eastern only on msnbc. >>> and tomorrow night, don't miss msnbc's live coverage of one of the year's favorite political events, the annual white house correspondents dinner hosted by funnyman jimmy kimmel beginning at 10:00 p.m. eastern. >>> here is your first look at other news going around america today. in florida, a pair of elderly sisters about to board a bus were attacked by a purse snatcher. you can see one victim had her wheelchair knocked over during the assault. after the horrific images were made public, the teenager believed to be involved was turned into police by his own father. >>> in texas, another heartless crime. somebody swiped a donation jar from the front counter of a restaurant. it was there to raise money for cancer victims. the thief made off with about $250 and remains on the loose. >>> the university of rhode island was invaded by zombies. but unlike those in the movies these zombies were helping to save lives. students were testing a way to give out medication quickly in case of an infectious disease outbreak. so they decided to have a little fun. they made

you're watching "first look" on msnbc. mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. >>> welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry, and here's some of the top stories making news this morning. >>> four american soldiers are among the dead after a taliban bombing in northern afghanistan. police say at least ten people died when a suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonated his explosives. >>> secretary of state hillary clinton says the u.s. is ready to nominate an ambassador to myanmar and to ease sanctions. she said that parliamentary elections there represent real change after decades of military rule. >>> five former new orleans police officers have been sentenced to pris

you're watching "first look" on msnbc. an airline's job, is to take you from where you are... to where you need to be. and we're not just talking about points on a map. with a more intuitive delta website and mobile app... and the most wifi equipped planes. we let you be everywhere at once. innovations like these are extending our reach so you can extend yours. and now, even at 30,000 feet you can still touch the ground. [ male announcer ] want your weeds to hit the road? hit 'em, with roundup extended control. one application kills weeds, and stops new ones for up to four months. roundup extended control. the teacher that comes to mind for me is my high school math teacher, dr. gilmore. i mean he could teach. he was there for us, even if we needed him in college. you could call him, you had his phone number. he was just focused on making sure we were gonna be successful. he would never give up on any of us. >>> welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. here's some of the top stories making news this morning. according

this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> and we begin with a triple threat. republican front-runner mitt romney is hoping to win big in today's primary triple-header. that's in wisconsin, maryland and the nation's capital. but romney's rivals say even a clean sweep won't knock them out of the presidential race. nbc's tracie potts has more from washington. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. good morning, everybody. f newt gingrich and rick santorum say they're hanging in there even though their numbers don't look good in the primaries today. when newt was asked, he'd be glad for anyone to support him to get him out of debt to live the american dream. rick santor whoum has been the closest competitor to mitt romney has continually and again yesterday brought up the fact that he is face, as he calls it a money machine. but he claims that his campaign is getting stronger the longer he's able to hang in there. but mitt romney is the clear favorite, at least going into these primaries today. big 25-point lead on average in maryland. no competiti

this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> we begin this morning with the immigration battle. the u.s. supreme court heard arguments yesterday on the federal government's challenge to arizona's controversial immigration law. most of them stood inclined to ruling the arizona law constitutional. nbc's steve handelsman has details. >> reporter: supporters of arizona's attempted crackdown on illegal immigration gathered outside the supreme court, and opponents who charge the arizona law would target hispanics, the obama administration dropped that charge. >> the government conceded that, no, it's not about racial profiling. >> reporter: the case is about arizona's right to require police to determine the immigration status of anyone they stop and suspect is illegal and to detain them while they check with the feds. the obama administration lawyer, argued they're driving those out of the state, but justice scalia noted arizona is not trying to kick out anybody the federal government has already said does not belong me. "it seem

when you turn on msnbc, it's like watching the prosecution. any guest sympathetic to the neighborhood watch captain being grilled and even badgered. >> he was walking with skittles and an iced tea when he was shot dead. now we're seeing new pictures of trayvon and they're trying to portrait him as a thug. >> and there seems to be a right wing media campaign to defend george zimmerman. >> how are you paying your expenses iffure not working? is someone paying you to do this for george? >> no. no one is paying me to do this for george. >> have you ever heard george zimmerman scream? >> what is the point of you asking me questions if you're not giving me an opportunity to answer? okay? >> answer the question. >> and as far as george raising his voice, yeah, i have heard him raise his voice before. >> scream. >> not in anger. not in anger. >> scream? >> would you -- you know what, this -- why are we having this discussion if you're not listening? if you're not listening to my answers? >> fox news is not like watching the zimmerman defense with cons

