almost three times what it took in in january, and still he's trailing rick santorum in the polls and in momentum, in spite of comments like this. >> he went to reverend wright's church for 20 years. you can question what it is. he says he's a christian, he goes to a christian church now. >> dana mill bank, a columnist for "the washington post." good to see both of you. >> good to be here. >> good morning, chris. >> santorum brings up jeremiah wright. why would he do that, ari? >> i think he brings up jeremiah wright to say, hey, the media shouldn't hold him responsible for everything that happens. also, whether it's fair or not, it allows him to try to say it's him versus obama, right? this is what he's trying to do. it's not just that mitt romney is struggling.

he needs to be seen as a credible challenger. >> is it going to work? >> look, chris. this is about economic jobs. particularly looking ahead to the michigan primary here, it seems that rick santorum understands this. he just can't help himself. it's been all about world war ii and am knee olsen tee sis. in the long term it's more of a suici suici suicide pact because he's disqualifying himself. >> it just so happens that my "jansing & co." has that sound bite you're referring to, dana, so let me play that for you. >> they want to talk about the

issues that, you know, fit their narrative, and their narrative is, oh, rick santorum, all he cares about is these issues. rick santorum cares about all the issues. >> it's such a fine line he's walking, going for that base, consistently going for that base, but, ari, alienating, you would think a pretty large swath of those that are the middle ground, the independent. >> that's right. i agree with dana there. but this is vintage rick santorum. he was a guy who went to the senate. he was. about manufacturing or economic stimulus. he was about, quote/unquote, partial birth abortion, and taking that issue, which, by the way, however you feel about it, is a very rare procedure, and turning it into a national issue. >> what's fascinating about it to me is it seems to me to be what's gotten him to where he is now. because even when you talk about republicans who don't particularly like all the different opinions that they have, they even maybe find him

too conservative, they finding him consistent. what do you say when he was in the senate 10, 15 years ago is exactly what he's saying now and that's rarity. >> you know, chris, in a room full of phonies, the crazy believer comes off better than the rest of them. >> you write in your piece, dana, and it was fantastic, the sizzle of romney and ron portman, and so i want to play a little clip. >> the man to do that is mitt romney. let's give him a warm cincinnati welcome. [ applause ] >> thank you, thank you. thank you, senator. that was -- that was quite an introduction. >> and then you write, if this is the romney that voters see, he's doomed. you know, i mean, look, a couple of months ago the conventional wisdom was it's inevitable. now most of them are

backtracking at least a little bit on the inevitability question, but there's a sameless that rick santorum is drawing such a strong contrast i dou. >> maybe you'll have me come back to eat my words at some point, but if you look at what mitt romney is doing in public, you can see why he can't get above 30%, 35% in the polls. the guy's just not a very inspiring candidate. what he has been effective is a cold-blood killer through the ads, the campaign, the super pac, is knocking out all of the opponents whether it's rick perry or newt gingrich and now you can see him making some progress against rick santorum in michigan. it's really about mowing down the other guy. i think that's why he's still in the race and i think the national opinion polls may not be reflective if romney can succeed in disem boweling rick

santorum the way he did newt gingrich. >> is that why he's in trouble? the reason he comes off as this guy is because all he can do is sling mud, go after these folks with these nasty ads. most of them, up until now, have been from his pac. >> that's exactly what works in politics. he'll take a beating for being this ugly nasty campaigner. doesn't do it himself on the stump. he lets everyone else does. this stuff does. so he may emerge as an extremely unpopular but successful candidate. >> successful because he's making other folks nervous. nervous because they don't think for exactly the reasons we talked about. i don't hear a lot of establishment people coming out necessarily to defend or try to prop up mitt romney. on the other hand, you do hear talk about a brokered convention or other people coming in.

what are you going to do? >> i think you put your finger on it. on the one hand, there's all this anxiety. newt gingrich got a backlash from former senators and people of the republican party, we haven't seen that negative hit on rick santorum. parnltly because you can't push back on somebody that's this popular and because he's a nice enough guy that will soon enough go away. we're a long way from a brokered convention. if you look at the facts here, mitt romney has 100 delegates, rick santorum has about 70 and there's a thousand left to play. there's a lot of room to get a clench in the nomination, even if mitt romney does it very slowly. >> stick around. good morning. thanks for coming on. >> good morning. thanks for the time. >> what about all these social issues? obviously they've been appealing to the base. your candidate has exceeded expectations. but in a general election, there's a lot of concern among

