mitt romney is renovating his la jolla ocean side property, san diego area. politico had a new report. they got some plans from the city about a renovation he's doing on the place. $12 million expansion, which would triple the size of the property, includes a split-level, four-vehicle garage that comes with a car lift, an elevator for the cars, to transport vehicles between floors. the romney campaign got some criticism -- he's out of touch, he's got a car elevator, et cetera, et cetera. the campaign says it's simply a mechanism for storing cars in tight spaces, and we know how mitt romney loves cars. >> i love cars. i don't know, i mean, i grew up totally in love with cars. i drive a mustang and a chevy pickup truck. ann drives a couple cadillacs, actually. who, by the way, likes cars. and drive a mustang. i love cars. i love american cars. and long may they rule the world. >> they will rule the world in his giant garage in la jolla, for now. >>> still ahead, why are you awake? tweets and texts are next. "morning joe" moments away. [ male announcer ] what ca

la jollas left from campus yesterday. no one on the georgia squad won a tournament game. i think they have a good chance of winning that game. >> they do. for them, good news, bad news. >> right. >> every year, we have a cinderella team. top seeds have been toppled, too. >> that's true. that's the best thing about these games. you never know. >> my son went to loyola. >> my son is rooting for bcu. >> we are rooting for warm weather. it's feeling like summertime. the downside is the pollen is up. the tree pollen has been causing you to sneeze and wheeze a bit. it's going to continue to be high. starting under a clear sky, a half-moon hang iing in the sky. it's 56 at reagan national. west virginia into the mountains, blue ridge east to the upper 40s and 50s. leesburg, manassas, frederick. elsewhere, we are in the low to mid 50s. the view from space showing a clear sky here. lines of showers here. thunder and lightning moving across ohio to the east and the mountains in a few hours. for today, waldorf is quickly climbing mid-70s by noontime with lots of sunshine and peeking

someone stole it from the la jolla backyard of the real dr. seuss, theodore geisel. >> this is the access road. >> the property manager showed the path the thieves took with the statue. it was at least a two-man job. >> they pushed it over the fence and dragged it down here. >> reporter: the bronze statue is irreplaceable. the mold was destroyed after this one was made. it sat here for 12 years under the tree out of the public's eye, something that makes him think the thieves have been here before. >> it's somebody who's been on the property. i don't know. >> reporter: bronze statues have been stolen before to be melted down. >> my only thing is we want it back. >> reporter: he said they won't ask any questions if it's returned. >> i tell you, if we find it in your garden and the police are involved, we're going to prosecute. >> you have been warned. >> reporter: a warning from the guardian of trees and the guardian of his statue. >>> all right. had a decent round of thundershowers, the rumbles of thunder but now you can see most of the activi

take the story where we started tonight, mitt romney's house in la jolla. what do wean about that?ut that. the story about mitt romney and the car elevator is a perfect example of what we're talking about. it came to ppolitico. it did come from the democratic side. was leaked to politico, went up this morning. you will undoubtedly see it on "the daily show" tonight. mitt romney's plans for expansion of his house in san diego with the city of san diego, somebody went in and got those plans that included a, quote, car elevator for his four cars. what it does is fit into a narrative. we saw that in the piece. what oppo research tries to do is build a story, try to define a candidate. they have done that with mitt romney, with a little help from him by things that he said on the campaign trail. >> willie geist, thank you very much. one of these days you'll cover a happy topic again. >> next week. >>> up next tonight, the story so many people across this country have been watching closely and talking about at home, the death of trayvon martin and what some of the people of nbc news have

this week it came out that the plan for the expansion of his $10 million la jolla beachfront house including elevators for the cars. this is the kind of thing that a republican candidate has to worry about. >> and the whole etch-a-sketch. >> do you they is -- 99% don't have that. >> and michelle -- >> an etch-a-sketch issue for mitt romney, which is a nightmare. it was the nightmare branding of this candidate. santorum this week held up the etch-a-sketch to great applause at his rally. >> the people who don't know, one of his, romney the aides that at the end of the primaries, you shake the campaign and then you start anew. making people think that, oh, he's not a real substantive person. >> this is becoming the brand for mitt romney. it's one ofs reens he's going to continue to have challenges here. will he get the lion's share of the delegates in california? it's expected he will. no question about it. the fact is that etch-a-sketch image will be useed by other republican bes and democrats as he goes forward. that's his problem. >> one thing i wonder about it is, during obama's primary rac

