hours after he took his message down to the ground in states like colorado, nevada and florida. he sat down for interviews with local tv reporters, most in critical states that could make or break his bid for re-election. republican rival mitt romney is going local, as well. about to embark on that bus tour that's going to take him through some of those all-important states. before boarding the bus friday, he's getting hit with a new obama ad. once again, targeting his massachusetts record. when mitt romney was governor, massachusetts was number one. number one in state debt. $18 billion in debt. more debt per person than any other state in the country. at the same time, massachusetts fell to 47th in job creation. >> so that's the new ad. let's say good morning and bring in our political power panel for today. jonathan cape hart, msnbc contributor and opinion writer for "the washington post." alison sword.

richard goodstein, a democratic strategist. great to see you. allison, want to start with you. this is the obama campaign second ad targeting the massachusetts lorecord. the romney camp says president obama will do anything to distract from his abysmal economic record. and despite that record, the fact that he thinks the private sector is doing fine. all right. so those numbers from the obama campaign, 47th in job creation, number one in debt. how do they turn that around to not be an abyss mal economic record? >> they put out the facts, thomas. governor romney brought his state from 50th to 30th. and when he left office, the unemployment rate in massachusetts was near 4.5%. compare that to 8.2% that we have with president obama. and he also took -- closed a $3 billion budget shortfall and left a billion rainy day fund for the people of massachusetts. he has a successful record and the economy in this term as governor of massachusetts. and it's one he will continue

and bring to the white house with his pro growth policy and pro growth plan to create jobs and instill confidence in the economy and really turn the economy around and now allow business owners to create jobs. and as he will do on his bus tour, he's going to talk about first priority on day one is to repeal obama care and do what he can to turn and instill his plans for health care across the nation. but most importantly, instill confidence in our economy. >> if he's going on that record, does that mean there are 46 governors better than him to be the republican nominee? >> what he did, as i said, thomas, he brought massachusetts from 50th to 30th. and that's quite a successful record, as compared to what we have with president obama. where we have 23 million americans out of work. we've had unemployment above 48% for the longest period in recorded history. we have the incomes of americans that are down at an all-time low. we have housing foreclosures at an all-time high.

and small business start-ups are at an all-time low. this is not the kind of economy the people of america want. and that's why they trust governor romney to turn the economy around and help create jobs. >> jonathan, meanwhile, the campaigns both taking it to the battle ground states with the president sitting down for local television interviews with reporters and anchors from around the country. mitt romney, as i said, is going to start on the bus tour friday. taking it to states like pennsylvania and ohio. what's behind this strategy that campaign -- the campaign's both trying to gain this momentum in the battleground states? >> well, they're battleground states for a reason. because they -- these are the places -- these are the states where -- that are going to decide the election. they have a lot of swing voters. they have a lot of independent voters who swing from democrats to republicans in presidential cycles. pennsylvania is probably one of those states that mitt romney most likely won't win, won't -- he won't say won't do well in, but won't win. but ohio is one of those states

where mitt romney could do well. it does serve mitt romney well to go to battle -- to go to battleground states and particularly go to states where president obama does have a lead over him to show that he's fighting -- he's fighting to win the white house, and fighting for every vote he possibly can. because both sides know, the romney campaign and president obama's re-election campaign knows, that this election is going to go down to probably about 2 percentage points, and they're going to have to get every vote possible. >> wisconsin is one of those states, though. and a reporter from wisconsin had that opportunity to speak to the president. and asked him in this interview why he didn't visit the state ahead of the recall election there. take a listen to this. >> the truth of the matter is, as president of the united states, i've got a lot of responsibilities. i was supportive of tom and had been supportive of tom. obviously, you know, i would love to have seen a different result. >> richard, i want to ask you, can the president expect democrats in wisconsin to go to bat for him when he is saying he was too busy to come there and

really put any skin in the game in the recall election for governor walker? >> well, if the exit polls we saw from last tuesday are an indication, the answer is a resounding yes. and that's actually pretty surprising, considering the huge money advantage that walker had for months and months and months over barrett. and the fact that those people who are coming out actually thought the recall was not good policy. didn't really think it was a way to remove a governor. that that electorate would, when asked, be saying that they prefer the president over romney by 7, 8, 9 points. i think the answer is absolutely yes. and look, i would encourage mitt romney to spend as much time as possible in wisconsin, and michigan. because i think the likelihood is, of his winning those states is so small that every day, every cent he spends in those states and not say in florida is a good development for the president. >> all right. gang, i want to ask you to hang on. we'll be back in a second.

