we get straight to it. because we have major breaking news overseas as the violence continues to escalate in syria. the u.s. has now closed its embassy in syria forcing all american diplomats and personnel out of the country. assad has issued a crackdown among protesters. now president obama discussed that issue with nbc's matt lauer sitting down exclusively with him just before the super bowl. >> we have been relentless in sending a message that it is time for assad to go. that the kind of violence we've seen exercised against his own people this weekend and over the past several months is inexcusable. >> nbc's kristen welker live from the white house this morning to talk more about this. so kristen, on these developments that we're seeing today, we know there is this breaking news on the two fronts. start with syria and then we'll move on to iran.

>> reporter: well, thomas, good morning. the white house, of course, monitoring the situation in syria quite closely as you noted. the violence has been escalating there as many as 50 people killed today. an estimated 200 people killed on friday. really the bloodiest day since this uprising began in march. and, of course, there was a lot of tension over the weekend when russia and china voted against a u.n. resolution that would essentially call for regime change in syria. secretary of state hillary clinton calling that action a travesty. she also called on some other members of the international community to come together to help this syrian opposition, but the white house right now monitoring the situation, president obama will be meeting with some of his senior advisers later this afternoon. he will undoubtedly discuss the situation in syria during that meeting. the pressure's really mounting on the obama administration to intervene, especially from members of the opposition within

syria who say we don't think we can do this without help from the international community. so certainly a serious situation that the white house is monitoring closely. thomas? >> and kristen, what about iran? what do we know there about the growing tensions and the situation itself? >> reporter: well, president obama has been insistent that he wants to handle the situation in iran diplomatically just as he wants to do with syria. just today the white house announcing a new executive order that would impose stiffer sanctions on iran's central bank and other banks. now, the president's saying those banks have been concealing some of their transactions. so president obama really trying to use diplomacy as a course, but at the same time, saying that no options are off the table in terms of dealing with iran. here's what he told matt lauer. take a listen. >> our goal is to try to resolve this diplomatically, mainly because the only way over the long-term we can assure iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon is by getting them to understand

it's not in their interest. >> reporter: so both situations escalating, thomas. both will undoubtedly be discussed and monitored quite closely by this white house. thomas? >> nbc's kristen welker at the white house, thank you. we move on to a very grim, very complicated story involving a missing person's case and it's taken a horrific turn in washington state. police say a man long suspected in the mysterious vanishing of his young wife three years ago killed himself and his two young sons in a fiery house explosion. one family member called it the act of a cold-flooded narcissist. >> after knowing him for as long as i've known him, i have this sense that he really only cared about himself. that's why he was able to do the things he did to susan and why he was able to do what he did yesterday. i don't think anybody had any empathy or cared for anybody else could possibly -- especially a father do that to their own children. >> nbc's miguel almigeur with

more on this story. >> reporter: police say this burned down home is a crime scene called a double murder/suicide committed by josh powell days after a judge denied him custody of his children and said he would have to undergo a psyc psychosexual evaluation. he sent an e-mail minutes before saying, "i'm sorry, good-bye." a social worker brought the two sons in the afternoon, josh powell let the boys in and slammed the door in her face. she could smell gas, she was supposed to be inside the home for the visitation, so she called police, told them she could smell gas and moments later there was a fiery explosion. it instantly or quickly killed all three people inside. they have not yet been identified. but police strongly believe they're josh powell as well as

charlie powell who is 7 years old and braden powell who is 5. this was a murder/suicide committed by josh powell police say. he was the only person named a person of interest in his wife's disappearance in 2009. susan powell vanished in december of 2009 from salt lake city. police have not been able to close that case or find any potential suspects. but josh powell has always been that person of interest. police from salt lake city will be heading back to this area to continue their investigation here. this is still a very active case. but we do know three people dead, police say josh powell responsible for a double murder/suicide here sunday. thomas? >> thanks so much. and now we bring you to the conversation, an investigative crime reporter. as we hear this story, it rips at all of our hearts to hear about the loss of these two young boys, josh powell obviously a very troubled person. do investigators view this, this

