military men and women. she was sporting a red, white and blue patriot sweatshirt that said once a patriot, always a fate rot. of course, referencing the new england patriots there. she's going to be in anchorage today, serving the people of alaska literally by dishing out food to them. and then she's headed here to fairbanks, where she will also be attending the governor's day picnic. and then she's going to turn over the reins of power to the lieutenant governor. sarah palin, of course, is 45 years old. the first woman governor of the state. the youngest governor in the state's history, and of course, tapped last year to be john mccain's running mate. and it is worth noting that as she looks to her political future, there's a new "washington post"/abc news poll out that shows she now has a net negative rating. that is a majority of americans now view her unfavorably. so these are her lowest approval ratings, so something she's got to weigh. she's still very popular in the republican base. part of the reason she's been

able to raise almost a million dollars in her fund-raising committee. that money, of course, will help her fund travel across the lower 48 as she campaigns for republican candidates and continues to build her national profile. but so far, mum on whether she plans to run for president. alex? >> okay. let's get a look at the place where you are, because it's so pretty. >> it is pretty. fairbanks, of course, on the sheena river, it rhymes with tina. the beavers are swimming and the trout are jumping. we're just near the fairbanks princess hotel here. i think i mentioned earlier that pat buchanan was still asleep upstairs. we hear he's gone down for breakfast. just kidding. we don't know that he's here. he's a huge sarah palin fan. if only, i know he wishes that he were here. an interesting thing about fairbanks, because we are pretty far north here in alaska, just read that a short time ago that fairbanks is actually the only

city in the world that has the largest stretch of temperatures, all the way from 66 below fahrenheit, to 99 degrees fahrenheit. no other city on the earth has such a wide range in terms of temperatures. so this is a pretty unique place. >> okay. you know what, i'm going to excuse you, because you've been up since god knows when. you've been on with us since 3:00 in the morning your time. you are such a rock, but that's going to be your last take. >> i know. >> i'm kiting you off. no, i'm kidding. okay, norah. >> i have no sleep. no sleep. let me tell you, sunset was at 11:30 last night, i believe, and the sun came up at about 4:00. so we're talking about 19 hours straight of sunlight. so no sleep. and so alex, my apologies and greetings. >> not at all. we love you, norah. in any case tv isn't glamorous. thanks so much. california state assembly

has approved a plan to close most of the state's 26 billion budget deficit. the plan calls for major cuts, including teacher layoffs, closed parks and higher tuition for college students. governor arnold schwarzenegger held a press conference to discuss the budget cuts, saying that helping california climb out of its financial hole. >> i am not happy about the one solution, but the other solutions we have up here but $.5 million, of course there's no other way to go. it was necessary. but in exchange we, of course, achieved major and lasting reforms to save billions of dollars and benefit our state for years to come. >> lawmakers rejected two of the most controversial measures. a plan to take about $1 million in transportation funding from local governments and allowing oil drilling off the california coast for the first time in 40 years. to washington now, new this morning the white house released a report that says small businesses are paying for more for health care than larger firms.

>> because they lack the bargaining power that large businesses have, and face higher administrative costs per person, small businesses pay up to 18% more for the very same health insurance plans. costs that eat into their profits and get passed on to their employees. >> msnbc's correspondent mike viqueira joins us live from washington. so it's a final good morning to you, mike. >> good morning, alex. >> how is the president's health care plan going to help the economy according to this new white house study? >> alex, as so often the case in washington, the debate comes down to a three-letter word ending in "x." of course i'm talking about tax. the tax that would be levied on the wealthiest americans to help pay for this health care reform proposal is what is so contentious. at least part of what's so contentious here in congress. of course, many people, republicans chiefly, say that this would be a tax on small businesses. because of the way they report their income. and that it would be forced to shed jobs as opposed to hiring jobs. and that, after all, is the point of this exercise.

