battle for the republican nomination and avoid falling flat with illinois voters. romney padded his delegate league with a win in puerto rico and is hoping to keep that going. >> i must bet the margin was just about as good. i need only one thing from you this morning, no, two. i need some pancakes and, number two, number two, i need you to go vote tomorrow. >> so we're not talking about pancakes over the weekend. romney made much use of the word economic lightweight. using that phrase to link both rick santorum and president obama. >> i believe itch the best chance and perhaps the only chance of actually replacing barack obama as the president of the united states. >> so not taking that one lying down. rick santorum hit back with these words on "morning joe." if i'm a lightweight, i agree,

he's a heavyweight. is a big government heavyweight. that's what he said his record was. we need someone who understands that washington isn't the answer to our problems. >> nbc's peter alexander joins us live. mitt romney barn storming now in the last hours through the state of illinois today before they go out and vote tomorrow. is the campaign feeling confident or worried that they're going to have a squeaker similar to ohio and michigan? >> reporter: well, i think they feel confident. we've had several conversations with top aides and advisers and they want to address the conversation that this race could go all the way to the national convention, augment they said it's not going to happen. that conversation is irrelevant. we're going to win in illinois and we will win the 1,144 delegates necessary as they go forward. nonetheless, it does indicate a little bit about their concern here in the state that they anticipate and, frankly, most anticipated would fall in lock step with others that have supported mitt romney. they came back from puerto rico earlier than planned, added more

events to their schedule. we were with them yesterday in rock ford. we'll join them a short time in peoria. mitt romney is focused on the more moderate republican areas in this state closer to the chicago area. we're about three-quarters of the republican electorate exists. he has a speech scheduled today, an economic policy speech, going right into barack obama's backyard at the university of chicago where, of course, the current president served as a senior lecturer in the law department ultimately before becoming the president of the united states. the romney folks largely ignoring their opponents going mostly after the president and really trying to appeal to middle class moms, thomas, who are frustrated with gas prices. >> so let's talk more about that. the romney camp has said they have better organization, they have more money to spend. they also have ann romney going after that female vote, correct? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. i think the female vote they view as critical. all the poll numbers and exit polls showed romney has done particul

particularly well among women. they view that as an important opportunity for them to go forward, certainly this this state. ann romney has played an increasingly sort of significant role at campaign events speaking directly to women to pocketbook issues saying we are counting on you. we need you. you are the folks who can make a big difference in this race, not just frankly in their effort to beat rick santorum but going forward in the general election. they view that as a significant opening and there have been large crowds of women in a lot of these places. ann romney, a breast cancer survivor, has a very strong personal story and is very good on the stump. everybody agrees she is governor r romney's best asset everywhere he goes. >> peter, thanks so much. from the midwest we head down south to florida where grief, outrage and accusations of racism are pouring in from a florida community where a teen was killed in a shooting incident that's grabbing not just headlines but the attention of the fbi. poli police say martin died after a neighborhood watchman shot him

after he walked through a gated residence where he was visiting family. >> this it guy looks like he's up to no good or he's on drugs or something. he's got his hands in his waistband, and he's a black male. >> so you think he's yelling help? >> yes. >> all right, what is your -- number? >> there's gunshots. >> live in sanford, florida, with the very latest. i know this has been a huge story in florida. it's gaining national traction but what is the very latest in the story? >> reporter: that's right, thomas. good morning. what's going on here george zimmerman claimed he shot martin in self-defense. the family is questioning that, asking how could he claim self-defense when he was the one to pursue martin? and another one of those 911 calls when the shooter called 911 he ignores police request to stay put and wait for an officer to arrive. once he reported a suspicious

look i looking guy, he ignored that. he followed martin and while the two got into an altercation and, of course, we know the outcome. now the family says that zimmerman targeted him for his race. they want him arrested and prosecuted for murder. this is what his mother told matt lauer on the "today" show. >> he was reacting to the chore of his skin. he committed no crime. my son wasn't doing anything but walking on the sidewalk and i just don't understand why this situation got out of control. >> reporter: police say they couldn't find enough evidence to charge zimmerman with a crime and have since handed over the case to the state department office. today students are rallying from various universities outside the state attorney's office demanding an arrest. and since these 911 calls were released, the story has grabbed national attention. social media has been exploding with support messages for the

