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two big stories at msnbc this hour. we're waiting for a news conference to begin in escambia county, florida, where the sheriff down there is expected to have an update on the killings of byrd and melanie fwhalgs had adopted more than a dozen disabled children. seven different suspects already under arrest. there was a person of interest they were looking for, as well. we expect an update at any moment and will bring that to you. >> we're keeping an eye on capitol hill where we're watching the confirmation hearing of judge sonia sotomayor. we should be hearing from senator sessions here very soon with his comments on how things were going today. a lot of tough questions but many of the same that we heard yesterday. we'll have nor analysis. >> i'm david shuster live in washington. >> and i'm tamron hall live for

news new york. >> and tamron, you know, as we wait for these stories, big one also developing here in washington involving health care. for months, president obama has been talking about his desire to reach a bipartisan compromise on health care reform, the biggest issue right now of his presidency. in our big picture today, the obama team is staring down republicans and playing political "hardball." democrats who feared the white house would be too accommodating with the gop say it's about time. first the fast-moving developments. in separate interviews with bloomberg news, david david axelrod and rahm emanuel said he is willing to push the reform by relying if necessary on democrats. he said ultimately, this is not about a process. it's about results. if we're going to get things done, obviously time is awasting. republicans who have been trying to influence potential plans but have not yet committed to supporting anything. meanwhile, the president went

back into campaign mode hammering opponents who stan in the way of his reform effort. >> deferring reform is nothing more than defending the status quo. those who would oppose our efforts to take a hard look at just what it is they're defending. over the last decade, health insurance premiums have risen three times faster than wages. deductibles and out of pocket costs are skyrocketing. and every single day we wait to act, thousands of americans lose their insurance. >> the president acknowledged that day-to-day difficulties of the incredibly high establishes negotiations that are underway right now. he referred to the nurses sanding with him and with members of congress today. watch. >> that's what nurses do all the time. they buck up patients. sometimes they buck up some young resident who doesn't quite know what he's doing. what they're saying is it's time for us to buck up congress, this

administration, the entire federal government to be clear that we've got to get this done. >> this new aggressive approach comes as democrats appear to be making progress on health reform. yesterday, house democrats and actually those you're looking at some of the senators there, but yesterday house democrats unveiled a $1.5 trillion plan that would cover 97% of all americans and today a senate health care committee, they passed a $600 billion plan to expand health insurance to nearly all americans. republican lawmakers are shooting back an the democrats' plan saying it will only raise the deficit. today's vote was right along party lines with the ten republicans on the senate committee vote against it. >> and david, we want to take our audience to florida where we're getting a update from the sheriff investigating the murders of melanie and byrd billings. they've located a suspect, i shouldn't say a suspect, a

person of interest, thank you, that they've been looking for. let's listen. >> exactly. she was identified and located by the orange beach pd and approached. >> who was her attorney. >> that, sir, i do not know. i was not in consultation with him. >> is she in custody or being transported? >> no, sir, she's with her attorney as i understand. they're follow us back. >> what was she doing? >> i have no knowledge of that. >> can you give us some sense of the reaction that you got when you first put out the lookout for her? >> you mean from the community or from what? again, a flood of calls from friends and neighbors. again, she has been incognito if you will for approximately 48 hours. again, we were concerned about her personal safety and we're getting calls from folks that said yes, we had spotteded her within the last couple of days. of course, that leads to more information, more leads and she's located in orange beach. >> was she aware you guys were looking for her?

>> to the best of my knowledge, no. >> when you say incognito, what do you mean. >> she was not making routine contact with normal friends and neighbors. have i not observed miss long at this time. >> was there anything unusual about the circumstances under which you found her? >> i cannot release that information at this time. >> does she have a boat at the mirren a, do you get a sense she was trying to escape? >> i will not address that issue at this time. >> neighbors said they thought the red van was at her home in gulf breeze. do you know if that van was there? did she know gonzales? >> i know that there is a red van that is part of this investigation. whether it's it is that red van, i have no verification of that. >> what is the nature of her relationship? is there anything more than her being a landlord to gonzales? >> there obviously is a

