the poison ricin. mayor bloomberg getting similar type-written threatening notes. and this morning, michael bloomberg saying he feels perfectly face. while speaking on his radio show, he says he faces more danger from lightning than from anything else. let's get to pete williams. what can you tell us about how who officials are talking with now? >> what the mayor says right to me, the lightning isn't screened at an off-site facility and his mail is. it's important to point out that these letters were never actually received by the white house or by city hall, because all the mail to the president and the mayor and many other government officials is screened at off-site facilities. none of these letters, it's important to emphasize, presented the any kind of threat to the people that they were addressed to. the only letter that did get through was the one to the government official -- or the official of the gun rights organization, the gun control

organization here in washington, d.c. but officials say the ricin in it was very low-level and not much of a hazard. the fbi is questioning a man in texas in the texarkana area, new boston, texas, to see if he had any involvement with these letters. but the officials are not calling him a suspect. they're moving very carefully, very deliberately in this case, before they will say whether he had any involvement or not. >> justice correspondent pete williams with the latest for us. thank you. >> you bet. we mentioned the president will push congress today to address the problem of student loans. right now interest rates are at 3.4%, and without action, those rates will double on july 1st, to 6.8%. now, the white house says the president's plan will save the average college freshman, who borrows, on average of $27,000, $4,000. that's the amount of savings. the white house also claiming the house republican plan would cost that same student $200 more

than if the rates rise to 6.8%. i want to bring in "washington post" columnist ruth marcus and the "national journal's" hotline editor, reid wilson. let's start with you, ruth. the house passing a plan to link student loan rates to financial markets, something the president agrees with. but here's the difference. the president's plans would lock this rates for borrowers. the gop plan allows adjustment but then sets a cap. when you look at the data here, are these two sides really that far apart? >> it's unclear whether they're far apart, but one thing that is clear is this is a very hot-button issue for a lot of people, as somebody who's got a daughter who will be a freshman in college next year, i can tell you that from personal experience. and the thing that this argument feels reminiscent of to me is not just the last time we had this threat about student loan rates, but a little bit, the issue with air traffic controllers and the logjams.

if there's one thing that congress is responsive to, it's constituents who are well-conducted and loud and this is one of those issues where people can be really loud about it. and so you're just going to see a jockeying for political advantage on both sides in terms of which deal is better. i think that to some extent, just as a political matter, the president may have the better of the argument in terms of, you're going to have to pay more now. that's always, that's always kind of a winner with consumers. >> well, reid, listen to what ruth says here. john boehner, spokesman echoing some of those sentiments, saying, this is a way to change the subject from the growing list of scandals. saying, picking a fight out of thin air where there's policy agreement isn't going to get the white house out of trouble, end quote. is he right? >> well, this is certainly taking on a political element. the democratic congressional campaign committee today is launching newspaper

advertisements in college newspapers in places like, you know, unlv in las vegas, where congressman joe heck represents that district. clark college in southwest washington, congressional college campuses all around the country that are in republican districts. this is something democrats feel they can claim a little advantage on. and let's not forget, too, that aside from minority voters and women voters with whom republicans didn't do very well in 2012, younger voters, too, overwhelmingly backed president obama and the democratic ticket. this is sort of a generational fight that at the moment, democrats feel like they have the upper hand on. and over the long term, republicans are trying to repair these relationships with voters right in that age, the people who are either getting student loans now to go to college or repaying them after they've graduated. >> both sides having something to gain at the moment. reid and ruth, stay with me here. i want to bring in congressman chris van hollen, a democrat from maryland.

congressman, always good to see you here. you know the headline on "the wall street journal" editorial today, obama student loan props. the president picks a phony fight over negligible differences. how far are both sides here? we were talking about this a second ago with our journalist panel. is this something that can be worked out? >> richard, i hope it can be worked out, but this should be clear, these are not just political differences, there are fundamental policy differences between the two proposals. and they are two big ones. republicans have proposed what amounts to a variable rate. so students would be on the hook and at risk for spiking interest rates. that means they'll have to pay a lot more and can't lock themselves into a stable interest rate, number one. number two, the republican proposal seeks to use the money from students, in other words, to hit students harder, in order to help reduce the ten-year deficit. the president doesn't do that. he has a deficit neutral ten-year plan. so he's not asking students to pay more to reduce the deficit.

