she's michelle mitchell's sister, antoinette mitchell's aunt. >> she was very protective about her mother. so if that was the case that she was trying to protect her mother, i can understand it. >> reporter: she wouldn't let anything bad happen to her mother? >> no. >> reporter: so what about that ex-boyfriend? miss mitchell says the cops are out looking for him. she says she's afraid he may come back here. in southeast, pat collins, news 4. >>> police are on the lookout for kavon neal from ft. washington, maryland, who's wanted in connection with monday's police chase that killed a police officer on i-95. police say neal was driving fast, cutting through traffic, forcing several cars to swerve out of the way. a passenger in the car, kenneth mitchell, was arrested, charged with car theft. >>> a man accused of sending threatening e-mails to president obama is in a courtroom in washington state right now. police arrested 31-year-old anton colari at his apartment in seattle last night. he greeted them with a shotgun and said that he rigged the apartment with explosives. they didn't find any

i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. as the president warms up that crowd, five hours from now, missouri senate candidate todd akin either caves in to republican pressure and pulls out of the race, hangs around and pays penalties if he gets out later. our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows just how bad it is for congress even before this controversy. just how unpopular congress really is. take a look at this. 82% of those polled now disapprove of congress, that's tied for the all-time high in our polling. only 12% approve. joining me now from new york, chuck todd, nbc's chief white house correspondent and political director, host of "the daily rundown" and here on the set, national journal's white house correspondent major garrett. chuck, let's go through the poll numbers. this is a terrible number for congress. what does it say about the wisdom of putting a house member, house republican, on the ticket? >> well, first, look, we're always looking to figure out how can the country come together. well, the count

"andrea mitchell reports."ue tamron hall has a look at what's next on "news nation." >> can you believe it's been a year since that day? here we are as you mentioned, a hurricane could be certainly on its way to florida threatening the gop convention. that's not good of course. we'll talk with tampa's mayor. he says he won't think twice about evacuating the city if it means keeping people safe. and within the last hour a warning from the feds about possible violence at both the republican and democratic convention. also within the last hour, a warning from the feds as i mentioned about a possible violence. we'll have the latest on that. we also have a new congressman paul ryan interview regarding the budget and the deficit. this interview is already being criticized. it just happened a short time ago and we'll play the interview for you next. [ male announcer ] imagine facing the day with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cym

let me bring in andrea mitchell. andrea, we are setting it up, who knows if people are staying awayerjuction waking up or just coming home from dinner going, oh, well, today is the day. but as we know in eight hours, we will officially have the republican ticket. romney/ryan, it is something of a ticket that i have heard democrats talk about for six months. explain. >> well, democrats think that this is an opportunity for them because they have been trying to demonize the ryan budget. this is their view of everything that's bad about the house republican caucus is the ryan budget, the deep budget cuts. they are very controversial. they are very painful. of course, if you talk to paul ryan and his caucus, they would say that this is the budget that would bring america back and begin to spark economic growth. if you talk to most, any democrats, it's exactly the opposite. these are painful, painful budget cuts. so this is the divide. and now we are going to have an election that is clearly going to be fought on this iss

i'm andrea mitchell live at the site of the republican national convention in tampa. we are watching tropical storm isaac as it continues to strengthen on a northwest path through the gulf of mexico, bringing the threat of significant storm surges to the north gulf coast. it's expected to become a hurricane, likely category 1, before it makes landfall sometime on tuesday. gulf coast residents are preparing particularly in new orleans, where isaac could hit exactly seven years to the day since katrina hit. moments ago, louisiana governor bobby jindal said he will be focusing on storm preparations, not on this convention. >> let me get one thing out of the way. i will not be speaking or attending the republican convention in florida. certainly party conventions are interesting but there's no time for politics here in louisiana along our coast. >> msnbc's tamryn hall is live in new orleans. you're looking at a real potential crisis here. how is new orleans preparing, how is it different, how do they know that the levees are going to hold this time? >> well, you know what

