and when called on the insinuations in the flyer, a schweikert campaign spokesman got to repeat the key phrase, saying, "the mail piece was clearly intended to say "both ways," taking the liberal and conservative side on issues. did we mention he going both ways? ben quayle goes both ways. did we say both ways? that's not what we went. you stay classy, republican party. you say classy with a "k." "first look" is up next. august heat. more attacks and name calling on the campaign trail. as a former president weighs in. special delivery. nasa receives amazing new images from mars, beamed from more than 154 million miles away. and dance diplomacy. secretary of state hillary clinton shows off her moves in south africa. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry, those stories and more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc.

we're going to begin this morning with a war of words. as the battle between president obama and republican challenger mitt romney intensifies, former president bill clinton is now jumping into the fray. clinton is criticizing romney over an ad that accuses obama of trying to undo welfare reform. nbc's claire leka is live for us in washington. she has more on this. claire, good morning to you. >> good morning to you, lynn. that's right. it's getting nasty on the campaign trail. now both candidates will continue their mission today to try to convince voters that they're up for the task of fixing the struggling u.s. economy, and high unemployment. mitt romney on a campaign stop at a manufacturing company in illinois took the gloves off, ripping president obama on a new issue, welfare. >> taking the work requirement out of welfare. that is wrong. if i'm president i'll put work back in welfare.

>> reporter: team romney is trying to get a new angle on the race, debuting this ad. >> under obama's plan you wouldn't have to work and wouldn't have to train for a job. they just sent you your welfare check. >> reporter: accusing obama of planning to gut welfare reforms made by president obama. former president bill clinton, in a written statement, slammed romney on the new ad, saying, it was misleading. >> from a policy standpoint, let me say that this advertisement is categorically false, and it is blatantly dishonest. >> reporter: the rhetoric is turning downright nasty with both candidates pointing fingers and calling each other names. president obama at a connecticut fund-raiser earlier this week. >> it's like robin hood in reverse. it's romney hood. >> reporter: mitt romney, on fox news a day later, answered the charge. >> we've been watching the president say a lot of things about me and about my policies. and it's just not right. and, and if i were to coin a term it would be obamaloney.

>> reporter: and both candidates are doubling down on their fund-raising in key states. and colorado is crucial. two new polls show that president obama is only leading romney there by a narrow margin. meanwhile, romney continues his function raising tour of drought stricken iowa today. he did cash in on a big fund-raiser in des moines last night. netting about $2 million. we're live in washington, i'm claire leka. lynn, back to you. >> all right, claire, thanks so much. elsewhere in politics the results are in from republican primaries in missouri and michigan. former michigan congressman pete hoekstra won the republican nomination for u.s. senate. this was overcoming a challenge from two republicans who questioned his record as a conservative. hoekstra will face democratic incumbent senator debbie stabenow who is seeking a third term. and to missouri congressman todd akin won the republican primary for the right to face incumbent

democratic senator claire mccaskill. among those trailing akin was former missouri state treasurer stair ra steeleman who had been supported by tea party favorite former alaska governor sarah palin. well, to arizona now where the man accused of shooting former congressman gabriel gafrd and 18 others last year outside a tucson grocery store pleaded guilty at a federal courthouse tuesday. government doctors pronounced jared loughner mentally fit and in court the 23-year-old told the judge he was the gunman who opened fire. nbc's jay gray reports from tucson. >> reporter: he was rushed back to the federal courthouse in tucson behind the tinted windows of this suv. once inside the courtroom jared loughner had nowhere to hide. his competent change of plea proceeding began with testimony from a prison psychologist who described loughner as a psychopath who heard voices and ranted incoherently when she first visited him after his arrest. but who now, after more than a

year of treatment, has become quote human, crying for the victims of the killing spree, es vegsly 9-year-old christina taylor green. evidence she concluded that loughner was capable of understanding what he's accused of and competent to stand trial. judge larry burns agreed and quickly moved forward with a hearing to consider a plea agreement. prosecutors waiving the death penalty in exchange for a guilty plea and a sentence for life in prison without any possibility of parole. the judge described in detail the violent offense of the day six were killed and 13 injured and referred to all of the victims by name, as he read the counts aloud. loughner responding after each, quote, i plead guilty. and burns accepted the pleas. >> we feel that this is a certain, just, and appropriate resolution of this case. >> reporter: official sentencing legal formality will take place in november. but it's nowhere near the end of the healing process for the victims or this scarred city. >> it's been a difficult day.

