fault new jersey traffic jam ♪ >> mistakes were made. chris christie insists. and now the special probes start a day after chris christie used that state of the state address to revisit that bridge scandal, now swallowing his second term and possibly presidential hopes. democrats in the state legislature are putting the final touches on two investigative panels that could issue subpoenas for christie aides as early as tomorrow. for his part, the new jersey governor used his speech to once again apologize for the scandal. >> i'm the governor, and i'm ultimately responsible for all that happens on my watch, both good and bad. now, without a doubt, we will cooperate with all appropriate inquiries to ensure that this breach of trust does not happen again. >> but this is chris christie, and not far from any speech is mentioned of a key theme to

christie's brand, bipartisanship. >> no state in this country has shown more bipartisanship than new jersey and our people are proud of it. >> one people helping the jersey governor survive so far, polls. christie's approval is still fairly high, according to a new quinnipiac poll. despite a reputation as a bully among some opponents, that's just not the way voters see it, at least for now. still, democrats responding to christie's speech yesterday made clear, this investigation will be a long, thorough process. >> i know that the reality is that i think we'd all like to go to the last chapter of the book and read what is the conclusion here. that's not responsible. there needs to be a methodical and systematic approach to this. >> barbara buono is the democratic new jersey state senator who faced off against christie in last year's gubernatorial election. and steve kornacki, a guru of sorts when it comes to garden

state politics. let me start with you. you've spent a lot of years covering jersey politics. you've been covering this scandal as it's unfolded here over the last week or so, closer than most. the big question is still why. walk us through some of the competing theories for why this bridge was closed. let's start there. >> yeah. i mean, there's competing -- there's a million and one theories out there. i think the reason why the question is still being asked by so many people, when you look at the level of the people who so far we know were involved in this thing, and then you look at how petty it was, and you look for -- you're really kind of reaching when you start looking at the motive that's been put out there so far, which is okay, the mayor of the town of 35,000 people in one of the endorsement, they sort of half asked for the endorsement through a low level campaign person in april or may. and in august, they give some kind of an order to cause traffic problems. then a month later, they cause these huge traffic problems. so haven't found a motive in

this that's sort of proportionate with the level of the people who were involved, the risk that they were taking, the risk they were exposing themselves to. so there's strong suspicion here that there is another part to this story. and then when you add in to the fact that chris christie is pretty well documented lack and total lack of curiosity about this thing from the beginning. it seems clear whether he knew from the beginning, whether he was in it on, whether it was something he found out midstream, whether it was something he put together in his head. his actions the last three or four months suggest that he could ride this thing out. he could get to what we had yesterday, the seating of a new legislature, the expiration of subpoena authority. this thing could go away. until those revelations came out last week, he almost got to that point. >> senator buono, of the theories you've read so far, is there one that makes more sense to you than the others? >> well, this is an administration that has a history of using and abusing public resources to pursue

chris christie's own political personal agenda. look, let's not forget, he spent upwards of ten, $12 million to schedule separate special election for the u.s. senate, just to position himself so he department have to have popular cory booker on the same ticket as him. now there's a federal investigation into the stronger than the storm ad campaign. he had his political friend from the u.s. attorney's office michelle brown, who is heading up the committee that awarded the higher bid, and the only difference was that commercial featured chris christie in it. and then again, with the bridge scandal, it's just another example. >> let's talk about the speech yesterday. as we were talking about before the broadcast started here, i heard a lot of applause yesterday. who were those people clapping? >> well, you know, look, we give the governor the respect that the office deserves and he is still the governor, he has quite a job, quite a nut to crack. he's got his work cut out for

him. i think he did the best that he could under the circumstances. he tried to change the narrative. but, you know, new jersey is in crisis. the state of the state is that we are in crisis. this governor's reputation, his credibility, his ability to lead is seriously in question, and he needs to repair that damage. that's why -- i don't know if you noticed, he went up and made a point to shake the hand of the assemblyman who's leading the investigation. >> saw that. >> there was a prolonged hug of one of the individuals in the audience. but i think this governor's ability to achieve any far-reaching goals may be constrained because of this hovering. >> before i let you get out of here, i'm sure you've seen this picture already. you know, the governor trying to put some distance between himself and the former port authority official who has since resigned. this is what the governor said last thursday. >> i have had no contact with david wildstein in a long time,