msnbc is an ideological kind of entertainment. when she crosses the line like she did. >> bill: she actually has a show, andrea mitchell on msnbc. here is my point, sally, let's say that you are correct, i mean, we can't read ms. mitchell's line. i want to be fair to her had. let's say you are correct. just -- she should have said that she should have clarified that what if carl cammeron, our main campaign guy comes on "the o'reilly factor" as he does occasionally and says, you know what? cover obama people. somebody has to do t. come on. come on o. [ laughter ] you know what the outcry would be. even if he was saying i'm overworked. you got me running around and, you know, i'm clearous. it would have been taken in ideological way because that's what the liberal press wants to believe. now, what i do believe. >> you are right about that. the liberal press would have said that they were somehow ideological even though they weren't. >> bill: last time andrea mitchell was on this program in 2007 on the factor. study done by pew resea

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well good morning, i'm lynn berry, those stories and more are straight ahead, this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> we're going to begin this morning with an american original, dick clark died of a heart attack at age 82, after a television career spanning 60 years, the man once known as the nation's oldest teenager created "american bandstand" in 1956 and started new year's rockin' eve in 19272. nbc's stephanie stanton has more. >> reporter: the record has stopped spinning for america's oldest teenager. dick clark died at a los angeles area hospital of a massive heart attack. the 82-year-old was admitted to the hospital for an outpatient procedure a day earlier. fans visited clark's star in hollywood to pay tribute to this american icon. >> new year's eve is never going to be the same again. >> and words of praise from clark's new year's eve show successor, ryan seacrest who opened wednesday's "american idle" with a tribute to dick clark. >> he will be missed greatly. our thoughts and prayer goes out to his family. i know that he's in a better place, saying, hey, let's get on with the show, o

this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned.rly with willie geist" starts right now. >>> after 43 primaries and caucuses, many long days, and more than a few long nights, i can say with confidence and gratitude that you have given me a great honor and solemn responsibility and together we are going to win on november 6th. >>> mitt romney sweeps five more primaries telling americans afterwards to hang on until november because help is on the way. with romney's nomination well in hand, the question now is what will happen over the next six months to swing this tight vote either to romney or to president obama. meanwhile, apple goes through the roof again with quarterly profits rising 94%.

this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned.rly with willie geist" starts right now. >>> after 43 primaries and caucuses, many long days, and more than a few long nights, i can say with confidence and gratitude that you have given me a great honor and solemn responsibility and together we are going to win on november 6th. >>> mitt romney sweeps five more primaries telling americans afterwards to hang on until november because help is on the way. with romney's nomination well in hand, the question now is what will happen over the next six months to swing this tight vote either to romney or to president obama. meanwhile, apple goes through the roof again with quarterly profits rising 94%. the question is, what is driving the latest explosion for apple? we will look at those numbers. >>> and president obama visits jimmy fallon during his stop at the university of north carolina. the question is, how was president obama at slow jamming the news? >> i'm president barack obama, and i, too, want to slow jam the news.

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msnbc is an ideological kind of entertainment.e crosses the line like she did. >> bill: she actually has a show, andrea mitchell on msnbc. here is my point, sally, let's say that you are correct, i mean, we can't read ms. mitchell's line. i want to be fair to her had. let's say you are correct. just -- she should have said that she should have clarified that what if carl cammeron, our main campaign guy comes on "the o'reilly factor" as he does occasionally and says, you know what? cover obama people. somebody has to do t. come on. come on o. [ laughter ] you know what the outcry would be. even if he was saying i'm overworked. you got me running around and, you know, i'm clearous. it would have been taken in ideological way because that's what the liberal press wants to believe. now, what i do believe. >> you are right about that. the liberal press would have said that they were somehow ideological even though they weren't. >> bill: last time andrea mitchell was on this program in 2007 on the factor. study done by pew research stea

