step stool. ♪ it's like a dirt magnet -- just like my kids. [ afi ] this is a danger zone. voila! i am the queen of clean! [ zach ] yeah, this definitely beats hanging out on a step ladder. demanding answers. flight 370 families are fed up. they want more information on the missing plane. could new american technology in the region help them? a losing battle. students in one college town clash with police after one of their sports teams doesn't fare so well. dramatic video. the fallout from that california earthquake still reverberating today. you're going to see why some people are left scrambling. and in las vegas, in one

survey of big american cities, see how it ended up in last place. we'll explain. hey there, everyone. high noon in the east. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." we have breaking news to share right now. within the hour, secretary of state john kerry will be meeting with russia's foreign minister in paris, this to discuss the tense situation in ukraine. kristen welker standing by at the white house with us. why is this meeting any different from previous meetings and what exactly is the potential for accomplishment here? >> reporter: to your first question, this could be different from past meetings because it comes after a perceived shift in tone on the part of russian president vladimir putin. remember, he was the one who reached out to president obama on friday. the two leaders speaking for more than an hour while president obama was still in saudi arabia, and by the way, the white house is releasing a

photo of that telephone conversation. the two leaders discussed a possible diplomatic resolution to the crisis in ukraine. white house official is not giving many specifics there, but past proposals have included allowing international monitors into ukraine and also having russian troops move back to their bases. of course, the u.s. has been concerned that russia will move into other parts of ukraine after an annexed crimea this past week. we have seen a buildup of russian troops along ukraine's border. the former ambassador to moscow, mike mcfall, told chuck todd on "meet the press" earlier today that this is something that the u.s. is watching very closely. take a listen. >> things that we thought were settled 20 years ago, or at least in ice in these conflicts, he's now trying to say we have to open up the pandora's box. >> so he's going? >> i find it very dangerous. he's going to make it an issue

that we're going to have to now negotiate, and we're going to negotiate i think in a weak position given where he is right now. >> reporter: alex, to your second question, the potential for any real progress after these talks, white house officials tell me they're really in a wait and see mode. they're waiting to see how serious vladimir putin is about diplomacy, defiant in the face of sanctions on the part of the united states and the eu. but you'll recall that this past week, president obama spent several days trying to shore up support among his european partners, trying to further isolate russia. they suspended russia from the g8, and also threatened more sanctions. so it is possible, and i underscore that word possible, that all of those steps might be having an impact on putin. we will know more, of course, after secretary kerry meets with his counterpart sergei lavrov. that meeting expected to take place within the half-hour, and we anticipate that we will hear from secretary kerry after that

meeting. alex? >> which means we'll be hearing from you next hour. thank you so much, kristen welker. crimea has officially changed its clocks to match the time zone of moscow, jumping ahead two hours last night. this move symbolically finalizes crimea's joining of russia, despite world outcry. we have new reaction today to the report put out thursday by the christie administration on the george washington bridge traffic scandal. for the first time, we are hearing publicly from someone cited in the report other than governor christie. it is the mayor of belmar, new jersey, who appeared with steve kornacki. steve is joining me now. before i get to my first question, i want to play you a little bit of this exchange that you had. so let's play part of that from the show. here it is. >> you believe that you did not hear mayor zimmer say any of this, anything that she alleges took place, you believe you heard the entire conversation and you believe then that she is

fabricating this. >> i don't believe she's fabricating anything. >> you're saying you heard the conversation, you didn't hear this. >> i did not hear the commissioner in any way, shape, or form threaten mayor zimmer. absolutely not. >> and you're saying you're confident you heard the conversation? >> i'm confident i heard the conversation. >> so she is making it up? >> did i hear ever word of the conversation? could he have whispered it? i guess. but i'm just telling you, they weren't whispering. they were talking like you and i are talking. >> matt doherty there. let's get the context from you. >> the context is the allegations from the hoboken mayor dawn zimmer that two top officials in the christie administration, one of them the lieutenant governor, one of them a cabinet secretary named richard constable had basically told her, had linked her willingness to go forward in the development project in the city, a development project that was represented by the law firm of david sampson, the port authority chairman, close christie ally. so her claim is that they are telling her, or implying to her she has to go forward on that progress, to get the sandy aid

she wants for her city. so one of the things she alleged was her encounter with this cabinet secretary was onstage at a public event in may of 2013. and the mayor, matt doherty, who we interviewed today, was seated to her left at that meeting, and you can see it in the picture there. matt doherty is cited in this mastro report, he is cited as an independent eyewitness who corroborates constable's story, constable's denial that any of this happened on the stage. what was interesting was in the report, the report state december fintively that the mayor, matt doherty, did not -- heard the conversation, and what dawn zimmer is saying did not happen, this exchange, this veiled threat did not happen at all. that same mayor was interviewed by his local paper when this story originally broke back in january, and said he hadn't heard the conversation. so we were trying to figure out, okay, the master report is relying heavily on the mayor for

reaching this conclusion, that dawn zimmer is making this up and that constable is exonerated. so which is which? you can hear -- that was how the conversation went for about ten minutes there. >> absolutely fascinating. we should say all of this is what dawn zimmer had said on your show, i believe it was in january. made all the allegations. so we know that she's listening to the show because she immediately issued a statement, and i want to read very quickly to what he had to say. thank you for mayor doherty for publicly acknowledging today on up with steve kornacki that his occurrence on up with steve kornacki. the conversation that i related did not occur. mayor doherty acknowledged that he did not hear the entirety of the conversation, contrary to mr. mastro's report. his deliberate attempt to distort the facts in his report is not surprising given that governor christie has spent well over a million dollars in taxpayer funds to compensate him for doing exactly that.

i call on mr. mastro to release to the public the full transcripts of both the questions and the answers contained in the interviews that he conduct sod the public can evaluate for itself the underlying testimony and determine just how biased the mastro report truly is. if no transcripts exist and the fact that mr. mastro failed to even keep a record of the conversations that he claimed to have had speaks volumes. so clearly she has her own interpretation of that, which she heard this morning, put that into context. >> right. so she raises an interesting question here. one question i wish i had asked during that interview, and that is when randy mastro was conducting this interview with matt doherty, did he ask -- or did any of the lawyers ask if doherty had heard the entire conversation. because that would run counter to what was in the press story. i'd be interested in reading that transcript and finding out. i wish i had asked him in the show if that was the case. in the report, they are absolutely definitive that he

heard the conversation. it exonerates richard constable. and the other thing that he said in there, saying well if you heard the entire conversation and you are quite certain that anything that mayor zimmer is saying did not come up, then she's making up this story. this story is untrue. and then as you play it there, she says, i don't think she fabricated anything. and at a certain point, those two things can't be simultaneously true. >> yeah. wednesday, city council meeting in hoboken, right? so what's on the agenda with that? >> that was the other thing we had this morning. so there is -- in hoboken on wednesday, the city council is going to vote to release the city's redevelopment attorney. they're going to release him from his attorney-client privilege, and that is because he has received a subpoena from the u.s. attorney's office involving the investigation into dawn zimmer's allegations. and we were also told by dawn zimmer's spokesman that this man, the city's redevelopment

attorney, that he talked with dawn zimmer. dawn zimmer has talked with him, actually, on the day she had that encounter with the lieutenant governor. where dawn zimmer and kim met in the parking lot and where dawn zimmer says she made that explicit threat about sandy aid. she was told by that on the day it happened and now he has been subpoenaed by the u.s. attorney's office. >> so we'll know more after wednesday if we're able to get more information as a result of this. >> yes. it's expected that the city council is going to improve the resolution and he will be freed from the attorney client privilege and we'll see what happens there. >> which means tuning in saturday morning to "up with steve kornacki". >> that's always an option for everybody. now to some dramatic moments earlier today surrounding the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. new demands by family members of passengers onboard the missing plane. holding signs and chanting "we want our families back," dozens

of residents held a fiery news conference in kuala lumpur. they want an apology from officials for sending mixed information. the hunt over the indian ocean intensifies. the australian air force is examining four orange objects spotted today within the revised search area. right now, an australian ship carrying a black box detector is getting ready to join the hunt. the ocean shield should arrive in that search zone within about three days. joining me now with the latest from perth is nbc's ian williams. ian, with a good evening to you, do we know why this black box detector is just now being brought to the search zone? >> reporter: hi, alex. well, it's taken a long time to get those assets into place. both the pinger detector and also the specialist australian ship, the ocean shield, which will be carrying it. now, they'll be leaving perth tomorrow afternoon, we're told, for that four.

