investigation takes a riveting turn as federal drug agents raid a houston doctor's office. the office belongs to conrad murray, the doctor who was with jackson the day he died. and meet the newest candidate in the new york city mayor's race, the naked cowboy. ♪ i walk through times square in my undies. >> robert burck is serious about his campaign. plus a look at other unlikely candidates from the past. all that and more this hour on msnbc. >> good afternoon, everyone. i'm tamron hall live in new york. >> i'm david shuster. we do have breaking fuss to start. >> we've been following this story out of ft. lewis washington where a woman was shot by a man at the px, the post exchange on the base there. the man turned the gun on himself. he's right now receiving emergency treatment at madigan army medical center. this happening it around 11:20 local time in ft. lewis, washington. police have closed off the area

and there was an evacuation earlier of that area, but right now a woman has been shot and a man now receiving emergency treatment there in ft. lewis, washington. >> now to the big picture. four hours from now, president obama is scheduled to hold his fourth primetime news conference of his presidency. the main focus, health care reform. he will be taking his argument straight to the public for health care reform. today it became clear again he is facing opposition from most republicans and even from some democrats especially in the senate. a few hours ago, house speaker nancy pelosi made a bold prediction about her chamber. >> i think we are moving closer, we are making progress, and that i have no question that we have the votes on the floor of the house to pass this legislation. >> not one republican supports the house plan and just moments ago, house minority leader john boehner said it's time to bring republicans on board. >> listen, it's time for the president to scrap the plan that they've been working on in the

house. it's time to bring both parties together to have real health care reform that will reduce the cost of the system, will reduce the cost of health insurance for americans and provide better access. >> nbc's white house correspondent savannah guthrie joins us now live. the president by speaking to the public is also in part speaking to some of those senators. what's the key message tonight? >> look, the white house really feels this is the president's best venue and know he'll get at least ten minutes at the top of this unfettered broadcast access to make his pitch for health care reform through a nontraditional news audience and answer any objections there may be when he gets reporters' questions. he will be able to put his bestfood foot forward there. on the hill, things are very difficult. the senate finance committee, they're still trying to work out a bipartisan deal but lost senator orrin hatch who said some of the talk in there about

proposals he can't support. so he walked away. you even hear from democrats, some grousing, a senior democratic aide telling me earlier today they want the president to come in and express a preference about some of these specific provisions. they're happy with all the momentum and happy with the news conference, the statements, interviews, and all the talk about health care but also want some leadership on some of the specifics. they don't want the white house to take sort of a wait and see attitude or say, oh, congress, we'll let you write the bill. they say the time is now for him to step in, get his hands dirty and express a preference about specific provisions. >> do they want him to do it tonight at the conference, say here's where i stand on this issue or that issue? >> my sense is they'd be happy if he did it in front of cameras or behind. they've got tough negotiations going on and they want to see the white house show leadership on these specific issues. what the white house would say to that is even though they've let congress write the bill,

it's not as though they're back here paintinging their nails and weren't involved. they've got key senior staff people in these meetings and making the white house's preferences known. there's a little bit of tension going on right now, certainly between republicans and democrats but also among democrats. >> of course, the stakes could not be higher. health care reform one-sixth of the entire u.s. economy. savannah, great reporting as always. thank you. just a reminder, president obama will hold his news conference tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern time right here on msnbc, the place for politics. >> the bigger picture, who are the key players in the debate over health care reform? well, a lot as of today, the group is certainly much smaller. republican senator orrin hatch says he does not want to be included in a bipartisan talks and health care reform. that is a big thing coming out today. here's what he told finance committee chairman max baucus this morning "some of the things they're talking about, i just cannot support. so i don't want to mislead anybody."