david mitchell the 75-year-old made his 600 blood donation to the blood bank on the stanford campus. mitchell often goes through special process that extracts specific component including platelet from the blood and he donates 2 dozen times per year. whole blood can only give 5 or 6 times aer yichlt actually a pleasant experience being here and giving and every now and then you hear about specifics. little children or babies need that stuff. >>reporter: mitchell started giving blood when he have 17 and continued to do so while serving in the air force. >> whether a wonderful guy. great. >> 600 what a mark. >> should do better in that regard. incredible. >> talk about the weather forecast. >> sandy here now. >> we gained few degrees today. we last a few degrees tomorro tomorrow. looking at cooler pat he were. evidence of it. high definition lacking downtown san francisco marine layer at 1,000 feet this afternoon as evening went on it rammed up. now 1400 feet deep. let's check out live doppler 7 hd. i'll show you what it looks like from that perspective. low cloud near the coast and fo

david mitchell the 75-year-old made his 600 blood donation to the blood bank on the stanford campus. mitchell often goes through special process that extracts specific component including platelet from the blood and he donates 2 dozen times per year. whole blood can only give 5 or 6 times aer yichlt actually a pleasant experience being here and giving and every now and then you hear about specifics. little children or babies need that stuff. >>reporter: mitchell started giving blood when he have 17 and continued to do so while serving in the air force. >> whether a wonderful guy. great. >> 600 what a mark. >> should do better in that regard. incredible. >> talk about the weather forecast. >> sandy here now. >> we gained few degrees today. we last a few degrees tomorro tomorrow. looking at cooler pat he were. evidence of it. high definition lacking downtown san francisco marine layer at 1,000 feet this afternoon as evening went on it rammed up. now 1400 feet deep. let's check out live doppler 7 hd. i'll show you what it looks like from that perspective. low cloud near the coast and fo

ron mitchell was 12 years old that day. >> the next thing we heard was the bombs exploding. they were bombing the docks and you could see everything going up. >> jean archer was a young girl. >> everything was burning. the sky was red. it was just an absolute nightmare, something you never forget. >> many of the volunteer firefighters had never encountered fire before. hitler had vowed to destroy london, and break the city's resolve. a big target early on was the east end, the factories, warehouses and docks vital to the war effort. but hitler picked the wrong people. the east end was packed with poor but proud immigrants. their labor built the place, and this wasn't about to stop them. >> the battle of london is still on. never before has any city with stood such a sustained attack from the air. each day sees more damage done. >> after that first couple of nights of total shock there was defiance. he wasn't going to get his way, they were going to stand up to him. >> dee wood was a teenager back then. >> i used to go out in the morning, i didn't know if my parents would be

the victim, antoinette mitchell was 29 years old. she lived in an upstairs apartment on 13th street southeast with her mom. they say around midnight the mom's ex-boyfriend comes over to the apartment and refuses to leave. around 4:00 a.m., antoinette tells the man get out or i'm calling the kaupcops. as she starts to dial 911, the man walks out the apartment, down the stairs and out the front door. she follows him to make sure he's gone and the door is locked. that's when it got violent. >> my daughter came down to this door here to lock it. he pulled it back open and he said, oh, you want to act gangsterfied and he pulled out a iron. she hit him upside the head with an iron and he stabbed her multiple times. >> reporter: at the scene, her aunt. >> if that was the case that she was trying to protect her mother, i can understand it. >> reporter: she wouldn't let anything bad happen to her mother? >> no. >> reporter: so what about that ex-boyfriend? miss mitchell said the cops are out looking for him. she says she's scared he may come

