, with no blackout dates. three polls today show you losing michigan. >> well, that won't happen. >> romney's rocky road, what can he do to stop rick santorum? the smackdown in his home state of michigan. santorum's money man tries to apologize for a bad joke about birth control. but has he already done santorum some real damage? where are the women? when i look at this panel, i don't see one single woman. >> and speaking of women, the controversy rages on, an all male panel testifying about at hearing on birth control. congresswoman maloney joins us live on whether republicans have seriously alienated women voters. and then, laying whitney to

rest, one of the singers invited to her funeral this saturday. i'm thomas roberts and we have a lot on the agenda this morning, starting with mitt romney and rick santorum. flawed candidates fighting over a state that may be the linchpin in the fight to face the president this fall. now both republicans trying to manage stumbles along the primary road. romney publicly searching to find the emotional and personal connection to energize voters. and rick santorum cleaning up a mess left by his biggest financial backer. >> people seem to be so preoccupied with sex, i think it says something about our culture. we maybe need a massive therapy session so we can concentrate on what the real issues are. this contraceptive thing, my gosh, it's such inexpensive. back in my days, you use bayer aspirin for contraceptions, the gals put it between their knees and it wasn't that costly. >> excuse me. i'm just trying to catch my breath from that, mr. friess.

>> he tried to put out the political fire by saying his joke bombed. rick santorum speaks this hour, we'll be watching that live. could all this jeopardize his lead in the state where romney was supposed to have this home field advantage. we want to talk to patricia murphy. she's a contributor for "newsweek" and the daily beast. as we talk about rick santorum, he had a response to those comments and i want to play them for everybody. take a listen. >> i'm not going to be responsible for everybody who, you know, any supporter of mine what they say. i mean, that's -- that's -- i'm not going to play that game. foster is known in political circles as telling a lot of jokes and some of them are not particularly funny, which this one was not. he's not creepy, he's a good man. >> santorum, patricia, trying to make this distinction there and distance himself from the comments at the same time. is foster friess a big problem for santorum?

>> this is -- there is no apology that makes this okay. there's nothing that foster friess can say to put this back in the bottle. and when he says i can't apologize for every backer, this is his biggest backer, the man financing his entire campaign. you can't get rid of that, but it raises for republicans, not just democrats, republicans, the question can rick santorum get elected in general election? comments like this, comments like what rick santorum has already said about contraception that is dangerous and bad for women, no republican gets elected in a general with comments like that out there. >> the romney camp probably looking to capitalize off of this of what's taking place in santorum's campaign. but we constantly do talk about mitt romney's inability to connect with the voters. his stiffness in his appearances. take a look at this example from the trail yesterday. >> it seems right here, trees are the right height. i like seeing the lakes, i love the lakes. just something very special here. the great lakes but also the

little inland lakes that got the parts of michigan -- i love cars. >> he loves cars, he loves lakes, trees, the air. i like that lady's hair over there. is all of this insincere? is he having a tough time connecting in michigan where it should be the easiest? >> you need to have a nominee who people want to watch and are attracted to and want to hear what they have to say. and comments like this are just so -- it hurts so much to watch mitt romney say that. he's got to get past michigan, he's got to win michigan. if he doesn't, he's in so much trouble. this is his larger problem. he's so awkward. people want, i think republicans want to like mitt romney but you can't love somebody -- you can't like them if you don't know who they are. you can't trust them if they don't know who they are. nobody at this point knows who mitt romney is. and comments like that only serve to say he doesn't know who he is. he's got a huge personality problem, rick santorum's got a huge policy problem. republicans in general, i think, are scratching their heads saying what are we going to do?