mike viqueira, congressional correspondent. he joins us now live from capitol hill. i think it was chris matthews who called him the coalition of the willing about seven people who are very important to this orrin hatch being one of those persons and now he's saying i'm out. >> yeah, it's all the rage up here on the senate side to be a gang of something. we've had a gang of 14 and 16 up until this morning, it was a gang of seven that gathers every day in the hart senate office building on the fifth floor in the offices of mark baucus, four democrats, three republicans trying to come up with sting that can be called by partisan, a bipartisan solution to health care. there are very large consequences to what's going on in the room. part of what we saw nancy pelosi say today she had the votes in the house of representatives to pass health care. what they're doing in the house is different. they're not talking about the house bill so much anymore. they're seeing what the senate does because some of the provisions in the house bill are so unpopular, the surcharge on the wealthiest americans in particular and to a lesser

agreeing the whole option the governor republic option, so unpopular among those conservative democrats among many of the vulnerable freshmen who come from districts that were carried by john mccain and george bush. they don't want to vote for this stuff and say it's a tax on small businesses. so nancy pelosi now sort of putting that aside, waiting to see what the senate does because if they come up with something that does not have the surcharge in it, she doesn't want to make those vulnerable democrats vote for that. max baucus is the chairman of the finance committee. kent conrad, the chairman of the budget committee, known as a budget hawk is the one who elicited the testimony out of the cbo director saying the costs were going to rise. olympia snowe and susan collins of maine. these are the moderate republicans from maine who are always going to be in the middle of all of these tough tough tough fights, tamron. >> you mentioned of course, max baucus. there was an article saying that, and i don't like to use this language but the article

said could max baucus be the president's savior when it comes to health care. is that overstating some of the influence here, or is that spot-on? >> it might be max baucus and it might be chuck grassley. some way, some improbable way at this point they can get chuck grassley, the gentleman farmer they call him, a republican from iowa, their counterpart, the republican counterpart to bob cuss on the finance committee writing this thing, if they can somehow get him on board, that is going to provide a lot of cover and go a long way toward getting ultimate success for the president here in congress. >> congressional correspondent mike have i kara, thank you very much. it is important to note other players because so much attention is on the president. we look at how popular he is, less than popular some of the policy is. these other key players and you saw max baucus on a flight. >> yeah, and tamron, these are all the cream of the crop in terms of the political success. these are the chairmen of the committees, the people around for a long time.

they've got their own agendas and all want to be listened to and dealing again with the biggest political issue in years, and so it's very tricky all the way around. >> to say that the failure or success lies solely on the president as some tried to categorize it would be wrong. we're keeping all the players in this. the senate judiciary committee votes next on obama's supreme court nominee judge sotomayor and lindsey graham, this is big news, says he plans to break with his party's conservative leaders to vote for sotomayor. >> i choose to vote for judge sotomayor because i believe she is well qualified and we're talking about one of the most qualified nominees to be selected for the supreme court in decades. >> and you might recall during the confirmation hearings, it was lindsey graham who told sotomayor some things about you bug the hell out of me. i'm sure not so much that he was not willing to vote for her.

she is expected to win confirmation when the vote takes place tuesday. up next, searching for evidence of manslaughter in the michael jackson death investigation. >> we'll have a live report from outside the clinic that was searched today by federal agents and the poi tension legal problems now facing sarah palin with the latest ethical allegations mean for the outgoing governor and her future. >> plus, there are 8 million stories in the naked city. naked. i'm from the south. naked city but this is the best one today. we're going to talk live with the famous infamous, whatever, naked cowboy. >> you can't wait, can you? >> i am -- i just want to know how he gets his underwear so white. that's what i'm willing to hinge my vote on. you're watching msnbc, the place for all things politics, even the unusual. oh, gosh. standing in the hallway now. you're invited to the chevy open house. where getting a new vehicle is easy. because the price on the tag is the price you pay on remaining '08 and '09 models.

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we have some breaking news and fascinating news in the michael jackson death investigation. >> a lawyer for jackson's doctor says authorities searched for evidence of manslaughter inside the doctor's office. conrad murray has been the focus of a lot of the attention since michael jackson died. federal agents and police searched the north houston office for about two and a half hours this morning and came out reportedly with 21 documents and dr. murray was with michael jackson when he died last month. he's been interviewed by police twice. but officials have not officially named him a suspect in michael jackson's death and murray's attorney released a statement that reads in part "the search warrant authorized law enforcement to search for and seize items including documents they believe