we -- we remember the six that aren't with us today. and it hurts. >> reporter: a pain, survivors say, that can't be eased by anything that happens in a courtroom. jay gray, nbc news, tucson. last night texas went ahead with a controversial execution of the mentally retarded man. after the u.s. supreme court refused to intervene. 64-year-old marvin wilson was sentenced to death in 1994 for the murder of a police informant. now wilson's lawyers argued he shouldn't have been eligible for the death penalty because of his 61 iq, well below the generally accepted competency standard of 70. a 2002 supreme court ruling banned executing mentally retarded people. but the ruling gave statewide discretion in deciding who qualifies. right now let's get a check of your national weather. for that we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins who promised us yesterday on the

east coast -- >> i don't promise anything ever. >> oh, please. >> i know better than that. >> you said we'd want to bottle the forecast. i did. >> you did bottle it? >> i wanted to. >> you're going to take it out everywhere. >> all right enough with the sarcasm, bill. what's the forecast? >> well, ernesto was the story last night. the first hurricane of the season. and right after it became a hurricane, made landfall in northern portions of belize and extreme southern portions of mexico in the yucatan. actually looked pretty healthy. we're lucky this thing went over land when it did because it was really starting to intensify and made landfall with winds of 85 miles per hour. located right at the center, right there. it's going to be heading into the southern portions of the gulf in about 24 hours. it could try to regenerate but it's not going to do anything too devastating. hurricane center does think it could become a category 1 hurricane again on thursday and make another land fall there in mexico. so mexico's going to have to clean up and the possibility of some significant flooding. back here in the lower 48 yesterday. another day in the youren through the middle of the country. 106 yesterday in oklahoma city.

there was very little rainfall throughout this region. there's a little more this morning. which is great. northern texas has got some rain this morning. we are 100 again yesterday in st. louis and in chicago, i hope you maybe enjoyed that 92. maybe the really last really hot day you have for awhile. today, only 84. this cooler air moving your way and when it hits the hot air we're going to have a chance of thunderstorms over the drought areas today, missouri has a chance of a good deal of rain, illinois, maybe even indiana. no rain for you in dallas today, though. looks like you'll still be about 104. and lynn, changes ahead. cooler fall-like air for the great lakes and for the northeast. as all the hot weather retreats to the west. so a big pattern change is under way. some of us will like it. >> all right. bill, thanks so much. coming up, stocks rise once again. why west coasters are about to pay more for gas. and facebook says place your bets. your first look at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. a 14 inning thriller and another homer for the hottest player in baseball.

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welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. here are some of the top stories making new this morning. syria's president bashar al assad made his first appearance on state tv in nearly three weeks. it came as the u.s. urged stepped-up international planning for the possible collapse of assad's regime. egypt's military says attack helicopters fired missiles on suspected islamic militants in sinai after an attack sunday that killed 16 egyptian border guards. egyptian army officials say it's the first time they fired missile in sinai since the 1973 war with israel. the american civil liberties union is threatening to sue a charter school if it doesn't change rules f s for requiring students suspected to be pregnant be home schooled.

