hallowed ground. the president honors the victims with a wreath at ground zero and today heads to kentucky to personally thank members of the s.e.a.l. team that killed osama bin laden. new details emerge about the raid. reports the cia had had bin laden's compound under surveillance from a nearby house, and intelligence taken from his hideout already producing critical new information, including a plot to target u.s. railways on the 9/11 anniversary. and breaking news this morning. the april jobs numbers beat expectations, up more than 200,000 for the third straight month. but the unemployment rate ticks up slightly as more people return to looking for work. good morning, everyone. it's friday, may 6th, 2011. i'm savannah guthrie. chuck todd is off today. the unemployment numbers just released this hour, 244,000 new jobs were added in april. the unemployment rate moved up to 9%. we'll have complete coverage of those new numbers and hear from the white house late they are morning.

first let's get to the rundown. one day after an emotional visit to ground zero president obama heads to ft. campbell, kentucky, today to personally thank members of the commando unit that killed osama bin laden. that unit also brought back a treasure trove of intelligence, some of it pointing to possible new attacks inside the u.s. nbc's jim miklaszewski is live again for us at the pentagon. mik, good morning. >> good morning, savannah. before we get to those reports of that intelligence, al qaeda has today confirmed the death of osama bin laden. over the years they have been pretty prompt in confirming the deaths of their leaders. they do confirm that al qaeda -- that osama bin laden was killed. and in this release, which is in arabic, but the translation that we have received, al qaeda is threatening retaliation, saying that the death, the blood of the osama bin laden will not be wasted and they're exhorting their followers to continue the jihad in osama bin laden's

absence, savannah. >> all right, mik. let's get to that intelligence. obviously, there were plots uncovered. but how far along do officials think these were? was this more in the nature of aspirational plots? >> officials we're talking to are leaning toward the aspirational part. over the years we've seen a lot of this kind of reporting where osama bin laden would send out these kinds of ideas as if he was sitting around thinking, well, this would be a good terrorist attack idea and send that out. nevertheless, you know, u.s. counterterrorism and homeland security officials just can't sit back and relax, thinking, well now that he's dead this is not going to happen, because after all, you'll remember, there were reports for years that sleeper cells had been planted throughout the u.s., canada, and in europe so they're taking all necessary precautions. but these latest threats as uncovered in some of that intelligence gathered from that safe house, they're in

abbottabad, were aimed at tra trains, probably trains traveling over bridges in places like washington, new york, los angeles, and the like. but again, no confirmation, nothing imminent. and in terms of the dates that were on some of these notes, in terms of holidays, 9/11 anniversary, christmas and the like, that hasn't been al qaeda's history. they've never pegged their attacks to the calendar but more to when they're ready to do it. >> all right. jim miklaszewski once again for us at the pentagon this morning. thank you, mik. great work this week. >> okay, savannah. later this hour the president leaves for indianapolis, then on to ft. campbell, kentucky, where he will hold a private meeting with some of the s.e.a.l.s.s that helped take out bin laden. the white house has released some behind-the-scenes footage of the night the world learned bin laden had been killed. >> outside of that -- >> tell we killed --

>> good job, national security team. thank you. yeah. proud of you. you guys did a great job. >> they did. >> nbc's mike viqueira is live at the white house for us this morning. mike, good morning. tell us about the president's trip to ft. campbell. >> reporter: first he's going to indianapolis, and of course this was a trip that was delayed over that fight during the budget and the government shutdown about a month ago, so he's going to get that business out of the way, going to another one of these hybrid -- they make transmissions for hybrid vehicles. obviously, this is something the president has emphasized ever since the stimulus package was passed last year. the keynote of day on to ft. campbell, kentucky. as you mentioned, he's going to be talking about what the white house terms those special operators, another term for the commandos that not only led the raid, that participated the raid even outside that compound on the perimeter, not only the navy s.e.a.l.s who were in the compound that fired the shots that killed osama bin laden but also other elements of the military. the 101st airborne is based in

ft. campbell, kentucky. he will have public comments. part of the reason for this trip, i'm told, is not only to speak privately with the special operators and commandos but also to exhort the u.s. military to keep on going, even though osama bin laden is dead. the fight against terror is not over. obviously a hot war in afghanistan in the middle of the surge there. this comes the day after the president visited new york. of course you were there with him, savannah. he stopped first before laying a wreath at ground zero to speak with some first responders. here's what he had to say. >> it's some comfort, i hope, to all of you to know that when those guys took those extraordinary risks going into pakistan, that they were doing it in part because of the sacrifices that were made. they were doing it in the name of your brothers who were lost. >> reporter: well, savannah, we head into another weekend where there's nothing on the