he's asking us to close corporate loopholes and other things to help reduce the deficit. so there are fundamental policy differences. again, i hope we can work them out. >> republicans are saying, you're looking at a maximum of 293 basis points increase, effectively, being very similar numbers here. >> you're talking about the one-year numbers. the next-year numbers. but both the president's plan and the house republican plan actually are like ten-year plans. they would change the way we deal with student loan over a long period of time. and, in fact, we should come up with a long-term plan. that's a good idea. but there are these fundamental differences that i just explained between the two long-term plans. and one would leave students very vulnerable to rising interest rates and the other one would not. >> now, republicans are also suggesting today's event, which we are going to go to, is an attempt here to try to change the subject from the scandals, the controversies, and not just

benghazi and the irs. here's what your colleague, luke messer, had to say. take a listen. >> the real threat that college-aged students in america today is not a few more dollars on their student loan, it's the fact that the explosive growth of debt, the fact that the jobs in this economy, for young people entering the marketplace, have been the people probably most hurt by the obama policies. >> so the event we're about to go to in about 13 minutes, is it designed to distract from other things? >> not at all. look, if we don't fix this problem, starting july 1st, a big group of students is going to see their student loan interest rates double. and so we've got to fix it. in fact, time is running out. the president actually has waited some time to sort of raise the stakes on this. he had his plan in his budget. but now we're engaged in this discussion, and i hope we can resolve it. but to suggest that this is an effort to distract attention

from other issues is a bunch of nonsense. because if we don't fix this issue, people are going to be stuck with these higher rates in just a few months. >> congressman, i want to move to a subject that continues to percolate. that's the issue of attorney general eric holder. we know he held meetings with several news organizations over the leaks. nbc news chose not to attend that. do you agree with the way he's handled the investigation into these leaks so far? >> well, i think we should get to the bottom of all of these issues, but i think the attorney general is trying to bring in the press, to try to get a better understanding of how we should proceed together in a way that both preserves the very important first amendment rights to the press, but also make sure that we don't have leaks of national security information that could endanger the lives of americans. either at home or overseas. and i would hope that we would all agree that those are both important goals and we should figure out the best way to make sure we try to meet the two of

them. >> should we be let go? >> no, of course not. the attorney general has not, in any way, you know, broken the law. there are questions about whether or not these investigations were conducted in the most sensitive way to meet the test of those two issues i talked about. but the reality is, the white house, the president, the executive branch, all of us have an obligation to make sure that important and sensitive national security information, that can put american lives at risk, is not leaked. and we can do that, i think, consistent with protecting the very important right of first amendment and rights of the press. >> congressman chris van hollen on a friday, thank you, as always, for your time. >> thank you. >> i want to stay on the subject, but first let's play some of the comments from jur journalis journalists after the meeting. >> they expressed a commitment

to making changes to the guidelines in issuing subpoenas and possible changes in the statutory act. >> it's the beginning of a conversation. i'm not sure anybody's satisfied until we know what happens, but it was a starting point. >> it was a starting point, reid, and we know that there are more meetings coming, one today. and eric holder is looking at making change to policy, so has been said, making it tougher for prosecutors to get reporter phone records. what's your takeaway of what we've learned so far? >> well, as you say, there are more meetings happening today. i don't think anybody in the media is terribly thrilled with this. eric holder has been a lightning rod for a long time for the conservative side of d.c. now the sort of the fourth estate is getting involved too and questioning his behavior and actions. and this is not going away. you know, president obama doesn't fire a lot of people and eric holder is one of the few cabinet secretaries who has had lasted into the second term. you know, i doubt there's a change coming soon in terms of personnel, but hopefully there's some change coming out of d.o.j.

