luke, luke russert. he is not speaking. no, no. ant a turn. >> luke, house republicans are referring to the vote, as you know, as groundhog day. was speaker boehner bringing out the same old issue over and over again? can i ask you this, luke? is speaker boehner so lost in the bubble of washington that he doesn't realize how ludicrous this appears to the rest of the country? 33 times. >> there's -- two schools of thought as to why they went forward with this. number one, a day justice roberts announced the health care bill was, in fact, a tax in their minds, they want to put this through the house floor because they were able to say if you voted against the repeal, you were voting for a tax increase. they also want to be -- >> sorry, so our audience will understand. that means instead of being committed to the people of this country who will be covered by this bill, they are actually committed to satisfying the pledge that they made to one for kw norquist? >> politically through november. the other thing here -- the other thing here

nbc's luke russert joins us now from washington. luke, it is always great to see you, especially so on a friday, my friend. >> good afternoon, alex. how are you doing? >> i'm good. luke, tell us what's going on. the house bill, a senate bill passed with bipartisan support aims to trim $4.5 billion from the federal food stamp program. the house bill aims to trim a much more sizeable amount, $16.5 billion. tell us a little bit about the political optics of this. >> well, look, agricultural legislation is always interesting on capitol hill because you have a bevy of competing interests. you have dairy farmers, you have syrup farmers, corn farmers, meat farmers, everything in between. however, 80% of the farm bill pertains to food stamps. they fall under the direction of the agriculture department. in here, you have a lot of conservatives on the right that have said look, these food stamp programs, they are too big, too bloated, they create a culture of dependency, we need to cut them and shrink them. you all have a lot of liberals who

nbc's luke russert joi us now from washington. luke, it is always great to see yo espiallso o a iday my iend >>ood afrnoo ex. w ar you dog? >>'mgo. luketells what gng on e hse bill aenatill ssedith birtisan support aims to trim $4.5 billion from the federal food stamp program. the house bill aims to trim a much me seabl amnt, $15 llio tells a ttleit aut t poticaopti of is. ll, look aiculral legiatiois aays interesting on capitol hill because you have a bevy of competing interests. you have dairy farmers, you have syruparme, co farrs, at farms, erythg in betwn. hover,80% othearm bill rtai to foo stps. ey fl unr tireconf thagrilturdepament in here,ou he aot o consvatives on the right that have said look, these food stamp programs, they are too big, too bloated, they create a culture of dependency, w nd to cut th andhrin em. u alhave lot of libals o sano,ouavebvioly se the dire enomitime liv ineopl are dende on tseood smpsecau th are actually in real need of sustenan, we can't cut them. so we have a far right and far left approach. th

i'm luke russert, i'm filling in for chuck todd. president obama and milt romney take their blistering battle over who can run the economy today. the president will hold four fundraising events in texas as obama takes aim at the record at town hall and pennsylvania. he'll be greeted by the new obama ad. this time asking if romney and the unreleased years, quote, paid any taxes at all. >> tax havens offshore accounts, carried interest. mitt rom any has used every trick in the book. romney admits that in the last three years he's paid -- we don't know because romney has released just one full year of his tax returns and won't release anything before 2010. >> i have put out as much as we're going to put out. >> what is mitt romney hiding? >> it will not die, the taxes story and mitt romney, the president will not let it and he was back in ohio yet for his eighth trip to the state this year and it was his first town hall in the re-election campaign. >> what's your favorite girl scout cookie? >> i'm pretty partial to those mint -- >> thi

i'm luke russert in for chuck todd. romn romney's campaign is trying to turn the page. today, they're rolling out an attack on what they call the president's political crony. >> this is a tough time for the people of america, but if you're a campaign contributor to barack obama, your business may stand to make, get billions of dollars or hundreds of millions of cash government, i think it stinks to high heaven. >> today in cincinnati, president obama will ratchet up the outsourcing attacks, highlighting the report that his campaign shows romney's tax policies with incentives to move jobs overseas. the president rejected romney's call to apologize for the bain attacks. >> first of all, you're not going to apologize. >> no, sometimes, these games are played during political campaigns. understand what the issue is here. mr. romney claims that he's mr. fix it for the economy. because of the, of his business experience, and so i think voters legitimately want to know what is that business experience. >> on that point, the obama campaign released this brutal ad attacking romn