friendship. she's been observed transporting his wife and children at times. there is that sort of relationship. >> what sort of information are you hoping to get from her? >> we know she was associated with leonard patrick gonzales junior up and until the day of the murders. and so again, we would like to get information from her about his activities, whereabouts, movements, those sorts of things. again, she's a person of interest because her close association with him. >> that she was one of two persons of interest that you were looking for. >> yes. >> can you speak to the other person of interest you're looking for? >> the other person of interest we're looking for is associated again, associated again with the security and video surveillance system at billings compound. >> did that person work for a company that had the surveillance system? >> that person does not. >> do you have an identity on that person? >> we have several identities. we have again, persons of interest. we have narrowed it we believe to one person, we believe.

>> it's obvious. >> were you looking at the marna? were you sort of watching something at the marina and you found her? were the orange county officials alerted to be there looking? >> no, sir. i would not speak to that issue. i have no knowledge of that issue. i have just been advised that is where she was located. and let me be specific. we did not direct in any way another agency to look in the marina or airports, those sorts of things. that was not what the order was about. >> again, i just am struck by the fact throughout the case, there's remarkable police work and remarkable breaks. >> yes, sir. >> was this a break or sort of you had some reason to think that that would be the place to look? >> we communicate well in the south. >> it's obvious that this plot was planned thoroughly over 30 days. if she's been in contact with gonzales junior, do we believe she knew about this plot prior to it being carried out? >> i will not speak to that issue at this time.

>> you said earlier there were two possibilities with the security system, somebody inside that was supposed to flip it off or somebody at the house who was supposed to end the surveillance? >> well, let me -- >> the possibility now that it was. >> no, sir, let me broaden that and go over my previous statement. my understanding of the security systems is they are installed in a home and a business. part of that installation is your ability with the password as the owner of that system to access it remotely. so therefore, i could be in my office at the escambial county sheriff's office and if i had the system in my home, with the correct password, i could pull it up on my computer in my office remotely. you also have systems in the home which this family also had that, the billings family had that in their home. have you two possibilities, someone within the home most assuredly could have shut it down. also someone remotely could have

shut it down. we're looking at those two venues. we have again the person of interest and i will tell that you that person of interest was not in the home to the best of my knowledge. therefore, it was someone that was exterior to the home. >> you're looking at phone records, et cetera, to try to find out if somebody tried to access that system? >> computer system, yes, sir. databases. >> now it's being reported on the other network. can you confirm that the dea is involved in this investigation? >> i cannot. i will not speak for another federal agency. and if i knew, i most assuredly would not talk about a case that they're running. >> sheriff, do we know what marin na she was found at in orange beach? >> no. i do not well, let me be specific. i was asked not to release any of that information. >> are you aware that she owned a boat? >> no. >> the alert when you came out earlier and spoke. >> latest update from the chief

of police in escambia county outside of pensacola, florida, where they located another person of interest in the case that they've been investigating since thursday that is a murder of melanie and byrd billings, a family very noted and known in their community. they adopted 13 children. and the big break in this case came from surveillance cameras set up in and outside of the family's home. seven people have been charged in the case. now they've located a real estate agent, pamela laverne long. her picture was publicizedfationwide by the sheriff there, david morgan. her connection to this is not clear. this is her picture. she rented property to one of the suspects in custody, leonard gonzales junior, one of the seven men they said used military style tactics to go in and rob this family according to police. she was arrested some -- not arrested. she was located excuse me some 40 miles outside of pensacola, florida, at the heart of this crime scene. so we'll keep you up to date

what they have to say and the latest on what appears to be, according to authorities the stalking and robbery that resulted in the murders of a couple there. tamron, we began this hour by talking about health care and the new approach by president obama being far more aggressive towards republicans in negotiations. all of this has a personal side for millions of people who either have health insurance they don't like or don't have it at all. for millions of americans, the current health care system continues to inflict a huge personal cost. they're very mindful of it as they watch the debate here in washington. when insurance companies deny expensive treatments it can lead to financial ruin, half of all personal bankruptcies are now related to health care costs. beyond the financial ruin, there's also the personal loss when a for profit insurance company determines that you or your family member is not entitled to a particular treatment or therapy. 17-year-old nat lean sar keysian died in 2007 after cigna refused

