we will. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. make room for savings with $37 basic installation on martha stewart living and platinum plus carpet. good morning, i'm chris jansing. presidential pivot. president obama wants to shift the conversation to the middle class. he'll make a big announcement from the white house today that he'd like to extension the bush tax cuts. only for people making less than $250,000 a year. >> for millionaires and billionaires, they don't need a tax cut. they're not struggling in this

economy. they've done well even as the middle class has shrunk. >> well, it seems like a guaranteed fight with congress. republicans have already staked out their position. they think that in a fragile economy, the bush tax cuts should be extended for everyone. >> you know, what we ought to be doing is extend the current tax rates for another year with a hard requirement to get through comprehensive tax reform one more time. >> dana millbank, washington post columnist. dana, battle lines are drawn. they've been drawn really but where does this go now? >> now they're just drawing them with a sharpie. >> as opposed to an erasable pencil. >> exactly. it's pretty set in stone. the whole thing here is, look, we're just a few months from the election. nobody's expecting any serious action to come through congress on this or anything else before the election. there's always a chance, and

very important for obama to change the subject away from these weak jobs reports to -- and the weak economy to something where he has an advantage. more of a populous cause. i don't blame him at all for trying this. it's going to be hard to change the subject and harder still to get something through. >> perry, governor rendell made this point for you. let me play it for you. >> i think it's good politics, clearly. take it to the congress, show the congress isn't reacting. is it good economics? well, it's fairness. doesn't bring that much money towards getting rid of the deficit. what would is if we didn't extension the bush tax cuts to anybody. given the economy, they don't want to do that. >> whatever dollar numbers involved, is this is an important political debate? is this an important way for candidates to differentiate themselves? >> it's difficult for president obama. you look at the job numbers on friday, what you're seeing is the economy is not going to dramatically improve by election day, so the president can't say, i've taken the economy and

revitalized it. what he wants to say is i have a better plan than mitt romney. you see the campaign talking about bain, swiss bank accounts, and cast romney as rich man's contest. romney wants to cut taxes for the rich as well as the middle class. >> and mitt romney is on the same page saying extend the bush tax cuts for everyone. dana, is there a disconnect? is that a problem for the president? is he in the minority? >> well, it may be better politics to just go after millionaires because it further paints the republicans into a corner. that's been chuck schumer's theory on all of this. in a sense, it doesn't matter because it's sort of arbitrary nobody is expecting this to get through anyway. they just want to have this fight. going on up there on capitol hill. as governor rendell was saying,

it's not -- doing it this way is not going to have any huge impact on the debt situation because republicans are going to say, look, the president is killing jobs, all these people are the job creators. that's very suspect. you already know what the response is going to be. >> and i think, you know, when you talk about the optics of all this, i wonder if it is a problem for mitt romney, who's in aspen today and who was in the hamptons over the weekend. i don't know if you saw this quote, it's getting an awful lot of quotes on twitter and the blogosphere at one of the hampton fund-raiser, hamptons evokes this rich folk kind of image. she said -- again, she wouldn't give her name. i don't think the common person is getting it. nobody understands why obama is hurting them. is that the kind of stuff that plays into essentially mitt romney's worst nightmare of an

image? >> i think it does. what we're going to see is most people in america already know who they're voting for. we're down to 10% of voters undecided and people that don't watch our program every day. low information, don't follow politics very closely. they follow images very carefully. when romney is jet skiing or on vacation a lot, that kind of thing, this is not helpful for him. he's trying to appeal to voters worried about their own economic conditions. i don't think these messages help him very much. >> let me bring in congressman keith elson, democrat from minnesota. good morning to you. >> good morning. we've laid out three different things. extend tax cuts for everybody, extend them for people making over -- under $1 million a year, under $250,000. what do you think is the right thing to do? >> well, 250,000 and above should see the tax cuts expire. the fact is if you want to do anything about deficit reduction, you have to have a