i want to bring in our next guest and turn our attention to washington and the ongoing leak investigation taking place there. later this hour, republican senators john mccain and lindsay graham will call for a special prosecute e and this comes after a number of gop lawmakers have gone on record with their concerns over possible political motivations for those leaks. one of those people that has gone on record is missouri senator roy blunt, a member of the select committee on intelligence. and the senator joins us this morning. sir, it's great to have you here. and just to remind everybody about how you have been on the record on this, a refresher for our viewers, because you tweeted on thursday, it's a crime to leak intelligence, and i'm outraged the white house would tolerate this alleged activity that jeopardize attention our national security. and then we had this response from the president on friday when he was asked that question. take a listen. >> the notion that my white house would purposely release classified national security information is offensive.

we're dealing with issues that can touch on the safety and security of the american people. our families. or our military personnel. or our allies. and so we don't play with that. >> sir, you call these politically motivated leaks. do you believe the president lied to the american public on frid friday? >> well, i believe it's offensive that this information is out. so i agree with the president on that. and if you read all of these stories, no classified information has to be used here on my part to just read the stories. it is clear that the information comes from people in the administration. all the reporters involved say these are sources from the administration. these are people who are in the situation room. these are people who understand the list for drone attacks, from a firsthand basis. so all these stories make the president look good. at least they make the president look good until you figure out

that we're actually telling people things that they don't need to know, that are really important for us to hold closely. the -- when we found out this -- yemen al qaeda and yemen had the nonmetallic bomb, we actually described the source we had that was a source that had been worked and was reporting to one of our allies. i mean, who is going to trust the united states of america when we talk about what's happening in iran and we talk about how we share this with israel. >> do you feel the president is lying and lied to everybody on friday? >> i think the president surely, if he has read these stories, nose knows the source was in the administration. he may not have read the stories. i wouldn't suggest the president is particularly diligent on following through on these topics before -- >> so are you saying the president lied then? >> no, i'm not saying that at all. i'm saying exactly what i just said. if you read the stories, the source is obvious.

the source is obviously inside the administration. the president should read the stories. i wouldn't suggest the president would knowingly lie. i would suggest the president may not understand the consequences of his comments. >> sir, there's this bipartisan push, though, to find and root out the people who leaked this information. we saw the leaders on both intelligence committees together last -- last week as chairman rogers has called the doj investigation a good start. are you and senator mccain politic sizing this by pushing for special counsel before the investigation has even begun? >> i think we do need a special counsel. we need to look at this. i believe that two attorneys reporting directly back to the attorney general for a report that would happen maybe be finalized a year from now doesn't get to this quickly enough. and i'm glad to join senator mccain today in calling for that special counsel that will not be reporting to the president's cabinet, but will be independently looking at where this information is coming from.

it needs to stop. hopefully we're creating enough concern that it will stop right now. but damage has been done that will be hard to ever repair. >> senator roy blunt. sir, i know you've got to go to get back to work. thanks for taking time out this morning. i appreciate it. want to bring back in our power panel, jonathan capehart, alison stuart. richard, start with you. your estimation about how the senator and john mccain are taking on the president and the white house for what these proposed leaks or alleged leaks mean and the fact that they're looking at who benefits from these. it's only the president. so, of course, it has to be a source from inside the white house. and he potentially knows about it. >> republicans aren't going take advice from me, thomas. but to have john mccain, who lost to barack obama, and there has been kind of a bit of a sore loser aspect to a lot of things he said over the past several years. and roy blunt, who has been named by the romney campaign as his top intermediatey does not

seem smart. it makes it looks like they're making this political in a way that's rather unwise. they forget that the bush administration outed valerie plame, our lead person trying to root out loose nukes, the color-coded chart, remember, we used to live with? i think we realize now was kind of bogus. so i just think it's rather unwise. and frankly, it puts the focus on something i don't think the american people forget, which is how successful the president has been about putting al qaeda back on its heels, bin laden, the number two guy in al qaeda recently, all the drone strikes. which mccain said he absolutely wouldn't do when he was running in '08. so i don't think this is going to play out very well for the republicans. >> allison, does this remind people the fact that mitt romney doesn't have one to really run on? >> no. to the point of whether or not