to help the economy by reducing the cost of health care. enough democratic freshmen have bought in to that idea that they are seriously getting traction out of republicans and helping to defeat, or at least put this health care reform in serious danger in congress. here, in part, is kathy mcmorris rogers. her response to the president today. she's a republican from spokane, washington. >> because the democrats' plan is bang bankrolled by a small business tax, more jobs will evaporate. according to the national federation of independent business the democrats' plan will destroy a million more small business jobs. >> and, alex, this is part of the debate here. how will this affect small businesses? but it also represents a shift in emphasis on the part of the white house, trying to tell people who already have health insurance, never mind the 50 million who are without health insurance at this point, but trying to tell people who already have health insurance, businesses small and big, that this reform is needed in order

to help bring down their costs and that's why they should get on board behind this effort. >> what are the chances this bill is going to get on the president's desk before the august recess? >> well, there's no chance of that. that was never really the goal. they wanted separate versions passed out of the house and senate. we know that there's absolutely no chance that the senate is going to meet that goal. notwithstanding all the effort that the white house has put ought with meetings behind closed doors, cajoling members, twisting members arms, town hall meetings, press conferences, impromptu statements. did not have the desired effect. so it's back to the drawing board. everyone wants to see what is plan "b" that the administration's going to come up with to try to move these votes. >> okay, mike viqueira, thank you so much. a new gallup poll shows that 7 in 10 americans favor the passage of new health care reform legislation. 41% say legislation needs to be passed this year. but 30% say health care reform does not necessarily need to be passed by the end of the year. 24% say no legislation is

needed. that poll was conducted after president obama's prime-time news conference emphasizing the importance of moving quickly on health care reform legislation. president obama and his wife michelle spent last night taking in an hour of military spectacle marine style. the marine washington parade takes place every summer friday in a tradition that dates back to 1957. the evening is designed to show off military precision and includes performances from the marine band and the marine corps color guard. the president spoke to a group of military families before this week's event. a new report in "the new york times" reveals president bush considered sending u.s. troops to suburban buffalo to arrest suspected terrorists. according to the property, former vice president dick cheney argued that a justice department memo sent in the wake of september 11th gave the president the authority to use the military on domestic soil. prp sent fbi agents to seek out five men to compromised most of the group that came to be known as the lack juana six. all six ultimately pled guilty to terror charges. now the latest in the

controversy over the arrest of harvard professor henry louis gates jr. on friday, president obama reached out to gates, as well as to sergeant james crowley, the officer who arrested gates. the president has invited them to the white house to talk and discuss it over beers. but the president stopped short of an apology. >> my hope is that as a consequence of this event, this ends up being what's called a teachable moment. where all of us, instead of pumping up the volume, spend a little more time listening to each other. >> nbc's ron allen is joining me live from cambridge, massachusetts with the very latest. what is the feeling there today? what are you hearing, ron? >> well, things are much calmer today than they were a couple of days ago, alex. i think the big question is, whether professor gates intends to pursue this any further. the cambridge police department has said that they have cleared sergeant crowley of any wrongdoing. there is going to be an independent investigation so that the community can hear all

the facts. professor gates has said he will go to that meeting with the president and sergeant crowley whenever that happens. but in the past he has threatened to sue, and it's still unclear whether he's satisfied by all this. here's what he had to say yesterday in a radio interview. >> a black man answers the door and you're responding to a 911 charge, treat him or in the case of an african-american woman, with respect. don't go presuming, don't do anything else. protect me. >> many gates supporters have said that there was a time during this incident when the police realized that it was his home, and it was not a breaking and entering. and the question becomes why did the police officer not just leave at that point. which would have certainly deescalated the situation. certainly, professor gates did something that moved this to another level. the police have said it's very difficult to find out where that line is that separates someone

from not, or crosses a line to where they could be arrested for disorderly conduct. again, a few sensitive issues here. but things are much calmer now than they were a couple of days ago. >> any word from the sergeant about the conversation we had with the president, ron? >> i have not spoken to him, there have been some reports that said that he took the call on a cell phone in the bar while surrounded by a number of his colleagues and police officers. it was obviously a friendly and warm conversation. we've heard all the discussions about having a beer and so forth. but i think there will be some serious dialogue at some point later on about this, as well. i think the cambridge police department and the police across this state are feeling very gratified that the president dialed back his comments somewhat, and everyone is saying let's try to move forward. let's try and have a dialogue and let's try to resolve this. >> ron allen in cambridge, thanks so much, ron. coming up, going forward. the auto industry heads in the right direction. but does that mean carmakers are on the smooth road to recovery?