constituted evidence of the offense of manslaughter." what does that all mean? let's go to janice shandling live outside the doctor's office. interesting comments from the attorney's doctor there, janet. >> it's the first time we really heard that term used in an official capacity, manslaughter in connection with dr. conrad murray who was not here today during that search of his office. the execution of the search warrant rather. representatives from his attorney's office were here and watched as the procedure took place about 2 1/2 hours. they took what's called a forensic copy of a hard disk from the office as well as the 21 documents that you referenced. what were they looking for? it's going to be interesting to see what that affidavit holds. it had to be presented to a magistrate ahead of getting the warrant. that affidavit now should be a part of public record than should give us some idea when we are able to see it what specifically they were looking

for. the doctor was not here. he's in the las vegas area, we're told. but quite a scene here today. a number of dea agents from the houston office, houston police officers, but in fact, tamron, this search warrant execution today was run by two officers, two investigators rather out of the los angeles police department. back to you. >> janet, i'm curious, usually when doctors practice, they have parns in their office with them. does this doctor practice exclusively out of this? what kind of reaction if he las any business associates there? >> you know, it's hard to know how much he practiced here or how active his office was here. and yet, there was another name on the search warrant. that was armstrong clinic. there was a dr. armstrong who also operates out of this building you see behind me and who in fact, was here during the execution of the search warrant. he didn't have anything to say. we don't know his involvement with dr. murray but do know that his license, dr. armstrong's license was suspended a few

years ago and then reinstated. >> thank you very much for the update out of houston. as david said, stunning news. this attorney now bringing up manslaughter. he was also the attorney that refused to answer whether dr. conrad had given that heavy sedative to michael jackson. would not elaborate on propofol. >> investigators have now requested a third interview with dr. murray which would seem to indicate he's not providing the information they want to hear or they are suspicious of what he said so far. we do have a little bit of breaking news involving the space shuttle mission. a space suit problem has apparently caused nasa to end a space walk early. you're looking at the live pictures from the space shuttle apparently because of rising carbon dioxide levels in one of the astronaut's space suit. they're taking a precaution ending the walk early. every indication that everything is fine. >> a reminder still of how dangerous these walks are.

we see them so often, it's easy to take for granted. the slightest thing can make them err on the side of caution for these astronauts. we're going to be switching gears next with what i just got a text message that said naked cowboy, shameless from jonathan capehart of the "washington post." shameless. >> he's the most famous man, the naked cowboy that is, the most famous man in times square. he's now running for mayor of new york. sure he can play guitar but can he talk politics. >> he looks serious. he wants a serious interview. we're going to give him one. >> boy, oh, boy. introducing one a day women's 2o.

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♪ well, now everybody listen up in case you haven't heard ♪ ♪ you're going to have to write me in come november 3rd,

incentive for small businessmen, i'm the king of fiscal discipline ♪ ♪ i'll keep the city's security on high alert, try to keep the homeless crowd ♪ >> wow. well, there are a lot of things that could be considered news in this world. >> but there are only a few things that make us say, no way! >> the big story before we get to the naked cowboy. >> we have some unfortunate news to report. and that is a bit of a bummer, gidget the dog who starred in taco bell commercials has died. she was depicted as a mexican revolutionary and would shutio yo quiero taco bell and started two other catch phrases, love live gordy daz. some say she was the consummate pro on camera and off. in recent years, he was living life in the sun and chasing cats. gidget apparently suffered a stroke. dead at the age of 15.

via con dios, ginlette. >> you know that broke my heart. the other big no way story. >> the man known as the naked cowboy wants a new title and he's serious about it. mayor of new york city. >> if you watch tv because he's made national news before, you have probably seen the naked cowboy walking around with his guitar entertaining in times square. today, robert burck, that's his name, aka the naked cowboy tossed the cowboy hat into the ring and announced he wants to be the mayor of new york city. with us in the studio, robert burck is right here. thanks for joining us. great to see you. how serious are you about this? >> well, they say that with 275,000 people, workers here, $40 billion budget and scores of special interest groups, it's the hardest job in the world. >> what qualifies you? i know you meet a lot of people every day. what makes you the guy that people should vote for. my qualifications would be just basically a political