a long time. well before the election. >> that's his former high school clas mat classmate. this is the picture that "the wall street journal" found. this is christie with wildstein while those lane closures were going on. what do you make of that? >> this is the governor trying to distance himself from the man who is his culpable, that came out with the e-mails that had very mysterious redactions. but it also contradicts the fact that christie said he didn't know him in high school. in fact, their baseball coach contradicted that, that wildstein may not have been a jock, but he was sitting on the bench doing the stats, so they knew each other back then, too. >> thank you so much for stopping by, do appreciate your time. steve kornacki, please stick around for a moment. other than bipartisanship, there is one other word that defines chris christie's

political brand now, and looking forward into a possible 2016 fight, sandy. >> let that spirit of sandy be a powerful lesson to all of us, that when times are most difficult, cooperation and progress are possible. indeed, i tell you, they're necessary. >> aisha moody mills joins us. welcome all. matt, let me start with you. christie's approval right now doing quite well. majority of jersey voters say that the scandal affects, even ends his 2016 chances right there. is the shine off his candidacy? i mean, it's 49%. 49% say it's going to affect him in 2016. what say you? >> i still think in a lot of polls he's one of the most

popular gop politicians in the country. and i think, craig, when you run for president, you're going to get a heck of a lot of scrutiny. and he's getting it before he's ever a presidential candidate. but he's got a chance here. the whole country -- i know people in new jersey are watching him. there's the whole question about their governor. but the people around the country, including republicans who will be involved in the primaries are watching him, and they're going to make a judgment as to whether they like what they see or they don't. so far, i think he's handled it pretty dang well. >> this one is from quinnipiac. we should also note nbc news has a poll coming out in just a few hours as well. voters, according to quinnipiac, voters think that christie knew something about what his aides were doing, yet his approval, as you can see there, still high. 51%. 55% among new jersey voters. how do you explain that? >> well, the fact that people think that there's more to the

story is in and of itself telling about how we think of the man's character. that's the challenge that christie is going to have in trying to get through this. it's really about his character. he has demonstrated time and time again that he is a bully. he has used bully tactics, if you will not just on democrats in a partisan way to try to get his way, but also even on his own party. so right now he's essentially trying to silence someone who is a critic of a gas pipeline he's trying to put in in new jersey. he has in the past, within his own party, stopped essentially the moving forward of a judicial nominee that one of his republican colleagues put forward because he didn't like the way that they voted on something that he cared about on a medical bill. and so he has a real character issue right now. i don't think that anyone believes that he just suddenly didn't know what was happening. particularly in a town that has -- and steve kornacki talked about this -- one of the larger development projects going on in

ft. lee right now. i can't imagine that a governor doesn't know all of the mayors in a state, and two, doesn't know what's happening in a city or town that has a really significant development effort under way. so clearly, he's not telling all of the story. and quite frankly, if he really gener genuinely didn't know, the question of his competence comes into play. >> i want to play something we heard earlier from chris christie. take a listen. >> without a doubt, we will cooperate with all appropriate inquiries to ensure that this breach of trust does not happen again. >> let me repeat that. he's going to cooperate with "all appropriate inquiries." some people have been parsing that line, steve kornacki. how much coop ceration can we expect out of the governor? >> there's a question of how much cooperation we can expect out of the governor and the people who have been implicated in this so far. we saw last week that david wildstein coughed up a bunch of very, very revealing documents

that also raised a ton of new questions thanks to the subpoena power of the state legislature. david wildstein took the fifth amendment that basically his lawyer put in front of the committee, that hey, if i can get immunity here, then i might have a lot more to offer. so that's part of the question. but i've got to say, the other question here is the way this process has now been set up right now i think is a little bit concerning. the way this investigative process has been set up, because this is going to proceed on two tracks. an assembly track, there's an assembly special committee right now. there's a special council assigned to that committee. but there's also going to be one on the state senate side. the state senate side, i'll just say first of all, having these two sort of competing investigations, there could be some turf battles there. that's one thing. hey, we already called this witness, we already heard from this witness. it sets that possibility. to be perfectly blunt about it, one of the stories of

chris christie's governorship that people did not get enough attention nationally are the alliances he has formed with powerful democrats in trenton, and that is particularly true on the state senate side. so the question to watch here, is who is he putting on his committee? >> steve, really quickly, ten seconds. why the two separate investigations? why not just one super legislative committee? >> i think there's a lack of trust between the assembly and the senate side. i think the assembly and senate side have not worked that well together, and i think if you talk to people, especially on the assembly side, they're happy that they got their own investigative committee, but they are concerned potentially about what's going to happen with the senate and if that's going to get in their way and muck this up. >> a big thanks to all of you. remember, you can watch "up with steve kornacki" every weekend right here on msnbc. a big win for same-sex couples in oklahoma, and the

