"the promise: president obama year one." j.p., contributing editor at the "american spectator" conservative magazine. a great pleasure having you on as well as jonathan. let me start off with you, obviously noting this whiteboard, you're supposed to be able to paint things clearly when it's written down. you see the great detail regarding president obama's plan for medicare, but on the romney side, and maybe i'm not seeing it clearly here, where are the numbers? i see the words "no change." i don't see an explanation, j.p. >> well, i think that it's actually fine that he doesn't have any specifics yet, because i think it's a good idea to go forward with congress and work out some kind of deal the way that obama didn't actually do it when he went about setting up the affordable care act. it's perfectly worthwhile for romney to criticize how obama's plan currently works because that's currently the law and that's something worth discussing. >> it's interest you say it's okay to be -- you didn't use the word vague, but open to other ideas. laura ingraham, the conservative radio host, just said on her

show that romney is losing because he is not presenting, as she put it, power points, a four point or five-point plan, and as a result he's losing. she actually suggested that he whip out, you know, a bain tactic of power points but even she was hoping for more specifics here. >> well, i think a lot of people are a little bit more concerned about how the affordable care act is going to impact seniors' current services and i think they'd really like to hear about how, for instance, the affordable care act is going to prevent payments to go to certain hospitals and doctors which is why they're not going to be able to service people who are covered under medicare. >> is that just your opinion more people are concerned about that and not medicare? i think a lot of people in florida, colorado, would maybe take issue with that. >> i think that people in florida and colorado, i think the entire reason this whole thing is being discussed is because people are concerned about the future of medicare. i mean, we've got the board of trustees that are saying the current path, you know, everything as it is, if nothing changes, is totally unsustainable, that the trust fund is going to run out by

2024. so people are right to be concerned. >> let me bring in jonathan here. it's interesting, again, i go back to this whiteboard that governor romney pulled out. because obviously this was an attempt to be clear. i want it in writing for you to see. on his side of the whiteboard you simply see the word "no change." jmt j.p. seems to believe that's a logical strategy there. what do you say, jonathan? >> it would be more convincing if paul ryan hadn't had in his plan almost precisely what president obama had in the affordable care act. >> you mean the savings now that the republican -- >> the $700 billion in savings that are in -- that's in obama care, is also in the ryan plan. so it takes a little bit of chutzpa for the romney/ryan ticket to now be attacking president obama very harshly for something that already exists within the ryan plan. now, mitt romney can try to put distance between himself and the

ryan plan. >> but he's not doing that. in a new interview, he says his plan is near identical to ryan's. >> then that's completely preposterous, his position today, because, again, just so we're clear, the $700 billion in savings that are in the obama care program are almost identical to $700 billion which is only a down payment on larger cuts down the road in the ryan plan. >> what does that get used for? >> the big difference is the ryan plan, the new version of the ryan plan, introduces a voucher option. >> right. >> you're allowed to stay in existing medicare if you want to, which is something that, you know, in fairness the obama people are not admitting. that you will have a choice under the ryan plan. >> but the argument you'll have a choice, exactly, which means if your voucher does not cover the amount of your health care, then it will be coming out of pocket. >> yeah. the other thing, what that does, that brings, essentially turns

medicare into obama care, where seniors, who, you know, are old and really don't want to do this, will have to go on these exchanges that are similar to what others who are uninsured will do under obama care. that's going to be very disore yechbting for them and in that sense does end medicare as we know it. >> governor romney's lawsutest comment where he said his plan is nearly identical to paul ryan's. >> paul ryan and i put forward a plan, we're going to give those people something more like medicare advantage or traditional medicare if they like and let them choose, which they have, and higher income folks will get more financial support in choosing their plan. excuse me, higher income folks get less financial support, lower income people get more help. >> so j.p., you heard jonathan lay out the fact that these savings that many republicans have attacked under the president's plan are exactly the savings from the 2013 budget with ryan. governor romney says now his

plan is near identical to ryan's plan. what do you say to that? how do you draw a line there? >> well, i think it's a valid point. there's an important distinction to make, though, when you're talking about dissimilarity in the $700 billion. the $700 billion in saving winds up going to bay fpay for the affordable care act under obama care. under ryan's plan, it would not go toward that. he would make sure that we maintain medicare advantage. >> would it go to tax cuts as jonathan alter is saying? would it go to tax cuts? >> i mean, whatever the case, the discussion about growing the economy is certainly relevant as well. >> no, i mean, the money that ryan and now romney would save by making these changes in medicare and much, much crueller changes in medicaid which will also impact seniors who use medicaid for long-term care, that money will go to help pay for another 20% tax cuts for

