we've got the secretary of the department of agriculture tom vilsack is here.nd i want to thank the mayor of cannon falls for organizing perfect weather, robby robinson is here. so i am very pleased to be out of washington. and it is great -- >>> right now on "andrea mitchell reports," live pictures coming up from cannon falls, minnesota, you just saw president obama kicking off his mid western bus tour with a town hall just minutes from now. it's the first stop as he tries to reverse gears on his approval ratings which have been sliding down to 39%. a new low. that's the president arriving just a bit ago in minnesota. michele bachmann meanwhile celebrating her big win many the straw poll in iowa gets upstaged in her hometown of waterloo by the new guy in the race texas governor rick perry. >> the president of the united states has a pen. and it's called a veto pen. and i will use it until the ink runs out if that's what it takes to get the message we're not spending all the money. >> people feel it now, the fire. they recognize that obama can be beat. >> today

tom vilsack is an iowan. it makes a lot of sense he's spending time here and i suspect we'll see a lot of them between now and election day. >> do you sense a little bit of -- a little bit of erosion of support, particularly in the -- all of this, it seems, get the placing they can't -- >> i've not seen that, any erosion of support. i think he's really making the point that he cares passionately about rural america, and rural iowa, and he's going to spend some quality time here to talk about the future of agriculture and the future of roar rural am. >> there was a sound bite yesterday that i thought was interesting about what's broken? is it politics or government? here's what he said. >> don't be confused as frustrated as you are about politics. don't buy into this notion that somehow government is what's holding us back. government is what protects. the government built the interstate highway system. the government is what sent a plan to the moon. it's what has invested in the research and development that

program are actually one of the best economic stimulus programs out there as agriculture secretary tom vilsack noted when you talk about the snap program or the food stamp program you have to recognize that it's also an economic stimulus every dollar of snap benefits generates one point eight four dollars in the economy in terms of economic activity. if people are able to buy a little more in the grocery store and someone has got to stock it show all of the package it processes and ship it all of those are jobs it's the most direct stimulus you can get into the economy during tough times the congressional budget office agrees and circuit terryville sec so does the center on budget and policy priorities so does the economic policy institute and sort as moody's and so does virtually all or every serious or nonpartisan economist of fox so-called news in the republican party. they beg to disagree. is still end of this program now is it actually people who are in food stamp stimulate the economy because every dollar generates one dollar and eighty four cents into the economy you buy more groceries

the gang on fox and friends and others in the conservative media criticized agriculture secretary tom vilsack comments about how food stamps are the most direct stimulus you can get the economy during these tough times. this the end of this program now is that actually people who are on food stamps stimulate the economy because every dollar generates one dollar and eighty four cents into the economy even more groceries if you're on food stamps he he by that is a stimulating part of the economy and i offered my take on why fox news doesn't know jack about economics. if you give people money to buy stuff then guess what they buy stuff and buy and stuff stimulates the economy it creates demand which increases the need for more stuff which means some people have to get hired to grow or build or manufacture and supply more things to sell which means more jobs and more paychecks and pretty much everybody doing much better it's called economics one hundred one government spending does boost the economy every one dollar spent on rebuilding our infrastructure creates a dollar fifty nine in each increa

coming up, secretary of agriculture and the governor of iowa, tom vilsack. chuck todd is live on day two of the president's bus tour. and pat buchanan and eugene robinson. after the break, politico's top stories of the morning. but, first, bill karins with a look at the forecast. >>> we're watching pretty nice conditions across many areas of the country. one more pesky morning with the showers in the big cities in new england. today is the transition day. raw and rainy. by the end of the day, should be okay. tomorrow is gorgeous. you can see the green on that map. that's rain coming down. albany to syracuse, scranton area, the cities are dodging the showers, making a run for philadelphia. dc, you're dry. north of philadelphia, there's a kman of showers. a winter storm, temperatures are cool in the 50s and 60s up there in areas of new england. the forecast, we're going to make it to the 70s, very cool. dc, you'll be better. same with buffalo and pittsburgh. gorgeous weather today in chicago. watch out for thunderstorms in minneapolis. in texas, we're doing it