science degree from the university of cincinnati. my father was a volunteer fireman and a city council member for 25 years. so i've basically grown up around politicians my entire life and most importantly, i spent ten years at the greatest crossroads of civilization making everyone who crosses my path day a little better. i am the come sue mat politician. >> what particularly do you want to do? >> is there any particular platform that you stand for? >> the three main ideas are doing more with less, a global brand with nothing but a pair of underwear and my voice, transparency, clearly i'm going to bring transparency to a whole new level and the primary focus will be helping small businesses. >> how are you going to help them? >> thousand interest free loans, $10,000 to small businesses, rebates, one-year city ax holiday for businesses with 20 employees or less. we have a lot of ideas.

i'm new to this ring, but i represent new york. >> let's talk about new york is often represented by wall street and we've seen certainly bailout outrage not far from here. you've got aig and the other greats of wall street. what do you think should happen to reform what crippled us and what essentially in many wayses cause this had recession and it may have started right on wall street? >> what we're seeing in the marketplace is a culmination of politics as usual and clearly, i am not going to be politics as usual. i'm not just going to be another pretty face. >> most cowboys are conservative. >> spiritually, i'm a social progressive but i'm a fiscal -- i'm all about business. >> you're cutting wasteful spending. >> you have spoken better in this interview than half of the people that come on this program but some people may not take you seriously because you're in your underwear. >> how serious would you have to be to go to the center of town, scream your message for ten years in your underwear?

i clearly am the most serious man on the planet. >> what is mayor bloomberg doing wrong? >> i have no criticism of him. i just believe that i'm more representative of the people. you're talking about a guy who literally pulse into the garage in times square every single day and works amongst the people at all times. the complete opposite of a guy who's a multibillionaire who's tied to special interests. i'm a fresh face dealing with fresh issues. brand new. >> somebody would have said that robert burck could talk articulately about politicalicious, i would have said no way. good luck to you. i'm impressed. >> thanks again. got a little song. ♪ well, everybody listen up in case you haven't heard you're going to have to write me in come november 3rd ♪ ♪ incentives for small businessmen, i'm the king of fiscal discipline ♪ ♪ naked cowboy for mayor of nyc

because no one's ever done more with less than me ♪ >> we'll be right back. on msnbc. >> the place for politics strange and otherwise. congratulations. 53. i had felt fine. but turns out... my cholesterol and other risk factors... increased my chance of a heart attack. i should've done something. now, i trust my heart to lipitor. when diet and exercise are not enough, adding lipitor may help. unlike some other cholesterol lowering medications, lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk... of heart attack, stroke, and certain kinds of heart surgeries... in patients with several common risk factors... or heart disease. lipitor has been extensively studied... with over 16 years of research. lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems... and women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. you need simple blood tests to check for liver problems. tell your doctor if you are taking other medications, or if you have any muscle pain or weakness. this may be a sign of a rare but serious side effect.

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i'm rebecca jarvis with your market wrap. some quick breaking business news. amazon.com agreeing to acquire zap pos, the online shoe retailer. meantime a look at the day on wall street. stocks ending mixed for the day. the dow lost 34 points, the s&p 500 dropped half a point and the nasdaq, it finished positive. it picked up ten points. ben bernanke was back on the hot seat today on capitol hill, this time before the senate banking committee. he insisted the economy's improving but promised the central bank would keep interest rates at hick lows till the fed is confident that the economy is stable. home prices are on the rise. the government says prices rose by 0.9% from april to may,

analysts had predicted a 0.2% drop in prices. and chrysler wants your old gas guzler. the automaker's matching a government incentive program that allows people to trade in their old car for the purchase of a new one and offering $4500 in cash towards its chrysler, dodge and jeep models or 0% financing for six years. that's it for cnbc, first in business worldwide. now back to msnbc. welcome back, everyone. i'm tamron hall. >> i'm david shuster. an update on breaking news. nasa ending a space walk early because of rising carbon dioxide levels in a space suit. >> tom costello live with the lait latest. what can you tell news. >> well, all things appear to be under control here, but essentially what happened is one of the astronauts specifically it was chris kelly of the co 2 scrubbers, apparently weren't doing their job. they were not taking the carbon