day voyage out to the search area. but it's unlikely they'll be able to deploy the pinger detector until they've massively narrowed the search area, which means, of course, trying to find at least some wreckage. now, captain mark matthews, who's the u.s. navy commander who's in charge of the pinger operation, was on hand here in perth today, and he had a mixed message. he said that it could well be that the pings from the black box will last at least another 15 days, maybe slightly fainter, which means that we could still be -- we could have up to 45 days to find that black box. but he also warned that it could take years to detect where the plane is. he said that the information they have to go on is not very real, and at the moment, the entire indian ocean effectively was the search zone. that difficulty was underlined by what we've seen in the search this weekend, where there were a lot of spottings, including those orange objects that you

mentioned. but nothing confirmed. we also saw ships in the area, eight ships now in the area, a chinese and an australian ship, both picked up objects from the sea. but none of those turned out to have anything to do with flight mh-370, alex. >> okay. ian, thank you very much. we should say that search area, everyone, is about the size of poland, for perspective there. let's get to nbc's kerry sanders. kerry, what is it, a race against time now? we've got to find the black box as it could have less than a week of watery life left. some are saying maybe longer, as ian was reporting. >> well, you know, alex, it's not precise. the boxes are rated to go at least 30 days. we have one of the boxes here. and this is the pinger right here. and so that's what will be emitting the signal out, and that's what they will hopefully be able to pick up. the problem, as ian pointed out is, you have to know where you

want to drag that detector down under the water. it's dragged behind a naval vessel. the cable that actually extends out to it is up to ten miles long, because remember, out here, it's incredibly deep, and so you have the ship and then the cable going down to that detector, which drags along at a very, very slow speed. and so they're going to be out here. the only good news that we have today is that the weather in the area where they've been looking is relatively okay. and it's not really been impacting the operations, which again, has been mostly from the air. these are aircraft where they're looking out the window using some very low-tech skills basically by looking out the window and saying i think i see something. we heard that -- as you noted that some items were spotted today by the australians. but again, alex, we've seen this before. the color that they're really looking for to find out there is not the color orange, even though that's the box. because this thing weighs maybe

20 pounds, so it's down at the bottom if it's gone into the water there. the color that they're really looking for is the color yellow, because the color yellow would be the emergency slides, the life preservers, the jackets that would be there. those are the colors that they think that they would see out there and so far they haven't seen that. >> this listening device, as i was reading the research on it, you very aptly described that it does get dragged behind a boat slowly. but doesn't it have to be within about a mile of the actual black box to pick up reliably those sounds? >> if you had perfect conditions, 12,000 feet is about the region that this pinger could potentially pick up -- or the detector could pick up the pings. but those are perfect conditions. and let me just give you some variables. aside from the fact that the battery may be losing some of its power. when you get to two miles deep there, you have cold water. and cold water can impact the

strength of the signal traveling in the water. so you're talking about perfect conditions in a lab. ideally, they will be in the general area less than a mile, and they will actually pick something up. but, you know, at this point, they don't even know where to look, alex. >> point well-taken. kerry sanders, thank you. the obama care deadline is tomorrow. i'll talk to a leading member of the senate on whether democrats will fend off gop attempts. and advice that bill clinton is giving to democrats as the midterms approach. ♪

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the deadline to sign up for health care under the affordable care act is tomorrow at midnight. this includes all states where

the federal government is running these the sign-up website. the government says it will accept paper applications until april 7th and take as much time as necessary to handle unfinished cases on healthcare.gov. joining me now, senator robert casey of pennsylvania. always a pleasure, sir. thanks for joining me. >> thanks, alex. >> so, we have midnight tomorrow as being the official deadline to enroll in obamacare. we have the white house saying that more than six million people have now signed up. they'd hoped for seven. are you satisfied with the numbers you've seen? >> well, alex, the number is really a substantial achievement, i think, to be able to say that we're above the six million mark. we can debate whether or not it should have been seven or not, but that's a significant number. i heard on "meet the press" this morning chuck todd saying when you add up the exchange numbers and the medicaid numbers, we could be approaching 15 million. and that's a significant achievement. but it doesn't discount the fact that we've got a long way to go to make sure the law is

implemented well, and to make sure that any kind of glitches or problems are worked out so that we can meet the objectives of the affordable care act. >> well, the glitches and the problems, let's get to that. last week the white house did announce a delay in the deadline. republicans are arguing the white house is now changing what's written law by these extensions. how do you see it? >> well, i don't understand why -- if republicans really want people to get health care, i hope that's what they want, i doubt that sometimes. but if they really want that to be the case, then why wouldn't they let people have a little extra time? it's like voting, when you're in line to vote, they allow you to vote even though the polls close while you're in line. so it's really a way to recognize that some people are on their way to getting -- filling out the paperwork and getting information. the other important part about this, though, is that the administration just lately, just in the last couple of days

allowed a provision to go into effect that would say that if a spouse was a victim of abuse, and in most cases that's women, if she was a victim of abuse, she shouldn't have to call her abuser, her husband, to file her tax returns jointly. so now they have a new category worked out, and they needed extra time to make sure that that individual could file their tax return and get the credit for health care without having to get in touch with and speak to their abuser. so these things are all positive. and if republicans are really concerned about getting more people health care, they should offer a plan that can cover many millions of people and they should be in favor of any effort to cover more people. >> so picking up on all these ifs with you, senator, do you worry that if the gop takes control of the senate, it might put the future of obamacare in jeopardy? >> well, if that were to happen,

and i'm not convinced it will happen, i think there would be -- certainly would be attempts made. i mean, how many votes are we up to? 50 votes to repeal it? but i would hope that they would see the value that millions of americans are seeing. actually seeing not just 6 million people coffvered, but a lot of protection in place for people who already had coverage. until a couple of years ago, the insurance companies had awesome power over people's health care and even their lives in some circumstances. it was only a couple years ago where children with preexisting condition who had parents paying their premiums and could not get coverage for that child. so tremendous advancements and i would hope republicans would see the value to families and see the value to better health care. and the provisions that over time are beginning to reduce cost. >> i want to switch gears to something i know very important to you. this week, the senate will begin debating the unemployment benefits extension.