i just want to, again, thank my extraordinary secretary of agriculture tom vilsack for leading this forum you don't have a more passionate advocate for farming communities in rural america than tom vilsack. and i will tell you, if you are not fully persuaded that this administration has been all over the rural agenda, spend five minutes with tom vilsack -- and his enthusiasm for the steps that we've been taking just bubbles over. and it's been under his leadership more than anybody's that we've been able to make such a difference. i want to thank all the members of my cabinet who are here today as well. they've done a terrific job participating in some of these breakout sessions. i hits that we've taken over the last two and a half years -- tom is right, i am absolutely confident about our future. and i'm confident because i know that while we face serious challenges -- and there's no sugarcoating that -- there's not a nation on earth that would not want to trade places with us. there's nothing wrong with our country -- although there is some problems with our politics. that's what we nee

in about ten minutes, north carolina governor, homeland security secretary janet napolitano and tom vilsack hold a news conference right there in north carolina. we will bring that to you coming up around 1:30. >>> up next, if you're looking for a job, we are going to tell you the top five companies now hiring. n. ah. mom? he's here. nice wheels. oh, thanks. keeps me young. hello there, handsome. your dinner's in the microwave, dear. ♪ where do you want to go? just drive. [ engine revs, tires screech ] mom? ♪ >>> the news about the economy and jobs hasn't exactly been reassuring with reports that we may be headed back into recession, but jobs are still out there. you just have to know where to look. aol tracked down the top companies hiring not in a few months or a few weeks, but this week, in fact. so you car fans will know about this first one. mopar, the parts and service division for the chrysler group, is one of those companies hiring right now. mopar is searching for young, creative types who don't necessarily have to have an automotive background. let's take a look at who else. okay.

agricultural secretary tom vilsack is riding with the president and joins us this morning. etary vilsack, this is the time when eiowans feel popular. is this a campaign style swing or a presidential i have a jobs plan and this is the first piece of it? what is it? because the republicans have criticized him saying that the president is campaigning. >> well, this president made a historic commitment to rural -- the first council dedicated to rural areas in our history and continuation of the council's work. he instructed his cabinet members and administration officials to travel around the country to listen and to learn about steps that we could take to put more activity, more economic opportunity in rural america, so yesterday we began the process of announcing a series of things that will be announced over the course of the next couple of weeks including what you refer to which is a doubling of sba's commitment and loan opportunities for small businesses in rural areas as well as a unique partnership we will have with the department of labor to get information about jobs ou

tom vilsack the agriculture secretary gave a preview of the kind of policies we might expect. >> when you talk about the snap program or the food stamp program. you have to recognize that it's also an economic stimulus. >> laura: food stamps are an economic stimulus. you may remember that jobs is something that the president has been thinking about for quite some time. >> the question is how are we going to make sure that people are getting back to work? jobs must be our number one focus in 2010. >> as president, that's my commitment to you. to do everything i can to make sure our economy is growing, creating jobs, and strengthening our middle class. >> making sure jobs are available is the first thing i think about when i wake up in the morning and last thing i think about when i go to bed each night. >> not a day goes by that i'm not focused on your jobs. >> i will continue also to fight for what the personal people care most about. new jobs, higher wages, and faster economic growth. >> laura: but, perhaps americans aren't buying the president's job talk here because according to a

married of course to the former governor tom vilsack our now agriculture secretary who will be out onth president obama. >> thank you very much. >>. >>> and what political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours. you guessed what will be makin headlines in the next 24 hours? we are live from java joes in des moines, and where else? >>> "newsnation" with tamron hall next, only on msnbc. >>> which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours, and managing editor of postpolitics.com, and there was a moment when there was a question asked legitimate question of michele bachmann about being submissive to your husband. >> you describeded a moment in your life when your husband said that you should study for a degree in tax law and you said you hated the idea, and then you explain quote, but the lord said be submissive and wives are to be submissive to your husbands and as president would you be submissive to your husband? [ audience boos ] >> what submission means to us if that is what your question is, it means respect. i respect my husband. he is a wonderful godly