romney actually has a home in nearby la jolla. he will attend three more california events tomorrow. as for his rival, rick santorum, he joined protesters opposed to obama care outside the supreme court building. he is also headed west this week with a rally and fund-raiser on thursday at the jelly belly candy company in fairfield. a treat that was a big favorite with another republican, president ronald reagan. >>> an odd sight in the south bay. take a look, traffic not backed up, but stacked up. the compute on 280 came to a crawl this morning in san jose. two cars tangled up on the meridian avenue on-ramp getting on to northbound 280. one of the cars ended up underneath the other. thankfully no one was hurt. both drivers were outside of their cars exchanging information when you are crews arrived on the scene. >>> there's a controversial proposal regarding medical marijuana. should there be a mandatory tracking system for pot patients? a south bay lawmaker is trying to make that happen. kris sanchez joins us with more on this id

the girls trying to make it 2-2 against la jolla country day. there is kelsey plum with 32 points there is stanford women's team getting back on the floor tomorrow night. cardinals taking on south carolina in fresno. there is stanford looking for their 3 is consecutive victory and says cardinals expect to battle. >> this is gogs to be about who is aggressive. they're scrappy. and granted we're bigger but if we just keep doing what we're doing just gout there, have fun like we have been, we'll be just fine. >> men's sweet 16 thriller between ohio and top-seed north carolina. now in overtime. and baylor beats xavier, giants have questions at first and second base this spring. they had decided on a short sum. and it will be brandon crawford. >> there is a goal up the middle. crawford has got it. >> after three years in the minors brandon crawford brought up in mai. smooth as silk in the field and struggled at the plate. there is 196 at bats. >> it's frustrating because i was. and this is my first year, i think i thinkinged -- figured things out. >>

mitt romney was down on his home in la jolla. that tells you about what they're thinking. they're getting ready to get into a big fund-raising swing at the start of this next week. several stops in southern california, a couple of stops in texas. they're starting to pivot from the sprint mentality to the marathon and also starting to look a little bit ahead to the fall. you don't hear mitt romney say rick santorum or newt gingrich's name ever on the stump anymore. we're not even expecting to campaign in wisconsin until later in the week. >> i did not think a man running for president would beat me to seeing "the hunger games." >> somehow they found the time. >> now we go to the gingrich campaign. alex, you have been spending time watch newt gingrich feet etch a sketches with alligators. what's the latest with newt gingrich? >> that's right. down in louisiana, he wanted to show the southern part of the state how they would treat an etch a sketch. it's unclear whether he thought he was going to win the state but we knew all along it was going to be an uphill battle. he kept

you can't make a la jolla -- you can't make it. >> if he said, think it through. and then you get a bunch of cocaine and go to the hotel room and the service goes out. >> i hate this. now that we managed to piss our kids off more, let's real yen alienate the kids. let's teachers and them to spy on each other. this is disgusting. i'm sorry. you think i like this, right? >> i thought you would were like me. i don't see kids -- i don't think children have -- they aren den toured service. enindentured. this is a croc of crap. have i a friend whose daughter was beat up in school. another girl got on her and beat the crap out of her. if she would have fought back she would have been arrested by the school. all of this stuff about oh gee we were worried about it, well then do something about did. -- about it. the feel good crap is embarrassing. we abandon our children when they need us most. sorry, honey. do down to class and have little judy beat the crap out of you again tomorrow. this is feel good crap. >> it is field good. i agree with you. itit is a politician tryin