the vote last week to avoid a filibuster passed 65-34. how do you think that's going to compare to the final senate vote, and do you think this bill then has a chance in the house? >> i would hope it would have a chance in the house. i hope speaker boehner and his colleagues who so far have been resistant to the extension of emergency unemployment compensation would reconsider that. all they need to do is talk to their constituents. every congressional district has hundreds if not thousands of people who are affected by this. i live in pennsylvania, and just this county and the county next door, thousands of people who are dependent upon this lifeline, which is provided -- and by the way, it was signed into law by george bush in june of '08, right? it's a lifeline for people that are out of work and looking for work. these people are working night and day to try to find work. so i think we finally have

gotten over the hurdle, the procedural hurdle in the senate and we should be able to get the extension done. remember, this is only a five-month extension. >> that's the point -- i want to bring that up. because it's five months. so even if this does pass in the house, i mean, it's retroactively there, it's highly unlikely if you look at anything in the past as a barometer there. we're going to be right back at the drawing table on june 1st. this is the same kind of problem we've had with the debt ceiling. also the budge ett. why can't congress pass a long-term bill? >> well, i'd certainly favor that. virtually every democrat wants to have a longer-term solution to this. it shouldn't take three or four months to get a bill to extend for five months. now, remember, this five months means to june 1st, but then it also goes retroactively. because this all started when people were cut off on december 28th. so i hope republicans in the house would just talk to their constitue constituents. just talk to people like i did

the other day. a woman that lives in my neighborhood, vera. she has got a college education, spent 18 years in the banking -- working for banking institutions. and has spent day after day after day trying to find work. if they talk to people like that, they'll get it. if they ignore people like that, maybe they'll just play the washington game. >> yeah. i was reading about vera and joe, those scranton residents that you spoke with. all right, well thank you very much, senator bob casey, it's always a pleasure. thank you. >> thanks, alex. we're getting new pictures of that earthquake in action friday night in los angeles as the area continues to feel hundreds of aftershocks. add vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance and get $100 off for every year of safe driving. we put members first. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." now to headlines at the half. frustration certainly spilling out into the streets after the university of arizona's overtime loss in the ncaa basketball tournament. police say rowdy fans blocked a campus road last night and began taunting officers by throwing beer cans and firecrackers after being told to clear the area. police responded with pepper spray, and as you can see, things got a big hostile at one

point. there were 15 people arrested, though fortunately no serious injuries reported. more than 150 aftershocks have jolted southern california since friday's 5.1 magnitude earthquake. check out this newly released security video that shows the scary scene inside an ice cream shop right near the epicenter in suburban los angeles. there's the exact moment when the quake was hitting on friday night. and another video is showing a convenience store clerk making a beeline for the door's wall of items gets knocked to the ground. at least 80 people are out of their homes after the quake made some houses and apartments unsafe to re-enter. this has many people on edge. >> felt like the building was going to come down. i've never been inside a building where i was so scared. >> this is an earthquake that is not terribly damaging, but should be taken to heart that we can have larger, more damaging earthquakes. >> experts also warning aftershocks can continue up to

several days and in some cases even weeks. an update on the hunt for malaysia airlines flight 370. an australian warship carrying a black box detector and an underwater drone is set to leave at any time for the new search area in the indian ocean. in malaysia, frustrated families of some of the passengers onboard the missing flight held an emotional news conference in kuala lumpur today, expressing their anger with the malaysian government. some of them holding signs, others chanting "we want evidence." "washington post" reporter is in kuala lumpur. walk us through the family's demands. what do they want and what can the malaysian government do for them right now? >> reporter: the families basically want answers, which have been in very short supply, basically ever since this flight disappeared about three weeks ago. they think the malaysian government and malaysia airlines is hiding the truth from them, so a bunch of them decided it was time to come to kuala lumpur and demand answers in person.

>> and do you get a sense that any of these families are holding out hope for the return of their loved ones? >> reporter: absolutely. you can see that they feel like the malaysians are basically hiding their loved ones and not telling them exactly what happened to them, and even the defense minister of malaysia yesterday -- almost in a moment of caving to all this pressure said that there was chance of a miracle that there were survivors and you can tell that that just fueled more of the anger from the chinese families, who feel like somewhere out there, their loved ones are waiting for them, so that's why they showed up and tried to apply yet more pressure on the malaysians. >> okay. what about any sort of response from the malaysian government or the airline to their concerns? what's that been like? >> they've been trying to do these daily meetings, both in beijing and in kuala lumpur to walk the family through what's going on. part of the problem is that the search is just incredibly technical.

you're talking about lots of different information from radar, from satellites, and the information basically changes every day. so it's no wonder that the families are getting confused about, you know, what's going on. and the malaysian government basically saying we're doing our best. we have no regrets about how we've handled this. we've been trying to be utterly transparent in keeping everyone up to date. this is just an incredibly unusual situation and we are in unchartered waters here. >> i understand that some of the families are clamoring to go to perth, which has become somewhat the base of operations. when will that happen, if at all? >> i think they're still waiting to see what they find in perth, as the planes fly out every day. the malaysian airlines ceo did say they are making plans to make sure that families can actually visit the site of the presumed -- where the flight presumably ended at some point. but at this point, they're still

canvassing this huge area. that's bigger than the size of the state of california. and every day they're looking for debris, they're looking for any sign of the plane, but so far they've been coming up short. so at this point, any idea of taking the families there is a bit premature, honestly. >> all right, from "the washington post," jia lynn yang. thank you so much. let's go to politics. new jersey governor chris christie is stoking even more speculation about a potential white house run today. he and other potential hopefuls visited with billionaire denor sheldon adelson serving as host. >> we cannot have a world where our friends are unsure of whether we'll be with them and our enemies are unsure of whether we will be against them. and today in this country that is what's going on. >> let's bring in "the washington post" blogger reid

wilson, and phillip bump. reid, i want to begin with you. when you listen to the governor's comments there in las vegas, are you thinking he's sounding like a candidate for 2016? >> well, this is one of the things that the republican jewish coalition is most concerned with, american foreign policy, especially american foreign policy towards the middle east. of the four candidates who were there, scott walker of wisconsin, john kasich of ohio, and jeb bush of florida along with christie, three of them talked about foreign policy and about what their vision for an aggressive american foreign policy would be. only kasich steered away from that. that tells me that they're sounding the signals about getting ready to run in 2016. >> a lot of this also appealing to what sheldon adelson has on his plate first and foremost, because it's his money that they're all competing for. phillip, let's take a listen to a bit more of what the governor said. >> in new jersey, no one has to wonder whether i'm for them or against them. [ laughter ] there's never really a cloud of

indecision around what i say and what i do. >> so the governor wants to put the bridgegate scandal behind him, but how much is that going to play into a 2016 candidacy if he decides to run? >> enormously. i think that his i am a tough guy schtick works at this meeting better than it would probably most places in the united states. i think the reason he was there and the reason he was making a pitch, he was trying to reestablish the fact that he's a viable candidate in 2016. that he can actually appeal to big donors. that he can line people up behind him. after november, it seemed like he was the most viable candidate. now it looks like jeb bush is going to think about getting into the race in part because christie is weaker. i think him going there and saying those things, saying look, i am the tough guy, doesn't work well when he's trying to rebut the bridgegate criticisms. >> i want to pick up on the jeb bush angle with you, reid. here's what a "washington post" article has to say about this. concerned that the george washington bridge traffic scandal has damaged

chris christie's political standing and a rise by rand paul, longtime operatives say they consider jeb bush the gop's brightest hope to win back the white house. is that right? is that how it's being read there? >> i think you need to go read that story by my colleagues phil rucker and bob costa. they interviewed 30 top republican donors, a lot of whom are in las vegas this weekend. others across the rest of the country. it illustrates this primary within the primary. there are factions of the republican party and various candidates are vying for supremacy of those particular factions. in this case, we're talking about the establishment republicans based in d.c., based in new york, the big donors in megacities. and the contest in their mind is between chris christie and jeb bush. they want somebody who won't embarrass the party, who won't represent the far right wing or some really ideas that don't conform to their ideology. on the other side, you've got people competing for that more

activist base, the people outside the beltway, outside new york. people like rand paul, people like ted cruz who really the activist class, they're the ones who show up and vote in iowa and new hampshire and south carolina. so beyond this jeb bush-chris christie feud, there's sort of a larger fight here within the republican party. the reinvention of the party has not ended. >> and you're right. the article by phillip rucker in the post, it's long and it's great. all comprehensive. phillip, the deadline to sign up for the health care insurance under the affordable care act, that's tomorrow at midnight and the white house says more than six million people have signed up, enrollment has surged leading up to this deadline. how critical of a milestone is this in your mind? >> i think it's very important, in part because the democratic party needs to be able to point to this as a success. i think that -- you know, obviously the fact that all of these millions of people now have health insurance where they might not have otherwise is significant. but i think the fact that they're actually hitting the numbers when after the

