what game is he playing as rick santorum holds on for his home state, mitt romney and president obama clearly laser focused and ready to lock horns on the differences between the two of them. >> the president came here yesterday and railed against arguments no one is making. >> one of my potential opponents, governor romney, said he hoped a similar version of this plan from last year would be introduced as a bill on day one of his presidency. twister season, a day after a dozen tornados rolled into texas like a wrecking ball, a new batch of storms in the south create another day of possible frightening weather. divided over trayvon martin, a new glimpse at what is becoming a deeper split on how blacks and whites and republicans and democrats see this case. plus, she says it is all hers, the battle over the mega millions ticket in maryland. it is heating up.

> news nation is following what amounts to game over in the republican presidential race after mitt romney's clean sweep of tuesday's primaries and wisconsin, maryland, and the district of columbia. now romney and president obama as mentioned are laser focused on one another with romney delivering the latest punches. he came out swinging at the president just a couple of hours ago as romney addressed newspaper editors in washington. >> the president came here yesterday and railed against arguments no one is making and criticized policies no one is proposing. it is one of his favorite strategies, setting up straw to distract us from his record. >> as far as rick santorum is concerned, it is still only as he put it halftime in the race for the gop nomination and it is on his home state of

pennsylvanipe pennsylvania he is putting his hopes. >> who is ready to charge out of the locker room for a strong second half? the clock starts tonight. we have three weeks to go out here in pennsylvania and win this state and after winning this state the field looks different in may. >> let's pry in the panel michael and charlie sites who endorsed mitt romney. thank you for joining me. all of these football references, good thing i played football with my brothers. is it over? >> it is over. i think what's going on has more to do with what happened in 2006 than what's just taken place in 2012. by that, tamron, what i mean is rick santorum got hammered in pennsylvania, lost by 18 points, and the last time he ran statewide. i think this is all about his legacy that he wants to go forward for three more weeks so that hopefully he can win pennsylvania and then in 2016 he won't not guy that lost by 18

points, he will be the guy who defeated mitt romney. one problem. pennsylvania is a beauty contest. whether he wins the popular vote has nothing to do with whether he wins the delegates. he can win and still walk away with no delegates. >> you have endorsed mitt romney, charlie, and i know that mr. romney says it is not for him to tell rick santorum to get out of the race but if santorum is trying to save his legacy, save his name, that means he is willing to do anything perhaps within the rules of the game to bring down mitt romney to save face here. how concerned are you that mr. romney could be further damaged? we already heard paul ryan say at this point he is worried that this could be damaging for romney. >> well, i find myself agreeing with james carville who says that the chicken who has his head cut off is the last person to know that he is dead, and there is only about politicians at this point in the election

cycle where maybe you have to be bad at math. i think he is playing it out. i think there is a certain amount of pride that's going on here. i agree that it is over, you know, to use an appear practice analogy as opposed to a football analogy. here in wisconsin the fat lady sang last night. >> my question was are you worried that your candidate, the person you endorsed could suffer further damage if rick santorum is to stay in the race, he can't just stay in the race based on i am a good guy, he has to fight it out? >> i think that's why you're seeing the coalescing. i think that's why you're seeing across the country that republicans have decided this has gotten old and we have spent too many time about fighting about purt at this, running negative adds against one another and i think the president helped romney by pivoting in the general election mode and i think that's what you're going to see. this is what rick santorum has to understand, i think, that republican voters are

increasingly focused on the general election rather than this. yeah, i mean, if he wants to go as a dead ender and run lots of negative ads, he could continue to hurt rom my. i just cannot imagine him surviving much past pennsylvania. >> michael, you know rick santorum very well. you're from pennsylvania. you talked to him and covered it. what would he want at this point other than as you pointed out to get the satisfaction in his home state because he did so poorly the last time he was in a statewide race there? >> given where he started, i am sure he looks as this as having not ultimately successful because he won't win the nomination but on balance a good run. i think given his age, he is probably looking at 2016. i fully expect that santorum comes out of this, speaks for a great sum of money for a period of years, and maybe goes across the street to fox news, and does it all over again. >> he is throwing pretty lethal blows at mitt romney. >> sure has. >> questioning his conservative values, where he stands, and he is not lightening up on the guy who is the nominee for practical

