i'm david shuster live in washington. >> and we are beginning with a market alert, everyone, as the closing bell rings on wall street b a minute and change ago. u.s. stocks surging higher today on some positive economic news, up about 150 points or so on the dow today, which is very good news. things were up on the nasdaq as well as the s&p. so it's a good way to end the week all the way around and the chairman of the federal reserve says the u.s. economy is, indeed, on the road to recovery. ben bernanke told attendees at the annual fed conference in jackson hole, wyoming, today that economic activity at both the u.s. and around the world seems to be leveling off. it also looks like the u.s. housing market is rebounding but faster than expected. sales of previously-owned homes rose 7.2% in july, and it was the fourth straight month of increases and the highest level of sales since august of 2007.

and, alex, now the big picture at this hour. former members of the bush administration are out in force today attempting to discredit tom ridge, the first head of the homeland security department. ridge has a new book coming out claims he was pressured to raise the terror threat level on the eve of the 2004 presidential election. you'll recall just four days before president bush was re-elected, osama bin laden released a videotape message in an attempt to impact the vote. according to ridge, here is what happened next inside the bush administration. a dramatic discussion enshoe ue. ashcroft strongly urged an increase in the threat level and was supported by rumsfeld. there was absolutely no support for that position within our department. none. i wondered, is this about security or politics? donald rumsfeld calls the ridge claims nonsense and andy card told politico, we bent over

backwards repeatedly to make sure politic zs not influence any national and homeland security decisions. the clear instructions were to make sure politics never influenced anything. ridge said the 2004 incident led him to ultimately resign before ever investigating his hunch that the american people were scared into voting for president bush. >> now, david, in the bigger picture, bush administration officials are livid about tom ridge's claims. listen to what ridge said in august of 2004 when he was asked directly about it. >> i wish i could give them all top secret clearances and let them review some of the information some of us have the responsibility to review. we don't do politics in the department of homeland security. >> we don't do politics in the department of homeland security. so what about reaction from the supporters of jsenator john kery who lost that election because many voters didn't think he

would tough on terrorists. michael mean was with john kerry's 2004 campaign. we welcome you. >> good afternoon. >> we're going to remind americans about this terror level chart. this is the terror threat. those are the color charts. you have the low, guarded, elevated, high, severe, color coded there. now we look to the one we were just seeing. there's a chronology of the threat level for the 2004 presidential election level. january of that year the threat level was lowered from orange to yellow until three days after the democratic national convention. then look at the end of october. osama bin laden releases a videotape message just four days before the election, and it's during the next day or so that ridge claims at that point he felt pressured to raise the threat level. ultima ultimately, the threat level remained orange. november 2nd president bush is re-elect re-elected.

eight days later the threat level is lower back to yellow. you see where we're going. tell me what you think about all this, michael. is there a legitimate point to be made that maybe there's something preliminary here? can you see how that would be read into it? oh, absolutely. if secretary ridge said he was so concerned about the political pressure he quit after the election, why wasn't he so concerned about before the election. back five years ago at the democratic convention, john kerry had laid out a strong case about why he would be tough on fighting terrorism. the scathing 9/11 commission report had just come out that had the bush administration on their heels. three days after on a post-convention bounce, you have secretary ridge raise the levels in washington and in new york on the financial sector so there was part of the country where the threat level was raised. then you have on the eve of the election another move by the homeland security department to move this up. so it raises questions because tom ridge is a serious guy, serious enough to quit. it's just amazing we have to wait five years to find out the truth. these are the same people who

this summer say don't trust the government to fix health care but now we have someone who used to run the government saying you shouldn't trust the government. which is it? >> i wonder if you can quantify -- the polling suggested that voters tended to trust for whatever reason the bush administration more on dealing with terror than john kerry, but i wonder if you can quantify how many votes it cost you when that was put front and center in front of the voters for example with the bin laden videotape four days before election day. >> yeah. in all presidential elections the people who are undecided wait until the last seven to ten days to make a decision. in the middle of this, we knew we were taking on an incumbent president in the middle of a war. we made a case for why john kerry could be commander in chief. when you have manufactured evidence coming from the government to raise people's fair and anxiety, it's unpatriotic. we knew the bush white house would do anything possible to get re-elected. it's shocking five years later one of their own cabinet secretaries comes forward and says this. >> i'm curious, michael, why now?