disastrous rollout in october, you have to call it disastrous, by law. after that rollout, the fact that they were able to hit the six million mark is significant, and it's going to go higher than that as the time approaches. that's actually a significant win for the democrats, where it was looking to be a loss. >> and from one of the all-time greatest political strategists here, reid, is a new interview with former president bill clinton. he's urging democrats to embrace obamacare in this year's midterm elections rather than shy away from it. do you think democrats are going to take his advice? do you think that's a winning strategy? >> i think some democrats are going to take that advice, but those democrats aren't going to be the ones who stand between republicans and control of the u.s. senate. the path to a republican majority in the senate, which is really the whole ball game here in the 2014 elections, goes through some very red states. it goes through arkansas and north carolina and alaska and louisiana, and those incumbent senators are going to have a real tough time embracing a law that's very unpopular largely because we call it obamacare, and president obama's approval

ratings, they're bad across the country, but in those states, they're ten or 15 points worse. so these democrats are going to have trouble adopting bill clinton's message, even if it's the right one. >> you think it's easier said than done, phillip? >> absolutely. it's significant too that it's president clinton making this pitch, because he is the popular democratic president that the democrats wish they had in the white house right now. the fact that he is from arkansas and will be spending a lot of time in arkansas is significant as well. but yeah, i think that's exactly right. i think that obamacare -- politicians are notoriously risk averse and they are not going to take the risk of embracing barack obama when all the polling suggests that is a bad idea. >> good to see you guys. thanks so much. up next, the best of office politics. plus, the controversy surrounding "noah." the passat tdi clean diesel gets up to 795 highway miles per tank. salesperson #2: actually, we're throwing in a $1,000 fuel reward card. we've never done that. that's why there's never been a better time to buy a passat tdi clean diesel. husband: so it's like two deals in one? avo: during the salesperson #2: first ever exactly. volkswagen tdi

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a best of version from the first part of 2014, and an all-star all-female lineup. >> we as a party sort of thrive and love the chaos. i mean, we are not an orderly party. we never have been. history of the republican party has always been sort of in the upheaval and in the chaos, we will find our path. a leader will emerge. >> does hillary clinton have the fire in her belly? >> i think that every time hillary clinton has had the chance to sort of pursue the institutional power that she believes can help effect big, important changes, she's taken it. >> some are saying the gop could take control of the senate come november. if that were to happen, how would that change the dynamic in this country? >> i think it would be the end of president obama's legislative agenda, which is already i think right now it's in trouble because the mid-terms are coming

up and republicans feel they're in a good position, so they're not going to try to push through anything. the president proposed that drone strikes be removed from the cia, who by definition are operating them as covert action, and not only do they not declare them public policy, policymakers have the option to lie about them when they're asked. he proposed moving them from the cia to the military. at least when the military acts, there's some semblance of accountability for what they do. congress has tried to stop that shift. >> i think every generation feels like it's more polarized than ever. we have the civil war. 600,000 people died fighting each other over slavery. but i do think it's an important time, because having an african-american president was a test for the country, because the reaction to it tells us a lot about where we are. and i think that a lot of the reaction to president obama getting elected disabused people of the notion that we're post-racial, or that we are as far as we thought we were.

>> legend has it that you were the role model for c.j. craig. >> i helped come up with story ideas. i worked with a lot of the directors. i worked with a lot of them through the first time they would direct an episode and say what happens when the president walks through a door? depends on what door, you know? and how that would look. and they were fascinated by the little details. what's that pin everyone wears on their lapel? can we see yours? so it was fun. everything from the smallest details to the biggest story lines. >> let's maneuver the steps. >> you want to do that? an action shot? >> yeah, will you do an action shot? >> this is how the magic happens. okay, i'm getting anxious. we're getting close to show time. the b block. >> it's like 7:30-ish? >> oh, jeez. i've got to stand up. i'm going to stand up and work. oh, jeez. gets the blood flowing in a different way. uses different parts of my brain. uses less of my butt. i stand up.

but it also makes my back hurt less because i'm an old person. >> oh, please. oh, come on. >> hey, it works. next weekend, my interview with the author of the new book "an idea whose time has come." faith and film collide in the new hollywood film "noah." why some say artistic license may have gone too far. let's talk asset allocation. sure. you seem knowledgeable, professional. i'm actually a dj. [ dance music plays ] woman: [laughs] no way! that really is you? if they're not a cfp pro, you just don't know. cfp -- work with the highest standard.

a storm is brewing over the movie "noah" that opened this weekend. the latest movie inspired by biblical stories is getting criticized in some religious circles. they claim the movie is unfaithful to one of the bible's most famous tales. >> our family has been chosen for a great task. to save the innocent. >> the innocent? >> the animals. >> joining me now is glen whip of the "los angeles times." welcome, glen. >> thank you. >> so let's talk about the situation here. what is the crux of the issue and which religious groups are having a problem with this? >> well, the film has been

banned in several middle eastern countries. muslims, noah is a prophet in the koran, so you cannot depict a prophet, so that movie "noah" has been banned in many countries in the middle east. >> qatar, united arab emirates, i'm reading right here. >> right. and you have some christians who are not particularly pleased with the movie because it is not a literal interpretation of the story in genesis. it takes quite a few liberties. enough so that paramount, the studio releasing the movie was concerned now have put a disclaimer on all the marketing materials saying it is inspired by the story, but, you know, we depart from the story quite a bit. >> right. and they've put quite an investment in this. in terms of numbers with regard to "noah," it's opened in more than 3,500 locations, 341 are showing the film in imax theaters. it costs about $130 million to

make. but it brought in so far $44 million this weekend. so do you think it ultimately -- will it pay off? you've seen in the past that controversy can also invite ticket sales. >> it will be interesting. it did well this first weekend it opened, but it's a very polarizing movie. both for believers and non-believers. it's made by darren aronofsky, a guy more known for his art house crazy movies like "black swan," "the wrestler." and here he's given $130 million to tell a very famous biblical tale. some people love it, some people hate it. it's a very loopy, bold movie. and what we'll see in the second weekend is how many people were turned off by it. initially, this first weekend the cinema score was a c, which meaned a lot of people liked it and a lot of people hated it. >> it's not dissimilar from what you write about in the article with martin scorsese's 1988 "the

last temptation of christ." interestingly, when he was in that paramount room talking with all the studio heads about why he wanted to make that film, he said, i wanted to learn more about christ. is there anything like that present here in the history of making this film "noah"? >> well, darren aronofsky, the director, goes way back with noah. he's been fascinated by the story since he was a kid. and even though he's an atheist, which kind of raises the suspicion of a lot of christian groups, he's made a pretty faithful telling of the story in just the most core sense of it. and then there's a lot of other elements that are -- you know, there's rock monsters. fallen angels. there's sort of a subtle or not so subtle depending on your point of view environmental message about how the people living at this time had not been good stewards of the earth.

you know, so there's a lot of -- it's a very personal movie made for $130 million. >> right. >> it's rather remarkable that paramount gave him that kind of a budget to make what is essentially a very personal movie to him. >> we should say paramount did this film and paramount was behind "the last temptation of christ" until they said no, thanks and universal picked it up. how much do you think this is going to make? 44 million this weekend. just give me a sense looking at films like this ho you think it will do. do you think it will make its money back? >> it's doing quite well internationally. it opened in mexico, huge business there. it's opened in russia, very strong business there. so it's going to depend on i think a lot of the foreign sales on it. i think it could make its money back. it's not going to be a huge hit for paramount, but it's not going to be a disaster either. >> okay, from the "los angeles times," glenn whipp. thank you, glenn. >> you bet.