family, and we can only expect the rallies will get bigger throughout the week. we know that msnbc's reverend al sharpton will participate in a rally come thursday in sanford, florida. thomas, back to you. >> lilia, thank you very much. well, he is accused of what some are calling one of the worst wartime massacres. today army staff sergeant robert bales who was suspected of killing 16 civilians in afghanistan will meet with his lawyer, john henry brown. brown says he believes his client is a reliable, solid guy and devoted family man who wanted to serve his country and is now suffering for it. >> everybody that's had three or four deployments to the middle east is probably going to have some form of ptsd. a lot of people are asking questions why someone with his sort of injuries were sent back to afghanistan -- i mean to the mideast. >> nbc's john yang joins us with more. we are learning more about the background and the struggles he was facing. >> reporter: that's right,

thomas. he is one of so many others who after 9/11 enlisted in the earl. he gave up a job as a stockbroker to enter the army, decided to make it a career. he has, since 2003, been sent overseas four times -- three times to iraq and then the last tour in afghanistan. according to his lawyer he was wounded twice in iraq, one a traumatic head injury when the vehicle he was in hit an ied and rolled over and then he lost part of a foot. he had been told, according to his lawyers, that he would not be going back overseas after his third iraq tour. that he was being trained as a recruiter. but then the word came that he was going back overseas, this time to afghanistan. the -- as you heard the lawyer talk i talking, he really is saying that he's going to put on trial in this trial so many of the hot button things we've been talking about during these two wars, iraq and afghanistan.

ptsd, brain injury, reported deployments overseas. he is meeting with his client for the first time, trying to get the full story for the first time from his client, all of the conversations have been on the phone and very brief. the first time he will get a face-to-face look and assessment of this guy facing accusations and awaiting formal charges that could bring the death penalty, thomas. >> nbc's john yang for us. john, thanks so much. i appreciate it. we'll have much more coming up la later in this hour. so stick around for that. and bales' former military base making some chilling news today. authorities say they took a soldier into custody at lewis-mcchord after he allegedly throatened to blow up the barracks. fortunately no explosives were found. a gunman opens fire at a school in france. at least four are killed including three children. we'll get you an update from there. plus, floor fight. an unconventional convention with the nomination decided all

the way in tampa. and illinois or bust. rick santorum says he'll win the nomination if he wins that state. if not, does he drop out? i'm going to talk with his campaign strategist after this. who is the "your business" entrepreneur of the week? ben hooks owns buford media group, a tiny cable company serving 7,000 subscribers spread across six states. he it continues to buy small rural systems that major cable companies have abandoned, updating them to boost profits. greetings from the windy city of chicago. people here sure are friendly

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it's not the campaign. i think everybody knows, nobody puts words into my mouth. the words out of my mouth were that if you want a conservative as the nominee of this party, you must vote for mitt romney. i'm mitt romney and i approved this message. so the endorsement of mitt romney common knowledge on the campaign trail but watching the conservative candidate throw support behind a bitter rival

may be enough to convince voters on the fence to side with the front-runner. this weekend santorum raised the stakes in illinois with this statement. >> i guarantee -- i guarantee that we will win this nomination. >> john brabender is a strategist for the campaign and joins us. john, tough states ahead going into illinois tomorrow, 69 dell fwats that we're talking about here. first i want you to spobd to that ad. we know your candidate, what does he have to say to that but how damaging to have that online now for unit decided voters to see ahead of tomorrow? >> well, look, rick santorum has been very clear that he only endorsed mitt romney when he was running against a moderate and said that of the two he was more conservative. we now know things like romney care which has been a disaster, offers free abortions, all these things became the architect and the blueprint for obama care.

all of these things that thousand we're realizing the mitt romney we all thought ex t existed four years ago is not the real mitt romney and he's been a disaster, certainly not the a conservative. his record is falling apart. a lot of people now are rallying behind rick santorum. that's why we saw such big wins for rick santorum. >> mitt romney is coming off a success out of puerto rico. your candidate's been dazed there. what was your strategy not doing that in illinois? >> we've been spending time a lot of places. this weekend we were in louisiana. we were in missouri where they're doing their caucus votes and the early counts with more than a two to one lead over mitt romney there. so, you know, there's three more months to go in this primary process and we're playing in a lot of places. we're not going to ever bet the ranch like mitt romney seems to do. last week everybody was saying mitt romney can't win the