let me bring in andrea mitchell. andrea, setting it up, who knows if people are staying awake, or just coming home from dinner, but as we know, in eight hours, we'll officially have the republican ticket, romney-ryan. it's something of a ticket that i've heard democrats talk about for six months. explain. >> democrats think this is an opportunity for them, because they've been trying to demonize the ryan budget. this is their view of everything that's bad about the house republican caucus -- the ryan budget, the deep budget cuts, very controversial, very painful. and of course, if you talk to paul ryan and his caucus, they would say this is the budget that would bring america back and begin to spark economic growth. if you talk to most any democrats, it's exactly the opposite, painful, painful budget cuts. so this is the divide and now we'll have an election that will clearly be fought on this issue. i think you'd have to call it a game-change choice because it's clear that mitt romney did not think that he could win

states, to college campuses, and he might have to cancel some of that as well. >> all right, andrea mitchell on the floor, david gregory, let's talk about image. we just saw some of it. >> yes. >> in chuck todd's setup piece, this is a family that's been forced to talk about their rightfully gained enormous wealth, having been successful in business, the garage for their cars at their home in la jolla, california, now comes this, but it's part of a package they want to promote and discuss with the american people. >> you know, brian, i talked to republicans on the floor here and around this convention, giving some of himself, something that romney's got to do. that is the consensus. he's got to show more of his heart but there's also a recognition that he's not going to be able to beat back all of these negative images and at the same time he's not going to be able to be mr. inspirational, there's recognition that the analogy i heard today is the car mechanic. you may not love him, he may not light up the room but he can do to washington and fix things. that i think is going to be the master

andrea mitchell, you and i talked about this a couple days ago, more about paul ryan's family. i just want to let people know about him. his wife is jana little, the former jana little. he's got three kids, one daughter liza, two sons. and all of his children, i think, are at least under the age of 12. but his wife has an interesting connection to a famous democratic family. tell us more. >> jana little is the first cousin of congressman dan born of oklahoma. the borns of oklahoma are democratic royalty. david born, the long-time senator from oklahoma who retired, i believe in 1992, he was the chairman of the senate intelligence committee. he's now the president of the university of oklahoma and has been for many years. and his son is the congress member, so they are democrats. in fact, jana little's sister lives in bethesda, maryland. and paul ryan when he's not sleeping in his office, i know this myself, he has said that he stays with his sister-in-law's family. he's a very low maintenance guy and does go home to jamesville, wisconsin. he's not part of d.c. in terms of the wa

mitchell often goes through special process that extracts specific component including platelet fromcan only give 5 or 6 times aer yichlt actually a pleasant experience being here and giving and every now and then you hear about specifics. little children or babies need that stuff. >>reporter: mitchell started giving blood when he have 17 and continued to do so while serving in the air force. >> whether a wonderful guy. great. >> 600 what a mark. >> should do better in that regard. incredible. >> talk about the weather forecast. >> sandy here now. >> we gained few degrees today. we last a few degrees tomorro tomorrow. looking at cooler pat he were. evidence of it. high definition lacking downtown san francisco marine layer at 1,000 feet this afternoon wentvening wentrammedt rammed up. now 1400 feet deep. let's check out live doppler 7 hd. i'll show you what it looks like from that perspective. low cloud near the coast and fog but in over the bay as well and we are expecting it to make its way in some of our inland valley. wind right now gusting to 30 miles an hour in fairfield. it's

they're all moms, and women trying to close that gender gap. >> andrea mitchell down in new hampshire tonight, andrea, thanks. john yang has made his way north on i-95 to the great state of maine, john, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian, all of mitt romney's primary opponents have endorsed him, all except one, ron paul. there was a little ruckus on the floor this afternoon, when the officials committee officially stripped maine of 10 of ron paul's supporters, they're angry over that, over rules changes that the romney campaign is pushing through. and they're especially angry that ron paul himself is not speaking at this convention. this afternoon when he visited the convention floor to visit his supporters, he told me he's not bothered by that fact that much, but he will be in the halls to hear another paul speak. he'll be here tomorrow night to hear his son senator rand paul of kentucky speak. he won't be speaking himself. brian? >> it really was the closest thing to tension, we had some very vocal ron paul supporters near our booth during the roll call of states. luke r