in terms of some of these policies. >> ruth, what's your impact on that, thought on journalists as well as doj? >> sure. i think that meetings and discussions about this are good. i think the fundamental problem stnt that the guidelines for how the justice department deals with reporters and subpoenas to reporters, i don't think those guidelines need to be changed, as much as they need to be applied in which the spirit which they were written. which is a spirit of really understanding what we need to be able to do, to do our jobs, and yes, leaks can be a problem, and the government can responsibly investigate leaks, but just as the associated press went to the government responsibly and said, we have this information, let's talk about it, the government just didn't give the associated press the same courtesy in terms of, we need this material, let's discuss how to get it, let's bring in a judge. the one thing i would say is, i

don't think that the attorney general holder is going anywhere, anytime soon. i think he's very close to the president, but the president was very, very upset about the, not just the ap case, but the james rosen case. and he really wants changes in policy. >> and this on whether rules are applied consistently and confide confidently. ruth marcus, thank you so much. an arizona mother is now back on american soil after being released from a prison in mexico. yanira maldonado was released late last night. she was arrested last week after police say they found almost 12 pounds of marijuana under her bus seat. >> i'm very grateful that i'm free. someone put that in there and i sat in the wrong seat. >> maldonado was cleared after security video showed she only brought bottles of water and blankets on board the bus. [ musick ] i knew there were a lot of tech jobs

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a rally in chicago on immigration reform kicks off in a few hours. it's led by the service employees international union or seiu. former president george w. bush remarked on the issue on thursday, saying in a "huffington post" interview, quote, i think the interview, unlike when i tried, is better, maybe for the wrong reason. the right reason is it's important to reform a broken system. i'm not sure a right reason is that, in so doing, we end votes, end quote. yet a new quinnipiac poll reveals 71% of americans believe democrats and republicans in congress will not be able to work together to achieve immigration reform. joining me now is democratic congressman, luis gutierrez, who's giving the keynote address at the chicago rally i was mentioning. congressman, good to see you. >> good morning, richard. >> so how will your remarks today deal with the lack of

confidence that a deal can be reached, that i was just describing in that poll? >> well, you know what, nothing happens inside washington, d.c. unless there's a consistent and persistent push from outside of washington, d.c. i think we've had some good news this week. i think former president bush is absolutely right. things are better today. i worked with him and in 2005, 2006, 2007 to get immigration through the congress of the united states. we're in a much better position. and i think what he is referring to is that then it was more for the right reason. there wasn't an electoral response, right? i think there is an electoral response, given 2012, and the shellacking republicans took. but i also believe that like george ryan, when he came and joined me here in chicago mooa month ago, i wanted to do it because it's the right thing to do. i think that has to be the operating incentive, the right thing to do.

if you do it for politics, you can win or lose depending on the advantage or disadvantage. it has to be about value. >> one who is working for senator marco rubio, in a group called for california's population stabilization, now running ads in florida, attacking senator rubio. take a listen. >> this is an sos from the people of california to the people of florida. save our states. your senator, marco rubio, wants to bring in million more immigrant workers to take our jobs. >> and now rubio has publicly said he wants changes to the immigration bill he helped to craft himself and his office even sent around a memo that had a list of some 21 concerns or so and possible changes to the bill that he helped write. is he backpedaling? >> you know what, the ad, first of all, the ad, it's the politics of yesterday, right? it's already been discredited. the american public are for comprehensive immigration reform. i understand some of the pressures that senator rubio --

i feel them from the left, when you people say, you're giving too much -- >> but do you get a sense here, congressman, he may be starting to take a step back from this because of this pressure? >> you know, maybe, i don't know how he's communicating with people. i know he took a bold, courageous step forward, and my hope is that he will stand firm. because here's what happens, right? senator rubio, i believe, really wants to get this done. if you move the bill too far to the right, you're going to lose democrats. we saw that happen in 2007. it just collapsed, when then senator bob menendez says, i'll have nothing to do with it, and other democrats walked away. we can't walk too far to the right, because we need a balance. bipartisans. >> let's get to you. you're currently negotiating a bipartisan immigration reform bill in the house. and you said if you didn't see it rolled out by the end of the month, you're not going to see it rolled out. today's the day. will we see the version be rolled out? >> why is it that reporters

always put me in these predicaments? i mean -- >> you said it. >> you put me the in a corner, even though i'm a 20-year veteran of the congress of the united states, but i'm still -- listen, spoke to my colleagues yesterday, had wonderful conversations with part of the leadership, republican leadership yesterday. the bill is moving forward. i can't wait to get back. i mean, i really hate these recesses. it allows me to work in my district and be here in chicago, but it doesn't allow me to really communicate. >> will we see you the week after the recess has ended? >> it is my hope -- look, there is very little that needs to be figured out here. i think we're real, real close. >> congressman, when do you worry? when does it get too late? is it next month? >> you know what, look, we can -- let me just say and put this out there. nancy pelosi came to chicago two days ago and he said, bill can get passed in the house, optimistic, and i think we can get it signed by september.