southern state of mississippi or alabama. he should get out of the race, that he's not going to be competitive against obama yet he's still moving forward. he's still there in illinois and so we think all these states are very, very important and we are not even at the halfway point in the primary process but we're going to go all the way through june and we're going to plan all these dates and even a state like illinois, whoever wins it, great, but we're all going to walk out with some delegates that will let us move on and we'll move into saturday which will be louisiana. we'll see who wins there. >> so mitt romney came out saying your candidate along with president obama, they're economic lightweights and only subjects outside of the economy that get brought up with senator santorum. take a listen to this. this is what he had to say yesterday. >> do you honestly believe there are people in the department of justice who favor pornographers over children and families? do you believe that? >> well, you have to look at the proof is in the prosecution. under the bush administration

pornographers were prosecuted much more rigorously than they are under existing law, than they are under the obama administration. so you draw your conclusion. >> why is rick santorum opening himself to be side tracked off message? >> let's be real clear. when rick santorum is on the campaign trail, he is talking about how he's going to turn this economy around versus mitt romney. as governor of massachusetts mitt romney was next to the bottom on jobs creation. while mitt romney was at bing capital, companies went bankrupt or out of business. and "the wall street journal" looked at rick santorum's economic plan versus mitt romney's economic plan and said rick santorum was polleder and better for america. let's be clear, though, rick santorum is not afraid to answer the questions like candy there on cnn asked him, and mitt romney just ducks those types of

questions. i think we need a president who is willing to talk about not only the economy. not only the disaster of romney care and obama care but also how are we going to get parents more tools to protect their children from whatever they want to, the contest coming into their household and so forth. it's about putting parents back in charge and not hollywood. >> nice to see you this morning. than thanks. >> contributor and former hav a virginia congressional candidate, crystal ball, chip saltzman and chicago columnist for "the new york times." great to see all of you this morning. jim, i want to start with you and the battle for illinois. fox chicago news polls showing that mitt romney is in the lead but not by much. so can rick santorum do what he's done in other states as we've seen and pull the rug out from underneath romney who should be the strongest there because he has the organization

and the cash. >> i think there is the big possibility to dig deep into that same fox poll you'll find 47% of likely republican voters tomorrow all admit unhappiness and the biggest chunk happens to be self-described romney voters so perhaps there is a switch tomorrow. the only problem with my thesis of the santorum upset i've held on to zealously is now looking at just an hour ago not just at your air where they are back-to-back-to-back romney commercials mostly bashing santorum but as of this morning his super pac has put in $2.7 million into the state. santorum -- that's a 9-1 advantage. watching ncaa games, i was crossing fingers there wouldn't be a time-out. once there's a time-out in this market, there's a romney ad.

and it's just possible that this overwhelming advantage and as you know down state where the commercials are going to not cost near as much as they do up here, santorum has a real uphill slump. >> that's a big difference. crystal, over the weekend s santorum dodged the questions about whether or not he's prepping for this convention. take a listen. >> we still believe there are plenty of delegates out there to do what we've been doing which is going out there and winning states and the tough battles and doing so pretty overwhelming odds. >> "the new york times," crystal, is reporting the santorum camp has hired a specialist. a specialist that's going to comb through state rules, unpledged delegates. is that the convention now, basically they're going to try and knock down, drag this out to the bitter end. >> he's in a little bit of an awkward spot. on the one hand he doesn't want to admit that he doesn't have a clear path to getting to 1,144 delegates he would need to win outright. on the other hand he is looking towards a brokered convention and planning for that.

one thing i throw out there it was interesting listening to john brabender talk, whatever happens in illinois, they're going to come away with delegates. that proportional allocation is going to be ending soon, in april, and we still have california, texas and new york, the three biggest states with the most delegates. actually the end of may with texas because romney is likely to win california and new york. texas with 155 delegates, santorum if the lead there can steal those from romney then maybe, maybe it's a small chance but maybe we would end up with a brokered convention. >> john mccain saying romney could be doing better. i want to remind what he had to say. >> issues of character are

important in this election and we need to make a determination whether that's the kind of person who wanted to be president of the united states. >> oops. wrong bite. this is the story that has grown legs and just won't go away. basically john mccain was on "meet the press" to talk about the fact that mitt romney could be doing better, one of the ugliest primary seasons he's ever seen. as he reflects about this primary season while game change is out, what do you think it says when john mccain says this is one of the ugliest battles i've ever seen? >> i haven't seen a pretty primary yet. they're all rough and tumble and especially when you have one that lasts longer than most people think it is. i was involved in 2008. not a pretty primary season then. the democrats didn't have one either and it worked out for them. look, this is in the trenches, inside the dugout type stuff. most people aren't paying attention and the board resets. i agree with senator mccain. mitt romney can be and should be doing better.