romney wants to leave people not just here but people watching at home. >> david gregory, andrea mitchell and chuck todd, thank you. our prime time coverage of this gop convention including ann romney's speech to this gathering and chris christie's keynote address, that begins tomorrow night, 10:00 eastern, 7:00 pacific, on this nbc station. >>> this has been a particularly violent day in afghanistan. u.s. military officials say two american soldiers were killed by an afghan soldier making this just the latest attack on u.s. forces by a so-called friendly also insurgents beheaded 17 people, including two women at a dance and music party in an area of afghanistan controlled by the taliban, and in syria, rebels shot down an army helicopter this morning as it was bombarding a neighborhood of damascus, a rare rebel victory put out on the internet against government air power. >>> when "nightly news" continues from tampa, there's a health story we need to bring you tonight, it's about women's health and breast cancer prevention. >>> and later, hundreds of earthquakes in rapid succession in sou

but something has happened to andrea mitchell along the way. the msnbc culture has washed over her. she travels all over the world with hillary clinton. i think she ought to spend more time in that part of the country between manhattan and malibu and meet some women who aren't like the ones she hangs out with in georgetown. >> look. i agree with you. ms. mitchell used to be a hard hard news oriented journalist and is no longer that she says she's things off the top. here is how ridiculous this is. paul ryan says our freedom comes from god. doesn't the collect larr ration of independence say that? i believe it does. inalienable rights. are you quibble bling with that andrea? are we going to set the declaration on tire now? what are we going to do. >> my point is even if she is quibbling with that even if you believe our rights don't come from god, that there is no god, that they come from government, how do you go from that to that this isn't a vote for women? i don't get the connection. and i will tell what you it is though. when reporters hang

. >> reporter: that is coast guard lieutenant caitlin mitchell wurster.nd her crew have pent the last couple days plucking the wet and surprised out of isaac's aftermath. but she did have enough time to show me around the american water world that is southern louisiana today, and the trip was proof that zip code affluence doesn't matter to mother nature. i saw mansions in slidell and shacks in plaquemines parish, sharing equal misery. isaac left such a mess out here. the daniels live in la place which is a complete disaster zone, the site of so much human drama today. matt gutman has the latest details. >> reporter: communities in exodus, faces of desperation, young, old, frightens faces, yet relieved for the rescuesers to arrive. tens of thousands on the move as the awares rise faster than they could flee. in la place, thousands of national gardsmen and volunteers looking like an amphibious assault. this deer barely keeping fist head above water. in mississippi, a tornado crushing this house. my crew and i spent the day in la place, louisiana, where 3,10

in washington, nbc chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of "andrea mitchell reports" andrea mitchell>> good morning. >> good to have andrea on board this morningend. and executive editor of bloomberg news, al hunt. big story to cover. >> i want to catch up, i missed a few things. >> yeah. >> please. >> chick-fil-a bad? >> except for the waffle fries. >> well actually, chick-fil-a bad and then backlash which gives them their best quarter ever. >> good. >> chick-fil-a good for a lot more people than chick-fil-a bad. >> check. >> for chick-fil-a, really good. >> oh, stop. >> cash. >> obamaloney is a thing. >> you could just -- could you never say that again. >> obamaloney has to be said in tandem with -- >> romneyhood. >> three cab rides three different cities all asked me about obamaloney. >> there you go. >> last thing that surprised me, romney killed some guy's wife? >> yeah. >> yeah, he did. >> that's going to come back to haunt him. >> the -- a wee bit tenuous but yes. >> changes the dynamic of things. >> according to the white house, yes. >> you're caught up. >> thank you. that's