reasoning behind the federal judge's ruling. plus, a live report from the supreme court where the justices are hearing arguments in a case that pits free speech against public safety outside abortion clinics. the recent increase in cafeteria prices is not cool. when you vote for flo, we'll have discounts. ice-cream discounts. multi-cookie discounts. pizza loyalty discounts! [ kids chanting "flo!" ] i also have some great ideas on car insurance. [ silence ] finding you discounts since back in the day. call or click today. i like her.

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topping the headlines this hour, the pentagon is investigating some newly discovered photos that appeared to show u.s. marines burning the bodies of iraqi insurgents back in 2004. so far, though, nothing about those images has -- nothing about them has actually been authenticated. they are, in fact, so graphic we're not going to put them on television. a new senate report finds the benghazi attack that killed four americans in 2012 could have been prevented. blame is being aimed at both the

state department and intelligence agencies. the report found that security should have been increased at the benghazi compound, but also found that the attack itself was opportunistic with no imminent advanced warning. a big victory for same-sex couples in oklahoma. a federal judge rules that a state law banning gay marriage is unconstitutional because it discriminates against same-sex couple for no rational reason. meanwhile, right now, the u.s. supreme court is considering buffer zones outside abortion clinics. the justices heard arguments today over a massachusetts law that requires anti-abortion protesters keep at least 35 feet from the clinic entrance. those protesters claim that a law violates their first amendment free speech rights. nbc justice correspondent pete williams is outside the high court for us. pete, we understand that the justices apparently expressed some skepticism about the scope of the massachusetts law this morning, is that right? >> it did appear that the

massachusetts law could possibly be struck down. whenever a state restricts speech on the public sidewalk, it has a high burden. some members of the court think that the court has met it. justice kagan said there's no way to know who's going to block doors. just as they arrive to clinics in a fragile state. but several of the justices said that they had problems with the buffer zone because number one, they think it's too big. number two, that it's not neutral about who gets to express an opinion. justice alito said that if a clinic volunteer goes up and says good morning to a woman entering the clinic, this clinic is safe, that would be allowed under this law because they're an employee of the clinic. but if somebody else walks up and says good morning, this clinic is not safe, that would violate the buffer zone law. for all those reasons it did appear, craig, that the supreme court is likely to strike this law down. now, massachusetts had an earlier so called bubble zone

law, an eight-foot don't approach zone around people as they enter the clinic. the court has upheld similar zones around the country. >> pete, really quickly while i have you here, i do want to talk to you about the federal appeals court decision on tuesday. they struck down the fcc's rules on net neutrality. this is a big deal. what does it mean in the simplest of terms for internet providers and what does it also mean for customers? >> reporter: what it means is whether the internet providers have the ability in essence to charge more for the fast lane. under the idea of net neutrality, everybody drives on the same lane. everybody pays the same tariff. everybody gets the same amount of internet speed. but what the internet providers want to do is say we want to charge extra maybe for people who use it a lot or demand faster speeds or use a lot of data, and under the court ruling, the internet providers will be able to do that. the court said the fcc doesn't have the thauthority to stop th internet providers from doing

that. this may not be the last word, though. the fcc could try to change the rules, but that would be politically difficult. >> justice correspondent pete williams. always appreciate you, sir. after the break, we're going to talk to diana degette. first, though, where were you five years ago today? that's the day when captain sully sullenberger and his first officer remarkably, skillfully guided u.s. airways flight 1549 to a safe landing in new york's hudson river. all 155 passengers and crew made it out safely. brace yourselves people. because this hotel has some amazing.... footwear. and how about the 5 pound barbell at this resort? in to soap? this lodge has some! ...and this hostel has ice cubes!