what happened as an admission of guilt effectively on josh powell's behalf that he may have killed his wife? >> well, as we know, josh powell has not been forthcoming since the beginning of this case, since december 6th, 2009, especially a few months later when he packed up his family and moved to washington state. and investigators were trying to figure out how do we close in on him? what can we bring to the table? and that's when the search warrant came up and found that child pornography and were able to take his father in and tried to, you know, drum up some answers from that. so at this particular point, i think they're figuring out -- i did speak with ed troyer this morning who was on the ground, fire marshals, investigators, arson detectives are out there working from the least amount of damage to the most damage to figure out exactly what started this and how exactly these children were killed. >> michelle, when we talk about the psychosexual evaluation, explain to all of us how josh powell got to that point. it's strictly because of the incriminating evidence of child

pornography found in his home? >> that, some other evidence found on computers. it's the fact that he had not been forthcoming. i think there was a lot of factors and investigators were trying to figure out how do we get more from josh than what we're able to get without concrete evidence to move forward to say he is our suspect, we're going to arrest him for the disappearance of susan powell without even having her body. and so i think that a lot of that along with not having his children, not having susan around, facing tremendous scrutiny from the media really kind of in essence made him snap. >> michelle, what's being said about the boys and their memory of the night their mother disappeared? a lot of people remember josh powell said he wasn't home at the time because he went camping the night that susan disappeared. were they potentially incriminating their father and that's what made him so desperate? >> that's what family members and the family attorney are saying, thomas.

they were only 2 and 4 years old at the time, but i have to tell you, that when your mother goes missing and when they realize that the most important figure in their life wasn't there anymore and it sort of went back to that night, back to that snowstorm which had to have been very memorable for them. and i think over time they started to speak and this is, again, what family members have spoken up to say is that they were saying that the oldest son, charlie was saying that his mother may have been in the trunk the night she went missing. we all remember back in december 2009, josh powell said that he took the kids camping in the middle of the night during a horrific snowstorm. and so there's a lot of pieces to this puzzle that still need to be added up. we have to keep in mind susan is still missing. so if anyone has any information, please pick up the phone and call investigators. at least to give the cox family some sort of justice in this case. >> investigative crime reporter, michelle, nice to see you this morning. >> good to see you. have a good day. a heavy political toll on

mitt romney and the scars from a prolonged primary fight could leave republicans with a weak nominee. new polling now showing and suggesting the republican front-runner falling behind the president nationally, but the romney campaign is really hurting when it comes to independents. his double digit lead among key voters has evaporated in that couple of weeks with the president reaping those benefits. romney is trying to stay positive celebrating his victory in nevada and down playing good economic news for the president. >> this week he's been trying to take a bow for 8.3% unemployment, not so fast, mr. president, we welcome any good news on the jobs front. but it is thanks to the innovation of the american people in the private sector and not to you, mr. president. >> all right. so starting now, romney's two stops are part of the blitz voters in colorado and minnesota can look forward to ahead of tuesday's caucuses, let's talk about it this morning with the

political analyst for the "las vegas sun" and national political reporter for real clear politics. good to see both of you this morning. john, i want to start with our latest result. romney winning nevada, but the enthusiasm wasn't there for voters. over 10,000 fewer votes cast compared to that in 2008 in a state with such high unemployment. are you surprised there wasn't a stronger turnout to support mitt romney? especially considering the mormon vote, as well? >> well, i was surprised, thomas, as you pointed out, 45,000 folks who turned out in 2008 and essentially wasn't a race here at that time, john mccain didn't even compete here, romney was the only one. he had much more of a race this time and only 33,000 or so turn out, that is really a pathetic statement. but not so much, i think for enthusiasm, i think that remains to be seen. november's a long way off, but for the republican party in nevada which claims it spent a