dave mitchell is out to change that. >> in recognition of your fourth place olympic games 2012 -- >>his tiny bookstore outside of london, dave was reading up on olympic history when they got to thinking, why stop at bronze? >> i just think that stopping at three is nowadays too soon too early. >> reporter: so david has been going over to his local trophy shop and forking out his own money to make fourth place medals. how many have you sent to athletes here? >> we've sent out a dozen so far. >> reporter: until you write off dave as completely looney, it wasn't until eight years after the return of the modern olympic games that the third place winners were given a medal. before that, it was first and second. but why stop there? by today's standards, if your child plays a sport, they get a medal for just showing up. sports psychologist michael gervais thinks we've gone too far. >> no, there shouldn't be a fourth place medal. gold, silver and bronze. we know who the best three in the world are. >> reporter: gervais knows because he's counseled some of the best in the world. from misty ma

kenneth clark mitchell... was arrested and ccarged... with... car theft...//. identified... the second occupant... of... the... acura.../ year- old... kevon neal ... of... fort washington..../he's... wwnted... on the same... charges..../// 59- year- old... anastacia... oo-loch.../ seen here... in this surveillance video.... assaulting... 90- year- old... john taylor.../ from kenya...///the.... assault... occurred... may 007.../ and... was captured on video ... after taylor's set up... the camera..../ o--loch... a... native of kenya... fled... the states... after... the incident... went public...//. the... f-b-i... and... balttmore police... wooked... thru... int'l back... here.. - this week maryland's highest court made changes in its ruling that pit bulls are inherently dangerous.but those changes aren't providing any relief for dog owners at homes.in the northeast the residents are pit bull owners. management sent a letter last week, saying pit bulls are now banned saying it does not want to be liable if a pit bull were to bite someone. supervisors say they aren't policing

neal and mitchell... were in.../ when... he...oss control an early mmrning car crash kills two essex teens and seriously injures another! myranda stephens is live in bowleys quarters - with whaa police say contributed to the accident. jeff, the deadly crash happened here along bowleys quarters road...near new section road. and as friends remember the young men killed with this memorial... they're also reminded about the consequences of 3 3 1058 i don't know. he's always been there 01 sarah lindner and her friends ever thought just days before the start of school that they'd be adding to a roaaside memorial for two of their friends. 1736 it's all of our senior years and i'm going to start a new year and they're not here o go through school 43police say around 1:30 this morning - 17-year-old lejandro wine was driving north on bowleys quarters road near new section road - when he lost control of pis car and crashed into two utility poles. wine and his front seat passenger - 17-year-old ryan boothe - were both pronounced dead at the s

i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. what a weekend it's been. in our daily fix today, the race to define paul ryan kicks off today big-time. in two battleground states. is ryan the booster shot that mitt romney needs or a perfect vehicle for democrats who are hoping to turn the 2012 debate from the economy overall to medicare and saddle mitt romney with an unpopular republican budget plan. chris cillizza is an msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics.com and msnbc news chief white house correspondent and political director, chuck todd, host of the daily rundown and marathon man this weekend. my goodness. chuck, first of all, the president today in iowa is beginning to talk about the farm, the drought, the farm bill, no passage of the drought bill. they are going to try to hang everything that congress has done that's unpopular around paul ryan. >> we have been talking about medicare a lot over the last 72 hours. this is the other part of the risk on ryan, which was did romney then sort of put on his ticket the unpopular things peop

i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows there is an advantage for president obama despite the public's deep continuing concerns over the economy and the direction the country is taking. there wasn't much of a ryan bump for the romney campaign, gaining just one point for the presidential race, but the administration is still staring down an ominous number for four more years, 6 in 10 americans still feel the country is on the wrong track. so how is president obama keeping his lead? nbc's senior political editor, mark murray, joins us now. this is such a fascinating poll. take us through it, because the president has this narrow lead, but he has a bigger advantage when our pollsters, both peter hart and no denial from our republican pollster, when they look at these data, they say advantage, obama. >> peter hart, our democratic pollster, put it this way. president obama has turned the race from a referendum into a choice. that's what an incumbent facing the type of head winds