those making well over $1 million a year. the money will not be, you know, maybe some of it will go to wealthier seniors in medicare advantage, which by the way, is not the basic medicare benefit. >> wait a second. hold on. jonathan, you just interrupted me. i'd love to be able to respond to your general point which is if we're going to get into a discussion about whether or not we want to provide services to people who can already afford them on their own, then why isn't it that we've ever talked about means testing medicare? why haven't we ever talked about any other plan that would make sure that the people who are most in need of these services would be able to get them? these are things obama rejected them. >> i actually favor some means testing for medicare. >> great. >> and obama has a number of medicare reforms, which by the way, in the affordable care act, now law, unlike the romney/ryan plan, it actually secures the financial viability of medicare for the next ten years. your -- the republican plan does

nothing to put medicare on a sound financial footing over the next ten years. i do give paul ryan credit for raising the long-term viability of medicare as an issue. >> but if you exempt those savings, the long-term viability is negated. you have numbers, white boards. the bottom line, does this boil down to who is more credible on the issue of medicare? >> yes. >> they're both finger pointing saying the other guy -- >> for a confused person, and anybody can be excused for being con fufused on this. the question is, who do you trust more to protect or strengthen medicare? mitt romney or barack obama? the argument, just very quickly. the argument is ryan was the leader of george w. bush's entitlement -- >> that's a scare tactic. ryan actually tried to hammer out a bipartisan agreement. >> since i let you -- >> can you please let jonathan finish? >> i let you finish.

ryan ideologically believes entitlements should be subject to the whims of the stock market. that your retirement should be pegged to the stock market. the fundamental reform with social security in 1935 was that seniors should not be put at the mercy of the stock market. >> and people have rejected it including republicans. >> day have rejected this. it didn't come up for a vote when bush tried it in 2005. >> let me quickly switch topics here. j. p., i want to ask you regarding governor romney. he's now come out again and made a new statement on his taxes. let me play that, please. >> given the challenges that america faces, 23 million people out of work, iran about to become nuclear, one out of six americans in poverty. the fascination with taxes i paid i find to be very small minded compared to the broad issues that we face. but i did go back and look at my taxes and over the past ten years, i never paid less than 13%. i think the most recent year is

13.6% or something like that. >> never paid less than 13%. we still don't have proof of that. is this answer working at this point, j.p.? >> i don't care what mitt romney's doing with his taxes. i care about what obama's doing with our taxes. >> i'm glad he answered the question. because, you know, i think honestly -- >> let me say this, j.p. i think you would care if president obama had -- this tax thing is a fascinating debate to me for many reasons. i think people find convenient ways to dismiss it, but i find it hard to believe, j.p., and we've talked over the years, that you would have that same answer if this was president obama. and i'd like for you to keep it straight and honest, because i think you usually do, as i try to here. >> yeah, sure. i mean, well, i'll address it. i mean, i think that the idea that a, for example, harry reid, could accuse mitt romney of not having paid his taxes properly, that we need to see it. i think that's an issue for the irs to deal with. i don't think that that's

something that's worthwhile for being a political football. i don't think that answers to the issues that romney is trying to speak about and i also don't think it's about the issues obama is trying to speak about. obama, by bringing this up he's trying to undermine romney's credibility. i don't think it's important. >> i'm glad that romney answered the question. it's a lot less in taxes than many middle class people pay, but i'm glad he answered. here's the remaining problem. paul ryan said after he was selected that the romney campaign asked for a, quote, several years of his tax returns. why should the american public be entitled to any less information about mitt romney than mitt romney required from his possible vice presidential candidate? >> i left for london on the issue of taxes and have returned and it's still the issue of taxes and it's not being drummed up by the media has some has alleged. thank you, jonathan, thank you, j.p. greatly appreciate it. another developing story we're following on "news nation" out of afghanistan. investigators won't confirm the taliban's claim that it shot down a military chopper in the southern part of the country. seven american service men were