he needs to step it up over the next 45 days. >> crystal? >> i think the comparison with 2008 is a little bit of an odd one. in 2008 the democrats had had the problem of two candidates that had large, enthusiastic bases. this time around it's a different story. you are lacking enthusiasm for any of these candidates and that's a different story and different narrative. >> jim, quickly as we play the sound bite of rick santorum talking about the dog, why won't that story go away, is it too easy for him to talk about to make mitt romney look like the uncaring businessman? >> yeah, a lot easier than, you know, geopolitical affairs and other nuance topics. will it have much impact? i'm not sure. again, thomas, when i looked at these numbers about this overwhelming financial advantage, i think the notion of an upset now are, you know, they have to be lessened by this overwhelming force and if you

figure romney has put in half a million of his own money this is a gar gang wan advantage and even that 47% of self-described republican voters have their qualms about all the candidates. i think a good many may be inclined to go, well, we think romney is going to probably win so we'll hold our nose. >> is he right on that one, cash is sing and that will rule the day as we head into the general? >> cash is king and the prince and the queen and everything else. at the end of the day, rick santorum has been able to push back. if he could have a good turnout in the south, he will. that is a big -- 9-1 is a big number and it will be tough to avoid. great to have you all today on the air with me. thank you. speaking of cash, millions and millions of dollars are pouring into this presidential election. how the republicans match up with president obama. plus, george clooney's one phone call after being arrested. we'll tell you who answered that one after this.

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♪ welcome back. here is a look at stories topping the news now. police are investigating another deadly school shooting, this time in france. an armed man on a motor scooter killed three people outside a jewish school in toulouse this morning. the shooting is similar to two other attacks that happened last week, but police aren't sure if they are related. al qaeda claims it's killed an american teacher in yemen. joel schrum was gunned down sunday by two men dressed in military uniforms. he lived in yemen with his wife and two kids. he worked at the institute for two years. cleanup is under way in nebraska, texas and ohio after a series of storms spawned tornadoes in the region. at least two hit nebraska destroying houses, downing power lines and trees and derailing 15 train cars. two people were hurt including a truck driver whose rig was flipped by a twist er.

forecasters say that more rough weather could hit the eastern part of the state today. and march continues to bring the heat as high temperatures throughout the u.s. break records, major cities will be near record breaking territory today. chicago saw five consecutive days of 80-degree weather last week. that hasn't happened since, get this, 1872. well, a gallon of gas is now cost iing about $3.84 cents, up0 cents in the past month. what is the president doing about that number and how is he going to get it down? plus, the soldier accused of going on a deadly rampage was deployed four times over a ten-year span. how the strains of war may have contributed. [ male announcer ] chicken broccoli alfredo. mushroom smothered beef burgers. hearty chicken and noodle casserole. so easy, you just need campbell's cream of mushroom soup to make them and a hungry family to love them. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

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so president obama is not ready to let gas prices sink what's been a surge in the re-election campaign. the white house is aware of the frustration americans are feeling at the bump pump every

single day and the commander in chief is taking a proactive approach. he will hit four states in two days talking up his energy plans for a second term. cnbc washington reporter eamon javers joins me to talk about this. the president is covering renewable energy to the keystone pipeline. >> the overall message the president is trying to send here is there is no magic bullet, one single thing that a president of the united states can do to get gas prices down to some kind of manageable level. that said, he's going to say he's doing everything he can. the president continually makes reference to this all of the above approach that he's using in terms of oil, gas, solar and other kinds of new advanced clean energy technologies. it's a tough political sell, though, thomas, because of republicans have a very simple message, newt gingrich saying, look, if you elect me president, i'll get gas down to $2.50 a gallon. obama can't say that because if