larger percentage than just over a million. so, i think that that's the right number. that's what the progressive quau cuss position has been, which i'm the co-chair of. and if you want to do something about deficit reduction, have you to deal with serious amounts of money and that's the way to do it. >> you have made the argument -- you've made the argument republicans will go to the matt mat to protect the rich. >> yes. >> and the tax cuts, that the president is going to bring back into the fore in just about an hour. let me ask you this, if you're sitting at home, got a couple three kids, some are in college, going to college, and you make $250,000 a year, you probably don't feel like you're sitting on piles of cash. what do you say to those folks? >> what i say is that taxes are necessary in order to provide basic services that you benefit from like public universities,

public schools, roads, quality quality, everything else. the government is running out of money because nobody wants to pay any taxes. so, we've got to pay taxes. this has to be how it's going to happen if you want to make sure that america works. if you've ever been frustrated because police response is too slow, fires are not being put out on time, there's too many -- not enough teachers in kids' classrooms, we have to come together as americans and say, what's good for america. that means we all have to put in. >> let me ask you about the bigger conversation going on right now because it is about the wealthy and those who don't have so much money, those who have been affected by this economy. we've seen democrats come out and they've continued to attack mitt romney over his money, over a swiss bank account, a bermuda shell koerngs cayman investments. is that relevant? >> yes, it is. i don't think the problem is just that mitt romney is rich. we've had rich leaders who had a sense of the common good, the

kennedys, roosevelt, people well to do but they identified with the average american person. the problem with mitt romney is that he's completely disconnected from the average american person. i mean, you know, the reality is, is that i haven't seen mitt romney say anything about how the republican program of austerity is causing us to lose public sector jobs. the reality is we've gained an anemic public sector but losing private sector jobs. i haven't heard him say anything for the public heroes of the police department and fire department and people who make sure our roads are drivable. i mean, he's diskeked. that's the problem. not just that he's rich but rich and alienated from most people. >> we just got confirmation. i want to get a quick reaction from you that the romney campaign raised $106 million in union. they've got $160 million cash on hand. does that concern you?

>> yes, it does concern me. i still believe our superior numbers will overcome their superior dollars. we have to knock on doors. we've got to go across america. we've got to get to that 10% in the middle who has every reason to see a successful america, which we won't have if romney is the president. yeah, i'm worried about their money but i'm mother worried about mobilizing grassroots of americans who need this government to work and need america to be successful. >> it's great to have you on the program. thank you for being here. >> i want to bring the guys back in and ask you about these attacks on mitt romney and his wealth and cayman and all that. here's the romney campaign response. quote, mitt romney had a successful career in the private sector, pays every dime of faks and given to charitable organizations and served numerous causes other than himself. barack obama has become a

politician willing to use dishonest attacks to save his job after failing to do his job. do you think there's a risk on the democratic side in making these arguments? do you think the american people are worried about how much money mitt romney has? >> i think the democrats have been worried probably needlessly so about pursuing that line of argument, like pursuing the bain line of argument. it's not that barack obama hasn't paid everything he owes in taxes but he's i will lus strative of the system for a guy that makes that money, padz over 15% in taxes. and it's also that -- the way he speaks about occasionally these are his own gaffes by saying he likes the ability to be able to fire people. so, it's a combination of how mitt romney talks and his personal wealth that makes him an easier target. so far the populous line has not

worked for mitt romney. there are a lot of middle class americans voting but it's not a reason not to make the argument. >> what do you think about that argument? >> if you look at the polls, basically nothing has changed. obama is ahead 47-43 in most of the polls and he was ahead that way three months ago too. it's not clear the bain stuff is hurting him. most voters, undecided voters don't know much about mitt romney so making the case he's a candidate of the rich is a way. we're in a period where romney is trying to define himself and obama does a good job of contrasting. last poll -- first thing they were asked about romney, first word they came up with is wealthy which is exactly what the obama campaign wants to show, he's wealthy and out of touch. that message is working right now. >> let me play for you, and i hope -- i skipped ahead on my control room but we have a couple of sounds there. of course my director, adam, is ready as can be. of this argument being made.

