning in ohio this week, really trying to connect with joe six-pack voters, really trying to channel their anger, you can see why he's an asset to the obama campaign. but it is with the gay marriage announcement he made on "meet the press" a few weeks ago, you cans a also see his liabilities. >> you are not a liability. thank you. >> thanks, alex. >> you can go to first read on msnbc.com. the first place for analysis from the nbc political unit. another hollywood star will help president obama. sarah jessica parker is co-funding an event at her home next month for the president and the fist lady. she will be holding a fund-raiser just like george clooney's $15 million fund-raiser. i talked to dr. nancy

snyderman about her travels as a doctor that includes hitchhiking out of a russian war zone. i'm not kidding, she'll talk about it. but first, we'll talk about the unusual medical headlines. >> the freakiest story this week, this flesh-eating bacteria, talk about that. is that something to be frightened of? i mean, as an individual, but also communally? >> this is the classic example of a rare horrific thing gets big headlines. it is rare, 500 to 1,000 cases a year. but flesh-eating bacteria really aren't that, but they are certain bacteria, staph bacteria, and the toxin can destroy the tissue. while rare, i tell people that if you cut yourself and 24 hours later the pain is disproportionate to what the original wound was, you must consider the fact that something

really bad is happening. >> particularly for me, i love drinking coffee, i'm going to live longer. forever, right? >> for most of us, caffeine is not an issue. and it may make your brain sharper, might ward off some kinds of dementia, and now, although the numbers aren't huge, may buff up your life span by 10% to 15%. so, look, everyone says all things in moderation, but that may not hold so true for coffee. >> well, listen, if i didn't happen to be -- >> i like it. i like it and need it. >> i know you went so saudi arabia to talk about women's rights issues and culture issues. talk about that. how did you get from point a to where you are? >> i grew up in a family where parents taught me travel was one of the great gifts. and as a physician, and especially as a cancer physician, you immediately meet

global friends. and then as a correspondent for the network, you're thrust into places, wars, refugee camps, the nobel prize laureates, saudi princesses. if you take the blinders off, at the end of the day, what's the best thing about my life as a correspondent and physician, every day i get to go to school. every day i meet someone new. every day someone gets to make me smarter. i was in mogadishu two weeks before black hawk dawn and had to hitchhike a ride out on an old soviet ussr cargo plane to get to nairobi on my own. i was there with abc news and things were going to hell in a handbasket. there are times when i learned to scramble. i have a very mutual office for a news correspondent. most people have news stuff. the top frame is the original drawings from disney's spin and

martie show from "the musketeers." i thought joining the cowboy round-up was an iconic part of my childhood. this is a cowgirl round-up that happened in the dakotas in the '20s. i just think it is extraordinary. this was my first horse. this is a very, very, very famous german painting of the surgeon pushing death away from his patient. it's very iconic for the surgeon telling death, you cannot have my patient right now. >> you must love horses. >> it is very funny, i grew up in indiana, loved horses, but my father wouldn't let me ride horses because he said that the doctors' daughters who road horses were little notes. i said, daddy, maybe it is not

the horses, maybe it is how they were brought up. he didn't care. so i went to medical school and did my residency. at the age of 32, i guess, when i was done with my training, i went out and bought my first horse and have been riding ever since. so i'm a late bloomer. and i have ridden competitively now for 20-some years. >> our conversation will continue today at 1:00 p.m. when dr. nancy shares the unexpected role that hillary clinton played in her life as a young mother and the advice she gave bill clinton that he did not take. newly-released evidence in florida's case against george zimmerman. will it prove second-degree murder? our legal panel sorts that out next here on "weekends with alex witt." of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. but if you take away the faces on the trees... take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're left with more electric trucks. more recycled shipping materials...

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witness in the trayvon martin case is changing his account of what happened that night. meanwhile, newly-released documents are raying more questions than answers today. florida officials released the last known video of martin. his autopsy results. pictures of zimmerman's wounds and much more. joining me live is karen desoto and defense attorney joey jackson. hi, guys, glad you're here. the witness originally told police, i want to be clear, he heard zimmerman crying for help the night of the shooting. now he's saying he's not sure who was doing the screaming. so how does this affect the prosecution's case? >> i think that was the one key thing everybody talked about, about how they heard these screams. and now, obviously, it's great that somebody was screaming and that somebody heard something, that way they can nail down the timing of it in the timeline, but now obviously you don't know who was screaming and what was said. so, really, what that has come down to is we know what time it

occurred. >> we interviewed somebody, an audio specialist, and he was told to go listen to the tapes to figure it out. he said he could determine that it was not the voice of george zimmerman, because there was enough audio of george zimmerman's to check that. i remember asking, can you tell it was trayvon martin's voice. he said, i can't necessarily say that. people make common sense leaps, but how much does this muddy the waters? what do you say about all this? >> it mud byes them greatly. in a case like this, the prosecution is charging a second-degree murder. you want to make sure your ducks are in order, that you have witnesses clear and concise, an audiotape clear and concise. we don't. as many experts as we have, they will have different opinions regarding what the audio shows. it is very unclear. does it show to a scientific degree of certainty that it is one voice over another? i don't think it does. so it really muddies the water