it was possible he would have already done it. >> eamon, mitt romney talking about the campaign trail and this is a hot button topic there, take a listen to how he hits the president on costs. >> one promise he's kept. when he campaigned he said he wanted to raise the price of gasoli gasoline. he said that under him, energy costs would skyrocket. >> as we look at this number hovering in the $ 3.80s how concerning is it that they can hit a topic that so many people have to fill up every day. >> reporter: it's tough for the president. gas prices are one of the few economic items. you don't see the price of milk on display outside a supermarket but you do see the price of gas and we live with it every day when we commute back and forth to work. this is something that's going to hurt the president going into the summer driving season and that's why he's on this multistate tour this week. he wants to get out ahead of

what the republicans are saying, you are going to see the president doing a photo-op, yes, at a solar manufacturing facility but, also, in oil and gas fields and you'll see him at a storage area where they're storing in oklahoma big sections of pipeline for a new oil pipeline from oklahoma to the gulf of mexico. all of that designed to reinforce the president's message that he's doing everything he can to get gas prices down despite some of this criticism he's taking from the presidential candidates. >> eamon jafrs, great to see you that morning. >> thanks for having me. turning back to one of our top stories after days in pretrial isolation, a soldier could be charged as early as this week. the lawyer for army sergeant robert bales is suggesting his client's repeated service it to the war itself is to blame for the situation, one that vets say must be addressed. >> tragedies ensue in wars and we've seen it in every war. that's why those who have known

wars hate it the most. all i can say is that we will continue to do everything we can to try to bring about as much care for those who suffered the wounds of war both visible and invisible. >> joining me now is nbc military analyst and former gulf war division commander general barry mccafferty. nice to see you that morning. we are learning new details daily about robert bales, exactly what his life was like, what he was going through overseas and at home. i want to let everybody know the background as we understand it is in no way an excuse of the alleged behavior that has been reported but he lost part of his foot, had a head injury. he suffered brain trauma as well. he's seen some of the most horrifying things that a soldier could see in combat over the last ten years, also put on top of that he was having family difficulties with financial troubles. as we talk about those circumstances, can you speak to the generality of why the

military can would put this guy back into a rotation and why there weren't red flags that would alert them to thinking that he could be a risk in the field? >> well, clearly the investigation to sort out what signals were coming off this guy, he had two run-ins with the law, potential criminal assault. he ran off in the woods after a traffic accident, very strange beha behavior. it may well be he's a psychiatric casualty. it may well be somebody should have picked up on it. was alcohol a chronic problem? why was he drinking in afghanistan? so all of these are questions yet to be decided but to just remind ourselves well over 2 million troops served in combat in iraq and afghanistan, many of them, that ft. lewis, washington, is a beautiful post. a ranger battalion there and a special forces group, a lot of those troops have served six, seven, eight tours in combat.

so the behavior of mass murder, of the innocents was abnormal. it wasn't a bank robbery. >> thanks for joining us, sir. again, sergeant bales remains in pretrial isolation. we want to go back now for the battle to illinois for mitt romney and rick santorum. we head out to chicago again where we find peter alexander who has a special guest for us. peter? >> reporter: thomas, thank you very much. we, of course, are joined by senator john mccain. nice to visit with you. >> thank you, peter. good to be in chicago. >> reporter: as a veteran of two republican nomination fights -- >> both lose. >> reporter: fair enough. fair enough. give us a sense how you describe -- you call it the nastiest nomination fight you've witnessed so far. what's so bad about this one that's problematic? >> i think part of it has to do with the super pacs, amounts of

money are not connected to campaigns which largely run negative ads, as you know. some of the comments made by the candidates are more personal than have been in the past. as you know i am supporting mitt romney and believe he's going to win the nomination. here in illinois it's going to be critical. >> reporter: rick santorum and newt gingrich vowing to stay in the race through the national convention, the first time there had been a nomination fight reaching the convention in 36 years. what is the risk to the republican party? is this hurting mitt romney if he is ultimately to become the nominee? >> if they want to stay in, that's one thing. but if they stay in and are considered viable, that's another. a big win here in illinois, puerto rico last night, would give a sense of inevitability that is very important to at least marginalizing them. now if one of them wins, if santorum won, obviously that would change that equation. >> governor romney obviously doing well in puerto rico but

struggled in michigan, closer than folks expected. illinois requiring him to come back from puerto rico sooner than planned. you've been with him since new hampshire and we were with you there. have you witnessed him get better and what is he doing better and what does he need to do better? >> he's gotten a lot better. his message, he's given a major economic speech here today in chicago. people at the end of the daycare about jobs and the economy and that's what the message is that he's been holding. the republican party is a very diverse party. we saw the rise of the tea party in 2010. so it's a tougher job but i think he'll be a better candidate in the general election. but i also will say every day it goes by with these attacks on each other is a day that president obama wins. >> reporter: your final four basketball, missouri is gone, duke is gone, florida state's gone, and kentucky -- >> i'm embarrassed.