maybe it shouldn't be either one of these guys. >> patricia murphy, great to see you. i appreciate it. >> thank you so much. we move on now to our panel to talk about the future for these candidates with former white house deputy communications director and tony fratto. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> i want to start with you, tony, the pro-santorum super pac this ad they put up in michigan. take a look. >> obama's reckless agenda must be stopped, and there's only one principled candidate with the courage to do it. rick santorum, father, husband, a champion for life. >> all right, tony, so he's highlighting these credentials he has on social issues. does that help him or hurt him given the controversy raised from foster friess's comments? >> never let your campaign

contributor speak for you. they'll only get you into trouble. i think what santorum is trying to do here is be that authentic voice for republican voters in michigan who really care about these issues and will have high intensity to go out and vote. and that's what he's been able to capture, it's been a challenge for romney to be able to go after those, you know, so-called movement conservatives in the primaries. >> congressman barney frank reacted to these comments, just appeared on "jansing and company" in the last hour. take a look. >> when you have a man who is prepared to support, who did support sending two people of the same sex to prison for consenting sex of their own bedroom, you're not talk about life, you're not talking about children, you're talking about a man who has a particular moral code to which he is fully entitled, trying it as criminal law to impose it on others. >> there's barney frank in the last hour. as we talk about rick santorum

and wanting to walk this fine line of not wanting to alienate his big money guy. does he risk alienating women and voters in general if he allows this to keep going? >> not just the comments of foster friess who is he close to, but the comments about women and the dangers of contraception and working women. he must have been transported from a different era when we still rode horse and buggies around and women hadn't been using birth control for decades. i think barney frank nailed it on the head, he's out of the mainstream on a number of social issues, and that's something that's really coming to light as people start to pay attention in the race. >> and i want ask you both about how romney's camp can capitalize on this. showing the sound bite, romney talking about the trees, the height of the trees, he likes cars, he was talking about girlfriends in the audience the other day. he's trying to come off as a

normal, approachable guy. are republicans worried about him seeming continually robotic and out of touch? >> you know, so far there's some of that. it's hard to escape it, thomas. you know, he needs to find his voice and connect with voters in a way that every candidate running for office, every presidential candidate has been able to find that voice. if he can't find it, he's going to have a tough road over the next month heading into super tuesday to capture those voters as the number of contestants in this race get smaller. but he has to do it. and he's trying to find it. hopefully he can find it for his sake, he can find it in michigan. >> you want to have one of those authentic moments. what do you think his advisers are saying to him when he's trying to demonstrate authenticity? >> well, this is a huge challenge. you know, you can't buy energy and enthusiasm for his candidate or for their candidacy, and you can't change the dynamic or the make-up of a candidate. so mitt romney one of his

biggest problems is exactly that. he doesn't have an ability to connect. or we haven't seen his ability to connect with voters. he hasn't shown an empathy to the challenge middle class americans are facing. and that's a difficult thing to change about someone's personal make-up. >> great to see you both this morning, thank you. >> thank you. >> absolutely. so developing right now on capitol hill, the payroll tax cut fight is coming to a head. and we could be just moments now away from this final vote as we take a live look at the house floor. if it does move through the house, the senate could vote on that measure shortly thereafter. nbc's luke russert is watching all of this on capitol hill this morning. bring us up to speed. >> good morning, thomas. we're going to see around 11:40, 11:45, by that time the house will most likely have passed this bipartisan deal on the payroll tax cut as well as unemployment benefits. this has been somewhat contentious piece of legislation, but they were able

to find common ground this week, a bipartisan group of conferees. however there are republicans in the house that aren't thrilled with this idea. paul ryan on the daily rundown this morning told me that he doesn't think the tax cut extension will help the economy. there are a lot of folks that feel it is not going to be too beneficial. you've also seen on the democratic side the anger about how this deal is paid for. the payroll tax cut is not paid for the $100 billion, the unemployment benefits, part of the pay for of that, the federal workers will have to contribute more to their pension plans. well, who does that upset? members of congress, had a lot of federal workers in their district, specifically a lot of folks from maryland who have very powerful, steny hoyer, ranking member of the budget committee, van hollen says he's going to vote against this deal because of how it's paid for. it's an interesting compromise on capitol hill that does not please either side but eventually go forward with it

because they realize they think it's the right thing to do. the big winner here is president obama, this will be his single biggest domestic policy achievement this year. and i can tell you in all honesty, this is the last thing that will get done on capitol hill in 2012 of any significance. it's all campaign mode now starting in february. >> we'll see the forward motion this hour. luke, thank you. federal immigration agents opened fire inside a federal building in long beach, california, last night. the fbi saying the agent wounded another agent before being shot and killed by a third. the agent who was injured is listed in stable condition. the plane got a little too close to the presidential chopper yesterday. air force fighter jets were scrambled and the plane was escorted to long beach airport. they found about 40 pounds of pot inside that plane. the secret service says president obama was never in any danger.

