correspondent major garrett and editor for the grio perry bacon. >> campaigning with mitt romney yesterday and fueling more speculation as if we needed more that he is on the short list for vice president, i think you him.ed to you?ell him last week and looking at the demographic shift rising , the of lation and influence voters and participants conomy, culture, changing the american rubio nd marco great length how republicans have to change their latino community about free market conservatism and an alternative to democrats. ift, heavyis a big one very important i said e said that what if mitt romney were to hear the answer and say that's what our party needs and not only do i need you by my side but the country needs you, the party needs you and would you not running mate and he said i would say no.

that was his definitive as marco rubio has been about whether or not he would run and in an earlier interview i did several months ago he admitted what everyone on the short list has to admit, the answer is always no until it is yes. >> that's right. >> when a nominee asks you you go from no to yes. >> so obviously the latino roots, perry, one of the pros and tell me other pros and cons picking marco rubio. >> he is from florida which is a big swing state and popular there. another is he is young and 40 years old and they want to cut into the big gap with the youth vote. >> young but inexperienced. >> that's what i was going to say next, young, inexperienced, second year in the senate so not a lot of foreign policy experience and that's the downside. i think the positive sides are the swing state, latino, and young. i think that's what romney will focus on in terms of thinking about rubio. >> somebody that knows a little about the process, former vice president dick cheney offering advice. listen to that.

>> you watch the talking heads out there now talking about you better get a woman or hispanic or somebody from a big state. the decision you make as a presidential candidate on who your running mate is going to be is the first presidential level decision that the public sees you make. i think the single most important criteria has to be the capacity to be president. that's why you pick them. >> do you think he is right and if so if experience is the most that ant who do you think jeb be and would it be a portman, the senator ohio? cheneyk vice president important, ng you f the things communicate is how you make the and visiblent biggest stage what are ver country about process and making yielded f it country to nots may not be ready something ent should missed you, you

the mark. >> such as sarah palin. well, that's right, sarah category e into that 1988 ome people back george walker bush he picked young,too and turned outic successful for vice because he beat it is important. the farthest limb is.thing in washington weeks ago wo projecting, pick rob that he would portman. fact.'t know that for a rob ow about mitt n's history and romney's decision making process wants and needs out his vice as presidential nominee tells me it is going to be portman. >> it won't be exciting, though, if it is portman, will it? does he need to look at somebody who has a little more pizazz if you need that as a vice president? who would be that person? who would would would be that

surprise? would it be a conde rice. >> condid he rice would be surprising. sh is he for abortion rights so in some ways would be a problem for him winning the presidency among conservatives. i think one thing cheney said is also he implied that the choice of the vice president doesn't usually affect who wins that much. cheney sort of made that point, and i assume cheney like votes for bush and really knows that from experience in some ways as well. >> all right. so part of the equation, and i think probably it is true what major hit on that people look at this as a way to judge how the candidate judges makes big decisions. let's talk a little bit about another key issue here, and that is money. the major conservative super pac, the american future fund is ready to launch ads in several swing states attacking the president over the gsa scandal.

i spoke with rahm emanuel about the citizens united decision that got rid of a lot of barriers to outside campaign donations. listen to what he said. >> there is a single worst decision i have seen in the last 20 years. >> is it having a corrupting effect on democracy. >> any time you have a political system where all are supposed to be equal in the voice and certain voices because they can afford it more valuable than others, very dangerous. >> is this election going to be, the raiseut who ultimately? to be aat is going factor, chris. who raises the bestdoes thet and supert money outside ofe are ante control so they an tor,ent x assist that can try to learned in t as we the primary just because you have a super pac doesn't always mean it will help you. foster frees did not always help remember.orum, let pacs are a factor that

tremendously important images, creating dialog but candidates still control their dialog and other.ntation with each politics at the presidential level is defined by the quality quality of the and the quality of hasn'tanization and that changed. that, d you agree with perry, kind of that major was just making, there does seem to be more sort of the x factor out there, people who could make the news, people that have a negative effect on your campaign who frankly you don't have any control over? >> exactly. more broadly, each candidate will have about $800 million and all super pac money, the money they raise, and 800 million means every voter will know who mitt romney and barack obama are on their own. 900 million versus 800 million is not a huge difference in terms of who knows you. it is not congressional where you can out spend the other guy who the voters don't know who