nasa's newly arrived curiosity rover has sent back pretty amazing pictures. the first color photos of mars shows a fuzzy view of an ancient cratered landscape. also, a composite video shows the end of curiosity's dive to the martian surface. a belgian man took a pretty scary dive from one of the world's tallest water falls in peru's amazon jungle. he reached speeds of up to 125 miles per hour during basejump of more than 2500 feet before that parachute thankfully opened. all right now here's your first look at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. republican candidate mitt romney got confused in iowa when he mixed up two similar but very different words. "the washington post" reports romney spoke about the shootings at the wisconsin sheikh temple

when he meant to say sikh. david petraeus has no candidates to become a candidate for vice president. the spokesman says he will not seek elected office. the huffington post reports new york city mayor michael bloomberg is urging president obama to let all the bush era tax cuts expire at the end of the year. billionaire bloomberg says that would outfox the republicans and lead to an obama landslide in november. are you ready for another george bush candidate? yahoo! reports george prescott bush, the son of jeb and nephew of george w. says he may run for office in the future but has no specific plans yet. basketball legend michael jordan is among an impressive team of hoop stars who will participate in what the president's campaign is calling the obama classic. politico says other supporters on the court will be carmelo anthony and patrick ewing. a psychic adviser named tony leggett has done political palm readings. he says president obama's shows

he's flexibility, multitalented, and could be a very successful president. and he says mitt romney is clever with lots of ideas and has the hand of a quote plain-looking man. and in south africa last night, secretary of state hillary clinton had a little fun after a dinner hosted by south africa's foreign minister, she burned up the dance floor with the entertainers, and some other guests. good news there. that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. and now here's your first look at how wall street's going to kick off the day. the dow opens at 13,168, after adding 51 points yesterday. s&p was up 7. the nasdaq rose 25. taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo the nikkei gained 77 points. but in hong kong, the hang seng was down 7. now optimism kept wall street's recent rally alive on tuesday. the third straight positive day was led by strong earnings and continued hope for a euro debt fix. the s&p had its best day in three months.

despite those euro hopes, standard & poor's lowered its forecast for greece's long-term credit predicting a struggling company will need up to $7 billion more in aid. europe's crisis could also hurt tourism and that's why priceline says it has a disappointing outlook for the third quarter, despite a strong second quarter. washington is steaming mad over new york state regulators going after standard chartered bank, accused of laundering billions for iran. reuters reports local authorities didn't bother alerting the fed or the treasury department, which was already working on a settlement. monday's fire at a chevron refinery in california will likely send gas prices soaring on the west coast to over $4 a gallon. employers posted more job openings in june than they have in four years. however, companies have been slower to fill those spots. also slowing, the numbers of americans using credit cards. yet borrowing rose to a near-record high.

people don't just like eating food, they like reading about it, too. foot network magazine saw the biggest jump in sales among major magazines so far this year. cosmo, the big droeps. the avengers helped save the day for disney beating the street in the third quarter forecast. but amounts fell after hours on lower revenue expectations. and if you thought buying shares in facebook was a real gamble, get ready for this. the social media giant is now allowing online betting. there is a catch. it's only for users in england. all right, top news this morning, where a new study finds people with type ii diabetes who are relatively trim may not live as long as people who carry extra weight. surprisingly researchers found diabetics of normal weight were about twice as likely to die over a ten year period than the overweight. that remained after researchers took into account age, blood pressure, blood fat levels and smoking. and for more information on this and other health stories, you can check out the health

page at nbcnews.com. the rangers new fire baller checks in. the tigers war and a marathon game in baltimore. plus a spectacular catch sends one national into the wall. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. and in sports, a new texas hurler helped the rangers snap their losing skid throwing a near shutout victory over the

red sox. here's nbc's mario solis. >> good morning. when the rangers acquired ryan dempster they weren't expecting him to give up eight runs in his debut. last night he proved his worth in the second start for texas. dempster rebounded in a big way, six "ks" and pitching a shutout into the seventh. just misses a homer in the sixth inning, in comes the go ahead run. texas up 1-0. then in the seventh, kensler does it again, another rbi off the monster. dempster picks up his first win as a member of the rangers. they beat the red sox 6-3. mariners and orioles are having so much fun they played 14 innings. adam jones to right, casper wells is there but can't make the catch. that's your ball game. orioles win 8-7 in 14. a night after beating the astros in 11 the nats do it in 12. an rbi single up the middle. washington up 3-2. astros had a chance in the bottom of the inning, wallace