dioxide out of his suit fast enough and his co 2 levels started to rise in the middle of their procedure it replace the batteries on the far left solar array on the space station and whenever you get high co 2 levels you start to be very concerned because of course, that can eventually lead to confuse, dizziness, it can even lead to death in extreme conditions and situations. we're not talking about carbon mo oxide but carbon dioxide. if you remember from apollo 13," there was that scene where they had to find a fix to get the scrubbers to work because the levels were rise too long fast and they could have killed the crew. that's not what happened here. they're getting the astronauts inside the station because for some reason, the scrubber isn't working or isn't working properly in cassidy's suit and so as soon as they get him inside, they'll be fine. they did not want to take any chances. >> tom, thanks for the update. we appreciate it. >> you bet. the big picture today, the palin kron krals.

four days before the alaska governor leaves office, she is facing more legal problems. an independent investigator has reportedly found evidence that palin may have violated ethics laws by accepting private donations to pay her costly legal debt. in the leaked confidential report, the investigator says there's probable cause to believe palin used or tried to use her position for personal gain by creating the alaska fund trust as her official legal defense fund. palin responded to the report saying i am informed that this fund was created by experienced attorneys in d.c. and was modeled after other similar funds established for senators and others. neither i nor my lawyer has received a penny from this fund and am informed the trustee was withholding any action or payment pending final resolution with the personnel board. at least 19 ethics complaints have been filed against her, most of them dismissed. she cited the toll of the probes as one of the reasons why she's leaving office. >> what kind of legal trouble is governor palin facing in the

governor's lawyer says as you heard, the effect of the ruling on her will be more financial than anything else. so what's in store next for her? joining us live from anchorage is tim, the independent counsel who handled the trooper gate investigation. tim, thanks for joining us. >> you're welcome. >> certainly trooper gate, for many, was so key to learning a lot about governor palin and some of the issues facing her. that was the big introduction i think folks got to her as far as scandalwise. how serious is what we're hearing about this trust? we spoke to a guest in the last hour saying some of these issues for setting up a trust can be confusing for even the best lawyers. >> where things stand now is the report was written finding there was probable cause on the part of the independent counsel that the act was violated but he's just the independent counsel. and so what he recommended was some corrective action. actually, at that stage of the proceeding, the report was supposed to remain confidential.

and what normally would have happened is the parties would have visited with the personnel board and with each other to determine if the corrective action he proposes is one the governor is willing to accept. if she's willing to accept it, then the case could end there. but if she wishes to resist and say that this wasn't an ethics violation and contests it, then she has an administrative trial just like any other trial and calls witnesses and away we go. >> we know in the past with what's called kid gate investigation of her, having her children travel and charging it to the state, she reimbursed for $9,000 in expenses to travel. so it is not out of character for her to try to at least resolve this by making payments and making this go away. >> well, i was the independent counsel for that matter, as well, and the way that was resolved as is commonly resolved, you sit down and discuss what happens and what the law is and you decide to settle the matter rather than proceed to a contested

proceeding. so that could happen here. in fact, that's what the independent counsel seemed to have been recommendeding. he had some solutions and corrective action to recommend. in the normal course that would have run its course before any formal accusation was filed except the report got released. >> do you know what corrective action was being recommended? help us understand exactly what she did wrong here. was it a matter of using her state office to set up this fund and saying hey, people, contribute and maybe you'll get access? what was going on that got her in trouble? >> well, first of all, it's important to recognize, i was an independent counsel and the independent counsel is like a prosecutor and he makes his conclusions, that's not the ends of the story. the other side gets to say their story. it shouldn't be assumed there was anything wrong. what the counsel has stated is by using the official governor's office to set up this fund-raising action, it violates the act because she is both obtaining a personal benefit, money, and using her official

status to assist in doing it. and that's what the independent counsel found to be a violation of the act, and the governor is certainly free to express her version of the facts and would have as this thing proceeded and probably will. >> and the corrective action being she simply either returns this money or doesn't take it? >> the corrective action proposed was that the governor not take the money from the entity that was formed and the independent counsel also used and queried whether this was something she should have been reimbursed from the state because it was used in the course and scope of her duties and whether these prior cases including my own, the trooper gate case was something the state should reimburse was an issue he raises. without deciding it, but his specific proposed corrective action is she not take the funds. >> tim, we certainly appreciate you talking with us. governor palin's spokesperson is saying there is no final report.