to authorize a liver transplant. hildess is her mother. first tell us about your daughter's case and what that prompted you to do here in washington. >> yes, hi, thank you for having me. my daughter had leukemia at the age of 14, and she was is in remission. after the remission, at the age of 17, she, her leukemia came back and she needed a bone marrow transplant who my son at age of 23 now last year, he gave it to her. and it was a perfect match. everything was going great until she started having complication. she needed a liver transplant. and as soon as the insurance company heard that, they kept on denying, playing games with us and the doctors were sending multiple requests that they need this approved, they need this coverage. that's the only chance my daughter would live. my daughter, doctors gave her 65% chance to live and insurance company gave her zero. >> so what is it that with your

daughter's picture right there and obviously her on your mind and the battle you had with cigna, what's the message that you're take to congress this week? >> i'm taking a message to congress telling the whole world including congress and our president that we need a better plan. we need a better insurance plan. we had coverage. we were fully approved. they called it experimental. we don't need any more denials. enough is enough. the public doesn't know anything about this. they need to be educated. they need to learn that just because you have insurance it doesn't mean you're covered. and the public needs to have the plan, public plan so they can decide if they want to go with an insurance company or if they want to go to the government insurance. we had insurance. it's just our insurance kept on saying deny, deny. we had to do a protest in glendale, california, with the cna, we went with the families, friends, armenian youth federation and our church. we made a big scene and that same day, my daughter passed

away. if i knew this was going to happen, i would have been sitting next to my daughter holding her hand. but of course, i had to go to the cigna health quarter in glendale, california and make a big protest. why? i'm insured. i'm a parent that needs to be next to her daughter to make her feel better and they called it experimental. as soon as they saw, when they saw all this big giant movement and the media coverage and they reversed their decision, why did they reverse it for that only? they should not even deny coverage. we were fully insured. i know that insurance companies are here today for profit before patient. and insurance companies cannot decide who's going to live and who's going to die. they can't do that. so my message to congress, they need to put on table a better plan. a plan that the people can choose. this is a free country. let the american people have the opportunity to choose who they want to work with, who they want

their health care insurance to be with. and you know, i'm an american citizen, a mom, and my message to everyone is yes, my daughter did pass away but guess what, i'm going to continue my fight to help others. >> well, hill da sar keysian, we wish you the best of luck. you have our sympathies on the loss of your daughter. appreciate you coming on. >> thank you so much for having me. >> to be fair, i want to read what the statement was from cigna which is involved in all this. they issue aid statement saying coverage determinations are based on the best available medical evidence. in this instance, the determination that the sar kissian's health benefit plan did not cover the procedure was due to the fact that the procedure was unproven and ineffective in these circumstances." that is the statement from cigna. >> well, david, when we come back, judge sonia sotomayor is back on the hot seat. we've been asking how hot is

that seat. senators got a second chance to question the supreme court nominee. did they do their job? republicans are still focusing on the wise latina speech after three days of questioning, is that line of attack, if you want to categorize it as such, working, or are republicans grasping at straws? we're going to take a look at both sides, not just the republicans but did the democrats do their job? we'll be right back on msnbc. but i did. you need to talk to your doctor about aspirin. you need to be your own advocate. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. you take care of your kids, now it's time to take care of yourself.

it was tough news to hear. everything changed. i didn't know what to do. right about then, our doctor mentioned the exelon patch. he said it releases medicine continuously for 24 hours. he said it could help with her cognition which includes things like memory, reasoning, communicating and understanding. (announcer) the most common side effects of exelon patch are nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. the likelihood and severity of these side effects

may increase as the dose increases. patients may experience loss of appetite or weight. patients who weigh less than 110 pounds may experience more side effects. people at risk for stomach ulcers or who take certain other medicine should talk to their doctor because serious stomach problems, such as bleeding may worsen. mom's diagnosis was hard to hear, but there's something i can do. (announcer) visit exelonpatch.com for free caregiving resources.

