ht with nutrisystem for men. pick up the phone and change your life. that's 105 meals free. call or click now. two big breaking stories now on msnbc. entire minnesota town in virtual lockdown after a number of reported bomb threats force the entire school district to immediately call off all classes. plus, new ammunition in the great gun debate. within the hour supreme court says it will decide whether state and local gun bans violate the second amendment. good morning. i'm tamron hall. >> i'm monica novotny. multiple bomb threats prompted princeton, minnesota to shut down. multiple suspicious looking packages were discovered one at

a post office in that small town and the other at a high school there about 3,5 hundred snunts in this school district consisting of two elementary schools and one middle school and one high school. according to the reports out students are being bussed home and entire population is 4,500 people so you can imagine already this news has quickly spread when you're talking about most of the population being school children and all of them being sent back home after these bomb threats. one intersection near the post office has been completely closed off. that that the second suspicious package outside the high school. students at the high school placed in lockdown and they, too, as well as elementary and middle school students will be bussed home. 3,500 students in this school district according to the latest numbers we were able to get and as a result of this bomb threat the entire town virtually under lockdown as these two suspicious

packages are being investigated. breaking news from the supreme court. it has agreed to take on an important gun rights case testing the second amendment at state and local levels. nbc justice correspondent pete williams joins us with more on this. what can you tell us? >> the question is does the constitution provide any kind of impediment for cities like chicago which is the one in this case from enacting strict gun control laws. a couple of terms ago the u.s. supreme court struck down the strictest gun control in the nation in washington, d.c. saying that violated the second amendment. now the question is does the second amendment apply to the states in you may think it's odd the courts have never said whether all parts of the constitution apply for the states but that's the fact. the bill of rights don't automatically apply and two lower courts that have looked at this, including one on which judge sonia sotomayor was a member and now on the supreme court has said it's not clear

that the second amendment applies to the states. this is the case that will decide whether the original decision confined to washington will spread across the country. it's of huge importance to gun rights advocates and believe the second amendment prevents cities from banning handguns so this is one of the biggest cases of the term and heard in the term that starts in october. it will be heard some time later in the year. >> pete, of course, everyone is talking about the fact that these gun rights cases certainly have the potential to be a the most decisive cases politically socially speaking. it's proven to be the case in the past. let's talk about the timing here then. you say they will be hearing this to come. what are we talking about in terms of timing looking ahead? we're still months away from any decision on this, obviously. >> the court's calendar is all set through december. so it will probably be heard some time early next year, possibly january and possibly

february. and, of course, even though judge sotomayor was involved in a case that raised a similar question from the state of new york, she will be, i'm almost certain, able to take part in this case. it's a similar legal question but not the same case so nothing to bar her from participating in this. the expectation here is that she would probably decide the case in a similar way as would david souter. but we're on unchartered territory here. the supreme court has never answered this question before about whether the second amendment applies to the state so this will ab very big deal. >> pete williams, thanks. developing story 99 people dead and dozens more still missing in that massive tsunami striking american samoa and is a mow on. that death toll is expected to rise as a search for survivors and waves reached as high a mile inland -- far reaching a mile inland and resulting quake registered over on the richter

scale. we will talk with the director of homeland security for american samoa coming up in a few minutes and get update on the search for survivors. in the meantime, near indonesia rocked by a powerful earthquake destroying buildings and cutting off power. many people thought to be trapped underneath piles of rubble and tv cameras caught images of a foot sticking out of debris. the quake measured about 7.6 and power outages there are making it tough for officials to determine just how widespread the damage is. we will bring you more information on that developing story as well as as soon as we get it in. the president about to speak any moment at the national institute of health in maryland. he, along with health secretary kathleen sebelius just wrapped up a tour and president about to announce stimulus funds to the nil. let's listen. >> what has just been said about my secretary of hhs, she is -- i just think -- outstanding. she hit the ground running and

with all of the burdens that she carries, she always has a sense of fun and energy and is just good to be around. so please give kathleen sebelius a big round of applause. i want to acknowledge that we are in congressman chris van holland's district. a democrat from maryland. and chris is here and a great supporter of nih historically. we are very grateful for him. and we are so happy to have senator arlen specter who is directly responsible for so much of the funding for nih research. he is a huge champion for your cause and i know you already gave him a rousing round of applause, but i just want to echo what a great job he has been doing and what a great partner he has been. finally, somebody who is not