killed. nbc news chief correspondent jim miklashevski has the latest. what do we know about this point? >> we have details about what happened in the helicopter crash that killed seven americans and four afghans, by the way, that were on the black hawk helicopter. among the serve americans killed, u.s. officials here and in afghanistan tell us that two of them were navy s.e.a.l.s and one was a navy explosive expert. in addition, those officials, gec again, both here and in afghanistan, say that helicopter had gone into a landing zone in kandahar province there in southern afghanistan to insert forces into an ongoing operation. and that they actually had to shoot their way in to that landing zone because it was hot. there was enemy gunfire, enemy activity in the area. and it was when the helicopter had taken off and was actually leaving that site that it went down. now, officials here and again in

afghanistan say right now they cannot absolutely confirm that this helicopter was shot down, but they firmly believe that it, in fact, was brought down by enemy fire, tamron. >> all right, mick. thank you very much. and coming up, a brand new immigration controversy involving arizona's jan brewer. governor brewer signs an executive order to block them. >> they're here illegally and unlawfully in the state of arizona, and it has already been determined that you're not allowed to have a driver's license if you're here illegally. plus, for the first time in nearly five decades, tonight a major u.s. city will begin spraying pesticides into the air to combat the nation's outbreak of the nile virus and there's a warning for the rest of the country. [ annie ] this is the story of annie

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protesters marched to the arizona state capitol to rally against jan brewer's move to counter the president's new immigration policy, allowing almost 2 million undocumented young people to obtain temporary work permits. brewer signed an executive order last night blocking those who would be eligible for the program from getting driver's licenses and other state benefits. >> we've had a lot of questions

asked to us. >> specifically? >> from our agencies that provide benefits. you know, what is the action that the administration is going? and so i determined that it was the right thing to do to issue an executive order so that it's very, very clear what they're expected to do. >> now, this is the latest in a string of clashes governor brewer has had with the white house over immigration. now the young people who stand to benefit from the new plan are certainly firing back. >> what jan brewer did today, it's bully. she's bullying the voiceless. it's just very frustrating to see how a politician is attacking children and is attacking youth. >> joining me now, sandra lily, and seven nunos, professor. sandra, you could hear the hurt in the young woman's voice and we're hearing the same sentiment from a lot of latinos who are

eligible for this plan and at the 11th hour you have governor brewer making this move. >> the whole reason of this deferred deportation program is to give young undocumented immigrants who qualify for this a chance to have driver's licenses, have work permits, go to college, get a master's degree. so when she says they won't be eligible for driver's licenses, that's like throwing cold water on the whole premise of why this was so important. >> what do you make of the decision to block it at the last minute here? >> well, i think it's obviously a political statement. governor brewer is trying to say, you know, federal government says this, i say this. however, legal experts we talked to today say that legally, if the federal government says that you are in this country and you're allowed to be in this country, you cannot do this. >> steven, that's the part people find fascinating, a number of articles i've read, question how governor brewer, her attorneys and the state believe they can take this action. >> this order makes no

substantive change. the state of arizona already blocks undocumented immigrants from getting state resources or public benefits. what governor brewer is doing, this is the state of politics in arizona. she's just telling her constituents and ensuring them that the state of arizona is going to maintain a hostile environment for the undocumented immigrants despite what the federal government does. >> governor brewer says the reason she's taking this action is that these people in the country illegally, whether they're young, whether they're working, the criteria, you cannot have broken the law, cannot have a criminal background, you have to have been in school or get a ged. there's a launddy li dry list o that proves these are folks who you would want to be your neighbor if they follow the guidelines here. she says it's a drain on her state. steven? >> the only thing that are a drain on her state are the policies driving people out of the state. most of these undocumented immigrants are related to citizens. and so if you're going to take these people out of the state, if you're going to drive them out of the state, you're going

to take their families with them and these families are the ones that are buying things in the state of arizona. it's no mistake that arizona is dragging behind the rest of the states in recovering from the depression or the recession, and a large part of it is because this is a hostile environment not only for the families of arizona but for the businesses of arizona. here we have e-verify which is mandated by the state as well in which people have to go through yet another government system in order to work, in order to work in the state. in order to create economic activity in the state. so if she wants -- if she wants to stop any drains in the state, she should stop doing what she's currently doing. that's creating such a hostile environment for these people to live in. >> sandra, let me bring you back in. there's a new poll out regarding the dream act, arizona state university. 73% support. 22% oppose. but 73% support a dream act. where, then, is governor jan brewer getting her fuel to her fire? >> absolutely, tamron. in fact, there's a national poll