>> what i want to know is where are the women? >> a panel of all men testifying about birth control. congresswoman carolyn maloney joins me next to talk about this culture war that could have a major impact with women voters. plus, a final farewell to singer whitney houston, the star-studded lineup for her private funeral including aretha franklin. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday.

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where are the women? when i look at this panel, i don't see one single woman. don't we owe it to the tens of millions of american women whose lives will be affected who will let just one, one woman speak on their behalf today on this

panel? >> where are the women? that was the big question posed by congresswoman carolyn maloney on insurance coverage for contraception. maloney and another democrat asked for the addition of a female college student to the panel. they were denied. eleanor holmes norton left in protest, maloney who also left the hearing said she did not leave in protest, but left for another reason. and she talked to me this morning about the notable lack of women there. >> when you left that hearing because there were so few women there practically zero either on the panel or on the committee that it almost looked like a walkout because when you left there were no women there. >> congresswoman, yesterday on andrea mitchell's show, foster friess had this to say about women's contraception. >> back in my days, you used bayer aspirin for contraception, the gals put it between their knees and it wasn't that costly.

>> excuse me. i'm just trying to catch my breath from that, mr. friess. >> when we talk about that sound bite from andrea mitchell's show, this is really just that microcosm of the way certain people think about women's contraceptive health in this country. do you think that is indicative of the conversation that's taking place in this political arena right now? or do you think he was really off message, doesn't mean that, and rick santorum is off message, as well, when it comes to women's health issues. >> rick santorum is very clear. he doesn't believe in the use of contraceptives. he said that in many television interviews, and mr. friess, i'd like to ask him what century he woke up in. this is the 21st century and griswold versus connecticut has been overturned that allowed the use of contraceptives between a married couple. but i think many like him would like to return us to the day

where government's reach went into women's lives, their bodies, what they could have access to, and while i've been in congress, i've seen a constant chipping away at a woman's right to choose by the right-wing republican majority. but now i'm beginning to see an attempt to roll back a woman's right to contraceptive access. it's to me outrageous, it's troubling, and quite frankly quite scary. i would say about mr. friess, another problem with him and others like him is the supreme court decision that allows people like him to have an undue influence on american elections by being able to give unlimited billions, hundreds of millions to the so-called super pac to influence elections, which certainly does -- his view does not reflect the view of the majority of american women. 99% of whom use some form of birth control during their lives.

and to try to deny them that access is just plain wrong. i applaud president obama and his administration for allowing women, if they so choose, to purchase contraceptives from their insurance plan. in no way does it infringe on anyone's religious beliefs. they don't have to provide them. they don't have to use them, they don't have to prescribe them. this is totally separate. >> congresswoman, why do you think this issue in this conversation has become so pivotal for women in america right now? >> well, because women feel very much under siege. we have ballot initiatives across the country. in certain states that would literally roll us back to the days where women would not have access to contraceptives. we have state laws that require them against their will to submit to sonograms. we have all kinds of laws that are really attacking basic rights of women. what i find so unusual, tom, we have a lot of laws in our

country that the majority rules and it becomes the law and no one objects -- i don't object that my tax dollars are being spent for wars that i don't support. the majority rules. i am opposed to capital punishment, but in some cases it's implemented by the federal government and by some states. so you don't see this outcry from religious leaders. but when it comes to a woman's decision, her body, her most personal decisions about her health care, the spacing of her children, her health, all of a sudden there's this huge uproar. we had a woman, a young college student we wanted to speak yesterday. she's at georgetown university, and she was going to speak about the use of birth control for other illnesses that are needed by young women to help them keep their reproductive bodies working appropriately. reproductive health care and really birth control is used in