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♪ [ male announcer ] old el paso frozen entrées. now in freezers. the abortion battles are back on capitol hill. first, in the house, you've got democrats who are speaking out against the republican bill that would limit coverage of abortion under the new health care

system. that's the no taxpayer funding of abortion bill. then across the street at the supreme court, you've got justices hearing arguments over the so-called buffer zone law that keeps protesters from coming within 35 feet of abortion clinics. representative diana degette is a democrat from colorado who is also the chief deputy whip. congresswoman, i want to look at that supreme court case in just a moment. but let's start with the so called no taxpayer funding of abortion bill. it's being pushed by republicans on the house judiciary committee. all of 23 of whom are men, starting with chairman bob goodlatte of virginia. how much of a problem are just the optics alone here? >> you said it best. the so-called no taxpayer funding of abortion bill, because right now, under u.s. law, we don't allow taxpayer funding of abortion. and really, theics are a

problem. we have this all-male panel saying what we've defeated over and over again, which is they're saying now women can't use their own money to buy health insurance that covers a full range of women's reproductive services. that's a problem. and the women of america are saying, why should we not get all of the health care we need with our own money? and once again, here you are, the first male that the judiciary committee is considering is a bill that takes away these health care rights of women. >> let's switch to this massachusetts law being argued before the supreme court. we just heard from our justice correspondent. it is very much like a law that you wrote back in 1993, the so called bubble law that tried to shield women from protesters outside abortion clinics in colorado. based on what we've seen and what we've heard from this court, and also based on your own legal experience, i think you're an attorney as well, what's the likely outcome for states like colorado and massachusetts here? >> well, craig, you're right, i

wrote the first bubble law, and it went all the way up to the supreme court where in 2000, the u.s. supreme court decided that it was a balance between the free speech of the protesters, but also the rights of the patients to get into these health care clinics, and they upheld these kinds of laws because we see what the protesters do, they get in people's faces, they spit on them, they try to block them from going on. and so the supreme court said that that was a reasonable law to have an eight-foot barrier around protesters and patients getting into clinics. today, of course, the supreme court is considering a massachusetts law which says it's a 35-foot barrier. i think that the court will have to decide, is that reasonable or not. but i will tell you as someone who's been working on these issues for more than 20 years, the supreme court has upheld the concept that patients do have the right to get access into health care clinics.

and that while protesters have a right to protest, it's not an unrestricted right. and the medical patients really do have that ability. and as several of the justices said today, a lot of these patients going into facilities, not just patients going to get abortions, but people going for breast cancer or cervical cancer treatment, they are in a fragile state. and they need to be allowed to get into those clinics. the protesters don't differentiate between people going to get abortions and people going to get wellness visits or cancer treatment. >> congresswoman diana degette from colorado. congresswoman, thank you. >> thanks, great being with you. coming up -- >> everybody in my classroom thought it was just like a drill or something. >> a live update from roswell, new mexico, where a middle schooler clings to life. another middle schooler remains in recovery after a 12-year-old, a 12-year-old classmate opened fire. also a reminder that we are waiting for president obama at the top of the hour.

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the latest on that horrific double shooting at a middle school in southeastern new mexico. the entire community of roswell is hailing this guy, social studies teacher john masterson, for his heroism yesterday. masterson apparently came face to face with that 12-year-old gunman who was wielding a sawed off 20-gauge shotgun. he convinced the boy to drop the gun, which had been just used to shoot two other children. neighbors today are thanking him for preventing further injuries and perhaps even more death as well. miguel, i understand that at some point we are supposed to be hearing from the suspect's parents. maybe a statement. have we gotten that yet?

>> reporter: no, craig, we have not yet gotten that statement. their attorney who was hired apparently last night did release a statement saying the parents were going to release either a written or verbal statement at some point today. that has not yet happened. we do expect that to happen later on this afternoon as we await that press conference. we also know, craig, that that hero teacher that you mentioned, we probably will not hear from him today. we were told by the school district that both school district officials as well as the local investigators have asked him not to come forward and speak publicly yet because, of course, he is a key part of this investigation, craig. >> miguel, two children, an 11-year-old boy, a 13-year-old boy, they were shot in this incident. what do we know about their conditions right now? >> reporter: we know the boy, who was shot at least once in the face, possibly also in the neck, is in critical condition this morning. doctors have said that he is literally fighting for his life at this hour. as for that young girl, she was first taken into the hospital listed in critical condition. she's been upgraded to stable

condition. her family has said that she is recovering at this hour. certainly good news for that one victim, craig. >> thank you, miguel. turning back to our top political story this hour, it is hardly water under the bridge. it keeps coming in the scandal now known as bridgegate. new jersey governor chris christie took the issue head-on in the state of the state. >> the last week has certainly tested this administration. mistakes were clearly made. but i also want to assure the people of new jersey today that what has occurred does not define us or our state. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell joins us live from trenton, new jersey. governor christie doing his best to get this scandal in the rear-view mirror. but we've got more records surfacing that christie's top pr team was aware of the lane closures. what's the latest there in