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from phillips. a key piece of equipment from the u.s. is heading to waters of the indian ocean. how will it help in the search for that missing plane? did chris christie make a pitch for a big 2016 donor in las vegas, and how did the audience receive him? giving paydays a boost. a new look at the real impact of raising minimum wage. and is diet soda a danger to your health? a new study may make you think before your next sip. hey there, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." a couple of minutes past 1:00 p.m. in the east. here's what's happening right now. there are new clues today in the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. the australian royal air force spotted four six and a half-foot-long orange colored objects in the remote indian ocean. they are within the new search zone. australian officials are calling it "the most promising lead so far."

>> that is our focus for the surf fashion ship search today, to find the debris confirmed, whether or not it came from the aircraft and use that to cast back to gain an accurate position of the impact point of the aircraft. >> meanwhile, time is running out for the battery inside the missing plane's black box. right now, an australian ship carrying sophisticated underwater equipment including an american made black box detector is gearing up to join the hunt. it is called the ocean shield. it is set to arrive in the search zone within the next three days. nbc's kerry sanders joins me now from our washington bureau. describe this equipment, how it's going to be used to find the missing plane. >> it's a sophisticated listening device. the real technology here is that it needs to be placed in the water. it looks like a torpedo that's attached to a cable that runs up to ten miles long and goes off the stern of the ship. so as the ship is moving very slowly in through the search

area, down below there is this listening device attempting to try to pick up the sounds of the pinger. this is the pinger right here on what we call the black box, even though it's orange. this pinger sends out a little click. it's like a click every second. the listening device can pick it up and then hone in on it. the real challenge here is that as they're trying to find this black box, there's the cockpit voice recorder. there's more than one of these boxes. the real challenge is they don't know where to look. i'm just going to come back over here to the map and just on this real wide map here, just sort of show you the area that they're searching is something like that. look at the size of the earth. this is a huge area that they're looking. so it's kind of like if you went out in your car and decided that you were just going to drive through the state of new mexico, and as you were driving the state of new mexico you were going to find a quarter that somebody dropped on just one of

the roads, but you didn't know which road to look for. >> okay. you've rendered me speechless with that analogy and that's hard to do, kerry. can i ask you this? why that is black box detector not gone out sooner? it's not like we didn't know that we had 30 days or so until the pings would run out? >> well, it's a little bit of getting a piece of equipment halfway around the world down to australia, and the other is sort of going back to the analogy that i gave you, is that, you know, just because they have it there doesn't mean they know where to look. i mean, they're ideally waiting for some sort of discovery of debris on the surface that then oceanographers can look at, calculate back the currents of the location of where that debris was found, and then get a better guess as where they need to go listen. because right now, it's a true shot in the dark. >> okay. kerry sanders from washington. thank you, kerry. let's go to katy tur, she's in kuala lumpur.

the families are demanding an apology from the malaysian government. with a good evening to you, what do you know? >> reporter: it was a very emotional day. very dramatic. angry family members. about a dozen or so flew out here today and made their presence known almost immediately. they held their own news conference, coming in with these giant banners and chanting we want the evidence, we want our relatives. the issue is they don't really trust the malaysian government. they felt like they weren't getting any answers in beijing, so they flew down here to try and get some face time with officials out here. unclear if that's going to happen. made worse is all the confusion. the transport minister came out yesterday and seemed to directly contradict what the prime minister said a few days ago. the prime minister said there was no hope for any survivors. they did not believe the plane made it down safely. now, the transport minister came out yesterday and said there's always hope for survivors and they're hoping for a miracle. now, that really frustrated a lot of the families.

very confusing thing for them to hear. are their family members gone or should they hold out hope that they'll be found? >> do you get a sense that any of these family members have confronted this terribly sad possibility that perhaps we may never know what happened to flight 370? >> reporter: i think a lot of them are getting -- starting to confront that. but i think as anyone would do in this situation where there are no real answers, you do hold out that hope and you are grasping for something, until you get the closure that yes, they are gone. so i think to come out and to say that all of your loved ones are lost is some semblance of closure. but to come out a few days later and say yes, we're hoping for a miracle, and oh, we haven't found any wreckage yet, but we do believe it's in the indian ocean. i think they're feeling like nobody really knows what's going on, so why give up on the idea that they could be out there somewhere waiting to be rescued? >> well, it's human nature. hope springs eternal. okay, katy tur, thank you so much. breaking news, john kerry in

paris scheduled to meet with his russian counterpart any minute now to discuss the ongoing crisis in ukraine. kristen welker is at the white house for us. what are you hearing about this meeting? has it happened yet? >> reporter: hasn't happened. secretary kerry is currently meeting with the french foreign minister, but we anticipate the meeting with his russian counterpart will begin any minute now. state department officials saying that the two men will discuss past proposals to deescalate the situation in ukraine, includings sending international monitors into ukraine and having russia pull its forces back from the border. as you know, the situation has been escalating ever since russia annexed crimea. the united states concerned that russia's intention is to go into other parts of ukraine. russia has consistently said that that is not their intention, but this week, there was a true buildup along ukraine's border. earlier today, russia's ambassador to the united states said it is not their plan to go into other parts of the country. take a listen, alex.

>> we have said so many times that we have no intent, no interest in crossing the border. >> but does that mean you won't do it? >> well, we are not planning to. we have our forces conducting the exercises in the territory of russian federation. >> reporter: white house officials say they have to wait and see at this point how serious putin is about a possible diplomatic resolution to this crisis. there does seem to be some change in putin's tone. on friday, president putin reached out to president obama, the two men spoke for an hour about a possible diplomatic solution. but, of course, leading up to this moment, putin has been defiant in the face of sanctions. this past week, president obama has threatened more sanctions, the eu has threatened more sanction, and of course, they suspended russia from the g8 summit, so it's possible that some of that pressure is having

an impact. so again, we are anticipating that secretary of state john kerry's meeting with his russian counterpart sergei lavrov will begin any minute now. we will be monitoring it closely, and we expect to hear from secretary kerry at some point later today. >> we'll be looking for your notes in the hot file and as well with live reporting. thanks so much. more politics now. new reaction today from a key lawmaker to president obama's proposed changes to the nsa data collection program. here's the chair of the senate intelligence committee dianne feinstein. >> what the president is proposing is that data only be held for 18 months instead of five years. that is a good suggestion. that the hops, that if i were the principal terrorist calling you in the united states, that's one hop. the hops be held to two, as opposed to three. that's a good suggestion. the question comes, can a bill be passed? it's very controversial. >> we are awaiting a number of

decisions from the supreme court later this week, including the president's power to make recess appointments and a state constitution fall amendment prohibiting affirmative action. to washington state now, and a dramatic drop in the number of people missing from that massive mudslide last week. je jennifer, with a good day to you, why the revision? >> reporter: the revision is actually a spot of good news coming out of here for a change. the missing list has dropped from 90 to 30 as people are added to a new list. it's one we're hearing more about. it's the safe and well list. more people are checking in. and saying nope, i'm here. i wasn't there. a lot of people were reported missing that, you know, may or may have not been in the mudslide zone. so that's why that list is growing and the list of missing is now down to 30. the death toll still officially at 18 with another ten bodies likely to be added to that list as they are officially identified.

we do have another spot of good news with the weather starting to cooperate a little bit. the rain has let up, which is going to mean a chance to dry out a little bit in the mudslide zone. but the rain yesterday and the day before left behind a sticky mess that is still very slow going for crews. >> okay. >> coming in up to waist deep in mud that they've been going through. they've seen things that most people shouldn't have to see. >> there's people out here that you can't get them to go home. they're looking for loved ones. so the mental toll is just having to sift through this and what they're finding. >> reporter: as for the victims who have been recovered and identified, their service is planned for the next few days for 12 of them. the snohomish county official we spoke with yesterday involved in the search said something that i think has been on a lot of

people's minds the last few days and that is there are so many people that may have been buried so thoroughly in that mudslide they may never be found. that actually may be their final resting place, alex. >> thank you very much for the update. a call to boost security is taking place after breaches at the country's tallest skyscraper. senator charles schumer says he wants the department of homeland security to audit the security procedures at one world trade center. in the last two weeks, a 16-year-old boy was arrested and charged with climbing to the top of the building's spire. three sky divers jumped off the top of the building in september. the head of the security at one world trade center resigned on friday. the sign-up deadline is here. what challenges await as the affordable care act enters a new phase. and later, is there a relationship between diet soda and women's heart health? alarming new research straight ahead. he has the most common kind... ...it's not caused by a heart valve problem. dad, it says your afib puts you at 5 times greater risk of a stroke. that's why i take my warfarin every day. but it looks like maybe we should ask your doctor about pradaxa.