president's schedule. let's see if it stays that way this time. >> mike viqueira. obviously last weekend turned out to be quite a bit different. thank you. as jim miklaszewski mentioned from the pentagon, al qaeda is now confirming osama bin laden's death and warning this will trigger new attacks against america. let's get to nbc's stephanie gosk live in abbottabad this morning. stephanie, what can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning, savannah. it doesn't look like al qaeda need those graphic photos to prove to them that osama bin laden had been killed. the statement does two things. it confirms that he was killed, but it is also a rallying cry, a kind of call to arms for its supporters. and directly, we have a translation of this statement we'll put up for you. directly they say -- so it is a rallying cry to their

supporters around the world, but it is also a rallying cry specifically for pakistanis to rise up in this country. we have seen some protests around the country today, a small one here in abbottabad but also in rawalpindi. people are saying they're angry that their sovereignty has been violated and calling the government here just a puppet of the united states. savannah? >> stephanie gosk outside the compound in abbottabad, pakistan, this morning. thank you. back here, the slow-motion disaster unfolding in the deep south. thousands are being forced to seek higher ground. flooding along the mississippi river is threatening records that have stood for nearly 75 years. photos show the big money, the ohio, and their tributaries pouring over their banks in five states. nbc's ron mott is in memphis, tennessee, today, where the water has reached the downtown area. ron, tell us what you're seeing there. >> hey, there, savannah. good morning.

take a look at the headline of the "memphis commercial appeal." field of streams. a beautiful photo of all this water flowing through and above and beyond the mississippi river's bans. pretty pictures here but messy pictures on the ground. beale street, which dumps out on riverside drive about two blocks back, has taken on water because the storm drans are full. they dump into the river. the river this morning at about 45 feet. they're expecting it to get close to a record next wednesday. the record here is 48 feet, seven inches. about 2,800 homes and businesses are in that threat zone for potential flooding. if you're familiar with memphis, harbortown, just west of downtown memphis, has already taken on water. there have been some evacuations there. the concern going forward, the towns along the mississippi south of us, they are getting prepared for what they believe will be record flooding there in about two weeks' time when all this water heads south. officials, as you know, the army corps of engineer, blew up three

levee openings north of us along the mississippi this week flooding farmers' fields. farmers upset about that but the corps said they did it to protect people and property first. there's some controversy there. folks in memphis are hoping the damage will be minimal. people in the south are getting ready for a lot of water. >> ron mott with that developing story out of memphis, tennessee, this morning. thank you. we turn to the breaking news on the economy. a surge of hiring in april added 244,000 jobs to the economy. that was the biggest jump in private hiring in five years. but with more people looking for work, the nation's unemployment rate ticked higher to 9%. that is the first increase since november. mark zandy is chief economist with moody's analytics. first your reaction. as i understand it, this job growth is actually better than a lot of economists such as yourself expected. >> yeah. it's great news. i'm surprised at the strength. it's also good that the job gains are evident across lots of

industries. in fact, the only major sector of the economy that laid off was government, state and local government. outside of that, good, solid job gains and there were revisions to the job gains in previous months. so you take it all together, ill's really excellent news and better than i expected, yes. >> it just bears repeating because i think when people see the unemployment rate ticking up, they think wait a minute, how is this good? explain how it is that you have that paradox when it comes to these unemployment numbers. >> yeah. good question. so there are a lot of people who stepped out of the workforce when times were tough, thinking that there were no job opportunities, or at least there was no job out there that would suit them. now as the economy improves, as job openings begin to appear, people feel like, oh, this is a great time to go find a job so they step back into the workforce, start looking for work and they're counted as unemployed until they find a job. so it's not unusual when the economy stars getting going that we see a brief period of rising unemployment. i think that's what we're seeing