we look at what happened back then, ridge made this very different claim in the book that's called bush's law. here is what peter baker writes about in "the new york times." the quote goes, asked by eric of the "new york times" if politics ever influenced decisions on threat warnings, he volunteered he would take a lie detector test. wire me up, mr. ridge said. not a chance. politics played no part. that was then, this is now. what happened in the interim? >> well, i think you have seen a bunch of republicans now trying to distance themselves. vice president cheney said the president didn't really talk to me much in the second term. you have the secretary now trying to say he had some concerns and that's why he resigned and now after years of telling us we should get duct tape and plastic, now we should go buy his book to find out the real truth. it was amazing at the time what the bush white house was willing to do to get re-elected and manipulating terror information has got to be one of the biggest offenses. >> thank you for that. >> thanks. david, how explosive is this

going to get in washington? >> i think this is a blockbuster. this is huge. anyone who using the threat of terrorism or frightens people about the prospect of terrorism to win votes or score little points, that in itself is terrorism. i'm not saying it's never been done before, but i think people are so outraged over the bush/cheney administration, this is yet another chapter, and again it underscores for a lot of people why there's so much about the bush administration they simply cannot stand. >> it will be interesting to see what tom ridge has to say. he will be peppered with these kinds of questions, that's for sure. >> a lot of people settling scores these days, alex. is president obama losing the message war on two fronts, health care and afghanistan? the president has been spending a lot of time trying to get his message out on health care but he doesn't often talk about the renewed efforts to fight the taliban in afghanistan. he took the opportunity today

one day after the war-torn country held its election. >> our goal is clear, to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al qaeda and their extremist allies. that goal will be achieved and our troops will be able to come home. this is not a challenge that we asked for. it came to our shores when al qaeda launched the 9/11 attacks from afghanistan. >> look at this. public support for the war in afghanistan continues to drop. according to a "washington post"/abc news poll, 47% say the war is worth fighting. that's down from 51% in july. and, of course, 51% right now say, no, it's not worth fighting, but the white house says this is not about the polls. >> the president will continue to make decisions on what he believes is important and the steps that have to be taken on the economy or on our national security or on health care based on what he thinks is in the

country's best interests. if the midpoint is less popular, that's our job to fit. >> christina is a white house correspondent for "the washington times." as you have often reported it's often times difficult for any president to win who message wars at once. the numbers are getting softer and softer, both health care and afghanistan. how concerned are the officials in that building behind you? >> well, the aides at the white house say they're not concerned. they point out he's had a few tough summers in a row and this is an area he's able to come back in the fall. they express this is about principle and doing the right thing. as far as afghanistan goes, you know, the polls are doing down in part because there's more violence, and they made a point, the administration, to start warning about that even before president obama took office. you had joe biden making some comments way back in january saying that, look, we're going to have an uptick in violence. i think they were trying to prepare people for that and obviously you'll lose some support when we're losing troops

overseas. >> christina, i want to ask you a question about our last segment. do people in the obama white house when any hear the stories of tom ridge and the allegations that somebody was playing games with terror alerts to score political points, to the extent it reminds the american public about the bush administration, do the people in the obama white house see that as a political good thing for them because it draws a contrast? >> that's not a question that i have asked them, but it wouldn't surprise me. i mean, it does remind the american people that the bush white house was unpopular, and their unpopularity didn't have a lot to do with an argument about health care. these were major issues and things have been exposed. i think you haven't heard the white house use this in part because it just gives tom ridge more publicity. but this is something people are taking seriously and i think voters are remembering it. you're hearing a lot of conversation on twitter and the blogs about how outrageous this is. >> christina, correspondent for

"the guantanamo tim "the washington times" great to see you. >> thanks, david. >> president obama has dealt with difficult summers before, and they are convinced they're great closers, but governing is very different sometimes than campaigning. it's not necessarily perhaps as easy as a lot of newcomers to the white house tend to think. >> thinking of campaigning, i have had people talk to me, we talked about those staff, how people are losing support for the war in afghanistan, and people are saying to me the president is not making good on his promise. he's not getting us out of afghanistan. i said, you know, i think actually most of the campaign rhetoric was directed at iraq. people are still bringing it into actually governing the country and it's a huge challenge. >> sometimes our politicians let us down, but sometimes voters with the misinformation or lack of information let the

politicians down. anyway. >> yeah, good point. still ahead this hour, where is ryan jenkins, the international manhunt for a reality tv star that police say brutally murdered his girlfriend. also, tracking hurricane bill. rain from the storm is already pounding the island of bermuda. we will have the very latest from there. and then just because it's friday, we'll bring you the results of a new survey asking that eternal question all on your minds, who is sexier brad and angelina or barack and michelle? you're watching "the big picture" on msnbc. i never thought i would have a heart attack, 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 yr kids, now it's time to take care of yourself.