lot of time doing outreach to voters and could only get that many voters to the polls. and that's an organizational problem for them that could be a factor in november. as i said, it's a ways away. >> erin, as we talk about the national economy right now, can a strong super tuesday really help turn this around for mitt romney in some areas where he may be falling behind for the president? or is it that? the economy and the fact it's improving hurt him from surging? >> you know, the -- >> i think it's -- >> i'm sorry. >> i was just going to say that, of course, if the economy is improving, then that helps president obama and hurts mitt romney because his entire message is predicated on a weak economy and if he can be the one to turn around. now, as long as the primary continues on and mitt romney is fighting with other republicans like newt gingrich and rick santorum, he's going to be in trouble. and just this morning, the romney campaign started attacking rick santorum in a very big way because rick

santorum is giving a speech this morning on health care in which he's going to go after mitt romney because, you know, as you know, mitt romney's health care plan in massachusetts is what the president modelled national health care on. but as long as these fights continue, it's a problem for romney, but by attacking rick santorum he's only egging santorum on and it continues this problem of all these republicans continuing to attack mitt romney. >> let's talk more about that, the cannibalization of the gop in this primary. the biggest thorn for romney so far has been newt gingrich thanks in no small part to the millions of bucks that have flown in from sheldon adelson. is there a chance that money could start flowing to mitt romney? >> i think he will support romney eventually, thomas. he wants president obama out of office very, very badly. and as you know, he's got a lot of money. he's the eighth richest guy in america. it's a personal relationship with newt gingrich, but if he sees that newt is going to fade,

he's going to switch his ways and start, you know, writing checks, i think, to help romney probably through the super pac effort. but, listen, he wants obama out. that is his real agenda. and he and steve wynn, by the way, have bonded over that. and i think you'll see both of them get involved in the general election. >> great to see you both this morning. thank you. >> thank you. speaking of newt gingrich, he vows to win big in the so-called reagan states of the south. but can he use the mantle of the popular conservative president to make yet another comeback? i'm going to speak with ron reagan whose dad would have been 101 years old today. ron and much more when we come back stick around. can sit on your skin, so it looks like...makeup. but trublend has skin twin technology to actually merge with your skin. how easy breezy beautiful is that? trublend...from covergirl.

whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ at liberty mutual, we know how much you count on your car, and how much the people in your life count on you. that's why we offer accident forgiveness, where your price won't increase due to your first accident. we also offer a hassle-free lifetime repair guarantee, where the repairs made on your car are guaranteed for life, or they're on us. these are just two of the valuable features you can expect from liberty mutual. plus, when you insure both your home and car with us, it could save you time and money. at liberty mutual, we help you move on with your life, so get the insurance responsible drivers like you deserve.

call us at... or visit your local liberty mutual office, where an agent can help you find the policy that's right for you. liberty mutual insurance, responsibility -- what's your policy? yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside. it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk.

2014, the time of turmoil for americans. comfortably serving a second term, president barack obama no longer hides his socialist agenda, the unemployment rate skyrocket and foreign armies gather their forces for an attack, chaos reigns, but a visionary emerges, he is newt gingrich, moon president. >> in case you missed it, that was the opening skit for saturday night poking fun at comments at newt gingrich while he was on the campaign trail. he's vowing to stay in the race. and use the so-call ed. >> i will be candidate for president of the united states, we will go to tampa. the headquarters sends out the rumor they believe i will

withdraw, which will be their greatest fantasy. >> ron, it's great to have you here this morning. >> nice to be here. thank you, thomas. >> a lot of talk about your father, his legacy, his presidency. i want to talk about that in a second. but take a listen to what newt gingrich said yesterday on meet the press. >> our goal is to get to super tuesday where we're in much more favorable territory by the time texas is over, we'll be very, very competitive in delegate count. >> do you think that newt gingrich can stick around through super tuesday? more importantly, though, stick around until the convention in tampa like he says he wants to? >> well, maybe, he'll stick around to super tuesday. that's what he's pinning his hopes on. there are southern states coming up there and he figures to do better. a lot will depend on how much he does. if he can't win the of states in the south. i don't see a purpose in him doing that.

