andrew cuomo, it appears, may be the democratic nominee. t make this quick point, mike, as far as mr. cuomo, it's one thing as attorney general that he has to be careful about because you get to pick and choose your issues. it's another thing when you're the governor of the state. but with that said, it looks like cuomo will likely run, it looks that way, and will be the nominee. if that's the case, in all likelihood, giuliani will not run. >> you guys are great. and you have a great job, both of you. you get to cover the big apple circus, the zoo every single day. >> you can say that again, mike. >> we're watching the disintegration of new york. >> well, that's sad. but, you know, there's a certain amount of accuracy to that. fred dicker, dominic carter, thank you very much. we appreciate it. >>> up next -- bill clinton's media blitz. can he sell health care reform better than president obama? the "politics fix" is next. >>> and this sunday on "meet the press," david gregory will interview both bill clinton and the aforementioned new york g

your shy and retiring attorney general andrew cuomo is in the house. ing great work, enforcing laws that need to be enforced. >> of course, that was president obama today being nice to governor david paterson in new york, and perhaps nicer to attorney general andrew cuomo who wants his job. does the president really want attorney general andrew cuomo. does the president want the governor to step aside in 2010? is he smart to get in these primary fights as well as other parts of the country. we have michael and dominick. mr. carter, thank you for coming on. the president is playing big foot sending operatives out there like he did to tell david paterson, the governor of new york, who got the job through success, to go. he's telling people in different states what he wants done in primaries, it seems. >> number one, that's a risky strategy. just listen to the amount of words that were spent concentrating on mr. cuomo as opposed to the sitting governor. the latest information that we have, chris, according to a white house administration official, they tol

you have to give the benefit of the doubt to andrew cuomo.it, it looks so goofy. >> you forget one thing, andrew cuomo is running for office. he wants to be governor of new york state. i like him personally. he is pulling a page. eliot spitzer showed us how to do it. >> wow. >> you torch wall street and you can become governor of new york state. i have been torturing wall street. i'm not defending what they do. this is a page out of the playbook. you don't lose many votes when you attack a ceo from north carolina. >> i don't know. >> i want to see more. >> maybe there is something we don't know. >> based on the information you have now, what do you think? >> i just told you. think it is goofy. i can't even believe this. >> no clue, charlie. worse-case scenario, lewis is out, the s.e.c. files charges, who steps in there? >> brian moynihan. i do not think -- people talking about sally koichak. i don't think it will be here. brian moynihan, he has been there a while. there is a chuck prince principle, he is a lawyer. chuck prince didn't do very

bank of america it willing off new york attorney general andrew cuomo. cuomo has been investigating the legality of disclosures b of a made in acquiring merrill lynch, mainly because cuomo wants to run for governor. bank of america fired off a letter tall calling his allegations against the company spurous. the word is described as false, or a does he wantful nature, but its origins go back to 1598. back then, spurous meant bastard. i have a feeling that's precisely what they were saying to cuomo today. you bastard. i really feel like the cuomo action, he ought to be worried about discrimination in housing. i'm not sure why he's worried about b of a's disclosures when he's the state attorney general. >> we're applauding him as an elected official in the state of new york. one of his job is to investigate fraud. the fraud is merrill lynch happened on new york soil. this is not just sec regulated. it happened there. >> who got hurt in this fraud? they're a major contributor to earnings in bank of america. >> whoa, whoa. >> taxpayers are going to have to fil

greta: did andrew cuomo announced that he is running against david paterson? >> in 2002 he ran for comptroller against carl mccall, leaving a lot of bruises in the african-american community. he has tried to repair that damage, and he has done so successfully. greta: he would love it if president obama would push gov. paterson out? making for an empty seat? >> he would love it. greta: is this president doing something different from other politics in terms of getting involved in state politics? >> not at all. it looks like he is pushing these people around, but george bush got involved in many races. katherine harris, 2004, he pushed her aside. greta: after 2000? >> the only person that was seen as being the most responsible for getting him in. most interesting, arlen specter, bush endorsed him in 2004. now president obama is endorsing him in 2008 -- 2010, i mean. who knows what will happen. we might have an independent president pushing other independents in 2016. greta: next, is the president trying to can decode his new tax? of that is coming out. we report

your shy and retiring attorney general, andrew cuomo, is in the house. drew is doing great work, enforcing laws that need to be enforced. >> of course, that was president obama today being nice to governor david paterson in new york, and perhaps nicer to attorney general andrew cuomo who wants his job. does the president really want the governor to step aside in 2010, step aside in 2010? smart to get involved in primary fights in time for the politics fix with michael smerconish, msnbc contributor and dominic carter, hoeflt of inside city ham. the president seems to be playing big good in journalism, sending operatives out there, according to "the new york time times", to tell david paterson, governor of new york, he got the job through succession, to go. he's telling people in different states what he once did in primaries it seems. >> that's a risky strategy. listen to the amount of words that were spent concentrating on mr. cuomo, the attorney general, as opposed to the sitting governor. the latest information we have, chris, according to a white house