that says almost 90% of americans that say either young undocumented immigrants brought into this country as children should be citizens or at least be allowed the opportunity to. this is an interesting thing, when she talks about being a drain. recent studies show a college graduate contributes and makes half a million dollars more in their lifetime than someone who did not go to college. so the idea that someone who can now work, who can now go to college, who can now drive themselves to work or college would be a drain versus not doesn't make any sense. >> let me bring you back in, stooe steven. what is next, then, many legal analysts, people looking at this say governor brewer cannot block the eligibility program. what's next here? >> if anything, it's going to create more friction between the federal government and state government of arizona and probably just going to end up costing arizona more money in legal fees than trying to, you know, fruitlessly defend itself against the federal government. sb-1070 has already been gutted by the supreme court because the republican party in arizona is trying to ensure their voters

that they want to kick these people out, but the federal government rules in immigration, so here she is, again, trying to fight against the federal government and it's simply going to cost them more money. >> sandra, 40,000 to 50,000 undocumented youth in arizona could qualify for this program. what does this leave them? >> we spoke to people today to say the young people should continue doing what they're doing. all legal institutions think this will not be able to be executed. dreamers should continue filling out their applications, go on before she signed the executive order. >> greatly appreciate it. we'll see if they can take that advice there. coming up, opponents of pennsylvania's voter i.d. law are expected to file an appeal as early as today. after a judge upheld that controversial law yesterday. plus, bill clinton meet, yes, the other bill clinton. there he is. we'll explain these photographs. it's just one of the things we thought you should know. [ male announcer ] this is anna, her long day teaching the perfect swing

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just hours from now for the first time in half a century, officials in dallas, texas, will take to the air to spray for mosquitos. an outbreak of west nile virus has prompted the aerial sprays of insecticide. dallas' mayor has declared a state of emergency. at least 17 people have died as a result of contracting that virus. nearly 700 cases of west nile have been reported nationwide. >> would not be surprising over the next month or two if we saw other outbreaks occurring in totally separate areas of the country. >> texas officials say the west nile outbreak was spawned by unusually warm winter that they've had there, followed by the rainy spring we've seen. and that made for perfect breeding conditions for mosqui o mosquitos. coming up, standoff, ecuador and britain now in a showdown over this man, julian assange.

plus, facebook shares fall to a new low. what's behind this latest drop? and the obama campaign says it is being swift voted for the new campaign ad released by former special ops officers. >> as a citizen, it is my civic duty to tell the president to stop leaking information to the enemy. it will get americans killed. >> is this an example of swift voting? it is our gut check today. but first, did you hear the winning ticket? oh, there are people applauding. thank you, guys, for the applause. the winning ticket of the largest powerball jackpot in u.s. history. well, it was sold at a gas station in michigan. the $337 million ticket was sold in the small town of lapeer. that's about 45 miles north of detroit. lottery officials don't know who the lucky winner is yet. according to michigan law, the winner has one year to come forward and claim that cash. did you also know team "news nation" won, we won the powerball, too? we won 8 bucks for getting one

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helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. welcome back. today voter rights advocates in pennsylvania are expected to appeal a ruling on that state's controversial voter i.d. law. a judge refused yesterday to block a law that requires pennsylvania voters to show a state-issued i.d. at the polls. meanwhile, a federal judge in ohio, another battleground state, heard arguments about a law that would shorten early voting for some ohio voters. the obama campaign is challenging that law. joining us now, lila, from the advancement project, a civil rights group. thank you so much for your time, lila. >> thank you, tamron. how are you? >> advocates in pennsylvania expected to appeal this ruling. this perhaps will not come in time for the november general election, correct? >> exactly. we are appealing today. what happened yesterday was a tragic day for american

democracy. hundreds of thousands of eligible voters, mostly seniors, veterans, african-americans, latinos, and college students, may not be able to vote come this fall. they're facing insurmountable hurdles to get this very restrictive voter i.d. that is now required by the law. these are people like our plaintiff, mrs. applewhite, 93 years old, marched with dr. king for the right to vote, has been voting for 50 years and because there's a discrepancy on her birth certificate, she's not going to be able to vote. the very fundamental right of our democracy is your right to raise your voice on election day, to go in that ballot box and have an equal say in our government and that is what's being robbed from voters in pennsylvania today and across the country, unfortunately. >> we have at msnbc certainly been discussing this issue for many months now when this whole subject came up in pennsylvania. michael smerconish who's on often expressed his great concern. i want to read what the judge, robert simpson, said about the decision. he's a republican. he said "petitioners' counsel