this is a political witch hunt, it's not. we have top democrats also looking to seek answers in this. at the end of the day, the leak of classified information is a threat to the safety and security of our military personnel on the front line and back here at home. it also jeopardizes our ability to obtain important, valuable information from sources we have across the world. so this should not be happening. it should not be tolerated for any reason, whether or not it was to make the president look strong on foreign policy and national security, or whether it was because someone in the white house thought it would be cool to talk to the "new york times." it shouldn't happen, and we need to get to the bottom of it, and we're hearing these calls for search for the truth from republicans and democrats. and it needs to happen sooner rather than later. >> jonathan, i want to get your point. do you think this wreaks of hypocrisy for the fact that the right was silent during the valerie plame stuff back in 2003-'04. >> certainly. look. i think what's happening now as part of an overall effort by

republicans, by the republican party, the romney campaign, anyone associated with the romney campaign, to make the president look incompetent. to make him look like, as romney says, he's a nice guy, but he's in over his head. whether they can attack the president on the economy, foreign policy, his handling of national security, they're going to try to bump up against the reality. particularly on foreign policy and national security, that the president doesn't know what he's doing. but every time they have a chance to talk about the president's record or national security, he gets to remind people just how successful he is. >> jonathan capehart, alice stewart, richard goodstein, i appreciate you sticking around through the first block with me. a jury hears shocking details about jerry sandusky's alleged victims. but the former football coach's attorney tells a completely different story. plus, did a dingo really eat her baby? the final ruling from an australian coroner. [ boy ] come on. ♪

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new, powerful and emotional testimony in the sexual abuse trial of jerry sandusky. all of it coming today from victim number one who broke down in tears on the stand this morning as he recalled in painful detail the sexual abuse he allegedly suffered at the hands of the former penn state assistant football coach. victim one's ordeal is what sparked the 2009 investigation that ultimately led to this trial, which opened on monday, with an equally graphic and gut wrenching account from a 28-year-old man known as victim number four. john yang is live at the white house in bellefonte with the latest. john, let's talk about this morning and the testimony that we're hearing so far from victim number one. how does it match up comparing, contrasting with what we heard yesterday from victim number four? >> reporter: in terms of the details, thomas, in terms of the

pattern that the prosecution is trying to prove, we're trying to show the jury, it was very much the same. talked about how they met through the second mile program, talked about how sandusky gave this young man gifts, and then sort of escalated the contact from -- from slight physical contact to more intimate contact, to sexual activity. but in terms of emotion, these two witnesses could not have been more different. yesterday, victim four was very calm, very straight forward in telling his story. today, victim one who is now 18. so these stories or this incident is much fresher to him. was very emotional. sobbed through his testimony. had very halting, very emotional, had to take deep breaths before he began to tell the details of the story. occasionally he would sort of shake his head as if trying to clear the cobwebs or brace himself for what was to come.

it was a very emotional day. very emotional morning in court. jerry sandusky sat listening, sat watching him very closely. the jury was very attentive. at least one juror, i could see, had tears -- wiped away tears at one point. the juror also was much more emotional towards sandusky in the court. at one point shooting him a glance that i would interpret as being anger, as being sort of frustration and anger as he described what happened. now, in the direct examination, the prosecution also tried to -- inknock late him, as it were, against some of the defense claims. they brought out the fact that he failed to -- or did not tell everything, as the investigation got on. he said he was embarrassed. i just wanted to put it -- i just wanted to act like it never happened. i couldn't tell them everything. thomas? >> john yang reporting for us from outside the courthouse in bellefonte, pennsylvania. john, thank you.

in other news for you this morning, in contempt. attorney general eric holder now facing a house vote on the investigation into the fast and furious gun operation. but before that, getting another grilling right now on capitol hi hill. plus, what commerce secretary john brison remembers about his back-to-back car accidents over the weekend. but first, going for the gold in london is world freestyle wrestling champ jordan burrows, the 23-year-old who goes by the twitter handle, all i see is gold, is the favorite to win in his weight division this summer. he was the only american wrestler to take home a gold at the world championships and topped that with a win at the pan american games. the u.s. has won a gold medal in wrestling in each of the last two olympics. now, if burrows sees gold, he would make that three in a row in london. do you see it ?