so that is the press release, the statement from the attorney general of new york, andrew cuomo. again, we'll keep you abreast of all the developments as they cross. time now for today's edition of "pops and drops." pop here for nike. up 8% today. grasso. >> i think the move's over. i would stay clear of it for now. >> we've got a drop for biogen idec. down 2%. karen. >> you know what goes up must come down. sorry, carl. it's all right. you'll get it. >> we had a pop here for huntington bank shares. they are up 7% today. joe. >> deutsche bank upgraded them from a hold to a buy. i'm not going to get too excited about a regional bank given the current valuations. i would avoid the name. >> drop for sks. >> the comps have been lousy. nothing looks good right now in this stock. >> and we've got a drop here steve ballmer. the microsoft ceo taking a pay cut this year as the company's sales decline for the first time. he will be taking home about $75,000 less than 2008. but ballmer won't be going hungry. he still has about 408 million shares in the software giant valued at more than $10

. >> reporter: he was downright gung ho for attorney generjenged andrew cuomo. >> your shy and returning attorney general andrew cuomo is in the house. >> reporter: republicans pounced on this democratic discord. >> i found that to be stunning that the white house would send word to one of only two black governors in the country not to run for re-election. >> reporter: but white house sources say this hag nothing to do with race and everything to do with math. 76% of new york voters disapprove of paterson's job performance. 69% approve of cuomo's anticipating a rough election year in 2010, from pennsylvania to colorado, the president is aggressively backing democrats he thinks can win in a general election. >> democrats are poised to take a beating in the 2010 midterm elections. the white house knows it so they're trying to put their best foot forward in the places they should win. >> reporter: but the president's wish is not every candidate's command. >> i'll still running for governor. i'm running for governor. >> keep in mind, of course, a weak candidate at the top of the tickets like

. >> is this a scalp for new york ag andrew cuomo who's certainly going to run for governor? is that a skal snp. >> yeah, it is. and it's unfortunate. because listen, larry, i'm not going to defend everything ken lewis did. but i tell you, in my book, i did monday morning quarterbacking about whether ken lewis should have done more disclosure, whether he did the right thing in terms of buying merrill lynch and whether john thain was completely honest with him about everything. doi monday morning quarterbacking, but in doing that monday morning quarterbacking bs, i just write a book. i don't bring charges against somebody. eliot spitzer, one of the most damaging things about eliot spitzer is he kind of laid the template for these other state regulators to go after people, and, you know, this isn't -- you know, when it really comes down it, was this that big of a crime that ken lewis did? he should have done more disclosure, yes. but was it -- >> was it a crime, charlie? >> did it cross that threshold and i don't know. especially within that context of what was going on back th

i've got to tell you, i don't understand what andrew cuomo's stake in this fight is at all. >> well,ss you are, you might say he's contemplating a run for higher office, but there's a lot of back and forth here. basically, bank of america said we can't do anything wrong. there's nothing wrong with our disclosures. no terrell omissions. there has been the assertion of the attorney-client privilege. there's been some complaints to the perceived obstruction that prevents by the attorney general's office. this is their latest round in their efforts to get around that. they want to talk to the directors and one of them said, unidentified source said we want to know what they knew when they knew it. but if they knew it in the context of the rendering of legal advice, i suspect that louis lyman is going to assert the attorney-client privilege again. bank of america is in a very bad way, but they're basically saying the business rule govrjed -- that's what we did, we followed it. we made appropriate disclosures and the 20/20 hindsight going on, which hopefully for all of us is not a forecast

your shy and retiring attorney general andrew cuomo is in the house.mas dinapoli is in the house. speaker sheldon silver is in the house. the democratic conference leader state senator john sampson. albany mayor gerald jennings. we've got three outstanding members of congress who are just doing great work every day, maurice hinchey, paul tomko, scott murphy, please give them a big round of applause. president of hudson valley community college, andrew matinech is in the house. did i pronounce that right andrew. joe sharubi executive director of tech smart who gave me a wonderful tour. now, you may ask why are we here a at hudson valley. we are here because this is a place where anyone with a desire to take their career to a new level or start a new career altogether has the opportunity to pursue that dream. this is a place where people of all ages and backgrounds, even in the face of obstacles, even in the face of very difficult personal challenges can take a chance on a brighter future for themselves and their family. i was talking to the mayor of tro