purposes. >> i think it would be hard to rachet that back. >> how do you do that? >> i don't know that he is interested in doing that. he is a true believer. one thing about senator santorum, and i have spent a lot of time with him, he never puts his finger to the wind, maybe to his detriment. what he says, he really means. it is very hard for him to play the conventional political game. >> charlie, we'll talk more about strategy coming up later. i do want to play a little bit of what president obama said about the gop and the ryan budget in this 1-2 pumplg that he took at mitt romney and paul ryan. let's play it. >> so far to the right it makes the contract with america look like the new deal. it is a trojan horse, an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. it is thinly veiled social dar winnism. it is antithetical for everyone willing to work for it. >> we heard the person you

backed mitt romney say the president is playing hide and seek, he is trying to distract. how more direct can you be from those comments? >> the fact is that president obama can't run on his record. what you're seeing is an attempt to demonize paul ryan. i followed paul ryan closely, and what he had to say about the budget was so extreme, so misleading, so dishonest, that quite frankly -- >> dishonest in what way? start with the dishonest. >> you and i could spend an hour going through the charges he made and the claim he made about this particular budget and frankly they don't hold up under a fact check. again, here you have somebody who ran on hope and change four years ago, and is running on negativity, partisanship, and this sort of hyperbolic. >> give me a fact check, charlie. >> some of the things he said about health care, when he says that paul ryan wants to get 19

million americans out of medicaid. well, what he is saying is these are not 19 million people in medicaid who would be forced into medicaid under obama care. so these are people who are not now under medicaid. when he says they're being kicked off of medicaid, i think he is stretching the truth. the whole hyperbolic rhetoric about the weather and the parks, all of this is designed to get people's attention off the fact that we have been running trillion dollar deficits and looking at a massive mountain of debt and he has refused to lead on any of those issues. >> okay. listen, we just heard charlie give him a chance to tell one thing and he said this is what i think is dishonest, not this is a fact of what is dishonest. i do believe that's why santorum is being left in the background. it is time to ham ter out with these two. we can't go from this is dishonest to i think it is with all due respect, charlie. >> the president drew a very sharp divide and not just

between himself and governor romney but between himself and republicans generally. i think that was the real take away that he was running against the brand gop and i think perhaps had not only his own fate but also the fate of the congress in mind at the time he was making those arguments. they really want to portray this as you have a distinct choice to be made here, which way are you going to go? >> michael, thank you. charlie, thank you as well. we'll talk more about the strategy from romney and the president coming up. gentlemen, thank you. it was a rare event even for tornado alley standards. more than a dozen tornados, some with winds of up to 150 miles per hour touching down in north texas this hour yesterday. we saw it unfold live on news station yesterday, a massive twister tearing into north texas, tossing tractor trailers around as if they were nothing. three teams from the national weather service on the ground right now. they're surveying all of that damage we witnessed. these are picture from arlington, texas, where crews say it looks like a tornado with

135 miles per hour winds hit homes amazingly, no one was killed in all of this. >> all that really matters is we're alive. we weren't here and god blessed us. >> joining me from foreney is eric fish e it is amazing to see what we watched yesterday and no loss ofife confirmed in this. it is incredible. >> two trends we're watching right now. one i don't like, the fact that severe weather is off to a racing start so far this year, way above average for tornados. the trendy do like, the fact that many of these episodes of tornados we have been see few if any deaths. people are taking these warnings seriously and they had warnings in fore any, tornado track between this row of houses and the one you can hear the drone1 of a generator is a comforting

sound as crews get in and do their work. the house we're in front of is going to be a total loss. you look downstairs in the garage area, that's bad enough. if you look up a floor, you look at that room, and you say, all right, clearly no one was in that room. there was a girl in her teens who sought refuge in that room and walked out of the house. i don't know how that's possible when you look at something like that. the crews have been coming through and marking the homes and if you put a green n on the home like they did here, no entry. essentially, the building is not structurally sound and no one is allowed to go in and that means the home is likely going to have to be leveled before all is said and done. people are getting out here, a lot in the community, and out on the streets and mobilizing quickly and i think the reason they're able to do that, the fact there were no fatalities and they can get past that part and right to cleanup. the national weather service this is an ef-3 tornado, a preliminary report, and winds of 150 miles per hour here in if