la jolla drops to 72-41. holding off north to win the fifth state title. 5 56-54. on to baseball. at first base and second. but they have to hear. they have decided washington they want to do at short stop and it's crawford. >> up the middle. crawford has it. >> after three years in the minor brandon brought up last year by the giants in may. he was smooth as silk in the field but he struggled at the plate. hitting 2 04 with 3 home runsment 21 rbi and 196 at bat. tough for brandon to deal with the lack of offensive production. >> frustrating struggle because i was but i mean my first year and i think i figured some things out and ready for this year. >> how much more confidence do you have on the field at the plate with your team mates. just being up. >> i'm comfortable with everybody now and i have half year under my belt so i think my confidence high and my swing feels good. so that always helps. >> the priority is playing very well at short. so we are just looking for good defense there and try to contribute what you kano pension i feel in which i believe he'll surprise some pe

meanwhile, mitt romney doing renovating of his own tearing down his old house in la jolla, california, to build an 11,000 square foot mansion. he is installing a car elevator to a four-car garage. his campaign telling "the new york times" it's "just a mechanism for storing cars in tight spaces." joining us now is lynn sweet is, columnist and washington bureau chief at the "chicago sun-times." now, lynn, we talk about the president and whether or not he should vacation in martha's vineyard. we find out mitt romney at this moment of economic duress is building an elevator to a four-car garage. there are decisions you can make when running a political campaign. this would seem to be not the most prudent in terms of optics. >> it isn't because what you see are metaphors. that's why the etch a sketch comment by eric fern strom got so much tracks. if you want to conceptuallyize moisture does mitt romney have, the short answer is enough to build an elevator for a garage. it is the shorthand ways campaigns try to avoid of being caricatured. that's the problem here. romney has been called rich

four-point gachlt la jollas with a shot down by three.ooked like the perdue shot but didn't hit iron. that's it. clark no go. nc state on to the sweet 16 with a three-point victory. >>> one strange note from the tournament. four of the 16 remaining teams are from the state of ohio the new epicenter of the college hoops universe. so the folks in ohio have better brackets than mine. >> undoubtedly, me, too. thank you, scott. . let's check in right now with anthony slaughter. checking on the weather. it's been a crazy week, crazy weekend and more to come? >> yeah. this past week, though, final week of winter we saw whole week's worth of rain. really the deficit that we saw across the bay area is shrunk by big number we are talking some areas that had 13 inches down to ten inches as far as rainfall goes. this map, this is our jet stream that is in place. we are done with the rain but the winds remain blustery overnight. some of the highest gusts are close to 50 miles an hour near santa rosa, mount diallo 45. and san jose 32 miles an hour. her

i picked the southern mississippi golden eagles to get in the final four and la jollas to beat kentucky a study by the defense department. one in six returning soldiers shows symptoms of ptsd. that leads to addiction, domestic violence and suicide. this is a stunning number. less than 40% of veterans exhibit symptoms of ptsd actually seek help. mostly, they say, because it makes them seem weak and keep them from getting promotions. carl served in vietnam. he's an advocate for returning soldiers and the author of "matter horn" and what it is like to go to war, which has been given to every member of congress. last month, he came out to discuss soldiers coping with ptsd. >> we have decent people. we have been trained and brought up to not kill anybody. it's a thou shall not kill. take a 19-year-old and tell them to kill. how does a kid handle that? >> he suggested counseling be mandatory for returning soldiers. it's a big idea but an important one. there are smaller things we could be doing. adding veterans designations to drivers licenses. that would be easy and help veterans get benefit

seuss's own backyard in la jolla california. theodore geisel's widow reported it missing.here is that statue? critics say a slew of voter i.d. rules included in some key swing states are going way too far. take the state where george w. bush won by 537 votes in 2000. "the new york times" reporting florida has a significant drop in new registered voters following new election law. 81,000 fewer voters. the law requires groups that register voters to turn in completed forms within 48 hours or face fines and other penalties. as a result, the league of women voters and rock the vote from mtv, those groups are halting efforts to register new voters in florida. joining me now from washington, d.c. is judith brown, codirector of the advancement project, a next generation civil rights organization focused on issues of democracy and race. thanks for joining us today. >> thanks for having me. >> republicans passed nearly all of nut voting laos i was talking about. they say these restrictions were needed to prevent fraud. moving it from ten days to 48 hours to get in these forms for t