they are. most voters know who the people are by the time and the message and how they campaign as major said and it is a much bigger difference in money and purely money does. >> let's talk about what's going on in washington right now. i think we can show you a picture and talk more about this. the president is about to name the teacher of the year there. he is also been talking and so has romney student loans. let me ask about the youth vote, the hispanic vote, the latino vote and the youth vote is always sort of this, again, unknown, isn't it, major, because the question is can they be motivated to vote in bigger numbers than we have seen or can barack obama continue to maintain enthusiasm with young voters to get them to the polls? >> the youth vote has been a known for a long, long time. that is to say it has been known that -- >> they don't turn out. >> they don't show up, exactly. that's the factor we have known,

wus most predictable demographic groups in presidential politics time. long in nged a little bit 008, president obama, then motivated large aged student lege organize for , out.nd turn with s enthused election day going toany said he is to he way i don't need how up bought they were there primaries and caucuses in way.portant mechanic record is on the minds of much collegee college four years ago, you climate and beginning to see republicans an aggressivet in way. data andernal polling letting them know may rs heon of motivated as they were for thens ago may be e obama and the economicth confronted after college.g campaigning early think there are votes harvest there. collegeder

graduate or getting ready to graduate and the numbers for recent college graduates finding a job are extremely low historically. i wonder if that does motivate people but on the other side? >> some study that showed about half of recent graduates are unemployed or under employed so this is definitely something romney can exploit. what i think we will see is what you saw in 2010 is a big drop off in terms of youth vote turnout. it wasn't that they turned to republicans, they didn't vote at all, and that really hurts democrats substantially because they tend to be democrats. >> all right. perry bacon, major garrett, gentlemen, great to see you. the president about on officially introduce the teacher of the year. >> have a seat. welcome to the white house. before we get started, i want to recognize one of our greatest advocates for education and for teachers, our secretary of

education, arne duncan, here. give him a big round of applause. >> now, let's face it. a lot of important people visit the white house, but to young people in classrooms around the country, nobody is more important than the men and women that we honor here today, the state and national teachers of the year. these are the kind of teachers who change lives forever. i wouldn't be here today if it were not for teachers like these who challenged me and pushed me and put up with me and inspired me and set me straight when they had to. i think everybody here can say the exact same thing. teachers matter. that's why i often tell young

people if you want guarantee you're making a difference every single day, become a teacher. teacher is the key to a child reaching their potential and if we need more proof, yes, it is true. yes. she agrees. if we need more proof that teachers matter, all we have to do is look around this room. i am honored to be here with teachers like gabe barnes from madison, alabama, one of the four finalists for this award. there is angela wilson who teaches children of military families at vinchenza middle school in italy. not a bad place to hang out. there is alvin oreliano davis who teaches music in florida, and there is our 2012 national teacher of the year, rebecca milwaukee from burbank,

california. give rebecca a round of applause. this is rebecca's crew right here who are very proud. aunt and cousins. >> my boss. >> oh, boss. even more important. now, you might say that teaching is in rebecca's dna because both her parents taught in public schools. she saw how hard they worked, how much time and energy they devoted to their jobs, how much they gave to their students, but when she was 18, of course, the last thing she wanted to be was a teacher.

what teenager wants to do what their parents do? in college she really rebelled and went to law school. now, she then tried a few different careers after that, after studying to become a lawyer she went into publishing and floral design and event planning, but ultimately she found herself drawn back to the classroom and her students are so lucky she did. she has high expectations for her seventh graders and for herself but she also knows that school can be fun and that fits a personality that she describes as a 12-year-old goof ball dying to get out. i have to say she was a little goofy when i met her.

she was back there teasing me and asking arnie about our basketball games and stuff. you can tell she just has a wonderful spirit. so in addition to everything they learn in her english class, rebecca's students have had a chance to film their own adaptions of a short story, worked with a local writer to develop five-minute plays which professional actors then performed. rebecca's led field trips to the science center, the aquarium, china town, even the tar pits and that's a trip you don't want to lose track of anybody. only one kid. they never showed up that morning. i was wondering where they were.