with me now is correspondent luke russert. let's talk about the scheduling of votes that are literally being conducted for tv ads and direct mail pieces. >> correct. we have seen these and they are so important to be away from the election day. the that will get a lot of buzz is the full repeal of president obama's signature achievement. republicans say this is the 31st time they repealed the law. every time they repeal, they count it as full repeal. what they will try to frame the message here, if you vote, not to repeal the president's health care law, you are voting for a tax increase. they are taking away justice john roberts, this is a penalty that is a tax and try to put that at the forefront. that's interesting. there is the debate within team romney. the house republicans and even senate republicans will be anyone that supports the health care law is not only supportinging this that they are retiring, but a tax increase. democrats say they have done this before. they feel that people when they get this law end up likin

nbc's capitol hill core department luke russert is here with more. luke, two big moments today are going to be the speaker and the former speaker. but then we are going to actually have a vote itself and how many democrats are going to jump aboard. what do we have? >> we at least expect four, chuck. yesterday when they voted on the rule which is the rules for debate today. power democrats joined with republicans that was born mcintyre and kissel, three of those guys. essentially are voting to say we are not in favor of the president's health care law. we probably won't see that many more, i heard maybe as many as ten and we are most likely not expecting any from the republican side either. talking to a lot of folks on the gop side, why are you having this vote. it is now over 30 times we had some variation of this vote. and the reasoning is that i spoke to folks had a involved in the gop leadership say look, we want every single independent out there, if you look at the polling, a lot of independents are very much split on the health care law or are a

i'm luke russert in for my look-alike alex wagner.ar, msnbc contributor jonathan capehart of the "washington post," heather mcghee, vice president of demos and michael hastings, author of "the operators." for the former president and ceo of the 2002 olympics, visiting the london games should have been the easy part of governor mitt romney's international tour. instead, it's been something of a false start, starting with this. >> there are a few things that were disconcerting, the stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials. that obviously is not something which is encouraging. >> the british media is now taking the governor to task for criticizing the country's olympic preparation. today's "daily mail" headline reads who invited party pooper romney? the "london times" says nowhere man. romney loses his way with gaffe about the games. and "mitt the twit." mitt romney is perhaps the only politician who could start a trip that was supposed to be a charm of

and after this, luke russert's back to get his power ranger name as he put it.and maybe he can tell us what if anything congress did to earn recess. we're back in a few. southfork ranch in dallas for a cookout with world champion grill master brett gallaway. he's serving his guests walmart choice premium steak. but they don't know it yet. they will. it's a steakover! the steak is excellent. very tender... melts in your mouth... so delicious... tonight you're eating walmart steak. what? it's good steak. two thumbs up. look, i ate all of mine. it matches any good steak house if not better. walmart choice premium steak in the black package... it's 100% money back guaranteed. try it for your fourth of july barbeque. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about

joining us now from washington is the sage of capitol hill, luke russert.to see you, my friend. >> great to see you. how are you? >> i'm good. i will ask you the question that was bandied about at the -- in the white house press gaggle a few moments ago. josh earnest saying it does seem odd to me that house republicans would be taking budget advice from somebody who famously declared that deficits don't matter. the president has a different view. what is dick cheney doing on the hill today? >> it's interesting. first and foremost he's going to meet with the gop leadership as you mentioned but then he will meet with gop whip mccarthy's whip team which is essentially about 35 or so house republicans that are in charge of counting votes and getting members on board with a plan. now, republicans in the past have been able to sort of say all right, we're not going to have this sequestration go in effect, let's create more spending cuts in programs that liberals hold near and dear. what dick cheney is going to do is apparently go to these authorize whip team and

