good morning. i'm richard lui in for chris jansing. we're going to start this morning with developing news on same-sex marriage. new jersey governor chris christie has officially withdrawn his appeal making same-sex marriage the law of the land in new jersey. the governor knew his appeal would not stop same-sex weddings from starting today, however, that appeal is officially dropped. just after midnight cory booker carrying seven same-sex couples at newark city hall. we'll talk with the founder and president of freedom to marry, evan wolfson, later this hour. president obama will defend his signature health care law next hour. we'll have a rose garden speech around americans who have used the website to enroll. he will also acknowledge big problems regarding that rollout. new numbers show the federal site has over 19 million unique visitors and 476,000 submitted

applications on state and federal exchanges. but they refuse to say exactly how many people are enrolled. >> i think that there's no one more frustrated than the president at the difficulty on the website. there are people working 24 hours a day around the clock. hhs has said it's going to be putting out information on a monthly basis. hhs has got plans to fix this and it has to fix it. it has to be done right. >> republicans used the sunday shows to trash the problem-plagued rollout. >> look, it's been a fiasco. send air force one out to silicon valley, load it up with some smart people, bring them back to washington and fix this problem. it's ridiculous and everybody knows that. >> the sign-up on the exchanges, which was supposed to be the easy part of this endeavor, has turned into a fiasco that the administration is struggling with. >> obama care is indeed a train wreck. a visit to the website is kind of like a trip to the department of motor vehicles in your state.

>> i want to bring in our company today. political senior reporter maggie haberman and new york times columnist nicholas kristof. nicholas, i'll start with you. the president is going to come out and say there's a problem, right. how should he describe what's happened so far? >> i think the white house should be much more frank about the scale of the problems. one of the problems is that they did have a disastrous rollout and there were other ways that they were late in acknowledging it and late in maybe recognizing the scale of it. and i think he needs to be more forthright about that. >> is that enough? >> well, i don't think there's that much more he can do except frantically try to repair it. he also has to distinguish between obama care itself, which i think is fundamentally sound and extraordinarily helpful to the country and the rollout of the website, which truly has been pretty disasterous. >> maggie, the "times" headline reads this, no more apologies, why obama has to get mad about his broken obama care websites. does it matter what he says as

long as he gets it working? >> since i think the solutions will take a while i think what he says does matter. that will end up reassuring people and/or carrying over for a while. it's not just that there's a bad website, it's that there's an enrollment issue and that's the question with these numbers. a lot of people have filled out applications. we don't know how many are actually in the system. so based on the "new york times" story today these are extensive internet problems we're talking about in terms of registrations. >> they have to be clear in saying we know how deep this problem is. >> it's really important, i think, as nick says that the president acknowledges this as a mess. doesn't look like he's spinning or trying to push it off. this is becoming another partisan issue in washington after what we just saw. this is a problem and taking ownership of it is probably the best thing they can do. >> they are making changes. in fact let me look at politico here who -- they said this is a tech surge that they're bringing in, the smartest people. you might ask where were they before. but here's some of the changes already made. you can preview plans and prices. you can use an improved

calculator to figure out your premium costs. you can apply for coverage four different ways. you can do that by phone, online, mail or with the help of an in-person assistant and there's more educational content to try to help folks along as they're going through the site, they learn more. there's a blog post that was put out that says our team is bringing in some of the best and brightest from both inside and outside government to scrub in with the team and help improve healthcare.gov. when we look at these delays, you can comment about that, if you like, go ahead. >> i think that's great. but forget my skepticism because i remember right before the october 1st rollout the white house was very confident that this was going to go very smoothly. in fact it didn't and in fact they were late to recognize it. i think it's terrific that they got this surge going and maybe it will solve the problems. but they say it's 500 million lines of code that have to be rewritten. that is a major project. >> and they have to integrate