here, but deserves a little credit is my vice president joe biden, who is managing the stimulus process -- whoa. that's joe trying to call in. joe is doing a great job and -- but he is -- he is pretty tough when it comes to tracking the money, so he is going to be paying attention, doc, to make sure that it's going where it's supposed to be going. you know, before i begin my remarks about this extraordinary institution, i want to say a word about the tragic events that took place yesterday in america samoa. my deepest sympathies are with the families who lost loved ones and the many people whose lives have been affected by the earthquake and tsunami. to aid in the response i've declared this a major disaster

to speed the deployment of resources and fema, the federal emergency management agency is working with emergency responders on the ground and the coast guard is helping to provide immediate help to those in need. we also stand ready to help our friends in neighboring samoa and throughout the region and we'll continue to monitor the situation closely as we keep the many people who have been touched by this tragedy in our thoughts and in our prayers. now, today, i'm here to talk about our nation's commitment to research. i want to thank dr. collins and his team for showing me and kathleen some of the extraordinary groundbreaking research being done at the national institutes of health. the work you do is not easy. it takes a great deal of patience and persistence, but it holds incredible promise for the health of our people and for the future of our nation and our world.

and that is why i'm here today. for decades, the nih has been at the forefront of medical invention and innovation, helping to save countless lives and relieve untold suffering. and, yes, we have seen our leadership slipping as scientific integrity was, at times, under mined and research funding failed to keep pace. we know the work you do would not get done if left solely to the private sector. some research does not lend itself to quick profit. and that is why places like the nih were founded, and that is why my administration is making a historic commitment to research and pursuit of discovery. and that is why, today, we're announcing that we've awarded $5 billion, that's with a "b" in grants through the recovery act to conduct cutting-edge research all across america to unlock

treatments to diseases that have long plagued humanity, to save and enrich the lives of people all over the world. this represents the single largest boost to biomedical research in history. now, one of the most exciting areas of research to move forward as a result of this investment will be in applying what scientists have learned through the human genome project to help us understand, prevent and treat various forms of cancer, heart disease and autism. having been a leader of the human genone project, dr. collins knows this promise all too well and it's a promise we have only begun to realize. we are seeing genetic changes of

disease and make us more susceptible to the disease but we've only scratched the surface of these kinds of treatments because we've only begun to understand the relationship between our environment and genetics and ncausing and promoting cancer. through the recovery act nih is expanding the atlas and collecting more than 20,000 samples and this has extraordinary potential to help us better understand and treat this disease. cancer has touched the lives of all americans, including my own families. 1.5 million people will be diagnosed in the next year. 500,000 people will lose their lives. we all know the terrible toll on families and the promise of treatments that will allow a mother to be there for her children as they grow up, that will make it possible for a child to reach adulthood and will allow countless people to

survive a disease that's claimed far too many lives. through these investments and research, we will also have the opportunity to make strides in the treatment and prevention of heart disease. the leading cause of death in the united states. since 1948, for example, researchers have been following generations of residents in the town of framingham, massachusetts, to better understand the cause of cardiovascular illness. now we have a chance to study the dna of these participants and connect what we know after decades of observation to what we'll soon know about their genetic makeup. and perhaps we can identify those who are likely to get high blood pressure or high cholesterol and find ways to intervene before heart disease even develops. finally, we'll also provide the largest ever infusion of funding into autism research. across the country, grant recipients will have the opportunity to study genetic and environmental factors of a disease that now touches more

than 1 in every 150 children. what we learn will hopefully lead to greater understanding and early interventions and more effective treatments and therapies to help these children live their lives and achieve their fullest potential. which is extraordinary. now, we know that these investments in research will improve and save countless lives for generations to come and as i was taking a tour with dr. collins and dr. fauci and others, just listening to the possibility of hiv/aids vaccine or hearing the latest treatments of cancer that allow people previously only had resort the most violent types of radiation or chemotherapy, now being able to take pills and seeing