the republicans that he just can't win, his views are too stream. >> right. chris, i don't know what time you wake up in the morning but you should catch your own network's ""morning joe"" because it was very enlightening. it was very interesting that they've heard rick santorum on the stump several times. it's the media who seems to be enamored with the fact that he's social conservative. >> this has been a key part of the politician. this is not a case when rick santorum has talked about social issues because he was pushed to do it. >> right. i mean that's who he is. i mean he doesn't have to tact to the right on the social issues like mitt romney because he actually firmly believes those things. but i think that -- >> why, for example, jeremiah

wright, why wring thbring that ? >> he was asked about that. much to my dismay, rick answers questions that are asked and we have to talk about it yf ward. but voters appreciate that he's going to take the heat and answer the questions. he's been talking about the issues nationwide but he's been focusing on jobs in the economy. it's important to note, yeah, he talks about social issues but he won the vote from the state of pennsylvania than a million other democrats. this notion that he won't be able to play nationally or pick up the independent or moderate vote is just silly. the fact of the matter is people want somebody that they can trust. >> he also lost significantly the third time. and honestly just to erase all of that, we're in a very different political climate right now in a very different economic climate and we see the new michigan poll showing romney back in the lead. his people saying they're not worried about the state. do you think he's losing his

momentum in michigan? >> no. it's mitt romney's home state. he's been touting it as such when he's in a commercial or canadian-made car or he and his father pointing to a picture of a car pier taken in new york and claiming it was in detroit. he's declared the entire time he will win michigan. he's fairly deblt in that and that's fine. >> it's game changer, which is bad news for your candidate. >> you mean if rick santorum wins michigan? >> no. if mitt romney wins michigan. the conventional wisdom, granted it's been wrong at times in this campaign, but the conventional wisdom is if mitt romney loses michigan, he's in serious trouble. but with if he wins michigan, doesn't he get the momentum back? >> no. that's like alabama playing middle tennessee at home. it's their home field. if they beat middle tennessee

state by 50, they were supposed to. >> so newt gingrich is right and you'd say rick santorum also has to win pennsylvania? >> no. that's what i'm saying. our campaign has absolutely never focused the result of one poll or the outcome of one election. this campaign is about a national strategy, and we've been laerping that from day one. we're not focused on any one state and it's not a live or die regardless of the outcome. we're focused on the entire country and we're taking that message to everybody and you're seeing that you're seeing it in the national polls and you saw it in missouri, minnesota, and colorado. we feel very comfortable. chris, i don't want to oversimplify why people vote for a candidate. you know so much as i do, in american politics, do i know you, do i trust you, do i like you, period. they know mitt romney after running six years for president,

they know him as governor and they just don't like him. they don't trust him. rick santorum, they know him, they trust him. it doesn't mean they agree with him on everything. wait does mean is that he's a solid candidate they know they can trust when the nation's in trouble, when the economy is struggling, and when the family is being attacked from every side from the government, they can beat out a leading conservative. >> hogan gidley, it's good of you to come on, thank you so much. mitt romney has a couple of things, there's the debate in arizona wednesday and he's got a big economic speech in detroit on friday. but a week out, suffice it to say, michigan is crucial. he's got one event today. his team is focusing on message. peter alexander is traveling with the romney campaign. peter, what's the strategy now with this final week? >> reporter: chris, good morning to you. it's interesting to listen to hogan talk about the

alabama/middle tennessee state game. mitt romney here again today for what is specifically as you know a messaging event. and the message is very clear on a big sign they put up about a half hour ago behind us. it reads "cut the spending." they want to make it very clear they're focused on improving the american economy, cutting spending and creating jobs. he's trying to draw a very stark contrast between santorum's campaign and romney's campaign, to use their language he's creating a controversial day when he talks about the existence or need for the public schools, also the comments about prenatal testing and the like. they say they're very focused their methods. they recognize what matters and despite all the metheds, they believe they will do very well here one week from today. chris? >> peter alexander, thank you so much.