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tomorrow's the deadline to sign up for obamacare. enrollment is open in various cities throughout the nation. >> i felt great. i'm glad i'm reassured that i have my insurance now. i'm not scared. >> she has met the government deadline. a new keyser foundation poll says 60% of the uninsured were not aware of the deadline and half say they won't get health insurance anyway. if they don't get insured, they may face a financial penalty. joining me now, the former director of the department of health and human services. jay, welcome. >> thank you very much. >> so the white house announced this past week more than six million people have signed up. that's certainly a hefty amount here. are you satisfied with the numbers you've seen? >> yeah, it's a particularly hefty amount when you consider two things -- number one, the disastrous rollout of the federal website. and then some state websites still aren't working.

and number two, is the massive resistance of the republican party. the massive resistance in obstructionism. and despite those two things, one self-inflicted by the administration, one by the opponents, despite those two things, six million people have enrolled in private insurance through the exchange. millions more in private insurance off the exchange. millions more in medicaid. so what that shows is there's just such a tremendous demand for good insurance. >> yeah. i mentioned that keyser health tracking poll, which found that half of the uninsured people say they're not going to even get insurance, even after the deadline. so if that happens, how will it affect the program's ability to sustain itself? >> well, the administration did something that's very smart, which is they extended the deadline, and the reason that's such a good thing is that not only does it give people who haven't signed up yet a little extra time to sign up, but it also -- those people are more likely to be in good health than the people who signed up originally.

the people who signed up at first, despite all the difficulties with the website, those people are likely to be in relatively bad health because they needed insurance, they had health conditions that they needed to get taken care of right away. as time goes on, the people who are going to sign up are going to be in better health, and so that's something that's going to benefit the risk pool. it's going to make the risk pool healthier. and ultimately, that should result in 2015, for example, that should result in lower insurance rates. >> but let's take a look at the some other numbers from this keyser poll. it finds that only about a third of uninsured people have tried to get insurance in the last six months. that includes 18% going through an insurance marketplace. do those numbers concern you? >> they do concern me. that's one of the reasons the affordable care act put into place these entities called navigators, which the purpose of navigators is to go out and find people and help people sign up

for insurance. and again, you know, i talked about the massive resistance of the opponents of the aca, and several states and about a third of the states, there's been legislation enacted to restrict navigators, to make it tough or even impossible for them to help people sign up. so what i'm saying is despite all these obstacles, millions of millions of people signing up is really a tremendous accomplishment. >> yeah, the focus all along, jay, has been on the problems with signing up, but not on the actual coverage of the plans themselves. so what can people expect once everything goes into effect? >> well, people should know that there are different levels of coverage. they pay for 60, 70, 80, and 90% of average health care costs. the ones that pay for 90% are more expensive ones. as time goes on, the important thing is to -- if we promote competition, if we standardize the benefit package, and we force insurance companies to compete based on standard products so that people can make apples to apples comparisons,

people then are going to find the system much simpler than it's been in the past and not competition based on price when companies have to sell the same standardized products, that should really drive price down. >> okay. former director of hhs, jay, thanks so much. >> thank you. march madness. an ugly scene unfolds after a tough loss in the college basketball tournament. this is the age of knowing what needs to be done. so why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long- term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing.

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few of the demonstrators. it got a little bit hostile at one point. 15 people were arrested, though fortunately no serious injuries reported. march is not going out like a lamb. a line of storms barrelled from the gulf of mexico across florida. the weather channel's dr. greg postel has more on the weather for the first week of april. >> thanks, alex. we're watching some rain and snow showers move across the pacific northwest right now. kind of an unsettled day, with the rain and snow moving in off the pacific ocean. snow primarily at the higher elevations. and that will be the case for the most part today. tomorrow looks like they catch a little bit of a break, particularly in washington state, where some drier air moves in. that should help the search efforts there in oso. timing it out in arlington, washington, this is about ten miles to the southwest of oso. today we do expect some rain showers. then let's shift our attention to the northern plains. because we have a blizzard that is impending across the region.

the national weather service has posted blizzard warnings and blizzard watches and winter storm watches surrounding that for a lot of snow and a lot of wind tomorrow across those regions. also, tomorrow night, monday night, we have a lot of snow and wind in northwestern minnesota, and in the eastern dakotas. i think minneapolis and locations farther to the southeast will get less snow, if any. most of it will be relegated to far northern locations, such as fargo international falls, where maybe as much as eight to 12 inches will fall. alex, back to you. >> dr. greg postel, thank you. more than a dozen states opted to raise their minimum wage this year. now three months later, we're learning more about the impact. that's next. little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪

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(knochello? hey, i notice your car is not in the driveway. yeah. it's in the shop. it's going to cost me an arm and a leg. that's hilarious. sorry. you shoulda taken it to midas. get some of that midas touch. they tell you what stuff needs fixing, and what stuff can wait. next time i'm going to midas. high-five! arg! i did not see that coming. trust the midas touch. for brakes, tires, oil, everything. (whistling) welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." right now a ship is getting ready to join the hundred for missing malaysia airlines flight 370. i want to bring in the

editor-in-chief of "flying" magazine. why do you think it has taken officials this long to dispatch the ship with the black box detector? is it all about trying to pinpoint the location and that's the only reason? >> it's a really good question, alex. there are two ways of looking at it. first, i think there are a lot of people who are increasingly skeptical about how transparent the state of the investigation is. the malaysian government has made announcements that seem to contradict other announcements that they've made, and when you bring in a ship like this that can really only do about a hundred square miles of ocean a day, towing the submersible -- the blue fin 21 that can only do about 40 square miles of ocean a day, you don't really do that unless you're got a good idea where you should be looking. there have been no announcements of any of the debris that they've found that's associated with the flight, so it seems like there's a question that remains unanswered here. if they don't have a good idea of where the location is, then it's really hard to imagine what they're doing with this very expensive and high-tech

equipment right now. >> yeah, can you describe any other types of sophisticated high-tech equipment that they're going to use once this ocean shield arrives to the search zone? >> it's really a tiered approach to finding the wreckage. you need to find the debris first, of course. and the longer it takes to find the debris, the harder it is going to be to pinpoint where the heavier wreckage might be. you're going to be looking for engines. you're going to be looking for the landing gear. you're going to be looking for probably the fuselage or parts of the fuselage of the airplane. and those are very important because that's where you're going to be finding the black boxes. but in order to find that, you're going to have to do some really complex calculus and reverse drift analysis to figure out where it might -- where the crash might have been that yielded the debris that has been, you know, floating for all these weeks now. >> but, robert, the fact that they are going to mobilize this ship and all this equipment, they're sending it to this search area, does it mean they're pretty confident they're going to find something? >> that's my guess as well,

alex, but they're not talking butt that right now. they seem to be, you know, very conservative for once, instead of not making announce pt ments based on no or limit data. they seem to be very tight-lipped about it. >> this australian military official says they've spotted four six and a half-foot-long orange colored objects today. what comes to mind for you? do you think it's part of possible of the flight? >> no, there's nothing on the aircraft itself that would make you think that that's part of the aircraft structure. if it were part of the cargo that it was carrying, that would be my only guess. and it's really a long shot. >> i was speaking with nbc's kerry sanders earlier. he said we're looking for all these thing. we talk about something that's orange and blue. he says actually what we should be looking for are yellow objects, because those are the things -- like the deflatable -- rather inflatable slide.

