stop hurting small business from creating jobs. that's obamacare. get rid of it. number two, have an energy strategy that takes advantage of our natural gas and oil and coal as well as our renewables. those low cost energy fuels will mean jobs come back here. even manufacturing jobs that left here. >> in that interview with fox news today, the governor also defended his record at bain capital after the president slammed romney's claim that his private sector experience makes him more qualified to turn this economy around. >> with regards to bain capital, they just put a report out about their record, the bain capital guys did. they noted they've made about 350 investments since the beginning of the firm. of those investments, 80% of them grew their revenues. so i'm pretty confident that the overall record of the enterprise i helped begin was one that's pretty solid. >> let me bring in nbc news senior editor mark murray and

mark crowley. the washington bureau chief. thank you for joining me. let me start off with you, the "time" magazine interview that mr. romney made this claim that he could get opportunity employment rate to 6% or lower. as noted in the "boston globe," it is not a similar time he made a similar claim while in las vegas but this is obviously getting a lot of attention today. >> sure. in large measure this election is all about the unemployment rate. this one number, it is more than that but it is the one we're most focused on. i have to say 6% is kind of a modest ambition for romney. it's not that much lower than we are today. four years ahead. ultimately, it is a little silly to be having this conversation. romney said in his interview with mark halperson, how could i predict it next year. now he's talking about four years out. it's like trying to predict the weather a week in advance. if he is going to make a prediction like, that it is a modest one, it strikes me. >> it is interesting, the globe points out this gives the appearance of one upsmanship

from mr. romney. others have compared to when night gingrich said he could get gasoline prices to around $2 without having a crystal ball to tell us the future. >> well, it is important to take a step back and look at the overall context. this is a battle for who can make the better case who who can be a better steward for the economy. this might be a little pie in the sky. it might be quite more than realistic, according to the cbo gss pro. what mitt romney is trying to do, i can bring down the unemployment rate. president obama has to make the argument that actually, the unemployment rate has already begun. i'm actually doing things that will keep it, keep going down and honestly, if the other party returns into power, you'll have the same policies that got us to where we are now, or got us to where we were in 2009 and 2010. >> to factor in, as michael pointed out as well. you have the cbo report saying that's the way the unemployment rate is trending no matter what

happens. i know you both recall when the administration said it would hope that the unemployment would be around 8%. every day it seemed there was a republican critic of there administration reminding people of that claim and that it had not come true, mark. >> right. it's important to put that particular claim into can you be text. that came out in an economic projection of the president-elect economic advisers about what the stimulus could do. what ended up happening was that no one realized in that fourth quarter of 2008, how bad the economy had plummeted. so those projections were way off. republicans have done their best to actually tie that 8% claim to president obama but he never said it. it actually came out even before he was president. this is all an expectations game. and we've seen mitt romney end up saying the unemployment rate has remain above 8% for however many months of the obama administration. we are at 8.1%. it would be interesting to see

if the unemployment rate is 7.8 or 7.9%, how the political narrative is. that is what the obama campaign is hoping for. a lower unemployment rate. >> i want to play a little more of what the president said yesterday. i want to bring this to the attention of our audience. the announcement has come down, may 29th, newt gingrich, mitt romney, and donald trump together at trump towers in las vegas. michael, when mr. trump originally endorsed governor romney, people thought it was a one-hit wonder. some kind of schtick to get the attention. what would be the reason for all of them to be together may 29th in las vegas? >> i don't know. that sounds like of odd to me. i don't really see what mitt romney gains by associating himself with trump. you know, to some degree he wants to excite base conservatives who might like newt and who might like trump. i would be interesting in knowing whether shelton hausen had anything to do with this but

he might be looking for more super pac money from him. >> this is striking me odd for many reasons. you've got this report that donald trump is reportedly debating some kind of super pac to go after president obama. it is also intriguing in that we've talked about mitt romney having to make the shift to independents. when you think of newt gingrich and his incendiary comments, you think about donald trump. he got traction with the whole birther issue. how does that move you closer to the people you need in those battle ground places? when you look at these two characters with mitt romney on the 29th, he could be anywhere with anyone but he is choosing these two. >> the romney campaign seems to be playing a little bit with fire with, particularly with donald trump. given all of his statements he's made on birtherism, what not. >> he just said jeremiah wright is fair game, among others who have said it. but donald trump just gave an interview saying go after him on jeremiah wright. and a few days later you're going to have mitt romney who

