deputy political director mark murray will join me to talk about who foster friess is. how much of player is he in the gop race and his connection to hurricane katrina. >>> right now the private viewing for whitney houston is under way in new jersey. the service is being held tomorrow. her family says they want to have a social moment together without all of cameras around them. a small group of friends and relatives including her daughter will be at the service. i see a lot of people around you. i understand they are planning to block off streets around there to keep this a private moment for that family. >> reporter: absolutely. i'm in front of the new hope baptist church. people are gathering and a growing makeshift memorial is being put together here at the front of the church. we're about a mile and a half away from the funeral home where it's expected this afternoon, family and friends will gather for a private viewing of whitney houston's body. we can't say exactly who will or won't be going in because they have erected a large white tent in front of the entrance

who holds the answer, mark murray. i felt like i had a jeopardy question set up.weeting about this all morning long. this is interesting and exciting in that it shows the shift of this country right now. >> the last time we did a battleground map like this was back in november. since november we have seen some things break in president obama's favor. his approval ratings are up. there's a lot of economic indy karats that is showing the economy has been improving. we had the republican primary season, which you look at polls haven't done the gop a lot of favors. what this shows is where it was almost virtually tied back in november where you had 196 electoral votes, now it's 227 for the dems and 197 for the republicans with 114s to ups. not is huge tilt in his favor but a noticeable one. we have some maps built up. let's look at the map of solid democrat states there. >> that's right. these are your very democratic states. they will not be presidential battlegrounds come the fall. these rz the ones the democrats and president obama can bank away. >> i think it's in

mark murray is checking the ground game for us. good to see you. let's start with nevada here.did really well last time. will we see a repeat? >> it certainly looks that way, richard. mitt romney got more than 50% of the vote four years ago. largely fuelled by a mormon population among nevada caucus goers. it looks like he's going to repeat that. he's the clear front runner in nevada. >> let's move on to maine. i find this interesting here, mark. do they have a week-long caucus there? >> it is. so it starts on the 4th on saturday and lasts until the 11th. we'll get the results on the 11th. the one candidate who has been working hard there is ron paul. he was campaigning in the state last week e. all part of his strategy to get delegates in these contests that might be avoided by the big candidates like mitt romney and newt gingrich. >> now newt gingrich, speaking of which, looking further ahead. let's look at super tuesday and georgia and the south. we're talking about gingrich country here. >> we are. february is going to be a tough month for newt gingrich just because all the

nbc's deputy political editor mark murray is checking the ground game for us.rning. >> good morning. >> let's start with ohio. rick santorum in steubenville now. what's his message there? >> his message, lower taxes, less regulation, along with a conservative social message. it is that social message that's grabbing headlines as of late. recent quinn pee he can poll has him leading mitt romney in ohio. super tuesday to watch there. >> mitt romney also in ohio later today. let's go to his home state of michigan. we were talking about this earlier. make or break? >> it is a make or break. a must win for mitt romney. it is a state where he grew up, where his father was governor, where he launched his presidential bid in 2008, a state he won in 2008. if he ends up losing, kris, it would be indictment about his candidacy. while he might be able to get the delegates he needs to get the nomination, a loss in michigan would wound his candidacy heading into general election if he is able to be the republican nominee. >> we made this sound earlier, newt gingrich taking a

. >> mark murray is nbc's deputy political director, and mark, santorum had a lot of momentum here in these polls but seems to be bogged down by the comment by foster friess made on andrea's show. >> the conventional wills dom might be that rick santorum is on the defensive here. i would put it in a different way. this is actually really good news for rick santorum, the more the fight is about cultural issues in a republican primary that plays into rick santorum's wheelhouse. he showed the pro-super pac ad, one of the claims it made, a champion for life in there. he's talking about the economy as he did in detroit yesterday. but also social issues have always been a part of rick santorum's candidacy and the more we're talking about social issues, the more republicans are, the better news it is for rick santorum in the long run. >> let's show the apology that foster friess tweeted out. he said this on twitter, to those who applauded my comments and remember the jokes, thanks for your encouragement. to those who thought i was callusly encouraging that as a prescription for today, i kind