rips one to deep center. tracked down and hauled in for crashing into the wall. they hold on to win 3-2 in 12. another day another home run for the tigers miguel cabrera. he has now hit 1 in 3 straight games. he has 24 rbis since the all-star break. tigers beat the yanks 6-5 to philly ryan howard has missed most of the season but he's starting to shake off the rust. his fifth homer of the season against the braves. hamills does the rest. a five-hit shutout for the phillies ace. they win 3-0. and finally rays and blue jays, rodriguez with a comeback to jennings. look what i found. worth another look. not a lot of thinking it's all reaction. unfortunately not enough. rays win 4-1. that's your first look at sports, i'm mario solis. >> now for another look at the weather we check back in with bill karins with the weather channel forecast. >> besides what you think i actually do like to give people positive, happy forecasts. >> oh, i beg to differ.

you try to fool all those people at home. they're just innocent, though. >> yeah, yeah, someone is innocent in this room. good morning, everyone. we are watching these storms that are moving through the northern plains right now. the northeast is fine. the forecast quickly for today, another pretty nice day but the humidity is off. we should be about 93 in d.c. so still very warm all the way up through new england. the southeast a little drier, but right along the coast here you get some storms. now where the good news is coming from is in the northern plains. yes there are thunderstorms in the forecast, which is good, we need the rainfall. only 77 in minneapolis today. only 84 in chicago. kansas city only 90. i say only, after the summer you've had with a chance of rain. this is what we've been waiting for and this rainy pattern is going to continue it looks like for three days in a row. today near iowa, illinois, missouri, and then we're going to shift into the ohio valley with that rain tomorrow. and eventually into new england it looks like thursday, friday, possibly even into saturday. all the hot weather is out here in the west. so some areas that desperately need the rain, illinois/indiana are going to get some. >> all right bill, thanks so

much. just ahead the behind-the-scenes look at lady gaga and the new man in her life. and just what did teen star justin bieber do that had the english -- a girl can dream. has english demand he should be given a good spanking. let's keep it g-rated folks. your first look at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ cross ] i'm gonna finish what he started. ♪ consider the magnitude of what we're facing. ♪ [ male announcer ] "the bourne legacy." rated pg-13. and this is what inspires us to create new technology. ♪ technology that connects us to everything the world has to offer and vice versa. ♪ technology that makes lightweight stronger, safer,

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welcome back to "first look." it's time now for the part where bill karins interrupts me the entire way through entertainment news. >> let's go. >> jennifer lopez is suing her former driver for more than $20

million. lopez claims he tried to blackmail her, demanding $2.8 million in return for not telling the media and authorities all those secrets he overhears while driving her. >> i thought the partition goes up and they can't hear. >> they should. that's what i do in the makeup room. tmz reports it's a countersuit to a claim filed by the driver who charged he was forced to resign after being publicly berated by j. lo's manager. elsewhere lady gaga posted on her new website little monsters an instant picture with her boyfriend vampire star -- vampire dairies star taylor kinney. and finally -- do not expect prince williams -- prince william to invite justin bieber to the palace any time soon that's because the teen pop prince angered all of england when he joked about the real prince's thinning hair in roller coaster magazine. and he wondered why the royal highness hasn't done something about it saying, quote, you just take propecia and your hair

grows back. have you not got it over there? >> wait until the biebs gets -- >> it's like bad hair karma. >> the before and afters from when he's a teen and swoop down. poor biebs. >> watch it. watch it. i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned. "way too early" starts right now. democrats push back against mitt romney's attempts to paint president obama as the welfare president. the question is, are the negative attacks working? or are they just becoming white noitds? and as the fighting rages on in syria, president ba saw her article alabama assad appears on tv for the first time in three weeks sitting next to his new bff from iran who promises his country will stand by him against the u.s. what do they hope to accomplish by supporting this faltering regime?