couple seconds ago. ed, good to see you this morning, what is president obama's big message in virginia this morning, we're also going to talk later about last night in florida. >> sure, millions of people he's going to be talking to where they are in this boat, terrible housing issue where what they owe on the house doesn't match the value of the house. is this an escape hatch for these people, is it going to be temporary, long-term opportunity, i think his biggest key is going to be communicating, getting people to understand exactly what their opportunity is here of the. >> understanding what it is is really important, but what's the reality of being able to get this for all these people out there who are under water? >> well, the reality is the private sector going to do this or is the government going to come up a program? administration fees are no fun to anybody. what does it mean in the long-term, how long is it going

to last and how long can you go out on your mortgage where your house -- you owe more on your house than you actually have a value in it, and is there going to be capital put down? there's a lot of things that need to be explained here. can you refinance and go to a no program with zero money down and absolutely no fees, it's a real question mark, i'm anxious to hear the president. >> for a lot of people who want to be first-time home buyers, you don't want to end up in a situation as we've seen the housing market in over the last four, five years. >> there's a lot of incentives on the table now for first-time home buyers. what the problem is right now is that you've got too many people. you have an industry-wide problem. >> right. >> of real estate has dropped dramatically. now what does this do? people having a hard time staying in their homes, meeting their house payments. it's not the interest that's killing them, it's the payment that's killing them and the terms that are killing them right now, so this is going to

be interesting. what new is the president going to come up with? i think one of the administration's problems has been they have not communicated well exactly what opportunities are on the table for people and he's a great communicator. this maybe is a turning point. >> do you think that's a lost part of the american dream for middle class americans whose dream it is -- i remember growing up as a kid, my grandparents were in the same house for 50 years, my parents were in the same house for a long time until the family divided. is that the american dream? >> thomas, there's this phrase out there in the mortgage business, affordable housing. what is that now, $100,000 home, $150,000 home. there are different sections of the mortgage community and the home ownership community, they are all under water, so where do you focus your energy here, getting people into homes, we've been able to do that. it's keeping people in homes right now and keeping a roof

over their head. i think that is the real challenge here when you've got over 20 million people in this country who are unemployed. >> again, i want to remind our viewers we are waiting for the president to come out to give his speech about the housing program. go ahead. >> a lot of people are dipping into their savings to stay in their home. that's dangerous, because that just kicks the can down the road because a lot of folks in their late 40s and 50s, they have some kind of a nest egg here, they are at a decision point. do they throw more money at their house or do they dig into their savings, where do they go? it could create a problem down the road further. i think the administration is going to be looking at focusing keeping people in their homes, giving them an opportunity to be a little bit more flexible so they don't have to dig into what could be a future problem. >> i want to bring you into the conversation, mike is here from the white house. explain how the right is going to perceive this as not just

being a campaign stop as the purpose of being something to governor on policy. >> first of all, ed's got his finger right on the pulse there. stats out today, thomas, 66% rate of home ownership in this country, that is a seven-year low, home prices keep dropping and perhaps the most startling statistic, 1 in 4 mortgages are under water. as ed was pointing out, the value of the home is less than what is owed on the home and the problem all along, this is not the first run the obama administration has had on this, the problem the lenders to write down the loans to come to the table, too much red tape involved, communications problems, all of that has led to an underperformance to try to do something about the housing crisis, which after all is the genesis of a lot of the economic downturn and still plagues this economy through this period of anemic growth we're going

through right now. john boehner has shot this down today -- i hear them cheering for the president now, through fees on lenders. this does have to go through congress, it's not going to go through thomas. >> thank you, sir, the president hasrrivearrived. let's go ahead and listen in. >> hello, everybody, thank you. thank you so much. thank you, everybody. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you so much. everybody, please, have a seat. have a seat. it is great to be back in falls church. thank you for having me. you know, last week in my state of the union, i laid out my

blueprint for an economy that's built to last, and i want to assure you, i am not going to go over the whole thing again this morning. that was a long speech. i'm not going to -- i'm not going to repeat the whole thing. but i do want to talk about some of the issues that i discussed last week, because the blueprint we put forward was one that focuses on restoring what have always been this country's greatest strengths, american manufacturing, american energy, skills and education for american workers so that we can compete with anybody around the world in this 21st century economy, and most importantly, the american values of fairness and responsibility. fairness and responsibility.