for going after their candidate, mitt romney, he will have no future among republicans if he makes life too miserable for romney. we'll see how it plays out on super tuesday. >> the "wall street journal" yesterday suggested newt gingrich is eyeing delegates and so-called reagan states. states where your dad did well on his own presidential bid. but will back-to-back losses make him look less electable in those key states. >> well, of course, let's be clear here. newt gingrich is not a serious candidate for president and never has been. ron paul is not a serious candidate for president. rick santorum is not a serious candidate for president. the republicans have one serious candidate and that's mitt romney. he happens to be a very weak candidate, but he is their only realistic candidate. >> ron, when you talk about the fact that, you know, they're not real candidates, do you mean their heart's not in it. they don't think they can do it? or is it the fact that the republican base doesn't have

their heart in it to support them to go on to face president barack obama? >> both. i think. i don't think newt gingrich got into this race originally thinking he was going to be president. i think he was doing it for personal publicity. ron paul is a message candidate. he's out there to get his libertarian message out there. i think he's quite sure that he's not going to become the president of the united states. mitt romney is the only one that ever had a real chance once pawlenty dropped out and rick perry imploded. he was the only one with a real chance to ever win this thing and he still is. >> when we talk about newt gingrich specifically, we hear a lot about your father from newt gingrich, your dad would have been 101 years old today. newt gingrich, though, repeatedly invoking your dad's name on the campaign trail calling himself a conservative in this race, a reagan conservative. he once said your mom, though, passed the torch to him, your brother michael supports him. so we've got to find out. what's your take?

that your mom passed the torch to him and your dad would like to hear his name used so much by newt gingrich right now? >> well, i won't speak for my father, newt gingrich seems to like to speak for him, but i don't feel comfortable doing that. i went back and played the speech of my mother back in 1995 making some remarks that somebody had written for her some remarks at a congressional dinner or a rally and she simply said that goldwater had passed the torch to my father and my father passed the torch to newt and the congressional republicans. she was being polite, it was not a personal endorsement of newt gingrich. she wants to stay out of this as much as possible. so i'm not going to drag her in by quoting her or anything. let me just say it is my opinion, it is simply my opinion knowing her that she is not a big newt gingrich supporter. >> and real quickly, how is your mom doing? she's going to be 91 coming up this year. >> in july. she's doing fine, actually, she's quite feisty.

>> excellent. well, ron reagan, we appreciate you getting up and joining us. i know it's early on the west coast, not that early, just a little bit early. >> not that early. >> thanks again, sir. >> eli manning and the new york giants celebrating another championship. the giants took the vince lombardi trophy to sleigh the patriots 21-17. a ticker tape parade held in honor of big blue tomorrow for manhattan. and there she is, the material girl opening the show with "vogue" along with a side army of gladeuaiators. m.i.a. stole the show, no comment yet from the rapper, but nbc said the nfl hired the talent and produced the halftime show, our system was late to obscure the inappropriate gesture and apologize to our viewers. the nfl also apologized. overnight numbers show it may have been the third highest watched super bowl ever.

well, coming up, "newsweek" magazine takes a look at what they call the global war on christians. is there a growing genocide in the muslim world? plus, tim tebow's life after football. is he praying for a future in politics? 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. ♪ diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me!

[ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'.

some aerosols may just mix with them. can febreze remove it. [ moderator ] describe the smell. it's very pleasant. some kind of flower maybe? awww, oh yuck! [ male announcer ] febreze air effects doesn't mix, it actually removes odors. so you can breathe happy.

are christians around the world under attack because of their faith? that is the case on the latest cover of "newsweek" magazine saying the rising genocide in the muslim world should provoke global alarm. justine, nice to see you this morning. >> thank you so much for having me, thomas. >> absolutely. we have been covering and witnessing these attacks and talking about them taking place at churches across the muslim world. how bad has the violence gotten recently against christians to ask that type of question on the

cover of "newsweek?" >> well, one of the points of this is we have been covering them as isolated incidents up until now. and what we're looking at is a constant uptick of let's say 300% over the last seven or so years so you're starting to see something that feels like a phenomenon. >> so we talk about that of connecting the dots, what does the article say in reference to the fact this is becoming more of the norm in muslim majority countries? and what's being done to try to quell it? >> well, i think that there are two points to make here. the first is that we've focused so much on the left on the sort of islam phobia with the mosque at the site of 9/11 and here what we're talking about as sort of a crisis phobia that's happening in the middle east. and in egypt, for example, 200,000 christians have fled their homes and very little is being done to stop that sort of violence and we have seen in nigeria attack after attack over

the last year or so. >> what do you think -- >> very little being done by the government to prevent that. >> what do you think it's going to take for the west to get involved to help those religious minorities in muslim majority companies to see this type of violence stopped? >> well, hopefully pieces like this. but i think the author of the article is arguing is we give a lot of aid to these countries in the middle east and we should be making some of that con ttingen. some of it is sponsored by terrorist groups. >> it is a fascinating read. justine, great to see you this morning, thank you. >> thank you so much. >> absolutely. and you can read the war on christians again in the current issue of "newsweek." president obama's super bowl sit-down. why he says he deserves four more years in the white house. sick at sea, at least 700 cruise ship passengers sick on

three different ships. what's going on with that? we'll bring you the details in the news now next. i'm robert shapiro. over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. at legalzoom we'll help you incorporate your business, file a patent, make a will and more. you can complete our online questions in minutes. then we'll prepare your legal documents and deliver them directly to you. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side.

[ female announcer ] nature valley granola bars, rich dark chocolate, toasted oats. perfect combinations of nature's delicious ingredients, from nature valley. ♪ nature valley granola bars, nature at its most delicious. get on e-trade. set up a real plan. frank! oh wow, you didn't win? i wanna show you something... it's my shocked face. [ gasps ] [ male announcer ] get a retirement plan that works...

at e-trade. i deserve a second term, but we're not done. look, when you and i sat down, we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. in fact, we had found out just a few days before we sat down that we had lost that month 750,000 jobs, now we're creating 250,000. >> president obama making his case for reelection in a presuper bowl interview with nbc's matt lauer. he also addresses the criticisms of his republican rivals and the politics of envy. >> i do think the vast majority of american people understand, a, we want everybody to be successful. and nobody begrudges people who have been successful because they're making things, creating new products, new services, that's the american way. but what people also want to see is that everybody is doing their

fair share. that we're all pulling together. that we're creating ladders of opportunity for all americans. whoever the republican nominee is, i fundamentally disagree with the formula that would go back to the same policies that got us into this mess in the first place. >> joining me this morning to talk more about this is karen finney and former white house deputy press secretary tony fratto. great to see you both this morning. karen, i want to start with you, what we heard from president obama. right now his message appears to be resinating. once we get down to the general election fight, is that going to be enough? >> well, look, i think what we're going to see the president running on the breadth of his record and hopefully the economy will continue to move in this direction. i went back and looked at where we were at this point in 2008. and for the second straight month we've lost 63,000 jobs and president bush was saying it'll get better by the summer. now we've had 23 months of job

growth, 3.7 million jobs created, the president has made -- african-american unemployment dropped slightly, which is important, and i think the president has a strong record to run on and an argument to make that we've got more to do, which will be hard to convince people to switch horses midstream and try mitt romney. >> a new washington post abc news poll asked participants who they thought did better on certain issues. mitt romney edging out the president when it comes to the economy and job creation, but when it came to the middle class, tony, the president pulled way ahead. did romney's poor gaffe cause irreparable harm? or is there time to repair that image to make it to the general? >> i don't think it's irreparable, it's the beauty of a presidential election, you can have about five or six months here to really deliver the message and overcome some of these kinds of gaffes. not the first presidential candidate to, you know, have to overcome that kind of thing. but he knows it's a challenge, the campaign knows it's a