rebecca knows that education also athe responsibility that begins at home. she hosts family nights to get parents involved. she sends home weekly parent memos so moms and dads know what's going on in school. she maintains a facebook page for her class where families can get information and updates 24/7, and all of this extra work makes a huge difference. when kids finish a year in rebecca's class,readers and wri when they started and even more important they know how important they are and how bright their future can be and even when they work at it there is no limit. so rebecca is the definition of above and beyond. so many teachers aren't the country are like her. she throws her into her work for simple reasons. she knows that her students depend on her. as she puts it, life is too short and too difficult to have anything less than the most

engaged, enthusiastic, teachers in schools. i couldn't agree more. i know arnie couldn't agree more. i also want to point something else out. rebecca said in applying for this award in some way it is harder than ever to be an educator. even in the best of times teachers are asked to do more with less and today with our economy still recovering from the worst recession since the great depression, states and communities have to stretch budgets tighter than ever. we have got a particular responsibility as elected officials in difficult times instead of bashing teachers to support them. we should be giving states the resources to keep good teachers on the job and reward the best, and we should grant our educators the flexibility to teach with creativity and passion in the classroom and not just teaching to the test and

allow schools to replace teachers who even with the right resources and support start helping our kids to learn. we have all got something at stake here, our parents, our grandparents, they didn't build the world's most prosperous economy and the strongest middle class in the world out of thin air. it started with a world class education system. that was the foundation. in the long run, no issue will have a bigger impact in our success as a country and the success of our citizens, so every day when teachers like you put in long hours or dig into your own pockets to pay for school supplies or tweet lessons so they're even better than they were last year, you're not just serving your schools or your students, you're also serving your country. you're helping to preserve the basic promise of america, that no matter who you are, where you come from, what you look like,

what your last name is, you can succeed. you can make it if you try, if you put in the effort. so on behalf of the american people, thank you all for everything that you do, and congratulations. i am going to present this spiffy looking award to rebecca mieliwocki. >> that is very heavy that award right there. i have a little laryngitis this morning. please forgive my voice. thank you, mr. president, for your kind introduction and for taking your time to honor american educators in the way you have inviting us here to the white house to be recognized by you is such a proud moment for us, for our families and for our

students. your commitment to us, to american children, to the ideals inherent in a free public education are tremendously inspiring, and i couldn't be prouder that you're my president. thank you, secretary duncan, for being a dedicated advocate to the strengthening of american education in all of its forms and facets. thank you so much. thank you. thank you to my burbank school family and the california delegation for coming all this way and for supporting me every step of the way and for cultivating a place where i can do great work with students, students who are right now taking their state tests so go yellow jackets, do your best, and make us really proud. i know you're going to. thank you to my parents, bill and sue, for coming here today

to see a dream come true, my parents are themselves retired public school teachers and they quoted much of their lives to guiding, growing and loving young people, one of whom was me. i think you did pretty well. don't you? yeah. to my mother and father-in-law thank you for loving me as one of your own all this time and most importantly to my amazing husband, dwayne, and my son davis, your love and laughter and devotion sustain and complete me. i could not be here today without your love. i love you so much. thank you. i stand here today with 53 of america's finest educators, the 2012 state teachers of the year. [ applause ] a more dedicated, intelligent, compassionate hard working group of professionals you will never meet. i stand here among them as one of them simply blows me away. why, because i am not the best

teacher in america, there isn't one. all across this nation there are millions of teachers who do the work that i do and many do it better. what i do have are the qualities that some of the best teachers have, i have an absolute passion for my work. i have a bottomless well of belief in my students and potential. i have a thirst forgetting better at what i do every single day and a warm and welcoming heart for all students and the unique gifts they bring to my classroom. underneath all of that i have an unshakeable understanding that with a strong education children can do anything they set their minds to. our children are our future. i have a hand in guiding and shaping that future compels me to make every minute, every lesson, every moment with them count. all across this nation millions of teachers just like me are working wonders in their classroom and to be sure the challenges we face are enormous and complex, there are barriers to student success we didn't create and which are far beyond

