a month ago, they didn't know who we were, but they do now. fragile front-runner mitt romney wins the latest episode of gop survivor, and narrowly fending off rick santorum in his home state of michigan and sweep ing to victory in arizona, but will the twin wins erase doubts about his campaign? can he seize the momentum going into super tuesday? the big bucks pouring into the buckeye state, and that is next delegate prize up for grabs. deadly tornadoes hitting missouri and kansas and the region could be in for more storms while minnesota is socked by snow, and sleet and rain. a full update for you. and the search for answers. three students dead after the high school shooting in ohio, and now authorities say that the killing rampage is not, not the result of bullying. we will bring you the full details on that as well. happy leap day out there to everybody. i'm thomas roberts and on the agenda, a leap or a limp to the

victory? mitt romney claims victory in home state of michigan and claiming 47% of the vote to rick santorum's 38%. in arizona, much more decisive of a victory. romney beating santorum by 20 points in a state where the mormons gave him the edge and maid up of nearly 1 of 7 voters in the primary. mitt romney moving on though to the next state of ohio, clearly trying to capitalize on the momentum of his double victory and now setting his sights squarely on the president. >> he is out of ideas. he is out of excuses. and in 2012, we will make sure that he is out of office. >> rick santorum who cancelled all morning show appearances is clearly down, however, not out. >> i just have to say that to the people of michigan, you know, we came into the backyard

of one of my opponents in a race that everyone said just ignore, because you have no chance here. and the people of michigan looked into the hearts of the candidates and all i have to say is i love you back. >> and the fact is that santorum could win the delegate count in michigan although romney clearly won the popular vote. i'm joined this morning by our panel, msnbc political analyst richard wolffe, democratic strategist bob shrum, and former chair can and rnc chairman michael steele. good to have you with us, and i want to start with michael. because everybody was forecasting a political disaster for mitt romney if he lost michigan. certainly concerned right up to the very end there as we look at the numbers as they have come out now. wealthy voters apparently, those who said that beating obama was the top priority and number one issue came out to support romney. how far did he go the calming concerns about his campaign? is he the one to watch now?

does he have the momentum back on track? >> well, he has always been the one to watch and always had some level of momentum with him, and that is by virtue of having organization and, you know, the cash to make things happen. i think that last night, yeah, it was, you know a moment where he gets to wipe the brow and say, thank you, and move on to the nex set t set of contests, how does he do that? does he stay with the mantra of beating up on the opponents as opposed to sticking with what worked with him in many respect ashs and this is lat laying dow mettle against barack obama. the reality is that he has to do a little bit of both. he needs to position himself to take one of the southern states and possibly tennessee. he has to hold ohio in super tuesday, and he has his work cut out for him. coming out of last night, is he the front-runner? yes. the organization and structure? yes. but what does it mean in terms of how activist republicans who go to the polls on super tuesday

read the win and respond to the win and whether or not they say it is about time to get on board and let's lock this thing down and move towards the convention and on to beating obama in the fall. >> and bob, rick santorum had the wind at his back going into michigan and a lot of people saying that is going to be a nail biter and those predictions were right even though romney came out as the top dog there, and the voters describing themselves as conservative and aligned the tea party came out to the support rick santorum. do you think that he has lost the best chance to surge now? was coming out strong in michigan the best thing that he could have done? >> oh, sure. if he had won michigan, the roof would have fallen in on the republican party, and mike would agree with this, a relentless search for an alternative and santorum with wind at his back going into ohio. i don't think that rom areny won michigan as santorum lost it. they thboth had a series of gafs and santorum's counted for more.