extraordinary progress, it is something that entirely inspiring. but we also know that these investments will save jobs. they will create new jobs. tens of thousands of jobs conducting research and manufacturing and supplying medical equipment and building and modernizing laboratories and research facilities all across america. and that is also what the recovery act is all about. it's not just about creating make work jobs. it's about creating jobs that will make a lasting difference for our future. from the beginning, our goal has been to rescue the economy, at the same time as we're laying a new foundation for lasting economic growth. and central to that foundation is a health care system that can deliver the treatments and cures you discover in an affordable way. after all, decades of research make no difference to the family that is dropped from an

insurance policy when a child gets sick and breakthroughs with the potential to save lives don't matter when your insurance doesn't cover a preexisting condition. and as costs rise and rise that leaves less and less for the kinds of investments in health care and in basic research that will actually improve our well-being. that's why we're working so hard to pass long overdue reform. now, i should point out there are some who have opposed the reforms we're suggesting saying it would lead to a takeover by the government of the health care sector but this concern about the involvement of government, i should point out, has been present whenever we have sought to improve our health care system. here is an interesting quote from fdr. he addressed it nearly 70 years ago right here at the dedication of nil and he said, i quote, neither the american people, nor their government, intends to

socialize medical practice any more than they plan to socialize industry. in american lisk, the family doctor, the general practitioner performs a service which we rely upon and which we trust as a nation and there can be no substitute for the personal relationship between doctor and patient which is a source of strength of our medical practice in our land. fdr was being accused of a government takeover of health care. but he thought nih was a pretty good idea. and think about everything that's happened and all of the lives that have been saved and all of the progress that's been made and all of the commercial activity that's been generated as a consequence of that early investment. now these words are a reminder that while we've made great advances in medicine, our debates haven't always kept pace and these words remind us that there are always been those who argued against progress, but that at our best, we've never allowed our fears to overwhelm

our hopes. for a brighter future. that's been at the heart of the work of the national institutes of health for decades. it was here that dr. roy hurts would develop the first successful career of metastatic cancer through chem trerp as a group of women would have surely died to get better and here that dr. nina brownwald the first woman ever to be board certified and cardiac surgery conducted some of the earliest operations to replace heart valves and here in the years after president roosevelt's visit that polio vaccines would be tested to end the scourge that affected millions including, obviously, the president that helped to make the research possible. we can only imagine the new discoveries that will flow from the investments we make today. breakthroughs in medical research take far more than the occasional flash of brilliance,

as important as that can be. progress takes time. it takes hard work. it can be unpredictable. it can require a willingness to take risks. going down some blind alleys, occasionally, figuring out what doesn't work is sometimes as important as figuring out what does. all of this needs the support of government. it holds promise like no other area of human endeavor but we've got to make a commitment to it. here at the national institutes of health and at universities and research institutions across this country, you are demonstrating our capacity, not just as a nation, but as human beings, to harness our creativity and our ingenuity to save lives and despair suffering and build a better world for ourselves and our children and our grandchildren. that is our great promise and it is one that we've, once again, begun to fill fill. thank you for your extraordinary work and we are going to keep on

providing the support that you need, the american people are looking forward to the next set of discoveries that all of you are working on today. thank you so much. >> that is the president speaking out at the national institutes of health. first passing along his thoughts to the people of american samoa as they are dealing with the tragic aftermath of that tsunami but focusing today on $5 billion of funding going to the nih for research namely in the area of cancer research and also talking about job creation and, finally, then one more push on health care reform. let's bring in nbc news white house correspondent chuck todd who joins us now. chuck, it was interesting to hear him, this really was sort of an intersection. we heard will the job creation and stimulus and then the shift into health care and what i found interesting in recent days is that we've seen the administration in washington in general so focused on health care reform and, yet, a poll out the other day that talked about

americans saying their number one concern right now is the economy, namely, unemployment. >> that's right. in fact, our own poll when you ask when -- what will be the number one way that you'll be able to know the economy is turning around and it's when there are more jobs available, when a person can feel like they can either change jobs or find a job. but i tell you if you're rahm emanuel, the white house chief of staff, you want evens like this every day when you're in the middle of the health care debetter and you can sit there and talk about jobs and stimulus money and science research and talk about health care. it was striking to hear the president pivot to health care even though it shouldn't have been because the last two weeks have been dominated by international both events and foreign policy that we actually hadn't heard the president give a pitch for health care probably since the sunday morning interviews he did two sundays ago. but as you stated, all of washington is focused on health care and we just hadn't heard from the president in a while.