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developing right now on capitol hill, attorney general eric holder back in front of lawmakers this morning for another round of questioning, telling republicans earlier that he's ready to sit across from house leaders to work out the differences stemming from the fast and furious investigation. >> we have reached out to chairman issa, members of the leadership on the house side, to try to work our way through these issues. i am prepared to make compromises with regard to the documents that can be made available. want to make it very clear that i am offering to sit down. i myself am offering to sit down with the speaker, chairman, you, whoever, to try to work our way through this. >> nbc capitol hill correspondent luke russert joins us now to talk more about this. luke, attorney general eric holder was grilled by congressman issa. today hearing it from senators. how much pressure is on the doj,

department of justice, from congressionalrons and now coming on two fronts, one on fast and furious, the other about the white house leaks? >> reporter: there is a lot of pressure on attorney general eric holder, because it greatly helps them politically. when they were able to come into congress, there was a lot of articles written about how darrell issa was going to be a thorn in the side of the obama administration. it didn't happen that much in the beginning and now that is starting to become true. eric holder today facing an intense grilling on the senate side, that is obviously run by himself democrats. but a lot of republicans, chuck grassley of iowa hammering on this fast and furious investigation. he's, as you saw in the clip, very open, saying he was willing to meet with the gop leadership, to, quote, avoid a constitutional crisis. and what is that? as of right now, over in the house, the oversight committee has a vote scheduled on june 20th to hold eric cantor in contempt of congress for not giving out information to congressional investigators about the fast and furious scandal. right now, he obviously does not

want to go through that. the last time that happened was in 2008 when house democrats voted harriet meres the president's counsel in being contempt for not being truthful with federal prosecutors under the bush administration. they don't want to go through that. but house republicans are intent on doing that now because they say eric holder has not been forthcoming enough. >> also, luke, being asked questions about the leaks, correct? it's kind of a double questioning, so to speak, with some people getting off topic about fast and furious. >> reporter: he is being asked about the leaks in regards to the al qaeda story that we saw about the foiled bomb, cyber attacks in iran that came out in the "new york times." what eric holder said about that, look, i've appointed two very dignified u.s. prosecutors, dianne feinstein who had been angry about the leaks said that was okay. some republicans said why not have a special prosecutor? eric holder said that would take time to assemble the team. let's take two prosecutors who are dignified and independent now and let them do it. >> nbc's luke russert, thanks.

arizona voters head to the polls today to pick a replacement for congresswoman gabby gif gabby giffords. what kind of impact she will have. and 18 years of economic gains wiped out across the board, but the middle class being hit the hardest. how americans lost 40% of their wealth. you can't argue with nutrition you can see. great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more processed flakes look nothing like natural grains. i'm eating what i know is better nutrition. mmmm. great grains. search great grains and see for yourself.

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...so what does it mean for you and your family? [ female announcer ] you've earned the facts. ♪ washington may not like straight talk, but i do. [ female announcer ] and you've earned a say. get the facts and make your voice heard on medicare and social security at earnedasay.org. today, former congresswoman gabby giffords will join ron barber at the polls in a special election she hopes will put her former aide into her congressional seat. giffords is one of the most popular political figures in the nation. but democrats are not taking a swing district in a red state for granted. rebecca sanders is the congressional reporter for the "arizona republican" and joins me this morning. this has been a long day coming for a lot of people that have been waiting to see who will take over for the remainder of the congresswoman's term. i want to start by reminding everyone how close this ways rasfor the district. in some recent polling has ron

barber up by double digits. could this be close? >> it looked like it was going to be close this whole couple of months this campaign season. it's a swing district with just slightly more republican registered voters. so it looked like it was a really tight race. that poll was very interesting to see yesterday. but both sides, democrats and republicans, say it looks like the race is going to be a little bit tighter than that poll suggested. >> okay. so it's been on a smaller scale. certainly smaller than what we saw in wisconsin. but outside money has certainly played a role in this race. take a look at this. this is an ad from the pro democratic house majoritypac come under some scrutiny. how do you think independent voters in and around arizona are interpreting this, in a crucial district, reacting to these ads that have infiltrated during

this campaign? >> well, certainly the democrats attack ads have largely focused on statements that jesse kelly made two years ago, particularly on medicare and social security. there's a lot of senior voters in this district, and that's a key issue for them. and so the -- my understanding is that they have had an effect, but jesse kelly has fought back by saying i've always promised to keep current recipients under this program protected. and i'm just talking about in the future reforming, giving people choices. >> so we're going to know more later tonight, but i want to read a quote from mark kelly about what his wife's political future may look like. he said, quote, absolutely at some points she could run, she is getting better all the time. it's certainly not going to be this term, and i don't know after that. rebekah, from your reliable