you don't go into the michigan university and western michigan and i could go on and on and on and tell people not to go to college. you don't go into that state when you want to get blue collar workers and say that you want to vomit on a speech made by president kennedy about the separation of the church and the state. i will bet you that among the catholics and especially older catholics in the state, mitt romney did extraordinarily well no matter how conservative they were. >> and you are saying that if he had done well, santorum, the republican party needs to find an alternative to santorum who is beating romney who is their alternative? >> no, an alternative to the whole deal. the "times" had a headline that says "romneys regains his stride." but i would say romney regains the lurch to momentum, because none of the ther candidates can be. >> and he would like to say that the media puts it out in front of him. and with comments on birth

control and abortion, and romney though romney took the female vote, and did last night silence the culture war moving forward into super tuesday? >> it is hard for the candidates to avoid it. look at rick santorum what he spoke about in the speech last night. the first ten minutes or so was this celebration of strong women in his family, and it was such a naked and blatant appeal to women voters who he has done so much to alienate over the last several weeks, and then he had an awkward pivot into the message that has been so good for him in the economic message which he left behind and heading into ohio. they have damage to repair that both of to candidates have to do moving forward. santorum could he have a victory in ohio? well, he is ahead in the polls, but the problem for him is that win there is competing alongside all of the states that romney is going to win, and he missed a big one last night. >> and stick with me, gentlemen,

because now mitt romney putting the focus and the money on ohio after pulling this double-take in michigan and arizona. now, he is not alone, because a new report in politico shows that more than $4 million has been spent on campaign ads in the buckeye state, and the romney camp has put down more than $3 million and the santorum dropped roughly $520,000 and newt gingrich, the pro super pac that he has, has put out $430,000. and now we are joined by garrett haake on the phone. and could spending ing iing in eclipse the spending in michigan? is romney really getting his money's worth out of that state? >> well, thomas, money may not be taking an effect just yet and to bob's point, you do not see any momentum here. you have a event billed as a rally, and just over 100 people

there, and to michael's point, he did get back on the message and all about the economy and president obama, and you did not hear rick santorum's name or anybody else's name mentioned, and they want to hammer home the slogan to go forward, more jobs, less debt, and less government, and they will beat the drum all of the way to the campaign next week. >> thank you, garrett. i want to bring back the panel who stuck by us. richard, let me start with you, because the candidates are now as we are saying move on, and think have to focus on super tuesday and ten states and 100 gel g delegates up for grabs. but as garrett explains with romney back on message and acting like the inevitable challenge can -- challenger to president obama, is that the best defense going into super tuesday? >> well, the problem is that the candidates have not done a good job of being the front-runner

all along. romney had the come from behind win there in michigan, and he had to undermine a pretty good slogan. if you say less debt, how do you square that with just last week proposing a 20% cut across the board on taxes. so he has had to do things to get back into the race that undermine him as front-runner, and that is the cycle we have seen again and again through the whole primary contest. >> bob, one thing out there for voters is the new ad that romney campaign has put out there target i targeting the president, and take a look. >> he is talk about the fact he might run out of money and have to cut himself a check. >> well, he will run out of money when msnbc runs out of air time. the worst thing he has to do is

to write himself a check can because he has the nomination and he is not going to give it up. the reason he is emphasizing ohio and he will spend a huge amount of money there and the pac will go after santorum there is because he wants to win this thing, and the biggest danger is if santorum and gingrich stay in it all of the way to the convention and they have floor fights to the platform, and he is continually pushed to the right, and he is upsidedown with independent voters and well behind president obama at this point. he needs the process to end. >> is this good clean primary politics or blood letting at the best? >> well, what happened is that the republican party and michael will take great objection to this, but they made a pac pack with the devil, and it has now driven olympia snowe the senator from maine not the run for re-election and you have a grass roots angry and demanding that people twist themselves into ideological pretzels which is what happened with mitt romney and ends up with a flip-flop

problem and character problem and out of touch problem. >> i want the bring you in, michael, because newt gingrich is trying to stay in the game and the super pac is supporting him launching ads in oklahoma, and tennessee and georgia and take a look at it. >> not everyone in washington likes newt. >> maybe that is a good thing. >> maybe that is a good thing. >> it is a good thing. >> and he is the comeback kid and super tuesday could be his? >> well, he is a comeback kid, and he can make enough noise to be relevant on super tuesday. i mean, certainly, you know, he has put a lot of eggs in the georgia basket, and that is tightening up though. so he has to watch how the other two guys come in and start stealing some of the thunder. the other question for newt is where else do you win or come can close on super tuesday, because georgia is not enough. it is not enough to win your own and you have the take something from somebody else in order to get beyond super tuesday i think