our control. despite these burdens, teachers persevere. every day here in america teacher patience and creativity are opening doors for students to reach deep within themselves to learn more, to solve problems, to grow and to nurture their dreams. we do this work with conviction, that's not unusual. it isn't even rare. it happens in america's classrooms every day, and i need you to know that. to my fellow educators here today, and across this country, i commend you for the magic you condition to make day in and day out in your classrooms. you pull your students in with imaginative lessons and push your students to perform the best they can every single day. the devotion you show to all of your students will reap a lifetime of benefits, benefits that will continue to strengthen this already exceptional nation. teachers, i want to say to you, be passionate about your work and your students. stay curious. never stop learning and bring

the joy of what you know into your classrooms and share it with your students. set the highest expectations for each and every one of your students and do me a favor and set an even higher set of goals for yourself. you are a hero to someone and you may not even know it. if the future depends on your passion, your dedication, your professionalism, we are in remarkably capable hands and it is my honor to represent you. thank you very much. >> photo op time. what a thrill for all of those teachers that do indeed work hard in the education system

across america. rebecca mielwocki from burbank, california, teacher of the year. we'll talk about education coming up with rahm emanuel. he sat down 20 minutes yesterday with me and had interesting things to say about money and politics and how often he talks to his boss, the president. that's coming up next on jansen and company. and i'm not usually this impulsive. but um... ♪ sarah... will you marry me? ♪ i think we should see other people. in fact, i'm already seeing your best friend, justin. hey tim, she's in good hands buddy. love you. we're going to hawaii together. ♪ wow... i would've appreciated a proactive update on the status of our relationship. who do you think i am, tim, quicken loans? at quicken loans,

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♪ [ camera clicks ] ♪ it's hard to resist the craveable nature of a nature valley sweet & salty nut bar. proof yet again new jersey governor chris christie says exactly what's on his mind. the subject, the new jersey nets last game in his state. >> my message to the nets is goodbye. you don't want to stay, we don't want you. seriously, i am not going to be in the business of begging people to stay here. >> joe biden took his first air boat ride touring the everglades yesterday and he can checked out

a bridge project designed to restore water flow to the area and bringing along his granddaughter and senator bill nelson. the daily show might just have the best follow-up question in the history of interviews with former presidential candidate herman cain. >> mr. cain, i have a question. i hope you don't disappoint. who is the president of uzbekistan? >> the president of uzbekistan? i did go and look it up and at one point i knew his name. since it is not something that i use every day, it is gone again. >> and tonight president obama will be on late night with jimmy fallon. more politics here. there is this big story in the "new york times" about how conservative groups plan to pump huge amounts of money into senate races and they really consider it as important as

winning the white house. chicago mayor rahm emanuel is outraged over outside groups pouring millions into this election but in my 20-minute conversation with the former white house chief of staff i found out he is passionate about education. he is very passionate about his city. he is loving life in his new role, but with a little prodding he talked about everything from the secret service scandal to the supreme court. >> do you think $100 million from the american cross roads just in this cycle, the money that's pouring into the super pacs is making it tougher for in i given person out there whether they live in chicago, whether they're a student, whether they're a senior citizen, to discern what is going on in the election? >> here is what i think. i think the supreme court decision on citizens united was one of the single worst decisions by a court because in argument of free speech, it is free for who can afford it.

they decided if somebody can right a $34 million check their speech is more valuable than somebody who wants to cast a vote. that's what it decides. they put a price on freedom or rather put a price on free speech. single worst decision and there is others, by a supreme court, you will be a blemish on all of their records for allowing this decision. citizens united is taking advantage of a decision the court made. i have my own views about the policies and politics of citizens united, but they're operating within a system decided by a supreme court that is the single worst decision i have seen in the last on 20 years. >> is it having a corrupting effect on democracy. >> any time you have a political system all of us are supposed to be equal in voice and certain voices because they can afford it more valuable than others, very dangerous. it is the court. they decide to be make these type of decisions that have political consequences that reach far beyond the confines of their courtroom. i think that when things get to extreme, people will react

against the citizens united decision. okay? because it is corrupting the political process. the intent of campaign finance laws was to change the political system, to, in fact, not allow money to have a corrupting influence, and their decision was to allow money to have an influence that is more powerful, more weighty than other voices. that's just not a healthy thing for democrat process. >> secret service scandal. you have a few friends whose safety frankly depends on the secret service. you have been around it a lot. six people have resigned so far. when you heard what happened, just wonder what did you think? >> well, look, here is the thing. i do have to focus on chicago. i have to focus while there is a secret service, and that's national, there are good men and women in that service who take their job seriously. six people had to resign, my guess is they should resign. >> your heart didn't stop for a second and say i wonder if the security of the president was threatened. >> i know individuals that work