some 50 databases, not easy for any business to do here. should they push back then, maggie, the timeline? there's that march 31st deadline and then those who do not have coverage can get penalized. >> i think the reluctance to doing that is once you start opening up movement on this, is the problem all along. this has been an issue for the white house since they started making some delays in terms of business coverage. the success of this program depends on the enrollment figures. to nick's point about how the white house was saying this is going great, we expect this to go great, this is aiproblem. this is part of why the president needs to be very direct about what happened. reporters feel sort of singed about this. people feel they were told something and it turned out to be not true. so at this point probably the best thing they can do is be candid. >> right now, nick, they're going after the secretary, kathleen sebelius, of hhs as a target right now. take a listen to what some republicans are saying. >> so her refusal to testify and to be transparent about it i think is undermining her credibility. and there may come a point,

perhaps we're not there today, but there may come a point where in fact he will have to resign largely because she no longer has the credibility to do the job. >> the secretary's view that she doesn't have to testify and doesn't have to answer questions and is too busy is unsustainable. i think she'll have to testify. >> so the administration saying that she's not available on thursday to go before the congressional hearing, speaker boehner tweeting this, hhs secretary sebelius has time for galas and late-night tv but won't testify about the obama care train wreck. nick, what do you think about this? >> oh, the white house isn't going to throw her overboard. i mean i think it's a little bit unfair to focus on her as a problem that clearly a lot of people share. and more broadly, the critics of this are going to be trying to find somebody to pounce on, whoever it is. if she were out, there would be other targets. so at the end of the day i think this is the drama of the week, but i think she's going to be sticking around. >> okay. nick, maggie, stand by. i want to bring in congressman

charles rangel. congressman, is there a level of secrecy here? we don't know how many people enrolled. we don't have those numbers here. >> i am so excited at this point in our political life that our great nation is saying that whether you're poor or middle class, you can have health insurance. what we're having here, i know, is a big deal to reporters and those who analyze the efficiency of the administration, but i'm only concerned about those people who have no health insurance at all. they go to work every day hoping and praying that they don't get sick. we've got to get over this. republicans have spent more money trying to disable this program. and listen, it's not something that people who are uninsured do every day. i learn every day from it. >> congressman, what about sebelius, what should she do? >> listen, she has been an outstanding advocate for the program. who she hires, whether or not they have been efficient as they

should be, these things have to be corrected. but all i know is this. there are tens of millions of people out there that now have hope for the future. if they got trouble with the internet now, they at least have applied. >> so you have heard the explanations here. early on it was volume and now we know that it could be, according to "the new york times," up to five million lines of code here that need to be fixed. not necessarily an easy task. so when we hear those explanations and people can't sign up, can the administration then mandate that everybody sign up if that process is so difficult? >> listen, if people will just take and google what happened when we had medicare and all the snafus that were there, the exciting thing is that there are people who want to get health care. and anybody that is saying that they're professional and they goof up like they did in this, you ought to get new people and get it done. when the united states government can't produce people who want insurance and given the

incentives that they have there's something wrong with it, but not the concept. and why republicans willig nor the fact that not everybody has insurance like the congress people, like the middle class, like the upper middle class, and give a break for those. i would hope that every church and synagogue reaches out to the poor. >> you're pragmatic certainly about this issue. would you be pragmatic in that deadline? would you allow those who don't sign up, a week or two or a month? >> give it a chance. we've got until march the 31st. people are getting through. southern states like kentucky are having an exciting time. new york, california. so we're not dealing with something that on its face is a failure, we're dealing with glitches. and what do you do? you overcome the glitch. >> so you agree there's a problem? >> what? >> you agree there's a problem? >> no question. but the problem is 30, 40 million people without health insurance in this country dying and not preventing from getting

sick. >> how large of a problem? is it major, is it minor? >> compared to franklin roosevelt suggesting that we have universal coverage and president obama passing a law that has been approved by the supreme court, i would say it's like a pimple on an elephant's back side. >> a pimple on the back of an elephant's back side. okay. this pimple is getting a lot of attention. >> and it should. >> in a sense, isn't there a larger blister on that back side, that is not the question of the rollout but goes to the question of access that you talked about. that in so much of the country, especially in the south, low income folks are not going to get access because medicaid is not being extended by the states. and that is a much harder problem to correct than -- >> five million people that may not be getting access to that. >> and the problem is that you don't hear from the advocates of the poor. you bet your life, any governor that can say that they're not going to expand medicaid for the poor, you shouldn't be hearing