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today a new look at the damage left behind by a pair of tornadoes. a witness captured one in action spinning in port orange, florida, near daytona. now according to a witness, the first twister spun for less than a minute or so, then that went back into the clouds. the folks who experienced the storm say as it grew and moved south a second larger funnel cloud dropped right down. this time it was wider and stronger. the damage is certainly widespread. over 160 homes were hit by that storm. let's go live to nbc meteorologist bill karins and get -- you've got some explaining to do. what is the latest here? >> in florida you get the sea breeze front.

it collides, the breeze off the ocean. usually don't get tornadoes like that out of these. it was kind of a rare event. thankfully it was a weaker tornado. you say weak, but those were mobile homes. those don't do so well even with wind gusts of 80 to 100 miles per hour. today, nothing all that bad. we do have some strong storms to deal with. in cincinnati, even the spot we've been following. storms go through an hour ago. you've got a break and now there's another strong line pushing right through downtown cincinnati. we'll keep an eye on you. maybe with some gusty winds and stay indoors for the next half hour. miserable summer. it is only in the upper 60s in upper michigan. you'll be lucky to get into the 70s today. ironwood is at 61. duluth, you've had what's felt like an endless spring. even down in detroit today it's going to be cool. chicago, you'll be 82 today. notice where the heat is. texas and then as we head out west, we're hot pretty much everywhere out west. seattle, not bad today. but we're going to heat things up, sunday will be 87 in seattle. other areas will also start to warm up. sacramento up near 100.

look what happens in the east, new york to d.c. a little warmer. i figure we'd give you a couple facts. chicago, going back to 1940 when they started the record keeping, there's never been a july without a 90 degree day. they haven't had one yet and it didn't look like they're going through. and in new york city what we've been living through here, going back to 1888, that was the only year cooler than what we've seen so far this july. so in other words, there's no one living that's lived in a july this chilly. >> this is just -- it's all jumbled up. >> yes. >> whose fault is that? >> mother nature or father time. >> i'm glad you put up michigan. my aunt jo jo and my cousins are there. i love them to pieces. to politics now and the president trying to tamp down the uproar surrounding the arrest of henry louis gates jr. the president made a surprise appearance at the white house daily briefing, offering to host both gates and the arresting officer at the white house for beers. now he also told reporters

nobody paid any attention to health care, it's his top priority. i'm joined by carol lee, white house reporter for politico.com. good morning to you. >> good morning, alex. >> so with yesterday's statement, the president might have effectively laid to rest the part of his part rather of the gates controversy. but do you think he lost valuable time in the health care battle? or not so much was he able to keep his eye on both balls at once? >> i think that the white house dealt a little bit of a below. the president overall has had a pretty tough week. he had a prime-time news conference. networks were reluctant to cover at first. and it got lack luster reviews, said he was sort of lackluster in getting out the message and the gates controversy took over the rest of the week for him. the president was in cleveland on thursday, the morning after, talking about health care, and touring the cleveland clinic and the evening news was led with the gates controversy. so it was sort of stunning what you saw happen yesterday because there was a group of us who were in white house press secretary robert gibbs' office on friday

morning where he said that the president had spoke be on this issue and was pretty much done, we weren't going to hear anything else from him. and then a few hours later in the afternoon, in the briefing room, and here comes the president, in an unusual turn of events and basically delivers a message himself. clearly the white house thought that this was taking up so much time, and the stress was becoming such a distraction they needed the big guy himself to come out and address it head-on, not in a written statement, not in any other form, but then the president himself, standing in front of the cameras, and in his calm, cool way that he has, turning down the temperature on this. i think that they were effective on that and you're going to see them now hopefully be able to focus more on health care into the next week. >> all right. well that's what we're going to do for the rest of this interview. there's a lot of democratic in-fighting over the health care bill. do you think we are ultimately going to see legislation passed that has everything, or close to it, that the president wants to have in it or not? >> no, i think that there's going to be -- the president's