by contrast, when the president welcomed attorney general andrew cuomo, he said, you know, he made a joke about him and said, oh, he is shy and retiring, then shot him a big smile. clearly, the body language was awkward. it was not -- you know, it was not comfortable. >> the political watchers looking at this say the reason the president might want paterson to step aside and allow another democrat to run for governor next year has to do with the fact that the -- the elections are in chaos right now. they are in -- there are seats for the democrats that are in jeopardy. what would be accomplished by david paterson stepping aside, elizabeth? >> well, i mean, it would definitely reduce the possibility of being a knockdown, dragout battle between governor paterson and andrew cuomo, a redo of the battle between 2002 with carl mccall and then dropped his bid that angered a lot of people back in 2002. and you have got -- >> all right. go ahead. >> well, subsequently, have somebody strong at the top of the ticket, ostensibly, all these ballot races would be asisd if the democrats can't contr

. >> what if it's andrew cuomo? >> in all likelihood, no. indicate that cuomo, if he decides to run -- that's the question, if he decides to run, that andrew cuomo is the next governor of the state of new york. it's another thing to be attorney general where he gets to pick and choose his issues. it's another when you're running for governor. but polls indicate that cuomo's the next governor, should he decide to run. and so, to a degree, alex, the white house has given cuomo some cover on the race issue, should he decide to challenge paterson versus cuomo. >> this popped in my mind, former state a.g. to the governor was eliot spitzer, right? >> before cuomo, yes. >> dominic carter, thank you very much. we'll talk to you more. >> fantastic. >> appreciate that. catch nbc's "meet the press" tomorrow morning. governor paterson will be joining david gregory live. check your local listings. two. the white cleanses. the gold moisturizes and has a touch of mineral shimmer to enhance skin's tone. olay tone enriching body wash. for skin that shimmers.

if andrew cuomo sues lewis for, you know, his role, his culpability in the failure to disclose the bonuseshe losses, if this is a cuomo case against ken lewis and if it's civil, which it will 99% sure it's civil. i don't think cuomo has a criminal case here even if he had the most damning e-mails in the world. it's kind of hard to get that level of intent here. if it's a civil case they are going to fight it. ken lewis at least right now sources inside b of a tell me will not resign amid a civil case from andrew cuomo. however, if their primary regulator, the securities and exchange commission, sues him for civil securities fraud, and you know this case has been reopened, the s.e.c. is now -- i think they came out a statement saying they're vigorously pursuing every angle, if the s.e.c. does sue, then, according to a senior person inside bank of america, when i asked about lewis, whether he will stay or go, he said that's another story which means if the s.e.c. sues him, he's done. it would be unprecedented for an s.e.c. -- for a wall street ceo to withstand -- to basically stay in his job

investors on wall street need to be worrying about the next el quots spitzer, like andrew cuomo.u are a young lady, and you forget that people are dismissed and cast aside and have a way of coming back. >> they have a way of coming back, but we know what lies therein with eliot spitzer. what don't we know about this man? neil: that's my point. i'm not casting aspersions one way or another, but i remember when richard nixon was young and couldn't come back and did, and when bill clinton was done, came back, so history proves that, depending on the situation, of course, across a lot of different situations, that those given up for dead have a way of coming back to life. >> i absolutely think he could have a second act as a politician. ly just offer this con terry opinion that maybe he would be a better politician. i think he would be chasing. he did a lot of good investigative work as a prosecutor. some of it was vindictive. i just hope he would be better at it this time and not be vindictive but go after the bad guys that. would be a good thing for wall street. wall street needs g

[applause] your attorney general, andrew cuomo is in the house. [applause] andrew is doing great work, and forcing the laws that need to be enforced. i want to thank the comptroller. speaker sheldon silver is in the house. [applause] democratic leader james samson. albany mayor gerald jennings. [applause] we have three outstanding members of congress who are doing just great work every single day. please give them a big round of applause. president of hudson valley community college is in the house. did i pronounce that right? and the executive director of tech smart. you may ask, why are we here? we're here because this is a place where anyone with the desire to take their career to a new level or start a new career altogether has the opportunity to pursue that dream. this is a place where people of all ages and backgrounds, even in the face of obstacles, even in the face of very difficult personal challenges, can take a chance on a brighter future for themselves and for their family. i was just talking to the mayor -- we were in a room and he sai