from politicians, democrats or republicans. we don't take the oath about the poor people. the rabbis, the ministers, the priests, they should be out there because you're right, the target is not middle america and the upper class. it's not union workers. it's not people with regular good-paying jobs. it's the unfortunate poor folks that are doing without. so i'm not going to let a glitch stop in the way -- sooner or later, you ask these tea party people whether they accept social security and whether the republican party endorses. ask whether they're on medicare and ask whether the party endorses it. it will work out. >> how do we reach those, the one that nick are talking about right now. again, the 100% of the poverty line and below that don't have access to medicaid, this five million number, how would we fix that then? >> well, nick and maggie have to report the facts. never before have i thought the

facts and the goals speak for themself. good people have to come forward and say why would people fight like hell and put so much money in stopping health care for the poor and the working poor. why? >> i think that the points the congressman are making are specifically why to your earlier question about what the president should say. this is sort of the aim of the program and this is what is getting obscured by this conversation right now about technical glitches. some of these technical glitches i think were probably likely to happen anyway. a lot of them we don't know why it is that this has been such a mess, but it is going to overshadow what ultimately is the goal and what the real targets are of obama care in the first place. >> i want to switch gears as we have you here, congressman. we talk about 2016 hopefuls. you've been watching the programs over the weekend. ted cruz, hillary clinton out there making statements. hillary clinton was campaigning for terry mcauliffe and ted cruz was at events in his home state of texas. let's listen to what sesd first. >> recently in washington, unfortunately, we have seen

examples of the wrong kind of leadership. when politicians choose scorched earth over common ground. >> the deal that was reached last week was a lousy deal. it was a classic example of the washington establishment selling the american people down the river. >> so, congressman, possible matchup here, cruz/hillary clinton? >> if i was just speaking as a democrat, republicans couldn't give us a bigger gift than ted cruz. but as a patriot and as an american, i can't afford to see the republican party do this to itself because i'll be stuck with my party, right or wrong. i thought the last rollout i thought was embarrassing to america, but ted cruz, i think he tops it all. i don't think it will be much of a contest if he comes out of the tea party and every candidate then has to get to the right of him. it's a disaster, it's

embarrassing, it's shameful. but hey, they're republican. what can i tell you. >> maggie, will he get pushed out, cruz? >> pushed out by whom? >> by the gop. >> what gop? i mean the problem is that ted cruz is a co-chair of the nrsc. there was an attempt by the washington establishment to co-opt cruz knowing that he came from the tea party. he's not interested in playing that game. right now what donors and the establishment are finding on the right, just at this moment, i don't know what this will mean in three years or two years or a year and a half, but they are finding they have a version of a frankenstein monster which is candidates that they have funded directly or indirectly who can now fund raise on their only, self select on media and say to high dollar donors we don't care. so the rnc raised very well. they have had very extremely successful fund-raising but the party itself and its major donors don't agree on the right way forward and that's the problem you're seeing. so i don't know exactly who's

shoving ted cruz right now. we'll see. >> all points well made. maggie, nick, congressman, thank you for stopping by today. vice president dick cheney says the tea party is a good thing for the republican party. this morning on "today" cheney says he does not see a real rift in the gop and called the tea party an uprising that could bring change. still, vice president cheney said he would not call himself a card-carrying member of the tea party. >> i've got a lot of respect for what the people are doing. these are americans, they're loyal, they're patriotic, they're taxpayers and they're fed up with what they see happening in washington. i think it's a normal, healthy reaction. and the fact that the party is having to adjust is positive. i'd much rather see them in the party than out of the party. >> vice president cheney has been out talking about his new book "heart" which goes into great details about the str struggles he has had with heart disease. fold it all up and boom! delicious unsloppy joes perfect for a school night.