now, we know what happens, because we've just seen it what happened when we stray from those values. we saw what happened over the past decade when we strayed from those values, especially when it comes to the massive housing bubble that burst and hurt so many people. millions of families who did the right and the responsible thing, folks who shop for a home that they could afford, secured a mortgage, made their payments each month, they were hurt badly by the irresponsible actions of other people who weren't playing by the same rules, weren't taking the same care, weren't acting as responsible.

by lenders who sold loans to people who they knew couldn't afford the mortgages and buyers who bought homes they knew they couldn't afford, and banks that packaged those mortgages up and traded them to reap phantom profits, knowing that they were building a house of cards. it was wrong. it was wrong. it triggered the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes. and it has been the single biggest drag on our recovery from a terrible recession. crushing debt has kept millions of consumers from spending. a lack of building demand has kept hundreds of thousands of construction workers idle. everybody involved in the home building business, folks who make windows, folks who make

carpets, they've all been impacted. the challenge is massive in size and in scope. because we've got a multi-trillion dollar housing industry. an economist can tell you how it's affected all sorts of statistics from gdp to consumer confidence, but what's at stake is more than just statistics. it's personal. i've been saying that this is a make or break moment for the middle class, and this housing crisis struck right at the heart of what it means to be middle class in america, our homes, the place where we invest our nest egg, the place where we raise our family, the place where we plant roots in a community, the

place where we build memories. it's personal. it affects so much of how people feel about their lives, about their communities, about the country, about the economy. we need to do everything in our power to repair the damage and make responsible families whole again. everything we can. now, the truth is, it's going to take more time than any of us would like for the housing market to fully recover from this crisis. this was a big bubble, and when it burst, it had a big effect. home prices started a pretty

steady decline about five years ago, and government certainly can't fix the entire problem on its own. but it is wrong for anybody to suggest that the only option for struggling, responsible home owners is to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom. i refuse to accept that, and so do the american people. there are more than 10 million home owners across the country right now who because of an unprecedented decline in home prices, that is no fault of their own, owe more on their mortgage than their homes are worth. it means your mortgage, your house is under water. here in falls church, home values have fallen by about a

quarter of their peak. in places like las vegas, more than half of all home owners are under water, more than half. so it's going to take awhile for those prices to rise again, but there are actions we can take right now to provide some relief to folks who have been responsible, have done the right thing, and are making their payments on time. already thanks to the outstanding work in part of my secretary of housing and urban development, shaun donovan, who's here today. there he is, the good looking guy in the front here. the housing plan we launched a couple of years ago has helped nearly 1 million responsible home owners refinance their

mortgages, and they are saving an average of $300 on their payments each month, $300, which is great. but i'll be honest, the programs that we put forward haven't worked at the scale that we hoped, not as many people have taken advantage of it as we wanted. mortgage rates are as low as they've been in half a century, and when that happens, usually home owners flock to refinance their mortgages, so a lot of people take advantage of it and save a lot of money, but this time too many families haven't been able to take advantage of the low rates, because falling prices lock them out of the market. they are under water, made it more difficult for them to refinance. then you have all the fees involved in refinancing. a lot of people said you know what, even though i'd like to be, obviously, cutting down my monthly payment, the banks just

aren't being real encouraging. so last year we took aggressive action that allowed more families to participate, and today we're doing even more is the main reason i'm here today. as i indicated in the state of the union last week, i am sending congress a plan that will give every responsible home owner in america the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage by refinancing at historically low rates. no more red tape. no more run around from the banks. and a small fee on the largest