definitely not going to get everything he wants out of this bill. i think there's going to be a lot of compromises to come. chiefly, how they're going to pay for this bill. i mean that's been one of the big disputes among democrats within the democrats in congress, and the republicans, as well. and so they're going to be discussing that. we're going to see in the next week, the white house is going to have to contend with small businesses who are upset with some provisions in the house bill, so there will be more discussions there. and this something that is not going, as the senate announced, they're not going to have a bill, vote on a bill before the august recess. house is looking like they might not. so it's going to goen or into the fall. >> but the house could conceivably pass this bill, were it not for the fiscally conservative blue dog democrats, right? >> yeah, i mean -- well there's a bunch of different fashions. certainly the blue dogs are one. what you've seen is the white house and the president himself really try to reach out to those individual groups. and you know, this could potentially become a problem for

the president if this -- if he can't get his own party on board, because this is a president who is both houses of congress, under democratic control. and so, he sort of has to rein them in. >> and let's take this, extrapolate a little further on that. how big of a problem would this be for the obama presidency if he never gets a health bill passed? >> well, right you saw the president this week in an interview say that he wasn't spending the presidency on this. but you could bet that it would be a big blow to him if he did not get health care passed. as you recall, this was the signature issue in president obama's campaign. and this is something that he has basically wagered a ton of political capital on, as a president. and that he has said that he wants by this year, and not only said that he wants by this year, but he came out and said that it will happen by this year. so going into the midterm elections, and 2010, it would be a real problem not even just for the president, but for democrats in general. >> okay. carol lee, thank you very much, as always.

>> thank you. in a moment, it's a fall guy plunge. his brush with death caught on tape. you're watching msnbc saturday. you could buy 300 bottles of water. or just one brita filter. ( drop plinks ) brita-- better for the environment and your wallet. dinner bell sfx: ping ping ping fancy feast elegant medleys tuscany entrées

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it's going to be awesome. >> animal cruelty, but i love it. yeah! >> this weekend the battle for the top spot at the box office could get downright ugly. leading the charge some rodents with attitude. it's called g-force and many execs are wondering if harry potter has lost its magic. tom o'neil joins me. let's talk about g-force? >> it's a big surprise. harry potter was supposed to lead this weekend. it shows you how important this family marketing group is to

hollywood. because, ice age 2s who played the, up has played out. >> remember when 101 dalmatians came out, all the kids that rushed to get dalmatians, and now there's a bit of a concern that g-force is going to inspire parents to get guinea pigs. pet advocates are a little bit concerned. >> because of the case of the dalmatians, they were too big for the homes and apartments and the kids abandoned them. kids are likely to say guinea pigs, they look so adorable, and when you get it home from the pet store, the kid says it doesn't talk. it doesn't sound like nicolas cage. these pets don't do anything. they just look adorable in a cage. so once the run is over, there may be hundreds of these things abandoned at pet stores. >> that's not good. we'll see what happens with that. let's take a look at another new movie out this weekend. this is about the ugly truth. >> i thought we could go on friday. >> friday, wow -- >> what the hell are you doing?

>> i'm saving you. he was blowing you off. >> he wasn't! >> it's a romantic comedy starring katherine heigl and gerard butler. expectations are? >> $25 million. she portrays a morning news anchor and she falls in love with this co-host, in effect, that she has to do these segments with. it's a lot of battle of the sexes back and forth. the reviews are not strong, but it's, again, all about marketing. you need a chick flick out there. >> of course, it's a parallel to the anchor, i guess that would be you. there you go. what about harry potter real quickly? coming in at number three at this point. disappointment? >> it's huge. last year we saw 58% fallout from weekend one to two, when harry potter and the order of 9 phoenix played out. this is so much better and so much more beloved. this is a shock. >> hmm, okay. well we'll see what else the summer has for us. thank you very much. tom o'neil as always. let's go to outer space. here's a live shot of the