in the secret service. when i was chief of staff they did their responsibility for me. i worked with them when it came to making sure the president was safe. there are people who are going to worry about this. that's their job. >> are you confident in the people whose job it is to worry about it? >> you said one question, not three. here is the thing. am i confident? yes, i am confident, because already heads rolled that needed to, but i also want you to remember there are good men and women in the secret service. don't you all in the media paint a broad brush. good people there. they're going to hold people that did wrong accountable as they should. built to ask real questions as it relates to the president's security and their professionalism as their operation. >> what's the single biggest public policy issue that needs to be addressed. >> education. >> education? >> single most important thing. you wouldn't be here. i wouldn't be here. nobody in this room sitting around on the sidelines of this interview would be here. if you give a child an education, the potential for the future is unlimited. >> the president is about to go

to i think iowa city, boulder, chapel hill, proposing putting more money into student loans. can we afford it? >> we can't afford not to. again, as i say, we live in a period of time with where you earn what you learn. today three quarters of all jobs require two years of post high school education or more. a college dwree to the 21st century what a high school degree was to the 20th century. today when students graduate they get a diploma in one hand and about $19,000 of student debt. we have to make assistance more available so more kids, more middle class children, get a chance to get an education and a chance at a future like their parents did. if you don't provide that, you won't be a great country. >> how often do you pick up the phone and call the president and say i got things in chicago here i want to talk to you about?

>> when he wants it, i am not going to do that. when he wants to talk or go over stuff, we do that. whatever i do, it is going to be private between him and me. >> you're not going to tell me how often you talk to the president. >> no. >> you're having fun, aren't you? >> it is the greatest job i have had in public life because it is the most immediate form of government in people's lives. >> rahm eman we'll who sat down as one of the hosts of nobel peace laureates still going on in chicago. i moderate rated a panel with carter, and talked about the road to peace war being the last resort and besides the talk at the university of chicago the four world leaders talked with school kids, a dozen chicago public schools had some of the laureates come in and we posted a photo gallery on our facebook page. former president jimmy carter says out of all republicans he is most comfortable with mitt romney although he thinks the president will win re-election and he

called romney a moderate. >> i think romney has shown in the past in his previous years as a moderate, a progressive, that he was fairly confidentes as a governor and running the olympics as you know and a good, solid family man and so forth and he has gone to the extreme right wing positions on some maybe some very important issues in order to get the nomination. >> we'll have my full interview with the former president tomorrow here on jansing and company. president obama, we were talking about this with emanuel is launching the college campaign blitz calling on congress to diffuse a ticking time bomb and prevent loans from doubling for students. richard lou sigh here with a look at the impact if congress does not act. >> nobel laureates and now you're stuck with me. >> we love you. you have all the inside information on the news of today. >> it is great to have you back.

to the subject you're talking about, close to $1 trillion could be out there in student loans. 37 million of us have a student loan right now. if rates double, this is what it means for new loans. the white house estimates right over here the average amount borrowed each here is $4,200 by an average student. you would pay 1,000 more if the rate stayed the same and over 2500 more if your loan term is 25 years. again, this is if the rate doubles. most owe more than the 4,200 according to the federal reserve bank of new york, about 23,000 actually, and doubling the rate, what that would mean is paying a5700 more over 12 years and close to 14,000 more and they say the average is 54,000. at that level interest rate jacks up lifetime costs by 13 and $32,000 if the rate doubles. if you end up owing more than

$200 thu and there is about 200 thousand people that do have that right now, the higher interest rate is equal to a premium of close to $120,000 more if that were to happen. fixed loan rates have not always been at today's low. 2008, it was 6.8%. because of 2007 law as you see it began to drop to 6%. then to 5.6 and down to 3.4 today, but it could be heading back on up to 6.8 as we were discussing. the result, the total amount of all debt taken on by students every year more than doubled in the last decade. look at this red line. the same time when we look at the average each student borrowed pretty much steady. that stayed the same. if the total is rising, where is all of that money going? chris? more students are getting an education and they're using federal loans to get it. >> richard, thank you so much. fascinating stuff. let me bring in joe courtney who serves on the education and