>> we will talk about the international issues in a moment. >> we bring in john har woos wood harwood. you heard chuck say it was striking to see the president pivot to health care but after what we saw happen to the public option yesterday in the votes some might expect the president to be stronger as so much analysis out there says that the difference now is what he says regarding public option. >> well, a couple of things on that. first of all, the goal of the white house right now is get something moving in the senate. right? so they want to get a bill out of the finance committee and get it to the floor so they can ultimately have the house and senate pass the bill and then have a conference. i don't think he is losing too much sleep right now or anybody in the white house is over the fate of the public option at this moment. forward motion is more important. baucus said i can count votes we cannot get 60 votes for the public option and i think they are rolling with that. one thing to watch is whether or not olympia snowe offers either in committee or more likely on

the floor her amendment for a triggered public option that is probably the strongest possibility for some kind of public option to make it into the senate bill before this conference. >> it's interesting to hear the president as weave all of these things as he made the connection so many people end up losing everything trying to pay for their health care but we're still looking at unemployment i believe in 15 states he it's did you believe digits and it may creep up across the board the average 10% by the end of the year. is the president really hitting it hard with events like this, as chuck said, rahm emanuel would love an event like this every day? >> they have to and i don't envy the task that the white house has with this unprecedented plate full of agenda items be it iran and unemployment be it the public option. i just left my resume with starbucks downstairs and hope to hear from them soon. i digress. anyway the public option, i think it's important to note that the public option has taken on even broader term in the first however nine months of

this presidency. it's increasely come to mean looking to washington to kind of spend money, whether it's bailing out detroit, whether it's giving money to state and local governments, transportation subsidies and high-speed rail and green jobs. the challenge i think for obama and biden is how do we increasingly pull away these public funds especially as the world is calling into question the strength of our currency and have the economy stand on its own two feet? that is very difficult to answer. >> one of the difficulties -- >> go ahead. >> they will not pull it away from scientific research. that is very popular. this is as chuck todd was just saying, this is a very strong message for the white house to be able to deliver if they can make it sink in. it says recovery money is being used for people like which is basic scientific research that may help them with health care down the line. >> john that is a 5 billion bone i think they are throwing to the nih. nothing on the order of manhattan project for any of

these things. nothing approached a new deal. >> $5 billion of real money? >> i'd take but i don't think it's a grand changer in the economy of 10% unemployment. >> we could debate this but have to keep going. the president has a number of other things including what to do about afghanistan. >> we do want to shift gears and talk about that and president just spoke. the big headline today as you've been pointing out this morning on the air is afghanistan and this big meeting set up today. eighteen people attending very high level and no shrinking violence there. >> no. >> how could they get a word in edge-wise? >> it is three hours. so that is good for at least a couple of members. i'm not going to single them out by name here. but people that follow this very closely and know who is going to be there know three hours is about right for the opening statement of one or two of these folks around that table and i'm not talking about the president here. that said, i think what you're going to hear is this is the first of about five meetings that they are going to have to talk about the strategic ends at

this point. the idea of increased troops as a tactic and if you -- if they make the decision that the plan that general mcchrystal has laid out is going to be the one they follow, then, yes, then sending 30,000 to 40,000 more troops over there is what they are going to do. in many ways to keep this simple, the mcchrystal plan is essentially similar to the iraq surge which is this idea that, you know, if you do a surge of troops, you can create some safety there and then be able to make some progress on the taliban. but getting the full-fledged sign off and what is the overall strategic goal here on eradicating al qaeda is the big debate topic today. >> chuck, we're, obviously, going to be champing at the bit. will we be hearing anything about the progress and what they are thinking along the way or are they waiting until the meetings are wrapped up before they come out with something? >> here is where we could, if you're interested in leaks, general jones, the national security adviser is going to be

briefing a senators only meeting later today after this afghanistan meeting. he is going to be going to capitol hill to brief senators on where things stand both with afghanistan and actually iran as we all know there's major potential developments with iran as these talks get started in geneva between the permanent members of the national security council and part of the united states as well as iran. >> all right. chuck todd at the white house, thank you. >> you got it. coming up, spreading fears over swine flu as a second outbreak takes hold the death of two seemingly healthy teens and new concerns about who is most at risk. john travolta returning to the witness stand in the bahamas. a new hidden camera video could blow the entire extortion case out of the bottle. why are so many career educated minded women blowing off steam by smoking pot? we can't live in a bubble.