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now get an '09 malibu 1lt with an epa estimated 33 mpg highway. get it now for around 21 thousand after all offers. go to chevy.com/openhouse for more details. more reaction today on the controversy surrounding the arrest of harvard professor henry louis gates jr. president obama addressing the issue again. >> because this has been ratcheting up, and i obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, i want to make clear that in my choice of words, and i think i unfortunately they gave an impression that i was maligning the cambridge police department, the word of sergeant crowley specifically. and i could have calibrated those words differently. >> joining me now is sophia

nelson, a social and political commentator who writes regularly for theroot.com, the huffington post and npr. and also joined by hillary shelton. from the naacp. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> hillary, i'll begin with you. i want to read a new statement that professor gates made to the boston globe and here's how it goes. my entire academic career has been based on improving race relations, not exacerbating them. i'm hopeful my experience will lead to greater sensitivity to issues of racial profiling in the criminal justice system. it is time for all of us to move on and to assess what we can learn from this experience. so, hillary, do you think there's a new sense today that it is time to move on? >> well, it is. but let's define what moving on is. moving on means that we still immediate to address this issue very seriously. very well we know racial profiling goes on throughout our country. professor gates is just the most recent, celebrated offense of racial profiling throughout the country. but, things still need to be

done. people still stop because of the color of their skin, and even this particular situation is still rife with racial overtones. >> sophia, after the president spoke yesterday afternoon, both the mayor of cambridge as well as the police commissioner released their statements saying they're pleased with the president and what he had to say. what do you make of where we stand with this controversy today? >> well, i have a piece this morning in theroot.com where i said very clearly that i don't think the president should apologize. i was glad he did not yesterday. i understand politically he had to walk his comments back. however, the thing that has troubled me most about this, if you read the officer's report on page two of the arrest report he clearly says in his own words, i had every reason to believe he was lawfully in the residence, comma, but i was taken aback more or less by the way he responded to me. well, as an attorney, the problem i have with that is, if you believe he was lawfully in the home, you needed to leave. it was over at that point. a man's home is his castle. i understand why professor gates was upset.

i don't know what you call this racial profiling doesn't even seem to be the right word for me. i'm not sure what this is. you're in your home and the police come and they can arrest you because you make comments that you tell them that you don't want them there and you ask for their badge and i.d.? this is america. we're supposed to be about liberty and freedom and our home is our most important place of privacy. >> so let's talk about the incident itself. sergeant james crowley who says he wasn't motivated, he's saying this, by race in arresting gates. but does that matter to boat of you? if that's how his actions were received. and hilary, how do we pressure the degree to which this incident was about race? >> well, take into consideration a couple of things. from the very beginning of the incident you have a white neighbor that somehow didn't recognize a very distinguished harvard professor of national significance. this is a guy that's not only been interviewed by national and international news on a regular basis but run a series on pbs throughout the country year upon year upon year.

then you have a police officer deciding to use his authority, with the arrogance or his personal responses to the issues raised by the police that he would actually arrest him, assuming there would be no ramifications for the abuse of his power. perhaps that was because it was an african-american man that he decided was being too arrogant and he needed to punish by arresting him, even after distinguishing that he was, indeed, the resident of the home. >> hilary, we have this invitation that has been accepted apparently by both the sergeant and the professor, to come to the white house and share a beer with president obama and talk this over, have a conversation about the incident. what would you like to see from a meeting like this in terms of how it furthers the discussion on race relations in america? >> well, i think that very well -- i'm sorry, i meant -- >> i was going to let -- go ahead you answer that and then i'll give it to sophia, as well. same question. >> oh, i'm sorry. but very well, i think that we need to talk about that there's still much that needs to be done around race relations particularly in the area of law

enforcement. when we give that kind of authority to so many that can take one's freedom away, even if it's only for 4 1/2 hours in professor gates' case. we need to make sure that racism, and racial discrimination is not part of the landscape. but unfortunately, what we're seeing is that it very well is. >> okay, and sophia, your thoughts on what you want to get from this meeting? what kind of picture would you like to see? what kind of a statement would you like to see? what kind of, you know, would you want town hall meetings? what do you want moving forward? >> i think it should be a teachable moment. i think that was a great phrase used by the president yesterday. what i don't want to see is beer drinking, back slapping, kumbayah like nothing happened, and then we don't, once again, deal with the very real issue of race. race is the great scourge on this nation. it continues to be. yes, we have a black president. but i think for many white americans in particular in this post-racial america that we supposedly have, they believe that because we have a black president, that racism and racial issues have gone away. and i think what you saw from