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new yorkers have not elected a democrat for mayor in more than two decades of the recent polls showing that's about to change, though. the latest survey has democrat bill de blasio crushing his republican rival by more than 40 points. it's a familiar scene playing out in u.s. big cities where republican politicians have suffered a major setback. you have to go all the way down to the country's 13th largest city, that's indianapolis, to find just one republican mayor. so why have gop mayors become an endangered species? i'm joined now by republican mayor scott smith of mesa, arizona. he's also the president of the u.s. conference of mayors. thanks for stopping by here, mayor. >> thanks for having me. >> so you were quoted in politico as saying this, republicans are like democrats in the early '70s. they put ideology above all. is that why republicans are not doing all at this moment in big city politics? >> i think it's one of the

reasons republicans are struggling in big cities because mayors have to do things. we have to do business. we have to get things done. >> you have to be practical. >> we have to be practical and that's neither conservative nor liberal, that's just the smart way of doing things. one of the reasons democrats has been successful is they started governing cities in many ways like republicans have and have done a good job of selling that philosophy of government in the cities and it's been successful for them. republicans need to get back to where we were very successful and have great examples of republicans governing in both republican cities and democratic cities. there are some below that number 13 where republicans are very successful. >> some observers have noticed how the dnc has included democratic mayors throughout their national political events and movements. one example, san antonio mayor julian castro, who's a keynote speaker at the dnc when we were watching that. in contrast to gop convention, i think mayor mik cockmickco -- m

net. is that a problem, they're just not integrated into the national gop platform? >> i think republican mayors feel like there's a giant lost opportunity and the convention was a great example. the chairman was mayor villaraigosa of los angeles. you mentioned mayor castro and several mayors -- >> on the democratic side. >> had prominent roles on the democratic roles. republicans have mayors who are out there. phoenix is a great example, the mayor of phoenix, greg stanton, is a democrat. i'm the mayor of the 38th largest city in the country. most of the mayors in the phoenix metro area of republican. there are more people served by republican mayors than democratic mayors and yet we don't get as much notice. we don't get integrated into the party as others do. and that's a huge mistake and a hu huge lost opportunity. >> what kind of impact will this

mistake have on national politics? >> i think what it does is it removes a voice of common sense. i think some of the problems we're seeing in washington are now we know that washington politicians are out of touch. they don't see their constituents in the local grocery store. they don't have to get things done. if they don't pick up the trash on a thursday like mayors do, we hear from it. so that lack of accountability, that lack of having to answer to a broad case constituency, i think hurts republicans because republicans have a great message. and when you look at mayors and look and see how we govern, it's a message the republican party should be out there telling everyone about. >> while we got you here, it's interesting. after the shutdown some $3 billion of services were lost. have you spoken with any of your counterparts? how has that impacted them on a local level? >> well, there's bipartisan discussed, both democrats and republicans. we get things done. we don't like it when we see what we believe is the debate society things. we wondered what the purpose was. there's a lot of republican

mayors who agree with the concepts and agree what what was trying to accomplish, they just wondered what was the strategy, what was the end game? so republicans and democrats hear from our business community, they have high anxiety over the lack of urgency in washington to remove this uncertainty, which harms our communities more than anything else. >> mayor, thank you so much for stopping by. mayor scott smith, president of the uz conference of mayors with us this morning. florida police are promising more arrests in the case of two killers who used forged documents to get out of prison. joseph jenkins and charles walker now back behind bars. police are focused on who forged those papers for them and who helped them elude police. the two reportedly were waiting at a panama city motel for someone to pick them up when they were recaptured over the weekend. police say a friend tipped them off to where the men were hiding. max and penny kept our bookstore