orney. >> i know we were watching for potential severe weather also in the south today. what can you tell us? >> the tornado threat today is much lower than what we saw yesterday. for the most part we're watching large hail, gusty winds, heavy rain, and isolated tornados and we shouldn't see anything like what we saw in north texas yesterday. >> thank goodness. thank you very much. erik fisher live in if orney, texas and up next, talking politics, romney's running mate? >> we need a commander in chief. we need a leader that america deserves. >> our political panel will be back after the quick break to weigh in on the buzz surrounding paul ryan. does romney need a vice president like ryan? the mcdonald's worker who claims she bought one of those winning mega million tickets is saying that the ticket she has is all her own. it is not part of the office pool. she hired an attorney. she held a news conference. we'll tell you what she is saying now, quite a drama, and

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one of my potential opponents, governor romney, said that he hoped a similar version of this plan from last year would be introduced as a bill on day one of his presidency. >> when you drive home at night and you stop by the gas station, just take a look at the prices and then ask yourself four more years of that? >> president obama and mitt romney going after each other and laying out how they will run against one another in the next seven months. according to our first routine for president obama it is to make romney own the republican brand for romney, hit the president on the slow economic recovery and as you heard, gas prices. bring in our political panel,

strategist and msnbc contributor jimmie williams and radio talk show host charlie sykes who is also endorsed mitt romney. charlie, i am sorry. i think i am on allegra d and my brain is all over the place. nevertheless, charlie, talk about congressman paul ryan, really this morning there was a conversation on morning joe that i found so intriguing regarding if this is the vice president that we're looking at for mitt romney. what do you think? >> well, you know what, i think that the democrats and barack obama are running against romney-ryan already. they are going to link the two of them together. the ryan budget is pretty much the republican agenda. romney is all in on the ryan budget. if you're going to have to run on the ryan budget and if the democrats will run against romney-ryan, why not make it official and put him on the ticket? there is a reason for that which is that paul ryan is the most articulate defender of those

policies. if you're going to have to run on that and you're going to be attacked on that, why don't you have the guy that knows it inside and out and is able to articulate it the most effect e effectively and that is paul ryan. >> jimmy, do you buy that? it is a decent argument. you put your neck on the line with the guy and give him something and bring it to the table? >> absolutely. i respect paul ryan. he is a very smart guy. at the end of the day i am not sure that paul ryan and the ryan budget, and we have two years of ryan budgets and it is the same thing over and over again is a very smart thing. what will come out of the obama machine and the defensiveness that will come out of the romney camp about old people and poor people, et cetera, it is going to get to an elevated point where it will scare people. it is going to scare soccer moms. who do they care about? their kids and image aing parents. that's not helpful under a ryan budget. you can put him on the vp ticket. it is perfectly fine. he is young, dynamic.

>> you don't believe he has the ability to appeal -- >> no, i don't. >> independents who may not quote, unquote soccer mom of the day. >> i think he is a handsome man. i am not sure his policies -- >> you boil him down to the way looks. >> no, no, no, i would never boil that down. i am just saying. he is an approachable guy. he is a nice guy. >> midwest. >> absolutely. i look at someone more like mike huckabee and people laugh when i say that. >> why do you think they laugh? >> they say mike huckabee is sitting the fox and a great gig. why would he do something like that? if i were romney and i had a major problem with conservatives and conservatives in the south, i would pick someone that hates obama care, never had to defend it, et cetera, and i would go after somebody that led an entire state and that's someone like mike huckabee. >> the counter to that would be perhaps and, charlie, jump in, you have sarah palin, for example, on the today show and

nearly i thought needed an oxygen tank when she was asked about mitt romney, the breath that she took to say that she would support himt, when you look at people like her, people that support the tea party, those who are very ultra conservative, they're not going to vote for obama-biden ticket ever. it doesn't matter really if mitt romney has huckabee. those people probably unlikely to stay at home because what sarah palin said yesterday and i quote anybody but obama, so the people that choose to drink from that cup will drink from that cup, charlie. those who might not be as intoxicated by the tea party and some of the rhetoric from the sarah palin people could be seduced by a ryan. >> well, okay. >> go ahead, charlie. >> i understand all conservatives for you folks, all kifz look alike, but the reality is -- >> absolutely not true. i am offended by that. i really am. i am saying that with sarcasm but it is terrible to say. >> you have the evangelical