let's bring in our good friend mark murray, our nbc news political director to take a look at the candidate strategy. tomorrow as you know, we've got 76 delegates voted on in a single day. that's the most so far in a single day. looking at colorado and minnesota. let's start with colorado. what do you think here, mark? romney should top 50%. he did really well in 2008. is the strategy all anti-obama here, though? >> it's -- that certainly has been mitt romney's message coming out of the florida primary that he won. mitt romney today is in colorado. he won colorado four years ago. he should be the favorite. but richard, one thing that's interesting about both colorado and minnesota, they give the newt gingriches, the ron pauls, the rick santorums an opportunity to pull off an upset to destroy the narrative that february's going to be an easy month for romney camp. good organization could change -- could provide for an upset for tomorrow. >> talk about minnesota. does it look like a toss-up there? >> the way that the mitt romney campaign is responding seems to be that rick santorum might be g

. >> mark murray joins me now.ut the battle between newt gingrich and mitt romney. rick santorum has continued to be a player here, but why turn the fire on him? >> tamron, they believe santorum in a threat in these contests that will occur tomorrow in colorado, minnesota and maybe that beauty contest in missouri. vs. been very interesting looking at how the romney campaign has made their targets. it was back in september/october when they decided to go after rick perry, and they did so very successfully on the issue of immigration. right before the iowa caucuses they went after gingrich. now it's santorum's turn. it does suggest he's a threat in these upcoming contests tomorrow. >> another headline out is mitt romney firing his debate coach. that's a headline for many reasons. we saw him struggle and after florida he turned into the tougher guy that many of the gop voters have been craving. why go and fire the debate coach who seemingly helped, at least at one point, i think? >> this was first reported by politico

mark murray joins us live. we just showed the graphic. does it boil down to the logic we see when you look at numbers? >> it really does. obama has his big e-mail list. we saw him raise some $750 million in 2008. when the super pacs come in, they can really narrow that financial advantage. when you add the obama campaign and the dnc, you have roughly about $250 million. when you -- with the romney campaign and the rnc, you have $160 million. when the super pacs start coming in, it gets closer to a one to one parity. the obama campaign don't want to disarm unilaterally. >> as our banner says, super switch. might one say super smart. this is a sign of the times. the game that's being played. we can't allow for two sets of rules. even with all of that said, it does put the president at odds with what he's said in the past. it doesn't mean he doesn't feel that way, but it is a different direction. >> yes. republicans are having a field day with this and certainly it does point to a contradictory set of statements to president obama. you menti

the white house this week but first to this morning's first read nbc's deputy political director mark murray joins me now from d.c. mark, let's talk about breaking news right now. obviously the reversal out of the white house, it seems to me like they always step on these culture issues at bad times. you had the times square mosque, professor gates at one point. what happened do you think within the white house where they realized they were in some terrible political territory? >> luke, they really wanted to be able to rip off this band-aid and essentially put a period on this story. this has been a headache now for the last several days. and as we head into a presidential contest, the white house clearly wanted to keep this in february and not have it get closer to november. as you pointed out, stepping into the culture wars, this isn't something that occurs with all administrations. it's really indicative of just how important the culture wars are to american politics. they might have been masked by a lot of the economic news over the last three or four years. but the culture wars have bed

. >>> mark murray joins us. do you think he rigged it? he says, you have to ask the campaign. or based anywhere in fact, mark? >> tamron, every straw 308 that i have ever covered, there are -- that ames straw poll that all of us followed heavily back in august, everyone was offered free food, free transportation to go. there's always some type of rigging involved. the people usually complaining are the ones who did not win. what's surprising, however, is mitt romney decided to play the game this time. he of course decided not to play in ames. he's decided not to do well in other straw polls, but his team obviously decided they wanted to do something. >> we'll talk about maine in a minute and the complaint from ron paul or implication coming from him, but i want to talk about michigan. if he does defeat mitt romney, what does that mean for romney's campaign given many he was born in michigan and we know his father was governor. i also want to ask you about the auto bailout. will that be a factor in the debate? this early would it come up too for him? >> if he ends up losing. it