. >> that is right, new york attorney general andrew cuomo has subpoenaed five bank of america directors, including the former chairman of the country -- company. also, u.s. army generals. they were members of the audit committee in late 2008, at the time when bank of america was purchasing merrill lynch for $60 billion. someone close to the investigation tells us that there will be more subpoenas handed out by the new york attorney general. shepard: it has been one year since the deal went down. how are they fairing now? >> they have yet to pay back the taxpayer funds. while the turmoil continues today, one year after the purchase, it also continues with the company's share price. bank of america stocks have dropped 41% over the past year. shepard: thank-you, sandra. despite how rough things have been, stocks have rallied over the past six months, at the highest level of the year. markets rose again today, fueled by new reports showing that factories were more active last month and that prices in stores were kept in check. the dow jones, up 108. the s&p 500, up 16. the shaky economy pus

at the same time, the "new york post" reports that paterson blame state attorney general andrew cuomo for it all. cuomo is widely expected to run for governor next year, and paterson for some strange reason has shaved off his mustache. maybe he is looking for a little luck. ven 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. rick: we continue to fall the story of pittsburgh, where protests are getting a little chaotic. there are reports of teargas being fired into the crowd. we will keep that box up there so you can see what is going on. more on the story we told you about the beginning of the show. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu slamming the united nations today for inviting mock would ahmadinejad to speak. he made a speech full of anti- semitic remarks. nothing new, of course. ahmadinejad has said he thinks the holocaust is a myth and calls for israel to be wiped out of the map. here's the israeli prime minister's reaction. i say on behalf of people everywhere, have you know same -- h

he plans to run for office if there were polls that said he would lose to attorney general by andrew cuomoy more than 4-1. despite pressure from the white house when eliot spitzer got caught with his pants down step aside for the good are the party. those reports prompted national committee chairman michael steel to quip disingenuously. >> i found that to be stunning that the white house will send word to only one of two black governors in the country not to raun for office. i think his nams are the same as governor corzine. corzine stepped down in new jersey. i find it to be stunning and rather bold. >> what i find truly stunning and bold is the man i consider one of the legitimate leaders of the black community reverend al sharpton adds not declared his support for governor patterson. al i think it's fair to say you are giving him a cold shoulder instead of a shoulder to lean on. >> i talk to the governor today and ned and talked to the people in the white house. the western concern is we cont move forward on the agenda and not do the politics in the newspaper. >> what does that mean? >>

like possible matchups, woe lose badly to rudy giuliani in the general election and would lose to andrew cuomoary, if cuomo could be persuaded to do it t so, this might have been designed to given a drew cuomo some political cover for taking it on. >> you have been around politics a long time, andrea. that is an impetus to cuomo saying if you got into this race, you wouldn't have to worry about the white house being behind governor paterson. a bigger issue, andrea you have competitive house races, especially upstate new york in 2010 as well as redistricting in 2011. more than just hot governor of new york is. democrats worry if paterson, their nominee, could pull down some of the house members and cost them the governorship, going into the census and the redistricting, redraws the congressional and state legislative level. >> how about losing the senate seat well? >> you bet. always on the market, though i think there is a favorite at the moment. >> chris cillizza, thanks for the update. more from his blog at washington.post.com/the fix. among our guests tomorrow on the show, one president and

no wonder andrew cuomo the new york attorney general feels compelled to get some state-level justicecutives. i typically don't like that, but you know, because we sure aren't getting anything at a federal level i understand cuomo. here's the problem. same way that sarbanes-oxley, which i originally favored, has been taken to extremes, the government decides that people should be put in jail using existing laws, then the wrongdoing going forward is cut down. that's how you deter this stuff. if instead we make capricious decisions to clear the dockets like we got from the s.e.c., all we do is set congress to work to come up with new laws instead of using the old ones that would have done the job if the government had just enforced them. if we first kill all the lawyers, a la shakespeare, who should have been referred to instead of rakoff's gratuitous reference to the old oscar wilde saw about a cynic knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing, we accomplish nothing at all. we set up a system of equal justice for none. this is why at the end of the day i think the buck and

new york, david paterson is in the house. [ applause ] your shy and retiring attorney general, andrew cuomois in the house. [ applause ] andrew's doing great work enforcing the laws that need to be enforced. i want to thank the comptroller. [ applause ] speaker shelden silver is in the house. democratic conference leader, state senator john samson. albany mayor gerald jennings. we've got three outstanding members of congress who are just doing great work every single day, maurice hin tri, paul tan koe, scott murphy, please give them a big round of awe plauz. [ applause ] president of hudson valley community college, andrew matanac is in the house. did i pronounce that right, andrew? and joyce ruby, executive director of tech smart who gave me a wonderful tour. thanks very much. now, you may ask, why are we here at hudson valley? we're here because this is the place where anyone with the desire to take their career to a new level or start a new career altogether has the opportunity to pursue that dream. this is a place where people of all ages and backgrounds, even in the face of op sbstacle