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and welcome back. we are tracking hurricane bill. >> we are, and that storm is expected to pass through bermuda and the u.s. east coast this weekend. in fact, bill has now weakened to a category 2 storm, but it's still packing winds of 110 miles an hour. bermuda and the eastern seaboard are bracing for some strong waef waves and intense rip currents. because john is one of the top hurricane experts in the country, we're going to you now, john, i guess the question on most people's minds is up and down the eastern seaboard, where is it going to be the worst between florida and up to maine? >> well, it looks like the worst is going to be the outer banks of north carolina, where i just looked at some of the coastal

marine forecasts and they're talking about 12-foot seas over the course of the weekend, especially saturday night into early sunday morning. the new jersey shore will see seas of about 12 feet, and i also looked at the area near cape cod. they're talking about seas of 14 feet heading into this weekend. that means the breaking waves could be as high as 20 feet. it will be very dangerous. just not a weekend to head to the beach. let's look at the satellite image of the system this afternoon and we're talking about a category 2, 110-mile-an-hour hurricane located about 300 miles southwest of bermuda. they're already seeing some of the outer rain bands there. that means some of the tropical storm force wind gusts are starting to arrive. they're expected to be in that right on into tonight possibly into tomorrow morning. tropical storm warnings are in effect for bermuda. what's expect, it will pass well west of bermuda, maybe 200 miles away. probably a good 300, 400 miles away east of the u.s. coastline.

weaken quickly over the colder waters of the north atlantic and then possibly threaten the canadian maritimes and nova scotia and newfoundland. this system will be a weekend problem for all of the east coast of the u.s. as well as the canadian maritimes and bermuda already getting pounded this afternoon. >> john, anything else we should be looking out for. anything with maybe a "c" deletr or a "d" letter? >> not just yet. thankfully behind this system you'll see we're expecting not much in terms of development. there's one tropical wave in the far weeastern atlantic ocean ju coming off the coast of africa southwest of the cape verde islands looking a little ragged. we're not expecting any immediate development. national hurricane center indicating there's less than a 30% chance that any of those systems coming off the african coast will develop anytime soon. hopefully a breather after hurricane bill.

>> right. boating, that's a no-no this weekend? >> absolutely. definite no-no. i would say not even heading to the beach to enjoy the surf. unless you're an experienced, experienced surfer, this is a dangerous situation this weekend. small crafts should stay in port all along the east coast. the only place that might be a little protected is southern florida which is protected by the bahamas. they won't see as much of the high swells that will impact the rest of the coast. >> john, thanks so much. david, remember we were talking about bermuda and how bill and hillary clinton were there? >> yeah. >> apparently they made it off the island safe and sound. they took off before things got real bad. >> i hope some other folks got off as well. anytime you hear about pacific coast waves on the east coast, that's a bit of a problem. >> i know, yeah, it's not cut out for that. all right, david. up next, a bumpy right on a mascot and a few other story that is make us say no way. >> but first, a big day for the state that brought us laos,

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2,500 monkeys roam around the town and residents say they have had enough. officials have enacted a type of monkey birth control. a team of veterinarian offer candy to the monkeys. the team catches them and then they sterilize them. ouch. okay. looks like an old love triangle is finally being resolved and this is rocking the comic book world. for years archie was never able to choose between betty and the sultry veronica until now apparently. on the cover of issue 600 archie is on bended knee proposing to veronica. poor betty is just looking on there in the picture. collectors who are on team betty are said to be very upset. the question now, will it last? >> nothing ever lasts, alex. father of the year billy ray sighous, i'm kidding about that, but he's defending his