said that he was not game for that kind of strategy, with donald trump. >> that's precisely my point. the romney campaign wants this election to be about the economy. they want to make this a referendum on president obama. they don't want to get into those personal details. at least that's what they tell us. by being on the same stage with donald trump, and this won't be the first time. he's already appeared with donald trump previously during the nevada caucuses earlier this year. and then of course, they've appeared at fund-raisers together. that all of a sudden, it does open up the potential that mitt romney has to begin owning some of the things that donald trump says. whether it is about president obama and where he was born or about jeremiah wright. this is dangerous territory for the romney people. it will be interesting to see how they play this on tuesday when they campaign together. >> that's the thing. mark points out, it is not the first time but that was the initial endorsement when mitt romney was struggling with newt gingrich, here we are. the stakes are different and your actions speak louder than your words, or at least in the

rest of the world. maybe not the political world. here you have within the 14-day or so span, mitt romney disagreeing with this reported plan to use jeremiah wright's link to the president at that time against him. and now he is with a man once referred to as the king of the birther movement. donald trump. and it will be his first appearance with newt gingrich. by the way, as well, i should note. >> yeah know to be honest with you, i don't really get it. again, i guess the logic would be that you're trying to appeal to some base conservatives who have never really trusted or liked romney. and newt and trump maybe signify and validate to people on the far right. i don't think that's romney's biggest concern right now, number one. and number two, i think any benefit from that is outweighed by as we've just been discussing the degree to which you're going to start having to respond to things that trump says. being asked about things trump says. things he has said. birtherism, all this cookieness. the fact that it is happening in

vegas, i don't know the details. but that it involves newt and vegas, does this have anything to do with sheldon adelson who gave a ton of money but also basically likes romney and i think is prepared to help romney in the general election. and sheldon is a las vegas casino mogul so maybe there is some angle to that. otherwise it doesn't make much sense to me. >> real quicker i want to play what the president had to say regarding mitt romney's inability in his words to connect with people. and i want to play romney's response. let me play both back to back guys. >> there was a woman in iowa who shared her stories of financial struggles. and he gave her an answer right out of an economic textbook. he said our productivity equals our income. and the notion was that somehow the reason people can't pay their bills is because they're not working hard enough. those of us who spend time in the real world know that the

problem isn't that the american people aren't productive enough. you've been working harder than ever. >> i'm afraid he doesn't understand what the word productivity means. gosh, this is quite a revelation if you have the president of the united states that doesn't understand that productivity is a measure of output per person in the nation as a whole. it is not a measure of how hard people are working. >> i don't know if this is a preview of what kind of debates we'll see between these two men. i believe it was chuck todd who noted some of the business language that peppered into romney's response. what do you make of how this went with the connection issue? >> i think it gives us a window into the different strategies the campaigns are holding. on the one hand you have president obama saying, look, mitt romney has an empathy deficit. he just doesn't get what ordinary americans are facing. and you look at our nbc "wall street journal" poll, democrats, president obama have a big advantage when it come to empathy. but then in that exchange that mitt romney gave, he said

president obama doesn't understand the economy. and those are going to be the competing arguments. and i think we'll hear for the next five and a half months. >> thank you so much. i greatly appreciate it. and we'll talk a little later about this not so warm greeting mitt romney received while in philadelphia today. thank you both. coming up also, mr. 48%. that's how our first read describes president obama after the results come in from the new nbc poll of battleground states. so the question, 48%. is that good or bad? we'll find out. plus, developing news this very moment. we're told nasdaq executives trying to stop the bleeding over facebook's ipo fall. new details about the immediate steps being taken to get this crisis under control. and join our conversation on twitter.