so -- >> why september? >> that's what she said. why don't i just say i agree with the madame leader. that way the next time, richard, you have me on the program, at least i can pull away. >> you've got some time now. congressman luis gutierrez, good luck to you in your speech today. always good talking to you. >> thank you. >> we're waiting for president obama to speak at the white house. he's expected to call on congress to pass an extension of a program to keep student loans lower. as soon as he begins speaking, we'll take you right there live. [ female announcer ] the best thing about this bar it's not a candy bar. 130 calories 7 grams of protein the new fiber one caramel nut protein bar. investors could lose tens of thousands of dollars on their 401(k) to hidden fees. is that what you're looking for, like a hidden fee in your giant mom bag? maybe i have them... oh that's right i don't because i rolled my account over to e-trade where... woah. okay... they don't have hidden fees... hey fern. the junk drawer? why would they...

is that my gerbil? you said he moved to a tiny farm. that's it, i'm running away. no, no you can't come! [ male announcer ] e-trade. less for us. more for you. all right. straight to the white house. kristen welker, our white house correspondent there watching what's happening. the president about to speak. what do you expect to hear here? >> reporter: well, richard, he's going to come out and call on congress to keep student interest rate loans low. they're currently at 3.4%. if congress doesn't act, that will double on july 1st and go up to 6.8%. here's where the partisan bickering comes in. the house just passed a bill that would keep interest rates low and loan rates low for students and it's similar to what the president is calling for. they both tie student rates to the yield on ten-year treasury

bonds. however, they differ because the president's locks the loan rates in place, so the white house has threatened to veto the house bill. members of the house today say that the president is purely staging a political event by holding this, trying to shift the conversation away from controversies like the investigation into the department of justice and the irs. either way, we are headed for another big showdown here in washington, d.c., as they begin to debate the particulars of this. again, the deadline is just 1st. i can tell you that education officials, richard, say it's great that they're focused on this issue, but that the larger issue is one of the rising costs of tuition. tuition has increased by 85% since 2003. and that is for public colleges. so education officials really urging washington to focus on that issue as well. this white house, though, lakik to be able to shift the

attention away from the controversies that i just mentioned, so we'll probably see more events like this and also more events on the economy. that is an issue the president wants to be talking about right now. if you look at the polls, it's still the number one issue for voters. so as you can see behind me, the students have gathered. we expect the president to come out of the oval office and to press dong to act and i expect that we will get some rapidfire responses from members on the hill today. they are, of course, watching this quite closely as well. >> so we're within the two-minute warning right now. the president, as you mentioned, about to come out. you're right there with him. one of the issues that has been brought up in this debate is pay as you earn. basically, for students, they can pay when they're able to pay, based on a specific percentage of how much they're earning. that's also an issue that has been talked about in the debate over student loans. >> it is. and look, education officials are looking at both plans, and they don't necessarily like either one. they don't like the idea that it's tied to treasury bonds, for example.

they are calling for, as much protection as possible for students. and when you look at the numbers, richard, it's really only about a fourth of students who carry loans who will be impacted by this. so here is president obama coming out right now. take a listen. >> good morning, everybody. have a seat, have a seat. welcome to the white house. i know it's a little warm. one of my favorite things about this job is that i get to spend some time with remarkable young people from all across the country. it inspires me, it makes me feel good. those of you who have had to put on suits and ties and show up at the white house first thing on a friday morning may not feel the same way i do, but i appreciate all of you being here. you cleaned up very well. and these students and graduates are here to talk about something that matters to millions of young people and their families, and that's the cost of a college

education. because this isn't just critical for their futures, but it's also critical for america's futures. over the past 4 1/2 years, we've been fighting our way back from a financial crisis and an incredibly punishing recession, the worst since the great depression. and it cost millions of americans their jobs and their homes, the sense of security that they'd spent their lives building up. the good news is today our businesses have created nearly 7 million new jobs over the past 38 months, 500,000 of those jobs are if manufacturing. we're producing more of our own energy, we're consuming less energy, and we're importing less from other countries. the housing market is coming back, the stock market has rebounded. our deficits are shrinking at the fastest pace in 50 years. people's retirement savings are growing again. the rise of health care costs are slowing. the american auto industry is