challenge. he has some very strong messages for the middle class and opportunity in the country. i think he'll be able to do that and have the opportunity now that it really is a two-man race and the two man is not gingrich and romney but romney and obama. >> i want to show you both something. there's been a lot of talk this morning about clint eastwood's super bowl ad. i want to show everybody a sample of that and we'll talk on the other side. >> this country can't be knocked out in one punch. we get right back up again and when we do, the world's going to hear the roar of our engines. yeah. it's halftime, america. and our second half's about to begin. >> all right. so you can look at this in different ways. tony, i'll start with you. is this ad pro-obama or anti-obama? what's your take? >> pro-obama. certainly pro-obama bailout of the auto sector. you know, i know -- i was wondering what did it -- what did chrysler pay clint eastwood

to get him to be pro auto bailout. but we love the tough talk, don't we? >> a lot of people thought maybe that was a movie trailer, but it turned out to be a commercial. i saw the reverend al this morning on "morning joe" saying, this said to him it's halftime in the obama presidency and we need to come back for the second half. >> well, i think that's right. but i saw it as pro-america the same way the chrysler ad frankly last year and of you got to love it when eminem and clint eastwood are on the same page. and again, remember in the obama record, that is going to be a very important message in places like michigan and ohio where individuals and communities know that their jobs were saved by the actions that this president took. >> buy american, buy american all the time. great to see you both this morning. thanks so much. >> thanks, thomas. >> absolutely. here's a look at other stories topping the news now for you. the u.s. is pressuring egypt to drop charges against 19

americans facing trial. this move comes as violent clashes between police and rioters today in cairo. they were charged with receiving foreign money and channelling it to fund and support anti-government protest groups. only six of the americans charged remain in that country, including sam lahood, the son of u.s. transportation secretary ray lahood. well, the number of cruise ships stricken by a norovirus outbreak this weekend is now up to three. royal caribbeans voyager of the sea returned to new orleans with nearly 200 sick travelers. in florida, the two princess cruise line ships arrived with more than 400 sick passengers and crew. workers cleaned all three ships before they set sail once again. and england's queen elizabeth ii is celebrating 60 years on the throne today. she felt moved by the support shown for this anniversary. the country released two official photographs to mark

this big occasion. this black history month, honoring 100 african-americans who are now making history. my next guest is among them, dr. chandra gil is an educator and activist who is also the founder and ceo of blacademically speaking. congratulations on this honor. what inspired you to launch blacademically speaking? >> hi, how are you today? it's quite simple, actually, for me as very personal as a black woman and an academic, it's a very important piece to recognize that our children, specifically african-american children are living in a crisis. but for me, it's about what the company stands for, and that is motivating and educating our youth. we can't continue to talk crisis talk without having a cure. blacademically speaking is a cure for our children because they're living and functioning in dysfunction.

unfortunately their abnormal realities have become normal for them and uncommon has become common. i'm inspired by the fact our children -- african-american children do not have to live in the way they live. >> i want to get your take on the presidential race, present day, particularly recent comments by newt gingrich regarding poor urban youth. take a listen to this. >> you can take one janitor and hire 30-something kids to work in the school for the price of one janitor and those 30 kids would be a lot less likely to drop out, they would have money in their pocket, learn to show up for work. >> what are your thoughts on comments like those that we've been hearing all around the campaign trail? the gop primary? and the debate this has ignited on the right and left? >> well, the fact that we continue to relegate our children to an inferior status. there's no right thinking loving parent that would negate a parent that they think is not as

smart as another child. they would take care of the child that needs more, a little bit more. and for me during the presidential election season, i'm electing to teach our children how to be president of their own lives. and i actually welcome left or right any presidential candidate for black history month to dare to get out and learn more about the african-american culture in particular. i am saddened by the fact that we're continuing to relegate african-american children, asian children, native american children, and latino-american children to a place of inferiority as if they cannot be better, do better, and have better. >> dr. gill, thanks for joining us today and congratulations on making the list. that's a big honor. and everybody can read more about dr. chandra gill's accomplishments. thanks again. >> thank you very much for having me. move over, soccer moms, there's a new group of women that politicians are courting this election. it's the legacy moms. who are they?