financial institutions will make sure it doesn't add to our deficit. i want to be clear, this plan, like the other actions we've taken, will not help the neighbors down the street who bought a house they couldn't afford and then walked away and left a foreclosed home behind. it's not designed for those who acted irresponsibly, but it can help those who acted responsibly. it's not going to help those who speculate and flip the house and make a quick buck, but it can help those who've acted responsibly. what this plan will do is help millions of responsible home owners who make their payments on time but find themselves trapped under falling home values or wrapped up in red tape. if you're ineligible for refinancing just because you're under water on your mortgage, through no fault of your own,

this plan changes that. you'll be able to refinance at a lower rate. you'll be able to save hundreds of dollars a month that you can put back in your pocket, or you can choose those savings to rebuild equity in your homes, which will help most underwater home owners come back up for air more quickly. now to move this part of my plan, we're going to need congress to act. we're going to need congress to act. i hear some murmuring in the audience here. we need them to act. but we're not just going to wait for congress. we're going to keep building a fire wall to prevent the same kinds of abuses that led this crisis -- led to this crisis in the first place. so there are things we can do administratively that are also

going to help responsible home owners. already we've set up a special task force, i asked my attorney general to establish to investigate the kind of activity banks took when they packaged and sold risky mortgages, and that task force is ramping up its work as we speak. we're going to keep at it and hold people who broke the law accountable and help restore confidence in the market. we're going to speed assistance to home owners, and we're going to turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many hard-working americans. today i'm also proposing a home

owner's bill of rights, one straight-forward set of common sense rules of the road that every family knows they can count on when they are shopping for a mortgage. no more hidden fees or conflicts of interest. no more getting the run around when you call about your loan. no more fine print that you use to get families to take a deal that is not as good as the one they should have gotten. new safeguards against inappropriate foreclosures, new options to avoid foreclosure if you've fallen on hardship or a run of bad luck, and -- and a new, simple, clear form for buying -- for new buyers of a home.

now, think about it, this is the most important purchase a family makes, but how many of you have had to deal with overly complicated mortgage forms and hidden clauses and complex terms? i remember when michelle and i bought our first condo, and we were both lawyers, and we're looking through the forms and kind of holding it out, reading it again, what does this phrase mean? and that's, you know, for two trained lawyers. the forms, the confusion, the potential for abuse is too great. just because the forms are too complicated, so this is what a mortgage form should look like.

this is it. now that our new consumer watchdog agency is finally running at full steam -- [ applause ] -- now that richard cordray is in as the director of the consumer finance protection bure bureau, they are moving forward on important protections like this new, shorter mortgage form. simple, not complicated, informative, not confusing. terms are clear, fees are

transparent. this, by the way, is what some of the folks in congress are trying to roll back and prevent from happening. i guess they like complicated things that confuse consumers and allow them to be cheated. i prefer actions that are taken to make things simpler and easier to understand for consumers so that they can get the best deal possible, especially on the biggest single investment that most people will ever make. americans making a down payment on their dreams shouldn't be terrified by pages and pages of fine print. they should be confident they are making the right decision for their future. there's more that we're announcing today. we're working to turn more foreclosed homes into rental

housing, because as we know and a lot of families know, that empty house or for sale sign down the block can bring down the price of homes across the neighborhood. we're working to make sure people don't lose their homes just because they lose their jobs. these are steps that can make a concrete difference in people's lives right now. [ applause ] as i said earlier, no program or policy will solve all the problems in a multi-trillion dollar housing market. the heights of the housing bubble reached before it burst, those were unsustainable. it's going to take time to fully recover. that requires everybody to do their part.

as much as our economic challenges were born of eroding home values and portfolio values, they were also born of an erosion of some old-fashioned american values. an economy that's built to last that's on a firm foundation so that middle class families have a sense of security and those who want to get in the middle class can make it if they are working hard, that demands responsibility from everyone. government must take responsibility for rules that are fair and fairly enforced. [ applause ] banks and lenders must be held accountable for ending the practices that helped cause this crisis in the first place.