right here. it's not bad news. in fact, i think it's a sign of strength. >> gas prices have been quite a drag on the economy, and i know a lot of people are worried about what effect that will have on the recovery. yet we saw oil prices plunge yesterday in the commodities markets. how do you explain that? i mean, is this a trend? will people start seeing cheaper gas? >> i sure hope so. i mean, the surge in oil prices since the beginning of the year is, in fact, a significant weight on the economy. the economy has fell it and i think will still feel the ill effects even if prices fall now. we'll feel the effects through the summer months from earlier in the year. this is a significant hit to the economy. but as you point out prices are down over the last few days. that's a very good sign. if it continues and is sustained then that will be excellent news as we make our way towards the end of the year. in my mind there's no more serious threat to the economy than higher oil prices. >> all right. mark zandy from moody's

analytics, good to have you with us as always. >> thank you. coming up next, mixed messages from the gop. is the medicare overhaul on our off table? why a republican ripped over the budget is giving some democrats whiplash. plus, why five rare in a debate. and the speaker wasn't there. we'll look at the president's schedule. if i ask sheila out? of course not. we broke up 6 months ago. but i don't think she'd go for a guy like -- [ ping! ] she says she'd love to. [ ping! ] she can't wait to see me.

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nothing is off the table except raising taxes. while republicans control the house, the democrats control the senate and they control the white house. we've put our plan on the table. it's out there. it's time for the democrats to put their plan on the table. >> republican leaders insisting the ryan plan to overhaul medicare is still on the table but the lawmaker whose committee would have to turn that plan into law says he doesn't see the point of letting democrats use it for target practice. >> i'm not really interested in just laying down more markers. i'd rather have the committee working with the senate and with the president focused on savings and reforms that can be signed into law. >> congressman john yarmouth, a democrat from kentucky s a member of the house budget committee and joins us this morning from louisville. good morning, sir. >> good morning, savannah. >> before we get into the budget, i wanted to ask you about the president's trip to ft. campbell this morning and how you feel about the fact that

troops trained at ft. campbell were involved in some of the helicopter activity in the this assault that led to the kill of osama bin laden. >> well, in kentucky we're very proud of the 101st airborne. i think it's the most frequently deployed contingency unit in the u.s. army. and they've suffered an awful lot of casualties and injuries in iraq and afghanistan, so i think -- we're very proud of them. they've made enormous contributions to our efforts there. i think it will be a great boost to their morale for the president to visit today. >> you know, congressman, i know you've been critical of afghanistan policy. i wonder if you think the death of osama bin laden is a game-changer, perhaps could expedite the withdrawal of u.s. troops. >> i hope it is. i think it certainly is a very dramatic evidence that the most effective way to combat terrorism is with intelligence and these special operations and not with this bludgeoning

approach of 100,000 troops. so i think it will certainly, and it already has, provoked a lot of different conversations about afghanistan and about the best way of combatting terror. so i think it will be a game changer. >> let's turn to the budget. seems like there are some mixed messages going on and the republican side about whether or not they're going to keep pushing paul ryan's plan that would overhaul dramatically medicare. speaker boehner tweeted, saving medicare off the table, absolutely not. nothing is off the table except raising taxes. tax hikes will hurt economy and job creation. yet other republicans seem to be cooling to the plan. what's your sense? i mean, are we closer to a deal now? >> well, i'm not sure we're closer to a deal, but i think what you're seeing is a lot of republican who is realize that the plan that they approved in the house of representatives, which is basically to end medicare as we know it for everybody under 55, while doing nothing to help stabilize medicare for those who were in the system now, doing that while

cutting taxes further for millionaires and billionaires and sustaining -- maintaining these tax breaks for oil companies, they know that that's not a policy that the american people are going to support. people believe that we have an obligation, a social contract, to our senior citizen, and the republicans want to do away with it. now everybody in the house, with the exception of a handful, are on record, and they're going to be held accountable for that. i think the frightening thing is this is the only solution that republicans had to these long-term plans, something that the american people have decisively rejected. >> congressman, let me ask you about something that secretary of helle and human services kathleen sebelius said. she said -- you know, both republicans and

democrats over the years have used scare tactics when it comes to this debate. do you think that it's time to set aside the hot rhetoric on both sides? is this kind of talk really conducive to a deal? >> no, it's not conducive to a deal. but, you know, last year we passed the affordable care act. we made significant changes and improvements to medicare that have already, according to cbo, they've already extended the life by 11 years. we've put into place mechanisms for trying to bring down costs over the long term. we've done a significant amount to stabilize medicare, and unfortunately the republicans, while offering a plan the american people don't like, are still trying to undo what we did, which we think is an effective approach. so, you know, the rhetoric doesn't help at all, and i think the mood is actually better in washington, not just because of osama bin laden but in general. the problem is the ideological rigidity that we see actually on both sides is preventing us from having the kind of conversation that we need to have.