many cases for other unrelated medical conditions such as endegree me endometriosys. under the president's plan, it will be covered. thank you, president obama, and your administration, it's a step forward for american women, it's a step forward for religious freedom, and i would say conscious freedom and the freedom of women to have the right to choose and right to make decisions about their own health care. >> congresswoman carolyn maloney, thanks for taking time out to join me this morning. i appreciate it. >> thank you so much for your interest. thank you. as we told you about at the top of the hour, what's taking place on the house floor live pictures there where the payroll tax cut vote is taking place. it should be about a 15-minute vote. and we're going to have the results here shortly within the hour. back with much more after this. ♪ they see me rollin'

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welcome back, everybody. police in new jersey are preparing to shut down streets in newark ahead of tomorrow's private funeral for whitney houston. among those expected to attend this invitation only service are actor kevin costner and singer stevie wonder and aretha franklin who are both expected to perform. franklin who whitney called aunt rhee spoke exclusively to al roker this morning on "today." >> one of the last things she sung was "yes, jesus loves me." when god loves you, what can be better than that? >> joining me now shawn robinson. a lot to talk about. and shaun, i want to start with you because first we're going to talk about the star-studded performances expected.

but you have information about ray j. >> absolutely, as you know, ray j had been with whitney for a couple of the last few days of her life. definitely on thursday night. we saw all that video of her leaving the party. and ray j just released a statement and let me read it to you just coming in on my blackberry. he says over the past few days i've tried to process the emptiness that i'm experiencing, what my heart feels cannot be expressed in words. the world lost an icon, but i lost my close friend. nippy, i miss you so much. we were so happy and full of love. your smile will live in my heart forever. that is the statement that ray j has just released. and obviously we know they were very close friends, dating ofei and on during the years and he obviously is very broken up about this. >> we talk about what's going to take place at the funeral. you're saying we have more confirmation about who is going to be performing? >> yes, as we know, aretha

franklin will be there, stevie wonder, also darlene love who is whitney's godmother will be performing at the memorial service. >> and it's invitation only. bobby brown back on stage last night with new edition and he had this to say. take a look, it was in maryland. >> give some love for whitney. ♪ that's my love. >> so, is he officially going to be at this invitation-only funeral? >> i would hope he would be able to be there because he clearly loved her and was a huge part of her life. some want to say maybe she detracted from his life. but you can't take away -- you can't make them be something they're not. if he was able to enable her to do something that she wasn't normally thinking aut doing, he's bringing something out of her that's already there. we can't say that he suddenly changed her into being something she wasn't. he's an important part of her

life and we've got to try to include him in this -- >> probably more drama not to have him there. >> and the family has said it was not true that he was not invited to the service. they said that was not true. they said there was some dissension in the family, but he actually had been invited to the funeral, and he is supposed to be there. >> hard to believe that the "bodyguard" was nearly 20 years ago and kevin costner is supposed to speak at this service tomorrow, is that correct? >> yes, and as you know, kevin costner hand-picked whitney houston for that part in the "bodyguard," they'd kept in touch over the years, definitely not anything recent. certainly no one could forget the two and their chemistry on screen. so, yes, he will be, kevin costner will be at the funeral and speaking. >> such a revolutionary moment in hollywood. you never get to see a black woman, white male relationship love story -- >> certainly not back then. >> not now.

that's how revolutionary that was. >> how are fans reacting to the fact this is private, invitation only and there's not going to be something public like we saw in '09 for michael jackson? >> people understand this is what whitney and her family want. i think when you see her daughter, bobbi kristina rushed to the hospital for stress anxiety, you understand the need for this family to grieve sort of privately. for a moment themselves. >> she's so young, just a teenager herself, so our hearts, the best wishes out to the family. nice to see you both. our special coverage of whitney houston's funeral begins this saturday at noon right here on msnbc. house republicans are being called out by a lot of women for this. a panel made up of all men to talk about female birth control. msnbc host sounds off next. plus, marriage equality is a tough sell in maryland, and not because of red/blue division, but more of a racial divide.