joining me right now, nbc news, capitol hill court luke russert and nbc news correspondent kristen welker where the president is about to speak shortly, this is all part of what has been a consistent messaging over the weekend in terms of the sunday talk shows, about the focus here on the middle class. >> reporter: absolutely. it's been a part of the president's focus the last year and this has allowed the president to pivot away from last friday's disappointing jobs report to focus on something he sees as a winning issue, which is tax fairness for middle class families. also allows him to draw stark contrast with his republican challenger, mitt romney, who said he doesn't support rolling back tax breaks just for those making less than $250,000. he wants to see them extend it for all americans, the romney campaign today putting out a statement this is effectively a tax increase on small businesses. that's something you'll hear members of congress talk about as well. i'll let luke get into dynamic on the hill a little more. president obama is going to make that announcement from the east r

. >>> good morning, i'm luke russert in for willie geist and this is "way too early," the show that'svely since 2009, now we're just doing it to get out of the house. glad you're up with us, watching on msnbc or listening live at sirius xm radio. shoot me an email or tweet me and let me know why you're awake right now or do what miami stevie van zandt does, text the word awake followed by your response to 622639 and we'll read the best responses later in the show. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for this monday, july 16th. there's a lot going on, the red cross joining the u.n. in joining the conflict in syria, a civil war. we'll have a live report from the region. >>> plus, a bat slips out of the hands of the yankee player and flies into the stands. not usually a newsworthy event, unless the bat hits academy award-nominated director spike lee. we'll show you later. but first the news live at 5:30 a.m. here in washington, d.c. we begin with the race for the white house. in the escalating battle over mitt romney's tenure at bain capital. today, president obama will

i'm luke russert filling in for willie geist here in new york. while willie is partying up in the olympic village, in fact, he's getting in after a night out with prince harry and kate moss. so he'll be in tip-top shape when we see him later on. i'm glad you're up with us this morning watching on msnbc, listening live on sirius radio. shoot us an e-mail or tweet us at@williegeist1. or do what gabby douglas does and text the word "awake" followed by your response to 622639. barnicle, get louder. we'll read the best responses later in the show. before we get to the news here at 30 rock, i want to bring in willie live from london who's been covering the olympics the entire weekend. willie, you've got an amazingly awesome 1970s retro vest right there. you were just partying with prince harry and indicate moss, living the high life. what do you have ahead for us in the world of sports, my friend? >> reporter: you know how we do it. i was surprised you went with the kate moss reference. >> you're in your early 30s. i was going old school for you. i'd b

. >>> good morning, i'm luke russert in for willie geist and this is "way too early," the show that's been retired retroactively since 2009, now we're just doing it to get out of the house. glad you're up with us, watching on msnbc or listening live at sirius xm radio. shoot me an email or tweet me and let me know why you're awake right now or do what miami stevie van zandt does, text the word awake followed by your response to 622639 and we'll read the best responses later in the show. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for this monday, july 16th. there's a lot going on, the red cross joining the u.n. in joining the conflict in syria, a civil war. we'll have a live report from the region. >>> plus, a bat slips out of the hands of the yankee player and flies into the stands. not usually a newsworthy event, unless the bat hits academy award-nominated director spike lee. we'll show you later. but first the news live at 5:30 a.m. here in washington, d.c. we begin with the race for the white house. in the escalating battle over mitt romney's tenure at bain capital. today, presi