the president the other night in the press conference was a very visceral, very human reaction to an issue that he understands very well as a black man in america and he has to walk a fine line. i hope that we can have a dialogue, a true dialogue where the officer isn't called names, where gates isn't called names, and where we can actually speak to each other instead of past each other, and actually talk about what happened, how it got misunderstood. how tempers flared. et cetera. and hopefully we'll comout better for it. >> bottom line, sophia, was it right for the president to get involved here? was this the kind of thing, given that it did distract from the all-important issue of health care in this country? and by most accounts it has been a distraction for the president the past couple of days, would you like to get involved? >> yes, he was. should he have talked about the cambridge police department specifically? probably not. he should have spoke in broader terms. but i do think that he said this yesterday. it's part of his portfolio and i agree. as the first african-american president, he has the unique ability now to bridge some of

these conversations and to help us speak to one another in better ways. >> okay, sophia nilsen and hilary shelton, thank you both so much for the discussion. >> thanks for having me. >> thank you. >> a recent survey underscores america's concerns about racism in our society. in the cnn/essence magazine opinion research poll done back in may, 55% of african-americans said racial discrimination was a serious problem. 45% of blacks and 42% of whites said race relations will always be a problem in the united states. this is a thrill-seeking activity that almost cost a man his life and it was all caught on tape. so look at this. so, this is ted davenport this week, jumping off a cliff in colorado. that's called base jumping. that's called nuts by others. he tried a really complex maneuver that forced him to wait longer than usual to deploy his parachute. when he eventually opened it up, it failed to save him in a rough landing. >> i took the whole impact to my back. but it was -- it was such a forceful impact that it really

ricocheted throughout my entire torso. and i immediately started coughing up quite a bit of blood. we take every precaution to make it as safe as possible. >> look at this. this is video of davenport's fall from a helmet camera he was wearing. he got injured, was also bruised in his lungs and spine. despite the scare, davenport says he's going to go for it again. the upswing is the cash for clunkers program 9 reason or something else? you're watching msnbc saturday. y there's a way to save more for retirement,

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new details this morning following reports that one of osama bin laden's sons may have been killed in a missile strike. "the washington post" reporting that 27-year-old saad bin laden was apparently killed inside pakistan earlier this year. joining me live from washington, d.c. is jody warrick, nation

security reporter. good morning again. >> good to see you. >> what do you know about the details around this attack and confirmation whether or not it's there that this is, indeed, osama bin laden's son among the dead? >> yeah, did they get him or didn't they get him? cia thinks they got him. we figure it's 80%, 85% certainty based on intercepts. they're not 100% secure. they don't have a body. they don't have dna. but there's indications that one of the sons, one of many sons of osama bin laden was killed in a missile attack sometime earlier this year. >> okay, was he the target or not? >> yes. it's odd, this is the guy who has been floating around various places. he was involved in the bombings back in 2000/2003. and then disappeared and went to iran for a number of years. resurfaced late last year, went to pakistan. but, they knew he was in pakistan but they weren't deliberately targeting him in this particular shot. he just happened to be at the

wrong place at the wrong time and a missile was launched and he was killed, apparently. >> okay. if we're talking past tense, who was this guy? what was his role with al qaeda? one of 23 children that osama bin laden believed to have fathered? >> yes, very big family. he had four wives, bin laden did, the senior bin laden. lots of kids. this is one that decided to take his dad's route into al qaeda and was fairly, fairly close. but was not a particularly big figure within the al qaeda movement. he's had his fingerprints on a few bombings, but he has not been very active in the last few years and some intelligence people said he really was a nobody. a guy with a big name, but not much of a profile. >> and the area in pakistan where this missile strike was carried out. is this the same area believed to be where osama bin laden is? >> yes. it's the same kind of wild west in the western frontier of pakistan, right along the border. there's some areas there that are very difficult to get to,