and all of us have to take responsibility for our own actions or lack of action, soi - urge congress to act, pass this plan, help more families keep their homes, help more neighborhoods remain vibrant, help keep more dreams defended and alive. and i promise you that i'll keep doing everything i can to make the future brighter for this community, for this commonwealth, for this country. thank you, everybody. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. thank you. >> president obama wrapping up his remarks in falls church, virginia, this morning, addressing the big concern of so many americans, the housing crisis this country's been crippled by over the last several years. we're talking about a way to streamline the process so people going out for their first time, new families, young couples starting out and those already

out there that feel under water by their homes are going to have some kind of recourse. ed schultz, host of "the ed show" has been on set with me during the speech. pretty impressive for him to talk about him and michelle being confused about the contracts they've got. >> that's the relatibility. >> but the home owner's bill of rights, people laughed about trying to get something through congress right now, but the home owner's bill of rights sounds easy enough. do you think it's something that's really going to happen? >> well, he's speaking to 10 million americans. this is, obviously, an opportunity to challenge the congress again and ask the american people, okay, who's side are you on, are you with the bankers, people, congress, with me? it's very clear the president is drawing a real distinction what he wants to do for home owners in trouble and what the congress is willing to do. i'm going to make it easy for

you, we're going to simplify it, we're going to give you a break. we're going to save you $3,000 a year. that rings to a lot of people, because it goes right to the pocketbook, but he saved the last when it comes to regulation, he said bankers and lenders must be held accountable for this crisis. that's a shot over the bow of the financial sector that things are going to change if i can do anything about it and i'm going to have the american people with me, and this is a plan of proof. i think that this plan deserves more discussion, but i also think that this plan needs serious discussion in the congress and the democrats should get behind this. you know, the president didn't talk a lot about politics in this. he talked about families, he talked about practicality, he talked about keeping people in their homes. more people relate to that than anything congress has been talking about of late. >> when we see the contrast, what we're going to talk about with you, and i still want to get it in with mitt romney and the remarks he made this

morning. i'm going to play it and then we'll talk about it. let's look. >> i'm in this race because i care about americans. i'm not concerned about the very poor. we have a safety net there. >> i think there are lots of very poor americans who are struggling who would say that sounds odd. >> we'll hear from the democrat party, the plight of the poor, and there's no question, it's not good being poor and we have a safety net to help those that are very poor, but my campaign is focussed on middle income americans. you can focus on the rich, that's not my focus. you can focus on the very poor, that's not my focus. >> that was mitt romney speaking earlier this morning on cnn. how do you think the conversation what people are going to be talking about tonight when they hear about these two very stark contrasts coming from mitt romney and president obama about what people are worried about here? >> well, the message there, i think, for mr. romney, he feels the country's already done enough for the very poor. he's not worried about them. he's not worried about the very poor. what he needs to be concerned about is there are a lot of

people who are dropping out of the middle class to even lower income situations, and what the president just did, he offered a safety net that romney's talking about. he offered a safety net, some real, concrete stuff that means something to people, $3,000 a year, something that's easy and they can be motivated to do, congress, are you going to help me do it? >> isn't that also a ladder for the poor to get to the middle class, they are looking for something affordable, something achievable in home ownership. >> what the president is saying nobody wins if you lose your home. the bank doesn't win, the family doesn't win. it creates more problems, and the president even went further, those homes foreclosed on they are going to turn into rental properties, they are not going to let the neighborhood go to hell in a hand basket. the democratic caucus is going to have to get into the devil in the details and realize this is

an avenue to help middle class families, but for mitt romney to say he doesn't care about the very poor, that is a signal, i think to a lot of people, we've already done enough for the very poor, i'm not worried about them. well, if mitt romney is worried about the middle class, he ought to latch on to this. mr. romney, what's your plan, what will you do to keep people in their homes, because romney has been on the record saying hey, it's the free market, let the free market take care of itself. it hasn't worked from the standpoint of affecting so many millions of people. we're going to have to have some kind of new foundation, a housing bill of rights, to turn this mammoth industry around and get people back on their feet and give them a chance to recover. >> thanks so much, see you tonight at 8:00 p.m. on "the ed show" here on msnbc. a full look at today's politics and see you tonight at k. back with more on msnbc. ans whenever i want. and with tide plus bleach, they'll stay white. not whitish, not eggshell, not ecru...