base, the southern base, people who are social conservatives, and mitt romney made progress with a lot of those folks and i think he will have to decide and the huckabee suggestion is not i am plausable. marco rubio is not implausible. apar paul ryan saying we have a fundamental choice. we are an opportunity society or entitlement society. if mitt romney wants to run on it is the economy is stupid and wants to run on the size of government stupid, really the strongest candidate he is going to get is paul ryan and the point before, yeah, the obama people will try to scare people, the senior citizens and others, and about the terrible things that will happen with the ryan budget. paul ryan represents a blue collar middle class district in southeastern, wisconsin, and he has been dealing with these issues for years. he is a reassuring figure. he heard the arguments. >> he might be all of those

things but the one person who did demon eyes him if that's the word you choose to use was newt gingrich on this plan. we saw what happened the first time around. i am not saying congressman paul ryan went away with his tail between his legs but he was battered and bruised by the very folks. i lived in illinois for ten years, spent a lot of time in wisconsin, and he was bruised by the folks there who were also afraid of what he was saying. >> okay. i would see it from a different point of view. he was able to get this passed through the congress. barack obama has had his budget was in the senate, and got zero votes and down 97-0. it was presented in the house and down 414 to nothing. paul ryan was able to get it passed through the house of representatives. he has gotten the presidential nominee to buy in. they apparently have decided americans recognize that this country is at a tipping point. we're faced with a debt crisis and entitlement crisis and

things that we cannot ignore. to the point about soccer moms, soccer moms at least in wisconsin have been focusing on things like what is going to happen to the national debt? what kind of a future are we going to leave for our children? are we going to leave our children, this massive legacy of debt and paul ryan is very effective in making that case. >> i appreciate that. those are good talking points and fabulous talking points. i am sorry, those are marvelous talking points. however, be very clear about what the election is about, north carolina, virginia, southern states that are swing states and the president must carry. it is about florida. i got to tell you, if mitt romney who has and you say mitt romney made great progress when it comes to the issue of evangelicals and conservative voters. i don't think he has. he may have done it in wisconsin yesterday but he has not done that in the south and he is not going to do that in the south. he cannot under any circumstances not motivate his base. his base must turn out and independents must vote for him. if he puts on someone like paul ryan that will sit and have a

conversation about budgets in the election from now until november, you know what's going to happen with white women 30 to 50 which swing every single election? they'll tune out and go i could care less about that. i want to know about the price of gas. i want to know about where my house values are going to go up and i want to know whether or not we're at war. that's it. >> charlie, thank you. >> i don't disagree with you as much as i think i do. i don't. those are good points. >> paul ryan doesn't help mitt romney in that case. >> that was kind of you, charlie to end on that note. thank you, jimmy and thank you, gentlemen. we'll talk more. next up on news station. right now five former new orleans police officers are waiting to hear their sentences for the role in the deadly shootings of unarmed civilians in the days after hurricane katrina. it was all caught on this now famous tape. we'll have the latest. plus coming up and first the money minute, yahoo! announces

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that is exclusive video from nbc news six days after new orleans was ravaged by the aftermath of hurricane katrina. the gun fire came from new orleans police officer that is opened fire on an unarmed family killing two people. more than six years later we're awaiting sentences of the five officers convicted and the coverup that followed. the officers are expected to spend decades behind bars. sentencing guidelines could land four of them in prison for at least 30 years. prosecutors say the men fabricated witnesses, faked

reports, and lied for years about what really happened on that bridge. cheryl johnson, the mother of 17-year-old james who was killed in the gunfire spoke out and court and told the officers your actions were cruel and abusive. we are learning to learn the sentencing any moment now in that courtroom in new orleans. a federal judge demands an explanation. he says he wants it from the obama administration over the president's comments made twice this week about the supreme court and the health care law. plus, a santa monica college plans to launch an investigation into this frightening scene when police used pepper spray on student protesters. why they said they did it next. zap technology. departure. hertz gold plus rewards also offers ereturn-- our fastest way to return your car. just note your mileage and zap ! you're outta there ! we'll e-mail your receipt in a flash, too. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