welcome back. president obama's nominee to the supreme court is still fielding tough questions today from republicans on the senate

judiciary committee. >> david, they've expressed skepticism about her splarngs for her remarks about the wise latina woman coming to a better con clues than a white man. senator john cornyn asked for her to clarify her views and explain. here's what happened. >> what i'm confused about, are you standing by that statement or are you saying that it was a bad idea and you -- are you disavowing that statement? >> it is clear from the attention that my words have gotten and the manner which it has been understood by some people that my words failed. they didn't work. >> do you stand by your words of yesterday and when you said it was a failed rhetorical flourish that fell flat that they're words that don't make sense and that they're a bad idea. >> i stand by the words, it fell flat. and i understand that some

people have understood them in a way that i never intended, and i would hope that in the context of the speech that they would be understood. >> nate is a professor at columbia law school and richard wolffe an nbc political analyst. earlier you said nobody can land a punch here. what are we getting? >> a lot of repetition and posturing based around a caricature. this is sotomayor not as the person sitting as a trial judge and an appellate judge for 17 years but sotomayor who gives a few speeches and uses phrases that people can take offense at. it's quite obvious what the offense is, and she's backtracked on those words although the apology is i'm sorry if you feel offended. i'm sorry if some people misunderstood. so it's a limited apology. but this is about posturing in terms of putting republicans at war with democrats on cultural

grounds. it isn't really about a nomination of sonia sotomayor. >> nate, how does this measure to some of the past recent confirmations, for example, chief justice roberts? are we getting the information that the american public should be hearing when it comes to such an important position in our country? >> i see confirmation hearings as telling a story a little bit about where the court is and what issues they've been deciding. i've been interested to see, for example, they've talked a lot about gun rights and take of private property, issues that years ago we won't have been talking about. we have for a long time been talking about abortion and equal protection and racial issues and when you don't have an appellate judge who has issued many controversial rulings although sotomayor has a few, they naturally are going to grab tate toward things outside of her written opinions and that's the berkeley speech you're referring to. >> nate, we saw them talk a lot about gun rights but sure saw them talk a lot more about this

wise latina comment. i was thinking today, if she had not made that speech, what would they be doing right now? >> well, if you look at the previous confirmation hearings and other nominations, look, for example at justice alito where one of the issues that came up was membership in a princeton club that had some exclusionary racial allegedly positions. you look back at other nominees whether it's harriet myers or judge ginsburg when nominated by president reagan, and it's often those things besides their written opinions which derail a nom nas because we've learned there's a certain playbook since bork's nomination that nominees need to file. >> you were talking about posturing and this does become about the base and 2010 and beyond that. is that really what we're seeing? >> yes, it is. it's -- this is really a proxy battle about the white house, what kind of values it represents and where republicans want to position themselves as

the defenders for a downtrodden largely white and largely southern base that they represent. so it's much more of a broad political battle than it is about the supreme court or about these constitutional issues. >> incredible. nate, richard, a pleasure speaking with both of you. thank you very much. tamron, we're going to continue to monitor the senate confirmation hearings for judge sotomayor. we will be right back after a quick break. why cross promote with complementary businesses, comment on blogs relevant to your business and make sure you link to your own website and volunteer to speak at local events where you think your expertise would be valued. pore more, watch your business on msnbc. .. a heart attack at 53.

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i'm julia boorstin with your cnbc mark wrap. stocks rallied on wall street today amid optimism about the economy. is the dow picked up 256 points. the s&p added more than 26 points and the nasdaq gained 63 points. oil prices up about $61 a barrel. this as the energy department sell u.s. reserves dropped nearly 3 million barrels to nearly 345 million barrels. consumer prices surged .7% in june slightly higher than analysts expected, biggest one-month gain in nearly a year reflecting the largest monthly rise in gas prices in five years. southwest and air-tran are

at it again offering steep discounts on air fares. this time in an attempt to lure travelers during the slow autumn season. the two airlines are offering one-way fares of 39 to $49 on certain flights. other major airlines are matching the deals. that's it from cnbc. first in business worldwide. back to msnbc. welcome back, everyone. i'm tamron hall live in new york. >> i'm david shuster live in washington. the big picture at this hour, an 18th ethics complaint filed against sarah palin ales that palin abused her office by accepting a salary and using state staff while campaigning outside alaska for the vice presidency. she is pushing back with responses on her twitter page that include are these constant wasteful thumped-up ethics charges result of not caving when the filer begged for job? criticism is something easily avoided by saying nothing, doing nothing, being nothing, aristotle don't it, it means you