. >> there it is, mark murray. the new poll about inaccurate voter registration, how serious?d, it's hard the to keep track of who the who. it's part of the reason the campaigns spend so much money, they have more information on whether people are a live and where they are living. >> could that information be shared? >> some have said that a federal repos repo repository is in charge of that. >> thank you, go back and get your maps ready. how vulnerable are the nation's justices. new questions about security efforts after a justice came face to mace with-- face to fac with -- [♪...] >> i wish my patients could see what i see. that over time, having high cholesterol, plus diabetes or high blood pressure or family history of early heart disease, can put them at increased risk for plaque buildup. and they'd see that it's more important to get their cholesterol where their doctor wants. and why for these patients, when diet and exercise alone aren't enough, i prescribe crestor. adding crestor lowers bad cholesterol by up to 52%. and is also proven to slow plaque buildup. >> announ

. >> mark murray, nice to see you today. thank you. >>> lynn san sit reaches a whole new level as knicks sensation jeremy lin scores a three-pointer with less than a second left in the game. we'll talk about the phenom making headlines from here to china. >>> first, there's a lot of things going on today. los angeles mayor antonio villaraigosa, the brez of the united states is conference of mayors can add democratic national convention chairman to his resume, as well. the mayor will wield the gavel in charlotte and join president obama at a california fund-raiser this evening. >>> massachusetts democratic senate candidate elizabeth warren is pulling in some big bucks from out of state donors while scott brown is getting two-thirds of his money everyone within the state itself. 20% of warren's money comes from california. another 13% is coming in from new york residents. >>> and herman cain isn't trading 999 in for the two step. the former presidential candidate has turned down the offer to compete on "dancing with the stars.

. >> mark murray, political editor.hank you. >>> which party is raising the most money for elections all over the country? the democrats. new government figures show that democrats have raised $334 million in the current election cycle. the republicans more than $277 million. the dems have spent about $75 million more as well. that leaves the republicans with about $11 million more cash on hand. ♪ playing my song you know i'm going to be okay ♪ ♪ yeah there's a party in the usa ♪ can't wait 'til morning. wait. ♪ it's morning in the himalayas... [ male announcer ] it's sweet. it's nutty. it's absolutely delicious. kellogg's crunchy nut. it's morning somewhere. don't our dogs deserve to eat fresher less processed foods just like we do introducing freshpet healthy recipes of fresh meat and fresh veggies so fresh the only preservative we use is the fridge freshpet fresh food for fido but is she eating sugar this week? maybe she wants the all natural, zero calorie stuff. but if you're wrong, you're insinuating she's fat. sav

. >> mark murray, nbc news political editor. thank you. to ohio and a lot of people may not know this, but it is the secondest biggest car manufacturing state in the country. look at how fired up the president was yesterday reminding the auto workers about the bailout he backed that saved the auto industry. >> you know why i knew that the rescue would succeed? >> i do. >> you want to know? it was not because of anything that the government did, and it was not just because of anything that management did, it was because i believed in you. i placed my bet on the american worker. and i will make that bet any day of the week. >> i am joined now by three-time presidential candidate ralph nader who is author of "getting steamed over corporatism." >> good morning, chris. >> and that is barack obama the cham champion of the working man and is that the candidate who can win in november? >> yeah, look at the competition. he has a bunch of republicans often called the c-team, and they are not bringing the best out of each other, but bringing the wors

