decision day. attorneys for george zimmerman ask a florida judge to set him free. and mission museum. nasa's space shuttle "discovery" is welcomed home at the smithsonian. good morning, everyone, i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. we are going to begin this morning with pole position. the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll finds that at this point, president obama is ahead of presumptive republican candidate mitt romney in a head-to-head match-up. but romney is in a strong enough position to make it a close election. chuck todd reports. >> thanks to large leads among women, hispanics and even

independents the president begins with a 49-43 advantage over presumptive gop nominee mitt romney. the good news for mr. obama is how his standing compares with other incumbent presidents seeking re-election. his job rating is almost identical to where george w. bush was in 2004. a tad lower than bill clinton in 1996. but it's much better than the last president to lose re-election, george h.w. bush in 1992. the president also benefits from being more likable and more in touch with the middle class. this likability gap is something romney is so aware of he's mentioning it in speeches. >> even if you like barack obama, we can't afford barack obama it's time to get someone that will get this economy going and put the american people back to work with good jobs and incomes. >> there's a reason romney wants to focus on obama's policies and not his personality. by a 40-34 margin romney is

steen as more likely to have good ideas for how to improve the economy. romney is also viewed as more likely to change business as usual in washington. the big debate in this campaign is going to be on economic philosophies and we tested, without attribution, the main arguments both candidates have been making. >> i said it before and i'll say it again there has to be some balance. all of us have to do our fair share. >> reporter: 76% said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate advocating that. >> i want to restore to america the values of economic freedom and opportunity and small government that have made this nation the leader it is. >> reporter: 64% said that message would make them more likely to support that candidate. chuck todd, nbc news, washington. more secret service employees could lose their jobs because of the prostitution scandal. this according to members of congress. following the incident, at a hotel in colombia, two of the three people who have already

left the agency have been identified as greg stokes and david cheney. they've both hired a lawyer who says, quote, nobody has been separated from the agency involuntarily and that stokes plans to quote, vigorously defend himself. cheney posted photographs of himself protecting former republican vice presidential candidate sarah palin back in 2008. and he posted a comment underneath that said, quote, i was really checking her out. palin called the scandal, quote, a symptom of government run amok. there was more congressional reaction to this secret service scandal. maryland congressman elijah cummings, who serves on the house oversight committee appeared last night on politics nation, and he told host reverend al sharpton that in his view, even the appearance of impropriety is a problem for the secret service. >> we have a situation where we have some officers who, in my opinion, used very poor

judgment, and one of the things that i've said is i really think this instance we need to take politics out of this and make sure this organization, which i consider one of the most elite, and outstanding organizations, security organizations, in the world, is all that it says it is. and i think -- i think it is. and i'm hoping that this is just an aberration. but the fact is, is that part of -- i was telling director sullivan, that i think one of the reasons why the secret service is so effective is because they have a reputation as being the very, very best. and that it would be almost impossible to pierce their armor. and i think that whenever anybody thinks that there may be a possibility, just the appearance is something that i don't even want. >> well don't miss "politics nation" week days at 6:00 p.m. eastern time, right here on

msnbc. the place for politics. a bond scheduled hearing for today for george zimmerman. he is the neighborhood watch volunteer charged with the second degree murder of 17-year-old trayvon martin. nbc's jay gray is in sanford, florida, with us for the details. jay, good morning. >> good morning. george zimmerman has spent just over a week in jail after being charged with second degree murder in the case. today in a courtroom could be the first time he sees trayvon martin's parents as they ask a judge to release him. >> mr. zimmerman. you're appearing here for your first appearances. this morning george zimmerman will walk into a sanford courtroom with the hope that later today he can walk out of the jail. >> i think the statute proves that he should get a bond. unless the state can prove that presumption is great and prove evidence it's going to be very difficult to keep him in. >> legal analysts agree zimmerman will likely be eligible for bond but say the price could be high due to the nature of the case.