make a difference. palin has used twitter to quote aristotle, thomas paine, plato, john wooden and walter congress kite. as for her base of political support to the extent such support exists it exists mostly outside of alaska. new disclosure forms show that this year, less than 4% of the contributions to palin's political action committee, over $200, came from alaskans. >> and in the bigger picture, david, other than defending herself from complaints and writing op-eds, what is next for sarah palin? after getting the cold shoulder from republicans running in purple states like new jersey and virginia, palin offered to campaign for democrats who "believe in the right things." not surprisingly today, they're saying thanks but no thanks to use some of her phrasing. mike huckabee who some have mentioned as possible palin competitor in 2012 has one take

on what the soon to be former governor might do with her free time. >> one of the things sarah palin will enjoy as a person not in office is she's going to enjoy the fact she'll be able to go make an extraordinary amount of money and won't have to tell anybody how much she made. i know she's going to enjoy that part of it probably both the making of it and not having to tell how much it was. >> joining us now, david corn from mother jones magazine, blogger for cq.com. what to make of what mr. huckabee just said? i don't want to imply too much, but what was he saying? explain to us. >> it sounded a little envious to me. when he said that she would enjoy that, he probably meant he would enjoy it, too. no one knows what she's off to next. she's spending a lot of time looking up famous quotes from old dead people, but you know, she has a book contract worth millions of dollars. there's been talk of cable shows and the rest.

she will make money. there are enough americans in this country who will buy what she wants to sell, who listen to her and pay for the right to do so. so she'll do okay. i think the salmon of alaska can no longer need live in fear of her. she will not have to fish for a living. now, the question is whether any of that will be related to national politics. earth a run for her or helping other candidates. she still looks pretty dead in the water to me on that front. >> let me ask you though, david mentioned, schuster, about this 18th ethics complaint. that's the very reason her argument was that she needed to leave because it was always something. >> you know, as i've written or twittered, i can't remember now, under alaska state law, there can be complaints against her for two years after she leaves office. that's sort of the statute of

limitations on ethics violations. so running away from office this week and not finishing her term gives her absolutely no protection from ethics complaints whether they're legitimate or illegitimate. so that could not have been the reason unless she was woefully uninformed about the laws of her own state. >> david, i want to direct your attention to this op-ed in the "washington post" that sarah palin put in yesterday on cap and trade. she wrote, i am deeply concerned about president obama's cap and trade energy plan and i believe it is an enormous threat to our economy. it would undermine our recovery over the short-term and would inflict permanent damage but david, as you recall, here's what she said about cap and trade when she was running for vice president back at the debate. watch. >> do you support capping carbon emissions? >> i do, do i. >> david, a fish goes flip-flop.

is that what we just saw? >> well, you know, i read that op-ed, and i had to tell you, there were two words that did not appear in it, climate change or another two words, global warming. she wrote a whole piece about cap and trade without talking about the reason people want to put it in change. climate change, you'll remember during the campaign, she raised questions about whether climate change, global warming is really being caused by human activity and then quickly was shot down. i actually believe that she doesn't believe that climate change is occurring, and that we need not -- we don't have to worry about it. so it only makes sense that you don't have to do anything about it. that is a position so far out of the mainstream. you know what? from where she lives in ab, she probably can see the polar caps melting. >> david corn, thank you very much. we appreciate it. tamron, i think david is on to something there in the idea that

when palin was campaigning for vice president, she was being politically expedient. in this op-ed, we were seeing her true position as extreme as it may seen. >> people are debating whether she has a political future or not. we talked about that and been criticized for talking about it. i think if she does get a voice in radio or television and has a large audience, many republicans will bow to her as they do rush limbaugh because if she's got the numbers and you know how important that is, especially around election time, i bet you some of these guys snarking at her meaning the lawmakers out there, might be on her radio show in one day be asking for her help. i don't know. >> i think i say for both of us, governor palin if you're thinking about a tv career, go for it. the water's fine. come on in. we welcome. >> you oh, boy, david, you're something. rnc chairman michael steele said the new republican party would be off the hook. mark sanford apparently took him