sources, what are you hearing about her future? is it in the district, is it possibly statewide? >> boy, everyone has been speculating about this. ever since the tragedy in tucson last year. mark kelly has said that there's a possibility she might form a political action committee to kind of try and help influence races on a national level. certainly her popularity in the district and in arizona remains high, as well as throughout the nation. but, you know, she is in deep recovery right now. and i think that's what most people just want her to focus on. but she definitely has not lost any of her strength in politics down here. >> rebekah sanders with the "arizona republic." great to see you. thanks for your time. >> thank you. a troubling report from the federal reserve is showing the wealth of americans has shrunk significantly becaus td it's sh

fact, after adjusting for inflation, the median family net worth in 2010 was no higher than it was back in 1992. get this. between 2007 and 2010, average net worth dropped more than $49,000. it was really bad among families that owned homes. the survey showing there that the median home equity plummeted by 42%. and i'm joined now by cnbc senior economics reporter steve liesman. steve, is the collapse of the housing market the main culprit responsible for this nose dive? and for so many american families, that has been the nest egg that people have relied on, where the largest value has been. or are there other factors involved in this? >> you know, there are other ack force. but clearly, housing is the primary factor. as you noted, middle class families took it on the chin. much worse than low-income or the wealthy. and it's not because they were middle class. it's because the middle class have so much of their nest egg and their net worth in housing.

i think the lesson here for individuals is the value of diversity that maybe too many people were too housing rich, an asset that declined sharply in value from this housing crisis. the wealthy, they're homes went down in value, but they also have big chunks of their net worth in assets like stocks and bonds. >> all right. so just from the street level, are we seeing any effect that these numbers are having? as i looked at the top of the show, it looked like green arrows across the board. >> today, the news has been soaking into wall street. and i think the issue is this. is that these numbers are a lot worse than we thought they were. other stuff we've used for the decline in housing comes from overall indices out there about the housing market. this is from a vast survey of individuals across the country. and they ask people, what's happened to the value of your home? so there's two things that we can conclude from this. one is that things are actually much worse than people think. or second, people just think things are worse. and that has an effect right now on people's attitudes. it shows us how far we have to come back.

and just another answer to the first question. the other thing we've seen is that the decline in incomes. that is certainly something that's affecting and hurting both the pocket books and the psyche of the american household. >> once bitten twice shy. cnbc's steve liesman. good to see you. here's a look at other stories topping the news now. commerce secretary john brison on medical leave of absence just days after the 68-year-old got into a pair of minor car accidents in l.a. reps say he suffered a seizure and has a limited recall of the events that happened. brison was cited for felony hit and run in the crashes. never booked, though. investigators found no evidence of drugs or alcohol. despite the efforts of crews on the ground and in the air, colorado's raging wildfire turned deadly. the blaze trapped and killed a 62-year-old woman who was unable to escape from her house in ft. collins. meanwhile, crews in new mexico are cutting back trees to keep the little bare fire from

spreading. crews mapping it say flames have destroyed 40 square miles of dry brush, including 45,000 acres at lincoln national forest. an incredible moment of legal closure out of australia for a mother wrongly convicted and later exonerated in the killing of her child. the coroner formally declaring that the baby was, in fact, killed by a wild native dog known as a dingo. little aczarria date in 1980 on an outback camping trip when the animal seized the child by the neck, dragging her away. the story was the subject of the 1988 film drama, "a cry in the dark," starred meryl streep and sam neil. so right now, just miles from where trayvon martin was shot and killed in february, governor rick scott's task force on citizen safety and protection is holding its first public meeting. the purpose of the meeting now under way at a church in longwood is to examine the state's controversial stand your grouped law. that law has been cited by

trayvon martin's accuser -- or accused killer, george zimmerman, who pleaded not guilty in the case, and is now in jail awaiting trial. nbc's kerry sanders live in longwood with more this morning. kerry, we understand trayvon martin's parents will be there presenting a petition in just a little while. what is it about this petition, when can we expect that to happen. >> reporter: it's probably going to happen around being 1:00, but this is the petition. they're all stacked up here. 375,000 americans to reform the shoot first laws. and they piled them up here, symbolically, in all of those boxes as an example of the way they believe the law should be addressed, which is they believe it should be changed. now, the commission does not come together here with any sort of agenda. as we take you inside here at the church, where they're holding this first meeting. and as you noted, it's just a short distance from where trayvon martin was shot and killed. they are examining 19 members, listening to testimony right now from law enforcement officers