let's play that. >> there's been disturbing reports recently he has a bermuda corporation, a secretive bermuda corporation no one knows anything about, investment in the caymans, a swiss bank account. >> a shell corporation in bermuda. we know as a result of good investigative reporting he's had a bank account in switzerland and he's got investments in the caymans. >> the reason we know about these accounts is robert knows, the reason we know about these accounts is because they're on the tax returns mitt romney released and federal disclosure form -- financial disclosure form that mitt romney submitted. that's why we know about them. >> that's interesting, dana. he's saying basically, the reason that all this is even coming out is because mitt romney has been very forthcoming. >> that's true. this is why he didn't want to release the tax returns for all this time now. we know because everybody's going to be talking about switzerland and the cayman islands and bermuda.

the answer for my editors and yours to send us to those places to investigate. >> i couldn't agree more. perry, are you all in? >> i'm all in as well. >> i think some good investigative journal i is a great thing. dana millbank, perry, future traveling companions, thank you for coming on. meantime today, the democrats senatorial is expected to file a complaint against three big republican campaign groups. they're accusing them of violating federal elections law. to keep the names of their donors private, those groups are supposed to stay out of election airing. democrats argue they've been spending millions on ads attacking democratic candidates however the fec is unlikely to make a ruling fast enough to affect the 2012 campaign. trade. so we have ongoing webinars and interactive learning, plus, in-branch seminars at over 500 locations, where our dedicated support teams help you know more

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. out rage growing over taliban militants executing a 22-year-old woman accused of adultery. these are pictures of the woman just before she was shot repeatedly in the back in front of a crowd of men. nbc news has not independentpy authenticated this video, but it's out there just as secretary of state hillary clinton made a powerful plea for the rights of women in afghanistan. >> the united states believes strongly that no nation can achieve sustainable peace, reconciliation, stability and economic growth if half the population is not empowered. >> and the secretary told afghanistan that among other things, women's rights will need to be upheld for afghanistan to get $16 billion in u.s. aid. she also called democracy the key to economic growth while in mongolia and at a 70-nation conference in tokyo, she worked on frayed u.s./pakistani

relations and that's in the last 36 hours or so. let me bring in mira tandem, good to see you. >> great to be with you. >> a lot of people are talking about this article frank bruni wrote. >> you snap to attention when you spot her because she's such an improbableable survivor from hillary care to everywhere, a secretary of state as frequent flying and industrious as any after all these yoorsz she remains an erratic i coifed eni guess ma. now her standing has been soaring without a doubt. is she really the comeback kid of the family? what do you make of where hillary clinton is right now? >> hillary has always been a fighter and always been someone dedicated to public service. people are seeing that, i think. you know, there's a lot of

questions about what would happen in this tenure as secretary of state, but she's true to form. she's -- she works on problems every day. she tries to solve problems every day. she's at heart a public servant who's dedicated to improving the lives of the american people as well as the lives of people around the world. so, i don't think there's a big mystery here. she's always talked about these issues. she's always been a fighter for women and she will always be a fighter for women. i think this is just who she is. i've always been surprised by the speculation otherwise. >> in fact, a recent gallup poll shows that she has popularity at an all-time high, 66%, which of course is far better than president obama, who beat her, obviously, four years ago. so often, when these positive opinion pieces are written, they also talk about president clinton. do you think that's just inevitable? is it sexist? do you think she's really out from under his shadow now?

>> you know, for over the last decade she's had her own -- i think her own role. she was a senator from new york. a great senator from new york. and now she's secretary of state. these are jobs she's doing on her own. she got her own votes in the past. she's doing her own work now. so, i think most americans see her for who she is and judge her accordingly and think she's doing a great job representing the american people around the world. for good reason. because she is doing a great job representing the american people around the world. >> you know, she's already said she's going to be leaving her post after the president finishes this term as secretary of state. she can't stump for the president while still in that role. is there a way in which she can help him win in november? >> you know, i think foreign policy has been an incredible as is et for this president. >> one of his highest -- when you look at the polls, his highest rating, yeah. >> yeah. i think people recognize that he solved challenges we haven't been able to solve, obviously,