daughter's performance at the teen choice awards. during the show the 16-year-old danced around a pole. critics called the performance too adult, but her father is encouraging her to block out the negative. >> just think that miley loves entertaining people, singing, song writing. i tell her to love what you're doing and stay focused, you know, for the love of the art and not worry so much about opinions. >> that's right, alex. if you love pole dancing, go for it. >> i'm so not touching that one. i'm going to say this though, jamaica's mel lain walker took home a world tighting at t-- ti in berlin. during the victory lap, that's the mascot, he gave her a piggyback ride, not very victorious because that bear

just ran and crashed right into the back of a cart. walker was not hurt. embarrassed a little bit, but the mascot, i don't know. >> when you ride your mascot, alex, you're looking for trouble. >> again, not touching that either, david. you are in a friday afternoon rowdy mood. >> just ahead, the steady drip, drip, drip of bad news for mark sanford. more revelations about the governor's travel arrangements and what he failed to tell the public. also, the very latest on the hunt for a reality tv star charged with brutally killing his model girlfriend. you're watching "the big picture" on msnbc. i was in the grocery store when i had a heart attack. 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. i'm going to be grandma for a long time. but ve still got room for the internet.

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i'm amanda drury with your cnbc market wrap. good news on the housing front and the fed's positive outlook on the economy helping put stocks higher today. the dow up 155. the s&p 500 up 18 and the nasdaq

gaining by 31. oil inching higher. the price of crude settling just off this year's high of $74.72 a barrel. and good news in the housing sector. the national association of realtors say sales of existing homes soared in july by the largest monthly increase in at least ten years. sales jumped 7.3% beating expectations. and credit card users seem to be taking control of their finances. the charge on u.s. credit card fell from june's record high. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. back to you at msnbc. welcome back. i'm alex witt live here in new york. >> and i'm david shuster live in washington. alex, the big picture right now, there's an international manhunt for a reality television star accused of murdering his ex-wife who was a model. ryan jenkins appeared on the vh1 show "megan wants a

millionaire." authorities say he's now on the run after killing his ex-wife in southern california. the 28-year-old swimsuit model jasmine fiore's mutilated body was found last saturday stuffed in a suitcase in a dumpster with her fingers and teeth removed. police believe jenkins has fled to canada and is on foot. >> at this time it is our belief the suspect has crossed the border into canada and we are currently working with the royal canadian mounted police in our attempts to locate him. last night the black bmw was located in the city of blain, washington, with a boat trailer attached. >> authorities say fiore and jenkins were briefly married after a las vegas wedding earlier this year and had been fighting lately. police say the two checked into a san diego hotel last thursday and jenkins checked out the next morning. jasmine fiore was not seen alive again. court records show jenkins was charged in june for

allegedly hitting fiore and is scheduled to go on trial in december. fiore's former boyfriend begged for help in capturing jenkins. >> this message goes out to the family, his mother and father and to the friends that are helping him try to leave this country. ryan jenkins is an animal. what he has done to jasmine is unspeakable. >> now to the bigger picture. jasmine fiore's relationship with ex-husband ryan jenkins. "people" magazine reports fiore lived in fear of jenkins. "people" spoke exclusively with her ex fiance. let's bring in patrick rogers with people.com. good afternoon to you. >> good afternoon. >> the former fiance had some knowledge about her current relationship. he had witnessed some action, right? some actual brutality?

>> that's right. this man had seen jasmine and ryan jenkins together specifically one episode was beside a swimming pool in las vegas where jenkins apparently became angry after he was speaking -- the ex-fiance was speaking to jasmine. jenkins hit jasmine, knocked her into the swimming pool with -- fully dressed, cell phone, all of that on. he had been drinking according to this source and became angry. this gentleman also told us that jasmine would keep several -- up to three cell phones because jenkins would check her messages, invade her privacy that way. a very, very jealous man according to this description, very passionate. >> and some of these cell phones unbeknownst to him? >> absolutely. she would keep them behind her back otherwise he would read her messages. >> she was taking steps to get away from him because it's my understanding they were married and yet she had had the marriage annulled? >> yeah.