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you keep the peace. we calm your congestion and pain. [ man ] thank you. thank you. [ female announcer ] you rally the team. you guys were awesome. [ female announcer ] we give you relief from your cough. you give them a case of the giggles. tylenol cold® helps relieve even your worst cold and flu symptoms, so you can carry on with your day. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol cold®. to politics now. last weekend it was hillary.

this week it's bill clinton stumping for virginia gubernatorial candidate and former aide terry mcauliffe. the richmond times dispatch has chosen not to endorse any candidate in the virginia governor's race. the conservative charlottesville daily progress endorsed lieutenant governor bill bawling, a republican who is not on the ballot, a slap to ken cuccinelli. congressman mark sanford's fiance spoke publicly for the first time about the relationship that rocked his political career. she revealed for an argentine tv station in her native spanish what it's like to live with an american politician, meet his children and how little politicians make compared to what she initially thought. and carol burnett was awarded the mark twain prize for american humor last night. several comedic heavyweights paid tribute, including tina fey, but carol still brought plenty of laughs. >> this is very encouraging.

i mean it was a long time in coming, but i understand because there are so many people funnier than i am, especially here in washington. ready to run your lines?

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love it. [ under his breath ] hate it. helps you focus on getting back to normal? [ as a southern belle ] aflac. [ as a cowboy ] aflac. [ sassily ] aflac. uh huh. [ under his breath ] i am so fired. you're on in 5, duck. [ male announcer ] when you're sick or hurt, aflac pays you cash. find out more at aflac.com. the backlash against gun control was on full display this weekend in two notorious sites for gun violence. the alamo in san antonio and daley plaza in dallas. hundreds of gun rights advocates toting shot guns, rifles and ak-47s demonstrating, calling attention to a state law that allows texans to carry long arms openly as long as it's not done in a threatening manner. >> just having a gun strapped like this shouldn't alarm you. a bad guy is not going to come around with a -- if they do,

they're going to have it and be pointing on you. they're not just going to strap it on and walk around in the street. >> you can use your gun to hunt, you can use it to go to a shooting range or on your private property. but i think carrying guns openly, i think it's unnecessary. i just think it's frightening, frankly. >> the demonstrations came on the same weekend that chilling new details were released on the newtown school shooting massacre. the mother of 6-year-old jesse lewis says investigators told her that her son shouted for his classmates to run, while gunman adam lanza paused to reload. jesse was shot and killed moments later. let's bring in republican strategist and former bush 41 aide joe watkins and jill zuckman, managing director at the firm skd nickerbacher. these details still absolutely

wrenching to hear about and we're talking about, of course, jesse lewis, who is 6 years old. not even a year since that tranl dethat we're talking about. more states are actually loosening gun restrictions. at least 16 states this year. how can gun control advocates turn around things, you think? >> well, i think it's tone. tone means everything. it's how you talk to people. you've got to be sensitive. we clearly don't want any more tragedies like the ones we've had in the last couple of years where young people and innocent people have lost their lives. it's tone. it's how you talk to folks and get your point across. you talk about the rights of people to own guns but do it in a sensitive way. i think that means everything. right now the tone is so bitter and so mean and it's so confrontational that i don't suppose that the two sides ever sit down to talk. it's always at each other, not with each other. >> ever. >> ever. >> jill, two state senators in colorado recalled because of their vote in favor of more gun control. there's a third senate seat here

that faces a recall vote in that state. democratic governor john hickenlooper he's saying to groups like michael bloomberg's don't come to the state, we don't need outside money. does outside money do more harm than good, do you think? >> i think what it comes down to is votes. outside money can help. mayors against illegal guns has been pretty powerful playing in congressional districts trying to change the dynamic so that the people who are elected are people who are going to make sensible decisions about who can have access to guns. and until those numbers change in congress, it doesn't look like anything is going to happen in terms of changing the laws. >> you know, joe, susan phillips, who lost her daughter in the aurora, colorado, shooting is part of the group moms demand action. she attended a small rally near the alamo demonstration. here's what she said. >> nobody is trying to take anybody's guns away from them, nobody. they're trying to pass sensible