and be relevant in the discussion going forward and it is a great pressure on him, and to bob's point i agree with the assessment for 2010. >> what a surprise. >> and we saved the best for last. thank you richard wolffe, and bob and michael. coming up next, the chairman of the congressional campaign committee steve israel weighs in, and will there be bipartisanship on jobs? and we are keeping an eye on the developing situations of the midwest and at least four dead and dozens more injured after tornadoes tear through the region and one town almost completely in shambles. we will bring you an update. and the kiss seen around the internet. one gay marine talks about this kiss that is now famous. we will have him here after this. ♪

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welcome back, everybody. this developing news to bring you up to speed out of the midwest where four people have died and dozens more injured after a string of violent tornadoes went through the region. looking at the video showing the intense skies and the devastation in harveyville, kansas, and state of emergency throughout some regions of the house as some residents are still trapped inside off their homes. and another area, branson, missouri, is devastated by the storms that went through. and ron, this is the midwest's major tourist attraction and branson known for drawing in millions each year, and explain the devastating damage there. >> well, 6 to 8 million visitor s here and 60,000 visitors here could be here on the weekend a month from now into the spring break, but the occupancy was low, and that is a good sthing, because many of the hotels had the roofs stripped off.

the branson strip is more than 40 theaters and 100 shows staged here, and a couple of miles down the road, there is a couple block section where an automobile museum and other areas were. and in harveyville, there were four dead, and here there were dozens of homes and areas devastated, but here is the aer ea to setdown, because so much of the street was covered with powerlines and poles and we have not been able to move down here, but here they are aggressively trying to clean it up. the mayor felt that there is a joplin rule in southern missouri, and joplin is not that far here and more than 160 died there last may. so when the warnings were being put out all day yesterday to be aware that a storm would be sweeping in, they were ready for it.

she thinks that people listened to the sirens and took cover and they are giving it credit for the low casualty rate here. >> nbc's ron blome, branson, missouri, thank you. also developing out of arizona, dozens of classes were canceled -- in minnesota, because in duluth, forecasters say more than a foot of snow could fall there this after noon. a winter storm warning has been issued for much of the year, and the minnesota state patrol has responded to seven crashes, vehicle crashes, and the weather channel's mike seidel braved whiteout conditions there earlier this morning. take a look. >> we are getting wind gusts 50, to 55 miles per hour, and the only thing that is on the positive side is the temperature is a relatively balmy 30 degrees, but the windchill is 15. looking down the boardwalk here near lake superior, we see the waves crashing up to the seawall, and we have been pounded this morning and it is a

full blown blizzard, because we have had the snow and the wind and the low visibility for three hours so this qualifies for a blizza blizzard. look at lake superior, can you see it out there? >> that is amazing, and we will keep an eye on weather with across the country. and could there be a breakthrough on jobs, because in less than an hour president obama will host a luncheon with republicans to find common ground for jobs and the economy. and jay carney cited proposals outlined by house leader eric cantor in a op-ed in politico to help small businesses grow jos.s joining me is steve israel of new york who heads the democratic congressional campaign committee. sir, nice to have you on with us this morning, and people are reading politico's report as describing the president and the right as kind of the odd couple, because house majority leader eric cantor and the president are going to be breaking bread. is this lunch a signal that there is this end of bipartisan

bickering on the issues of in washington, d.c. on jobs and the economy? >> well, i hope so. there is an unquenchable thirst by the american people to get away from the tea party ideology and extremism and away from the sound bites and politics and partisanship and move the country forward and strengthen the economy and jobs. obviously, the focus is on economy, but we want to pray for the people who have been affected by the tornadoes in kansas and missouri. in respect to the meeting this afternoon convened by the president, we have been saying that consistently that we are ready to pass good common sense republican ideas to create jobs. the problem is that thep republicans have been unwilling to pass some of their own ideas as introduced as legislation. we need to get that behind us, and move beyond the partisanship, and we need to ban together in a bipartisan way, to support common sense proposals to strengthen this recovery and