>> congressman john yarmouth, good to have you here. >> thanks, savannah. >> a big week for you. i was told the derby is tomorrow but the party starts today. >> the party. this is my pink tie. friday is pink day at churchill downs with the kentucky oaks. it's a big weekend. >> all right. we're showing the parade video to prove the party has started. all right, congressman. >> you can watch it on nbc tomorrow. >> excellent. all right, congressman. thank you so much. >> take care. bye-bye. coming up, we've got some big soup news coming out of the white house today. our top soup source says this is a new soup, code name delicious. plus, one day after the price of oil plummeted, how will wall street react to the latest monthly jobs report? a preview of the markets coming up. first, today's washingtonspeak. "pocket litter." this is coming from the world of intel. it refers to items taken off a captured ar killed detainee, such as the 500 euros in cash and two telephone numbers bin laden reportedly had sewn into

his clothing on his person. if you have some washingtonspeak you'd like us to clarify, send us an e-mail. ♪

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to your rheumatologist about protecting your joints. well, the jobs numbers are in for april, so how are markets ree acting? for more, we're joined by becky quick. good morning. what are the markets doing? >> the marks are taking off, at least the stock markets. the dow futures up by close to 150 points above fair value. they were up before we got the jobs number only by about 50 points so you are seeing another 100-point gain from these numbers. let me tell you about some of the good news in these numbers. the numbers themselves came in much better than expected.

244,000 jobs added for month. that was well above the expectations of economists. if you look at the private sector in particular, it's really where all cylinders are firing. 268,000 jobs added in the private sector, and that made up for some job losses in the government sector. now, the bad news in this is the unemployment rate did rise to 9% from 8.8% last month, but again, the markets focusing on that private jobs number growth. savannah, one of my favorite tweets today came from someone who said the nonfarm, non-mcdonald's jobs number is 177,000. they were referring to mcdonald's hiring over 60,000 people. they had put out something saying help wanted sign looking for 50,000 people. they got a million people who applied and ended up hiring more than 60,000 people. so it's a great point and something to watch. the markets at this point look to react to the positive side. >> that made a huge difference. mcjobs really showing up in the jobs report. one quick question. what's your take on how the commodities prices dropped? >> savannah, this is huge, huge

news. we've watched commodities crumble over the last week. yesterday we saw massive drops for oil prices down by about 8.6%. that's continuing today. we see more pressure on oil prices. also silver has collapsed over the last week. it's down by more than 25% from where we were last friday, which is just a word to the wise. be careful with commodities because they can move very, very quickly for individual investors who are looking at places to put their money. the dollar strengthened yesterday and that added on top of all of this. we're seeing that trend in commodities continuing once again today. >> becky quick, thank you so much, cnbc. coming up next, is bin laden's death the u.s. ticket out of afghanistan? what the end of the ten-year manhunt means for the 100,000 u.s. troops still fighting that relentless insurgency in afghanistan. we'll have a live report. and still to come, breaking soup news out of the white house mess. where is chuck went we need him? move over, chicken noodle. there is a new soup in town.

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looking to return to work. floods along the mississippi. the slow-moving surge of floodwaters will make its way down the river over the next two weeks. parts of memphis, emergency officials have warned residents they may need to evacuate as water levels are expected to approach a record crest of 48 feet. other stories making headlines on a friday. as americans along the mississippi cope with too much water, residents in texas are in dire need of it. the latest drought monitors there show more than a quarter of the lone star state, almost 68,000 square miles, suffering from a, quote, exceptional drought. authorities in london have completed their inquest into the july 7th subway bombings. a judge has ruled none of the 52 victims would have been saved by a faster emergency response. carl lewis is back on a new jersey ballot for now. the track and field legend had been ruled ineligible to run for state office due to residency restrictions, but a court of