gentlemen, let me bring you back in. it is so interesting to me. you have on one hand, style, and think there's general agreement rick santorum wins there. substance, you could make an argument, i think, either way, but clearly the romney people thing they can go after rick santorum on substance. on these social issues, who trumps in that kind of a standoff? >> you know, i think the biggest thing that jumped out in your interview with hogue began is, look, people in this republican parties do not trust mitt romney. that's a strong character attack. what we'll have to see is if we hear that kind of language out of rick santorum's mouth during these debates. >> will we, dana? >> sure, you're going to see that kind of language come it. you may see other language come out of rick santorum's mouth. that's discipline. he talks about economy but he lets himself get distracted. romney may have all kinds of flaws but he's a very

disciplined candidate but keeps it on trachlkt. >> it's great to have you in. thank you. >> thanks, chris. unemployment is down, stock market and consumer confidence is up. former san francisco mayor willie brown is here to weigh in next. the employee of the month is... spark card from capital one. spark cash gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding. [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? this guy's amazing. ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ]

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willie brown is here to weigh n

a big issue is getting new life at the supreme court. justices have decided they will take up a challenge to affirmative action at the university of texas. nbc justice correspondent pete williams is live at the supreme court. what are the details, pete? >> reporter: it was eight years that they said the nation's colleges could take race into

account in admissions. this is a new challenge to the policy. this comes from a young woman who didn't get it. she claimed minority students who didn't have as good of test scores as she had got in. since they gave the school the green light to do this, there's been a big change. there is a more conservative supreme court so it's very much in doubt how the court may rule when it looks at this question again. it seems likely that the court having granted it today, i think the calendar is full for the rest of this term, so it probably would not hear the case until the fall. >> pete williams, thank you for that. with all the uncertainty in the republican field, the obama campaign is facing aed by of a conundr conundrum. a surging rick santorum does throw a bit of a monkey wrench in that strategy. i'm joined by former mayor of

san francisco willie brown. he writes a column in the chronicle called "willie's world." good morning, mayor brown. >> good morning. i think the obama campaign will do exactly what mr. obama has been doing for the last several months and that is touting his successes and the challenges his administration has had to meet and how they have met those challenges and with great success. i think he will continue in that vein and that will resonate well as long as the economy keeps perking in the fashion it has been moving. >> that's the question. they say things may look better for barack obama but $5 a gallon of gas in the sum eric we saw the bailout in greece, that's

done well in the stock market today, but all you need is something bad to happen in the economy and it could turn bad quick will i for the president. do you buy that? >> no, doichbt thank. i think the economy is being managed by the democrats at the white house level the way it should be managed. he's also very, very connected to the rest of the world. and the rest of the world in terms of its economy is moving. when he met with the vice president of china just last week, that was another step in the right direction to make sure he continuously manages how this world works from an economy standpoint, and i think he will continue to do that, and the republicans are frankly at bay. they are in trouble. they don't have a good candidate. dhienlt have a good message. and they certainly have not been able to touch the target, barack obama. >> let me ask you about the two leading candidates here. donald trump never at a loss for words had this to say about rick santorum. >> there's no gift, no christmas

gift that could be given better than rick santorum for the democrats. they are just salivating at that. and, you know, i don't think they believe it's going to happen, but, boy, would they like it to happen because that would be an easy election. >> would the nomination of rick santorum be a christmas gift for you, mr. mayor? >> no, not at all. donald trump doesn't speak for the democratic party, nor does he give good words or good advice on people seeking public office as evidenced by the fact he has bailed out every time he's talked about running. that's again, i think whenever candidate the republicans ultimately select, it will be a welcome opportunity for the contrast with barack obama, whether it's mitt romney, whether it's santorum, whether it's newt gingrich, whether it's ron paul, or whether it's one of the people not yet, jeb bush or

chris christie. >> do you see that happening because there's a lots of talk, mr. mayor, about a brokered convention to their point that you thing they have a weak field right now, that somebody stronger, mitch daniels, jeb bush, chris christie might come in. what's the percentage chance you give of that happening? >> i would say probably 60/40. >> really. that high. >> i thaerng's really high because there do not appear to be a dominant force among the republicans in the primary. they're still interviewing, so to speak, and that's why you keep having a new front-runner every now and then. that's when you know that there's a potential for an interesting convention and we political junkies would love nothing better than to see that kind of a convention. >> mayor willie brown, it's great of you to come on. it's great to see you. >> thank you. comedian stephen colbert is

back. last night he talked about why he was gone. >> before we start the broadcast tonight i just want to address my recent absence from the national conversation. as the hub around which the republican turns, i can understand why the machinery of this great nation ground to a halt last week when you were denied this. evidently having 11 children makes you tough as nails. confidential to a lovely lady. but now, folks -- >> that lovely lady is his 91-year-old bhomother was ill. he took some time off to be with her. >> who are your business entrepreneurs of the week? seven years ago these brothers bought a run down complex. they updated with new screens, state of the art technology and