back. so we're seeing progress, and the economy is starting to pick up steam. the gears are starting to turn again and we're getting some traction. but the thing is, the way we measure our progress as a country is not just where the stock market is, it's not just to how well the folks at the top are doing, stost not just about the aggregate economic numbers. it's about how much progress ordinary families are making. are we creating ladders of opportunity for everybody who's willing to work hard? are we creating not only a growing economy, but also the engine that is critical to long-lasting, sustained economic growth? and that is a rising, thriving middle class. that's our focus. that's what we've got to be concerned about every single day. that's our north star. and that means there are three questions we have to ask ourselves as a nation.

number one, how do we make america a magnet for good jobs in this competitive 21st century economy. number two, how do we make sure that our workers earn the skills and education they need to do those jobs. and number three, how do we make sure those jobs actually pay a decent wage or salary, so that people can save for retirement, send their kids to college? those are the questions we've got to be asking ourselves every single day. so we're here today to talk about that second question. how do we make sure our workers earn the skills and education they need to do the jobs that companies are hiring for right now and are going to keep hiring for in the future? we know that the surest path to the middle class is some form of higher education. a four-year degree, a community college degree, an advanced

degree, you're going to need more than just a high school education. to succeed in this economy. and the young people here today, they get that. they're working through college, maybe just graduated, and earning their degree isn't just the best investment they can make for their future, it's the best investment that they can make in america's future. but like a lot of young people, all across the country, these students have had to take on more and more and more debt to pay for this investment. since most of today's college students were born, tuition and fees at public universities have more than doubled. these days, the average student who takes out loans to pay for four years of college graduates owing more than $26,000. how many people are on track

here for $26,000? and that doesn't just hold back our young graduates, it holds back our entire middle class, because americans now owe more on our students loans than we do on our credit cards. and those payments can last for years, even decades. which means that young people are putting off buying their first car or their first house. the things that grow our economy and create new jobs. and i've said this before, i know this firsthand, michelle and i, we did not finish paying off our student loans until about nine years ago. and our student loans cost more than our mortgage. right when we wanted to start saving for sasha and malia's college education, we were still paying off our own college education. and we were lucky. we had more resources than many. so we cannot price the middle

class or folks who are willing to work hard to get into the middle class out of a college education. we can't keep saddling young people with more and more and more debt, just as they're starting out in life. now, the good news is over the past four years, my administration has done a lot to address this. working with members of congress, we've expanded student aid, we've reformed the student loan system, we've saved is tens of billions of taxpayer dollars, that were just going to big banks, and made sure that the money went to helping more young people afford college. we made it easier to pay back those loans by passing a loan that says, you'll only there so pay 10% of your monthly income to your federal student loans once you graduate. this is important to emphasize, because a lot of your peers don't know this. under existing laws that we passed, you never have to pay more than 10% of your income in paying back your federal student loans. which means if you want to be a teacher, you want to go into a

profession that does not pay a lot of money but gives you a lot of satisfaction, you are still capable of doing that and supporting yourself. we unveiled a new college scorecard that gives parents and students the clear, concise information that you need to shop around for a school with the best value for you. and i've made it clear that those colleges that don't do enough to keep college costs down should get less taxpayer support. so we're doing what we can, but here's the thing. if congress doesn't act by july 1st, federal student loan rates are set to double. and that means that the average student with these loans will rack up an additional $1,000 in debt. that's like a $1,000 tax hike. i assume most of you cannot afford that. anybody here can afford that? no. now, if this sounds like deja vu all over again, that's because

it is. we went through this last summer. some of you were here. it wasn't at hot. i don't think we did this event outside. but we went through this, and eventually congress listened to all the parents and young people who said, don't double my rate. and because folks made their voices heard, congress acted to keep interest rates low. but they only did it for a year and that year is almost up. so the test here is simple. we've got to make sure that federal student loan rates don't double on july 1st. now, the house of representatives has already passed a student loan bill and i'm glad that they took action, but unfortunately, their bill does not meet that test. it fails to lock in low rates for students next year. that's not smart. it eliminates safeguards for lower income families. that's not fair. it could actually cost a freshman starting school this fall more over the next four years than if we did nothing at all and let the interest rates