i'm luke russert filling in for willie geist here in new york.ying up in the olympic village, in fact, he's getting in after a night out with prince harry and kate moss. so he'll be in tip-top shape when we see him later on i'm glad you're up with us this morning watching on msnbc, listening live on sirius radio. shoot us an e-mail or tweet us at@williegeist1. or do what gabby douglas does and text the word "awake" followed by your response to 622639. barnicle, get louder. we'll read the best responses later in the show. before we get to the news here at 30 rock, i want to bring in willie live from london who's been covering the olympics the entire weekend. willie, you've got an amazingly awesome 1970s retro vest right there. you were just partying with prince harry and indicate moss, living the high life. what do you have ahead for us in the world of sports, my friend? >> reporter: you know how we do it. i was surprised you went with the kate moss reference. >> you're in your early 30s. i was going old school for you. i'd be more of a pippa midd

i'm luke russert getting the start today in place of willie geist, and this is "way too early," the show bag for mike barnicle on the senior tour. i'm glad you're up with us this morning watching on msnbc or listening live on sirius xm radio. shoot me an e-mail at waytooearly @msnbc.com or tweet me ç@williegeist1 or @lukerusst and let me know why you're awake already on this monday or do what bo van pelt does and text "awake" followed by your response to 622639. we'll read the best responses later on in the show. my crew wasn't there because they weren't hydrating enough. drink a lot of water this week, ladies and gentlemen. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for this monday, july 2nd. there's a lot going on today, including the election of a new 45-year-old president in mexico who's been drawing huge crowds on the campaign trail. we'll break down whether his soap opera star wife had anything to do with it. >>> plus, rupert murdoch, the media mogul also in charge of twentieth century fox studios engages in a twitter war with scientology, calling it a cult. we'll have the deta

i'm luke russert getting the start today in place of willie geist, and this is "way too early," the show that's carrying the bag for mike barnicle on the senior tour. i'm glad you're up with us this morning watching on msnbc or listening live on sirius xm radio. shoot me an e-mail at waytooearly @msnbc.com or tweet me ç@williegeist1 or @lukerusst and let me know why you're awake already on this monday or do what bo van pelt does and text "awake" followed by your response to 622639. we'll read the best responses later on in the show. my crew wasn't there because they weren't hydrating enough. drink a lot of water this week, ladies and gentlemen. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for this monday, july 2nd. there's a lot going on today, including the election of a new 45-year-old president in mexico who's been drawing huge crowds on the campaign trail. we'll break down whether his soap opera star wife had anything to do with it. >>> plus, rupert murdoch, the media mogul also in charge of twentieth century fox studios engages in a twitter war with scientology, calling it a cult.

. >> luke russert joins us live from capitol hill. tion earned below $250,000 a year. 97% of small business owners fall under the same $250,000 threshold, so just to be clear, luke, speaker boehner and mitch mcconnell are fighting for the 2% and the 3%. is that right? >> what they would tell you is that -- >> is that right? the 2% and 3%? >> what they would tell you -- >> are they fighting for the 2% and 3%? yes or no? >> i like john boehner and mitch mcconnell. they have to come on your show sometimes. >> i'm asking you a very simple question, luke. are they fighting for the 2 and 3%? >> they are fighting for as what they would say small business job creators who they feel would folks bring in $300,000 could feel pain if this tax cut was to go forward. now, press for specifics about which companies would necessarily feel this pain, there have been a number of studies that have been done, the degree is not nearly to the scale of what we hear on capitol hill. all that being said though is that it's very effective talking point because y

luke russert joins us now. we've been talking about it a little bit this week. it seems from a substantive standpoint, the vote today is about as born as your average post office naming. i wonder, take us through what's going to happen this hour and does it mean anything beyond this afternoon? >> it means something in terms of optics. this is a vote that republicans scheduled the day that we heard the supreme court decision that upheld the health care law. and what republicans are doing today and the vote should be around 3:30, 3:45 is that they want to be able to say they are the party of all-out repeal the health care law. they believe that plays very well with independents. now, there is a danger in doing this with democrats saying look, people want to be more focused on jobs legislation here in the house. the republicans make the argument, no, this is in fact jobs legislation because no one will hire if this law goes through and bringing up the argument this is a vote to increase taxes if you do not stand f