gun laws, like expanded background checks. >> so, joe, why hasn't this been a winning argument here for gun control advocates? >> i think gun control advocates want the same thing parents want, which is to make sure their kids are safe when they go to school, that we don't have random acts of violence by bad violence. gun advocates tell you guns don't kill people, it's bad people who are misguided that actually do the killing and how do we do the right thing so that kids are safe and so that people are safe. and at the same time not trample on the rights of gun owners. you've got people who are peaceful who own guns that would never shoot anybody. maybe they yuse their guns for hunting or for sport and they want the right to use their guns. they say don't trample on me, don't lump me in with the folks doing bad things. figure out a way to keep the folks who have illegal guns from getting guns illegally and the people who are using guns illegally to do crime, but don't lump me in that group and don't

punish me for the bad things that they do. >> you know, jill, only five states have toughened their gun laws this year. if newtown didn't change things, some ask if the navy yard shooting didn't do it, is there a chance that gun laws can be revived in washington? do you share the same view joe is saying, that he doesn't expect it ever to see those two groups sitting down together? >> well, it's a really, really difficult issue and it's true that what joe says, that people do talk past each other. so that's why i think it's going to come down to changing who is in congress so that you get people to capitol hill who actually believe that mentally ill should not be able to have access to guns so easily, to basically close some of those loopholes. so until some of those changes are made and the numbers shift in congress, i think things -- >> is it tone, as joe is saying? >> it's not about tone, it's about position. you're either for sitting down

and figure out how to tighten these guns -- >> it's all in the small print. these laws matter and what the small, fine print says matters. but at the same time it's about civility and talking in a way where you hear the other side. we haven't done that. i don't think either side has heard what the other side has to say. that's why there's been very little progress. >> unfortunately, there are no negotiations going on whatsoever right now. it's completely stalled and it's not in a good place. >> jill, joe, thank you so much for your time today. >> thanks. checking the news feed this morning, france has called on u.s. ambassador charles rivken to answer claims. over the weekend they reported the u.s. tapped into the e-mail of former mexican president felipe kcalderon. in australia more than 60

wildfires are burning across the country. some of the worst fires are edging closer to the southern suburbs of sydney. firefighters are concerned two of the biggest fires will join together to create one massive front. officials say winds are expected to pick up even more as the week goes on, fueling those claims. malala yousafzai's new book is the new inspiration for multimedia curriculum at george washington university. her story of courage and recovery will be an instant congratulate part of that curriculum. the class will focus on the importance of a woman's voice, political extremism and involvement. so jpmorgan chase executives could still face criminal charges despite a record $13 billion settlement deal. kayla tausche is here with what's moving your money. what's going on with this? >> reporter: good morning. good to see you in person. it's interesting because when we were first reporting on this settlement which by any stretch of the imagination was a record it was supposed to include

everything but the kitchen sink. jpmorgan was facing up to two dozen various legal matters. now even though the price tag is that high, $13 billion, the biggest since bp's $4 billion fine over the gulf oil spill, it's only including some of the mortgage-related issues with the department of justice, federal housing regulators and the new york state aa.g. they're still facing a criminal investigation by the california a.g., an inquiry from the s.e.c. over hiring practices in china and potential manipulation of the energy market. so all of that stuff is not included in this and they're saying jpmorgan chase is still vulnerable to some of that litigation going forward. >> jamie dimon, the darling early on during the 2000-2008 time period. >> some say this is the reckoning that has been coming for wall street. other people say jpmorgan bought the two companies at the heart of this settlement at the behest of the government so we'll see how this pans out in the court of public opinion. how about this for a

different topic, katy perry. >> it's interesting. there's a full-page ad where a handful of consumer groups are taking aim at katy perry for having a partnership with pepsi. you can't even say an endorsement at this point because she's partnered up with the soft drink giant on a couple of issues. the vmas, there was a vote the company had to take on which songs she would take on but now they're saying she shouldn't be marketing these sugary drinks to teens, to minors. >> there's a lot of folks doing that. >> but they're saying katy perry, unlike a lot of the other performers, michael jackson, beyonce, et cetera, she has a large percentage of her audience as minors. half of her twitter followers are under 16. we should note that pepsi said that they have a long history of responsible advertising and marketing practices, including an effort to not market to children, but you could argue between 12 and 16 are they really children, can they make their own decisions. it will be interesting. >> kayla, great to have you in the studio, thanks for stopping