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dislike the president, not about gas prices and joblessness. >> new strategy as president obama's attack on paul ryan's budget keeping republicans from continuing their attack on him because of gas prices and a new poll reveals a split between republicans and democrats over the media coverage for the trayvon martin case. clash on campus, santa monica college opens an investigation after campus police used pepper spray on the students there. perfection. baylor women's basketball team nets a place in history. details on the record-setting championship win and the celebrations that followed. a maryland woman claiming to have the winning mega millions ticket held a news conference a short time ago. mer mirlande wilson did not

bring it to the press conference or say a single word. on correspondeding to the post she said she stashed the ticket somewhere in the mcdonald's restaurant where she works. her attorney spoke and says he has not seen the ticket either. i am joined by steven maher teen owe, director of maryland lottery there. thank you for joining me. >> good afternoon. >> what do you know about miss wilson and the claim she has the winning ticket? >> we know what's reported in the moo he had alike everyone else, but we would reinforce the fact right now that no one has contacted the maryland lottery or approached us about having the winning ticket nor a representative of someone representing the holder of the winning ticket. until someone comes forward and we're able to validate the ticket and certify the jackpot, we're in a position of wanting to make sure the public knows that no claim has been made. >> as strange as her story and the facts of this situation at

least as she explained them to the "new york post," what she said via through her attorney, it is possible that she could have this winning ticket since no one else has come forward? >> it is certainly possible. we have never said that she didn't, but frankly, with the combination of this being the largest jackpot in the history of the world and that $656 million and then the fact that sunday was april fools day, we certainly heard a number of stories and rumors out there and they all can't be true. only one, and maybe not even any of them. that's why it is a position of the maryland lottery to wait until the rightful holder of the ticket comes forward and we can validate the claim and we would hope the winner is consulting a lawyer and a financial advisor and getting things in order so they can when they get the money cash payout would be in maryland about 105 million dollars and that they're prepared to take that and use it responsibly. >> you saw the frensy.

we bought a i can at thisset here and folks everywhere lining up and about every convenience store or gas station they could. it is interesting. sounds to me like a movie that i even saw recently about the lottery and what happens. here have you a mcdonald's worker that says she hidden the ticket in the mcdoppler always and the co-workers salivating to know if she is lying, telling the truth, a ticket they pout with the pool and it adds to the chaos and i guess maybe a little bit of the perhaps it could be me thing that happens with this lottery. >> certainly the jackpot captured the imagination of america and i think over the entire run about $1.5 billion of tickets from mega millions were purchased that comes out to roughly $5 for every man, woman and child in the country although we know that children were not buying tickets, so it was obviously something that people were intensely interested in. i think this is one rumor that has captured the imagination of the media more than anyone.

>> and of the co-workers because i am sure they're treatmenting of the money if it is possible. do you have a time limit on when you have to come forward and claim your money? >> in maryland they have 182 days so there is still plenty of time and we hope they're getting good advice and they will come in on their own schedule. >> we will see what happens. thank you so much for joining us. we have been trying to get you on for a couple of days. thank you for joining us this time. the man accused in a shooting pam page is expected to be arained today. the suspected gunn man is accused of killing seven people at a university in oakland, monday. he is being held on murder and kidnapping charges. authorities say the gunman was upset that he was expelled from the university. federal health officials are investigating a sam nel la outbreak that sickened more than 90 people in 19 different states. the if da says the outbreak may be linked to sushi and they're focusing on six groups of restaurants in texas, wisconsin, maryland, connecticut, as well as rhode island. an investigation is under

way after as many as 30 students were pepper sprayed at santa monica college in california as they protested proposed tuition hikes. they used the spray on a group of more than 200 protesters and trying to get into a meeting at the board of trustees. the baylor lady bears made basketball history last night. they not only beat notre dame to win the ncaa women's title, they became the first team men or women to complete a perfect 40-0 season. nice. back to politics now. and what could be president obama's new strategy, possibly, to perhaps some might say dodge the bullet over gas prices. that's at least the theory of senior political analyst mark h halpirn. let's see what he had to say. >> the stuff he seeded in the