. >> joining me now nbc deputy political director mark murray. i hate to try to read body language or things like that. you can't help but look behind mitt romney at that crowd. some of the people are smiling like is this a joke. other people kind of seem confused, as well. where was he going with this story. >> well, tamron, a lot of this is to create a narrative about mitt romney. over the last several months, he's had one very consistent message, he's a businessman that can turn around the economy. outside of that, people don't know a lot else about romney. he was telling a story about his father to fill in some of the holes. what he was talking about with his father and not him, his father was a carpenter and had a rags to riches type of movement. that wasn't the case for mitt romney. you are at least seeing an attempt by them to actually say who is mitt romney more than someone who has a resume has a former business leader and who has experience at the olympics. >> so is he taking a page everyone rick santorum here? part of rick santorum's p

. >>> over on cbs, david letterman marks his 30th anniversary. bill murraytarted the festivities last night. a cup cake and 30 burning candles. the 30th anniversary show won't be an extravaganza because letterman does not like drawing attention to himself. >>> can't get enough of the republican presidential race? you can do 2008 all over again thanks to hbo. "game change." the look at john mccain's last months of his campaign. including a choice of running mate. >> this is sarah. ♪ american woman said get away ♪ american woman >> the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? lipstick. >> ed harris plays john cain. >> thought for sure tina fey would get that job. that lives up to the moment. neil lane bridal from hollywood's premiere jewelry designer. - the setting has to be perfect. it's where the diamond lives. - uniquely beautiful hand-crafted rings with diamonds hand-selected by kay, the newest reason kay is the number one jewelry store in america. neil lane bridal. forever begins here. >>> updating the day's top stories, mitt romney crushed newt gi

turn to sports, this morning a loose definition of sports, bill murray brought super bowl flavor to letterman. his appearance on the show markedhe 30th anniversary of when he, bill murray, became dave's first ever guest in 1982 murray is an avid golfer but last night traded clubs for the uniform, helmet and if the ball where he went outside to attempt a field goal with referee regis philbin looking on. >> hut, hut! hut 2. there it is. >> no good, no good! >> wait, wait. >> is that good? >> one more, one more. yeah! yeah! >> every time regis goes on the show they almost kill him. bill murray almost got him in the chops. >>> a guy in england figured out how to bring a soccer game to a standstill. he runs on the field, instead of running around drunk and half naked, he handcuffed himself to the goal post. the match was stopped for five minutes as police found a set of bolt cutters and cut him lose, everton won the game 1-0. >>> mitt romney score as decisive victory in florida, 14 points, but newt gingrich vowed to battle on for 46 more states. can he do it? we'll ask the panel whether this win is enough for romney to lock down th

he is set to appear in mouse into this in court on 50 murray 27. >> mark: new details about cnet normaneilsch is facing federal charges from stealing drugs from the program. last week to travel to los angeles to appear on the dr. phil showed not a federal judge blocked that trip saying that it the dr. phil appearance was to reach out to other law-enforcement is what he said. he said others may be under stress and you want to encourage and to seek psychological help. >> darya: we will be back with more in just a couple minutes to notice that is what out there is not raining in your neighborhood it probably will be soon. here is a live look at the rain coming down in san raphael. we will be right back. this is relocating to san francisco. riverbed technology is ready to move into new offices in the south of market avenue. they signed a 10 year lease that starts in to death of 14. the move could bring more than 600 new tech jobs. >>mark: the cost of getting a passport is increasing. started on tuesday the cost is $135. the price to renew a passport is also increasing at $35. it will cost $

bill murray's appearance marked the 30th anniversary of the time he was dave's first ever guest in 1982ear. shoulder pads over the jersey, representative the giants, and then they took it outside where bill murray attempted a field goal with dave holding and regis philbin as the referee. >> hut, hut -- hut two! >> there it is! no! >> no good! >> wait, wait, wait! >> oh, my -- >> was that good? >> one more, one more. yeah! >> regis -- regis looked like an old timy ref, the baggy pants. >> this one's for you. >> oh, good. >> guy in england, soccer match yesterday, wanted some international attention. and he's getting it here. >> does it involve handcuffs? >> it does. >> the guy runs out on the field, instead of running around drunk and half naked, tries a new approach. he handcuffed himself to the goal post so they couldn't run him off the field. police tried to find a set of bolt cutters. they eventually did cut him loose. everton won the game 1-0, our good friend roger bennett suggested something on twitter. to prevent copycats, police should give him the scar face treatment. i believe