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in just about an hour, president obama will talk about the payroll tax cut and he'll have some regular folks with him who will get a boost for extra $40 per paycheck.

and then tonight, bb king, mick jagger, and buddy guy will be there for a blues celebration. the race for number two. senator marco rubio is leading by rick santorum and governor chris christie. you've got to hear him talking to a crowd yesterday in oklahoma taking a shot at the president. >> the president has said, you know, you ought to buy smaller cars. now, let me start with the simple premise that most oklahomans will understand. you cannot put a gun rack in a volt. and astronaut mark kelly is writing a children's book. his kid's book will be about a mouse's trip into space. february is black history month and on this day in 1965, civil rights activist malcolm x

was shot and killed by assassins while giving a speech at the autobahn ballroom in new york city. shortly before his death, malcolm x began to reform his views by any means necessary. here's martin king jr. who would fall fall years later. >> it was an unfortunate strategy and it reveals still numerous people in our nation who have de-jen rated to the point of expressing the murder and we haven't learned to disagree without being volatilely disagreeable. the most rewards of any small business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding. [ male announcer ] introducing spark

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an investigation. one official says troops were disposing of about 30 korans belonging to former detainees. the offense was not, he said, intentional. former los angeles teacher mark burns will be arraigned today on charges of committing lewd acts on 23 children age 6 to 10 from 2005 to 2010. the case has brought shocked and outrage to the city, including having them remove the entire half-sta staff of the elementary school. jury continues today in the trial of the rutgers student who continuously reported and streamed another student's encounter online. 19-year-old dharun ravi faces 15 counts and as much as ten years in prison. new campaign finance numbers are out for january and they show president obama's campaign took in a lot more money than

his republican rievts. the romney campaign raised $6.5 million. $29 million for the obama campaign. and romney is spending fast. he's got $7.7 million cash on hand. the obama campaign has 10 times that amount. but then you go to the super pacs and then it's a whole new ball game. msnbc's richard lui has been crunching the numbers and they are interesting. >> january was a super pacced landslide for the gop. over 450 times the democrats in grand totals. $28 million versus, listen to this, 58,000. here tees breakdown. the pro newt gingrich super pac almost doubled the mitt romney super pac. the other two groups, just a little bit behind there, fif ogts f the lead there. the super pacs are spending more than they're earning. the group for mitt romney spent

$14 million and you can see that on the right-hand side. a select few remain key donors to all of this money. a name not heard very often, peter thiel. $1.7 million to ron paul, sheldon adelson and harold simmons. here's our campaign fund-raising right now. for them the super pacs outraised their campaigns by almost double. rick santorum and ron paul saw smaller but significant contributions compared to the campaign numbers. but let's stay on the campaign's fund-raising. here are the numbers again. here's the campaign spend. romney's hemorrhaging cash, spending close to $19 million. that's almost three times more than what he took in. gingrich and paul spending more

than raised. santorum, the only candidate who is above water. what could this mean? well, at the current rate, romney would only have cash for 18 days. and paul and gingrich, 2 to 4 months. and santorum, he would be fine because he's above water as i mentioned. now, of course, there will be changing in spending loans. it et cetera. the dash for cash, well, that could get rash. >> yeah. once michigan happens, all bets are off. we'll see how even changes. thank you so much there. fascinating stuff, richard. let me bring in democratic strategist steven mann. they were not expecting to have to spend this kind of money, were they? >> no, they were not, and they're going to have to spend a lot more because rick santorum is on a tear. we know they going have 13 or 14

primaries in the next three weeks or so and you look at the polls all around the country starting in michigan and incluesing places like ohio, and big states like texas, rick santorum is leading in some places by 20 points. so mitt romney needs every pen he's got. he's going to have to spend a lot more. rick santorum has momentum. he's a candidate to watch. >> on the other side, you've about got pry yoriorities usa, president obama obviously making that statement. can he make up this, saying, aye, even though i don't think super pacs are a great idea, we have to level the playing field, do you think we're going to see significantly different numbers for him in february? >> i don't know about february but you'll see significantly different numbers. the president has decided, think made the right decision, that he's not going to basically compete under a different set of rules that the republicans are competing under. you saw $59,000 go to priorities usa in the last month but as