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welcome back, everybody, what a difference 11 days can

make, mitt romney wins the sunshine state. he beat gingrich by 14 points, winning 46%, 46% of the vote to gingrich's 42%. rick santorum and ron paul fell way behind. after scooping up all of florida's 50 delegates, romney leads the delegate race 3 to 1, but the wealthy, latinos and women, he still has glaring weaknesses, staunch conservatives. gingrich won very conservative voters and narrowly lost to romney against evangelicals. >> sometimes i have to chuckle when i listen to people think newt gingrich is the conservative in this race. my record is conservative, i believe the people of this country will recognize that as time goes on. here in florida, tea partiers and people who called themselves

conservative voted for me. that's a good sign. >> i want to bring in our panel this morning, patricia murphy and john ralston, host of "face to face" throughout nevada. great to have you both here. patricia, i want to start with you, we're seeing more trends emerge with the exit polls. but stronger with moderates and those that don't support the tea party. but what about the conservatives and the fact that 38% of republicans in florida said they wanted another gop candidate to run, isn't that really telling right there? >> well, i think it is very indicative of what's happening in the republican party and what's been happening there, a family feud going on between the moderates, most conservative and the tea party activists. they don't want to pick mitt romney. there's a large section of republicans who don't want him as their nominee. he's trying to convince them

they do want him as the nominee. going into nevada he's going to be in a better position, but he still has a gigantic problem. >> romney won your state convincingly last time around, but ron paul faired well, so what do you expect this weekend? >> as you mention, romney's the heavy favor here. i'm starting to wonder if expectations are being set too high, thomas, nobody knows what the turnout will be. republican party has had all kinds of problem, but the ron paul folks who finished second, a distant second to mitt romney in 2008 are well organized this time, and i think the romney people have to be a bit concerned. there's no evidence of a gingrich campaign here, although i think he'll make a showing. >> ron paul, rick santorum, they cut their losses to leave to move on to nevada, colorado,

minnesota. can they gain ground and what's their role in the race as it moves right now? >> well, their role, if you ask newt gingrich, is to divide up the not-mitt romney vote, dividing up the conservative vote. rick santorum will tell you he's the only conservative in the race. i think he had a really strong speech last night, gave a very specific reason why conservatives should pick him, not newt gingrich, not romney. but santorum has a huge money disadvantage, mitt romney is clobbering these guys with the money advantage. if they can't turn that around, i don't know how they catch up. >> jon, let's talk about that with newt gingrich and his money. when we do talk about his cash, shelden adelson comes into the picture, millions pumped into the gingrich super pac. is he still firmly behind his candidate or do you think he'll potentially move his bet? >> i don't think he's going to

move his bet unless newt gingrich gets out of the race. his family has given a total of $11 million to that super pac supporting gingrich. it's a personal relationship that goes back a decade and a half. i would guess that gingrich while here in las vegas will meet with adelson about whether or not to move forward with more money. maybe he'll tell newt gingrich to get out of the race, i don't know, but sheldon adelson will express his opinion to newt gingrich. there's one thing he's not, a shrinking violet. >> great to see you both this morning, thanks for your time. >> thanks, thomas. >> absolutely. we're going to talk more about the president's plan to revive the housing market, meaning millions of home owners could refinance at reduced interest rates, but this plan could cost $10 billion and large banks would be slapped with extra fees to pay for it. the conflict that will likely