about how florida's stand your ground law actually applies in real-world situations. there's been a judge today who presented evidence of how it's been applied in different cases. the real question is whether florida's decision to pass this law has taken it out of what most states have, and that is what's known as the castle doctrine. you know, your home is your castle, where you can protect your home. and whether it's taken it out to an area that maybe empowers people to become vigilantes. and so florida is considering that, of course, all with the ba backdrop of what happened with the still ongoing case of george zimmerman, accused of second degree murder of trayvon martin. thomas? >> certainly makes quite an impact, seeing those boxes for this petition. again, as you say, we'll look to that around 1:00 this afternoon. kerry sanders in florida. thanks. as we told you at the top of the show about senator john mccain and lindsey graham calling for a special prosecutor, into the white house leak. senator mccain has taken to the floor. let's go ahead and listen in.

>> has been articulated by many, both in and outside of the administration. including the most damaging that we have seen, including our director of national intelligence, saying that it's the worst that he's seen in his 30 years of service in the issue of -- in the area of intelligence. all of the ranking and chair members of the intelligence committees, the armed services committee, foreign relations committee and homeland security committees, have all described in this most strongest terms what damage has been done by these, quote, leaks. >> meanwhile, not that far away, and not that long ago, senator lindsay graham was asking attorney general eric holder directly about these leaks during a senate judiciary

committee hearing. take a listen. >> we're talking about -- >> special counsel, somebody new, other than these two people, that all of us could buy into. >> but senator, i mean, i think you're missing something here. the -- >> i think you're missing here. i think you're missing the fact that this is a very big deal. and you're handling it in a way that creates suspicions where they should not be. >> it was during that hearing that texas republican john cornyn called for eric holder to resign. we're going to be right back after this. stick around. with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

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in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so every piece of equipment knows where it is, how it's doing or where it goes next. ♪ this is the bell on the cat. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ marijuana legislation is gaining momentum, gaining momentum across the entire country. there are 17 states in washington, d.c. now authorizing medical marijuana. while 14 states have rolled back criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of that drug. and more lawmakers from rhode island to colorado are even considering legalization. i'm joined by ryan grim, washington bureau chief for "the huffington post," author of this is your country on drugs, the

secret history of getting high in america. ryan, great to have you here. obviously, this is something that is taking effect or looking at from coast to coast. people trying to get things to take effect. rhode island poised to become the 15th state to decriminalize marijuana possession. polls showing more people becoming increasingly tolerant of the proposals to legalize this drug. how long do you think this is going to be, you know, in the state conversation before this has to go national? >> you know, i think it's going to go national very soon. because what you have going on here is kind of two things working together at the same time. if you think about the way that, you know, gay marriage became kind of almost universally accepted, it was kind of generational unfolding that started, saying, in the 1950s with civil rights and just kind of every generation was more supportive of it than the last one. that's partly what's happening with marijuana, because as kids grow up, they see that older people had smoked marijuana, and they're doing just fine.

and then their kids come up and they see that all of the government propaganda from the 1930s wasn't exactly right. and so soon, almost everybody who is alive, say in the next 20 to 30 years, almost everybody is who is alive will have, you know, have had lifelong experience with marijuana. not necessarily that they've used it, but they have known people that use, and that makes them kind of immune to the government propaganda. but the other thing you have going on, though, what differentiates it from something like gay marriage, it's a stage of life thing. if you look at the polling out in 2010 when california voters rejected legalization, the group least likely to support it were people in their 40s. people in their 40s are also most likely to have kids who are about 12, 13 years old. and while it polls high among people that age, when they went into the voting booth, they voted no. and so there was something -- something happened when they went in the booth, said you know what, i support this idea, but i