trenton? >> reporter: well, what we're talking about, craig, is that same sort of document dump of e-mails, a couple thousand pages. people have been pouring through it to look for clues that might suggest how wide was this scandal, who might have known. some of those disclosures include now some of the top communication strategy folks who work for the governor and are still on the job, or have communications about the fact that there was a lane closure problem. what these new e-mails do not indicate is anything specifically related to the underlying allegation that the e-mail trail showed us earlier where there was apparently an actual plan to intentionally shut down the lanes for political purposes. what these e-mails do is say that there was awareness in the governor's office, that the lane closures, just as a traffic event, were a problem. how much of a problem? even if there had been no underlying plot, so to speak, this kind of a transportation

issue would certainly be something that would get the governor's attention. it apparently did. there were indications that there were staffers saying the story isn't that big a deal at the time. again, this is going back to when the lane closures were fresh in people's minds. so part of what people are looking for is does any of that suggest there was more known in the governor's office than has been publicly acknowledged. no smoking gun yet, but all of this puts other pieces sort of data points along the timeline as the governor's office is trying to deal with this scandal with an investigation that comes tomorrow in a new form as a legislative committee here in trenton forms to try to address all of the underlying issues. this is going to be a hard thing for them to deal with over time. it's not going away and there are new sort of bits and pieces that are coming out each day. craig? >> nbc's kelly o'donnell in trenton, new jersey, for us this afternoon. kelly, thank you. and if chris christie says his administration has been tested this week, that's nothing to say of his 2016 ambitions.

how will christie's political jam play out in those key battleground states? here now to talk some primary politics, south carolina's cory hatcher. o.k. henderson, news director. a lot of people waving off the idea that this scandal could hurt christie's chances in 2016. it is, of course, very early. shoot with me straight here, though. isn't this primary campaign already under way in a state like iowa, where the influential donors and the party key makers in the hawkeye state? >> it is under way. and talking with a trio of party insiders today, the conventional wisdom here is sort of developing that chris christie's handling of the situation post the revelations has sort of reassured people who are already inclined to support him. it gave some of the people who don't like him more ammunition.

but what it also did was open a big door for scott walker. scott walker has some of the same biography, some of the same ideology that chris christie has been pursuing in new jersey. but he doesn't now have this baggage that chris christie has. so this is an opening for a neighboring governor, scott walker, to come in here and say hey, i took on the unions just like chris christie did. but i didn't, for instance, sign a pro-immigration bill like chris christie did. >> cory, let's talk about our state here for a second. south carolina politicians wasted no time jumping into the debate. governor nicky haley praised christie's leadership in the wake of the scandal. but then you had senator lindsey graham telling nbc news in part, "this whole bridge thing reinforces a narrative that's troublesome about the guy. he's kind of a bully. i think he's going to have a hard time in the south. i really do." who's right here? are we talking about nicky haley being right or lindsey graham

being right? >> well, one thing we have to remember about south carolina, craig, is if there's a post-scandal america, south carolina is probably ground zero. it's a state where the voters and especially the republican electorate are very familiar with scandals of different kinds. it's a place that elected mark sanford back to congress after the big scandal he had with the extramarital affair in argentina. governor haley's campaign for governor was riddled with business scandals, personal scandals and ethics scandals. so in south carolina, that's really nothing new. i wonder if the voters are going to take a look at this, and sometimes it can actually embolden a politician. it's interesting that you mention that lindsey graham and haley have kind of different views on this. lindsey graham is in a primary of his own here right now. chris christie in october, a poll came out and showed that out of the potential 2016 folks that are going to come down here, chris christie was on top. his support came from moderate republicans.

those are the kind of people that like lindsey graham. so you might think what happens in lindsey graham's election coming up could be a precursor to what happens with christie here. >> kay, is this something that could ultimately end up helping chris christie, and by helping, i mean -- you know, you look at his name recognition outside new jersey before this scandal started. there were not necessarily a lot of folks who knew who he was. and we all know that the attention span and collective memory of the citizenry is sometimes, well, short. is this something that could end up doing him well? >> what we've seen in early polling data here in iowa is that he was already well-known, and leading among a cadre of potential candidates merely because people knew who he was and had formed an opinion because of his brash style, if you will. republicans liked the fact that he took it to democrats.