luke russert joins us now. luke, you know, it seems we've been talking about it a little bit this week. it seems from a substantive standpoint, the vote today is about as born as your average post office naming. i wonder, take us through what's going to happen this hour and does it mean anything beyond this afternoon? >> it means something in terms of optics. this is a vote that republicans scheduled the day that we heard the supreme court decision that upheld the health care law. and what republicans are doing today and the vote should be around 3:30, 3:45 is that they want to be able to say they are the party of all-out repeal the health care law. they believe that plays very well with independents. now, there is a danger in doing this with democrats saying look, people want to be more focused on jobs legislation here in the house. the republicans make the argument, no, this is in fact jobs legislation because no one will hire if this law goes through and bringing up the argument this is a vote to increase tax

of that commitment, all while persevering and preserving on low tax rates for the rich and now, luke russerte show. >> how you doing, professor? >> doing fine, my friend. look, dick cheney as vice president, he spent a lot of time hiding in secret undisclosed locations. but now, he's not hiding. he in fa he had a fund-raiser last week for mitt romney. now, he's in washington as congress gets ready to vote on $110 billion in defense related spending. what's going on with this guy? is there a resurgent of dick cheney? >> it's interesting. dick cheney had kind of disappeared for a while, but now, he's back in a big way and a lot of republicans no longer fear being pictured with him. a lot of republicans i spoke to today welcomed him. he didn't talk about the politics of it when he met with the republican senators. he talked about the direct impact, the idea that these cuts, over 500 billion scheduled on top of the 487 already agreed to could decimate the d.o.d. he used his experience to talk about when planning for weapons systems, they go far in the future, so if you cut any money, you could d

rundown with luke russert. have a great weekend, everybody. >>> southern comfort. president obama hops over the potomac for some stops in the battleground of virginia. will he deliver new hope for virginia or will the president find that virginia is not for lovers? aches and bain. republicans push back hard on the latest campaign in romney's role in bain capital. everybody who has read the hi h hitchhiker's guide to fantasy knows 32. find out what bill clinton has to say about bain capital, the tax hike and much, much more. good morning, everybody. it's friday, july 13, 2012. let's get to the first read of the morning with the obama and romney campaign swapping bitter accusations about romney's record at bain capital. the president sat down with an interview to say that romney's record is fair game. >> i do not think at all it disqualifies him, but i also think it's important if that's his main calling card, his basic premise is that i'm mr. fix-it on the economy because i made a lot of money. i think it is entirely appropriate to look at that record and see whethe

i'm luke russert, filling in for mr. chuck todd. let's get right to the first reads of the morning. mitt romney is aggressively trying to shift the spotlight off his bane background and unreleased tax returns, escalating a counter attack on the president, out with a new ad, continuing the line of attack of croneyism. >> where did all the obama stimulus money go, friends, donors, campaign supporters, special interest groups. >> romneyng thatucce ere partly education and infrastructure or as the president awkwardly put it, if you got a business, you didn't build that. >> to say that steve jobs didn't build apple, that henry ford didn't build ford motor, that -- that papa john didn't build papa john pizza, to say something like that is not just foolishness, it's insulting to every entrepreneur, every innovator in america. >> but romney's fiery rhetoric has been blunted by growing calls by fellow republicans to release his tax returns. romney told the national review's robert costa yesterday, quote, i'm simply not enthusiastic about giving the obama campaign hundreds or thousands of mor