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welcome back. what seems to be obama's new magic number, 48. according to our new marist poll, 48% is enough to put the president ahead of romney in florida, virginia and ohio. our latest poll has president obama's approval rating at 48%. so is this winning number for reelection? let me bring back our "news nation" political panel. senior political editor mark murray and mark crowley. thanks for around with me. mark, you and your team refer to him as mr. 48%. >> we did so because the numbers really struck at us. not only was president obama's new approval rating at 48% but his head to head match-up with mitt romney was at 47%. so there are two ways to look at this. on the one hand, president obama is leading mitt romney.

he is close to 50%. he is in the high 40s. but he is not in the safe territory. when you're an incumbent president, you want to be at 50% or higher. he is almost there. he is like on the knife's edge. all of a sudden being at 45 or 46% is much different than being at 48 or 49%. one could be the difference in winning and losing. >> in florida, as you pointed out. the president leads romney 48-44. let me play what joe scarborough, a native of florida, had to say on his program, "morning joe." >> it is such a republican state. and going down to palm beach, broward, and talking to some jewish leaders down there over the past couple years, there is a supreme disconnect between barack obama and the people that helped democrats year in and year out. >> what are your thoughts on that comment from joe?

>> well, if he is about jewish voters specifically, this has been a long running theme. in the obama administration. the jewish voters were not happy about his approach to the middle east peace situation. i think there is a divide situation about how he is handling iran. at the end of the day, i haven't seen, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that this is a big problem for him. i haven't seen it numerically. in a state like florida you might have a higher portion of the population and it could be a factor. i have yet to see that it is a decisive thing and i would say i think on iran, there is not that much space between obama and romney on this issue. romney talks tougher but the policies are similar. >> what is your take? we're at the poll from nbc, the battle ground state, 48-44 in that state. obviously, joe sees this differently. >> well, there was another poll that came out just yesterday by

quinnipiac that actually had romney ahead by 6 points, 47-41. you combine those two polls and you almost have a dead even race and that's where i see florida right now. out of the three states that we talk about that nbc marist poll, ohio, virginia and florida, florida is the one that will probably be the easiest for mitt romney to win at this very stage and conversely, the hardest for president obama. they're all going to be swing states. joe is about palm beach and miami. i will say, florida elections are won and lost in the i-4 corridor. orlando, tampa, and there is a growing hispanic population, a lot of puerto ricans but a lot of people from central and south america who now live there. and that's where florida is going to be won and lost. >> you point out in the first read as well. you say here is something to consider regarding the new poll. florida, ohio, virginia, all obama has to do is win one of these. and he likely surpasses this 270 needed. even if romney wins, all three obama still has a viable though slim path to that number.

>> he does. so when you look at ohio, you look at virginia, you look at florida. to get to 270 electoral votes, mitt romney needs to win all three. for almost all the different scenarios. it could be a little give and take but that's basically their mission. obama's map, on the other hand, he could get to 270 by winning just one. actually wins two of those. he wins ohio and virginia. you can see him getting well past 270. so that's how i'm kind of at these three states. they are much more important to mitt romney than they are to barack obama. of course, if mitt romney ends up sweeping all three, you can see how he gets to 270. >> last but not least, i'll wrap it one michael commenting on the mr. 48%. that's amazing that that could be a lucky number here. >> well, look. i think the cake is not fully baked yet. we have a full more sets of job numbers to come out. he is right on the cusp and that's what makes this election dramatic. a lot will depend on the last few job numbers and what

trajectory people think the economy is on when we're right on the doorstep of the election. right now we're in a holding pattern. people aren't sure if things are getting better still or if we're stalling out. the next couple months of job numbers i think will bake that cake a little more. you might see the number start to move. >> all right. michael and mark, thank you for joining me for topic number. two greatly appreciate it. coming up, the battle over the military ban on women in combat being taken to a new level. lawsuits filed by female soldiers who call it unconstitutional. plus -- >> here we are in the most prosperous nation on earth. but millions of our kids are getting a third world education. >> those comments from governor romney certainly hit a nerve with people who say he went too far even though the u.s. education system has fallen to average in world rankings. one of the people heated up about it, philadelphia mayor michael nutter. and some of the supporters of the president in philadelphia today will play what the mayor

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goodness gracious, that's kosher. with no fillers, by-products, artificial flavors or colors. hebrew national. the better-than-a-hot dog- hot dog. tumbler. a new battle is underway to overturn the u.s. military's ban on women in combat. female soldiers have now filed a lawsuit against defense secretary leon panetta and others claiming that the policy violates their constitutional rights. nbc's pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski joins us. these women are claiming this restricts their current and future earnings, their potential for advancement and their future retirement benefits, among other things here. >> there's no question that the complaint lodged by this, by these two army reservists, one a command staff sergeant and the other a colonel. is exactly right.