the life jackets. things like that. would you agree with that, that that would be probably the most promising thing to see? >> absolutely, because they are going to float. the inflatable sides and the life preservers are going to do that. but the question is would they have been deployed? in the 777, i believe they're kept under the seats and if that's the case, if the airplane crashed without people having them on, it's not likely that you're going to be finding one. and if you do find one, it's going to float, but it's also going to float far away from where the wreckage is. so it's a great idea, but i don't know how fruitful it's going to be. >> okay. editor-in-chief of "flying" magazine robert goyer. thank you. coming up, here are your fast five headlines. first to ukraine, where thousands of people have gathered in kiev's main square. they're marking the end of 40 days of mourning for the hundred of people killed in unrest, which drove ukraine's president to self-exile. it comes as russian talks are under way in paris. there have been more than 150 aftershocks from friday

night's earthquake near los angeles. more than 80 residents of an apartment building have been evacuated after a crack was found in the build's foundation. there's brotherly love once again in philadelphia for the 76ers buzz they snapped their 26-game losing streak by routing detroit. they share the record for the longest losing streak in nba history. they share it with the cleveland cavaliers. kensington palace has released this photo featuring 8-month-old prince george and his parents, little boy george isn't really camera shy. he just seems more fascinated with their dog apparently. and in japan, stores are jammed with shoppers all across the country and that's because the national sales tax is going up on tuesday from 5% to 8%. quite a hike. and those are your fast five headlines. when connecticut raised its minimum wage this week to $10.10 an hour by 2017, it became the 13th state to opt for an increase so far. my next guest has a new article that takes a look at the impact or lack thereof.

joining me is nancy cook. nancy, welcome, good to talk with you. >> you, too, alex. >> you spoke to people on both ends of the spectrum. what did you find? >> i found that it hasn't had a huge impact, and that's really what people feared. so republicans and conservatives and free market thinkers leading up to this really said, you know, this is going to be a job killer. you know, business owners are going to lay off people en masse. and like wise on the other end of the political spectrum, liberals and democrats really had warned that this is going to pull people out of poverty. and what i found is basically three months after these minimum wage increases went into effect in 13 states, it hasn't really done either. so for minimum wage workers, it's been a slight boost in their earnings every week and they're happy about that, but it's not sort of helping people really pay their bills or lead the lives they want. for smul business o-- small bus owners, it hasn't caused them to change their practices or lay people off yet.

>> is there definitive data on the impact of raising the minimum wage? are there charts and studies and research that's been done on that? >> there's been economic research on this whole debate the past 20 years. if you ask some economist, they'll say it is a little bit of a job killer. if you ask other economists, they think it's a great economic thing, it does help lift people out of poverty. the congressional budget office, which is the nonpartisan scorekeeper in washington did do a report back in february that talked a little bit about this. >> you also interviewed a woman, she works at a kfc right here in new york. her hourly wage increased from 7.25 to $8 an hour. she said yeah, that helps a little. but she's also confronting a problem that she can only get 15 hours a week in her job. so are the lack of hours as big a problem as low wages? >> that's absolutely true. that was a huge part of the problem. just getting 40 hours a week of work can be really tough in these low wage jobs. a lot of people just need to work more hours and they need

better paying jobs overall. the economy has really been stuck in neutral for the past five years, and workers, both low wage once and middle class ones really are feeling that. >> politically speaking, nancy, the states that have raised the minimum wage, they really run the gamut. when you get to the state level, is this as partisan an issue as it is in congress? >> oh, absolutely. the people are really coming out state by state for this fight, with unions on one side, restaurant industry, back groups on the other. so it is really partisan. and because the federal debate on this is sort of stuck at this point, apart from president obama sort of campaigning on it and talking about it ahead of the midterm elections, we're basically having these realtime mini economic experiments in these states to see what ends up happening. >> and which states do you think are up next in line to raise their minimum? >> well, i think that we're not just seeing it in states, we're seeing it in cities as well, so san francisco and washington, d.c. at this point will have sort of the highest minimum wages and i think we're just

going to see this debate continue to roll out, you know, state by state over the next several years. >> okay from the national journal, nancy cook. thank you, nancy. >> thanks. women trying to lose weight by drinking diet soda may have a bigger problem. a new study reveals a possible connection between diet sodas and heart disease. nbc's kristen dahlgren is joining us with more on this story. >> it's important to note, it may not be a direct cause and effect. in other words, the drinks themselves may not be killers. perhaps the women are drinking diet drinks to balance out other unhealthy habits. either way, researchers say the results are worth noting. on any given day, one in five americans will down a diet drink. but a new study says the women who drink the most may be more likely to develop heart disease, even die from it. >> consumption of two or more diet drinks per day was associated with the higher risk of cardiovascular events. >> the women's health initiative

study looked at 60,000 post-menopausal women over a timeframe of about nine years. women who consumed two or more diet drinks per day were 30% more likely to experience a cardiovascular event, and 50% more likely to die from related heart disease than women who never or rarely drank diet drinks. researchers caution the risk is still low. considering heart disease is very common. and they point out the women who drank more diet drinks were also the most likely to have other risk factors. >> the higher proportion of women with a history of diabetes, a higher proportion of women with history of high blood pressure. they also on average consumed higher calories than women in the reference group. >> so for scientists who have long said artificially sweetened drinks don't actually help people lose weight, more research is needed. but many agree this latest study

on diet drinks is at least food for thought. >> it raises a question more than it answers anything yet. and hopefully we'll know the answer to that in the future. >> now, the american beverage association responded saying that because of those other risk factors it's impossible to attribute their cardiovascular health issues to their diet beverage intake. we're not just talking about diet sodas. diet fruit juices. anything that is artificially sweetened. a lot more research needs to be done. scientists say it's too early to stay away from diet drinks altogether. >> do you drink them? >> i used to and i actually stopped last fall. and it's been tough to stop. they're good. >> i don't. every once in a while, i get a craving for a regular dr pepper. that's about it, though. so i guess we're healthy. >> we try. >> that's good, thanks. the words that prompted abapology from governor christie after his las vegas speech. we'll discuss next. and you'll s. ding!

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take a look at this. the lights were not bright on new york's broadway last night, but this times square blackout happened on purpose. major landmarks around the globe, including the eiffel tower in paris, london's big ben and several skyscrapers to hong kong turned off their lights last night to mark this year's earth hour. it is a movement aimed to raise awareness about the world's energy consumption. it's time for the big three, and today's topics. moving forward? turning blue. and this week's must read. so let's bring in my big three panel. we have the msnbc managing editor. jason johnson. and former bush-cheney senior adviser robert trainham. welcome to all three of you. good to have you. >> good afternoon. >> good to be here. >> let's talk about what politico was doing in reporting that governor christie apologized for saying this in las vegas at the republican jewish coalition. here's that. >> i took a helicopter ride from the occupied territories across.