this race heats up and into the fall, you ooh going to see a lot of money move swoog the super pacs on both sides and i expect the president to, you know -- his side of the ledger is going to have quite a bit of money as well. >> you know, howard, it's easy to say, how are they spending all this money, but that's because new york is not a battle state. yo gou to florida and turn on the tv and you see the ads and where the money is going. mitt romney, his super pac is up in michigan with their very first attack ad. let me play part of it for you. >> america is drowning in nation alg debt, yet rick santorum supported billions in -- >> i've had a lot of earmarks. in fact, i'm proud of all the ear marks. >> i'm going to eliminate some of the programs. the easy one to get rid of is obama care. it's test these so critical. does it make sense to borrow from china to pay for it. >> that's a pretty dramatic ad

with man with his hands above him, drowning. >> the net result is a couple of things. one, is a lot of the candidates are going to be broke after they leave michigan, and, number two, a lot of them are damaging their chances in the national election by going so negative. >> research shows negative ad spending is six times now what it was in 2008 already. let me check out this new ad. this is from ron paul. he's also taken a shot at rick santorum. >> is this dude serious? fiscal conservative? really? santorum voted to raise the debt ceiling five times, double the size of the department of education. rick santorum, a fiscal conservative? fake. >> i'm ron paul and i approve

this message. >> what do you think? is that effective? he's obviously running as a conservative's conservative. his entire push has been because he stuck to these conservative positions that he's had and stated them very forcefully. is that a very good counter to it? >> you know, it is theoretically a good counter, but i was in florida during the primary there, and you see so many negative ads that you just sort of glaze over after a while, and santorum did something really wise. he sort of warned his supporters, you're going see a lot of nastiness from me because my numbers are moving up in the polls and don't be swayed because i'm the guy who has stuck to my opinions. and believe me, if santorum had more money, he would be lashing out against his opponents. he's decided do it in a very modest way because he doesn't have the financial resources that the other candidates do right now. but he will. his numbers are growing. his national poll lead is growing. and if he wins michigan, all

bets are off on what was expect dodd be a pretty easy primary season for romney. >> and i wonder if that's helped him? this is a guy who came into the campaign with virtually how much money he had in his pocket, steve. >> yeah. it has helped him. if you look at where his money is coming from, he's raising money from small donors. in fact, i think his average contribution is under $3 million. he's putting the small dollars away. mitt romney is raising $2,300 a clip and that's the maximum an individual can give in a primary. san toirm has to go back to the people who have given 300 and ask for another 300 and grow that list. we've seen that with the obama campaign, howard dean campaign before that. he's a little bit of rookt ship that the romney campaign hasn't figured out how to bring back down to earth. >> let me ask you this.

on the other end of the spectrum, the non-300 and less donors, you had sheldon adelson who had newt gingrich's campaign going. forbes may give him another 10 to $100 million. do voters pay attention to that kind of thing? do you think when you start of talking those kind of numbers they start to say this election is being bought? >> you know, i honestly don't think they pay that much attention. thank pay attention to what's on the air. thank pay attention to what they hear, and i think they pay attention to what's in the debates. i think you're talking really inside the beltway when you start talking about where the money comes from, but i think it will be important because romney just doesn't have any place to go but new donors and santorum is a lot like the president. he has a lot of small donors. it's going to make his way much easier as he goes forward. >> howard bragman, good to see

you. steve mcmahon. thank you. look at the dow. ten points from 13,000. we're going to keep our eye on that. in the meantime, $5 gas is here. while the national average is now $3.57 a gallon. the price of premium is more than $5 at a gas station in los angeles. >> it impacts everything, you know. it's going to impact how much cheerios cost and -- >> gas prices are crazy. aisle probably ride my bike to work. >> mandy drury is here. it's the highest it's been since this time of year ever? >> that's right. in terms of whether it's going to stop, it doesn't feel like it's going to stop. prices, as you say, chris, have never been this high this time of year, they're expected to climb in the weeks ahead.

while it's painful for individuals like you and me, it also risks becoming a major problem for the overall economy as well. every $10 increase in oil prices cuts gdp. it doesn't look like the prices are going to come down any time soon when you look at the reasons. such as iran. they're keeping the region very tense. there are reports of saudi arabia cutting imports and experts and many are operating at refineries. there was a fire at washington state on friday. all of these factors are keeping the prices aet the painful levels. >> thank you so much, mandmandy always. if gas prices make you want to scream, let me remind you of a painting called "the scream." the only one still in private hands. not sure what it went for in