the details there are murky. we can't find -- we can find a record in las vegas that they were married, but we can't find anything to say that they had the marriage annulled. jasmine's mother has said that the marriage was annulled. what we do know is jasmine told her ex-fiance, the gentleman we spoke to, that she was in court over her head and she didn't know how she was going to get out of this relationship with jenkins. >> ryan jenkins was obviously very wealthy. does he have a lot of resources available and does that complicate the international manhunt to try to find him? >> we know he made a lot of money in calgary. he did development, upscale development in calgary, but this man is on foot. he crossed the border from washington state into canada on foot. it doesn't -- i don't know how he's going to tap into those kind of resources with the police on his trail at this point. >> yeah. but there is an extradition --

california certainly if he's caught will be able to extradite him and bring him back to california. >> yes. canada does not extradite people who are wanted for capital offenses, but the california authorities said that doesn't apply here. he is subject to extradition. >> okay. and with regard to the gruesome nature of this, the theory from police is he just -- it may have gotten out of control. do they believe he intended to kill her or is this one of those things, crime of passion -- >> police have not talked about a motive here, but everything points to a crime of passion. we know the cause of death was strangling and we know this hideous mutilation took place very quickly. >> trying to cover his tracks. >> teeth removed, hands removed. >> so people wouldn't be able to identify her. >> and dumped in a dumpster the next day. last seen on friday at a poker tournament in san diego. the next day her body is found in a dumpster. >> okay. patrick rogers with people.com.

thank you so much. >> you're welcome. >> i tell you, these details get more and more gruesome. it's a horrific story to cover when you think about the way this woman met her end. >> i guess mr. jenkins, wherever he is, he better hope the police find him before some people, i don't know, up there hear about this and decide to take things into their own hands and make him suffer because i think that's what a lot of people would want to do. alex, there are some more potential problems for south carolina governor mark sanford today. the associated press is reporting this afternoon that governor sanford took dozen of flights on private planes and did not report it even though a state law requires him to disclose the information. an associated press investigation found out that governor sanford took 35 private flights. sanford's staff says he didn't report the flights because they were paid for by friends or political groups, although he would still be required to report them even in those cases. >> okay. up next, duck in the middle. >> president obama catching

flack from pundits on both the left and the right on health care. that is today's face-off. it's a good one. you're watching "the big picture." every day special. fancy feast introduces an entirely new way to celebrate any moment. fancy feast appetizers. simple high quality ingredients like wild alaskan salmon, white meat chicken, or seabass and shrimp in a delicate broth,

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today's face-off. yesterday house speaker nancy pelosi said the public option for health care reform is not an option. >> there is no way i can pass a bill in the house of representatives without a public option. unless somebody comes up with a better idea. that's how we're going forth. >> then today house majority leader sten yy hoyer had this t say. i'm for a public option but i'm also for passing a bill. the public option is a necessary, useful and very important aspect of this but we'll have to see because there are many other important aspects of the bill as well. marjorie, let's start with you. democrats who think that the message from the democratic party has completely gone off the rails when the house speaker and her top deputy with a

different message on successive days, how would they be wrong to think that? >> i think we have to see what happens in september when congress comes back in session and the senate and the house. >> so the message doesn't matter right now? right now the message doesn't matter, is that what you're saying? >> i'm not saying it doesn't matter, but right now we have a situation where it's a vacuum of actual events. we have a lot of people talking about this, but it's not going to be until september where we will be discussing the bill. so i think that this is just a temporary moment that when we're actually discussing the bill, things are going to change. i have seen polls that show a majority support a public option. we will see how you have senators still talking about how they're going to work in a bipartisan way and people are talking about how they're going to work together. i think we're really going to see how the bill comes together in september. >> karen, is the best strategy for republicans politically just to sit back and watch the democrat civil war and essentially not get involved? >> yeah. it's no sin required at this point.

it's pretty easy to be a republican right now and sit back and watch nancy pelosi. thank goodness steny hoyer is the speaker of the house. he's so pragmatic and rational. republicans would be in a bigger bind right now than they are. why does pelosi do this? she goes out there and makes these statements about the cia that are controversial. she knows that there's not support -- increasingly there's not support among independents for the public option. the president's popularity is falling. they don't like how he's handling health care and she's out there with this rhetoric of, look, it's my way or the highway on something that a majority of american people don't want, and i don't see how she's helping her caucus go into the 2010 elections and campaign as the conservative moderates, you know, who really won the majority in the 2006 and ape'08

elections. >> marjorie, we're going to put karen on the spot by asking her a much more difficult question. we'll change topics. tom ridge has this book coming out. he alleged a few days before the 2004 election he was pressured by john ashcroft, donald rumsfeld, and perhaps other hs in the bush cabinet to raise the terror alert. he thinks it it was perhaps for political purposes. do you believe tom ridge or donald rumsfeld? >> this is a tough one. you know, there's part of me that wonders is this a publicist going out there and really trying to gin up support for a book that maybe is not going to be as exciting as it's been promoted? on the other hand, i have a lot of respect for tom ridge. he's a guy i was really actually hoping john mccain would pick as his vice presidential candidate, and, you know, if i was going to pick between the two, i would side with ridge over rumsfeld. >> isn't that troubling then that even you, a republican -- >> you bet --