andrew cuomo upping his investigation into merrill lynch. cuomo has issued subpoenas to at least five bank of america board members requiring them to testify about their knowledge of mounting losses and bonus payments of merrill lynch prior to the acquisition. bank of america would not comment on the story. bank of america shares up more than 2.5%. amazon.com upgraded to buy from neutral by boosting to $103 from $95. because of the sustainable competitive advantage in e-commerce. including customer loyalty and distribution infrastructure. amazon shares charging higher up on the day, up better than 8%. continental airlines with a $20 price tar guess but argus. what appears to be a bottoming in consumer demand. kond nen tal shares trading higher on the day by almost 2%. bud is back. anheuser-busch inbev trading under the ticker bud. it was acquired last year, and stopped trading in the u.s. but the ceo says growing interest from american investors prompted the return to the nyse. taking a look at the stock on the day. well, we don't have that

." >>> new york attorney general andrew cuomo wants more information before filing charges against bank of america. the economy is stabilizing though not enough to warrant rate hikes. that is according to newly released fed documents. airline on time is best in six years that is cnbc.com news now. i'm scott cohen. >>> there is a live look at the stock exchange. the market shyer on wall street today for a third straight day. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo. big show for you today. we have a guest host for the entire hour t. chairman and ceo of legg mason mr. fedding will be joining me. we will talk to him about recent market activity. money is moving into oil and other commodities and news on takeovers has this market higher. take a look where we stant the dow jones industrial average, up by 40 points. that is the best level of the afternoon. as you can see .5%. nasdaq up. technology, a handful of the drug companies as well. we have some laggards like aig in the financial services sector. s&p 500 is higher by seven points, the nasdaq on pace since 2003. gold, oil, comm

chairman towns and andrew cuomo is pressing his own investigation and is saying the bank is using that privilege issue as a smoke screen. unless they can come to some sort of agreement at that meeting tomorrow, the next step for the congressional committee is a subpoena. and b of a's headaches don't end there. the proposed $33 million settle with the s.e.c., the two sides have until today to present the judge with their plans for a trial that would start february 1st. also still unclear, the fate of individual executives, including ceo ken lewis. the board was reportedly meeting today to decide what to do if lewis is charged with fraud. the company would not comment or even confirm the meeting. but maria, bank of america's headaches are mounting. >> wow. all right. thanks very much, scott cohn. we'll be with you for further developments on that. >>> climate change has been championed by activists. more and more businesses are jumping onboard. one company taking the lead on the global issue. >>> welcome back. technology plays a critical role in making businesses more efficient. a big he

if they get andrew cuomo in there, he's likely to be the governor, you then have a stronger possibilityhite house believes of protecting those democratic seats. >> the white house said it did not urge paterson to step aside. governor paterson danced delicately around it. is that normal for any administration bhen it comes to election time? >> it's pretty unusual. paterson is right, that a president himself didn't say hey, governor, get out of the way. at a lower level, there are overtures that are made and contacts that are made in new york politics where they come out to make the message clear. in this case, there was no mistaking what the white house wa wanted. you're right, it's unusual for the white house to get involved. it's a risky business. >> paterson says he's not going to step aside unless the people ask him to. it seems like an obvious -- whatever, i won't go there. >> if he did pull out, he could maybe make tougher decisions to straighten out the mess in albany. >> those of us in new york would like to see that happen. thank you so much. >> thanks. >> that wraps up our live

really interesting, examined in the auction rate securities probe of new york attorney general andrew cuomo, gains testimony from what i understand in that case. was not charged. i don't think anybody -- nobody at ubs was charged. i believe ubs reached some settlement with the attorney general. and from what i understand, he is not, according to the people inside ubs, we have yet to hear from cuomo's office, he's not expected to be charged. but if he does -- if this happens, he will be, from what i understand, moved out. it's not a done deal. from what i understand, it's in the talking stages. what's kind of interesting, wolf is pretty controversial. i don't know if you recall this, a major health care investment banking team went from ubs to jeffreys. one of the top groups in the country. every time they move, they get another $50 million to move. i covered the story about that back in 1998 in the journal, where i believe they left for $75 million. >> every time you write a book. >> every time i talk on cnbc. when they made that move, ubs wanted jeffreys to pay them some money because they