the killing of osama bin laden. but also that we have -- that the nation is leading. leading through alliances but leading very well. and i think hillary -- secretary of state clinton helps demonstrate that leadership. every time she's out there, people see, she may not be able to stump for him directly and say he's doing a great job as president and let's beat mitt romney, but she's able to demonstrate every day that kind of core leadership, that they're both demonstrating, both showing america can lead but we can lead at a time where the world is complex and there are big contrasts here between president obama and mitt romney on these issues. mitt romney has been much more belligerent towards our allies in a way that i think actually will scare a lot of americans as these issues become clearer. >> she's also said very clearly she is looking forward to being able to take a walk, for example, without an entourage. you know, she deserves to be tired. she's been working, as you said, for very hard, first as a

senator and traveling hundreds of thousands of miles. >> i can personally attest, no one works harder than hillary clinton. >> as secretary of state. but, you know, certainly her husband has suggested he might want to see her run, ed rendell has talked about it, nancy pelosi has talked about it. everybody has talked about it. what does your gut tell you? do you think once she's rested up she'll think about running for president next time around? >> you know, i think -- i think we should all take hillary at her word on this. she has committed decades, literally decades to public service and that she deserves a time-out and that there's a lot of ways you can help change the country for the better, even out of public service. she actually started off her years in the '70s and '80s as an advocate. people shouldn't confuse if she's out of public office she won't be doing things. she will be -- i assume she will be making an incredible contribution to the country and to making the country better,

even if she's out of public office. >> thank you for coming on. >> thanks for having me. also six of those nato troops killed in afghanistan over the weekend were americans. the taliban is claiming responsibility for the roadside bombing south of kabul. coalition and afghan forces have been trying to stop insurgents from using this particular area as a gateway to the capital. ♪ the one and only, cheerios [ male announcer ] if you have to take care of legal matters. legalzoom has an easy and affordable option. you get quality services on your terms, with total customer support, backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. so go to legalzoom.com today and see for yourself.

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alike. john hunn huntsman is going skip the convention next month. he reports he won't go to any convention until the gop focuses on, quote, bigger, bolteder, more confident future for the united states. this weekend after a long trip, the chair of the dnc took the opportunity to take a shot at mitt romney over his dog. >> good morning. >> i think that -- i think the headline of the day is you just drove 2,000 miles from florida up to new hampshire with four dogs, the cat, the kids and the husband. how are you, after all that? >> and lived to tell about it. and all the dogs were actually in the car, so i proved it can be done. >> speaking of road trips, i live in new york so i don't own a car but a story makes me think it could be a pretty good deal. it's about a retired school teacher from long island, new york, about to smash the record for most miles on a single car.

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we're just a little mother than an hour away from the president launching an effort to extend bush tax cuts for the middle class. this morning, stunning new numbers from his opponent. mitt romney's campaign just announced today they raised $106 million in june. they've got $160 in the bank. more is coming in because today the republican is holding several private fund-raisers in aspen, colorado, after spending a weekend in the hamptons. those include receptions, photo ops with the candidate, a cocktail party, a dinner. for anyone who kicks in between $2500 and $50,000. crossroads gps is adding to that kitty, $25 million campaign, aimed at shifting momentum if swing states.

still, a new "usa today"/gallup poll where voters have seen a deluge of ads still give the president the edge. joining me brookings fellow and national review and cnbc kudlow report contribute ir, robert kosta. good to see. >> you good to see you. can i identify myself with dana millbans suggesting earlier in the show -- >> i know where you want to go. >> we all need to go to bermuda and cayman islands to investigate all these tax issues. you can do your show from bermuda for a week. >> let's just go to the hamptons and cover the fund-raisers. >> let's not downgrade, shall we? let's stick with bermuda. seriously, $106 million, $160 million in the bank. do you think democrats are a little psyched out about these numbers or just use it to raise more money of their own?