there are even men whose ability to get promotions and earn more money are retarded if in fact they don't serve in some kind of combat role. the issue here already, however, is that the u.s. military, the pentagon, is already moving in that direction. to lift, ultimately lift the ban against women serving in combat roles. just here within the past month, they lifted restrictions and opens up 14,000 new positions to women in the military in combat-related roles. not quite combat but they're getting there. and u.s. military officials will tell you, you just can't flip a switch and suddenly throw women into this. some women already serve in combat as combat helicopter pilots, navy and air force female combat aircraft pilots. in fact, in afghanistan, here within the past year, there was one unit where they had five

female pilots flying the combat aircraft and all the ground crew were also women. the first time that has ever happened in terms of the u.s. military. but steps are being taken to initiate even the marines, which you would think would be the last bastion for male-only combat are starting to make some accommodations and are starting to put some women into their combat training. ranger school. women will be test asked put into ranger school by the u.s. army before a final decision is made on just how rapidly they can actually make this move into combat. so again, the case that these women make in this lawsuit is exactly correct. nobody questions that. but the military, the pentagon, are slowly edging in that direction. they just can't move as rapidly as perhaps these women would like. >> 280,000 women have served in iraq and afghanistan. 144 female troops have been killed in the wars there. women make up 14.5% of active

duty military personnel. i can't compare. i don't want to say it's not apples to apples but some of the same language we're hearing, you cannot flip a switch or it has to take time. that's the similar language you heard regarding gays serving openly in the military. you cannot flip a switch and have these things happen or it will happen in time. judge just remember how long that took. but there are already steps being taken. if you look at don't ask don't tell, it wasn't until admiral mike mullen, the chairman of the joint staff, and the president, and and the second of defense said look, we have to lift the ban now on don't ask don't tell that any action was taken. that issue remained dormant for years. this one, however, in terms of women serving in combat roles is already being actively pursued by the military. unlike don't ask don't tell which is, as i said, no steps were taken for a couple of

decades. >> all right. greatly appreciate your report. smoke and noxious fumes are being vented off a nuclear powered submarine in maine that caught fire overnight the fire broke out aboard the uss miami while it was docked for maintenance at a shipyard. seven firefighters and crew members were injured. no one seriously hurt. the fire started in the front of the sub and the disabled reactionor was never threatened. the cause of that fire still not known. it is day five of deliberations in the john edwards trial. what the jury asked today. plus, what some legal experts are saying this could mean for edwards. and listen closely. can you guess the celeb in this president obama campaign ad? >> in 2008, our country elected a leader who not only acknowledged the lgbt community but who embraced it. we'll reveal the person behind that voice. just one of the things we thought you should know. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories...

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developing news on wall street. nasdaq executives are in full crisis mode to stem the bleeding from the facebook ipo. there are multiple reports. facebook may list its stock listing to the new york stock exchange in trading today, facebook has been up only slightly. and joining me now, first of all, help us understand what's going on with these nasdaq executives in crisis mode. what does that mean? >> there's a big fear of losing the business. not to mention it was such a coup to land that landmark facebook deal in the first place and they want to make sure that they're not permanently bruised from this. sources are telling cnbc to keep facebook traying on its exchange and to make investors a little happier than they are right now. the new york stock exchange says no discussions are ongoing about moving facebook over to the new york stock exchange. nor with those discussions be appropriate. that being that, face wook is evaluating whether or not to jump ship after getting pitches from the nyse and that's

according to my sources. it wouldn't be a unique event. many companies do move back and forth in both directions. to the ncse to the nasdaq and back. what they don't usually do is do it a week after they go public. certainly the bruised cause for the company is a lasting one and they want to put their best face forward. the damage is done but now the damage is that cold hard cash that was lost. it has to be counted. citizen del lost roughly $30 million on behalf of clients' trades. big banks like ubs, goldman sachs also likely lost money on the trade because they are responsible for matching retail trades. and then there's morgan stanley which they led the deal and they're right now sifting through every trade process to adjust clients' prices. that won't be a short process even before the regulators get involved. this is a long time coming before investors really find out what happened on friday. >> all right. thank you.