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new information today about the potential of combating the swine flu and closing schools and day care centers could end up costing as much as $46 billion and this as workers in salt lake city are hoping to stop the spread of swine flu. i imagine business is booming in salt lake city. that is unfortunate but good news for the folks who work there? >> yeah. well, the owner of the company, the president al miller said he feels like there is a first line of defense and ever since last spring, their orders have surged. there are four times as many orders they are working around the clock. they have several shifts and they added workers to continue to produce these. they are a small company here and only produce about a thousand cases or so a day. that pales in comparison to

their much bigger rival 3m that produces many more and has facilities around the world but 3m has also ramped up its production 24 hours a day. in fact, they have invested another $20 million to crease their capacity by at least 10%. part of the reason people looking for these special masks and called n95 respirators and what makes them different from a typical mask or surgical mask they are able to fit tightly around the face. i don't know if you can still hear me. they fit tightly around the face and they screen about 95% of particles that are smaller than the influenza virus. world health official are recommending that health professionals use these so all of the manufacturers making them for health professionals are working around the clock to try to supply them. they estimate if we have a huge pandemic one here in the u.s. this fall and winter there will

be a need for 5 billion of these masks. supplies at this point are not at that point so that is why they are working 24/7. >> side effect of the swine flu. interesting report there. a new group of marijuana smokers don't fit the stereotype. a magazine reporting 8 million of women in this country have smoked pot in the past year. they say they are not worried about any consequences but doctors are not so sure. >> people have to hide and they feel like criminals and there's a lot of shame and guilt and it ends up making, you know, decreases self-esteem a little bit and makes it mosh -- the fact you run adrenaline into it you have to hide and there is shame makes it feel more addictive. >> one woman interviewed said for her light up is the equivalent of having a glass of wine at the end of a long day. coming up after a bruising loss in the senate, is public option health care no longer an option? for lawmakers on capitol hill. plus, president obama at a crossroads on afghanistan.

will he send more troops or call for a new strategy in the debate over what to do next takes center stage at the white house. update on breaking news we started out the hour with in minnesota where a series of bomb threats is calling a school district nearly 3,500 students out of class as a result. we will talk to the mayor of that town next. campbell's tomato soup. we've added a unique sea salt. it helps us use less salt than before without changing our famous flavor. that means it's healthy... along with over 65 others and more to come. campbell's. new carefree ultra protection liners, with wings! absorb ten times more, like a pad but feel thin and comfy, like a liner. new carefree® ultra protection™

out of minnesota. multiple bomb threats has forced the princeton school district to shut down. multiple packages were discovered at the post office and the town's only high school. joining me is the mayor of princeton, minnesota, jeremy riddle. tell bus the suspicious packages and what is happening here. >> what can i tell you is that shortly after 6:00 this morning,

as you reported, the employee of the post found a suspicious looking item out in the alley way. spem police received two more calls of suspicious packages around town. all three areas were cordoned off immediately and areas evacuated and various law enforcement agencies were brought in to deal with those. while those were being dealt with, we also swept the library, schools in town, major employers and businesses, other points of interest and nothing else was found around the city. so at this point we're just dealing with the three packages, bomb squads are on the scene at each point and our treating them as dangerous. and at this point that's about all we really know. >> how many students are being affected by this september back home as a result of these threats? >> i don't have the number.

>> we're hearing around 3,500 students in your school district. >> what is that? >> we're hearing about 3,500 kids potentially affected by this in. >> that sounds direct, yes. >> tell me about the package. what makes this a suspicious package, mayor? >> i haven't seen the packages myself so i don't know exactly what the details are. i just know that they were in an odd location right out in the open where you would not expect to see anything sitting like that and they did not look like they were just innocuous items. >> to confirm again at this point you are putsing bussing the entire district back home as a safety precaution? >> yes. >> thank you, mayor for that. entire school district in princeton, minnesota, evacuated and kids sent home as a result of three suspicious packages and update out that story.