double on july 1st. so the house bill isn't smart and it's not fair. i'm glad the house is paying attention to it, but they didn't do it in the right way. so i'm asking young people to get involved and make your voices heard once again. last year, you convinced 186 republicans in the house and 24 republicans in the senate to work with democrats to keep student loan rates low. you made something bipartisan happen in this town that is -- that's a powerful thing. you guys were able to get democrats and republicans to vote for something that was important. so this year, if it looks like your representatives have changed their minds, you're going to have to call them up again, or e-mail them again, or tweet them again, and ask them what happened. what changed? you're still taking out these loans. you're still facing challenges, remind them that we're a people who help one another earn an education, because it benefits all of us.

during the civil war, lincoln had the foresight to set up a system of land grant colleges. at the end of world war ii, we set up the gi bill, so that people like my grandfather could come back from a war and get an education. all these things created the greatest middle class on earth. my mom, a single mom, was able to get the support that she needed through loans and grants, even while she was also working and raising two kids, to get her degrees. i'm only here, michelle's only right over there on the east wing because we got great educations. we didn't come from privilege. and we want to make sure that the next generation has those same opportunities. because that has been good for the country as a whole. it's up to us now to carry forward that tradition. higher education cannot be a luxury for a privileged few. it is an economic necessity that

every family should be able to afford, every young person with dreams and ambitions should be able to access, and now's not the time for us to turn back on young people. now's not the time to slash the investments that help us grow. now's the time to reaffirm our commitment to you and the generation that's coming behind you. and that if we work together to generate more jobs and educate more kids and open up new opportunities for everyone who's willing to work, and willing to push through those doors of opportunity, america can't be stopped. so i'm putting my faith in you. let's work together. let's get this done by july 1st. thank you, everybody. god bless you. god bless america . >> president obama in the rose garden there, quite warm day, in the 70s. and just to help us put our hands around the amount of loans he's talking about, latest report coming from the federal reserve bank of new york, that's almost $1 trillion, $986 billion

in outstanding loans. and as the president had said, many of the points he made today, he made one year ago. kristen welker, you were listening along with us, and he was hitting the same points of how he and his wife, michelle obama had those loans. a year ago, he said, it was eight years ago they had paid it off, for instance. >> reporter: and he made the point that this is deja vu all over again. it certainly is. we saw this from president obama when he was on the campaign trail last year. look, this is a winning issue for president obama, student loans. it's something that people like. they want to talk about. so you are seeing this white house pursue the issue again, and as we have pointed out, it allows him to really divert attention away from or the conversation away from what is happening with the irs and the doj. but, again, there is a big showdown coming, because the house has passed a bill. the white house says it doesn't like the bill, they would veto the bill, so we are headed for a wig battle here heading into

july. >> and a year ago they were in election mode, this year, not in an election mode, necessarily. kristen welker at the white house, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> we'll have more right here on msnbc. we'll be right back. we take our showers with it. we make our coffee with it. but we rarely tap its true potential and just let it be itself. flowing freely into clean lakes, clear streams and along more fresh water coast line than any other state in the country. come realize water's true potential. dive in-to the waters of pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org. a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat. the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don't think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin, and made a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested.

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at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? hillary clinton poll numbers out a few hours ago, have her as the queen of 2016. in a hypothetical showdown, the secretary of state easily beats rand paul and former florida governor, jeb bush. but a quinnipiac pollster says her approval rating may have taken a hit from the benghazi tragedy. it's now down to 52%, after hitting an all-time high of 61% in february. let's bring in democratic strategist chris kofinis, former chief of staff for senator joe manchin and republican strategist, matt schlapp, former white house political director for president george w. bush. let's start with you, chris. we'll get to the matchup, straight away. evidently republicans may have their work cut out for them if hillary clinton does run. but if she does not, if she decides not to run here, vice