literally. >> that's right. sanford's chief of staff called the governor's cell phone 15 times during sanford's secret trip to argentina but the governor never picked up. today, sanford announced he is clearing his schedule of state business including meetings on economic development for the rest of this week to make a personal trip with his wife. this isn't the first time sanford has cleared his schedule for personal business. we learned from the state newspaper yesterday that before he headed to argentina, sanford declined an event held by a company that was considering a multimillion dollar expansion in south carolina which would mean new jobs in the state. sanford said he was "just absolutely jammed this summer." 600 pages of e-mails and phone records from the governor's office in the period that followed when he said he was jammed. we see jill sawyer trying to respond to a growing onslaught from the media with evolving explanations where exactly the governor is at 3:47 sawyer

rights, slow news day when she asks, dude, is everything okay? another reporter writes in, he's with dick cheney at the famous undisclosed location, right? sawyer replies ha, more or less. by 5:52, sawyer is saying before leaving last week, he let his staff know his whereabouts and that he would be difficult to reach. hmm. then at 10:01 the infamous appalachian trail e-mails going out quote, i apologize for taking so long to send this update and was waiting to see if a more def anyonetive idea of what part of the trail he was on before we did so. some media outlets offered his office favorable coverage if they would come on to discuss his disappearance. a staffer wrote if you all want to speak on this publicly, you're welcome to washington times radio. you know that you will be on friendly ground here.

tamron, i have to say that i actually sent some e-mails to jill sawyer and got some responses back. i guess i have to try the friendly approach next time. >> but if you did it, it wouldn't be any fun if you went that route. >> wtf is not the way to deal with somebody not answering the questions. >> even with the offers of friendly coverage, look what it got him. >> up next, president obama will be addressing the naacp's convention in new york city tomorrow night. >> we're going to talk with a member of the board of directors about the president's appearance. it is the 100th anniversary. we'll be right back. 90s slacke. ♪ singer: buckle up, everybody 'cause we're taking a ride ♪

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welcome back, everyone. the naacp will wrap up its 100th anniversary convention with a speech from thefation's first african-american president. >> delegates at this year's convention say president obama's election has inspired black americans. now the nation's oldest civil rights organization is facing an uncertain future. rosalynn brock is the vice chair of the board of directors and also the centennial convention committee chair woman. rosalynn, congratulations on your 100-year anniversary. thanks for joining us. what are you hoping to hear from president obama tomorrow? >> we're looking for a message from the leader of the free world to tell us about the state of the union. we are excited about him coming. last year as a candidate at our

99th annual convention in cincinnati, he promised if he won, he would in fact, return to address us at our centennial convention. so we're interested about the issues of health care around education, and also around the economy. >> how do you think it's going so far on those issues? >> well, i'm a health care advocate and believe we have to do something about the 47 million people in this nation uninsured. health care is truly a civil rights issue for the naacp. we're concerned about the public school systems and our nation and also about the double digit unemployment rate for african-americans. >> roslyn so many people say and believe after the first african-american president that things have certainly changed in this country. and have wondered where does the naacp stand. then you get a wake-up call like right outside of philadelphia where young black and hispanic children were made to feel that they weren't welcome at a swimming pool because of the color of their skin.

