i'm steve scully. thanks for joining us. in other news, the u.s. does despite some sharp policy differences over. but the u.s. did reiterate its longstanding concerns like human rights. >>> rick santorum has pulled ahead slightly over miromney. newt gingrich at 10%. terry madonna is writing about the santorum rise in the polls. he'll join us later in the program. his piece was lost by physical, a proef of public affairs at franklin and prand more detailsn the but as members. let's begin with our lead story which is the president welcoming the leader -- the man who is expected to be the next leader of china who will take over in 2013. these are the president's comments from the oval office earlier in the day. >> throughout this process, i have always emphasized that we welcome china's peaceful rise. that we believe that a strong and prosperous china is one that can ten to bring stability and prosperity to the region and to the world. and we expect to be able to continue on the cooperative track that we've tried to establish over the last three years

i'm steve scully.e'll hear from the president, who spoke about the auto bailout and politics in arizona and michigan. >>> let's begin though with some news today from portland, maine, and here in washington. olympia snowe saying that she's not running for re-election saying that she's confident that she would have won but is frustrated with what she called at months fear of particularization. she's in congress for a total of 33 years. in politics, rick santorum has dubbed himself a conservative heavyweight, he was responding to criticism from mitt romney today. romney calling santorum an economic lightweight in the day. this is a closely-watched race, it could go either way. michigan polls will be closing in about two hours. in the upper peninsula, polls closing at 9:00. >>> secretary of state hillary clinton saying that the u.s. is working closely with libya as it works to create a post gadhafi area. she urged the senators to meet with him as the u.s. tries to figure out what to next in libya. syria,

i'm steve scully. extend through the rest of this year the payroll tax cut it would also expand the jobless benefits for those who qualify and the doctors' medicare reimbursements, congressman fred upton saying things are getting closer this coming after yesterday, the house speaker john boehner and other republican leaders offering an agreement that would accept the payroll tax extension. we heard from the president earlier in the day as he talked about the payroll tax cut, the impact it has on middle-class americans. if you make $50,000 a year, if the payroll tax cut is extended will mean another $80 per month in your paycheck. >> over the past two years, our businesses have added over 3.7 million new jobs. our manufacturers are hiring more new workers to make more new things here in america than any time since the 1990s. so, our economy is growing stronger. in the last thing we need, the last thing we can afford to do is to go back to the same policies that got us in this mess in the first place, th

i'm steve scully. thank you for being with us. mitt romney is trying to reclaim his early standing as the front-runner in this republican race, but he faces a key test in michigan. he's expected to win arizona, by the way, where polls show him a single digit and some polls with a double digit lead. michigan is a state where he was born, and he accused rick santorum of trying to hijack a victory by making automated phone calls to democrats. rick santorum is brushing aaside that criticism. you heard a portion a moment ago saying mitt romney fries to win the support of independents in earlier states. the dow jones closed above 13,000 for the first time since may of 2008. for a while earlier this month, the dow did reach 13,000 only to fall back, but today it closed above 13,000 four months before the financial crisis hit in may of 2008 was the last time the dow jones industrial average reached that benchmark. stocks get a boost today from a report that consumer confidence jumped in february to its highest level in a year. a prosecuto

i'm steve scully. thanks for joining us.ancy pelosi talking about the president who by the way is in california today, a series of fundraisers four in fact scheduled to raise $8 million for his re-election effort. one political note a debate scheduled to take place on march 1st before super tuesday has been cancelled. mitt romney and ron paul telling the georgian republican party they will not participate and so because of that plans for that have been scrubbed. meanwhile other news on this thursday. the nigerian man who tried to blow up an international flight near detroit on be. of al qaeda has been sentenced to life in prison without parole. he pled guilty in october at a sentencing hearing today the 25-year-old saying that the bomb in his underwear was a blessed we fond avenge poorly treated muslims worldwide. meanwhile the letter of hezbollah is denying the iranian backed group had anything to do with this week's attack on an israeli diplomat in india as well as a botched plot in thailand or attempted bombing in the sov

i'm steve scully. we're on the website with a photograph of the president as he toured the master lock plant in milwaukee. wisconsin, of course, with its ten electoral vote, a key battleground state in this 2012 election year but the president traveling there to talk about jobs and the economy. master lock factory is a facility that has 100 jobs that return from china back to the ua -- usa and the president and white house using this to tout job growth now returning to the united states. >> we've got to seize this moment of opportunity. we can't let it slip away. we've got an opportunity to create new american jobs and american manufacturing, put that back where it needs to be. one place to start is with our tax code. i talked about this at the state of the union. right now companies get tax breaks for moving jobs and profits overseas. they're taking deductions for the expenses of moving out of the united states. meanwhile, companies that are doing the right thing and choosing to stay here, they get hi