mateo mitchell, what an effort. he is into the 4 by 400 final. in boxing, a 17-year-old woman of flint michigan won gold for the middle weight class out of flint michigan. marks the first time women's boxing has been included here at the olympic games and a 17-year-old american is the gold medalist. a women's basketball team trailed at half and did win in the semi final. they play for the fifth straight gold when they play france. let's look at the medal table. the u.s. vaulted over china for gold medals and total medals. this afternoon, the dream team takes on manu ginobili and argentina in the semi final. they beat them a couple times in the last two weeks. in prime time, the u.s. will try to hold off the strong jamaican team in the 4 by 100 meter relay. the u.s. team dropped the baton in the beijing games and also on the track as i said, oscar pistorius, the blade runner competing in the 4 by 400 meter relay. a great night for the americans and more to come for the next couple of days. >> we look forward to it. coming up on "morning joe," cong

>> mitchell actually has some work to do.n team usa and limped off. what happened? he broke his leg halfway through the race. he said he kept going because he couldn't let his teammates down. three words kept him running through the race, faith, focus, finish. well, mitchell not only finished but his team qualified for today's final. doctors expect that break to heal on his own in a month or so. >>> now let's say hello to ryan seacrest, fresh from his scoop about what ryan lochte does in the pool. >> i wonder if it was painful for matt to ask that question. he's been waiting for years to ask a question like that. >> he wanted to say that word. >> you have exciting news you're going to be co-hosting the closing ceremony with bob costas. >> i'm very excited. i've been pressing the suits of bob and al. they have allowed me to come in for the closing ceremony. >> you've done big events before but this has to be one of the hugest. >> the scale of this, unlike anything i've done before. the closing ceremony alone, 4,000 performers.

coming up next on "andrea mitchell reports," mitt romney's big moment.us about himself? paul ryan firing up the base last night. what about his facts? tim pawlenty is going to join me. obama 2012 campaign manager stephanie cutter with response today. chris cillizza, eugene robinson, michael gerson, michael steele and ed rendell. "andrea mitchell reports" live next from the republican national convention in tampa. al about aspirin. bayer advanced was completely different. it really did get rid of the pain. put bayer advanced aspirin to the test for yourself at fastreliefchallenge.com. ar ntlr gh rg [ nn ]errequ gh sf owgrl. rg now we need a little bit more... a little bit more vanilla? this is great! [ male announcer ] at humana, we believe there's never been a better time to share your passions because the results... are you having fun doing this? yeah. that's a very nice cake! [ male announcer ] well, you can't beat them. [ giggles ] ohh! you got something huh? whoa... [ male announcer ] humana understands the value of spending time together that's a lo

right now on "andrea mitchell reports" we will have a lot coming up on the storm.ow a hurricane. we'll have reports coming up from new orleans. we will also hear from the republican convention floor correspondents and also, governor rick snyder from michigan. t dog. every bite goes above and beyond the call of deliciousness. that's a big 10-4 kosher. with no fillers, by-products, artificial flavors or colors. hebrew national. the better-than-a-hot dog- hot dog. is now in our new starbucks refreshers™ -- a breakthrough in natural energy. made with real fruit, starbucks refreshers™ are delicious low calorie drinks you can feel good about. ♪ rethink how you re-energize. ♪ get a boost of natural energy with a new starbucks refreshers™, in three ways. natural energy from green coffee extract, only from starbucks. >>> right now on "andrea mitchell reports" live from tampa, bracing for isaac. as residents on the gulf coast board up homes and businesses, president obama says it is time to get ready. >> now is not the time to tempt fate. now is not the time to dismiss offic