don't support it for my kid and so they didn't go for it. >> the money, though. this is where -- this is where legislators are going to get on board with this. tying tax money to the legalization of marijuana. what do you think a world would be like where that actually exists, and legislators see that there is a benefit for the economy with a legalization of marijuana nationally? >> well, you could save 20 or $30 billion in costs of just waging the war on pot. and then if you taxed it, you could raise another 20 or $30 billion. so you're talking about, you know, 50, 60 billion swing over the course of ten years that, you know, that's 500, $600 billion. and that's actually real money. because right now, simpson/bowles and other commissioners are trying to trim $4 trillion over 10 years from the deficit. so you could get $500 billion of that right there by simply legalizing, taxing and regulating it. >> ryan grim for "the huffington

post." thank you. >> thank you. it looks like president obama has a friend confidante. golden girl betty white paid a visit to the white house on monday. the 90-year-old actress toured the white house, meeting the president. also meeting the first dog, bo. new jersey's chris christie reached an all-time high favoribility rating. the garden state governor hit 50% for the first time since he took office. congress's approval rating is also up. up to 17%. this is according to gallup. that's a seven-point increase from its all-time low of 10% back in february. hard to fall when you're on the floor. new york congressman michael grimm not so happy about a brooklyn's school decision to play a justin bieber song at graduation. according to the "new york post," the school is going to replace "god bless america" with bieber's "baby." grimm called it inan. president bush bush weighed in on the pop icon in an interview

with his granddaughter this morning on the "today" show. take a look. >> your socks have been making headlines. >> well, i like a colorful sock. i'm a sock man. this is a modest pair here today, subdued, you might say. >> reporter: and they have been comparing your socks to that of justin bieber. >> bieb? is he a sock man? >> reporter: he evidently is a sock man, just like you. >> i don't know much about the bieber. never see him. i don't know what he does. >> reporter: have you ever heard a song? >> no, how does it go? ♪ baby, baby, baby, oh >> is that his song? >> reporter: you know it. >> i don't think i like it. >> reporter: you like it. ♪ ♪ i was like baby, baby, baby oh ♪ ♪ like baby baby baby no wake up!

that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

so we're keeping our eyes on this developing story out of washington right now. attorney general eric holder being grilled by a senate committee on the fast and

furious gun program. as well as the national security leaks. just moments ago, senator john cornyn, republican from texas, made the bold suggestion that holder should resign. >> you violated the public trust, in my view, and by failing and refusing to perform the duties of your office. so mr. attorney general, it's more with sorrow than regret -- than anger that i would say you leave me no alternative but to join those that call upon you to resign your office. americans deserve an attorney general who will be honest with them. >> certainly no sign that holder is going to be taking up that suggestion but not that far away, just moments ago also, senator john mccain along with lindsey graham, together they're calling for a special investigation into those intelligence leaks by introducing a resolution on tol before, known as the mother of presidents. this year, the old dominion could hold the key to the kingdom for president obama and mitt romney.

obama won the state in '08 by taking most of its populated areas. can he pull off the same feat four years later? joining me is nbc news senior political editor, mark maurray. if we look at the spending for campaigning, there are three virginia locations among the top eight. so explain to all of us the stakes that virginia holds for each, for president obama and mitt romney. >> there's no surprise that the campaigns, the obama and romney campaign plus all the outside groups, are descending on the air waves in virginia. this is a very important state. in past elections, we talked about florida, talked about ohio. in 2012 it very well might be virginia. the stakes are for the obama campaign, if they are able to win virginia, that gives them so many more paths to 270 electoral votes. virginia plus colorado, plus nevada, that plus new mexico,

that gets you past 270. conversely for mitt romney, if he ends up losing virginia, then he gives obama more paths to 270. if he wins it, he makes sure the obama folks have to be able to win either ohio or florida. >> so as we take a look at the temperature right now in virginia, president obama currently leads in the state. this is according to the recent quinnipiac poll. as we see right there, virginia women, he's got the support of them by 51%. he also has 82% support from the state's african-american population. does the president hold this unstoppable demographic advantage in virginia right now? >> i'm not sure it's unstoppable but the democrats certainly -- demographics. you have 18% african-americans, a very young, highly educated population. that seems like president obama's base. that's why virginia is going to be a place where they will be targeting. >> mark, great to see you. thanks so much. so everybody knows, for the very

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president obama and governor romney are taking their messages to the people this week by visiting swing states, talking to swing state media outlets and holding closed door fund-raisers. it's tuesday, june 12th. and this is "now." joining me today, chris hayes is the host of a little program known as "up with chris hayes" here on msnbc and author of "twilight of the elites, america after meritocracy" which is on