president biden, if she should decide to run, democrats have a problem. biden trails both bush and paul, are all democratic hopes here riding on hillary clinton then? >> well, one, it's really early to say one way or another, definitively, but, you know, secretary clinton, i think would be and if she runs, is going to be a formidable candidate. she's got an incredibly accomplished career, she's a powerful voice. she would be a groundbreaking candidate again. and so i think, those are enormous strengths against a republican field that is going to be stronger -- well, anything would be stronger than the last field they fielded, but i think they have, you know, significant weaknesses of party, in terms of their message, in terms of their policies, whether it's secretary clinton or whether it's vice president biden, whoever the nominee might be, will give democrats a good shot again in 2016. >> matt, do you agree with that? and even if biden does run and hillary does not, republicans,

as was being said, they still have a challenge here. name recognition, evidently. the poll finding that 42% have not heard enough to have an opinion of rand paul. and the same number said that about jeb bush, who's been on the republican scene much longer than that, as you know, than paul. how is this a problem and an opportunity at the same time? >> well, i don't think that will be an issue, richard. i think that when my party decides who they're going to rally around to be their nominee, i think that the american public will see what they're about, they'll take the measure of the person to determine if that's the kind of person they want to be in the oval office. i think chris says my party has challenges. i want to remind him, these are opportunities. my party has the ability to think through not only its time-tested principles, but what are those solutions for the american people with these vexing problems we have as a country? yes, you can look at the challenges that my party's had at the ballot box and say, how are they going to win in 2016?

but it's very hard for a two-term president to turn around and hand the presidency to someone of their party. if hillary clinton or joe biden are the nominee, it's very thha to string three of these together. george w.w. bush did it as a sitting vice president and the last guy to do it before him was some guy by the name of mar the u. u.n.tin van buren. we've got to have solutions that the american people believe will solve these problems. >> chris, to the issue of a potential problem, hillary clinton's favorite bill will be taking a drop as was mentioned, benghazi may be to blame here. quinnipiac saying 48% of voters blame her either a little or a lot for the death of ambassador chris stevens. what's your thought? >> you know, secretary clinton, i think, has made it very clear that she takes responsibility, you know, for what happened. you know, i think part of this, in terms of your poll numbers, you know, dropping, anytime you kind of leave the public arena,

there's going to be a little bit of a drop. so i'm not concerned about it. and i don't think if, you know, if i was, you know, if there was a formal campaign, that i would be concerned about it at all. at the end of the day, the american people are not going to blame secretary clinton for a tragedy in benghazi, because there are bigger mistakes that were made that were structural and otherwise. i'm not sure i see this as the issue that i know the republicans are going to want to try to make, but i think that the republicans are going to be kind of barking up the wrong tree. >> chris kofinis and matt schlapp, i'm sorry, i have to go. the president's remarks going a little bit longer than we thought. have a good weekend. in the newsfeed this morning, an american woman from michigan has been killed in syria fighting alongside opposition forces. the family of nicole mansfield saying that the fbi told them about her death yesterday. the 33-year-old woman converted to islam about five years ago. meanwhile, president bashar al assad says his forces now have new air defense missiles from russia. the state department says

there's no confirmation of this. the u.s. is trying to get both sides to sit down at a peace conference next week. more severe weather expected today in the nation's midsection. there is a risk of strong storms from texas to michigan. this comes on the heels of a tornado touching down near tulsa, oklahoma, yesterday. no one was hurt there. at least five twisters touched down in the midwest yesterday. some help is on the way for tornado victims in moore, oklahoma, meanwhile. blake shelton's relief convert on nbc raised $6 million in pledges and ticket sales. the money goes to the united way of central oklahoma. to california, a fast-growing wildfire there threatening 200 homes. the fire in the angeles national forest breaking out thursday afternoon. it has since grown to 1,000 acres. three people were injured after a small plane crashed into the living room of an apartment building in virginia. two people were on board the plane when it apparently ran out of fuel around midnight. there's a new spelling bee champion to tell you about this morning. 13-year-old arvind of new york

winning the scripps national spelling bee thursday night. he didn't look too excited. should be. lift that thing up. he beat out 280 other contenders. the winning word, a german-derived yiddish word for a matza ball. >> k-n-a-i-d-e-l, knaidel. >> you are correct! >> yeah, yeah, yeah, you won. he won $30,000 in cash and prizes, as well as the big trophy we showed you earlier. he says his plan here is to study physics and have some knaidels along the way. who are the best tippers, the french! 39% they always live a tip while on vacation. number three, the russians. number three, and brazilians.