so this has only enhanced his recognition in a state like iowa, which by the way, is not the same time zone as new jersey. >> that's a good spot to leave it. o. kay anderson, thank you. cory hutchins, great to see you as well. michelle obama turns 50 years young. the first lady says she has no immediate plans for plastic surgery or botox. yes, the question was posed. but she also has learned to "never say never." she says that women should feel free to do what makes them feel good. and the boss weighing in on bridgegate. new jersey's own bruce springsteen joined jimmy fallon last night where they tweaked a few lyrics to an old classic. ♪ cheek to cheek with blue collared truckers and man i really

gotta take a leak but i can't ♪ ♪ i'm stuck in a new jersey traffic jam ♪ >> that's really funny. if you haven't seen the rest, you should google it. we're just a few minutes from obama. his first speech outside the beltway this year. he's in raleigh, north carolina. he's in north carolina state university. he'll be talking about manufacturing. he'll be talking about jobs. he'll talk about the economy in general. yesterday, though, mr. obama played host to the miami heat, winners of back-to-back nba championships. and it turns out the president and the heat have something in common. >> this group has now won twice, but it's gone to the finals three times. and sometimes it feels like they're still fighting for a little respect. i can relate to that. liking your flat rate shipping. fedex one rate.

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a california wildfire that plagued drivers almost as much as firefighters. a ten-acre brush fire smack dab along the pacific coast highway late yesterday. lanes were closed for nearly six hours until firefighters were finally able to knock it down. two days before the president's announcement on changes to the way that the nsa monitors and stores phone records. we are getting some insight, three officials familiar with the review say that the president is going to endorse some change, but will leave it up to congress to sort out the details. and half of all tcustomers who have gone without water for days in west virginia are finally seeing clean water flow through their tap. federal authoritiy ies investigating the chemical spill that started it all there. now to the world of entertainment, and the under age pot king.

justin bieber still not commenting after deputies searched his l.a. mansion looking for video from his cameras. they turned up some other surprises while they were there. deputies get to the biebs' mansion. they get there to serve this warrant because he's been accused of egging his neighbor's house. they walk in and then what happens? >> the biebs lets them in. they've got a search warrant. and apparently his friend had drugs right in front of the police, allegedly. so he was arrested. he was charged with felony drug possession. they're saying he had mdma. he was released from jail. on his way out, he slammed the phone and he was re-arrested. he posted bail again. i know, this is hard to follow. >> re-arrested for what? >> for smashing the phone. vandalism. he was re-arrested, posted bail. justin bieber has not been charged, but if he is charged, it will be for misdemeanor vandalism. the neighbors are saying that they have video, they have evidence of him egging their

house. the dad said he went outside and said what are you doing? my daughter's out here. and that bieber continued to throw eggs at him. >> and like $20,000 worth of damage caused to the home. we're not talking one or two eggs. >> this is not like egging when we were in high school. this is a big money neighborhood, meaning these people go through no expense on materials for their home. so when you're egging houses that cost this much -- and also, neighbors have charges of them speeding through the neighborhood. wild parties. so this is just the latest in a long line of alleged incidents. >> is this the beginning of the end for justin bieber? we've seen this before. especially young celebrities. and it starts kind of like innocent things. and the next thing you know, it's something far more serious. >> i think this was the beginning of the end, it happened last year. do you remember last year when he urinated into the bucket. i broke the nose that they had spoken and everything was okay. justin bieber's gotten a lot of

chances over and over and over. >> and he's only 19. a lot of folks forget that. let's pivot here and talk about this other story that i find pretty troubling here. >> me, too. >> tia and tamara. tamara and her husband slamming the critics, or bigots who have mocked their interracial marriage. what kind of racial slurs had they been dealing with? what's been their response? what's the back story here? >> she opened up to oprah winfrey in "where are they know." she talked about how hurtful it's been, the criticism they face. she said the latest one was back in the day you cost $300 but now you're giving it to him for free. if you watch their show, you see these two are very much in love. they have a child together. and what year are we in? it's 2014, you know? i'm married to an african-american man, but i've dated interracially before. you're married to someone interracially. i just can't believe that this is still happening.