developing in the bahamas just moments ago, damming testimony from john travolta in the multimillion dollar extortion trial against two local residents. a paramedic and a former baum senator are accused of asking the actor to fork over $25 million in exchange for a private medical document after his son jett died in january. travolta testified, quote, they were stories that apply that death of my son was intentional and i was culpable in some way. the video has yet to be shown to the jury. >> right now, on capitol hill the senate fns committee voted down amendment. this after the committee rejected two proposals including if a public option in the plan. kelly o'donnell joins us. reading the notes of what happened this categorizes a heated debate. what happened? >> certainly a strenuous debate.

orrin hatch put forth an amendment he wanted to be certain that taxpayer money would not be used in any kind of abortion service or would not compel any providers that do not already provide abortion services from having to do that if a health care plan goes forward and if the exchange that we've heard about creating kind of a plate of choices for people to select from that to get insurance. now, everyone is saying that they are in agreement that this is not intended to be a bill that would expand abortion coverage. the president has clearly said he wants no taxpayer money in this bill to be used to pay for abortions. but it again comes down to a question of the details. orrin hatch has tried two amendments to make it a little bit more clear from his point of view. he says there are many people with deeply held views that don't want their taxpayer money used in this way. what was interesting is two women on the committee, senator

cantwell and stabenow said a woman have to choose a rider on her insurance policy that would cover abortion services. the senator said to anticipate that a crisis, in their words, of unplanned pregnancy would be anticipated and that women would buy that insurance in advance was illogical to them. they really strongly took offense. they even used the word that they were taking offense. so it got very personal. and, at the moment, those amendments are failing and everyone is in agreement they don't want to expand abortion coverage but, again, the details that matter in this debate. >> fascinating reaction. you pointed out senator stabenow said as a woman, i find it offensively. i guess i meant there by the heat. >> oh, yes. >> a female member of congress saying this is offensive you will get the attention of women rights groups. how did the vote shake out? >> as you would expect,

republicans wanted to see this kind of amendment. two different versions of it and those were defeated. democrats he were standing in support of it. ken conrad a democrat of north dakota sided with republicans on this. it was really a case of orrin hatch saying he doesn't want to discriminate and did not mean to offend but he believes the language needs to be improved to protect the concerns of those who do oppose abortion and the women democrats and it goes beyond the women but notably they spoke out saying they felt this was unprecedented and they raised a lot of concerns about it, so it's another interesting chapter in the debate about abortion services. >> kelly, thank you very much. at stake the way forward in afghanistan. this afternoon president obama and his senior advisers will gather in the white house situation room and debating strategy and discussing america's goals for the now eight-year-long war in afghanistan. joining us live is has helena cooper and retired u.s. army general barry mccaffrey.

my thanks to both of you. general, i start with you. talking about 18 people and very high ranking folks in this meeting today. i'm sure, general, you've been in similar meetings. how will the president sift through all of that information all of that input? >> well, it's certainly a very charged moment in terms of this administration. the way forward is do you want to be difficult politically? the american people are not supporting continued engagement in afghanistan and his party is not with him. he has articulated his strategy already in a marred speech. his new commander has operationalized that strategy we will embed with a local population. >> it does seem to be now there is this moment that he may take this moment to switch gears on the strategy? >> yeah, well, it's a challenge to him because it's going to be to him enhanced cost and bearing $4 million a month right now and casualty rates are up and he is being presented about a demand by his operational commander.

i don't think we're going to get a dramatic outcome on this and not draw down in afghanistan and we're not going to heavily reinforce. the strategy is probably an appropriate strategy for this time in a war but how do you build political support for a war that's not being supported by the american people? >> helena, i want to bring you in. we heard from senator kerry on this. he spoke today on "morning joe." he offered his support for the president although we know he has been skeptical of adding more troops. let me play that here for you and get your thoughts on the other side. >> the president is doing due diligence here and i think he is absolutely correct to make certain that what he is hearing from the field, you know, what people are saying is possible is, in fact, possible. we didn't do that very well in iraq and we certainly didn't do it in vietnam and it's critical for us make certain if you ask young americans to put their lives on the line, the strategy is equal to the sacrifice you're asking them to make.