create more jobs. >> congressman, as we talk about the common sense approaches in washington, d.c. and how to make common ground, common decisions, we have to talk about what people are seeing as they are trying to get the jobs and that is the price of gas at the pumps. >> yes. >> and the numbers are not looking good and several members of congress calling on the president to release the oil from the national petroleum reserves, because just to inform, they have climbed over another penny and now the national average is $3.73 for regular a gallon, and this is the highest, congressman, for this time of the year and we are ramping up into the springtime and summer driving season s. there growing support in washington, d.c. that there is a release from the national petroleum reserve? >> well, i have personally supported the smart strategic release of the pr and on my own community in long island gas is

exceeding $4 a gallon. here is a good common sense idea we can pursue and i have been talking about this over the past several weeks. right now, we are subsidizing oil company profits to the tune of $40 billion that the top five oil companies, and their profits went up 75% and the american people are subsidizing the profits and instead of subsidizing the oil company profits to that extent, why aren't we repealing the subsidies and instead giving them to consumers so that they can purchase new technologies to retrofit the cars or pull into gas stations to purchase ethanol or whatever price is lower. it would give choice, and give the middle-class relief and give us dependence from the oil. i would rather do that, stopping the subsidies of the oil

companies. >> and what about the budget that turns medicare into a voucher program and where does that stand with how you feel of a common sense approach in washington, d.c.? >> well, it is deja vu and a flashback of this time last year where the republicans presented the american people with this new economic paradigm. we will protect the richest americans, and we will protect millionaire, but we will ask seniors the pay more for the medicare, and this is not common sense, and this is fundamental up unfairness and a stunning lack of priorities, and again, we invite the republicans, the house republicans to meet with us, withm sop pursue some common sense solutions that don't ask can america's seniors to be the first to sacrifice the most. >> new york congressman steve israel, sir, nice to see you this morning. >> thank you. what the suspected shooter from chardon high school is saying under oath about that deadly rampage. and plus, the dow jones might be bullish hitting 13,000 for the first time in closing at that number in nearly four years

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i remember the day my doctor told me i have an irregular heartbeat, and that it put me at 5-times greater risk of a stroke. i was worried. i worried about my wife, and my family. bill has the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. he was taking warfarin, but i've put him on pradaxa instead. in a clinical trial, pradaxa 150 mgs reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin without the need for regular blood tests. i sure was glad to hear that. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding, and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition like stomach ulcers, or take aspirin, nsaids, or bloodthinners, or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval, as stopping may increase your stroke risk.

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welcome back, everybody. a funeral for the first victim of the deadly high school shoot ing in chardon, ohio, will be held friday. earlier daniel parameter's parents paid a emotional tribute to their son who died monday from a gunshot wound to the head. >> danny was a great boy. he listened in everything that he did. he was a happy kid. never caused no trouble and always fun to be around. he always wanted to be around us, and making fun of me all of the time, because he was taller than me. he just -- we loved him. >> and the horror of that day is also being heard in the frantic 911 calls made moments after that shooting began. >> hello, chardon high school, we had gunshot fires, multiple

gunshot gunshots. >> we need help badly. >> the suspected shooter, the young man that you see there, t.j. lane, 17 years old, but not a student at that school. nbc's kevin tibbles is in chardon with the latest and it is heartbreaking to see those parents there talking about the loss of their son on the "today" show, and i want to talk about t.j. lane and the suspected shooter, and where was he going to school, and what was the business at chardon? >> well, frankly, he went to chardon each mo morning with a number of the victims of the shooting to be ferried off to another vocational school, and special school where he attended which was some distance outside of town. the chardon high school was not actually where he was a student, but it was sort of the rendezvous rallying point to take the bus. he at 17 years of age is considered a minor in the state of ohio, but it is expected that he is going to be charged and