>> think ridge is probably telling the truth which means the bush white house played politics with the terror alerts? >> well, you know, again, i'm not going to discount what governor ridge said, and i'm really curious to see what's the context, you know. again, it's one thing for a publicist to put out a couple of titillating aspects of this book that's coming out, but, you know, look -- and here is i guess the real problem. when you hear something like this you don't immediately discount it and say karl rove would never do that. maybe he would. >> yeah, and marjorie, that should be all the opportunity the democrats need, right? >> it comes as no surprise. it's just one of the latest of a steady drum beat of republicans turning against the former president, of things we're finding out about things that happened during the administration across the gamut, whether it's on security,

whether it's on finances, whether it's on using the office politicizing attorney's offices. wherever you look. so this is just the one that we heard about this week. >> but how do democrats use it though? >> and that gets us right back to the first issue, and that is i have a feeling if the situation were reversed, if it was a democratic administration that was using the terror alert to play politics, the republican message would be unified, it would be unbearing, and it would never stop and yet the democrats message again right now whether it's that story, whether it's health care, whether it's anything else, it feels like there are a dozen different messages out there. on that point doesn't that hurt the democratic party when they can't have that kind of discipline that the republicans have realized you need when your fighting in politics? >> well, i don't think we're fighting tom ridge and president bush right now. right now the goal is to think about how do we get the best health care plan passed and it's not about public option versus not public option. it's about making sure we have

better coverage and that we have something that's revenue neutral and that we have increased options and choice and we don't take away care from people who like the care they receive. it's not about -- you know, it's not about playing politics or talking about the past administration. people are finding out those stories. they're not surprising, as i mentioned before, and the goal right now is to try to do the best thing moving forward. >> but karen, correct me if i'm wrong, five years after a clinton re-election, if you had found out similar information, republicans would all over it even if it doesn't feel timely because you score political points that way. you're either scoring or being scored upon, right? >> here's the thing, i think you might be -- i think you're kind of selling democrats short. they had a very unified message. they used george bush very effectively against republicans in '06 and '08. i think it's difficult for them to use him now except maybe for the purposes of fund-raising,

but, you know, these books coming out when bush is gone, it's going to be really tough for democrats to run against him in 2010. what they need to have is a unified message on health care, but that's going to be very different because, look, i think the democratic party is a much more ideologically diverse party than i think the media wonants admit, that even the democratic leadership wants to admit. in '06 when they took back the majority, they did it -- the pro-life conservatives like heath schuyler, some were republican who is switched to democrats. rahm emanuel recruited them. this is a very difficult coalition for them to hold together if they are gag oing t push through an ideological agenda and yet maintain the conservative southern vote whose voted democrat because they were tired of bush. how do you convince them to stay democrat in 2010? >> very, very smart analysis today from karen and margie. thank you for coming on.

we appreciate it. >> thank you. be sure to check out "meet the press" with david gregory this sunday. he will be talking health care with joe scarborough and tavis smiley. "meet the press" ought to be pretty interesting. >> you were talking about scoring political points. there are a lot of people saying how can the president take off and go on vacation while his ratings are coming down somewhat the last couple of weeks and all about the health care. then there's other wos say just go away for a while, relax, get out of the spotlight, which is what robert gibbs says he's going to do. that's probably the best thing he can do right now. >> i agree he should get away, but he also needs some surrogates fighting hard on his behalf and it's not clear where they are. >> they're all over the map. that's true. okay. thank you very much, david. up next, everyone, some things we thought you should know. >> the president gets his motor running, and the obamas give brad and angelina is run for their money. then on "hardball," chris malt ewes has more on the

fallout from the tom ridge accusations, the bush white house hyping terror to score little points. than a compable honda civic. this chevy traverse has better mileage than honda pilot. the all-new chevy equinox has better mileage than honda cr-v. and chevy malibu has bette mileage than accord. however, honda does make something that we just can't compete with. it's self-propelled. there's never been more reasons to look at chevy.