labor committee and kevin hasset with the economic policy institute and advisor to the romney campaign. good to see both of you. >> good morning. >> congressman, tell me where that stands now. does it have bipartisan support? is it going to pass? >> two minutes ago we picked up the 137th co-sponsor, the good news. unfortunately it is so far only on the democratic side in terms of co-sponsorship which if you go back to 2007 when we passed that rate cut that the correspondent described, it was a very bipartisan effort. we had 77 house republicans who voted for the college class reduction act, a couple dozen senators, republican senators and george w. bush to his credit signed it into law and it was i think an attempt to try to stop the wave of rising debt which, again, your story i think showed

chapter and verse is really a huge challenge for middle class families. i was glad to hear that mr. romney came out and supported the president's proposal for a one-year fix and hopefully we're going to pick you mean moment unon an issue that should unite all americans >> this is mitt romney throwing his support behind it. >> i fully support the effort to extend the low interest rate on student loans. there was some concern that that would expire halfway through the year. i support extending the temporary relief on interest rates for students in part because of the extraordinarily poor conditions in the job market. >> congressman, the white house then called romney's new support for an extension inconsistent with his endorsement of the ryan budget which would slash pell grants and allow student loan rates to double. what do you think?

>> there is no question that i think as people look at the ryan budget closer, and see that in fact the white house is correct, that budget plan assumes the higher rate, 6.8%, and does hit one of the real workhorse programs for low income families to pay for college, about 9 million students use pell grants which is again an actual grant to help kids without creating debt to pay for college. that is really uncon shonable given the challenges that young people face trying to upgrade their talents which has become almost mandatory in terms of the workforce challenges that young people face when they're entering the workplace and the workforce. >> as an economist and someone who has supported mitt romney, were you glad that he threw his support behind this? does it make economic sense? >> yeah. i commend the congressman. i think he is right, that in the past this has been something that people of both parties could come together on and i

would hope that will happen soon on this as well. the fact is i couldn't have gone to college if i didn't have student loans and right now recent college graduates have pretty much the worst job market that we have ever seen going back to the great depression for new graduates. right now it is about 50% of them that are either under or unemployed and they just don't have the money to pay for the students loans and the fact is bankruptcy law is really, really harsh towards student loans. people that have student debt are almost treated like fell ons, so there is no way out and it is right to have relief come forward now. >> would you be surprised if it didn't go through? >> yeah, i will be surprised if it doesn't go through. >> it seems to make political sense for both sides and it is interesting, isn't it, because by often talk about how in the political silly season it is very difficult for both sides to come together. in fact, it may have the opposite effect right now in your case, right? >> it should. again, this is a program which

is really transformed people's lives. there is about 7 million kids that use the program but there are tens of millions who are people who remember the stafford student loan program as really the avenue that really created the success in life, so this has great political power, tremendous political power. again, i don't want to over emphasize the kumbaya moment we're in now. we frankly need movement from the speaker and from mr. mcconnell in the senate to really get traction in getting people to work together. the clock is ticking, 67 days to when that rate increase goes through. we have financial aid offices and colleges that are already putting the warning flags up for incoming students and for kids planning for next year. we really need to move on this and hopefully the speaker heard mr. romney's comments and is really going to now get his folks focused on coming up with a solution. >> joe courtney, thanks so much for being our guest and kevin

haasset, thanks to you as well. the senate could vote on a measure to help the alg u.s. postal service. the bill would give the agency $11 billion and republicans may block it saying the measure violates budget agreements. the postal service says it needs to begin a billion dollar cost-cutting effort to become profitable again by 2015. you know, those farmers, those foragers, those fishermen.... for me, it's really about building this extraordinary community. american express is passionate about the same thing. they're one of those partners that i would really rely on whether it's finding new customers, or, a new location for my next restaurant. when we all come together, my restaurants, my partners, and the community amazing things happen. to me, that's the membership effect.