tried as an adult here primarily because of the severity of the crimes that he is accused of committing. he has not officially been charged as of yet. that could come at the next appearance in court which is tomorrow. it is interesting all week long, thomas, we have been hearing stories about why? how could this have happened? why did it happen? was there bullying involved? were there drugs involved? what could have drif then young m -- driven this young man to take a gun into the cafeteria to shoot five kids and killing three of them now? the prosecutor told us yesterday that in his opinion or what his interviews or what have you have told him is that it is a random act of violence, and that the kids were not targeted. daniel parmertor's parents said they did not know the kids who his son is accused of shooting and not the result of bullying or drugs, and i guess that we will stay tuned to see what else is going to come out about the young man who had clearly come

from a troubled background and had a troubled life. back to you. >> kevin tibbles in chardon, ohio. thank you. >> and coming up the right stuff, mitt romney wins in michigan and arizona. it is enough to quiet the critics out there? ron reagan joins me to weigh in on the search for a gop white knight. and plus, no welcome home parades an instead thousands of iraq vets headed to the white house for the first of its kind thank you dinner. i want to talk to one of the brave vets being honored right after this. want my downy unstopables? laundry smells good for a long time. nmm mmn. really, you can have it! take it joe. ♪ downy unstopables [ sniffs ] see you around. hey kid, catch! wow! no thanks, mean joe. ♪ downy last time i'm doing this.

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is now within your grasp with the all-new e-trade 360 investing dashboard. e-trade 360 is the world's first investing homepage that shows you where all your investments are and what they're doing with free streaming quotes, news, analysis and even your trade ticket. everything exactly the way you want it, all on one page. transform your investing with the all-new e-trade 360 investing dashboard. we know our future is better an brighter than the troubled times and it is the message we will take to every corner of the country, from ohio and idaho to georgia and tennessee. >> mitt romney last night in michigan. so will romney's one-two punch in arizona and michigan stop the search for a great white knight? joining me now is ron reagan a political commentator and former

talk show host. good to see you this morning. >> good to see you. >> and take of the brokered convention and everybody has been belaboring about and potentially coming up this summer, and is that talk going to be all but squelched now that romney has taken the wins and maybe not decisively taken in michigan, but in michigan and arizona anyway? >> well, i dont n't know that t is going to be skwelc sglsh -- skwquelcsquelched, bec won in his home state of 48 to 32 or something like that. i don't know what a brokered convention will mean? do we join the two disparate wings of the republican party, the more extreme and the more pragmatic to money left wing or

bringing in somebody from the wings as it were or a jeb bush going to finally emerge from the shadows? i don't see how a brokered convention plays out. >> remind everybody, 41% to 38% gave romney michigan. ron, i want to play you something that rush limbaugh had to say about mitt romney and get your thoughts on the other side. >> okay. >> so, romney is not willing to say incendiary things, quote, unquote about obama to excite the base. well, what does he say? nice guy, just in over his head. what does this tell you that romney thinks of the base? that it takes incendiary comments to turn you on. >> so, ron, as we listen to that, is romney's biggest problem he is not on fire enough or too cold? what rush limbaugh is saying that he is discounting the base?

that it takes that kind of language or rhetoric to fire them up? so which one is it, too hot? too cold? >> well sh, i think that probab too cold. i mean, rush ought to know about incendiary rhetoric, and he is race baiting all of the time on the radio, and incendiary rhetoric does not seem to put rick santorum over the top either. he is talking about throwing up on the first amendment of the constitution, and sending your kids to college is snobbery, and that pretty incendiary. and he also accused newt gingrich of infanticide, and how incendiary can you get? the problem is that mitt romney is inauthentic, and everybody sees it. everybody, republicans and independents and democrats, and this is a man who only stands for a sense of his own inevitability, and he has no other principles and that is romney's problem.