>> i would think somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,000 would be reasonable. but i doubt that an appellate court would be willing to complain about it if it was up to $200,000. >> the bond hearing could be the first time the man who shot and killed trayvon martin comes face to face with the teenager's parents. their attorney has said that tracy martin and sabrina fulton will attend the proceeding at the request of the special prosecutor in the case. since his arrest, martin's family has pushed to keep zimmerman behind bars. >> i mean, some people want him to be behind bars for life. >> what do you want? >> likewise. justice. >> reporter: a search for justice that begins in judge kenneth lester's courtroom later this morning. zimmerman's family will also be a part of today's bond hearing, though due to safety concerns, they will be allowed to testify by phone. that's the latest from here in sanford, florida, i'm jay gray. lynn, back to you now. >> all right, jay, thanks so. . here's your first look at some

of the other news going on around america today. these are disturbing and graphic images from philadelphia, where a robber shot three people at a take-out restaurant. after ordering, the men to go outside the store, the gunman looks around opens fire and takes off. another view shows two of the victims as they were hit. as they ran for cover, the shooter returned and started firing again. hitting a third man. who is now in the hospital. police released the video because they are looking for the shooter and the first two victims. a scare in the skies over new york city, a delta airlines passenger recorded video of a bird strike into one of the jet'sagens. the kind of incident that caused the so-called miracle on the hudson, but thankfully in this case the pilot was able to return to kennedy airport. finally in california, this is tough to watch. a goose is andering around with an arrow imimpaled through its

midsection. folks have been trying to catch the bird to help it out but the goose moves around too quickly, fish and game officials say they are now going to get involved but he looks like he's unharmed. i guess that's good but it's kind of tough to look at. now a look at your national weather. we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins. good morning to you, bill. >> i think that one would require an eye for an eye. maybe an arrow through the middle of the person who shot it. >> through his arm. >> let him walk around for awhile. or her. who knows. we are watching showers and storms rolling through the midsection of the country. if you had weekend plans on the east coast you want to pay attention. we are going to see some outdoor events washed out this upcoming weekend. lightning strikes in northeast texas along the border of the red river there and heading towards fort smith, arkansas. that's where some of the downpours are this morning. this front, toward st. louis, probably some showers and storms for your early morning commute. this is how it's going to play out this weekend. when you see the jet stream taking a big dip like this we call this a trough.

as this trough kicks to the east coast, it's going to tap into moisture from the gulf and the atlantic and that's why for the first time, maybe months, we're going to see a big storm on the eastern seaboard producing a lot of rain. possibility in some areas getting 2 to 4 inches of rain. and we need it. i mean we don't want it on the weekend but we definitely need this rain. so here's how it's going to play out. as we go into saturday, the storm is going to still be forming down south of louisiana along the gulf coast. heaviest chances of rain on saturday. best chance of a watchout anywhere on i-10 southward down to florida with afternoon thunderstorms. now, the cold front to the north of it, this is more of your typical rain that we'll see, maybe during the afternoon hours especially around d.c. and richmond. and it looks like late in the day, probably around dinner time around new york city, up to albany, boston i think you're going to get away with it just fine saturday. saturday's not a washout on the mid-atlantic, up into new england. but by the time we get into sunday, the storm system begins to form and strengthen. it should become a full-fledged nor'easter, we haven't even had any of those through the winter

season. no snow with this. looks like it will be all rain. but it will be a heavy rain event come sunday in the mid-atlantic and eventually that heavy rain during the day will move northward. and then come monday morning when people are trying to go to work it could be very ugly up here in new england. it's going to be windy, rainy, coastal flooding and that will be a very interesting monday morning commute, lynn. so been awhile since we had a big east coast rainstorm, and it looks like it's going to ruin some people's sunday and monday. not so much saturday. >> but like you said, we need it. >> desperately need it. >> coming up, iphone sales slip. microsoft drives. and starbucks debugs its menu. your first look at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. coming up another overtime thriller between the black hawks and coyotes. howard is done for the year and the only hat trick of the night wasn't on the ice. coffee doesn't have vitamins... unless you want it to.

splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart ways to sweeten. same great taste. splenda® essentials™. mcallen, texas. in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere,

is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so every piece of equipment knows where it is, how it's doing or where it goes next. ♪ this is the bell on the cat. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ free streaming quotes, all your investments, positions, and even your trade ticket are all on one customizable page. see the all-new 360 investing dashboard at e-trade. and then treats day after day... who gets heartburn. well, shoot, that's like checking on your burgers after they're burnt! [ male announcer ] treat your frequent heartburn by blocking the acid with prilosec otc. and don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] one pill a day. 24 hours. zero heartburn.