very remote. but it's been the area where the drone attacks have been happening with great regularity over the last few months. we've seen just in the last year, since the beginning of the year, there's been more than 30 attacks. almost more than the entire year of all of 2008. and they've killed more than 300 people. but, not the big ones. not osama bin laden, and not zawahiri or some of the really big names. >> joby, give me a percentage chance that osama bin laden is still alive? >> there's pretty good chance. i wish i could say exactly. i guess, you know, if agency people were saying, probably 80, 90%. every now and then you hear about his demise. it's fairly positive he's still around. he's probably still in this a a area. it's just extremely hard to find the senior leaders because they're well protected. and even the top taliban commanders in pakistan don't know exactly where he is. >> okay from "the washington post." joby warrick, always good to talk to up. new hopes that economic

recovery could be on the hori n horizon. the dow soaring hundreds of points higher this week. crossing the 9,000 mark for the first time since january and gaining 12% in two weeks. on friday federal regulators closed seven more banks. six in georgia, one in new york, and that brings the number of federally insured banks closed so far this year to 64. and right at the height of the summer travel season, american airlines is now tacking on another fee. it's now going to cost $20 for the first checked bag. that's up from $15. a second bag is now going to cost $30. that's up from $25. well the ford motor company is posting a $2.8 billion profit for the second quarter of this year. ford, the nation's second largest automaker says it's in the black because it reduced its debt. and according to edmunds.com, overall auto sales for july are expected to be up almost 1% from just last month. joining us from the office in santa monica is the ceo of ed muns.com. good morning, again. >> good morning. >> so, the stats on your latest numbers, what do they show? >> well, you know, car sales all

year have really been abysmal. this is sort of the first ray of good hope, i think, for the car companies. we're showing that the july sales are actually going to break through the 10 million barrier in terms of annualized sales. so it is a 4ri bit of good news. >> okay, to what do you attribute the rise to? >> well, i think the big thing is if you look at car sales over the course of the year, they always spike in the summer. and what's happening is that people come out, because the cars tend to go on sale. they've got the new cars coming out in september. this year it will be the 2010s, so what happens is car companies put the 2009 on sale and people today are really looking for value. the economy is still tough. car buyers, like everybody else, want to get a good deal. and people think right now is the time to buy. so we've seen demand really kind of pent up over the past few months. i think the next two or three months we'll see some good news in terms of car sales. >> according to your numbers what are the companies to watch? >> the interesting thing really is when you take a look at the pattern. so the big pattern as i said is

value. and hyundai is actually the only car company right now that's showing an increase over the last year. and hyundai obviously is one of the brands that really stands for value. another good story, i think, in july, is toyota. people have been talking about what's been happening with toyota. the sales have really been off. their sales are actually up more than anyone else's in july on a percentage basis. up 25% over june. >> okay. jeremy anwell, ceo of edmunds.com. thank you. the fight over health care reform, it's the democrats versus the democrats. how will the division within the ranks affect the health care bill? you're watching msnbc saturday. i'm meteorologist bill karins. good saturday morning to you. storms are rolling through the ohio valley, and even a few that are near the ozarks. here's your forecast for today's selected cities. atlanta, 91 and nice.

atlanta, 91, boston a great day, up and down 95 it's going to be a gorgeous saturday. watch out for storms in detroit. on the west coast, still hot and dry in most areas. y clusters? yes. it's delicious. delicious. i know. but it can't have... can't have about half a day's worth of fiber? i assure you it does. i was expecting... expecting sawdust and cardboard? i know. i can only taste... only taste the crunchy clusters, honey, and brown sugar. no madam, i don't have esp. ok. i'll take a box, but you probably already knew that. (announcer) fiber one. cardboard no. delicious yes. does two jobs... at once. one: kills weeds to the root. two: forms a barrier, preventing new ones for up to four months. roundup extended control.