>> both is the answer. i think they are a little psyched out. barack obama outraised john mccain by a lot of money last time because he stayed outside the formal presidential public financing system. that allowed obama to play in states he probably couldn't have played in otherwise such as indiana, perhaps north carolina. this time it's going to be more than a level playing field for republicans. now, i've talked to folks at obama super pac. they think the money is going to start coming in now. partly out of fear. i also personally think as long as obama stays ahead in the polls, some might say, well, maybe it's time to contribute. but where i think this money is going to matter is less in presidential than in congressional races where i think through the super pacs republicans will have a big advantage. >> we just got this in. this is politico. i don't have this confirmed from our folks at nbc but robert, $71 million for obama campaign last month.

a disparity of more than $30 million. is e.j. right, it's going to be on who controls the house and senate? >> no. because romney was mired in primary for months, trying to get out rick santorum and newt gingrich, he had to play catch-up. romney is trying to catch up to the obama machine. obama never had to deal with a primary so i think obama is in a strong position. if you look at the tv buys, obama is already up in swing states, more than romney. obama has a larger staff. this is mitt romney trying to assert himself as a general election candidate. >> i have to tell you, e.j., i just spent four days in ohio. i didn't wch a whole lot of television but it was blistering hot so more than i normally would. i frankly got sick of commercials. i saw commercials 10, 12 times over the course of just a couple of days. and i wonder at what point it's the point of diminishing returns

on all this? i hear a lot of people saying they're sick of it, although on the other hand, they can quote some commercials verbatim. >> it's one of the reasons the obama people were smart to go up early to redefine obama. you have both the "usa today"/gallup poll and earlier the nbc/wall street journal poll that show the obama adds seem to be more effective in moving voters away from romney or toward obama. and i think that's because the obama ads were trying to go after a core romney's strength as a business person, providing people with new information or new spin on this because at a certain point, especially as you get toward the general election, it's going to be wall to wall ads for every office you can imagine. so i think early spending was smart on the obama campaign's part for the very reason you say. >> let me ask you about this and

this is from apparently a fund-raiser john boehner went to. june 30th in west virginia. >> the american people probably aren't going to fall in love with mitt romney, he reportedly said according to roll call. the american people probably aren't going to fall in love. i'll tell you this, 95% of the people who show up in november are going to show up in that voting booth and vote for or against barack obama. do you think that's right? >> i think that's exactly right. this is going to be a referendum, i think, on the president. you're not going to see romney try to make a huge contrast in every single policy front because boehner is hitting on the main part of this election. it's about the economy. it's not really about is mitt romney -- >> doesn't say much about mitt romney. b, doesn't very to come out with more of a plan at some point if. >> he has to be more specific. conservatives are asking him to get more specific on policy. boehner is saying, he doesn't need to be bill clinton in terms of charisma, chris christie

punching at the president. he has to be solid, have a steady economic message and that will be enough to win. you don't have to love him just agree with him and think he's the better choice. >> go ahead. >> i was going to say, it's never a good thing when one of the most important leaders of your party says, well, you don't have to fall in love with our candidate. and i think what you are seeing now, in those advertisements, romney has been hitting on his core point. the economy's lousy. obama didn't fix it. try me. i think there's a limit to that appeal. i think the voters who believe that are already with romney. the reason i think he needs more specifics or more personal stuff about himself is just to persuade voters who haven't decided yet or who could be swung there's a reason to vote for him. he's not there yet. >> e.j., i'll see you at the airport. >> excellent. a week at least. >> thanks so much, guys. appreciate it. >> thanks. also making news, the heat wave that gripped the midwest

and east coast finally appears to have broken. but for farmers in the heartland and in turn for all of us when we go to the grocery store, real relief may not come until there are soaking rain. nbc's john yang is at a corn and soybean farm in southern illinois. how bad is it there, jon? >> reporter: the asked the impact of the farmers. this picture tells the story. these corn plant this time of the year should be eight feet high. the farmer here says he hasn't seen a decent rain here in about three months, since april 14th. all across the corn belt farmers are saying their crops are just about a loss, total loss for this time of year. listen to farmer jim nice of kansas. >> a rain today isn't going to do us any good. it's over with on corn. mother nature hasn't been very good to us this summer. >> next year before we can start over again. and we will have to make big adjustments economically.