and what are they looking for in the next president? plus, new york giants win the super bowl and the new york delegation on capitol hill win big too. the super wagers coming up next. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about that 401(k) you picked up back in the '80s. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 like a lot of things, the market has changed, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and your plans probably have too. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, we'll give you personalized recommendations tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 on how to reinvest that old 401(k). tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and bring your old 401(k) into the 21st century. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 rollover your 401(k) or ira and receive up to $2500. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 see schwab.com for terms and conditions. covergirl trublend has skin twin technology. other makeup can sit on your skin, so it looks like...makeup. but trublend has skin twin technology to actually merge with your skin. how easy breezy beautiful is that? trublend...from covergirl.

♪

[ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. [ sighs ] i can't wait till morning. wait! it's morning in china! ♪ [ male announcer ] it's sweet, it's nutty... it's absolutely delicious. kellogg's crunchy nut. it's morning somewhere. but does bringing a floor back to life really make us heroes?

[ chuckles ] yes. yes, it does. ♪ call 1-800-steemer a super controversial super bowl ad. it's time now for the poly side bar. peter hoekstra's senate campaign is standing by an ad. this features an asian female riding a bike through a rice paddy and saying it was a reflection of china's competitive education system. take a look for yourself. >> thank you, michigan senator debbie spend it now. debbie spends so much american money, you borrow more and more from us. your economy get very weak, ours get very good. we take your jobs, thank you debbie spend it now. >> hoekstra is running against

current senator debbie stabenow. they aired last night during the super bowl and will run for two weeks. the boston/new york rivalry doesn't just play out on the field, also on capitol hill. lawmakers placed friend rly wagers. new york senator chuck schumer will be drinking beer courtesy of his new hampshire colleague jeanne shaheen, she's got to buy beer for all of her senate colleagues. and from quarterback to president, could be a possibility for tim tebow. that's right, the denver broncos' qb didn't rule it out when asked during an interview if he might throw his hat in the ring for politics on the golf channel. >> would you ever think of running for office? >> for me, it could be something in my future, something i have to think about and pray about, i have no idea right now, but, you know, possibly.

a man in florida wants newt gingrich to cough up $45,000, claiming one of the security officers stomped him on his foot like he was stomping out a cigarette. the man was wearing sandals and his foot was reportedly fractured. mitt romney's new debate coach is out of a job, reportedly, out of fear he was stealing the spotlight. several reports gave him credit as a man behind romney's improved debate performances, specifically for what we saw in florida. soccer moms are an important voting block analyzed and examined by political campaigns and parties throughout the years. they haven't been a big part of the 2012 debate. where does this pivotal group of supporters stand on the issues of today? and what are the priorities? in the election year, the senior director for moms clean air force. dominique, it's nice to have you here today.

your recent piece "how soccer moms have moved on." what do you mean how they have moved on? are their issues not still important to them when they head out to the polls? >> our children have grown up and left home. we are a huge cohort of voters obviously not in a single block. but our values have changed too as we're getting older. we are much more fiscally conservative, we've been teaching our children good values all these years, and we're looking for that in politicians who are talking to us. >> dominique, explain to us, what are legacy moms? >> legacy moms who are women thinking about the world we're leaving behind for our children. we're watching as our children are having trouble with a tough economy, as they are having trouble getting jobs, we're watching air pollution, global warming issues, and we're thinking we're what kind of morals are our children inheriting?