did an excellent job of putting a face to those burdened by the voter i.d. requirement. petitioner did not establish, however, the disenfranchisement was immediate or inevitable." what do you make of the judge's words there? >> like i said, it's a tragic day for our american democracy. first of all, the state has no plan to educate voters. polls show 35% of voters in pennsylvania don't even know this law exists. and we know that 758,000, this is the state's own numbers, of people do not have this required voter i.d. there is no plan in place that they have released to educate enough voters so that they'll be ready for the fall, and the company that has been charged with implementing this education process for the public is owned by a romney bundler. we also know that the office you have to go to get this strict voter i.d. in 13 counties is only open one day a week. in nine counties there's no office at all. these are insurmountable hurdles

for vast numbers of pennsylvania voters who are going to be blocked from the polls and it's a fundamental undermining of our democracy for partisan gain. we all know even the judge acknowledged that one of the motivations of this law was a partisan motivation and we all heard the house majority republican leaders say this is what's going to allow romney to win this state. obama carried that state by 622,000 votes. we know from the state that 758,000 people don't have this voter i.d. and they are the demographics that fundamentally turned out in 2008 and voted democratic. >> what kind of feedback did you hear from people today in this state? >> people are confused. people are confused. they don't know if their voter i.d. is going to work or not. college students have i.d. but 85% of the colleges don't present the kind of i.d. with the expiration stamp with the i.d. on it to get to the restrictive voter i.d. veterans don't have the i.d. that is going to qualify for this very strict voter i.d. the judge has now imposed. so they're confused.

some people are going to go to the polls and be turned away. they're going to find the door to democracy slammed shut and they will not be able to exercise the franchise. others are going to find insurmountable hurdles to try to get that voter i. d. in time for the fall. >> leila mcdowell, with the civil rights group. thank you very much. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. we've been telling you on the campaign trail, the focus, on medicare, the debate. is that the debate they want to have right now? our "first read team" says, "the central premise of romney campaign at least from what we've heard over the past year has been the economy. what are we all talking about today, tomorrow, probably through the weekend? medicare." nbc news senior political reporter mark murray joins us live. paul ryan says this is the debate they want, they want it now, they will win the debate. what do we make of this presentation from governor romney today with the whiteboard, whatever he had? it doesn't matter if it's a chalkboard or not. it was limited to information, at least on the plan he says now

is near identical to paul ryan. >> well, what mitt romney was trying to do today is what they also did with their new tv ad that came out on tuesday and they're really welcoming this fight. they want to take it to president obama. they are making this calculation that what president obama did on his health care law in 2010 regarding cuts that were made or slowing the growth of the medicare program is actually politically worse and more politically damaging than what paul ryan and mitt romney are proposing in their proposal to substantially transform medicare. >> do they have a singular proposal? i mean, usually when you want to fight, you walk into the ring. the person swings, you swing back hopefully harder. in case case, are we clear what the plan is from romney and paul ryan? romney went from i'm my own man, i have my own plan, to, again,

we have an identical plan. >> tamron, we actually do have a very good idea of the plan they want to construct. the thing is, they haven't really been talking about that other than saying they want to save medicare for future seniors or preserve medicare. here's what paul ryan proposed and house republicans passed in 2011. it was a plan where seniors and future seniors would receive either a voucher or premium support to purchase health care on the private insurance market. in 2012, paul ryan modified that to allow seniors to have the option once they had that voucher premium support to either go to private insurers or stay with traditional medicare. it's that second version that mitt romney says he supports. that's pretty much their plan. democrats think that substantial transformation is what makes them vulnerable come the fall. >> but the highlight from today, and we've heard it several times now, is that the $700 billion in savings, according to governor romney and his team, the obama administration is stealing, but these are the same savings