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the decline was seen across all races and ethnicities. hi, everybody, i am thomas roberts, the agenda next hour primary day in five tats, 231 delegates at stake. we'll talk to rick santorum. will he finally get off the fence and endorse mitt romney? also newt gingrich, his anemic campaign hanging on by a thread. will today not judgment today? gingrich's daughter joins me to discuss the realities of her father's presidential bid and john edwards trial heating up in north carolina. did the one-time presidential candidate use campaign funds to hide his one-time pregnant mistress? >> thank you, thomas. president obama will carefully avoid a hot button gay rights issue in north carolina later today. two week from now the state will hold a public referendum on amendment 1, one of the toughest anti-gay measures in the country. it would amend the state constitution to ban civil unions and domestic partnerships. joining me is senior political editor mark murray.

good morning. >> good morning. >> the campaign has come out against amendment 1. why side step it today? >> i think what you're trying to see president obama, they're trying to reach out to voters that they need to be able to get to the polls and a lot of times when you hit general election mode it is all about the swing voters, the people who decide elections and so president obama and his white house has made the calculation that people who make gay rights their number one issue are already voting for president obama or maybe not voting for mitt romney and you look at the president's records on gay rates like the repeal of don't ask don't tell in addition to the administration no longer defending the defense of marriage act and saying we have a very strong gay rights record and what we're going to try to do is talk about our message. >> bottom line, we should remind people he won north carolina by a razor thin margin four years ago. what was it, i think about 14,000 votes. i guess why shake up the boat with something controversial when you have already got

yourself a tight race? >> that's right. particularly when president obama and mitt romney are on opposite sides on this issue. it is not like this is a jump ball between the two. for example, like on latinos where mitt romney is trying to start making some in roads among those groups and in some respects the burden is more on mitt romney to win over gay and lesbian voters or people who really pay attention to gay rights issues more than for president obama as his administration likes to tout they have advanced gay rights more than any other administration in u.s. history. >> they do like to say that. he also angered parts of the base with the refusal to sign an executive order banning anti-gay discrimination by federal contractors, that's just one of the issues. from what you know, has the campaign been getting much pushback? are they worried about campaign donations? are they worried about the flashy fupd raisers in hollywood, those kinds of things? >> there was pushback, particularly on the executive

order and this is a theme we have seen in the three and a half years of the obama presidency, so him going a little bit in one direction on an issue and supporters, progressives wanting him to go much, much, much farther, so et cetera that the dynamic at play here, the obama administration says, look, we moved the ball to the 30 or 40 yard line and these folks say we want to you push it into the end zone. that is the dynamic at play here, but these next six months are about getting president obama re-elected and i think his advisers made the calculation whether it is on gay marriage, this amendment, the executive order we were talking about to actually kind of stay in neutral and not push the pedal. >> mark murray, always great to have you on the program. thank you, mark. as i mentioned earlier, president obama will be jimmy fallon's guess from the u.n. c campus. today's tweet is from mr. fallon who posted this photo of his script for the show with the caption "today just feels

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will and kate and a white whale? let's go down to the wire. another hollywood star let to the baby beg your pardon watch. megan fox and her husband brian austin green are reportedly expecting their first child. fox recently told cosmo she has ma personal and wants two or three kids. the baesh bump watch is on for the duke and duchess of came braj as they report their first anniversary. mattel released this doll set that already sold out in the u.s. at $160 a pair. check out this cool video. scientists believe it is the first ever sighting of an all white orka whale. the scientist that captured this video nicknamed the whale iceberg. cool. another piece of video we have

to show you out of china, a cautionary tale, unexpecting teenager talking on a cell phone and missed the cones walking down the street and falls through the pavement. passing cab driver stops and tries to help her and goes down as well. what does that tell you about actually you really couldn't even see the cones. we all would have done the same thing. they were okay by the way. that wraps up this hour. former president jimmy carter will be my special guest tomorrow. thomas roberts is up next. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made.

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his daughter joins me this hour. master manipulator, the prosecution comes out swinging against former presidential candidate john edwards charged with using campaign funds to cover up his extra marital affair and child with rielle hunter. plus, an ohio mom fed up with her daughter's foul mouth comes up with a creative way to punish her on facebook. did she go too far? we'll talk with that. great to have you with me. poll particul politics tops the agenda this morning. romney is favored to win all five states voting today, pennsylvania, new york, connecticut, rhode island and delaware and each state a chance to solidify his lead and a chance, a chance, to rack up delegates, his eye on the prize, the 1,144 delegates needed to seal the deal. romney spent the hours in the swing state of pennsylvania net to contender and