show in congress it will cost political capital. beau, great to have you on the hour, i want to get straight to this as we were watching the president, seems good. one new jersey congressman saying this proposal will be dead an arrival, how do you expect this to play out in congress and how is this such a divisive issue if it seems to help so many? >> i don't know. i'm perplexed by what happens in congress these days and the inability of many there to help home owners who are hanging on by their nails in many cases all across the country. the president's speech, which i did not get a chance to see, but it's a great program, i highly support it. it's part of a larger package the administration is rolling out to help people here in delaware, california, nevada, who are literally hanging on by their fingernails to stay in their home. when you have 25% of the

american people underwater, they owe more than their house is worth, they don't have a chance to pursue low interest rates that are out there. another proposal the administration is rolling out are very good things. it shows this president understands what american people are facing and that he has solutions to -- to make things better. >> all right, is this too much government intervention, should the government be going this far to assist home owners during a housing crisis that's entering its sixth year? >> look, i'm very focussed, as you know, thomas, with every other attorney general in america with holding the banks accountable with not doing the right thing under law, even before you get to this program. this program is a good thing, appropriate exercise of his authority and reasonable thing to ask congress to approve, but what i'm very focussed on with other attorney generals is to make sure the banks do the right thing and follow the current law. and they have basically said and

recognize that they are not finding the current rules and regulations and laws as it relates to servicing and how they service loans. the entire structure of this system is flawed and out of whack. servicing banks are incentivized to foreclose, and until we deal with that problem, which didn't seem to exist 20 years ago, we're not going to solve this problem. that's part of what the president is trying to do and my colleagues and i are trying to do, much of which the banks haven't even said -- have agreed that they have done. >> delaware attorney general, beau biden. great to see you, thank. >> thank you, thomas. we have sad news that we need to pass along for soul train fans, especially, we have a lot of fans at msnbc. don cornileus, the host of the iconic '70s dance show is dead. he was found dead of an apparent

gunshot wound, soul train was hugely successful after its 1971 debut and ran until 2006 and was key to the career success of artists like al greene, smokey robinson, gladys knight and quincy jones. quincy jones released this statement. i am shocked and deeply saddened at the sudden pasing of my friend. his contributions to television music and our culture as a whole will never be matched. don cornileus was 75 years old. [ female announcer ] experience dual-action power,

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vapor around your joints, similar to gas bubbles, bursting under pressure. washington state could soon become the seventh state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage. the state senate is set to vote on the bill tonight. it's expected to pass there by a slim margin, then gain approval in the house and be signed into law. meantime, maryland governor martin o'malley faced off against opponents of a same-sex bill in his state. you know, despite newt gingrich's battle cry, 46 states to go, some conservatives are calling on him to quit, among them, megan mccain, whose father endorsed mitt romney. in a strongly-worded column, megan mccain called gingrich selfish and wrote "you know what real pious bologna is, gingrich postponing his campaign until the election for self-serving

purposes." you really don't hold back on this one, megan. >> i never hold back on anything. >> you say gingrich is a hypocrite driven by his ego. if that were true, why would he bow out, why not stay in this for as long as he can and take this ride until the convention? >> he speaks daily about the good of the republican party and being a reagan republican and wanting us to beat president obama but this is giving more ammo to president obama and the democrats. i wasn't saying he should bow out now because of the delegates, but he's saying he might take this to the convention, so if he takes this to the convention, the kind of uprising and chaos is detrimental to the party. >> you see this as some would call the prolonged vetting process, good to see these candidates tested, hardened through the entire process, but you see this as a blood bath of the gop cannibalizing itself.