welcome back to "first look" i'm lynn berry. here are some of the top stories making news this morning. new york police and fbi are digging up a basement as they investigate the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old etan patz. the case sparked the missing childrens movement including new legislation and their photos on milk cartons. in southwest afghanistan a u.s. army helicopter crashed during a night time mission in bad weather, with four u.s. soldiers on board. a u.s. official says there were no survivors. rocker levon helm, the drummer and lead singer of the band has died of cancer at 77. during a visit to the henry ford museum, in michigan, president obama was photographed sitting on the bus in which rosa parks made her 1955 protest against segregation by refusing to move to the back. the space shuttle "discovery" is now at the smithsonian's national air and space museum, and the prototype shuttle enterprise will leave the smithsonian next week for

display at new york city's intrepid sea, air and space museum. and look at this guy. the world's oldest living man celebrated his 115th birthday in japan yesterday. he looks amazing. for 115, right? the father of seven children, he has 14 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren and 13 great-great grandchildren. he says the secret is eating small portions of food. hmm. who knew it was that easy. well now here's your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,964 after losing 68 points yesterday. s&p lost 8 points. nasdaq fell 23. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei was down 27 points. but in hong kong the hang seng was up 15. despite a slew of earnings reports a number of fear factors spooked investors into selling thursday. rising spanish bond yields and rumors of a downgrade to

france's credit rating added to economic woes in the u.s. including a disappointing dip in weekly jobless claims and less than stellar reports on housing and manufacturing. apple was a drag on the nasdaq, dropping 3% on news verizon's iphone sales were 25% lower than the previous quarter. today microsoft could spark a tech bounce thank to surprising surge in sales of windows and office software for businesses. earlier, banks were a bright sport with morgan stanley and bank of america both beating the street's earnings estimates. elsewhere high end luggagemaker tumi soared nearly 50% on its first day of public trade. on the eve of the second anniversary of the gulf oil spill the justice department ordered bp to pay more than $64 million to some 7300 victims. the government ruled their initial claims were either short changed or wrongfully denied. and finally who knew this was even an issue.

squeamish starbucks customers have spoken by the end of june the company will replace a red dye used in drinks and menu items made from crushed beatles, that is right, beetles, they're going to be replacing it with a vegan friendly food coloring made from tomatoes. sounds like a good idea there. coming up, the heat burned the bulls, the coyotes topped the black hawks in overtime. plus three at-bats and three home runs for one yankee slugger. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition?

♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. has a facebook page these days. but where's the relationship status? well, esurance is now in a relationship...with allstate. and it looks pretty serious. esurance. click or call.

it was in my sister's neighborhood. i told you it was perfect for you guys. literally across the street from her sister. [ banker ] but someone else bought it before they could get their offer together. we really missed a great opportunity -- dodged a bullet there. [ banker ] so we talked to them about the wells fargo priority buyer preapproval. it lets people know that you are a serious buyer because you've been credit-approved. we got everything in order so that we can move on the next place we found. which was clear on the other side of town. [ male announcer ] wells fargo. with you when you're ready to move. [ clang ] my house is where plants came to die. ♪ but, it turns out all i was missing was miracle-gro potting mix. it's got what a plant needs. even plant food that feeds them for up to 6 months. you get bigger, more beautiful plants. guaranteed. who's got two green thumbs thanks to miracle-gro? uh, this gal. boom! everyone grows with miracle-gro.

welcome back to "first look" i'm lynn berry. in sports, last night the devils goalie made his way into the nhl record books. here's nbc's fred roggin. good morning. it wasn't another playoff day for martin brodeur it was a crowning achievement. he made history, stopped everything that came his way, 26 saves, his 24th shutout of the postseason. that moved him in first place on the all time shutout list. the devils offense gave him support. ilya kovalchuk second goal of the playoffs, devils even the series with a 4-0 victory over the panthers. deja vu for the coyotes and black hawks. every game in this series has gone to overtime. last night was no different. michael froelick tied it with just over a minute to play. the third time chicago has forced o.t. in the final minutes. but it was all for naught. michael boedker scored the game winner, back-to-back overtime goals for him.

coyotes won 3-2. they can eliminate chicago tomorrow. to washington, alex ovechkin is one of the best players in the league. he has to work on how to go for the bortds. he fell on his wallet and the caps were even better. alexander semin gave washington the lead, capitals beat the bruins 2-1. nba, dwight howard done for the season. he'll undergo surgery for a herniated disc in his back and miss the entire postseason and olympics in july. match up of eastern power , in miami, both with a chance to lock down the top seed. lebron wasn't having it. 15 points in the first quarter alone and then in the third the circus was in town, the acrobatic shot fell, james had 27, the heat won it 83-72. the nhl playoffs are in full swing but the only hat trick of the night was on the diamond. the yankees curtis branderson hit three home runs against the twins. matched the career high with five hits. he powered the yankees to 7-6 win. that's your first look at sports, i'm fred roggin.