affluence, and the quality of life between classes murray strips away race and ethnicity ultimately from the conversation. interested in your thoughts from both mark the tea party patriots, conservative guy. >> mm-hmm. >> and david degraw. >> the occupy guy. >> original zuccotti park occupier full on anti-bank activist. the two men met for the first time in texas with our road show. incredible agreement on this particular issue. >> i think this is fascinating. i've been saying the tea party and occupy movement both have a handle on the same phenomenon but never actually seeing them brought together like you just showed them. yeah. there is a sense that at the top there is a group that's increasingly isolated from the rest of america, increasingly ignorant, a lot of times there is a sense they don't care much about the rest of america. and you can come at it from either side of the political divide which is exactly what i want to see happening because i don't think this book is a partisan book in that sense. i think it speaks for everybody. >> what is your intent? having just written the only book of my life and having it be the most physically cha

mark? >> we're off his clothes now. you know that scene, one of my favorite scenes was when you had bill murray walking out of the theaterr and know, what happened? what just happened? so let me ask you about the republican debate last night. what happened? >> well, the main thing that i think happened was that rick santorum really needed to punch through last night. he really needed to have a big performance. he was incredibly defensive. it showed the problem of having been a legislator with a long record and two words that he said last night really jumped out at me. when he defended his vote for no child left behind he said he was, quote, a team player. i totally support that legislation. i think it was great legislation but to say i voted for it as a team player is exactly what voters don't want. i think that's a big problem. >> i think it's a huge problem. mark, of course, you know i disagree with no child left behind. i was on the education committee. they broke both of my arms. i stumbled on to the house floor. the bush administration -- they were coming down on me, threatening me. you remember before 9/11 this was

>>mark: >>james: it does not look like we will get any rain any time soon. >>justine: here is what is just into the newsroom, more on conrad murrayor in solitary confinement. his lawyer will ask a judge to release him on bail as the appeal of his involuntary manslaughter conviction stars to move through the courts. his attorneys will argue that he should be released on his own recognizance or on bail with an electronic monitoring bracelet. he is in a loss angeles county jail right now. we will take a break and be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ don't stop doing what you do ♪ have i paid my dues just to be with you... ♪ the more products we touch around the sink, the more dirt can spread around the kitchen, and the more germs we can spread on our hands. that's why we created the lysol no-touch kitchen system. one no-touch solution for sparkling dishes, plus clean surfaces, plus healthy hands. because our mission is a healthy home made simple. lysol. mission for health. >>darya: drivers across the country are continuing to feel the pain at the gas pump. aaa says the national prices averaging $3.65 a gallon. that is the highest ever for this time

murray's care. >>> doctors say dutch prince johan frezo may never come out of a coma after he was buried in an avalanche last week. he was skiing off marked courses in western austria when the avalanche happened. he was trapped under the snow for more than 20 minutes and he has been unconscience since he was rescued. >>> model and fashion blogger lauren scruggs has been photographed for the first time with the prosthetic eye she was fitted with after accidently walking into a plane propeller last year. scruggs was seen leaving a gym this week in her hometown of dallas where she is making a remarkable recovery. the 23-year-old was nearly killed december 3rd when she was struck by the propeller of a plane that had taken her up to see christmas lights from the dallas sky. >>> ship wrecked silver and other artifacts are on their way back to spain after the deep sea explorers who found the treasure lost their claim to it. the 17-ton haul, lost for two centuries in the wreck of the spanish ship began its journey home friday from a u.s. airforce base in tampa, florida aboard two spanish military cargo planes. it's worth an estimated $500 million