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[ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. you by probee onlyics. new studies from the uk show that hon' may help kill strep back tear yachlt other medical uses for honey, including healing skin infections and treatment for diabetic ulcers. hi, everybody, good morning. i'm thomas roberts. the agenda for the next hour, mitt romney, the gop underdog? how did rick santorum get the lead and how the romney camp is looking to be back at the top of its political game. then the right to use the "n" word when teaching a class. why is a white teacher in chicago suing for the right to use the word with his sixth

graders? that teacher lincoln brown will join me. and then president obama speaking about congress, agreeing to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance but what is the next step to get unemployed americans back to worth? the president's live remarks in our hour. chris. >> look forward to that, thomas. thank you. reuters reports iran is threatening to take action preemptively if it thinks its national interests are threatened. concerns are growing other iran's nuclear program. right now it's day two by the visit of the international atomic energy agency team. mini michael singh is director. they say, quote, our strategy now is if our enemies want to endanger iran's national interest and want to decide do that, we will act without waiting for their actions. realistically, how likely do you think it is that iran would strike first? >> i think that iran has so far

confined itself to asymmetric call attacks. i don't see any indication that that would change. i mean iran has certainly been bell a koes. it's had a lot of blues ter about attacks but generally i think it's cognizant that its capabilities are less than that of the united states and would put itself at grave risk. >> they're saying that the investigators can't go to nuclear facilities. does that worry you? was that expected? >> well, it's a real test right now for u.s. strategy because the obama administration has staked a lot on increasing the pressure and hoping that that would force iran essentially to come to the negotiating table. now, if this visit by the iaea officials doesn't go well or if they simply get the cold shoulder by iran, it suggests that maybe more pressure is necessary or that this simply isn't going to end up in a negotiating solution.

>> and i guess the question is where do you think israel is going to fit in in all of this? >> well, i think, again, the visit by the iaea if it doesn't go well, they'll have to convince them they geevet more trickings up their sleeve or that at the end of the day, president obama will order a military attack. and that requires a lot of trust and consultation. and that is probably why we see tom donilin, the national security adviser in israel, for example, prime minister netanyahu coming to the white house on march 5. these are the discussions we'll be having, chris. >> before i let you go, michael, i need to ask you about syria. the red cross is calling for a two-day cease-fire so they can get in there and get aid. what do you think the chances are that that's going to happen? >> general dempsey who's ahead of our military said over the weekend that arming the rebels was premature. i'm not sure why he says it's

premature. it seems as though it's been going on for quite some time, but it does seem like the united states is not eager to send weapons into syria, especially given the allegations about al qaeda involvement with the opposition there. i don't think we'll see much, chris, before friday which is when the friends of syria will meet tunis. >> all right. michael singh, good to have you on again. thank you so much. >> thanks, chris. as we've been talking this morning, what's going on in the middle east, has to do with the cost of the gas. donald trump is tweeting. the tweet of the day. quote, mark my words, a gallon of gas will be $5 during the summer. opec is ripping us off. there's nobody in our administration to protect us from opec. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

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mardi gras. nothing but net, and a test tube burger. let's get down to the wire. it is fat tuesday, and no place does mardi gras like new orleans.

there will be more than a dozen parades just today with thousand of revelers watching. will ferrell, he's in the big easy filming a movie. and how's this for a celebration. an oregon high school senior with special needs got to play in his first varsity game and saved that three-pointer. valentin alloway sat on the bench for four years. the coach gave him one shot, senior night, and boy did he make the most of it. imagine a trial. she took the pumpkin. she offered to pay for it immediately. instead she's been charged with shoplifting. rihanna and chris brown putting their differences aside. he tweeted her, happy birthday, to which she replied thank you.

different kind of revival. russian scientists have brought a prehistoric plant back to life. it's pretty. experts are working to verify this is the oldest on record to be cloned and grown from ancient issue. and how about this for a scientific breakthrough. a biologist in the netherlands says he's close to creating the first burger grown in the lab. so far he's grown muscle-like. there's more but thankfully we were saved by the bell. yeah. that wraps up this hour of "jansing & co." i'm chris jansing. thomas robert is up next. i'll see you back here tomorrow. one. -two. -three. -one. -two. -three. [ male announcer ] with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% back on groceries. and 3% back on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. -it's as easy as...1. -two. -three. [ male announcer ] 1, 2, 3 percent cash back

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