. >> for more, we go to luke russert. >> how you doing, sir? >> good to see you, my friend. seen harry reid that mad before? just how mad the congress over this? >> harry reid is a reserved, mormon gentleman from nevada. you rarely see him get that agitated, but this is one of those rare issues where both sides agree this has been an injustice to the united states. the united states olympic committee is privately funded. the government gives no money to our olympic team, but you're starting to hear around capitol hill that perhaps in 2014, we should apply a lot of pressure so that the winter game, the uniforms are made in america. you've had a lot of -- sherrod brown said he had a hugo boss factory in his district that would be more than happy to make these and certainly speaker boehner said they would know better than this to do it. so one of those rare issues where both sides agree, but in terms of real change happening this olympic, probably not going to happen. >> thank you so much, my friend. >> be well. >> okay. stay with us. the day's top lines are coming up next. [ f

their bid for presidency, so hopefully he's not trying to follow in those footsteps, but like luke russertign, this is an opportunity for the romney campaign to actually concede the tax -- actually abuse our system and deplete the system's resources in ways that are unfortunate for the country. >> instead of being courageous, romney's deflections are going to make this a worse situation. >> do you think they will help him or continue to do damage? he looks like he's being dishonest about something. >> it does and you can't just keep saying no, trust me. here's the other thing. how many homeowners who have lost their homes found themselves very much accountable for those loan documents they signed? this idea that well, i signed those documents, my name's on them, but i'm not accountable, this sort of con stanlt drip out of new information that conflicts what he's been saying. that's what's killing him right now. >> i think we need to be honest about one thing, which is that the obama campaign's sole interest in additional tax returns is to have more information to attack mitt romney with an

. >> luke russert has three. alex has three. >> the romneys don't drink and this is a game? alex has lost one. she got one in. luke is really in the lead. this is interesting. >> how's our time? >> 22 seconds. >> they have to continue to be up. >> 25 seconds. >> i created a serious problem for myself. this is why i sit at the desk. >> no one's gotten hurt yet. >> 35 seconds. 37 seconds. 40 seconds. four, three, two, one. stop! stop! it looks like it may be a tie. one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. >> nine for luke. i think 12, people. 12. >> congratulations! >> you get a platinum hammer. congratulations. big win. >> real quick, did you ever find out what the winning number is in the romney olympics? do we know that answer? >> our campaign imbed, that is his assignment. he's got to find it out. >> we need to know if hugo topped the romneys. >> then you get to be president. >> or at least qualify. >> take me to the dressage. >> dressage is my event. >> who needs a rope swing or ice cream. >> that was exhilarating. i'm not going to lie. >> why talk when you c

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i'm luke russert, i'm filling in for chuck todd.t will hold four fundraising events in texas as obama takes aim at the record at town hall and pennsylvania. he'll be greeted by the new obama ad. this time asking if romney and the unreleased years, quote, paid any taxes at all. >> tax havens offshore accounts, carried interest. mitt rom any has used every trick in the book. romney admits that in the last three years he's paid -- we don't know because romney has released just one full year of his tax returns and won't release anything before 2010. >> i have put out as much as we're going to put out. >> what is mitt romney hiding? >> it will not die, the taxes story and mitt romney, the president will not let it and he was back in ohio yet for his eighth trip to the state thi

. >>> upnext, luke russert is back.sk our inside man why lawmakers are voting on health care again. ♪ the consequences? millions of americans will see their taxes on dividend income spike, slowing investment in u.s. companies and jeopardizing development in energy projects that create american jobs. ask congress to stop a dividend tax hike -- for all of us. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, it helps pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you thousands in out-of-pocket costs. to me, relationships matter. i've been with my doctor for 12 years. now i

. >> nbc's capitol hill correspondent, luke russert. i don't know what to say about that. chicken noodle soup, campbell soup. >> it's always good. i like it. >> whether chicken soup is the cure for all things. >> chicken soup for the soul, andrea. >> luke, when we get to the health care vote, we know where this is going to come down today. nancy pelosi, you were at the news conference earlier, let's play a little of what nancy pelosi had to say. >> we put forth a vision for the middle class to make health care a right, not a privilege, for all americans. today, as we have done more than 30 times this congress, republicans will vote to take away that right. let's stop this legislation to nowhere that they have on the floor today. let's get with building an initiative for job creation. >> so is there any doubt as to how this is going to turn out today? i guess the one question would be what are democrats in tight races going to be doing, races where in their districts, some say that the health care law is not popular. >> we know from yesterday's vote about how to go to the f