this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> we are going to begin with battleground wisconsin. republican presidential front-runner mitt romney has picked up another key endorsement ahead of tomorrow's primary in the badger state. this as rick santorum under intense pressure from some in his own party to drop out is vowing instead to stay in the race. nbc's brian mooar joins us from washington now. he has the details. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. santorum insists this nominating fight is far from over. but a lot of republicans disagree. heading into tomorrow's big primary in wisconsin, mitt romney has the polls on his side, and he has some heavyweight endorsements, too. >> i just want to assure every conservative, i've spoken with mitt. >> reporter: senator ron johnson is backing romney and so is house budget committee chairman paul ryan. >> you know what i call that? cheesehead domination. >> reporter: from the very top, republicans are closing ranks behind romney. >> i think he's going to be an excellen

and over at msnbc everybody is in the tank.one person -- maybe scarborough in the morning. he might be skeptical of obama a little bit. >> yeah. >> bill: but that's it. here, it's all over the place. every show is different. every show has a different tempo and different tone. but i am encouraged, because i haven't come -- because i have come down hard on nbc in the last few weeks. i'm encouraged that they recognize that their brand is being hurt. i will point to good morning america in the morning surging up against "the today show" because traditional americans and independent americans are going, you know what? we want a fair presentation. i think that's what's going on. >> bill, you talked about this before. the comcast shareholders. >> bill: absolutely. >> i would wonder what they have to say about this. they are the real investors at nbc. they have a vested interest in making sure that nbc as a news operation, forget the cable stuff but just as a news operation is being perceived as even handed as possible. i wouldn't be

this is "first look" on msnbc. we are going to begin this morning with pole position. the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll finds that at this point, president obama is ahead of presumptive republican candidate mitt romney in a head-to-head match-up. but romney is in a strong enough position to make it a close election. chuck todd reports. >> thanks to large leads among women, hispanics and even independents the president begins with a 49-43 advantage over presumptive gop nominee mitt romney. the good news for mr. obama is how his standing compares with other incumbent presidents seeking re-election. his job rating is almost identical to where george w. bush was in 2004. a tad lower than bill clinton in 1996. but it's much better than the last president to lose re-election, george h.w. bush in 1992. the president also benefits from being more likable and more in touch with the middle class. this likability gap is something romney is so aware of he's mentioning it in speeches. >> even if you like barack oba

msnbc at times is so irresponsible that it rubs off on nbc news. they put their corresponds who are covering the white house one minute for nbc and the next minute they are on msnbc on the same network that employs al sharpton and several other people who i think have been grossly irresponsible. nbc news is making a big mistake by keeping this relationship going. t is doing nothing for their credibility. >> bill: and the place doesn't even do that well. it would be one thing top 10 in cable. 20 in prime time. numbers are inschool. -- are minuscule. no matter how much the "new york times" tries to prop them up, they don't go anywhere. whether you have a climate of liberalism like that at nbc news, andrea mitchell, for example, is a correspondent but then she has a show on msnbc and she is as left wing as they come. then you go down the line. tim russert, the late tim russert he was a fair guy. tim russert might have been a democrat. but, boy, he gave everybody a hard time. that's becoming less and less and less over there they are becoming stronger

but nbc has changed since i was there it was the creation of msnbc or decision by msnbc to choose ideological sides in life generally and most specifically in this criminal action. i believe that they made an ideological decision that they would be on the side of the victim in this case and that thy would argue strenuously for the prosecution for the conviction of george zimmerman. when you point to chris matthews. al sharpton; mr. ed schultz, you have people very firm conviction it's not so much about the evidence as it is about the fact that a young, unarmed black teenager was shot dead doing -- >> bill: none of those people were there and they don't know what happened. here is what is happening in the country. have you got this big fisher, they come up with startling shot of zimmerman's head covered with blood, okay? so that's on channel 7, and then you turn to channel 4 and instead of hard news niagara falls. you have, as you put it, an ideological take on a life or death story that's going to be decided by a jury. now, in your opinion, does this taint the entire nbc news operation? >> we