appeals ruled that lewis' name should be included on the ballot. the court did not, however, rule on his eligibility for office, so the legal battle actually continues. arthur lawrence, the man responsible for such broadway classics as ""west side story"" and "gypsy" as well as the film "the way we were," has died. he was 93. according to one human rights activist syrian security forces have killed six protesters today as thousands gather in a demonstration against the president's regime. despite violent clashes with armed forces over the past seven weeks activists have called for protesters to take to the streets again today in what's being called a day of defiance. nbc's lee cowan is on this story on the syrian board they are morning. lee, what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, savannah, we thought this was probably going to be setting the stage for another pretty deadly day for those protesting the regime, and it seems like that's what's taking place. it's impossible to get a firm

grasp of what's going on due to the news media blackout. what we're hearing is once again the syrian military as well as security forces have opened fire again on demonstrators. the death toll is pretty hard at this point to estimate, but at least we're told it's a handful of people, anywhere between six and ten, probably more. there were at least a thousand demonstrators in the capital city of damascus, thousands of others all around syria today despite the fact that the syrian military deployed both tanks and troops all around some of those cities in order to intimidate the protesters from coming out and obviously did not seem to work. since this whole crisis started more than six weeks ago, more than 500 people have been killed, thousands of others detained, and the most recent detention we know of, anyway, is -- at least one of them, anyway, is is a journalist from seattle. her name is dorothy paravaz. she arrived in damascus about a week ago. she hasn't been seen or heard

from since. the syrian government says they have her detained but all calls to have her released from al jazeera and other journalists and friends and family have gone unheeded. just one more person that has been caught up in this protest movement that has started six long weeks ago and shows no sign at this point of slowing down at all. savannah? >> lee cowan along the syrian border for us this morning. thank you, lee. the death of osama bin laden has led to new calls for u.s. troops to speed their withdrawal from afghanistan nearly ten years after they went in. nbc's atia abawi is live for us in kabul. before we talk about the larger war effort, i wanted to ask you what reaction, if any, there is to the news we reported at the top of the hour that al qaeda has released a statement confirming bin laden is dead. >> reporter: well, it's too soon to get a reaction right now from afghan officials on that statement from al qaeda, but we have to also remember that al qaeda has very little to no connection left in afghanistan right now. we have a very different

insurgency that our u.s. troops are facing here on the ground. it's more of a fraction nalized, decentralized insurgency who answer to different leaders. this isn't someone that's taking control of the whole operation here in afghanistan. you have different groups throughout the country trying to gain control and at the same time fighting both u.s. and nato forces. savannah? >> and atia, what impact will this death of osama bin laden have on the fight there in afghanistan? >> you know, this is just one man, and he was an evil man, a man who started the war in afghanistan, and if america would have got their man back in 2001 it may have had a different effect in afghanistan. we would have seen a transformation in this country sooner than we're seeing right now. we're about ten years on in the war and that's because it's not really al qaeda anymore. you're finding different powerbrokers, different parts of

the taliban, different fundamentalist islamic groups coming into afghanistan, hoping to make their way into afghanistan to fight nato and u.s. forces. and the u.s. forces and nato forces on the ground here, what they're trying to do is contain the insurgency, stop the insurgency in afghanistan, and stop it from spreading from this region and back onto the borders of the u.s., of europe, and other places. >> all right. atiyy atia abawi, our correspondent in kabul this morning. good to have you with us. thank you. let's do our trivia. yes. i said bow before. anyway, it's bow, and the answer is congressman paul ryan of wisconsin, chairman of the house budget committee. of course the congressman is known to enjoy bow hunting and apparently multitasking. when i read it i thought it was like shot across the bow, and then i got a gazillion e-mails. bow. i get it. up next, we'll do our weekly readout.

how the week we killed bin laden changed the political narrative. plus the first debate of the 2012 season is now for the record books. what a showdown between five guys most people have never heard of. we'll get into that. but first, the moment we've all been waiting for, white house soup of the day, debuting a brand-new soup at the mess today, it's chilled cucumber. and according to my senior soup source, quote, the president was given an option of three soups and chose the riskiest blend with the biggest payoff in terms of taste. code name delicious.