>> it is taking them time to get to this strategy whether they continue on the course or whether they shift gears here and there does seem to be a delay. we know that defense secretary gates is sitting on that troop request for 40,000 troops. why? >> well, i think a big part what have is going on for the administration is the results of the afghan elections. president obama didn't come into the office with the highest opinion of the afghan president, president karzai, to begin with. the administration has been very, very frustrated with the corruption in afghanistan and the failure of the karzai government to crack down on drug trafficking which they believe has sort of fueled the rise of the taliban insurgency. then you have this afghan presidential election that just took place in august with all of these reports of fraud. most of them coming from the accusations and the complaints are against the karzai government. the administration has been forced to stand by backnow. they have this strategy they came up with in march and now,

all of a sudden, they are looking at implementing it or setting it out with a government which is looking increasingly like it's not very credible, not even with the afghan people, let alone with the west. so that's a big part of why you're seeing this second-guessing of what the original strategy is and this sort of hess tans about fully funding general mcchrystal's request for up to 40,000 troops, because people are saying within the administration and certainly at the white house and the state department what are we sending these -- you know, we got to look and see what the karzai government and what kind of government we're dealing with before we send additional troops. >> helena cooper with "the new york times" and retired general barry mccaffrey, thank you both. >> thank you. first lady is making her pitch for the olympics in chicago but not everyone in chicago is excited about the idea. next on msnbc. it's endless shrimp at red lobster.

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welcome back. first lady arrived in denmark this morning to join the chicago delegation making the pitch for chicago ho toast the 2016 olympics. as president obama heads to join her tomorrow in copenhagen, some in the states are criticizing his choice to visit copenhagen saying it's, quote, a distraction and unnecessary. joining us is jim warren and ken vogel. jim, i want to start with you. i believe the first lady said you're darned if you do and you're darned if you don't but who is winning the votes here on whether they should have done this or not? >> let's see what happens on friday. i think the qualms of the president is going because it somehow distracts him him and is not devote his time to health care is garbage and it is very significant that michelle is there for a couple of days and

though the president's own presence come friday morning in copenhagen is significant. it is absolutely no guaranty of any success for chicago. this is a very unusual secretive election with an unusual group of very, mostly aristocratic voters have proven in the past that judging them ahead of time is very difficult and having talked to a couple of people this morning, it looks to be a dog fight among three, not amon three, not just two, with rio the leader and chicago somewhere in the pack next with madrid. >> let me bring you in. two cliches. timing is everything. perception is reality. both of those are factoring into this conversation. i want to play what house majority leader john boehner today said about the -- we have the green up. he's a president of the united states, not the mayor of chicago. the problems we have here at home affect all americans. that's where his attention ought to be. is this playing politics here?

are they picking up some steam with this argument? you've got this big meeting on afghanistan today. certainly what happened with public option will need the president's intervention according to some, if it is to succeed. >> it's absolutely playing politics. i agree 100% with jim that there's nothing he can't do on the plane or in copenhagen that he wouldn't be able to do here in washington. however, that said, if he goes and pitches the international olympic committee, comes home without the olympics, that will look bad. that will be a blow to his international -- of course, that clout is why he's going. the folks from chicago 2016 think he is so popular on the world stage that his mere presence will be able to sway votes. i have talked to a number of members of the international e li olympic committee. it sounds like they ought to be on to something, the chicago boosters. these folks are so impressed with barack obama. one woman told me she has a picture of him on her refrigerator at home.

he, in fact, might sway her vote. >> whenever you've got a picture of someone on your refrigerator, that's got to be something in this world. jim, go ahead. >> cautionary note. mayor bloomberg brought mohammed ali to try to get the 2012. all the oic members got their pictures taken. virtually nobody voted for new york. >> there's arguments on both sides. we'll see what happeneds happen a preview of what happens on s six-party talks on the nation's nuclear project. - ( funk music playing ) - let's put a few thousand kilowatts in a vise.

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for the first time in more than a year, iran will meet with the u.s. and its allies to talk about iran's nuclear intentions. nbc joining us live from iran. we're just hearing from ahmadinejad now. he's saying he's confident before these talks. >> reporter: that's right. he said that he's confident about these talks. he's going in with high expectations.

having said that, he's also said that the iran's newly discovered nuclear facility is off the agenda for talks. expectations have got to be fairly low going into the meeting tomorrow. >> thanks so much for the update. i'm monica novotny. >> i'm tamron hall. see you back here at 3:00 eastern time along with david shuster. >> dr. nancy snyderman picks up our coverage here next on msnbc. sfx:racking of a taillight.

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