>> it's still making news. but it is good to see and good to hear at least that they're not taking it lying down. >> no, they're not taking it lying down. and i think it's interesting. he works for fox news. she's half white, she's half black. so these are somebody that come from very different worlds. but they're saying enough is enough, we love each other and that's what matters. >> that's a good spot to leave it. thank you so much. you can catch alicia every night on e. coming up, we're going live to raleigh, where president obama is expected to speak any moment. [ dennis ] it's always the same dilemma -- who gets the allstate safe driving bonus check. rock beats scissors! [ chuckles ] wife beats rock. and with two checks a year, everyone wins. [ female announcer ] switch today and get two safe driving bonus checks a year for driving safely. only from allstate. call 866-906-8500 now. [ dennis ] zach really loves his new camera. problem is...this isn't zach. it's a friend of a friend who was at zach's party and stole his camera. but zach's got it covered... with allstate renters insurance. [ female announcer ] protect your valuables for as low as $4 a month

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he's vowed 2014 will be a year of action. president obama is on the road to rev up the economy. the president expected to take the stage there in north carolina state any moment now. he's going to be announcing steps to boost manufacturing in his speech at north carolina state university. kristen walker is traveling with the president, as she frequently does. live now in raleigh.

kristen, 13 days ahead of this year's state of the union, president obama, he is an action mode man. what's going to be his key message today? >> we >> reporter: he's going to be announcing basically the fulfillment of a pledge that he first mapped out during his state of the union address last year when he called for the creation of three manufacturing institutes. this is the first of those manufacturing institutes. here's how it's going to work. it's going to be headed by north carolina state university, and it's really going to be a consortium of 18 companies, six universities. the goal is to create energy efficient technologies with the aim of creating jobs. but craig, it's really a way for the president to highlight what has been a bit of a bright spot in the tepid recovery, mainly manufacturing. the white house pointing to the fact that there have been more than half a million manufacturing jobs created over the past four years. and it comes as we just got some

disappointing news on the jobs front. last month, we learned that only 74,000 jobs were created in december. that is far below what economists were expecting. so the white house really trying to focus on some positive news, and it's also a preview of things to come. what you talked about, craig, the state of the union address, where we're going to hear president obama talk about the fact that he's dubbing this a year of action. that means he's going to be focusing on highlighting some of the things that he can do without congressional approval. it's also a way for his administration to lay the ground work for some of the talking points and battle cries that we're going to hear during the 2014 midterm elections, mainly democrats believe that income inequality is a winning issue for them in 2014. i anticipate that will be a big theme for him as well. just want to bring up one piece of news that we just got, which is that the republican governor here greeted president obama at the airport and he is pledging

$10 million over the next five years to this effort here. craig? >> really quickly, kristen, before we let you go, democratic senator kay hagan, she is facing a tough re-election challenge there. the "l.a. times" today writing candidates regularly have to find ways to welcome air force one to their state without carrying off the baggage of its passenger. are we going to see senator hagan there at the event? >> no plans to see senator hagan. her office says she can't attend because there is such important work going on in washington, d.c. in the senate this week. as you can imagine, republicans have seized on that. they say she's trying to distance herself from the president, who has seen some of his lowest approval ratings to date. either way, it underscores the tricky relationship that this president has right now with some democrats who are facing tough re-elections in 2014. craig? >> nbc's kristen welker traveling with the president there in north carolina.

again, when president obama takes the stage, we will bring it to you live here on msnbc. that's going to do it for me. up next, "andrea mitchell reports." open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses... we're open to it. start a tax-free business at startup-ny.com.

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of cinnamon toast crunch and cold milk. ♪ cinnamon toast crunch. crave those crazy squares. ♪ someday governor i don't know when ♪ ♪ but until then you're killing the working man who's stuck in the new jersey traffic jam ♪ >> right now on "andrea mitchell reports," the hits just keep oncoming. from one new jersey boss to another, this latest jab has a sharp stain for governor chris christie. a self-described springsteen fanatic who has attended more than 100 concerts. can the governor ever get out of this jam? >> without a doubt, we will cooperate with all appropriate

inquiries to ensure that this breach of trust does not happen again. and workaround. we are moments away from the president's speech in north carolina, where president obama promises to kick off a revived push on his domestic agenda, with or without the help of congress. >> he said today in his tab net meeting i've got a pen and i've got a phone. >> and a telephone. you've got that right. the president is going to pick up the phone and he's also going to sign executive orders that he can do within his power that don't necessarily require congressional action. hi, everyone. good afternoon. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. president obama is going to be speaking momentarily from north carolina about jobs and the economy. but we'll take a moment first while we wait to talk politi