benjamin crump, an attorney for trayvon martin's family, responded with alarm earlier tonight on msnbc's "politics nation." >> we are really worried about him being a flight risk. again, the killer of trayvon martin is unaccountable for. nobody knows where the killer of trayvon martin is. >> zimmerman's lawyers said that sunday was the last time either of them had any form of contact with zimmerman, but after zimmerman stopped communicating with his attorneys, he did reach out on his own to at least two other people, special prosecutor angela corey, who refused to speak with him, and zimmerman's tv best friend, sean hannity. >> eventually the two newest developments are that we learned that he had called sean hannity of fox news, directly, not through us, and we believe, i can't confirm this, we believe that he spoke directly with sean, off the record, and he's not even willing to tell us what our client told him. >> within the hour, sean hannity said this. >> i want to set the record straight about a couple of things. now, for a few weeks, we have been pursuing an interview with mr. zim

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this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> we'll begin this morning with a suspenseful wait. florida's special prosecutor in the trayvon martin case says within the next 72 hours she will release new information from her investigation. it is her job to decide whether george zimmerman will face charges. whatever happens, zimmerman will be needing new lawyers. nbc's jay gray reports. >> reporter: like so much in this case -- >> good afternoon. >> reporter: the announcement was sudden and jarring. >> we've lost contact with him, up to this point we had contact every day. he's gone on his own. i'm not sure what he's doing or who he's talking to, but the -- at this point we are withdrawing it's a council. >> reporter: the now former attorneys for george zimmerman say they don't know where he is, haven't talked to him in days and are worried. >> george zimmerman in our opinion is not doing well emotionally. probably suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. >> reporter: concerned that he apparently reached out to special prosecutor angela corey. >> one thing every defense atto

and over at msnbc everybody is in the tank.know one person -- maybe scarborough in the morning. he might be skeptical of obama a little bit. >> yeah. >> bill: but that's it. here, it's all over the place. every show is different. every show has a different tempo and different tone. but i am encouraged, because i haven't come -- because i have come down hard on nbc in the last few weeks. i'm encouraged that they recognize that their brand is being hurt. i will point to good morning america in the morning surging up against "the today show" because traditional americans and independent americans are going, you know what? we want a fair presentation. i think that's what's going on. >> bill, you talked about this before. the comcast shareholders. >> bill: absolutely. >> i would wonder what they have to say about this. they are the real investors at nbc. they have a vested interest in making sure that nbc as a news operation, forget the cable stuff but just as a news operation is being perceived as even handed as possible. i wouldn'

but nbc has changed since i was there it was the creation of msnbc or decision by msnbc to choose ideologicales in life generally and most specifically in this criminal action. i believe that they made an ideological decision that they would be on the side of the victim in this case and that thy would argue strenuously for the prosecution for the conviction of george zimmerman. when you point to chris matthews. al sharpton; mr. ed schultz, you have people very firm conviction it's not so much about the evidence as it is about the fact that a young, unarmed black teenager was shot dead doing -- >> bill: none of those people were there and they don't know what happened. here is what is happening in the country. have you got this big fisher, they come up with startling shot of zimmerman's head covered with blood, okay? so that's on channel 7, and then you turn to channel 4 and instead of hard news niagara falls. you have, as you put it, an ideological take on a life or death story that's going to be decided by a jury. now, in your opinion, does this taint the entire nbc news operation? >> well,

night the most exclusive one is "vanity fair" and the msnbc party. to that. capital file has a party. multiple parties all over the city going on. and, everybody just, goes from where they are at the dinner directly there. so. >> this, this, called the nerd prom here inside the beltway. over the past few years it seems to have evolved into even more of an event than it was, four five years ago to what can we attribute that? is it the president? what do you think it is? >> certainly the president. you know, the rnc, republicans have tried to cast him as a celebrity, in a pejorative way. there is truth there. he is cool. cool in 2008. for hollywood he is still cool. a chance to merge these two huge worlds of hollywood and washington. how politics, political media and entertainment are industries, become bigger industry, the political media industry can justify a weekend's worth of parties. after parties and draw stars in from hollywood for them. >> ken, thank you so much. thank you to all of you as well for joining us for our special live coverage of t