>> reporter: anticipating a shortage, the corn -- the price of corn, corn futures, has shot up 35% in just the last three weeks. that's going to translate into higher prices at the grocery store for things like cereals, for tortillas, corn chips, that sort of thing. of course, corn is used in a lot of other products. you can see the ripple effect going on. now, a lot of farmefers and agricultural are comparing it to the 1988 drought, the last disastrous drought the united states had. total losses from that drought, $39 billion. >> thank you so much for that snoop. pom singer usher is said to be at the bedside of his 11-year-old stepson who doctors now say is brain dead after an accident yesterday. tmz reports the boy was riding on an inner tube in a lake in atlanta when he was hit by a jet

ski. kyle glover is the son of usher's estranged wife. antiterror officials say they're hunting a british woman who they say is recruiting female terrorists on the african continent. she is reportedly a widow of one of the suspects in the 2005 london bombing. the 28-year-old is suspected of recruiting and training female attack squads in somalia, having fled kenya after police in mumbai. in the middle of a heated debate in syria in jordan, check this out. first he throws a shoe and then pulls a gun on one of his critics. the show's host to-h to separate the two while the audience just watched. this happened last friday but the video just now going viral. this morning, look at this cool new look at the red planet. nasa's mars rover "opportunity"

sent us this panorama during a four-month-long martian winter. this is made up of 817 compiled image as. "opportunity" has been collecting data on mars since 004. a terrifying fall when a daredevil goes nearly 700 feet down from his tight rope. we'll tell you what happened when we go "down to the wire" in 15. be on the lookout for a virus that could impact thousands of computer users today. cnbc's jackie deang less has details in what's moving your money. >> good morning to you. could be a problem for some users whose computers were hacked more than a year ago and internet providers that service them after the fabulous began shutting down servers atted my night that were a temporary safety net to keep infected computers online. to find out if your computer is infected go to www.dcwb.org. one way that millions of

folks beat the heat over the weekend was at the movie. "magic mike" came in at number five. "savages" number four, with a little more than $16 million. "brave" hanging in there, $20.2 million. the raunchy teddy bear movie "ted" pulled in $32.6 million. but the winner, hugely at the weekend box office, the amazing spider-man. $65.5 million this weekend. more than $140 million since its release last tuesday. eligible for medicare?

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little or no chance of becoming law. joining me now, congressman sandra loven, democrat for michigan and ranking member of the how ways and means committee. good morning. >> good morning. >> the romney camp is in tune and and drawing a line in the sand, they're saying. this is what we stand for. this is how it's different from what the democrats stand for. is that a smart political move? >> now, they're out of tune with the american people. they want to defend tax cuts for the very wealthy. sacrificing tax cuts for middle income families. they want to eliminate health care coverage that means so much. we passed a health care bill that provides insurance for kids under 26 and parents to get rid of preexisting conditions requirements for kids, to help seniors and they essentially wanted to wipe all that off the books. they're out of tune with the american people. they may be in tune with their

very, very radical base but not with everybody else. >> do you think they might gain some traction because there was some indication early on that people were concerned about the mandate, concerned about what it would mean to the deficit, concerned about how expensive it would be. do you think they could turn this into a winning issue? >> the last person who could do that is mitt romney. the bill we passed is very much consistent with, in fact, is tailored on the health care bill in a sense obama care is romney care. so, he's been all over the map on the mandate. especially when it comes to health care. i think he virtually believes in nothing and so he'll say anything. >> let's talk about what went on yesterday because in an hour we'll hear from the president and he wants to extend tax cuts for people making less than $250,000 a year.