they're still reviewing this matter we should point out on their part. >> here's the pr problem. i think governor palin has. it's pretty clear to a lot of people you can't use your governor's office or your logo to essentially set up a fund that essentially is going to give your person money. and whether that's bad lawyering, and she got bad advice or she didn't recognize that herself, either way that's a problem, even if it's not a criminal or civil problem, it's a public releases problem that you add on to all the rest. >> as long as it is not a criminal problem, she and her team probably hope they can rise above this. once she starts to focus on the lower 48, reinvent herself as long as it's not criminal, pr you can try to spin. >> she ought to get better lawyers. a better spokesman and a better political team and on and on. >> up next, face off, the one who might need a different team around him. michael steele. >> does the controversial head of the rnc help or hurt his party? do republicans really want him

leading the charge against health care? it's a good one. in "hardball," chris matthews talks to senior white house advisor davidal rod. you're watching msnbc. the place for politics. free c! tell your friends, tell your dad, tell your mom! never mind, they've been singing our songs since we first showed up with our pirate hats on! if you're not into fake sword fights pointy slippers and green wool tights take a tip from a knight who knows free credit report dot com, let's go! vo: offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage.

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right now, all over the country, discover card customers are getting 5% cashback bonus at the pump. now more than ever, it pays to discover. welcome back. it's time for face-off. there is more fallout over republican party chair michael steele who is in the midst of hammering president obama's

health care reform. >> we called it earlier this week. steele was asked about his own health insurance plan and said he thought it was blue cross blue shield but wasn't sure. many americans are forced to be sure of their health insurance. for the record, the rnc uses cigna. not blue cross, blue shield. a few days ago he created waves when he was asked to explain the gop plan for health care. watch. >> an individual requirement, what do you mean by an individual requirement? do we support requiring individuals to get health coverage? again, that is one of those areas where there -- there is different opinions by some in the house and the senate on this. and look, i don't do policy. >> turns out he didn't even do insurance for a few years either. in 2006 while running for the senate in maryland, "the washington post" reported steele had gone three years without insurance. during a campaign event confessed he told his kids "don't break anything because daddy can't afford to fix it." add to that his unusual remarks when asked about his approach to

making the republican party more inclusive. watch. >> my plan is to say y'all come. because a lot of you are already here. there you go. i got the fried chicken and potato salad, okay? >> steele also said joe the plumber helped republicans get their groove back in last year's election. despite the fact republicans lost and that mccain's own daughter is calling joe the plumber "a dumb ass." who could forget when steele call the rush limbaugh an entertainer whose act is ugly. the next day steele apologized and said he had said something he wasn't really thinking. he is the first african-american to be chairman of the rnc and the republicans describe him as hard working and kind. under his leadership, the gop has raised over $36 million since steele took the helm. so the question is, does michael steele help or hurt the republican party? here to face-off are democratic strategist patrick murphy and

republican strategist karen hanretty. patrick, we'll start with you. does it help or hurt to have michael steele at the helm? >> i think it helps the gop. i think having a former office holder, lieutenant governor of maryland and african-american and he's done great job of being out there and being the new face of the party. the big question for michael steele is the party following him or is he just a hood ornament for the republican party. >> karen, your view of michael steele. >> well, the good news and the bad news about michael steele, right? the good news is, yeah, you know, he is out there raising a lot of money for the rnc. you know, i think a number of people are surprised how well republicans are doing with fund-raising in this down economy when we don't control anything. the other good news is i don't think most americans actually know who michael steele is right now. i think that's probably a good thing because you know, the things he says i think obviously, are not well thought