>> but meanwhile he just won. he won in michigan and arizona and now he goes straight into super tuesday and a strong hold in the south which could bode well for gingrich and ohio the take into account here. >> yes, yes. >> and does he have the momentum are gained within what you say is the inevitable nomination? >> he has never really had momentum. he has always been the all but inevitable nominee of the republican party, because a ulle of the others are totally unacceptable, but the fact of the matter is and it is the catch 22 for thep republicans this cycle, nobody really likes him. even the people who are voting for him, are kind of, eh, i guess he stands the best chance of winning. nobody is tingling with enthusiasm for mitt romney, and that is the problem with the republican party right now. >> thank you, ron, for your time. great to see you. >> you bet. and more breaking news. i want to turn to the weather story we have been talking about this morning.

more about the tornados in the midwest. we are learning that 10 people have died after storms through illinois. the illinois management emergency agency confirming the deaths in southern illinois, and confirming the number has now risen to ten after severe storms swept through the region. we have still pictures of the storms that went through kentucky. we had ron blome's report from branson, missouri, telling us about the 28 people injured there, but you can see the devastation that has taken a real swipe through the midsection of our country after these wild storms from yesterday. but again, the breaking news out of the midwest and from illinois confirming that ten people have died in that region after the storms. well, developing news now from the senate floor. right now lawmakers are debating a republican-backed amendment that would allow employers to opt-out, opt-out of health care coverage they object to on religious or moral grounds. senate democrats are confident they can defeat the bill. let's listen. >> when will my colleagues

understand this very nondebatable fact? that the decision of whether a woman takes one medicine or another or what type of health care she should have access to should not be the decision of her boss? >> well, the true goal of the amendment is to impose or pose a ban on birth control. after four years of pent-up emotion and pent-up secret love, this is is what happens, and now this first kiss is one of the hottest things on the internet. we are going to talk to the sergeant that you see there coming up here on the show. and plus, the senate candidate with nine lives. stay tuned for the polysidebar to hear more about that cat.

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psychological mark yesterday. the dow has been climbing since october, and up 22 since then and 1,200 points from the all-time high set in october of '07. meantime, new york state comptroller estimated that the wall street bonuses for 2011 would drop by 14% and the average bonus would be over $121,000. that is down from almost $139,000 in 2010, and a peak of $191,000 in 2006. well, tonight, president obama and the first lady will host a white house gala honoring iraq war veterans and among them is a recipient of what is known as the second highest valor combat award ever presented to the united states military, the cross, and sir, it is good to

have you with us from the 82nd airborne. >> good, thomas. >> i want to give everybody the back story and why you were the recipient of this, you were flying the h-6 little bird helicopter and the only service aif yay fviator to get this awa you were in tau ji, iraq, and the tailman took a hit to the rotor, and you not only go after him guns blazing, but kept refueling and attacking and you are credited with saving a lot of lives that day, but it sounds like this is something that you consider a day at the office. so how do you feel about being the recipient of this honor? >> well, thomas, i'll tell you that i i'm humbled to be on the presence of of the guys on the ground, because they are america's best special ops forces, and i'm humbled to work with them frankly. i would like to mention if it is okay, but i want to put a shout out to the coast guard brothers

and sisters out there who lost four members this morning, and my heart is going out to their families. >> obviously, heavy hearts for people in the military community with news of that indeed. when talking about the gala taking place tonight, as i understand it 200 people in attendance and half veterans and the rest presumed guests representing the country, and all 50 states. is this a fitting tribute to the vets returning from iraq and afghanistan or do you think that there needs to be a little more? a lot of people have made calls to be ticker tape parades to welcome home the american heros? >> thomas, i have heard those as well, and the department of defense has made a decision that this is appropriate at this time, because we have troops in the field. they didn't feel it was right to have the parade just yet, so will it come in the future? i don't know. i think it probably will, but now it does not seem to be the right time for that. >> and recently in the news, we have had the situation in

afghanistan heat up, and the deadly protests against the u.s. soldiers who accidentally burned korans, and american lives have been lost. again, we talk about what you did in iraq. do you think that this changes a strategy course for what we see going forward in afghanistan? >> well, i appreciate the question, but i have to tell you that i'm here today talking about going to the white house as a member of, you know, a 1 million folks who honorably served in iraq and part of a unit that freed 32 million iraqis, and gave them a chance for, for democracy. so, i think that it is a great day and it should be a great evening. my wife and i have never been to the white house. i have never thought i would get this opportunity to do something like this, so we are honored to stand at the white house for all of those veterans who could not be there tonight. >> well, we wish you and your wife the best and please enjoy yourself tonight, and enjoy your time, david cooper, it has been