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and gets 2x the points at restaurants huh the citi thankyou preferred card. now earn 2x the points on entertainment, with no annual fee. go to citi.com/thankyoucards i now by the power vested in me thank god by the state of new jersey, it's about time, i declare joseph and orville to be lawful spouses in the state of new jersey. >> just after midnight, senator-elect cory booker officiating several same-sex marriages. new jersey becoming the 14th state to recognize and allow gay partners to wed. and new jersey governor chris christie just withdrew the state's appeal on same-sex marriage earlier this morning. 13 other states in washington, d.c. already recognize same-sex marriage. the next two weeks are expected to be pivotal in the battle for marriage equality with key cases going on in at least six states. i'm joined now biy evan wolfson

founder of freedom to marry. chris christie making that statement that he is not going to be pushing for that ballot measure and the challenge. >> and dropping his appeal. of course he saw the handwriting on the wall. the new jersey supreme court handed down a unanimous rule absolutely blowing away all the arguments that he was making. >> did that surprise you? >> the fact that the court ruled so strongly in a preliminary stage was a bit striking, but we were very hopeful this was the ruling we were going to get. sooner is better than later because couples have been waiting. we saw today how joyous people are across new jersey now. >> so that surprised you. but then you have governor chris christie and this is decision. did that surprise you? >> again, the hand writing was on the wall so i think governor christie saw that he was going to be wasting the state's time and money in the appeal and the legislature is also poised to override his veto. so the freedom to marry has come to new jersey and governor

christie at last has gotten out of the way. >> and how key are the next two weeks? these next six cases or situations in states, is this a key couple of weeks? >> it's an important period. i don't know if i would call it the live and die moment, but we are on the ground battling to win the freedom to marry in several states now. we hope to see more states come on board in the next couple of weeks. you mentioned a couple, ohio, illinois. there are court cases moving forward in new mexico and other states. and we're teeing up the next wave of states over the next few years. >> let's talk about new mexico. the state supreme court will interpret the state's law which does not ban or allow same-sex marriage. what do you expect to come from that precedent if it is developed there? >> already couples are getting married in about 58% of the state because lower court rulings have said to county clerks, you can begin issuing marriage licenses. the new jersey -- i'm sorry, the new mexico supreme court has now agreed to hear this question statewide and we're very hopeful

that we are going to win just as we did in new jersey, because there is no good reason to be denying couples who have made a commitment in life, the same commitment under the law. >> talk about the constitutional ban, that debate in nevada. >> so in this earlier wave of anti-gay attacks, nevada was one of the states that adopted an anti-gay exclusion for marriage and enshrined it in the constitution. but since then, people have had a lot of time to think about this, talk about it, hear about it. a majority of nevadans support the freedom to marry and we are working hard to get rid of that discrimination. there are two routes to doing it. either the courts can strike it down or the people can overturn it. we're working on both paths, juch as we were in new jersey. >> both just as effective from your perspective? >> any way you get rid of this discrimination is good. going to do a ballot measure and having to vote on rights is not the right way the system ought to work of t. we all should have our courts and we all should be respected. >> constitutional bans in two

dozen states. evan wolfson, founder and president of freedom to marry, thanks so much. looking for a little scare? hauntworld.com has a list of the best haunted houses. number 5 in atlanta, ft. worth, texas, comes in number four. headless horseman is third. bates motel takes second and the best haunted house in the country is 13th floor haunted house and the asylum in denver. a list to the full list is up at jansing.msnbc.com. presents...