out. and you know, and they force republicans like me to go on and who capital really defend what he says, and you know, you're on the defensive. i think the republican party right now probably just needs to put its head down, let the conservative and moderate democrats keep fighting with each other over health care and you know, the democrats are doing a fine enough job of infighting amongst themselves right now. i think republicans should probably just take a step back. >> karen, it's interesting because you didn't say for example, a lot of other republicans including governor palin have decided the media is not being fair. do you think the media is being fair to steele? if you put together a lot of quotes from a number of peep, they might look ridiculous. is he getting a fair shake? >> look, i think when you put yourself out there, whether it's sarah palin, michael steele, you know, charlie wrangle, you know, who's had a number of gaffes himself, but look, when you're

the head of the republican party, the national committee, everything you say is going to be scrutinized, and you know, maybe the head of the dnc makes gaffes. i tend to think he probably doesn't along these lines. so you know, i think it is all fair game. you know, i think people have fun at michael steele's expense and i think he doesn't get credit for the tremendous amount of money that they are able to raise, again, you knee when all of the odds are stacked against us right now. >> what a fair and honest answer from karen, a republican. >> i think that patrick is not being honest. here's why, patrick. i think while you say great things about michael steele, i think democrats are delighted to have michael steele out there leading the charge against the president's health care because on the very point karen says, when you're out there making the charge against health care and you don't know what your own health insurance is, that's a major pr problem for republicans. >> i think that's one of the points, david, about the plan that's coming out of congress is that it just doesn't help people

who -- it's not strangers it's helping. it's actually helping people we all know. it's not for poor people. it's just not for people we don't know. it's for everyone in this country. i think that's one of the important messages that will come out tonight in the president's remarks. >> patrick, karen, thank you very much. just a i'mer, president obama will hold a news conference tonight 8:00 p.m. eastern. david, it's so refreshing to see a strategist with an honest answer. she could have easily gone for the cliche line blaming the media for making michael steele look bad but instead karen said, listen, he's got to be accountable for what he says. he's the head of the rnc, he says it, he's got to defend himself. >> she's in a tough spot almost as much as the white house is in a good spot when michael steele is leading the charge because it's easy for them to hit back. >> essentially when you're criticizing health care reform and don't know who your provider is. that's a tough one. >> up next, some things we thought you should know. >> the president's voice is in a robocall. the first lady's got a new hair

do, maybe, maybe not. and arnold flashes a very big knife. first news from south carolina governor mark stanford leaving the state tomorrow for a vacation in europe with his family. he says he considered canceling it in light of recent events including disclosures about his first class travel but his kids had already raised money for the trip. he says they'll be gone for two weeks on their european vacation. >> his kids raised money for the trip? he's rich. >> they'll be more questions i have a feeling. we'll be right back. (announcer) illness doesn't care where you live... ...or if you're already sick... ...or if you lose your job. your health insurance shouldn't either. so let's fix health care. if everyone's covered, we can make health care as affordable as possible. and the words "pre-existing condition" become a thing of the past...

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we want to revisit is the mark sanford vacation story because we read it again and yes, mark sanford says he considered canceling his vacation in light of recent events but his kids had already raised money for the trip. yes, his kids had raised money. >> that means they are paying for the vacation. >> or maybe it means that they had a summer job and they're going to spend some of their money. but your point was? >> my point is, it's an interesting time for him to teach a morales son. we try to teach children to save their money and be responsible, but he should maybe save that lesson and say kids, it's on me. >> especially since he can afford it. all the money you worked for this summer, spend it on something else. this vacation is on me, kids. >> he may be a source of a little bit of angst in the home. i'll stop and twitter my thoughts. there's a lot going on today outside of sanford making the kids pay for vacation.

here are three things we thought you should know. >> florida's attorney general has filed a lawsuit against four florida companies that allegedly charged up front fees for loan modification services and claims they were soliciting consumers through illegal robocalls using president obama's voice. listen to there call. >> message from our president. >> all across the state, there are families who have done everything right but are now facing foreclosure or seeing their home value is just plummet because of bad decisions on wall street and in washington. >> you got to give them credit for creativity. >> sheer deception. we give you credit for breaking the law, sheer deception. okay, anytime michelle obama does something stylish, it captures everyone's attention like this new look the first lady debuted last night at the white house country music event. >> cool. >> a cool do. some people were wondering if she had cut her hair but our sources and we've got sources in