let me bring our column. mark is the "huffington post" chief financial writer back with us again. kayla said putting the best face forward. with two black eyes, how do you do that? >> it will be tough. it is not just investors who are suing nasdaq and people are looking at nasdaq. it is morgan stanley's kind of trying to put off the failure of the ipo on friday on nasdaq saying it was their fault. nasdaq can push back against this by suggesting that it is not their fault. that the ipo size was increased the week before. and i think that may even be a bigger issue here and that will be what they'll rest their hope on. >> what do you make of this notion that they're in crisis or damage control here? what does that even mean? >> first of all, the idea that facebook won't jump exchanges is a little like that cliche of, you know, leaving the barn once it's burned down. >> it's burned to a crisp. so i don't know. i guess it is punitive and more angry as a measure and nasdaq

has a lot of soul searching to do. this is very much inside baseball. this is just something that goes on on wall street about how shares are exchanged and sold. there are legitimate issues for retail investors in that this high frequency trading, partly is what overwhelmed nasdaq along with not really specking the kinds of orders. i am still in the camp of this is much more of a morgan stanley and investment bank issue at the end of the day. there are issues with trading. i think facebook is more of an issue of how it is managed. >> whether they leave nasdaq, what that means, technical glitches. my head is swirling. what we do know is what you wrote yesterday. it does in some part contribute to a mistrust or distrust of wall street and how business is played and that affects all of us. whether you ever invest in a stock in your life or not. >> problem is what will happen with the next ipo? will people be confident that they'll get a fair deal on the next ipo? when twitter goes public. memories are short on wall

street but this has been such a public mess. >> memories are short but no one will forget. this time a week ago, everyone wanted to be mark zuckerberg and a lot of people still box not a bad guy to be. think about the mentality of most people when you spoke with him and brought up facebook a week ago today. >> everybody wanted to be in the nasdaq a week ago. >> exactly. and it was supposed to be a big coup. >> i think the real issue here is the stock which is now about 15% below what it was. it open at 38. it is now about 32. if the investment banking community had thought about the price of the shares relative to it being a new speculative company, you would have been much closer to where the price is now than you were where the price was a week ago. and this really was an example of this continuing inability of wall street to adjust to the reality of the world we're living in. it can be a very profitable world. it cannot be an obscenely profitable world. overpricing this deal. trying to grasp for as many

shares as humans possible. there is a litany of things you can go through. the pricing is the most egregious. >> the irony is that this $32 a share, that he is talking about is what the whisper number was a week ago before they raised the price to $38. it has fallen almost exactly to where it was. it may have found an equilibrium. >> in the world possible way. you walk into a store. you buy an object that you thought would be $90 or $100. it is $90 and you're not feeling good about your purchase. >> you go back in a few days hear and it is on sale. everyone knows that feeling. you feel that you've been wronged there. i want to switch topics to facebook and politics. the co-founder of facebook wants to give up his u.s. citizenship so he can avoid paying like $67 million in taxes. senator chuck schumer had some choice words, reacting to criticism. he really wants to go after people who have this strategy.

let me play what emtoday. >> forbes said that quote, for defriending the u.s. facebook eduardo saverin is an american hero. can you believe it? an american hero? renouncing your citizenship now qualifies as heroic? >> he wants to punish people who do this for reannouncing their citizenship. i believe he doesn't want them to be able to come back into the country. were due and then expatriate as a way of saying -- >> here's my last check. thank you very much. >> to me this is just cheap politics. i'm not, i don't think you have to defend saverin to say why this is a campaign issue relevant to health care mandates, social security funds, if fiscal cliff. i don't really care what he does with his facebook millions relative to the warp and woof of the american economy. >> do you see it that way. >>? it is clearly a political play.

there is already a law on the books that would keep people out of the country. >> right. house speaker boehner made that point. >> he agrees with the idea that you can't benefit from the advantages this country gives and you then skip town once you've made your money. everybody would agree with that. there are a bunch of issues here and frankly we're going to be talking about keeping people from moving money offshore. we should look at the bigger pots of money moving offshore when companies do that. >> we know there is a lot of that happening. we'll see what happens on friday with facebook. end of the week. and the jury in the john edwards campaign corruption trial just resumed day five of deliberations after taking a lunch break. edwards by the way arrived in court in greensboro, north carolina, with his parents. before lunch, jurors asked the judge for 20 more exhibits to review. joining me now, nbc news legal analyst and former deputy attorney general, hampton, thank you for your time. >> you're welcome. >> a lot of people were thinking you have a holiday coming up.