speech drives conservatives crazy and it means conservatives will talk about this stuff, process stuff, and how much they discliek the president, not about gas prices. >> bring in zachary karabel to talk about it. the discussion was about the ryan budget plan and the president coming after that budget plan and calling it social darwinism, and trojan horse and could it distract from gas prices? how can be be a valid stra egg and what do you think of the theory? >> i respect mark and his views on politics. i am not sure this is one thing negates the other but to the degree that obama can focus on what is a much more long-term set of issues, the cost of health care, the feasibility of social security and to the degree that the republicans have what is genuinely a radically different vision how these issues will be solved if you can focus on that particularly given that there is a lot of talk of paul ryan being a potential vice

presidential pick for romney and, you know, then the summer issues of prices at the gas pumps can seem to reseed in the face of this tectonic issue of health care and social security. >> how did that recede when people go to the gas station these days, especially if you live in some of the areas we have sprawl, probably going every other day if not daily. >> look, i am much more of the notion people are capable of being worried about things and equally worried about things in the future so the two don't necessarily cancel each other out, add to the stew of concerns and anxieties, and that is the nature of our political season. i don't want to be cynical but there is a degree you can get people to go to the polls because of hope and it would be great if they showed up because they have a progressive view but it is equally true that politicians find getting people agitated and fearful is a more effective thing and gas prices one, you know, may be an issue for obama although, look, no idea what gas prices will be in two months.

we nl know what they will be now. if they have a, gee, we hope gas prices hit $5 and then we can win, it is a thin read to weigh the electoral chances upon where the social security and medicaid and medicare and it is a long burn issue we know we will have to deal with and the one little liability for obama in this is democrats do have to address these issues. simply claiming that republicans want to throw grandma in a ditch without health care is not going to solve our actuarial issues long-term. >> let me play this new romney ad attacking the president for, quote, slinging oil to distract from failed energy policy. let's listen. >> obama machine has started spending millions to sling mud for oil at mitt romney. why? because in a five states where obama is attacking romney, gas prices are roughly doubled. obama's mud can't cover up his failed energy policies, policies hurting small businesses and working families. >> zachey are, romney's ad

saying he is distracts from the failed energy and paul ryan saying he is trying to divide or distract when he brings up the budget. they're accusing on two different issues of trying to distract. >> obama and the democrats have a very good rejoineder to that what about pennsylvania and new york and all the states that have vast reserves of shale and natural gas suddenly doing really well and in light of an energy policy non-existent three or four years ago. i think there is a good defense of that and the claim of distraction is absolutely ludicrous in these are issue that is anyone is going to have to deal with. the republicans will deal with it. the republicans are going to deal with it. if you bring up the natural gas and do a graphic of other states benefitting from this explosion, you have a completely different graphic. >> zachary karabel live with us on a little bit of talk of strategy as we move closer to this heating up between those two people. thank you very much, zachary. coming up, a new poll reveals a major partisan divide when it

comes to what americans think about the media coverage of trayvon martin's story. t first, there is a lot going on today and here are things we just thought you should know. president obama signed a new law today strengthening the ban of insider trading by members of congress, the stock act clarify that is lawmakers are not to trade stocks using information they received from capitol hill. a federal appeals court in texas is demanding the president clarify his remarks about how the supreme court is considering his health care law. on monday the president said it would be unprecedented for an unelected group of people to over turn a measure passed by congress. the the court has given the justice department until tomorrow to answer whether it believes the supreme court has the right to strike down federal law. tennessee democrats are sending ashley judd to the national convention in charlotte this summer. reports say the actress and

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coming up at the top of the hour, the main event, mitt romney accuses president obama of hide and seek politics and calls him out of touch. sounds a bit rich considering the source. plus the romney vp stakes and what is next for rick santorum and newt gingrich. back to tamron. now to the latest in the trayvon martin case, a shakeup for george zimmerman's definition. joe oliver, the plan appearing on television defending zimmerman is stepping down as the media advisor. oliver says it is because a new attorney is being brought on the team who has more resources to handle media requests. that new attorney, hal uhrig is a former police officer and a