when people wonder where does the naacp stand, how do you answer that, especially with these recent examples? >> clearly the nation has made significant progress. there's no way that the naacp or any other organization can say that america has not moved forward in the conversation and the debate around the issue of race. however, incidents like in montgomery county, pennsylvania, really cause us to understand there still is a need for the naacp and we do not live in a post racial society. >> how do you handle those situations? when i was growing up, you would see protests and people standing outside of a business that would not treat customers equally. what is the new way of fighting these battles, if you will? >> well, we're really forging ahead into the digital era. we're using twitter and facebook and blogging and getting the word out across the information superhighways and using that as a medium to contact hundreds of

thousands of individuals across the country to mobilize them to action. we're using the barack obama phenomenon. >> it's also though on the internet unfortunately as we did a segment the other day, i mean, a lot of racism that i think exists out there sort of comes to the surface when people can hide behind anonymity of user names. what can all of us do to try to root that out and say this is wrong, whether you do it anonymously or indirectly? >> i think there are more voices of american who's really believe in a free and democratic process in our nation, that their voices to need to be heard. if we can increase the volume and chatter around positive images where people are working together, they are getting along and racism is said to be something that we do not want to promulgate, i think then we'll be able to turn the corner and live out the true tenets of american society. >> roslyn brock, congratulations

again. thanks for join us and enjoy tomorrow. >> we appreciate it. thanks so much. >> you're welcome. come coming up, the confirmation hearings for sonia sotomayor are serious stuff. why do senators keep on talking about baseball? something we thought you should know. >> then on "hardball" a big first step in the president's push to reform health care. a senate committee approves legislation, but on a party line. will a health care bill get bipartisan support? that is the big question "hardball" is going to tackle coming up. imodium multi-symptom relief combines two powerful medicines for fast relief of your diarrhea symptoms, so you can get back out there. imodium. get back out there. my daughter was with me. i took a bayer aspirin out of my purse and chewed it. my doctor said the bayer aspirin saved my life. please talk to your doctor about aspirin and your heart.

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♪ >> tamron, you know, there's a lot going on today. >> yes, it is, david. here are three things we thought you should know with a little bit of good music, too. wearing a jacket from his favorite team and mine, the chicago white sox, president obama took to the mound at last night's all-star game to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. the southpaw president delivered it a little bit short of the plate but all-star albert pujols stepped forward to keep it from bouncing. pujols then earned a special pat on the back from the president. >> you know, tamron i'm impressed with your pronounciation of pujols. >> if i told you what the writer put as the pronunciation, albert would personally come and rough me up. >> i thought it was just because you know so much about baseball. >> it's america's pasttime. >> the all-star game was also the focus of the question for sonia sotomayor today.

from minnesota democratic senator amy klobuchar, watch. >> all these guys been asking about your baseball catch and talking about judges as umpires. did you have a chance to watch the all-star game last night? because most of america didn't watch the replay of your hearing. they might have been watching it. >> i haven't seen television for a very long time, i will admit that i turned it on for a little while. >> because i will say and maybe you didn't turn it on on this moment, but your yankee, derek jeter tied it up. you must know that he scored only because there was a hit by joe mauer of the minnesota twins. i just want to point that out. >> and tamron, that was 45 seconds neither the senator north judge will ever get back. >> nor will we. but we love it. these oddball moments are funny. so there was another lighter moment at the sotomayor hearings

yesterday. it came after a protestor, which was not -- was ejected after interrupting grassley. he then jokingly made the following remarks. >> people always say i have the ability to turn people on. maybe could you start over again. >> tamron, i'll have what he's having. >> you know, nothing wrong with a guy saying he's got the ability to turn people on i guess. okay. >> wow, love that understated iowa confidence. >> those are the things we thought you should know. always interesting because when you're there that long, david, i think at some point your brain goes loopy. and you say things that turn out to be funny, things for us to make fun of. >> it is hard brieelieve but th 2010 campaign season is almost

upon us. >> both the president and vice president hit the trail tomorrow for candidates in closely watched gubernatorial races. let's bring in mark murray from nbc news. you've got a lineup. we're going to keep the baseball thing or sports thing going. what's your lineup for us? >> the line-up is that president obama is going to be in new jersey campaigning tomorrow for vulnerable new jersey governor jon corzine up for re-election this november. in fact, this is going to be president obama's first campaign rally for a candidate since becoming president. also tomorrow, vice president joe biden is going to be helping out the other gubernatorial, the democrat in a gubernatorial race in virginia helping to raise money for democratic gubernatorial nominee cree deeds. biden is also going to be promoting the stimulus and health care in virginia tomorrow. finally day four of the sotomayor hearings. we'll hear from outside witnesses testifying f