an honor to have you on to talk to all of us. congratulations on the achievements and the recipient of the distinguished award. >> thank you, thomas. when we talk about the snowe, it is the snowe extreme. we called it the poly-sci sideb sidebar, olympia snowe calling it quits, because of the polarization in the senate. and democrats are hoping to pick up the seat, and hoping to keep a soon to be vacant seat in nebraska. sep or the bob kerrey will reportedly announce that he wants the job back. three weeks ago kerry said he would not run citing the family concerns, but he has changed his mind. democratic senator ben nelson has decided to retire. and there could be a cat fight in virginia, because hank the cat is running against two former governors tim kaine and george allen, and his platform

is that he is a former street cat who makes sure that america stays the greatest land of all. >> we need a politician who embodies these ideals and will work to make sure that america stays the greatest land of all. vote hank for u.s. senate. >> hank the cat with the common seps sense approach. mitt romney is within striking distance of barack obama in new jersey, but only if chris christie is on the ticket. according to a new quinnipiac poll, an obama/biden poll would beat out romney with anybody except for christie on the ticket. and the nfl is moving the opening night to thursday, but that is the night of the vice president's big speech in front of the national convention, but that is not good news for biden, because his speech will have to

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against a decision made decades ago, they want degrees for seven students that were expelled for being gay or being perceived a as gay. and the gala is launched by lady gaga. fortunately we have come a long way since the 1920s enough to remember this, that a kiss is not always just a kiss. when marine sgt. morgan returned from afghanistan and saw his partner waiting g ting to welc an emotional moment followed. and this picture was posted. it has now gone viral all over the web since that home coming. joining me now is sgt. morgan himself. it's nice to have you with us this morning. >> good to be here. >> as we talk about the picture, it's gotten 10s of thousands of

likes and reposts all over the place, you are here talking with me about this, both lgbt and straight allie identify with the emotion behind it, how does it make you feel to help to break stereo types around the country? >> it makes me feel good, honestly. people before that people thought gay soldiers were the stereo types that they thought. it gives me hope that the world is changing. >> sgt. another thing you said is that this picture represents to you four years of secret love and emotion. you have fought in wars. a lot of folks out there in this country could be at war with themselves right now for kids around this country that may be struggling with their own sexual identities and maybe being

bullied and afraid. what is your message to them? >> my message is to not be afraid to be yourself. i went through my whole life wondering who i was and it took only -- i would say it only took the recent mistakes i made in my life to figure out who i was is who i really am. you should never be afraid to be yourself. not at all. if you are afraid, and you are not true to yourself, and are not who you are supposed to be, you end up hurting yourself and it's a downward spiral. no matter the small fight you need to go through or things you have to fight against that is wrong, you have to be true to yourself. >> a lot of people are familiar with the home coming picture in times square, this one where a sailor kisses a nurse. your picture is a completely different modern day image, explain to people that may be

uncomfortable about seeing a public display of emotion. >> i know a lot of people are uncomfortable with the public displays of emotion, i'm sorry that it offended a lot of people. i read blogs that it's sickening and things like that. i can honestly say i'm sorry but this was not for them and it was not for the gay and lesbian activists rights community as well, it was for us and the photo went viral because of the emotion between us. >> we appreciate your honesty and your service most importantly. welcome home and again, thanks for joining me today, i appreciate it. >> thank you, sir. and you are welcome. >> absolutelily. we want to turn to breaking news as we have been talking about today of course the tornadoes that have struck the midwest.

we have a total of seven deaths and we want to go over on the accuracy of where the deaths took place. we have confirmation of six illinois thoo will wrap it up for me, i'll see you tomorrow morning, 11 a.m. eastern. don't go anywhere though, "now" with alex wagner is coming up next. >> great, great, interview. >> thank you. >> happy leap day to everywhere out there. mitt romney one last night avoiding what could have been a disaster for mitt. but is a win really ever just a win? rick santorum does not think so, we will talk with steady eddie's director, hogan, and two are announcing that they will not seek re-election. are moderate republicans a

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