brian rooney and amy gardner.hank you both. >> thank you. >> brown: still to come on the "newshour": the rise in autism; the coming elections in burma; the summit of arab leaders and remembering a visionary poet and a bluegrass legend. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: president obama pressed congress again today to end tax breaks for big oil companies. he said americans are getting hit twice, once by paying high gas prices, and again, by subsidizing oil companies. a short time later, the senate refused to move ahead on repealing $4 billion in energy tax breaks. republicans argued it would actually lead to higher fuel prices. the u.s. house approved a republican-crafted budget today totaling $3.5 trillion. it would cut the deficit by revamping medicare and reducing ods stampand taher programs. it also rejects president obama's call to raise taxes on the wealthy, but calls for ending unspecified tax breaks. the bill is expected to be dead on arrival when it reaches the d

amy gardner and her family -- >> my three kids, two dogs and two cats. >> reporter: spent the night in their minivan. >> pretty scary. you can't think straight. >> reporter: across the west, dry, warm conditions and a lack of winter snowfall are fueling an early start to the fire season. here in the denver area march is one of the snowiest months of the year, but so far, only a dusting and it's dryer than it's been in 130 years. these fires are already stretching limited resources. >> we're struggling getting hand crews in to put fires out. if these conditions persist -- >> i anticipate this fire season will be one of the top ten on record. >> reporter: that could make for a long, very hot summer. >>> now we head overseas to syria where there was a startling photo of of the president touring the place he had pounded with relentless attacks. the u.n. announced that assad has agreed to a peace plan, including a seavceasefire with lebls, u.s. officials are skeptical, saying they'll judge him by what he does and not what he says. >>> now a rare conversation with someone who can move market

amy gardner and her family -- >> my three kids, two dogs and two cats. >> reporter: -- spent the night in their minivan. >> pretty scary. you can't really think straight. >> reporter: across the west, dry, warm conditions and a lack of winter snowfall are fueling an early start to the fire season. here in the denver area, march is usually one of the snowiest months of the year. so far this month they've only had a dusting. and right now it's drier than it's been in 130 years. these early season fires are already stretching limited resources. >> we're struggling for getting hand crews in to actually put fires out. >> reporter: if these conditions persist, and forecasters say they will -- >> i anticipate this fire season will be one of the top ten on record. >> reporter: -- that could make for a long, very hot summer. clayton sandell, abc news, aspen park, colorado. >> another downside to an early spring. so dry. >>> here's a look at your weather. a dry, warm day in the colorado fire zone. scattered showers from the soutaintees afternoon thunderstor via, o.canand chaet boston. >> 65 in n

joining me now national political reporter for "the washington post" amy gardner and msnbc contributor perry bacon, jr. hello to the both of you. nice to see you. >> you, too, alex. >> santorum claims momentum with recent wins in alabama and mississippi while romney claims the lead in the delegate count overall. do you think it can translate to the number of delegates that he needs to challenge romney in tampa? >> i mean, probably not. it seems like it's less of a race about momentum and more about geography and demographics. in a state like illinois where a small number of evangelicals santorum would have a hard time and romney will likely win. if you go to louisiana, santorum and gingrich have a much bigger advantage. it will be hard to get momentum and in the south, santorum will do better. >> heretofore, you would have heard newt gingrich saying that he would do better in the south. amy, i know you've been following the gingrich campaign. it's been helping and hurting the gop. how's that? >> i think this past week the view from the washington and the media and the political classes

amy gardner and her family -- >> my three kids, two dogs and two cats. >> reporter: -- spent the night in their minivan. >> pretty scary. you can't really think straight. >> reporter: across the west, dry, warm conditions and a lack of winter snowfall are fueling an early start to the fire season. here in the denver area, march is usually one of the snowiest months of the year. so far this month they've only had a dusting. and right now it's drier than it's been in 130 years. these early season fires are already stretching limited resources. >> we're struggling for getting hand crews in to actually put fires out. firefight these conditions persist, and forecasters say they will -- >> i anticipate this fire season will be one of the top ten on record. >> reporter: that could make for a long, very hot summer. clayton sandell, abc news, aspen park, colorado. >> another downside to an early spring. >>> here's a look at your weather. a dry, warm day in the colorado fire zone. heavy rain and mountain snow in the northwest and northern california. scattered showers from the plains into tennes

aaron mcpipe and amy gardner. thanks for joining me.ut what i was talking about that nbc news/poll. romney camp will be -- getting those robo calls today in ohio. feature barbara bush. you are there, aaron. what's the sense on the ground and what's the mood like? >> you know -- the romney campaign says they think rick is an tore sum working really hard in ohio and he is. but that the momentum is now with mitt romney -- rick santorum's lead has been shrinking considerably and now with just two points, the way it is moving it seems that with early voting and what's going to happen on tuesday, it may be that mitt romney can overtake rick santorum by tuesday. still really tight. and rick santorum overperforms just a little bit. sometimes on election day. but you know, if -- if we are looking at trend lines it looks like mitt romney may be able to squeak by rick santorum. >> amy, you wrote about the difficulty romney might have attracting blue collar voters there in ohio. do you think -- based on this new nbc/maris poll suggests he is making

amy -- dr. michael doyle. the honorable eric holder, attorney general. it secretary of health and human services. the honorable rajiv shaw. mrs. shaw. mr. joe lamont. mrs. andra lamont. mr. anthony gardner mrs. alejandra gardner. mrs. carol penske. mr. david penske. mr. raj fernando. mrs. jennifer -- the honorable martha johnson. mr. steve johnson. the honorable camilla harris. mrs. mike harris. -- maya harris. the honorable wendy sherman. mr. stokes. the honorable brooke anderson. mr. james -- ms. ann windosr. mr. shelby bryant. mr. harvey weinstein. ms. georgina chapman. >> i have not seen her yet. [inaudible] [laughter] [inaudible] i am very excited. >> [inaudible] >> too humble in his accomplishments. people will learn. >> i am very excited. >> [inaudible] that was a surprise. >> [inaudible] mrs. amanda barton. mr. david ajai. mrs. ashley jasmine scott. the honorable nancy ann depearl. rm jason depearl. -- mr. jason depearl. the honorable patrick f. kennedy. ms. elizabeth slope. governor o'malley. judge katie o'malley. senator richard lugar. mrs. charlene lugar. >> we have been watching the guest arrivals at the white house for the state dinner for british prime minister, at david c

amy -- dr. michael doyle. the honorable eric holder, attorney general. the honorable kathleen sebilius, it secretary of health and human services. the honorable rajiv shaw. mrs. shaw. mr. joe lamont. mrs. andra lamont. mr. anthony gardner. mrs. alejandra gardner. mrs. carol penske. mr. david penske. mr. raj fernando. mrs. jennifer -- the honorable martha johnson. mr. steve johnson. the honorable camilla harris. mrs. mike harris. -- maya harris. the honorable wendy sherman. mr. stokes. -- bruce stokes. the honorable brooke anderson. mr. james -- ms. ann windosr. -- anna wintour. mr. shelby bryant. mr. harvey weinstein. ms. georgina chapman. >> i have not seen her yet. [inaudible] [laughter] [inaudible] i am very excited. >> [inaudible] >> too humble in his accomplishments. people will learn. >> i am very excited. >> [inaudible] that was a surprise. >> ready. forward. >> very pretty. they look better. >> they do. >> present arms. ♪ ladies and gentleman, the president of the united states barack obama and mrs. obama accompanied by the prime minister of britain, david cameron and his wife, samantha. >> good evening, everyone. please have a seat. welcome to the white house. i was just telling the prime minister that so far,