mitt romney today is in la jolla. okay? in san diego.his event didn't even bring up what's going on right here. the number one conversation every political junky is having, left, right or in the middle. he doesn't talk about it today. >> not so much at all. >> we know why. >> we do. he is trying to do everything he can to distance himself from it. if you look at the way the calendar is laid out and where he's been winning, there's no reason for him to get out. he can still continue to make a credible argument that says, you know, if i keep going and i keep winning and i don't partner up with newt gingrich, he has a credible argument to make. >> what do you make of mitt romney sort of trying to stay above it today. not really everybody gauged in the health care conversation. he is the godfather of the mandate. democrats will keep bringing that up over and over again and certainly santorum is. it seems to me he didn't really even address this in his one event. >> odd that romney didn't address it? >> considering what's happening. >> the re

a visit to the children's clinic of la jolla spread the infection to four others. one of these, an infant, flew on a plane to hawaii where she was intercepted and quarantined. her fellow 250 passengers had to be contacted and tracked. dr. wilma wooten is san diego county's public health officer. >> this entire process resulted in exposures of almost 1,000 individuals-- 90 individuals having no proof of immunization, 73 were quarantined, 12 additional actual cases of measles in san diego. >> narrator: public health officials determined that what allowed measles to enter the community was the number of vaccine-hesitant parents who took advantage of the personal belief exemption allowed by california. school principals find themselves caught on the frontlines. >> the fact is that some families choose not to immunize their children. and then there are families who have children who are particularly medically sensitive, and they're in jeopardy because they could get sick from unimmunized children. so it's a very emotional issue on both sides. >> narrator: a vast public

-- you take that in context with this news we have about the 11,000 square foot vacation home in la jolla and the car elevator and so on. no one begrudges mitt romney his wealth. sometimes factories have to close and move. this complete lack of connection to the pain that factory closings cause. >> finish that thought. i don't think it's unfair. he is a politician. that's what politicians do. usually politicians are better at pretending that they aren't doing it. he's not good at it. >> i don't think the issue is politics in the sense that everyone has political motivations. i think the problem for him is that we are seeing through extemper rainous commentary a wind owe into how cloistered his world view s. we have a society where we believe in the aspiration we don't count against people for being poor or rich. that's the ideal. there are plenty of rich people who use their wealth to free them of constraints and then do all sorts of interesting or good things. this is someone who amassed all of this wealth and then still talks from a cocoon perspective that suggests no awareness for the

it is stupid to build a mansion in la jolla with a car elevator. in an election year. and have a single lobbyist for your mansion in la jolla, one of the most exclusive areas in america. that was yesterday. it's stupid to go on the campaign trail and say one of the funniest moments in your life was when your father shut down a factory in michigan. that's not -- i mean, it's -- >> and it's really not as funny anymore. they are not just gaffs. >> and by the way, i know there are a lot of people out there that support romney that will say something nasty, why are you always picking on romney? guess what, romney's own people when he says stuff like this go crazy. cbs should have a news show this year, s-h-blank blank mitt says. you know, "stuff my dad says." that's a takeoff. that's a william shatner thing. but the stuff that mitt says day in and day out is maddening for republicans. and nobody's more frustrated than his own campaign staff that says, what's he doing? >> get out the wall calendar, april through november. and every day write in the calendar on each day, did

with the latest reports on the big upgrade on his beach house south upscale and amazingly beautiful la jolla way back to 2010 as first reported by a san diego newspaper, romney puts in renovation plans basically to raze his already multi-million dollar house and it's only 3,000 square feet and replace it with an 8,000 square foot house with a gigantic basement. one of the distinguished features according to politico which broke the story nationally, a four-car garage with an elevator for the cars. >> they're proposing a full elevator solution that the entire floor of the garage is essentially the floor, the elevator, if you will. that entire floor descends down into the basement level and then from above there is a second element that actually drops down from the celling, and then allows two new cars to pull into the garage. so, i would say it's fair to characterize it as a car elevator. a project so complex san diego city records show that mitt romney hired a lobbyist to push it through the permitting process, but la kava makes the point that the people who have the money to live out on thi