i'm luke russert in for chuck todd. let's get to the first reads of the morning. mitt romney had this message yesterday for conservatives who say his campaign has not been aggressive enough in responding to attacks on his business record at bain. >> i, of course, respond to the attacks that come, but, you know, they say in politics, if you're responding, you're losing. >> but today the romney campaign is responding in a new tv ad and it is quite a barn burner. >> when a president doesn't tell the truth, how you can we trust him to lead? the obama outsourcing attacks, misleading, unfair, and untrue. there was no evidence that mitt romney shipped jobs overseas. candidate obama lied about hillary clinton. >> so shame on you, barack obama. >> but america expects more from a president. obama's dishonest campaign, another reason america has lost confidence in barack obama. >> in just over an hour, vice president joe biden will offer rebuttal of romney's economic argument when he speaks to the naacp convention in houston. yesterday, romney received, shall we say, a mixed

luke russert will be joined by ben smith, heather mcgee and jonathan capehart.n, find us on facebook.com/nowwithalex. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. good afternoon to you, andrea. >>> have a great break, alex. coming up here, as mitt romney is about to leave for not quite a break but his first foreign tour as a candidate, we will have your first look at our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll comparing the candidates' qualifications for commander in chief. we will hear from both campaigns. >>> and more of my exclusive interview with elton john on politics, princess diana and being a father. >>> many locations will be dealing with thunderstorms on and off today, including minneapolis and chicago. some of the worst spots early today. this afternoon, washington, d.c., back through areas of virginia, north carolina and even chicago could deal with numerous strong thunderstorms. on the west coast, even our friends in phoenix could deal with a few strong storms. ♪ ♪ i want to go ♪ i want to win [ breathes deeply ] ♪ this is where the dream begins ♪ ♪ i want to

i'm luke russert in for chuck todd. romn romney's campaign is trying to turn the page. is a tough time for the people of america, but if you're a campaign contributor to barack obama, your business may stand to make, get billions of dollars or hundreds of millions of cash government, i think it stinks to high heaven. >> today in cincinnati, president obama will ratchet up the outsourcing attacks, highlighting the report that his campaign shows romney's tax

. >>> and nbc's own luke russert snapped this picture of dark clouds over the corridor.alicia from alexandria sent us these pics. a rainbow over the district after the storms. you should pull over to take those shots. near the 14th street bridge. if you have more pictures to share, tweet us at news4today. >> she was the passenger in the car. >> okay. i wanted to make sure. we did see the same rainbow in virginia. >> it was a good shot. very good shot yesterday. we have another chance to see a few rainbows around later on this afternoon. so that is the upside of getting these afternoon showers. especially once they occur really late in the day. you have to be within about two hours or so of sunset in order to get the sun angle down just right to maximize your rainbow potential. we'll have a chance for some more coming up later on this afternoon. as a result of more rain chances coming our way. i don't think we'll see quite as many showers or thunderstorms as we saw yesterday. but that being said, i wouldn't turn your back on mother nature coming up later on this afternoon

. >> chuck, your long lost pal luke russert here.ises, he may as well have the inauguration over there. but i want to ask you, in terms of what this trip is doing, how much have you heard to reinforce concern amongst evangelical voters getting close to election day? >> i think my joke was that's the only thing he hadn't promised, that that was the next step, and i think it was during the republican primary, all this overpromising. there's a couple thing about this trip that stood out to me. the biggest is romney's big speech, which was a policy speech about israel, was all iran. there's no doubt that iran is a huge -- it is the primary issue right now. but to not even talk about the peace process, to not even talk about what your view is of a two-state solution, how it would work a little bit, something. ultimately, right, that is still the baseline problem in the middle east, figuring out this relationship between the israelis and the palestinians. and i was just very surprised it didn't get aligned. t it just seemed a little odd to