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welcome back, everybody. our sound off segment officially moving to fridays, and there's no better place to start than the comment that has tongues wagging. take a look. >> back in my days, they used bayer aspirin for contraceptives, the gals put it between their knees and it wasn't that costly. >> excuse me. i'm just trying to catch my breath from that, mr. friess. >> melissa harris perry, we also want to congratulate you on being named one of the 100 class of 2012. but i have to say and i give a shot out shout out to my mother who wanted to name your show. and she said did you see foster friess on andrea's show? and the backlash has been

surprising. and patty murray of washington state had this to say. take a look. >> one of the chief financial backers for rick santorum, the republican candidate that's now surging towards the nomination suggested that contraception was once as simple as a woman putting aspirin between her knees. really? shocking. appalling. an insult. >> told you, my mom calls and she says we're not talking about it enough on television. >> it's funny you bring up your mom here, i have been thinking precisely the same thing, there's a generational oddity about this. like i'm surprised. my mother was a young woman very active in the sort of reproductive rights movement in the early 1970s because women didn't have the right to choose, because birth control was not as widely available. and i think she thought she fought that battle that that was

over and sort of whatever would happen, you know, after that, we'd have other fights but that one was settled. and the idea that my daughter might now be going into a world where contraception would be less available to her is just a stunning reversal of something i think we believed we had already settled. >> and what that sets up not only for your daughter but your grandchildren and great granddaughters. >> but much more quickly is, in fact, there's no access to contraception. >> we've got that to talk about. capitol hill, the hearing yesterday, that had this panel to talk about it that was entirely made up of men, no women. here's what senators barbara boxer and kristen jillibrand had to say. >> a republican house of representatives that is so hostile to women's health that they didn't even think about having a person on there who was a female. >> when will they get this simple, nondebatable fact.

the power to decide whether or not women will use contraception lies with her. >> it's going to take more of those stances to get the message across and to call people out when they need to. do you think it's really going to change, though, what the dynamics are modern day 2012 in washington, d.c. right now? >> well, remember, these dynamics got worse. in 2010, the year that was hailed as the gop woman, this primary season. we lost ground for the first time since the 1970s in the number of women elected to congress. so for the first time in my lifetime, actually had fewer women go to congress in 2010. and then just two years later, we see this. so the fact is it does matter. democrat and republican women. it matters to have more women there because women change the conversation. i mean, this is a point about we can't have an all men's panel. contraception is not just a women's issue. men care a great deal about

contraception. family planning is a family issue, but that said, the optics of this are all wrong. you don't want an all-male panel. >> -- to have this conversation, to be able to unify, maybe not politically on it but to be able to raise awareness that we can't be having all male panels discussing a woman's reproductive rights. >> absolutely. one of the things we've traditionally seen in congress is that women representatives are more likely to co-sponsor bills across lines based on issues of family planning, women's health, issues of child care and education, so, in fact, having more women in congress also leads to more bipartisanship. >> melissa harris-parry. tomorrow, the new show debuting tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. eastern, couldn't happen to a nicer, better, smarter woman only here on msnbc. >> thank you. breaking news i was telling you habit this hour, the house and their vote taking place is now done. voted to extend the payroll tax cut until the end of this year. the senate is expected to take

up that vote a little later today. roughly between 2:00 and 3:00 we anticipate. well, here's a look at some other stories topping the news now for you. in syria, the u.n. general assembly used a symbolic vote to condemn assad and support an a similar resolution was vetoed that would've given more power. anthony shadid died yesterday during an assignment in syria for the "new york times." shadid suffered an asthma attack while covering the continuing conflict. he was a veteran foreign reporter covering the war in iraq in the arab spring. and he talked about surviving a kidnapping in libya last year on msnbc's "morning joe." >> remember, listening to people speaking one man did say shoot them. and it felt like a minute to me elapsed, but it was probably a matter of seconds. and as you pointed out, his colleague said, you can't, they're americans.