outlined in ryan's budget. so, again, if this is near identical to what governor romney wants, how does that make sense? >> well, so they are -- you're entirely right. the $716 billion that mitt romney says that president obama ended up cutting is also assumed in paul ryan's budget plan and there are a couple other problems for mitt romney. on the one hand, if you basically take away those savings, that adds $700 billion to the deficit, making it harder to balance the budget as mitt romney says he wants to do. and it also extends the life and the solvency of the medicare program. the democrats point out that these cuts that were made under the health care law all were about efficiencies, particularly cuts that were actually made to providers, as opposed to benefit cuts which they say the romney/ryan plan does. >> jonathan all ealter was on with us a short time ago. he said, perhaps, this may boil down again, like so many other things in politics, who do you

trust? >> traditionally democrats have been the ones voters have trusted on medicare, but i will tell you, tamron, in 2010, republicans had a lot of success, particularly fighting on this charge of president obama raiding from the medicare trust fund to use it to great success in 2010. the thing is, after paul ryan passed his budget plans in 2011 and 2012, democrats think that they have a more powerful and potent argument. >> all right. mark murray, it's a great pleasure. i haven't seen you in so long, mark. >> welcome back, tamron. >> thanks, narc. winning the south is part of mitt romney's path to winning the white house. he was in birmingham, alabama, last night where he raised more than $2 million at a fund-raiser. before he entered the private event, governor romney had to pass dozens of people protesting his immigration policies. joining me now, syndicated columnist, and political analyst, earl hutchison. he has an article, "romney's southern strategy gambit" and it

appears on "the huffington post." thanks for joining me. >> my pleasure. >> tell me what the strategy is at this point. >> there are three parts to it. number one, philosophical, and the practical. first of all, join really look at the south and the heartland, you're looking at about one-third of the electoral votes, that's the 270 magic number that any presidential candidate needs. it's big, it's important, and it's necessary. when you talk about philosophical, that far of it, remember, romney/ryan and all gop presidential candidates, going all the way back to richard nixon, they've been attuned with the white south, very conservative, very small government, very pro-military, very anti tax and spend democrats as they define them. and then there's the political part of it. romney has very clearly and very calculatingly understood whone thing. you're not going to get the african-american vote. that's a given. you're not going to get much of

the latino vote. that's a given. you' young persons, labor. you're not going to get substantial numbers there. what's left, you're talking about playing to the very conservative, the most conservative christian evangelical, tea party leaders, tea party followers. that's your base. primarily given the anchor in the south and the heartland, that is a southern strategy. by the way, that was certainly codified by richard nixon and every gop presidential candidate through ronald reagan, bush sr. and bush jr. that's been a standard strategy going back 40, 50 years. >> but there's no indication that governor romney is in jeopardy of -- it's not as if some of those people in those red, red states are going to vote for president obama. and they may have been, i guess, their enthusiasm picked up with paul ryan who's certainly seen as a conservative, hits home on a number of issues, particularly with medicare and at least his early vision for how he would like to change the process.

of the system. >> yeah, but tamron, you have to remember, you still, even though you're preaching to the choir, you still have to keep preaching to the choir. because remember, this is going to be a very close election. i don't think there's any question about that. you must have your base, but you also must energize and enthuse your base. this is not about percentages. this is about numbers. in other words, you've got to get the numbers out. so the south is the anchor, but remember, spinning out of the south, you also have the border states and also, of course, the swing states. it's very important to keep your base. you have to keep them energized, enthused and most importantly have to make sure in big numbers go to the polls on the 6th. >> you bring up race in all this especially when it comes to medicare. >> right. race is always important. you're never going to get away from that. any time you talk about southern politic, i mean, let's be clear. race is the kicker. it's been that way for a century and certainly going through

presidential politics and presidential elections, particularly going back to richard nixon or even before thats, barry goldwater, states rights, small government. all of these are cold words, cold terms winking and nodding to the white south saying if you elect a gop president, be clear on one thing, be assured of one thing, that president is going to protect and safeguard your interests. and by the way, your interests always define white conservative southern interests. not blacks or persons of color. >> all right. earl hutchison, thank you very much for your time. i greatly appreciate it. again, this is your piece on "the huffington post." we've not had any indication that that is governor romney's perspective at all. the diplomatic showdown between britain and ecuador after ecuador actually grants asylum to julian assange, founder of wikileaks. first, there's a lot going on on this thursday. here's things we just thought you should know. president obama and mitt romney agreed to suspend all campaign

ads on the anniversary of 9/11. new york based group my good deed made the request in order to honor the victims and their families. this, by the way, is the third time presidential candidates have agreed not to show ads on sense september 11th. bill clinton meet bill clinton. the former president had lunch today with a ugandan boy named after his honor. he reunited with the boy 14 years after their first meeting. look how much he's grown. and a band wants mitt romney to stop using the song "panic switch." saying, "while you're probably inadvertently playing a song that describes your whole campaign, we doubt panic switch really sends the message that you intend." this, of course, is not the first time bands have done this. things you should know. hey! did you know that honey nut cheerios