i'm steve scully. thanks for joining us. remember the debate last december trying to work out an agreement to extend the payroll tax cut. they offered a two-month exit tension. the deadline is the end of the month. the chairman of payroll tax conferrees, congressman dave camp urging leaders of both parties to back off and let the panel try to strike an agreement. he told reporters today that comments from leadership on both sides of the aisle about a stalemate remain unhelpful in the ongoing negotiations. we'll have more on this story coming up in just a moment. mee meanwhile news from san francisco. gay marriages are still on hold in california, but a federal appeals court handed gay rights supporters a victory with the ruling saying a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. quick reaction from mitt romney and other republican presidential candidates. voeters two years ago approved in response to a earlier court decision, but the appeals court says the ban violated the rights of gays. the white house is saying the u.s

i'm steve scully. meanwhile the president in california raising money for his own re-election effort for fund raisers today in southern california. before heading up to washington state, the president will be back in washington, d.c. tomorrow. meanwhile, senators rick santorum and governor mitt romney campaigning in michigan. news tonight from a debate that was scheduled to take place in early march in atlanta on cnn, that debate has been canceled. mitt romney saying he will not participate nor will congressman ron paul. next round of contests in arizona and michigan on february 28th. let's begin with our lead story, paul korean has it on the coast website as house republican and democratic leaders working out this agreement. nancy pelosi telling reporters today the plan will be acceptable to her members and house speaker john boehner calling it a fair agreement. so here are the details. the bill would extend a reduction of 20 percentage points in that the 6.2% social security payroll tax through the e

i'm steve scully. top u.s. intelligence officials are trying to drown play of an early u.s. pullout from afghanistan. the story from the washington times saying american combat forces will say there till the end of 2014 and there would be substantial commitment for a longer troop commitment to afghanistan. all of this coming as the cia director david petraeus testifying today that the media are overblown comments by leon panetta who told reporters yesterday that the u.s. combat mission in afghanistan would transition to a support mission next year. this from general david petraeus, the head of the cia saying it was a startling overanalysis of secretary panetta's comments, not a startling announcement. leon panetta was en route to a ministerial meeting in brussels where ministers support the idea of the u.s., france and other nato allies beginning to transition from a strong combat military role to a support role. the head of mf global's chief risk officer, one of the senior executives for that company, told congress today that he did not -- that he sounded the alarms about t

with some rather sharp cuts in military spending, this is hour two of "washington today," i'm steve scullythanks for being with us. we'll have more on this and also a number of related stories about how defense lobbyists are lining up to try to protect certain areas of the budget and congressional negotiators are trying to finalize a $100 billion measure that will extend payroll cuts and provide additional jobless benefits for millions of out-of-work americans and supporting the proposal, there is no pay for in this measure which means that the proposal will go forth and likely add to the overall debt and deficit. it does cut the social security payroll tax by 2 percentage points. had congress not acted by the end of the month it would amend another $40 to $50 for the average taxpayer and john boehner put off action on that transportation bill until after next week's congressional recess. lawmakers out for presidents' day. a spokesperson saying more time is needed to work through the nearly 300 proposed amendments, also to find money to fund the bill. other lawmakers in both parties saying

up in new yorkÑi and looking over central park park and scully is demuring. steved the rest of your life, scully was at pepsi, selling sugar water or do you want to change the world? so scully comes and, scully is a man of prep school sensibilities. great manners. very kind. but he is hard, it is hard for him to deal with conflict. steve felt the price, i say why were you so tough? well, the price of admission to being with me is that i have got to be able to tell you you're full of it, actually used a word with two more letters than it. >> yeah. >> you have to be able to tell me i'm full of it and we'll really duke it out and scully was not that way. secondly, scully was basically a marketer. you know, and having run pepsi u.s. he didn't sit there worrying about the product. he was not fiddling with the formula for doritos and saying i can make this insanely great, this dorito. it was shelf space marketing. i think steve after a while felt that scully just didn't get into how awesome the mack was. it didn't help the mac was insanely great, scully priced it at almo

steve jobs is behind it. but there was a new board then. john scully had just come in.as a whole different thing that came on. then they decided to kill it. but this one airing survived because they felt that strongly it could be something for the company, making a statement that they could be different than what had existed in the computer world. >> this would be a catch phrase. if i said wassup, you know exactly what i'm talking about. >> yes. >> hello. >> wassup? >> nothing. watching the game, having a buzz. what's up with you? >> nothing. watching the game, having a buzz. >> true, true. >> wassup. >> that's what you remember. it becomes a popular catch phrase. >> these it. if it can become part of culture and go on, look, back then we didn't have the internet to pass things around. you wanted people on monday in their office around the water cooler says wass uwassup and it go further than that. that's today's network. charles, the creator and director in the spot. that's him in there with all of his buddies, creating something there was a cultural icon. it lived on.