the east wing say no, no, no, no the first lady pinned her hair up for the evening. an elegant swooped pin look. >> i was not aware that chuck todd had such deep sources in terms of haircuts. >> these are our sources, what we bring to the conversation. >> and has arnold schwarzenegger, the governor of california gone off the deep end? he posted a knife-wielding tweet last night after announcing a budget deal and billions in budget cuts. he even joked about autographing state cars slated for auction block to help raise money for the cash-strapped state. >> and those are the things we thought you should know. i wasn't going to tweet my hauts on mark sanford. i meant i was going to tweet my thoughts on whether it's right to make kids save mope for vacation. nothing to do with mark sanford. do i look like i'm telling a lie? >> health care. the economy, maybe iraq. likely to be among the questions for the president tonight. >> let's get to the stories

we'll be headed into tomorrow. mark murray from nbc news. you and the political team looked at what the president needs to say and should say tonight. >> exactly, tamron and david. one thing has been lacking in president obama's received criticism from this is specifics, particularly on the taxes and so one thing we're going to be watching for at tonight's primetime press conference is does he really get into those weeds on some of the tricky issues on public plan or also on taxes. also, tomorrow, president obama takes his health care show on the road to cleveland, ohio, where he'll be conducting a town hall. and then finally, president obama's pick to be ambassador of china, republican utah governor john huntsman will be holding his confirmation hearing before the senate foreign relations committee. >> and mark, as we get ready for the news conference tonight, we should point out david axelrod, is going to be on with chris matthews in a couple of minutes.

that's going to be intriguing. mark, we are getting bombarded with messages about mark sanford. have you been able to decipher what he means when he says oh almost canceled his european vacation with his kids but his kids had raised money for it? >> what is he talking about? >> we haven't gotten to the bottom of that. one thing that is interesting is the amount of vacations that the governor has actually been taking. whether or not it was to argentina or the metaphorical appalachian trail we had talked about which he didn't go on. and then obviously, on the coast in south carolina where he was with his wife. and now talks about a european travel. >> that makes it so intriguing because so many people said he had abandoned the state. one would think if he's trying to prove he's ready to move forward and take very seriously the problems facing his state which includes double digit unemployment, he would be hunkering down and showing that he is there for that state.

i don't doubt that he is. but message is everything. >> it is. the unfortunate thing for him is if he does to return back to work and hunkers down he's going to receive questions solely about the affair and the mistress. him getting away is probably to avoid a lot of that. one thing worth pointing out, he's up in 2010 and really, he was already pretty weak. you remember that stimulus fight had he and he lost in his state. so he was already facing a pretty tough carry. >> nobody begrunls him spend time with his family. mark makes a great point as to maybe why so many people thought he should have resigned so he could spend time with his family and not face questions why are you flying first class. mark murray, nbc's deputy political director. check back often. first read msnpc.com.

>> that does it for us. another exciting two hours. they pay me to speak. >> i'm david shuster. "hardball" with chris matthews starts right now. >> is there a doctor in the house? let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, does this make or break? i'm talking health care. president obama's health care. tonight the president holds a primetime news conference with one thing in mind, win public support for a historic plan to bring health care insurance to those who don't have it. that guarantees protection to those who do. his poll numbers have been slipping, conservative democrats are concerned about the bill and the price tag. republicans are circling like hyenas. today the president lost senator orrin hatch of utah as a possible ally. david axelrod joins us in a moment for a talk about what the president feeds in the bill and

what it will do for the average person. including those who already have health insurance. also, rudy giuliani joins us at this table. we're going to ask rudy tough questions such as whether he agrees with those on the right now raising hell that president obama is an undocumented alien of some kind. some enter hoper who managed to get through the electoral system without anyone know. wealth have more on the strange crowd known as the birthers, the people who refuse to believe again on that topic against all evidence that barack obama was not born in the usa. >> i want to go back to january 20 and i want to know why were you people ignore his birth certificate. he is not an american citizen. he is a citizen of kenya. >> i should say refused to believe that he was born in the usa. last night, republican john camp bell of california admitted

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