nbc's mike taibbi is in la jolla with the details. >> reporter: good morning.ap metal dealer told me yesterday that at about 300 pounds, the sculpture bronze that the statue is made of would fetch about 800 bucks. of course, any art dealer would take the risk of buying and selling the piece as is, the numbers are vastly bigger. but to everyone who cares about the story except the thief who thieves, it's not about the money. >> ow! >> reporter: "the lorax" was never the best known of dr. seuss's heroes, but the environmental hero of his children's fable is now a blockbuster animated movie voiced by stars including zac efron, taylor swift and danny devito as the lorax. >> you have been warned. >> reporter: in the first two weeks after its opening, the film took in $122 million in ticket sales. the zenith of the film's popularity, someone stole in the garden behind the home of dr. seuss's 90-year-old widow shown here ten years ago and removed the lorax statue from its base. audrey's daughter, lark, had created two of the statues, one for the seuss memorial in spri

he was down in la jolla all weekend, not campaigning. granted, but they know that if they do win there and beat rick santorum, it's another sign that he's in the lead and you're going to probably see some more top republicans coming out and saying, hey, it's time to get behind mitt romney for the nomination, kyra. >> peter, thanks so much. >> thanks. >>> all right. legally, politically, economically, medically, what's happening on the supreme court health care arguments is going to impact all of us for the course of life, for decades. kate bolduan, jeff toobin at the supreme court for us hearing the arguments. give us the latest, kate. >> reporter: so jeff and i were talking, it really did seem that the justices were ready to move on to tomorrow is what we really heard in oral arguments today. that's because tomorrow is the real centerpiece of this case, right, jeff? we're talking about the individual mandate, but today they were talking about a bit of a dry issue. >> today it was really a procedural issue. the issue was, is this issue s

separate elevators for his cars in his mansion out here in la jolla, kenny in cleveland. ♪ ♪ >> shamuse elevator was just the right height. >> he's the most awkward man in the world. by the way oh, yeah, do we have george h.w. bush? >> yeah. >> did it, did it, endorsement. >> it's good the guy who thought dan quayle was fit to be vice president is endorsing mitt romney. >> we are enthusiastically endorse our friend mitt romney. he's a good man. he'll make a great president. and we just wish him well so delighted he's here. i do think it's time for the party to get behind governor romney and reminded me of kenny rogers' song time to hold 'em time to fold 'em. it's time to get behind this good man. >> one of the good men. he almost called mitt romney the coward of the county. >> great to know as soon as the cameras were off, he was on his knees begging them not to have george w. bush not to endorse me. >> my point is devil went down georgia. newt gingrich, devil, my point. >> isn't it great to see a million at birth ex-president endorsing a million at birth about to be president? misha,

. >> i think it would really be best for romney to spend those 60 days holed up in his la jolla mansion elevator. maybe just playing with it. because he's made so many gaffs. >> yeah. and i think with romney -- >> he can't afford any more. >> with all the candidates we have seen, john edwards surprised a lot of people. >> he sure did. >> but we don't expect some personal scandal thing to come out about mitt romney. but imagine, that's the big reason why you don't want one of these situations. if a big personal scandal thing came up in that period of time, you'd be in big trouble. that isn't going to happen. >> that's not going to happen. >> but it could be that $10,000 bet, the elevator stuff, the -- >> telling a joke about your dad shutting down a factory. >> i think the biggest one so far is russia. it's easy to play the $10,000 bet. but the russia comment is the biggest wild thing, confidence shaking thing, he has said so far. >> all right. lawrence and jonathan, stay with us. >>> still ahead, we'll be talking to tom brokaw and film maker lee hirsch about a provocative new documentar