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hurricane season, that starts tomorrow, which says the president received his annual hurricane briefing from the national oceanic and atmospheric administration. and 2013 could be well above average. this could mean intensifying federal preparedness procedures with state and local partners. i'm joined now by director of the national weather service, dr. louis uchlini. it looks like it's well above average here. how bad is 2013 going to be? >> well, we're predicting an active to very active season with 7 to 11 hurricanes predicted in the atlantic gulf region and potential for major storms, category 3 or above, in the three to six range during

that same period. >> now, the average is, what, 12 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 3 major hurricanes. why may the difference be greater this year? >> so we have large-scale circulation pattern, climate factors that are certainly playing a role here. very warm temperatures in the atlantic ocean. this is part of a longer term cycle that we have seen. there are patterns associated with the el nino or la nina pattern in the pacific, which will lend itself to a decrease in wind shear in the upper levels, which will allow these storms to grow to more intense levels than what we saw last year, for example. so given all the factors coming together, we are predicting that we're looking at the potential for a large number of storms in the atlantic area.

>> now, dr., the u.s. and european methods, they differ for forecasting a hurricane. during hurricane sandy last october, the model from the european center, that predicted eight days before landfall that the large storm would hit the east coast, while the u.s. super computer model showed sandy drifting out to sea. is it the model here or is it the equipment that's being pumped into the model. the equipment that's being used to gather the information? >> well, it's -- we're working off the same information, in making these predictions. people, the european center, the national centers for environmental prediction all have access to the same data. they run their models at higher resolution, further out in time. so they're able to capture these storm systems, the potential for the storm systems in their track, further out in time. in the eight, nine, ten-day

range. given the computing capacity that we've had, we've had to reduce our resolution of those models at days seven. so the predictions in the extended ranges, we've certainly suffer from them. and the european center does have a very good model. in fact, it recognizes having the best model run at highest resolution. we have plans, we now have the resources in hand to address those issues, and we are building up our computing capacities and planning to run our model resolutions comparable or even exceeding the european center, by next year at this time. >> i understand that you'll be investing some $25 million in upgrades to computes. besides hurricanes, the country has been battered by tornadoes, as you've been watching so far this year. the weather channel's mike betts in oklahoma yesterday night. look at this thing. a severe storm system moving into the region again. what's your thought? can we expect an above-active tornado season in front of us? >> well, again, these tornado

seasons, we're in the middle of what we would normally expect to be the maximum tornado season, in the middle part of the country, especially in the oklahoma/kansas region. and the patterns are set up for, again, an active tornado period, now into the immediate future. i do need to remind everyone that several weeks ago, we were looking at a pattern that was not conducive to tornado outbreaks. we had the fewest number of tornadoes over an extended period of time. now the pattern is there. the warm, moist air that you need to fuel these tornado systems is well entrenched into the middle part of the country. and we have a very dynamical pattern in the upper atmospheres, which is also conducive to these major outbreaks. so we have to watch these systems very carefully, we have another moderate risk out for the oklahoma region today, and,

you know, even after this weekend, it might settle down a bit. we have to look into the next week for, again, potential for not only severe weather, but a rain-producing systems and potential flooding throughout the middle part of the country. >> dynamic is the word here, dr. louis uchii, thank you so much for your time. that wraps up this hour of "jansing and co." thomas roberts is up next. stay with us. 20? new purina one beyond has 9. the simplified purina one beyond. learn more about these wholesome ingredients at purinaone.com bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day. produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? ahh, oh! [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. here's your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards.

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returning to the u.s. from a funeral. soldiers say they found 12 pounds of marijuana taped under her seat on a bus. >> what do you say to the people that did this to you? >> to be good. to repent, i don't know. to work honest, you know, to find a job, a decent job, where they can make a living not putting innocent people through these nightmare, like they did to me. >> so in an early morning news conference, just after her release, maldonado said this was what was keeping her going. >> my faith and my family kept me going. reading the scriptures, i found a book of mormon and i was reading with some of the inmates. >> home, sweet, home, finally. what a journey it's been for the