here. >> what about the wound? george zimmerman said from the beginning this was a form of self-defense, florida's stand your ground law. and we didn't see anything from him from the longest time. now we see these pictures that were taken. >> first of all, i have to say, with the casey anthony case, florida is one of the places that just dumps and gives you so much information. and, you know, we have talked about that as far as, is that too much information. of course with the pictures coming out before the trial, maybe that will taint the jury, but it proves there was a struggle and a fight and something actually happened. but as far as it actually being good for the prosecution or the defense, i don't really think that is an indicator. he could have slipped and fell, fallen, it could be from anything. >> here's my take on it, karen. the way i see it is this, florida has the sunshine laws where everything becomes public and we have access to all this information. but i think what they did release, you have to say that it favors the defense. why? you have something that shows he

had two black eyes, he's got a broken nose, he's got lacerations. >> he could have tripped getting into the police car, though. >> noting that it favors the defense would be that they say he could have avoided, that george zimmerman could have avoided this whole thing altogether. >> that's going to be the argument. >> that is. >> the argument is that because, listen, if you're the prosecution, what you want to say is that this guy, if he minded his own business, stayed in his car, didn't look suspicious, people, we wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place. however, the defense is going to claim, the respect of whether he followed him or not, ultimately it comes down to whether he reasonably feared her safety at the time he shot the gun. the autopsy report shows it was shot at close range. it shows that trayvon had something in his system. the defense is going to say that

he gave it to george zimmerman. the defense favors that. >> talk about all the information we get in florida, yet we still do not know what happened. are we going to know what happened? >> you are never going to know what happened. you are never really going to know what happened because the only other person who could tell you what happened is now dead. and, obviously, the problem here is that you shouldn't be giving concealed weapons to people who are not police officers. so florida has a lot of issues. they have stand your ground, the fact they allow ordinary citizens to conceal weapons, which i don't care what anyone says, it changes you when you have a gun on your person. unless that person is not trained or is a professional, you should not be doing that. that's the crime here, florida really needs to take a look at what they have been doing. >> what about the stand your ground hearing. you are going to ask me that, right? >> this gives you the opportunity if you are on the defense to hit a home run. >> you can go fishing. >> it gives you immunity for the prosecution. all you have to show from the

prosecution perspective, that it is more likely than not that what i did was legit. >> 95% of the time the judge kicks it to the jury because they don't want to make that determination. >> they are cowards, >> oh, no, politics in the courtroom, too? wow. all right. thanks, guys. if you thought the whole controversy over president obama's birth certificate was a thing of the past, it may keep the president off one state's ballot. this is week epds with al eends. ♪ ♪ everybody here is a friend of mine ♪ ♪ everybody, tell me, have you heard? ♪ ♪ pop goes the world ♪ pop goes the world [ female announcer ] pop in a whole new kind of clean with new tide pods... a powerful three-in-one detergent that cleans, brightens, and fights stains. pop in. stand out.

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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. you can help create a more united states. the more you know. the issue of president obama's birth certificate is being raised again. arizona secretary of state ken b bennett says he might keep the president off the arizona ballot. here's what arizona senator john

mccain had to say. >> she end kated to me that with all due process and trustworthiness that, indeed, she had seen the birth certificate. it was a valid birth certificate. >> it should be the end right there. but both the arizona senator and the governor support republican mitt romney. so joining me here is former ohio secretary of state ken blackwell. and i have to be honest with you, ken, my first reaction to the story, you heard me saying really? come on? not again. i'm being wise about this because it seems ridiculous. it seems like it's been asked and answered and it's almost annoying to have to waste time talking about it. >> i think you're right. these are not the issues that will be focused on in this election. this is coming down to about, as i've told you before, probably about five states and the crucial four are ohio, florida,

virginia and north carolina. and i can tell you what's on the people's minds there are jobs. and economic growth. >> and you're saying this and you're being reasonable saying this. but these are republicans. these are people in your party that are doing this. >> well, yeah, but i think it's people in the democratic party that seem to be raising the mormon issue on romn yerks. so these are marginal issues that really won't focus on the future of this country. what is at stake here in this election and i think that both presidential candidates understand it is, america's place in the world in terms of being an economic leader and america being a beacon of freedom. >> did you really hear that being raise? i don't hear it being raised so much. >> well, i've heard it being raised here. people open the door and say if you're going to talk about reverend wright, let's talk about the mormon issue with mitt

romney and the things that people don't understand. i think both the reverend wright issue and the mormon issue should be off the table. what should be on the table is a discussion of religious liberty. once you attack religious liberty, you start attacking the essence of what makes america exceptional. and that's a policy issue to be discussed. >> and don't you worry that this damages the republican brand? when we have to have discussions like this and talk about issues that are being brought up by republicans, i mean, really? >> i think, again, i think issues brought up by democrats, you know, the war on women, there's no war on women being waged by the republicans. republicans are not stupid. they understand, you know, the role of women in american culture and the force of women in american politics. so this whole notion of war on women, birth certificates, it really does get us off of what the real issue in this country is.

anemic economic growth, jobs creation, people not being sure about their future. and i think that we have an obligation to keep people focused on those issues. >> all right. come and see me again. that was a little tough on you there. thank you. good to see you. >> that's a wrap of this hour of "weekends with alex witt." straight ahead, more smart political talk on "up with chris hayes." 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.

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