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i didn't put myself in front of you to have you feel bad for me, i put myself in front of you to let you know that you don't need to feel bad for me, because this is how -- this is -- i want you to get to know me. this is my life. and this is a part of it. it's not a major part of it. it is part of it. >> that's a clip from life

according to sam, a documentary to follows the life of sam burns, a teenager who suffers from the progressive aging disorder. he's just one of less than 300 reported cases worldwide. diagnosed when he was just two, sam has already reached the usual life expectancy of those with this disease. now, the documentary chronicles his parents' pursuit of a cure while helping him live a normal life. andrea and shawn fine are the directors of that film and join us right now. andrea, what was it about sam that made you say, hey, we have to tell his story. >> i think when you first meet him and that's how we start the film off, you get it. he's fiercely intelligent, smart, very positive kid and really just goes after what he wants in life. and he recognizes that it is a part of his life but it's a small part and it's really about who he is and what his dreams are that drew us to him and the positivity that he has and his parents have and how they fight this disease as a family i think

is why we were very attracted to them as the central characters of the film. >> shawn, talk about that. as he has moved forward being a centerpiece of this movie, has he at all felt self conscious going through the process? it seems like he's saying no problem, i'm ready. >> no, that's a great question. actually when we started filming, he told me that he didn't like photographs being taken of him because when you take a photograph of someone, he said you don't get to know their personality. but as we started filming him and he got more used to the camera, he started to become comfortable with the idea that when we're shooting and there's sound and things going on, that you get to know his personality and that comes through. and so he's really embraced all of this. he's embraced the film, he's embraced -- he loves talking to people. he's got a great sense of humor. i think that's what shines through is when you meet sam, his way of looking at life is fantastic and that shines through all the time. >> he seems so affable, just

that little piece we were showing. this is a very emotional film. how did that impact you making that film together here of sam? >> well, i think we sort of respond to it in two ways. on the one side just as people, shawn and i are married, we have young children, i think you immediately connect to that raw power of parents wanting to do anything to save the life of their child. and what they go through. i think that's a very emotional journey that you follow as a viewer of the film and very inspirational of how they respond to it. but also, i think, professionally there's a lot of different ways to tell a story like this. i think that we found that the emotional response that we have and how these people really kind of give you such a beautiful response when something very difficult is laid at your feet, although most people won't go through the exact circumstances that they do, what they do after that is really what drives the film. and i think that really gave us the sort of blueprint of how we wanted to tell this film. >> shawn, quickly here, how is

he doing right now? we were saying that he's reached the life expectancy of most who suffer from progeria. >> he's doing really well. he's 17 years old. he's about to turn 17 years old on october 23rd. he's -- i think he's sometimes tired, but i think that's because he's so overcommitted at school. he loves school. he's trying to apply to brown university and m.i.t. he wants to be a geneticist. he's incredible. >> shawn and andrea fine, thanks. "life according to sam" airs tonight at 9:00 eastern hbo. thank you both. that wraps up this hour of "jansing & co." thomas roberts is up next. >> what a brave and generous young man. happy early birthday to him and i am setting the dvr. the agenda next hour, the fastest way to fix something is admitting first there's a problem.

president obama speaking live this hour on the tech glitches hurting a smooth rollout in enrollment of obama care. it may be a self-inflicted wound but can the president make the distinction between a problem with the federal website and the actual health care law. our agenda will weigh in on that as well. the garden state ushers in marriage equality with the first marriages being performed at 12:01 a.m. today by senator-elect cory booker. is governor chris christie standing down for good in his opposition? that and much more coming up next. on the u.s.s. saratoga in 1982. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve current and former military members and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. waiting for your wrinkle cream to work?

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all right, everybody. we are awaiting remarks this morning from president obama, who is scheduled to speak from the rose garden in the white house just a few minutes from now. this is expected to be the first time that the president will directly address the technical issues that have plagued the healthcare.gov website. hi, everybody, good monday morning. developing news topping our agenda this hour. it's damage control mode from the white house saying it's unacptable that the message that we are expected to hear from the president will