that we would see a verdict and we got word a short time ago. not even an hour ago that the jurors have called for many more documents. what does that mean? >> it means there is no verdict in sight. no end in sight. after they made the initial request just before launch for 20 more exhibits that were admitted at trial, the judge asked if the jury would like them all. and almost all the jurors nodded in agreement, yes. so not only will the 12 go back but nearly 300 exhibits will go back with this jury. i think we've got a long way to go. >> we may very well have a long way to go. i've watched a lot of your reports here. i believe you've pointed out so many times that how extraordinary this is. this is the first time a jury will face the kinds of questions that they are rarg whether or not a crime was committed here. >> that's right. i think it raise the question, given how long this jury has now wrestled with the case. five days, twice as long as the

defense spent putting on evidence, the question, is is it fair to ask a jury of 12, no matter how much integrity, no matter how hard they're trying to decide an issue that the united states department of justice and the federal election commission can't agree on. and that is whether contributions from third parties to cover up an affair are campaign contributions we don't know what this jury will say. >> of course, the other story line always is this fall from grace for john edwards. a lot of people have remarked how day by day, his appearance, his demeanor, everything seem to be crumbling. we watched the video of him going in today. what have you noticed? >> well, i've been watching edwards come in to court for this case for more than a year. i attended all the pretrial hearings. last year, he still had that spring in his step. a sparkle in his eye. it was gone during trial. he literally sat on the edge of his seat for a month of trial. it has been hard on him, clearly, his elderly parents,

his daughter, cate has been by his side every day. he caught a baseball game yesterday, i think, trying to take his mind off of what must be on the mind of the jury. but this has ten a clear toll on edwards. >> will this jury work through the holiday? what is the schedule? >> well, this jury has been taking off early on fridays. so tomorrow is the beginning of the holiday weekend, of course. i don't think they're going to want to stay late and the judge won't ask them to. i assume we'll see they will back next week. >> all right. thank you. >> greatly appreciate your live report from north carolina. coming up, a possible confession in the murder of one of the first missing children to be pictured on the side of a milk carton. details on the suspect police now have in custody. what he is saying about the disappearance of atan patz 33 years ago. but first there is a lot going on today. the u.s. state department said it is waging a successful cyber war on al qaeda and hacking into

the terror organization's websites based in yemen to squash their recruiting, straight clinton announced yesterday what specialist does when they found ads bragging about killing americans. >> within 48 hours, our team plastered the same sites with altered versions of the ads that showed the toll al qaeda attacks have taken on the yemeni people. >> despite controversy surrounding the credibility of massachusetts democrat elizabeth warren's claim that she is part cherokee, a new poll shows it is not hurting her at all. it shows among likely voters, 48% support republican scott brown while 47% support warren. she was at 40%. and "glee" star jane lynch is helping by voicing a new ad. it is five minutes long. it features the president

talking about his support of the lgbt communicate. >> he appointed more lgbt people to his administration and confirld more federal judges than any previous administration. and he knocked down a longstanding discriminatory policy within the u.s. military. >> one of my proudest moments was when we were able to repeal don't ask don't tell. >> we asked you guys to guess the voice. a lot of people guessed jane lynch. if she could be anyone else, she would be beyonce. in an interview with "people" magazine, she said she would become a great sing ferry she could trade places with anyone. [ male announcer ] if you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air.

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i'm not joking. and president obama gets a boost in a trio of swing states. we're following developing news in the case of a buy who disappeared 33 years ago. it started the movement to put missing children's faces on milk cartons in hope bringing them home. a man is being questioned in the death of etan patz. the man said he used candy to lure that 6-year-old boy who was walking from his home to school. >> this was a tragedy that broke the hearts of millions of people, especially parents across this nation. it is a case to his credit, district attorneys reopened in home of not only bringing justice but also, offering some closure to etan's parents. >> nbc's ron allen is with me. it was just not long ago, police thought they had a new lead in the case. they thought they had gone to an area of new york and started digging. this is not related to that new