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a diplomatic showdown in london, as ecuador decided to grand grant asylum to wikileaks founder julian assange citing concerns about his human rights, in the ecuadorian embassy for two months trying to avoid being extradited to sweden. britain is actually threatening to raid the embassy if they do not hand over assange. nbc news duncan golestani joins us from britain. is this just a threat on raiding the embassy, duncan? >> well, today the british government seems to have stepped back slightly from that threat, but it all goes back to an obscure old law in the 1980s and it would allow them to take

diplomatic immunity away from the embassy temporarily, allow police to go in and get assange but it doesn't seem very likely to happen. today, tamron, there has been a lot of anger outside the embassy, as julian assange's supporters clashed with the police and the diplomatic crowd has really been heating up, too. ecuador's foreign minister announced his governments were giving the wikileaks founder political immunity, believing these extradition proceedings are part of an elaborate washington plan to get assange to the united states and have him stand trial for releasing all those secret documents. ecuador's government says he would not have a fair trial in the u.s. and could even face the death penalty. britain and sweden have both reacted really strongly to this saying this has nothing to do with the united states, this is about accusations of serious sexual assault in sweden which assange must go and answer. the british foreign secretary earlier said that britain had a

binding obligation to extradite assange to sweden and he said the government intends to carry that obligation out. tamron? >> all right. duncan golestani live for us in london. thank you, duncan. two louisiana sheriffs deputies killed during a shootout. the deputies were shot to death while directing traffic on a highway west of new orleans this morning. two other officers were hurt. two suspects were arrested. police are searching for a third. no word on what happened here, a motive in this shooting. and florida a&m has agreed to voluntarily, voluntary mediation with attorneys for the family of the drum major robert champion who was killed. the sessions are part of an effort to settle the hazing lawsuit by that young man's family. champion died last november after marching band members allegedly beat him during a hazing ritual. his family claims the university did not do enough to stop it. and facebook shares hit an

all-time low today. prices fell to less than $20 a share in trading this morning. after a ban expired that prevented early investors from selling. when the company went public in may, shares were 38. "news nation's" gut check is up next. the obama campaign accusing republicans of using swift vote tactics after this political ad about the bin laden raid is released. >> mr. president, you did not kill osama bin laden. america did. the work that the american military has done killed osama bin laden. >> is this now what we refer to as swift voting? what does your gut tell you? join the "news nation" on facebook, facebook.com/newsnation. my cut hurt! mine hurt more! mine stopped hurting faster... [ female announcer ] neosporin® plus pain relief starts relieving pain faster

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"news nation" on our twitter page @newsnation. it's tim now for "news nation" gut check. a group of former u.s. special forces and intelligence operatives have launched a campaign accusing the president of leaking classified information they say for political gain. the special operation education fund, that's the name of it, is out with a new 22 minute film called "dishonorable disclosures." that claims white house leaks are putting national security at risk. >> mr. president, do you and those close to you that hold some of the nation's highest secrets, please, be quiet about it. >> we've got to stand up. this is our country. this is our constitution. we have to speak out. finally we have to speak out and say we will not take this anymore, enough is enough. >> now, the group says it is not affiliated with republican party but they do not have to disclose their donors. the organization or group

accuses the president of taking credit for the death of osama bin laden. the obama campaign says they're being swift voted. do you agree? go to facebook.com/newsnation. we'll read those comments tomorrow on "news nation." that does it for this edition f "news nation." my first day back after three weeks. tomorrow, ed rendell will join "the nation" i think for the first time. "the cycle" is up next. on imy0.

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w t im juicy brats grilled up on a thursday. the perfect use of the 7th inning stretch. get that great taste anytime with kingsford match light charcoal. i'm crist krystal ball, 2:00, florida, 1:00 p.m. in flagstaff, arizona. here's what's going on in "the cycle today." the devils in the detail. mitt romney lays out his medicare plan, confused than before he explained it. >> i'm steve kornacki. everyone is crushing on the republicans these days, even the