liberal democrats and so-called blue dog democrats are back at the bargaining table. still even if the house manages to vote on the bill this week,

harry reid says the senate won't be voting before the august recess, that means republican groups will have a month or so to run ads against the plan. i'm joined by msnbc political analyst, good morning to both of you, my friends. peter, what in the world is going on with your party? obviously it's the blue dogs all on board, they have enough vote, everything would get passed and it would be smooth sailing. >> that's right, certainly in the house. there are 52 blue dogs in the house, one out of five, 20% of the democratic party there. you can't ignore them, what happened alex is all of the discussion of cost and tax increases spooked folks. and you had quite a tumultuous day out there. luckily it handed in a handshake between congressman ross and the

chairman. and i think they are going to move into this. but, you know, i think we're going to have a bill in the fall. won't be as fast as the president wanted and probably won't be exactly what the president wanted, but, you know, this really now is about the rubber hitting the road and the devil being in the details. this is about getting tough and this is the hard stuff. they'll be able to do it and there will be republican that's go along with it too. >> joe, what do you think about that? >> the devil is in the details. everybody wants health insurance for people uninsured, republicans and democrats alike want in a. it's how you get it done. we have the best health care system in the world and don't want to destroy it because of the fact that we need to make some changes to it. and we don't want to make the change soz quickly that we end up raising the rate of unemployment by shutting down businesses and throwing people out of their jobs. that's not a good thing either. want people to be aware of the

details of the bill the mouhouss saying. >> if everybody wants health care reform, why is this taking the democrat president to get it done, why was it on the previous administration's plate? >> i heard a documentary where teddy kennedy was talking health care reform -- >> he's a democrat. >> republicans and democrats have talked about it alike. it's admirable he wants to use his popularity to hammer something through. the kind of bill he wants to hammer through may worsen our plight right now at the time when we're heading towards 10% unemployment, you don't want to raise the level of unemployment in states around the country and put people out of work. you want to make sure they have health care and more people working. right now the way the bill is structured that won't happen. >> go ahead, peter. >> go ahead. i was just going to say, alex,

one of the problems the president says the cost is skyrocketing, will double within ten years, soaking up more of every american family's budget. 14,000 people lose health insurance every day. there's no question, as joe says, that we have to do something about this problem. the difficulty is that the fight, i think is going to be over the cost and it's going to be over a government plan and what kind of plan. >> yes. >> and we had these same kind of fights when we first put medicare in place and i think what you've got though, it's different from when the clintons came up with their plan in secret in early '90s. you have a lot of people involved in the process. it is a little messy, but you know something, at the end of the day, esh is coming to the table. and you have people like those doctors at ama and have people that are far a plan. i think it will pass. >> speaking of the end of the day, you just said it, that's

it. thanks so much, we'll see you tomorrow morning. take care. you have questions. who can give you the financial advice you need? where will you find the stability and resources to keep you ahead of this rapidly evolving world? these are tough questions. that's why we brought together two of the most powerful names in the industry. introducing morgan stanley smith barney. here to rethink wealth management. here to answer... your questions. morgan stanley smith barney. a new wealth management firm with over 130 years of experience.

predator, the kind that wants goes after a different kind of predator, the kind that wants your money. >> i literally wiped out savings accounts. >> it's one of the biggest internet scams in the world. >> it's everywhere at this point. >> it starts with an e-mail from someone begging for help and promising a huge reward. they've cheated americans out of tens of millions. now there's another sucker in their sights. >> except this one is chris hansen. >> am i going to be meeting with you in london or somebody else? >> traveling the world to track down the crooks, playing nice or playing hardball. >> get it together and stop jerking me around. >> setting up stings with a room full of hidden cameras. >> not far away. >> winning their confidence. >> we have to be careful.

>> because we don't want to end up with this all over the television. >> then lowering the boom. >> i work for a show called "dateline nbc" and you've just been caught. >> chris hansen smokes them out. "to catch a con man." cunning and elusive, those internet con artists can soak you for a fortune, then vanish. thanks for joining us. i'm stone phillips. >> i'm ann curry. it's a scam that won't go away. those e-mails arriving from exotic places pleading for help and promising millions. americans keep biting and losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year to these crooks. trouble is, they're not easy to catch. >> but in a hidden camera investigation chris hansen takes on a different kind of predator to beat these cons at their own game. >> ever get an e-mail like this -- >> my name is mrs. maryam ibrahim. i am suffering from long-time cancer of the breast.