>> reporter: i hope you pick candidates better than basketball teams. >> i sure hope that i to. but, you know, it's a lot of fun and it nearly captures the imagination and interest in the american people. it's a good thing even if the guy who finishes last -- there must be some kind of reward for that. >> reporter: we'll buy you lunch or something. thomas, back to you. >> covered a lot of bases from the campaign trail to bracketology. thank you, gentlemen. senator scott brown hits below the belt. it's time now for the political sidebar. the republican from massachusetts cracked a joke at rick santorum's expense at a st. patrick's day event this weekend over santorum's criticism of birth control. >> i see that both newt gingrich and rick santorum now have secret service with them on the campaign trail. and in santorum's case, i think it's the first time he's actually ever used protection. yeah. yeah. [ applause ] just saying. >> good stuff.

funny stuff. too bad it may not be his own original material. conan o'brien cracked that joke a few weeks back. senator brown is a romney supporter, but there's been no official endorsement. former governor and rnc chairman haley barbour never endorsed a candidate either but we now know who he is supporting, newt gingrich. he said he voted for the former house speaker because they've been friends a very long, long time. george clooney will did he have knitly be voting for president obama in november. on "meet the press" he said the president has a good chance of being re-elected but warned about a messaging problem. >> i think he's always looked good to be re-elected even before the field, as we're still looking to find out what the field is, because i happen to believe that democrats are just very poor in general at explaining what it is when they accomplish something. they're bad at it. republicans are very good at it. >> cloon yip was in the nation's capital last week to highlight a

humanitarian crisis in sudan. he was arrested at a protest. in case were you wondering who he called after getting arrested, it wasn't his lawyer and not his girlfriend. he called his mom, but that was killing two birds with one stone since his dad, nick clooney, was with him so mom had to bail both of them out. who's the "your business" pre moisture of the week? ben hooks owns the tyler texas based buford media group. they are a tiny cable company serving 7,000 subscribers spread across six states. he continues to buy small rural systems that the major cable companies have abandoned upgrading them to broad band to boost profits. look! the phillips' lady!

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two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands.

this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy. the two leading contenders for the republican nomination are laying blame for the current conditions in afghanistan straight at president obama's door. take a listen. >> i think it's plain to see the conditions there are not going very well. and i lay part of the blame for that on the lack of leader shsh on the part of our president. >> if this is the game plan -- if the game plan is we're leaving irrespective whether we are going to succeed or not, then why are we still there? let's either commit to winning or let's get out. >> joining me this morning is former pennsylvania congressman patrick murphy, himself a veteran of iraq and the first

vet elected to congress. it's great to have you here today and having been on the ground in the war are in iraq, how do you respond the current exit strategy is causing these deteriorating conditions for our troops that are right now serving in afghanistan? >> yeah, thomas, first of all it's disappointing because always in american history we said politics stops the water's edge, and for them to engage in this, you know, when president obama became commander in chief, he tripled the amount of troops in afghanistan to make sure that we focused on bringing bin laden to justice because he murdered over thousands and thousands of innocent american civilians including friends of mine. those troops got the job done. they brought out the forces in afghanistan and now they're coming home. when we had a third of those troops, romney nor san interest tore up didn't say a word. didn't say a word. and then obama -- president obama made the right decision, and now he's making the right decision about bringing them home. now they're saying, go big or go

home. what is it, guys? what is it? our troops did a great job in bringing bin laden to justice finally and now it is time for our troops to start coming home. >> the narrative of the story changes when we have the story of the u.s. soldier, sergeant robert bales, accused of killing 16 civilians. his repeated tours of duty, the financial woes, the balance he was trying to make between his personal life and his professional life being a hero and soldier for this country. so how he didn't want to go for another tour, we don't know all the background of that, but what are your thoughts of the massacre, the impact on the war it self and the impact this has on the biggest conversation we have in supporting our troops once they get home. >> what sergeant bales did is reprehensible and it's horrific and it's an absolute tragedy and my heart goes out to the innocent civilians who were murdered, frankly, or it sounds like they were murdered. my heart goes out to the 99% of