right now things aren't looking too good for him, though if attorney general andrew cuomo decides tory, paterson could be in trouble. >> alex with politico, thanks, axe. >> thanks for having me. >> don't miss "meet the press." governor david paterson will join them live. >>> still ahead michael moore on his decision to go after the financial sector in his new movie. in the next hour price war, the war of video games on "msnbc saturday." for orville redenbacher's popcorn. two minutes can seem like an eternity. with walmart's unbeatable prices, you can bring your family together with orville redenbacher's popcorn every game day. save money. live better. walmart. great looking skin... it's in the dna. [ female announcer ] new regenerist dna cream with spf 25 doesn't just correct. it helps protect your dna without a $200 department store price tag. olay regenerist. two of nature's sweetest wonders growing together under the same sun. and now for the first time, in new sun crystals ® . the only 100% natural sweetener made with pure cane sugar and stevia. finally, all the sweetness of natu

governor while he was in new york but he also acknowledged the presence of new york attorney general andrew cuomor the new york "daily news" joins us now. you write about this in the paper today. you point to the real source of white house concern in new york politics here. you say this is really all about rudy giuliani. >> he is definitely a factor, you know? a lot of states have weak governors right now. it's a tough time to be an incumbent but not a lot of states have a republican waiting in the wings like rudy giuliani who has got a national fund-raising base and obviously, universal name recognition. i think the white house is genuinely worried that giuliani poses a real threat here in new york and so, you know, they want to put up as strong a contender as possible. >> let's take a look at the polls recent poll out showing giuliani if he were to run against paterson. he has him 60% over 34% but if giuliani were to run against cuomo you have a much tighter race and different outcome. cuomo 53% to 43% and they are watching all of those gause if giuliani were to run against paterson and beat pa

new york attorney general andrew cuomo moving closer to possible legal action involving bank of america's acquisition of merrill lynch. big names could be involved. mary thompson has details. >> in a letter we have the new york attorney general asking for more information from bank of america as it seeks to decide whether or not to charge executives at the bank. essentially the attorney general says in the letter its investigation has uncovered four instances where the bank did not disclose material information to shareholders, including they actually sought advice of counsel to see whether they wanted to invoke the material adverse change clause, something that is contrary to what bank of america has asserted recently, that it didn't do so something after the vote to approve this deal. the attorney general says that bank of america has been asserting a legal defense which is advice of counsel when it gives its reason as to why it did not disclose this material information to shareholders. the new york attorney general says you cannot assert that legal defense without providing some subst

. >>> andrew cuomo threatening to file charges against bank of america executives for failing to disclose details of the deal to acquire merrill lynch. >>> monaco and the united states has signed an agreement to exchange tax information. part of washington's drive against offshore tax evasion. >>> speaker nancy pelosi says an overwhelming maintain of house members want a public option included in health care reform. that's cnbc.com news now. i'm scott cohn. "fast money" with melissa lee starts now. >>> labor day is over. and the wall street trading desks are fully stocked once again. let's find out what they were doing today. live from the nasdaq marketsite, this is "fast money." i'm melissa lee. these of course are the "fast money" traders. was today's gain a sign of a good september? your answer and your trades. also tonight, pete with the alpha trade before its big product announcement tomorrow. and karen games the health insurers before obama's big speech to congress. but first, let's get to the word on the street today. do you think wall street was really back today? >> no. but i mea

apparently not and he's got his man, andrew cuomo, authoring a big comeback story. gretchen: so after he sort of stiffed the governor, governor paterson at the airport with sort of a stiff hug, they wept on to this resemtion where the governor was -- reception, where the governor was not invited into this private room but cuomo was. when president obama went up to speech, he acknowledged from the great state of new york governor paterson, didn't say anything about the job he's doing, then went on to introduce attorney general cuomo and said what i fantastic job he was doing in the state of new york. here's the biggier story. and that is whether or not the white house should be taking an aggressive role in state races. not that this hasn't happened before karl rove was the architect of this not only at the white house but in other states. but if you look at the obama administration, you've got massachusetts, pennsylvania, new york, about six states, california, i believe -- steve: new jersey. gretchen: where the obama administration is saying, here's who we would lik

and barack obama is asking him to stand down, apparently in the favor of a white candidate, andrew cuomo. there may be some backlash on that. >> about 30 seconds left, gene. republicans, mike huckabee. he wins the stau poll for 2012 at the values voter summit. is he poised for a comeback here? >> well, among the social conservatives, the values voters, pro-life, huckabee is their guy. i think he gave a great presentation to them and they like him. i think these are early days and we haven't heard the last from mitt romney. >> were you struck by paterson? >> the paterson thing does strike me, yes. and it's quite interesting. this is a political president. he campaigned for arlen specter, if you recall, last week against his primary opponent in pennsylvania. so he wants to be the leader of the party. >> all right, we're going to leave it there. thank you both very much. and before we take a break here, i wanted to let you know about our newly redesigned interactive website. you can find more show video, transcripts, information on upcoming guests, plus my reporting and a link to my blog. c