and i dwelled on that idea that why that would've necessarily saved us, and the only thing i could gather is we were somehow worth something to them. >> big loss in the journalism community, his body was carried into turkey by the "new york times" photographer tyler hicks. after a highly publicized trial and an acquittal, amanda knox will get to tell her side of the story. the 24-year-old whose four-year trial made national and international headlines signed a $4 million book deal to write a memoir. this book will include journal excerpts from while she was in prison. now it's guaranteed. [ foreman ] so i can trust 'em. unlike randy. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. crisp, clear, untouched. that's why there's brita, to make the water we drink, taste a little more, perfect. reduce lead and other impurities

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it's us that work out here. [ michael ] we're on the forefront of revitalizing manufacturing. we're proving that it can be done here, and it can be done well. [ ilona ] i come to ge after the plant i was working at closed after 33 years. ge's giving me the chance to start back over. [ cindy ] there's construction workers everywhere. so what does that mean? it means work. it means work for more people. [ brian ] there's a bright future here, and there's a chance to get on the ground floor of something big, something that will bring us back. not only this company, but this country. ♪ the uphill battle for marriage equality has made several strides over the last 24 hours. >> i declare the bill passed. let the bill take the usual course of passed bills. >> the new jersey state assembly passed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage. it's just been sent to chris

christie who has promised to veto it, though. in maryland, backers of the governor's same-sex marriage bill have exactly the number of votes they need, 71. but one critical delegate who expected to vote yes was rushed to the hospital on thursday. while the religious divide has dominated the debate in maryland, that's especially within the african-american churches. we have a vocal opponent of the same-sex marriage bill moving through the legislature and joins me now. sir, it's good to have you with us this morning, and we're going to be speaking to a minister in favor of the same-sex marriage bill in a moment. and he says the people in the pews are much farther along than those at the pulpit. do you think that's true? >> absolutely not. >> why is that? >> because that's a statement that, again, cannot be founded, not grounded on truth. that's an assumption, that's an opinion. if the truth be told, we as representatives of our lord and savior jesus christ are supposed

to convey to the people what the word of god teaches and declares and there seems to be an error in the ways of my dear friend, my dear brother. therefore that statement is unfounded and it's not grounded. >> sir, with maryland, there are religious protections offered as governor o'malley has said two religious institutions, this is based for civil marriage. how come you can't take religion out of the picture here and allow this to be civil marriage in the state of maryland? >> that's a great question. the reality is every democracy must fall under a theocracy, that is to dictate the civil rights of individuals and to help them to understand that, listen, there's something that's going on that, again, can negatively impact us if we allow civil rights in this regard to be pressed, to be pushed, to be received, and before you know it it's going to come up again another way, another form,

another fashion. it sounds very simple, very cold, cool, calm, and collected, but it's not. there are some subtleties that are underneath it that we need to deal with and if we don't deal with it now, it will come sooner rather than later. >> do you understand there are people for civil marriage in terms of marriage equality in the state of maryland. look at this as an act of oppression by religious leaders and religious persecution trying to selectively pinpoint the lgbt minority and keep them a way from god-given rights in this country. >> well, and that's -- we are aware of that, but the reality is that's not what we're doing. we're trying to help them understand that according to the scriptures and according to the mandates of scripture that marriage is constituted by a man and a woman. and when you deal with a man, you deal with a woman, then that is what god sanctions. god does not sanction the marriage between two men and two women, it's not biblical.