>> andrea mitchell in our d.c. newsroom with the latest tonight. andrea, thanks. >>> still ahead for us as we continue from london, was there an early warning about the accused gunman in aurora, colorado? >>> and later, as promised, the gabby douglas story before we see her perform in primetime tonight. what it took this tiny person to make the huge leap to the olympics. >>> from london now we focus on colorado. new information and new questions tonight about how much the people around the accused colorado gunman james holmes knew about his mental state. holmes dropped out of a ph.d program at the university of colorado just weeks before the shooting rampage that killed 12 and injured 58. our report from nbc's mike taibbi. >> reporter: before james holmes quit his neuro science ph.d program he was being treated by dr. lynn fenton a university of colorado psychiatrist. by then, mid june, police say he had already begun assembling an arsenal of four guns like these, full tactical gear, and 6,000 rounds of ammunition. were there warning signs he was u

mitchell reports," how do you explain quote, legitimate rape? one week before the republican convention, the party is scrambling to run away from this comment by missouri senate candidate, congressman todd akin. >> it seems to me first of all, from what i understand from doctors, that's really rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. but let's assume that maybe that didn't work or something. you know, i think there should be some punishment but the punishment ought to be in the rapist and not attacking the child. >> is this a lifeline to democrat claire mccaskill? with control of the senate hanging in the balance. >> he may be acting like he's backtracking but he didn't say he was wrong. all he said was he now is acknowledging that someone can become pregnant when they have been raped. >> what happens in israel stays in israel? two weeks after last august's debt ceiling debacle, 20 house republicans take a drunken dip in the sea of galilee and one of them, kansas freshman kevin yoder, seems

. >> let me bring in andrea mitchell. andrea, i want to make a tiny little correction. a friend e-mailed and said, hey, the last house member picked on a national ticket was geraldine ferarro. 1984. andrea, your initial reaction, paul ryan, we've thought all the tea leaves were pointing to ryan over the last 48 hours but now that it appears that that's the case, your initial reaction to this picket, romney/ryan? >> my initial reaction is that this is the game changing option among the three finalists as we know it. i heard from a source who cannot confirm that it's ryan but knows that the other two have been told. so that the portman and pawlenty have been told that it is not they, according to this single source that is close to one of those republicans. >> another important piece of the puzzle. >> it's a piece of the puzzle. this is going to be controversial. according to, as you know, some of the obama people, they are at least saying that they think that this helps them and that they can try to make a big deal out of the ryan budget, a bigger deal it another thing t

it's where we begin tonight with nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: republicans fear their hopes for the white house and control of the senate could turn on what happened at a st. louis tv station when the host asked missouri republican senate front-runner todd akin, a sitting congressman, about abortion. >> what about in the case of rape? should it be legal or not? >> it seems to me first of all from what i understand from doctors that is really rare. if it's a legitimate rape the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. but let's assume maybe that didn't work or something. you know, i think there should be some punishment but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child. >> reporter: mitt romney quickly called "the national review online" and said akin's comments were insulting, inexcusable, frankly wrong and offensive. nbc news has learned paul ryan who cosponsored a law with akin that critics say would outlaw all abortions even in cases of rape called akin today trying to deliver the same message. later in a coordinated republican effort

andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. >>> now to the games here in london. the focus today on the track and in the sand where the u.s. was guaranteed a gold medal in women's beach volleyball tonight because the final was one u.s. team versus the other. as we send you over to kevin tibbles, who has been covering all of it across town at olympic park, our standard spoiler alert warning applies, the following two minutes of reporting contains results. kevin, with that hand-off, take it away. >> reporter: well, brian, they have never lost at the olympics, not even one match, and tonight was no different for the queens of the beach. tonight on the california beach where kerri walsh-jennings and misty may-treanor honed their skills, it was game on. while at the picturesque horse guard parade in london, the reigning champs dominated fellow country women april ross and jenn kessy from start to finish. the third straight olympic gold for the queens of the beach. >> tonight we're going to celebrate this amazing win. we went out on top. >> reporter: handshakes and hugs