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developing now, live pictures here of andrew's air force base where president obama is expected to depart any moment. he's heading first for indianapolis and then onto ft. campbell, kentucky, where he will thank troops returning from afghanistan. among them are members of the helicopter unit that flew those special forces into pakistan in the raid that killed osama bin laden. the white house calls the team that the president will meet with some of the special operate or the who is participated in the raid of osama bin laden's compound. i'm told that term is inclusive of navy s.e.a.l.s. so the president will have that closed-door meeting today, and we expect to see him momentarily as marine one is on the ground there at andrews air force base, the president on the road again today. keep an eye on that. keep you posted as the president makes his departure. we want to get now to the

"the daily rundown's" weekly readout. what a week it's been. the president had what will probably be called the crowning foreign policy achievement of his presidency with the mission successful to kill osama bin laden. did the white house undercut the success story by rushing to the microphones before all the information was complete? and of course there was the first 2012 republican debate that happened last night. joining us is politico's jonathan martin and "washington post's" chris saliza. good to have both of you here. >> thanks, savannah. >> thanks, savannah. >> the changing narrative we should put in context. the white house said it was wanting to get the information out. clearly there was some excitement in the -- among john brennan and some of the team that knew they finally had gotten their man. but yet there were shifting stories. let's play a piece of tape that kind of spells it out. >> the concern was that bin laden would oppose any type of capture operation. indeed, he did.

it was a firefight. he was engaged in a firefight with those that entered the area of the house he was in. whether or not he got off any rounds i quite frankly don't know. >> there was concern that bin laden would oppose the capture operation, rather, and indeed, he did resist. in the room with bin laden a woman, bin laden's wife, rushed the u.s. assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed. bin laden was then shot and killed. he was not armed. >> jonathan martin, i'll start with you. what do you make of this? is the media being too tough on the white house, or has the white house, in the rollout of this complicated narrative, maybe undercut some of what otherwise would have been a week that was nothing but basically a victory lap saying that finally, at last, america has gotten the most wanted terrorist in the world? >> yeah. you know, i'm sympathetic to the sort of fog of war issue. you have this team of commandos that didn't immediately return to afghanistan after the mission.

they had to take care of dropping the body off in the arabian sea. so i do think that's understandable. but i do think we, the media, should hold this white house to account, especially at a sensitive, historic moment like this. we have to do our jobs and recognize that, yes, these are politicians, they do want to put themselves in the most favorable possible light, and during times of war that can mean creating some sort of myth making. and i'm not saying that exactly happened here. i do think there are obviously issues here and trying to sort of transmit what happened across the world. but if you just look at the history, savannah, this does tend to happen repeatedly, trying to portray war stories in the most riveting fashion and, you know, oftentimes it comes out later the facts weren't always initially what they were said to be. >> chris, what do you think the impact will be on the 2012 race? i mean, how much will this be a factor in the presidential

election? i mean, most people say, well, at the end of the day it's going to end up being about the economy no matter what. >> you know, savannah, i do think it ultimately will be about the economy. jonathan and i are amateur historians, but it is, in fact, true if you look back in history, if the economy is struggling or perceived to be struggling, unemployment bumped up a little to 9% today, this morning, that's what voters focus on. american voters have a limited focus on foreign policy even when it's a top of the mind issue, so i think this is going to be about the economy. i would say, though, even if it's not about foreign policy, that doesn't mean this week hasn't been helpful to the president. look, what was the narrative coming into this week or before sunday night? leading from behind, dithering foreign policy. it's kind of hard -- and some republican who is still make that argument, it's harder to make that argument when president obama can say, hey, i was the guy who authorized the mission that killed osama bin laden. >> one hell of a comeback,

savannah. >> i'm sure the president hopes his opponents will bring that up. >> exactly. right. >> he has the ultimate rejoinder, okay, you can ask mr. bin laden just how weak i am on foreign policy. you'll find him at the bottom of the arabian sea. our friend at the weekly standard said this is different than bush 41 winning the persian gulf war back in '91 because this plays against type. the entire narrative about obama has been -- he's weak on foreign policy, a sort of faculty lounge liberal who has never gotten his hands dirty, and here is somebody who authorized a rambo-like mission to put a bullet in the head of bin laden. i think the way it was done really does help him change that image. >> you yao guy, we only have a couple minutes left. it's fascinating. we have to get to this republican debate last night. chris, your take away. people were saying where were the big candidates? didn't pay much attention to this. >> right. look, i actually think for what