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there's a lot going on today, so here are three things we thought you should know. >> alex, when it comes to facebook, sarah palin is a dominant force among republicans. she has accumulated about the same number of new supporters just in the last week as mitt romney and bob by jindal has combined. palin has 809,000 supporters.

>> i'm curious if you think people are like-minded or looking for the entertainment value. >> i'm going to go for the entertainment value. i don't know. >> perhaps. we have some new video of president obama and nascar's jimmie johnson checking out his race car at the white house earlier this week. basketball may be his sport but it appears the president would not mind taking that car for a test drive. >> that's what i'm talking about. >> that's unbelievable. that's an engine there. >> yeah. you know, look, johnson said the president could take the car for a spin. the secret service said, not so much, can't go doing that, mr. president. >> it's always interesting to see nascars on the lawn of the white house. >> can you imagine if he did take off. >> wow. speaking of taking off, alec lex, when it comes to sexy couple brad and angelina have some competition on their heels and it's none other than the

first couple of the united states. according to "parade" magazine president obama and first-degree l -- first lady michelle earned the second spot behind brad and angelina. >> they appear to have good, strong marriages and enjoy spending time together. >> that is sexy, i will grant you that. those are a few things we thought our viewers should know. >> i'm glad we did it then. very good. >> president obama may have already departed for camp david, but that doesn't mean politics, especially the debate over health care has stopped. >> of course not. let's get to our first read on politics. mark murray is deputy political director for nbc news and what do you have for us? >> hi alex and david. tomorrow georgia republican congressman tom price, a doctor delivers the weekly republican radio address and his topic will be health care.

there will be a lot of volleys and his plans on that subject. health care will also be in the news on senate when chuck schumer and orrin hatch are on "meet the press." also on "meet the press" afghanistan will be a big topic when david gregory interviews joint chiefs chairman mike mullen. >> as far as democratic schumer from new york, he's crucial to watch because he's been pretty strong in maintaining that there has to be a public option. so if somebody like him on the senate side comes out and says this has got to be there, that's going to be pretty big news, right? >> that's a great point, david. one other thing about chuck schumer is he was one who was actually drafted very early on to actually have a compromise of sorts. not the compromise we're talking about with the co-op plan that a lot more centrists and moderate democratic senators are pushing, but actually one that would probably make the nancy pelosis and a lot of the public option plan people pretty happy.

what i think is interesting, if republicans aren't going to be at the table and president obama and max baucus have said they will be, but if they're not, there's a really good chance that a schumer-like compromise might be more likely than we would see on the co-op plan. so there is some potential that a lot of liberals and progressives and public option supporters could be happy and chuck schumer would play a very important role in that. >> okay. >> alex, do you want to ask him about brad and angelina? >> okay. i'm getting called out here, mark, mr. political man. the fact is that i reference brad and angelina as being married. they have a whole family together. you just sort of -- oops. i just assumed. >> i think a good family is better than the opposite, and it's very nice that the obamas are recognized right next to brad and angelina. and i do think the obama

marriage is one of their biggest selling points. >> mark, thanks as always. al alex, what time are you on tomorrow? >> 7:00 a.m. thank you for asking. all of us should also read first thing first thing everybody morning. that's for mark. i'm back tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. thanks for having me. >> tamron is back monday. "hardball" starts right now. tom ridge blows the whistle. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, say it ant so. like a battery of anti-aircraft gunners people speaking for the last bush administration are trying to shoot down the accusation that some of them tried jacking up the country's security alert in order to ensure bush's re-election in 2004. when the news broke yesterday that homeland security secretary tom ridge has charged bush

people with doing just that, trying to politicize the terror threat level, the weekend right before the '04 elections, a lot of people said ah-ha, but spokesmen for donald rumsfeld and ashcroft are trying to dismiss the ak significance ar at least people speaking for them are. but a lot of people aren't of course buying the denials. ridge's account of what happened only confirm what is bush critics on iraq and related issues always believed, that the white house politicized the terror threat to scare people into voting republican. plus, what's going on with health care reform? opponents are saying president obama is pushing big government. that he's moving the country towards socialism while liberals argue he's not moving left enough and he's lost his democratic voice. we'll go looking for what went wrong. and has the high profile