the republicans who said they want it to be everyone across the board but they're clarifying. dave camp said they want to clarify that they want to extend all the tax cuts for one year to give time to work on comprehensive tax reform. does that change your feeling about their proposal? >> no, for two reasons. first, we should not extend tax cuts for wealthy in this country. it costs a lot of money. increases the deficit. doesn't promote economic growth. secondly, when it comes to tax reform, the camp has set a figure of 25%. it has never said how he would get there. that would help the very wealthy. to get there you'd have to take away, for example, the mortgage interest deduction, all provisions that promote health care, all provisions that help education, charitable contribution deduction.

no, i think just saying tax reform as an excuse for extending tax cuts for the very wealthy. that doesn't wash. it's out of tune with the american people and what we need. they should be bringing up bills relating to economic growth. the ways and means republicans have been sitting on proposals that they once agreed with to help promote economic growth. that's the question. why don't they do that. their focus november 6th -- >> they're obviously disagreement about tax extension, bush tax cuts. is there any room for agreement, congressman? >> yes, the president is laying it out this morning. we all agree on extending tax cuts for middle income families. let's do it. >> congressman, it's good to have you on the program. >> nice to be with you. hollywood has lost another legend. ernest borgnine dade yesterday in los angeles at the age of 95.

he won as oscar for his role in 1955's "marty" but to baby boomers most known for "mchale's navy" and this morning he's being remembered on twitter. ernest borgnine was helpful to me when we worked together on wagon train, before star trek. a good man, r.i.p. nickelodeon tweeted this fact, did you know he was the voice of mermaid man on "spongebob squarepants"? ovider is different

but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company by continuing to help you do more and focus on the things that matter to you.

a big scare, a big catch and a close call. down to the wire. mother nature can put a scare into the toughest guys, eveven athletes. fourth inning of rangers/twins game when thunder clouds sent

players scurrying for dugout. heck of a catch by a 10-year-old was caught on tape. hunter stevens reeled in a bull shark off the coast of galveston, texas, over the weekend with a little help from his dad. he got it on shore. after posing for a few pictures, the family decided to release the shark back to the water. close call for a tight rope walker in china. the acrobat was walking backwards on a line that reached a height of 667 feet at its highest point. his eyes covered. he slips and falls. fortunately, he was near the end of the walk so he didn't fall all that way. he said he was feeling faint and slipped because of the wind. i think walking that high would make me feel fantd, too. nothing says i love you like the annual wife carrying world championships in finland. throw the ladies over your shoulders, guy. go through the obstacle course. about three football fields long. fourth year in a row, the winner was from finland. that wraps up this hour .

>> reverse tandem move with the wife seems to be more popular. coming up this next hour. president obama draws battle lines over the bush tax cuts. he'll ask congress to extend them for people making less than $250,000 a year. he says it will help the middle class. we'll cover his white house news conference live and on you power panel will weigh in throughout the hour. a trial in texas over a voter i.d. law that accepts a concealed handgun license as valid but not stay tuned i.d.s. is this an effort to disenfranchise young voters. sn. casey anthony's attorney makes shocking allegations. who she says murdered her daughter. sending taxes through the roof and hindering economic recovery. the consequences? millions of americans will see their taxes

on dividend income spike, slowing investment in u.s. companies and jeopardizing development in energy projects that create american jobs. ask congress to stop a dividend tax hike -- for all of us.

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this hour we'll take you live to the white house where the president will make a statement about that, calling for a one-year extension of the bush tax cuts for people earning less than $250,000 a year. we're also getting brand new fund-raising numbers. team romney swamping team obama when it comes to campaign cash. we'll bring you those new figures in a little bit. first, the president's announcement in the white house east room later this hour. he'll be flanked by middle class workers and families that he says will benefit if those rates are extended. this opening salvo sets the stage for another showdown with congress over taxes. the president is at odds with republicans who want a year-long extension on all of bush tax cuts. it also conflicts with some democrats who want the cuts extended to all who earn less than $1 million. the president senior campaign adviser telling "morning joe" today cuts for the rich are just not working. >> tax cuts that have never, quite honestly, worked in creating jobs. they've run up our debts and our