it was, and what it was was a second-tier at best debay, it was vaguely interesting. look, ron paul did ron paul's thing. i always feel like if debates translated into actual victories, ron paul would be great. they know how to pack a room and clap for anything he says. it is remarkable. i think ron paul could say i just had baloney for lunch, and his people would go, yay, ron, go get 'em! that sways it a little bit. we all knew tim pawlenty is the one guy on the stage who could wind up fwg no, ma'being the no. he was serious, focused on obama, did the kind of things you should do if you're a top-tier candidate. >> let me play something from pawlenty when asked about mitt romney and hear his response. >> governor pawlenty, we'll start with you. you, as every other participant here tonight, will notice that former massachusetts governor mitt romney is not here. but you've had plenty to say about romney care. >> well, governor romney is not

here to defend himself and so i'm not going to pick on him or the position that he took in massachusetts. >> jonathan, mitt romney the elephant in the room, well, not lit raly. figuratively. >> there was a great point in "the times" today, romney wasn't there but he actually was because pawlenty especially throughout the night sort of kept making these not-so-subtle references to governor romney. i think he did take a bit of a beating there last night. to me, savannah, the biggest take-away last night was the focus group afterwards where this crowd overwhelmingly said herman caine won the debate. who? the former ceo of godfather's pizza, somebody who can gave good speech, somebody who is very gifted on the stump. but like chris said, if debate performances or stump speeches won campaigns we would have different presidents by now. but that to that illustrates to the degree of which grassroots folks on the

right want more options and fresh faces running. >> they are playing us out here. coming up next, the white house reacts to the latest jobs report. austin goolsbee joins us live next from the white house. ♪ there's another way to minimize litter box odor: purina tidy cats. our premium litters now work harder to help neutralize odors in multiple cat homes. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home. and go everywhere. to help revitalize a neighborhood in massachusetts. restore a historic landmark in harlem. fund a local business in chicago. expand green energy initiatives in seattle. because when you're giving, lending, and investing in more communities across the country, more opportunities happen.

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>>. today's unemployment report is turning the public's attention back to the economy here at home. the labor department says 244,000 jobs were added in april. this is the third straight month of solid dpagains. the unemployment rate climbed to 9% as more people started looking for work. austin goolsbee is chairman of economic advisers. i'm sure the white house is happy to see the jobs report. better than most economists expected. >> most jobs created in the private sector in five years. it was a pretty solid report for

the month. it's finishing up a solid trend over the last five months where you saw a blip up in unemployment rate today but overall the last five months the unemployment rate has fallen 0.8 of a point and we added more than a quarter million jobs per month over the last three months. i think the trend is definitely going the right way. >> we saw the gdp at last quarter was not as strong as it had been. gas prices a real drag on the economy. how concerned are you that this could dramatically slow the recovery? >> well, there are two different issues. the gdp did slow in the first quarter though we still had good job performance during that period. and a lot of folks are looking at the gdp number thinking that was a temporary blip because consumer spending did not fall dramatically in that period which is what would you expect if oil prices were the thing driving it.

now, the president is concerned and has taken several steps and we continue to press on energy policy. we were concerned about gas prices before they spiked and we continue to be monitoring it and pushing in that area. overall the job market is clearly showing a strong trend and i think that's in our forecast and in the private sector forecast carried out for the rest of this year. >> the economy is seeing job growth and yet i'm sure you're familiar with some of the poll numbers that most recent poll had 34% approving of the president's handling of the economy. that is an all-time low. how do you explain that if job growth is actually happening? >> i'm not a psychologist but i do know that several polls were taken right after gas prices had spiked and we had not yet received all of the information that we've gotten about these trends. i think the main thing that determines the way people feel

is what they observe in the economic data and what they see in their own pocketbooks. i think as we've added more than 2 million jobs in the private sector in the last 14 months, as you see those jobs continue to grow, as you see unemployment rate come down, i think you will see people feeling better about the circumstance. >> all right. austin goolsbee -- >> we have a long way to go no doubt about it. we're headed in the right way. >> all right. white house top economic adviser, thank you for being with us. appreciate it. that's it for "the daily rundown." coming up next, chris jansing and company and don't miss andrea mitchell reports. >> here's a look at the weekend forecast. saturday not bad. showers in minneapolis, chicago. maybe even up in northern new

england. it won't ruin your day. much of the southern half of the country is going to be great right through mother's day. mother's day is looking nice in many locations. d.c. to baltimore to new york. just cloudy skies with a chance of showers in the great lakes. that's going to go right in your glove. ohhh.

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al qaeda responds to the death of osama bin laden as new details are emerging about potential al qaeda plots right here in the united states. a powerful discussion between msnbc's own lawrence