andrew cuomo and arnold schwarzenegger launched probes into the group's activities. 20 states are currentlys huge community organizer group. catherine herridge is live in washington with more for us on all of this. >> thank you, martha. eight former official tells fox that the threshold for a federal investigation is low for the fbi to collect documents and files in the field and conduct interviews with employees on the videotape. also, importantly, the managers at acorn. >> based on what we have seen on the videos, there is certainly a concern that acorn would be aiding and abetting. we saw people on the video apparently giving advice to folks coming in off the street on ways that they could structure their operation to evade federal tax law. you also have the possibility of human trafficking. >> what is also striking is that the acorn workers in the video seem comfortable relying their advice about essentially gaining the system the gaming -- gaming the system. lamar smith has sent a letter to the department of justice. >> i know the justice department has been accused of allowing politic

andrew cuomo said four more pension firms have agreed to restrict campaign contributions. that bernie madoff mansion is under contract. it went on sale two weeks ago and received a number of offers. that's cnbc news now, i'm courtney reagan. >>> welcome to the second hour of "power lunch." we have fun things planned for you this hour. >> sure do. >> we've had a roller coaster day so far as courtney was mentioning there. stocks opened higher, now lower, moving to the downside, citi, caterpillar, bank of america amongst the gainers. valero is up 6% so far this session. >> good news regarding americans' bottom line. the federal reserve is out with a report saying household network jumped by $2 trillion in the second quarter, first gain in nearly two years. >> general electric, the parent company of this network trading lower today after what has been a stellar run. will we see a spinoff involving ge's nbc universal unit? david faber has the story. >> fresh 52-week highs today, silicon valley bureau chief jim gold man has a closer look at what has been a pretty good tech rally

new york attorney general andrew cuomo may charge for executives of bonuses that it charged before the company's merger. cuomo is using b of a as using a defense to explain why it should not release more details about who signed in on the bonuses. the move comes as a federal judge will once again consider whether to approve a b of a settlement over this matter. in frankfurt right now, shares of bank of america are down almost 3%. christine. >> mike, this should be of interest to you. china's sovereign wealth fund looking at making. in recent weeks, china investment corp. cic can hold talks with blackrock, investco and lone star. cic make invest through the government's pip bailout scheme. blackrock, investco and lone star have declined to comment. >>> and beatles mania is still alive. the beatles rock band, as it's called, hit shelves today. at $60 a copy, it makes viacom hope that it will unveil the industry. but the biggest winner is still the band itself. the beatles will reap a record $ .6 billion in 2009 from licensing revenues and music sales. >> let it be. james, i have a viewer

representative towns like new york attorney general andrew cuomo has suggested the bank is using their privilege issue as a way to hide information. the bank is said that waving the privilege could set a dangerous precedent. meantime b of a and the sec are supposed to tell u.s. district judge in new york today how they'll proceed with the trial now that the judge has thrown out their proposed $33 mill kio settlement over the issue. the b of a board of directors was reportedly set to meet today what to do if b of a executives are charged individually. no comment from a company spokesman. we're taking a look at b of a stock which has been on kind of a tear since the deal closed on january 21st. up 22% here to date. the great debate is whether the ends justify the means in all of this. bank of america now fighting on that privilege issue which is an important issue for all of us. >> back in a few minutes with the halftime report. [ birds squawking ] [ moos ] [ man announcing ] if you think about it, this is what makes theladders different from other job search sites. we only want the big

andr andrew cuomo has threatened to sue. the "new york times" reports the house committee has given b of a until noon today to divulge information on the merger. >>> in france fort b of a is trading down by 15 cents, 1.25% to 11.81. >>> a coalition of top u.s. companies and investors is calling for a radical overhaul of executive pay. the group formed by the conference board wants to eliminate such practices as big severance payments or golden parachutes, tax refunds, or personal use of company jets. the reports by at&t and others criticizes corporate america for not reforming pay structures before the financial crisis hit. they blame that failure for causing a loss of trust in u.s. companies. >>> and the head of disney's movie studio has resigned reportedly telling his staff he no longer fits in at the entertainment giant. in a statement -- >> okay, we seem to have another technical problem there. still, don't mind looking at pictures of game section. right, chloe, are you with us? >> yes, i'm still online. >> good. great.