senior partner in a six-lawyer firm and told fox 35 in orlando that he fully believes zimmerman's story of self-defense despite never having met him face-to-face. >> there are cases where like i want to hear my cliebt ae version and look in his eye and see if i believe him or not. i understand the sanford police have given him a voice stress test and he passed that. a new poll shows a big racial divide of regarding this case and joining me is grio.com contributor earl hutchinson. thanks for your time. let me take a look at this. this is the questions, and it says do you think there is too much coverage of trayvon. 43% of the those were white said yes. 16% who are black said they think it is too much. then roll down to too much coverage question, breaking it down by how people vote. 56% of republicans say too much coverage and 25% democrats and 37% overall. what you see here obviously the

higher number white republicans who believe there is too much coverage here. what do you make of these numbers? what does this tell us about us? >> it tells us two things, tamron. one, certainly the no surprise, we have a great division in this country. i mean, the racial divide is still very much there. i don't think that's any surprise or the revelation of the ages. let's not talk so much about the political affiliation, no surprise republic answers and democrats, always going to be a political divide no matter what the issue is there. more intriguing, the racial divide. every time there has been an issue going bag to o.j. simpson we have seen one thing. polls have shown, no matter what the polls are, african-americans think one thing on a particular issue involving race or whether where race plays a part in it and whites say another thing, so now we come to this pew poll. i am not surprised. reading a lot of the coverage and reading what comments are saying and what readers are

saying and viewers are saying, i began to note early on, many whites and i don't want to over generalize, essentially saying we have doubts about zimmerman. maybe it didn't happen. maybe trayvon martin wasn't the choir boy and angel we thought. right away a bell and whistle went off to say, you know what, we have another racial divide in the making. >> you know, this question of do you think there is too much coverage, it is intriguing for many reasons, earl, because you have an opportunity for responsible reporting, getting evidence out, facts because if it were not for the exposure quite honestly that we have seen, the trayvon martin's parents, coming to the media and fighting for their story to be taken to social blogs, social media, and to the tv screen and radios in your car, we would not be at a point where the justice department is doing an investigation and more importantly that this could be going to a grand jury that will convene here very soon, i believe next tuesday, august 10th here. if you are a person who wants to

digest the facts, if you are a person who wants to know what's gone on or what is happening, how could you not want as much information as possible? >> i have an easy answer for that, really a complex question. i think we have to separate a minute from the case and we have to separate information, everything you said is absolutely accurate, and the fact of the matter is the moo he had agot on it and it has been bringing out a lot of different facts and information about the case and we cannot separate that from people's biases. if in fact you feel very strongly about race, that it is over emphasized, especially in the african-americans in coverage of that, right away there is going to be a shutdown. will you turn off to and say enough is enough. if on the other hand particularly african-americans and people of color, they say we want more facts, we want more information, we want to know more because we think an injustice has been set up here and created here. then right away you are going to have another set of

circumstances where people say, no, the media is doing their job, but remember the key thing is it has to be and we have to look at it this way, filtered through the racial biases of people, whether they think it is too much or too little and it is not the first time. we have seen it before in all of these controversial cases >> thank you so much for coming on to patalk about the pew poll numbers. food for thought. our news nation gut check is up next and it has to do with the mega millions mess in maryland, the woman says she has the winning ticket and not sharing it. do you believe her? ke it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption. ♪ you make me happy when skies are gray ♪ [ female announcer ] you know exactly what it takes to make them feel better. ♪ you make me happy [ female announcer ] that's why you choose children's tylenol.

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earlier this hour we told you about the maryland woman that it claims she has the winning mega millions ticket. she held a news conference only a short time ago. here is the problem. she didn't speak, only her attorney did, and the woman apparently still has not produced the ticket and she says that it is hidden in the

mcdonald's where she works and her attorney admits he has not seen the ticket and doesn't know if it exists. whoever has the winning ticket has 182 day from the day of the drawing to come forward. the post reports that she stayed on her phone text messaging. maybe she was talking to a money manager. we can't judge. we'll let you. what does your gut tell you? do you think the mcdonald's working that claims to have the winning ticket worth over $100 million, do you believe her? go to facebook.com/newsnation to cast your vote. that does it for this edition of news nation. lear, untouched. that's why there's brita, to make the water we drink, taste a little more, perfect. reduce lead and other impurities with the advanced filtration system of brita. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all.

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