therefore, from our perspective, what we have to do is share with them what the integrity of scripture states and then based upon the integrity of scripture lead them down a pathway of righteousness away from what contradicts scripture because it is a violation of the scripture. and that's who we represent. we represent god and his word. and as men and women of god, we have to share the pathway of deliverance of these individuals, our sisters and brothers to help them know, yes, god loves you but god is a holy god. and he desires us to enter into relationship male and female, so out of that relationship we can procreate and move forward. >> what would you say to atheists who want to get married or people who want a second marriage and don't want to have children or people who don't want to have children at all? can you base it on procreation and not see that people deserve to have these civil rights to love who they want? >> and again, great question. but the response and our response to that is that once

again scripture is very clear. if an atheist gets married, they can get married. there's nothing wrong with that. as long as they're male and female, it's between a male and a female. and therefore the purpose behind marriage originally was with the intent of procreating and reproducing in the earth. if an individual, unfortunately, is unable to do so, then there are other steps that have to be taken and we recognize and realize that. but we are not here to oppress individuals. as a matter of fact, we're here to help them get set free from the oppression and the enemy that is blinding their eyes to see the reality of what marriage is supposed to constitute. male and female according to godly standards. >> sir, thanks so much. and on the other side of this is the pastor of the church and he's been supporter for marriage equality in the bill for

maryland. you heard what the pastor had to say there. why do you disagree? >> well, i'm supporting the civil marriage protection act because i believe it's critical in america that we keep a separation between church and state. listen, i believe that our assignment is to live in our faith not to legislate it. and i think one of the great aspects of our democracy is that we are able to protect religious freedom without infringing upon individual liberties at the same time. and for me, my belief in the separation of church and state causes me to ask a different question. my question is not do i or what does my local church believe about same-sex marriage, but the question that i ask is whether my neighbors, fellow citizens, family members, whomever have -- do they have the same basic rights as the rest of us? >> why do you think, though, there's such a divide when it comes to the african-american community over this issue?

>> well, i want to make sure that we don't make this an issue that it's not. i don't think this is a racial matter. i think that the divide is around a particular principle. i think that you heard from your prior guest that from his perspective as i understand it that he believes we ought to legislate our faith traditions, our doctrine. and my perspective is that the greatness of our country comes when you maintain a separation between matters of theology and public policy. i think it establishes a dangerous public policy precedent in america to use theology. however, sincerely so, as a basis of public policy. >> pastor, thanks so much for joining me today and i appreciate it. >> thank you. i want to show you these live pictures from shelby, michigan, right now, rick santorum holding a campaign rally there, just spoke about contraception and the controversy. take a quick listen. >> it's about your constitutional rights. >> santorum continuing to

distance himself from foster friess, one of his supporter's comments to our own andrea mitchell. ♪ that right now, you want to know where you are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you, and what we heard helped us create pnc wealth insight, a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor, so you can make better decisions and live achievement. [ woman speaking indistinctly over radio ] home protector plus from liberty mutual insurance... [ alarm blaring ] where the cost to repair your home, replace what's inside, and stay somewhere else if you need to are covered. because you never know what lies around the corner.

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well the houston family is expected to go to the funl rally home this afternoon for a private viewing of houston's body. there will be security there at the funeral tomorrow at noon. the funeral is invitation only. with me is reverend jessie jackson. it's nice to see you but not under these circumstances. >> it's not real yet. >> it's taking time to seep in. >> watching had her as a teen e teenager, the houston family and franklin family, she sang with aretha and elvis pressley. she inherited those pipes that

she had. but the environment she came out was of was tremendous that helped to take her to another level. she was as personalable as she was great. >> tomorrow, is it going to be a traditional home going? really musically grounded and a celebration of her life? >> i think so, her pastor, a tremendous preacher, will be presiding. he is a dynamic preacher. we will urgent him to sing a bit. but reverend marvin wyans will be tremendous. so, stevie wonder is coming in, and the wylands are coming in. it will be a great musical celebration her last song she

sang was "jesus loves me" which shows her forever kinship to her faith. >> what cannot be overlooked was she was a solid christian. >> you have to go to new hope baptist church a sunday morning to appreciate what she comes out of. to listen to her mother sing and to see her around aretha franklin and see her around that environment, that was what projected her and she had a unique set of pipes and

rick santorum's biggest backer, can his campaign get back on message. and congress. how lame of a lame duck session can we expect this year? one that is problemly pretty lame. and what is in a name, we will look at what just happened this week. all that when "now" starts in a mere 180 seconds. 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'. over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side.

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