>> i think democrats are sitting back with popcorn and laughing and i think it's unfair to mitt romney and he should be honorable and bow out with grace, which probably won't happen. >> you know, a lot of good stuff happens on the campaign trail. so much good stuff that sometimes they make movies like "game changers." >> i just got invited at the premier, who at hbo got my e-mail address. >> you want a date, i'd like to see it. that was my passive aggressive way of saying i want to go. >> i didn't like the book, didn't like this movie, but whoever they cast at me, i can't hate this movie as much anymore, because she's absolutely gorgeous. >> two thumbs up for tiffany thornton, but how do you think something like this, the take on palin, on your father, john mccain, how do you think it's going to do to their political legacy? >> republican voters don't watch hbo, are you kidding, they don't care. it's fantasy, a big portion is fiction.

i read some of the book, didn't read the whole thing. it's the way he wanted to see the election. >> if you need a date, just let me know. >> tom, i will bring you if i go, but i don't think i can do that to my father and mother. >> nice to see you as always, thanks so much. stick around, facebook is ready to go public and make a bunch of more millionaires. can you and your friends get in on that action? americans believe they should be in charge of their own future. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪

welcome back, everyone. mitt romney is getting extra people on his campaign trail. starting tomorrow he'll have secret service protection, something the campaign has been requesting. federal law allows candidates to seek protection if they meet the standards, one of them being a major presidential candidate who's raised a certain amount of money.

romney is clearly the front-runner for your the gop. originally thought to have won three. all his opponents called to congratulate him except for one. >> well, actually newt didn't call after iowa or new hampshire. i called him after his win in south carolina. he didn't call last night. the other candidates all called. i don't know. i guess speaker gingrich doesn't have our phone number. >> newt gingrich does have high hopes for his campaign and an actor if hollywood ever flagged him for making a movie about his life. are you ready for this? brad pitt. and, no, not because gingrich thinks they look anything alike. it was just his fantasy choice. a-ha. first lady michelle obama told jay leno her husband is really a crooner in chief. >> he likes marvin gay, the

classics. >> did you hear about it? >> that was completely spontaneous. i didn't hear about it till he was on youtube. he does have a beautiful voice and he sings to me all the time. >> really. >> yes. >> the first lady alsow weighed in on this. ♪ america america now, did you hear mitt romney sing? what did you think? >> i saw it in the green room. >> right, right. >> it's beautiful. >> beautiful. >> a politically correct response right there. so it's an offer that could make plenty of facebook fans click the like button. filing paperwork with the fcc to

trade on the open marker. cnbc's julia boorstinss joins u. >> reporter: they initially thought they were going to raise about $10 billion. but they're expected to raise about $5 billion. it's expected to be between 75 and $100 billion. it's a massive company. thomas, one thing that's interesting, as we wait to see what kind of documents they raise, we're going to get insight -- whether facebook is as profitable as it is popular. as we know, the company has nearly a billion users, but we're expecting the company for 2011 to report about 3 president $8 billion in revenue and about $1.5 billion in operating profits. now, about 90% of the company's revenue should come from advertising.

it will be really interesting to see where they're planning to get some other revenue down the line. >> all this watching. julia, great to see you this morning. thank you. that's going to do it for me today. thank you. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. until the you can follow me on twitters. "now with alex wagner sts is up. how did you do yesterday? >> the house always wins. for the record, as bad as people think mitt romney sings, i'm worse. we'll take it on the road, give the people what they want. up next we'll discuss newt gingrich and his unsportsmanlike conduct last night. will the soar loser strategy work out west or does mitt romney have this thing tied up with a bow. are homeowners buying it? plus, he's calling himself in conservative alternative. rick santorum's taste great

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[ male announcer ] it's sweet, it's nutty... it's absolutely delicious. kellogg's crunchy nut. it's morning somewhere. biggest takeaway from the florida primary? carpet bombing works, but will this race end with a womimper a not a bachlkt it is wednesday, february 1st. the hardest man on the trail, mark halperin and mr. sunday morning himself, "the new york times" magazine's hugo lingrin. it is noon on the east coast, 9:00 a.m. pacific. they'll join ron paul and rick santorum and set their clocks a few hours back in the nevada and colorado battlegrounds where both are holds campaign events. everyone last night we saw mitt romney bask in the