mr. curry? >> the supervisor of elections, again, from both parties indicated that they needed the time, two days, before that tuesday. look, i want to see everybody that's registered to vote given the opportunity to vote. there's plenty of time and plenty of opportunity to vote. >> but you didn't answer my question, sir. i don't want to grill you here except to ask an obvious everybody watching can hear me ask. you had an opportunity under the law before, 14 days for early voting down there. we know the pattern of early voting changed over the years. it used to be used for people who had money and traveled a lot. and then republicans benefited from that. later on when minorities began to vote early because they had transportation challenges facing them, we all know that. they can't just get in the car in many cases. they need help to do it. they need the window. the minute your party saw this benefiting democrats you got rid the traveling americans and wealthy people. why did you get rid of it

the trouble is, mr. curry, i look at the pattern in every state legislation and inevitableably the republicans want to reduce the opportunity to vote in every state. it's always the same pattern. i will throw it back to you for a quick response. why is it your party that want it raise the barrier to voting consist lint across the country? in this particular period of time. maybe not 20 years ago but right now you want it to be harder for poor people, harder for minorities to vote. why is that? >> i just don't buy that. every vote counts. and that people are properly registered. >> i think abraham lincoln agreed with that principle. >>> we will continue arguing this because it is always an issue. thank you sir for coming in, chairman of the republican party in florida. >>> you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. no, too much. jennessa. ah! a round of applause. [ applause ] [ male announcer ] go online to reach every home, every address, every time with every door direct mail. [ male announcer ] get it now at

i'm matt lauer along with ann curry, mr. roker and savannah guthrie has joined us outside as well. coming up, very important testimony in the trial of a florida man accused in a dui manslaughter case. >> that's right. his girlfriend who he adopted as his daughter took the stand on wednesday. what she had to say may have helped the prosecution. also testifying, the arresting deputy who claims he smelled alcohol the night of the fatal accident. we'll get the latest on the still developing story. >> and are you the vision of good health? a lot of eye doctors can spot the signs of high blood pressure, high cholesterol by looking deep into the eye. how does that work and what are your eyes telling you about other possible illnesses? >> former president bush could see cholesterol issues in putin one time. >> that was different. >> different. >> i don't know where that went. what else? >> you get excited for them when the kids go to college. they are ready to launch their lives and careers. then they come back. we're talking about grown kids coming back, living at home. you're paying the

i'm matt lauer along with ann curry. mr. roker and savannah guthrie joining us, as well. >> that's right. coming up in this half hour we'll be talking about some very basic age-old questions. why do onions make you cry, matt? >> i have no idea. >> right. so what causes that pins and needles feeling you get in your feet and your fingers? al? what are goose bumps? we're going to get down to that. >> savannah wants to know if you are going to deal with the asparagus thing? >> i think we'll draw the line right there. i think we should deal with this. because it causes a lot of people alarm. we're frying to give you the answers, maybe not all the answers you're curious about. that's coming up. >> and we're going to tackle your diet dilemmas. we have one right here. including the truth about the calories in your sushi. and is the white bread you find at a bakery better than the processed ones you buy at the store? >> and we're also going to have some makeup tips for women over 40. it only just takes a couple of tweaks to your rout

. >> out on the plaza i'm matt lauer along with ann curry, mr. roker, and natalie morales.ake you inside the celebrity homes that have just been put up for sale. including an apartment owned by alicia keys, an apartment owned by rosie o'donnell and a home that is owned by britney spears. should be fun to look around that and see the price tag. >> we're also going to go into the kitchen. mark bittman says it's time to learn how to do some basics, including vegetables. he's going to kick off three days of lessons. the best day to pare vegetables will be today. vegetables so good your children will ask for seconds. >> really? >> exactly. that would be a great day. >> considering my won't even ask for firsts that would be great. first let's bring in 16-year-old shannon mcgreen the most recent contested voted off "american idol." good morning to you. >> good morning. >> only 16 years old. had to be a little bit of a shock to you. the judges all loved your performance. >> yeah. >> everybody was raving about you. what do you think happened? >> i'm only 16 and it's really hard to f

i'm matt lauer along with ann curry, natalie morales and mr. al roker. do you know what's back?ck after a few months away. they have great new episodes coming up. one of the stars of the show, joel mchale is sampling martha's blueberry pie. >> oh, that's ours. >> hey, joel, have you smelled that pie? >> oh, yes. >> get a little bit closer. >> i'll come in there in a second f. we'll talk to joel in a second. very talented guy. lots going on. >> also coming up, lou manferdini always digs up good stuff. we have a vacuum cleaner that cuts down on allergens. it's one-stop shopping. >> best stuff internationally. >> i love that. also coming up if you're an athlete chances are you have been injured. have you been? >> lots. >> so you know that there are a lot of things you can do and exercises out there you should be trying to help strengthen your muscles and bones. i caught up with a doctor who put me through an intense workout. he'll help you prevent injury before it happens. >> doctor, it hurts when i do this. don't do that. >> exactly. >> speaking of doctors, there is a lot you can

meantime, i'm ann curry alongside hoda kotb, and also we've got you, mr. willie geist. >> adding some male to the program. >> we've got a lot to talk about this morning including the $540 million mega jackpot. a lot of people are all excited about this all across the country. just think one of you could wake up half a million dollars -- be half a million dollars richer tomorrow. do you feel lucky? we're going to take a look at the odds. >> and if you are waiting in line, getting in tired or running around and you're tired, or you wake up this morning and you're exhausted, fatigue. we're going to try to figure out, try to get to the bottom of why we're exhausted. we think we know why, lack of sleep. and then try to give you some solutions. >> are you ladies pampered? >> i love to. >> huh-uh. >> not a camper. >> in the parking lot of the holiday inn. >> today we've got camping for people who don't like camping. we're going to give you a list of some of the best places in this country from back to nature escapes, tree house, a mountainside mexican resort. giv

curry. look who is in for mr. matt. are we sure that's actually coffee in your cup? explain something. i thought it was in my contract that i had a little pinot, if you can peek in there, that is just iced tea. look at this guy. >> i know. >> i find all drug-happy people make great tv. explains kathie lee and me completely, doesn't it? there are a lot of things people are talking about out there. that $540 million jackpot. almost half a billion. is that right? >> that's right. >> it's getting people dreaming this morning, isn't it? >> okay. that's exactly right. we don't want to burst anyone's bubble but the odds of picking the winning combination are around 176 million to 1. your chance of getting struck by lightning are 1 in 3,000. but is there a secret, actually, to picking the winning numbers? we found a man who thinks that there is. we're going to talk about his strategy coming up. >> did you get any tickets? >> of course we did. you did, everyone did. >> i did. i got the quick pick. also george zimmerman's brother is speaking out about the trayvon martin case f