the troops who do an outstanding job every single day, and i'll tell you, thomas, when i was in baghdad in '03 and '04 with the 82nd airborne division, kicking doors down and doing things that shock and awe of the war, a lot of reporters were embedded and that was sexy and they covered it, but when they went home and we were trying to win the hearts and and minds, fixing schools, that wasn't sexy and they all went hope. that's as critically important when we did that in iraq just like it's critically important what our troops are doing now in afghanistan before they come home to make sure the afghan people stand up for their c country, they are secured and we can bring our troops home. it's way overdue about bringing troops home from afghanistan. and i will note, thomas, if i can, that today is the anniversary, the nine-year anniversary of the iraq war. >> right. >> and the fact is this, iraq was a diversion from where it should have been all along, bringing bin laden to justice.

now we finally did that. but in iraq, the war that i served in, the fact is this. we lost over 4,400 american heroes and 32,000 of those heroes were injured and we lost, obviously, so many in afghanistan as well. but every one of these heroes who serve and, again, the overwhelming majority of these men and women who serve our country this the military, they are heroes and when they come home, we've to treat them as much. thomas, i joined the army when i was 19. it was back in 1993. we had a saying, lead, follow, or get out of the way. president obama has led when it comes to the gi bill, when it comes to hire our heroes act and finally the private sector has come along, too, we learned our lesson in vietnam, whether you are for the vietnam war or against it, when those heroes came back from vietnam we should have all said thank you to him because the country told them to go there just like in iraq or afghanist

afghanistan. and president obama and the private sector have it -- i kn next week is when you're doing the hiring our heros initiative. that's critically important. i was just on the phone today with an armor officer i know who is in the financial services sector. has a wall street act partnering with business leaders in bucks county. they're doing what's necessary to hire these young men and women who are so talented, have ingenuity, have initiative, have character to really move our economy and put it going in the right direction. >> just to remind everybody, nbc is partnering with the u.s. chamber of commerce for hiring our heroes next week. patrick murphy, thank you sir. >> we're back right after this. americans believe they should be in charge of their own future.

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welcome back. all week this hour, we're looking as the how the to vote is once again under siege. judith brown is not only a civil rights lawyer but the codirector of advancement project and joins me now from washington, d.c. it's nice to see you. i want to get straight, the advancement project, this group keeping a close eye on an organization called true the vote. explain what true the vote is and what they plan to be doing on election day. >> sure, true the vote was started by the king street patriots, which is the tea party in houston, texas. their plan iston put 1 million poll watchers in polling places to basically challenge the eligibility of voters. our concern is that this is very connected to the attempts to undermine democracy this year for partisan gain where we have seen the passage of voting laws that actually restrict the vote and really impacts people of

color, african-americans, latinos, elderly and young people who turned out in record numbers in 2008. and true the vote is planning to be at the polling place to challenge people so that they can't vote. >> i want to talk about the places that will have requirements. in terms of those eight states have the very strict laws requiring photo i.d. 15 have nonphoto i.d. laws. legal battles is being fought on a state level about this. how long do you think it will be before this issue hits the supreme court? >> i'm sure it's going to hit the supreme court probably by next year. it's important to understand the context of this. this is really being done for partisan gain. when you look at that map in the places where they passed voter i.d., also restrictions to early voting and restrictions on voter registration programs, that adds up to about 63% of the votes needed to win the presidency, the electoral college votes.

so we've got to understand that this attempt to undermine democracy is about winning the white house. >> advancement of project codirector judith dianis. i'm going to see you back here tomorrow. "now with alex wagner" comes your way next. has a special guest host. go br? look, i'm just saying. well, energy creates jobs. [announcer:] at conocophillips, we're helping power america's economy with cleaner, affordable natural gas. more jobs, less emissions. a good answer for everyone. we gotta be careful. it's cleaner. it's affordable. look, if it's safe, i'm there. [announcer:] conocophillips. all your important legal matters in just minutes. now it's quicker and easier for you to start your business... protect your family...

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they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. rick santorum is claiming to be the candidate for the at least 99% and meanwhile, the occupy movement is coming out of hibernation. it's monday, march 19th. and this is now. i'm ari melber. joining me today, a great panel, rolling stone executive editor eric bates, political commentator elise yas menendez brown university's wendy schiller and msnbc contributor