presumably andrew cuomo who has connections. if rudy runs, you are the only guy who wins.nts, he could mount a challenge to barack obama. gretchen: you mean that the obama administration would be looking ahead to 2012 tore a governor's race? when you put the name rudy giuliani in the mix. you within der that's exactly what they are worried about. if in fact rudy giuliani decides to run against governor david paterson he probably would win at this point and then that would launch potentially another presidential bid by rudy giuliani. here is the interesting thick is that jon corzine, who is in the next state right over here in new jersey, who is the governor of that state is also pulling low just like governor paterson. so far we haven't heard any request from the obama administration for jon corzine not to run again or for that matter any other democratic governor who is polling low right now. this is interesting. these two guys are going to need each other. brian: paterson, the govern of new york said i think all the attention the president is getting is racially motivate

nice guy, writing about the andrew cuomo of that state, and his rebirth.uest: they want him to take over for govern pater son to step aside and for the races that republicans have a shot in. and that's why you saw the president say, mr. governor, step ahead. and all of this kind of internal debate speaks well of the politics. andrew cuomo is aggressive and that's why ramen emanuel would rather see him there than paterson. guest: clearing the situation in new york is difficult, you will have people agree with what they think that the white house will do and trying to push paterson aside. paterson to his credit is saying he is not going to move, he will continue. he thinks there is a way to rehabilitate himself and you have to let the voters aside and let this play out. it may be that governor paterson can rehabilitate himself and what it points to that these are very difficult times, again, for incumbent governors, times of recession always are. but things are starting to get better from an economic standpoint, and i hope that paterson if he decides to stay

we have somebody else, andrew cuomo who. i don't know if you saw the vma's when kanye stepped in. this is kind of like that obama goes i'm sorry, dave, i'm going to let you finish your term but andrew had the best approval ration of all time. steve: dan, let me get you in on this as well. the white house knows if you look at polls right now democrats are in a very vulnerable position come next midterm elections. they would like to stack the deck. >> i think that's true. i think some of this in the case of governor pa patterson is personal. steve: you are saying payback. >> paterson was on the airwaves talk about race being a factor to him and president obama. i think that some of this and you combine that with a low approval ratings of patterson. it's no mystery why obama wants him out. however, i think this has back fired to some degree. because now we have a lot of democrats talking about the racial politics of this and this is what the obama administration wanted to get beyond. steve: absolutely. >> >> i think it's an example of obama's inability to procedure advertise what's im

>> andrew cuomo. >> this guy doesn't look like he's budging. also, william saffire. we're talking about his passing this morning. >> great guy. >> pat's colleague. >> known him more than 40 years. nixon told me, when i came up to join him in 1965, saffire is one of the guys you should see. he came into the white house with us more than 40 years ago. told the great spiro agnew to uplift the nation. he was very proud of that line. >> william saffire died over the last few days. >>> in breaking news, iran state television is reporting the country has test-fired one of the longest range missiles in its arsenal this morning. the missile has a potential range to strike israel and u.s. bases in the region. today's launch is the third in a series of tests aimed at demonstrating iran's ability to respond to an attack. it comes just days after tehran revealed the existence of a second nuclear facility, triggering a tough international response. >> the russians have come out with a strong statement saying that the burden has now shifted. it has shifted to iran. they have to com

new york attorney general andrew cuomo subpoenaing five members of the board of directors as part of ongoing investigation into the bank's quick takeover of merrill lynch. the directors include those who were likely to have been briefed most about the merger. the board members will be asked to testify under oath. brian? brian: yeah, someone's going to get in trouble. meanwhile, was the pressure too much? homeland secretary janet napolitano putting a stop to border construction projects funded by federal stimulus money. this after questions and criticisms about the money and how it was being spent. she's been accused of spending too much to renovate small border crossings while ignoring larger ones and busier ones. as governor, you would think she could do that blindfolded. steve: meanwhile, the committee investigating congresswoman maxine waters for her husband's ties to a federally funded bank. one united is the bank. it apparently got $12 million in bailout money just three months after waters helped arrange a meeting between bank officials and the department of treasury. her husba

locally in new york, attorney general andrew cuomo who also wants to be governor we assume says let's have a full blown investigation after he saw what happened in brooklyn in the video we saw 24 hours ago in which clearly they seem to be having problems there and some people could be cruising to get fired. gretchen: it's getting the attention of some politicians. some people would say finally. it's not apparently getting the attention of some of the most prominent newspaper and news media people across the country. have you ever heard the name charlie gibson? steve: no. gretchen: he is a pretty big guy in the world of media he actually anchors the abc national broadcast every night. at least for the next couple of months until he retires. guess what? he has never heard anything about this whole acorn scandal. steve: have you got to be kidding me. gretchen: he has never heard anything about it he was on a radio show yesterday and asked about this specific scandal and this is what happened. >> here is minus question. senate bill yesterday passes cutting off funds to this group called a