>> we want something really old-fashioned from politicians, idealism, but we want that served up pragmatically because that's how we've approached everything we've done as moms for the last 25 years. you go for what works and you make it up as you go along. so dominique, does barack obama convey that idealism? that pragmatic decisionmaking that these moms are looking for? or is it someone else? >> i think he does convey that. but i think other politicians could convey that if they stopped being so extreme in their positions and started listening to what people want to hear about. >> dominique brown, it's a great read, interesting to think soccer moms and legacy moms and what everybody leaves behind. and you're right, it's a huge voting block out there in this country that does have very interested concerns in what they want to see get elected. thanks for joining me this morning, i appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. >> absolutely. naked m&ms, overweight dogs,

the average super bowl ad costs $3.5 million for 30 seconds of air time. was that money well spent? we take a look at some of the best commercials. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ what is this shorty? uh, tissues sir, i'm sick. you don't cough, you don't show defeat. give me your war face! raaah! [ male announcer ] halls. a pep talk in every drop.

yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be. ♪ because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu.

and i'm up here. smells so good! ♪ >> all right so it's tradition to talk about the super bowl ads the day after, no matter who you supported last night we all loved to monday morning quarterback the ads, which has people talking and when do not, we are joined by jim cooper.

i like the one with the dog trying i guess bribe the person off of the cat. but explain to all of us, are these the ones that has people talking? >> doritos scored last night. the ads were funny and there were overnight research done and these ads were bar far the most engaged ads with viewers. they resonated well and they scored very highly. >> and people can track it so quickly now to see where people are retweeting. >> absolutely. the twittersphere was buzzing with it. >> they went back to the well with the star wars theme. are people -- or is that resonating with them. this was the dog, this was one of my favorites. >> this is not as funny.

it has a mixed reaction. people love the dog and they at the end do a shout out from star war's theme from last years ad. it was confusing at the end but ultimately it was testia good a. >> a lot of people are talking about the david beckham ad, what is the feedback from that. you do not see a lot of underwear in the ad? >> you do not. my informal poll, people thought it was a bit much but the thing that is amazing it by far blew anybody else out of twitter. he got 113,000 mentions on twitter and the second one was stamos, beckham was the social media winner. >> that is the thing today, now

that they want having the ads find a second home, whether it through people's facebook posting or twitter? >> they are so expensive that they want as much bang for their buck as they can get. so they want that pregame buzz and sort of the after glow on social media. >> it was a good night, it was really fun. thank you for coming. i appreciate your tyime, until tomorrow, following me on thomas a roberts don't go anywhere "now" with alex wagner. >> did you have any comments for last night's ads? >> david beckham is a crowd pleaser. give american what they want. more on the big game, we see what super bowl ads tell us about the presidential race and and i'll tell you how many ribs i ate. hint, too many. what were people watching and

googling and a discussion on birth control and religion, is it a pandora's box? that's all that and my post script of the situation in syria. "now" starts in 180 seconds. i had enough of feeling embarrassed about my skin. [ designer ] enough of just covering up my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. i decided enough is enough. ♪ [ spa lady ] i started enbrel. it's clinically proven to provide clearer skin. [ rv guy ] enbrel may not work for everyone -- and may not clear you completely, but for many, it gets skin clearer fast, within 2 months, and keeps it clearer up to 9 months. [ male announcer ] because enbrel suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal, events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu.

tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. if you've had enough, ask your dermatologist about enbrel. ah, welcome to hotels.com. i get it...guys weekend. yeah! if you're looking for a place to get together, you came to the right place. because here at hotels.com, we're only about hotels. yeah! yeah! noooo. yeah! finding you the perfect place is all we do. welcome to hotels.com a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪

she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪ so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates.

fantastic! [ man ] pro-gresso they fit! okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. >>. it halftime in america. with the democrats versus the republicans. which side wins, come november. all bets are on. it's monday, february 6th and this is "now" joining me is joan walsh and patricia murphy, citizen jane politics. there are many comparisons between the presidential race and last night's super bowl and not just about what happened on the field. two commercials, one national