information, on is it? >> it is related in that all this is happening within the same area. two blocks from where the boy lived and where he never got to the school bus. they were digging in a basement where a dog had picked up a scent of human remains but they never found anything. someone watching was the brother-in-law of the man now in custody, pedro hernandez. the brother-in-law apparently told police that he remembers hernandez telling him some time ago that he kill a child. in the '80. it is all very, quite an interesting story. the bottom line is that police have not pinned this all down just yet. we don't know how true this account is. >> but according to the information from police, they have this videotaped interview with this individual. >> they would if there was an interview to bring him in. he is in police custody and he is telling a story. the issue is that they don't seem to have any new forensic physical evidence. and one investigator i talked to said if they can tell us where the body is, of course his story

gets a lot more credibility. whether that's happened or not is unclear. it seem that he is saying if he disposed of the body in the garbage. but again, and one person i talk to, police source said something to the effect of how it is not unusual for people to come out and claim to be involved in these high profile crimes. >> we've seen that with the j jonbenet ramsey case. you said back in april, there are dozen of nypd down there digging for clues. the bottom line is that case is very much alive and the police are doing everything they can. it will be 33 years ago tomorrow that this boy disappeared and they're still on the case. >> all right. thank you so much for your report. an admitted school shooter in ohio will be tried as an adult. that tops our look at stories around the news nation today. a judge today ruled the case against 17-year-old t.j. lane should be moved out of juvenile court.

prosecutors say he could be if he issed to opening fire on a group of students at a high school outside cleveland, ohio. that happened in february. three students were killed. a severe illness is forcing singer elton john to cancel three live shows in las vegas. john is suffering from a serious respiratory infection. doctors advised him to take antibiotics and not perform for at least a week. elton john said he hopes to recover before his next round of concerts later this year. and weather experts are predicting a less active hurricane season. officials anticipate between one and three major hurricanes developing. a toll of 15 named storms. the hurricane season by the way officially begins june 1st. and it is a red hot "news nation" gut check coming up. do you think governor romney web too far when he said american children are getting, quote, third world education under president obama? well, now philadelphia mayor michael nutter is going after governor romney. the war of words. and we'll tell you how you can weigh in. ♪ [ acoustic guitar: upbeat ]

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you can join the "news nation," our twitter page. it is at newsnation. it is time for the "news nation" gut check. did mitt romney go too far when he describe the country's public school system as, quote, third world? governor romney made that come during his speech before the latino coalition's annual economic summit yesterday in washington, d.c. >> here we are in the most prosperous nation on earth. but millions of our kids are getting a third world education. and america's minority children suffer the most. this is the civil rights issue of our era and it is the greatest challenge of our time. >> according to 2009 international assessment, the u.s. ranked 14th in reading, 17 in science, and 25th in math among 15-year-old students.

and that was the scene. romney was greeted by protesters at a charter school in a predocument thanly african-american neighborhood. earlier today, the democratic mayor michael nutter went after governor romney. >> if you're going to talk about education, it would be nice if you had an education record. it would be nice if you had an education platform. it would be nice if you seemed to know something about education. you can go wherever you want to go. that's the beauty of the united states of america. the guy has no record to run on. >> in the last hour, throw this into the pot. on andrea mitchell reports, carey healy, during romney's time as governor, defended his record. >> massachusetts was the first state under romney to have both the fourth graders and eighth graders evaluated as being first in the nation. so literally, governor romney had schools, the best in the

country. >> so what does your gut tell you? did mitt romney go too far when he describe the u.s. education system as, quote, third world? to go facebook.com/newsnation to cast your vote. take a look at what the "news nation" is saying about yesterday's gut check. we asked do you believe the facebook ipo fiasco adds to the mistrust of wall street? 91% of you said yes. 9% of you said no. that does it for this edition of "news nation." thank you for with us this hour. i'm tamron hall. martin bashir is up next. [ male announcer ] it starts small. it's trident gum. you open it up. pop it in. and all of a sudden, things are happening. it's like this smile for your brain that starts in your mouth. it tickles up your spine and punches you in the face. a good kind of punch. one that lights the fuse that starts the day you didn't see coming. ♪ you follow that feeling and every chew takes you somewhere new. so yeah, maybe it's more than just a little piece of gum.

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