and just felt personally how extraordinary that was. >> so give us a sense of why some in that audience took issue with the governor's words? why would he reportedly need to apologize later? >> well, that's not the kind of language you want to use for the sheldon primary. normally, the israelis and a lot of conservative jews in america and other places look at the west bank and gaza and that's what they want to call it. they want to use the biblical name. they don't want to refer to the territories as occupied. much of the world sees it differently. but if this is chris christie's attempt to appeal to this audience, i think he got it wrong here on this one pretty quickly out of the gate. >> why do you think he would get that wrong, and why as was reported as he was being

escorted off the stage someone said to him, you know, that wasn't so great, and apparently he just sort of grimaced at him. why did that happen? >> again, i think it's a little bit of a tone deafness here in who his audience is and who he's trying to appeal to. chris christie went there to kind of show himself off as somebody who's a great candidate, a presidential contender for 2016. sheldon adelson and the republican jewish coalition are look for somebody who's going to be a winner and a good fit for them, and i think if chris christie cannot even pull off in the simplistic way coming at this audience and what they want to hear, i think that speaks volumes about whether or not he's ready really to appeal to an audience like that. >> and the timing of this -- i mean, it comes just after the release of that bridgegate report slamming bridget kelly saying she had a personal relationship with christie's former campaign manager, that she was habitually concerned about huh she was perceived by the governor. kelly's lawyer released a statement calling this report

"sexist." robert, do you see this as another political misstep for governor christie? >> time will tell. we don't know yet. obviously the report came out just a couple days ago. that was a christie blessed investigation, if you will. the other question remains whether or not the state and the federal officials will come out with a report that pretty much is in sync with what the christie report says. as a former staffer, you always want to be in your boss's good graces. you always want to make sure that you are on the right side of his or her's personality. so that's not unusual, if you will. the question becomes whether or not she was so zealous. and we don't know this yet or not, that she was willing or wanted to kind of get on the governor's good side and do exactly what he wanted to do in reference to bridgegate. we don't know yet. >> but again, the fallout with people calling it sexist. do you have any concerns that he might lose votes of females who when they go to the voting booth next time, were supporting him if he runs in 2016? >> you know, chris christie is

labeled with a lot of adjectives. bossy, arrogant, a lot of other things. i don't know if he's sexist or not. i wouldn't go that far to say that. but i do think the voters, particularly in new jersey, but also in the republican primary know exactly what they're getting and they're going to make up their mind on his personality overall. >> hue about this, jason. let's take a listen to what rudy giuliani had to say about the bridgegate report. this was on "meet the press" this morning. >> i would not accept it as a complete investigation, but i would accept it for what it's worth. in other words, i would go through it in great detail because it can give you a tremendous amount of information. so far, no one has gotten interviewed, those people, including the joint committee. so this report has gone as far as anybody can go. and it can give you some very valuable information. >> what's your reaction to that? jason. >> you know, chris christie, he needs like a ken starr or some bad guy in this situation to make this story die. because at this point, the details are less significant

than the scandal itself. he is constantly in trouble. he should hide under this bridge at this particular point because no one is going to trust him anymore. the mistake he made with the jewish coalition of republican leaders, it's the same problem. he has been off his game for months and this is destroying his reputation. he doesn't have much of a future in 2016. he can barely hold on to his own state at this point. >> do you think this is because he's getting bad advice, jason, or do you think it's because as robert was describing -- robert, you can put those adjectives up there again. is he too headstrong? >> i think it's arrogant. i think he's realizing that his pushy attitude may not play in a national audience. what he said at the meeting reminded me of when mitt romney got in front of the naacp and said obamacare and the audience booed. you have to know the audience you're talking to. you can't just be the brusque new jersey mayor everywhere you go, not if you're trying to run for president. i don't think he realizes how this bridge scandal and other issues play nationally, and now he's suffering for it. >> okay. let's go to our next topic, which is turning blue.

a new gallup poll finds that 55% of new adults on average since 2006 have aligned themselves with the democratic party. 36% identify with republicans. so what does this say to you about the future of the republican party? >> republican party? >> i think it says the republicans need to do more than they're doing. they released an autopsy report after 2012 and not doing enough to reach out to young people. the stance on same-sex marriage hurts them badly. these are all things -- their stance on immigration reform. these are all things they could take a different tact with and probably help them but i think for the democrats, i mean, i think they know this. this is the case for them. >> robert, certainly, the president, president obama, i'm talking about, won young voters in 2012 so how do republicans reverse this trend and gop grow the appeal with young adults? >> i think the republican party is starting to do that. looking at the hopeful presidential nominees on the republican side, they're not

talking about gay marriage or abortion, not talking about social issues but economic issues. i think this is very important. it's really nuanced but the president looks like america. america's becoming much more browner and younger and the first family embodies that, if you will. in 2008 and 2012, the obama campaign did a phenomenal, phenomenal job of reaching out to young people and registering new young people and not surprising to me that more individuals under the age of 30 according to gallup poll register as democrat. the question becomes is whether or not they vote for the democratic party in 2016. the devil's in the details and much more nuanced. >> you know who might know is jason. you are a professor. you talk to young folks every day. why might they be leaning that way? >> there's a lot of different issues. basic way, we did a poll a couple of years ago. barack obama is the democratic

rag beg ronald reagan. if you're 16 or 17 or 18 in 2008, obama is the biggest thing. voting for him was a social, personal statement. he will resonate for a force for generation-x 'ers they're not taking out barack obama. >> but there's one thing he mentioned. barack obama isn't on the ballot. oldest person running for president may be running on the ballot in 2016 and that's hillary clinton. you are right. barack obama is a transformational figure but the question is whether he had presidential coattails in 2018. >> you know we have to blast through the big three as always. it's a miracle of modern medicine next.

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we are back. we'll go ladies first. what's yours? >> my must read is about the trial in new york, the conviction, successful conviction of bin laden's son-in-law. it was really -- it took amount of time to capture, try and convict somebody that it's taken, you know, one third of the time to even get a trial started at guantanamo and it puts to bed the republican fearmongering that trials like this can't be held in the u.s. >> jason, how about you? >> i'll mess up the march madness with politics. >> make it quick. >> an article from inside education talks about the split by race and demographics in america whether college athletes should get paid. >> oh my gosh, maybe based on northwestern and the unionizing and everything. we all stop talking, robert.

>> philadelphia enquirer, a story about a 4 0-year-old with usher syndrome and hearing her voice for the first time. you must -- >> sounds great. >> you must go and look at the story. it is really warming. >> a tear jerker. >> sounds good. we are out. bye. >> bye. the united states postale will get it there on time with priority mail flat rate shipping. ♪ whoo-hoo! ♪ [ male announcer ] our priority has always been saving the day. because our priority... amazing! [ male announcer ] ...is you! the amazing spider-man 2 delivered by the united states postal service. this is mike. his long race day starts with back pain... ...and a choice. take 4 advil in a day which is 2 aleve... ...for all day relief. "start your engines"

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you can fill your prescription at your pharmacy. or, check out viagra home delivery, a convenient place to fill your prescription online and have it shipped at no additional cost straight to your door. viagra home delivery. get started at viagra.com. i think we both are clean freaks. i used to scrub the floor on my knees. [ daughter ] i've mastered the art of foot cleaning. oh, boy. oh, boy. oh, boy. [ carmel ] that drives me nuts. it gives me anxiety just thinking about how crazy they get. [ doorbell rings ]

[ daughter ] oh, wow. [ carmel ] swiffer wetjet. you guys should try this. it's so easy. oh, my. [ gasps ] i just washed this floor. if i didn't see it i wouldn't believe it. [ carmel ] it did my heart good to see you cleaning. [ regina ] yeah, your generation has all the good stuff. [ daughter ] oh, yeah. good morning. i'm chuck todd. david is on vacation. obama, putin showdown. thousands of russian troops are massed on the border of ukraine. can president obama and the west stop putin with new diplomatic efforts? we'll have the latest from eastern ukraine. truth or whitewash? new jersey governor chris christie goes on the offensive after an investigation that he commissioned concludes he didn't know about the bridge scandal. can he get his white house ambitions back on track? we'll be joined by his most prominent defender former new york city mayor rudy giuliani and a democratic critic from new jersey. and less than 48 hours before the health care deadline. the obama white house heralded