>> now for another look at the weather here is nbc meteorologist bill karins. good morning once again, bill. >> the drought buster potentially. >> no kidding. >> especially up in new england this weekend. sunday into monday. as far as what we're looking at. this is where the drought is the worst, actually. down here in georgia, south carolina, and north florida. we are going to get rain in this area. i really think the heaviest amounts of rain are going to come up here in areas of new england from boston to albany, down towards the hartford area. we'll watch and see how it develops. this is your weekend forecast. showers and storms this morning, arkansas and north louisiana, east texas possibly dallas, too. showers and cool weather from the great lakes, including chicago. late this afternoon, a few thunderstorms in florida. now as we go through the weekend, the storm system is going to be mostly down here in the florida area on saturday. not a rainout for anyone in new england on saturday. i think actually the beginning of the day should be just fine. afternoon showers and storms. it will be warm, too. notice possibly mid 507s up to new york city. we're just fine all weekend long in the middle of the country, in the west we're looking very warm.

could be 100 in phoenix. by the time we get to sun kay. the only potential for a washout for your sunday does look like from north carolina, virginia, northward. that's where the heaviest rain will be. it will get worse as the day progresses up in new england. and then by the time we get to monday morning, full-fledged nor'easter, windy conditions, coastal flooding. a lot of heavy rain up there in new england. so the bottom line is, lynn, for the eastern seaboard, saturday looks like the better of the two days. sunday could be a washout and one of those days, wondering what you're going to do with your kids. >> i tried to give you a couple of ideas. you weren't taking any of them. what do i know. another case of tmi from a celebrity mom. plus have movie goers finally had their fill of "the hunger games"? your first look at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. doesn't have to take long. i'm done. [ female announcer ] unlike sprays and dust rags, swiffer 360 duster's extender can clean hard-to-reach places in less time. swiffer. great clean in less time. or your money back.

standard keyless access, and standard leather-trimmed seats, then your choice is obvious. the lexus es. it's complete luxury in a class full of compromises. see your lexus dealer. how math and science kind of makes the world work. in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from. so now, as an engineer, i have a career that speaks to that passion. thank you, mr. davies.

[ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] you may be an allergy muddler. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. zyrtec®. love the air. [ sneezes ]

welcome back to "first look." time now for some entertainment news. after 28 straight days at the top of the box office, it appears the "the hunger games" rein will come to an end this weekend. >> the feast is over. >> what? >> oh, good one, bill. you've been thinking about that all morning. the romantic comedy "think like a man" is about four men whose love lives are disrupted when their partners begin using advice from a book written by comedian steve harvey. it's expected to take the top spot with around $19 million. but in close second, bill's favorite, this is a romantic tear jerker "the lucky one." >> i'm going to line up for tickets. >> it stars zac efron as a marine trying to track down a female through a photograph he believes kept him out of harm's way. should pull in $16.5.

finally, new whom hilary duff tells "people" magazine she recently celebrated her 4-week-old son's biggest milestone to date, his belly button falling off. duff says to her husband's disgust she decided to keep it and she has stored it in a freezer bag. she keeps it right in the back of her makeup drawer. >> and her husband just should nod at that and say -- >> honey, whatever you would like. >> you get your little keepsake box and whatever she wants to put in it -- >> no judgments. no judgments. a lot of parents do this. >> oh, yeah. >> maybe they don't keep it in a freezer bag. but -- >> it's not quite as cute as the first lock of hair. >> i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned "way too early" is next. 100 years ago today, on april the 20th, 1912, the very first pitch was thrown in this

stadium, from about this spot. since then, ruth, clemens and pedro all have pitched here. williams, yaz and manny have hit right about there. and one time in 1978, bucky dent hit one right there. sorry, it's way too early for that. >> welcome to a very special edition of "way too early" live in boston at the 100th anniversary celebration of fenway park. the most unique and perhaps most famous stadium in all of american professional sports. it's also the oldest, built two years before wrigley field in chicago, and today, fenway turns 100.