agriculture secretary tom vilsack was actually talking to the international association for food protection in washington, d.c. today. and these are the figures he gave out. this year one in six americans will get sick from foodborne illnesses. 128,000 will be hospitalized. and this year alone, 3,000 americans will die from foodborne illnesses. it is clearly a major issue in this country, shep. the computer security firm mac fee five year operation called shady rat. officials say hackers have targeted the united nations headquarters here in new york. and the international olympic committee plus dozens of companies and agencies around the world. the associated press confirms it was a victim. mac a fee officials are not releasing the names of other targets or information the hackers got. the feds say they are on it. >> we have a whole cyber response unit, cyber emergency response unit as well as the national cyber incident command here in virginia. they will, together, be involved in mac afee and other issues of sibler attack against the united states. >> mcafee officials think they think the

[applause] the secretary of the department of agriculture tom vilsack is here.applause] and i want to thank the mayor of canyon falls for organizing perfect weather. robbie robinson is here. [applause] so i am very pleased to be out of washington. [applause] [no audio] >> we are having some problems bringing you the feed from minnesota of the president's minnesota tour today. as we try to fix the feed, we want to let you know he is setting out on a three-city bus door to talk about the economy, jobs. today he is in cannon falls, >> think about it, over the past six months we have had a string of bad luck speak. there were some things we could not control. there was an arab spring that promises more rights and more democracy, but it also drove up gas prices. did you have the situation in europe where they are dealing with all sorts of the challenges. we had a tsunami in japan, and that broke supply chains and created difficulties for the economy all across the globe. there were a bunch of things taking place over the past six months that were not within our contr

tom vilsack who was the former governor of iowa knows a little bit about agriculture. when i put tom in as the head of the department of agriculture one of the first things we talked about was how can we mobilize the incredible resourcefulness and hard work of rural communities all across this country, not just to create jobs but also to win back energy independence. and as a consequence we have put billions of dollars into energy research and help move in a direction of greater reliance on fuels that are homegrown. so, let me give you a couple of examples. one, obviously is bio fuels. a lot of folks here are familiar with corn-based ethanol, but the fact of the matter is that the technology is moving where we need to start taking advantage of a whole range of biofuels, using refuse, using stuff that we don't use for food to create energy, and we are seeing incredible progress -- megyn: there you have it. they are moving away from the core issues, which is jobs. we will monitor for further news. we'll stream it live on foxnews.com as well. we want to get a reaction to t

tom vilsack and i were talking on the way over, on the bus here, and the truth of the matter is thatal sector in america, the cornerstone of states like iowa, is doing very well, but we could be doing more, and my general attitude is why don't we want to open up markets so that the extraordinary bounty of the heartland of america is making its way there but also manufacturing is making its way there. look, we've got -- we've got a whole bunch of kias and hyundais here in the united states of america on our roads, and that's fine and good, but i want tom chryslers and some gms and some fords on the roads in south korea as well. we should go ahead and get those trade deals done. so there are a whole host of ideas that we could be implementing right now that traditionally have had bipartisan support. the only thing that is preventing us from passing it is that there are some folks in congress who think that doing something in cooperation with me or this white house, that that somehow is bad politics. well, you know what? you guys didn't send us there to be thinking about our jobs. you s

and agricultural secretary tom vilsack will come along to see the agricultural damage. and katia blew to life today with top winds of 40 miles an hour, and forecasters say that the conditions are so favorable that katia is likely to explode into a major hurricane by the weekend. mew mar gadhafi's wife, two of his sons and daughter have turned up in algeria. they say that the gadhafis were taken in as a humanitarian gesture. libya's new political leaders say they want algeria to send them back to face charges. >>> the ntc is saying they should be forced to come back here and they should be extradited to face trial here and if algeria does not do that it is considered an act of aggression against the will of the libyan people. >> moammar gadhafi reportedly became a grandfather again today. the wire service afp says that is shshgs a gadhafi gave birth to a baby girl in algeria. se syrians jamming the streets today, and once again syrian soldiers opened fire on protesters in several cities. worshippers had just emerged from mosque where they mark the end of the holy month r

and shockingly, the obama administration official, former governor of iowa, tom vilsack and he recentlystamps as an economic stimulus. food stamps are not the solution. they are a symptom of the problem that too many people are without work. [applause] food stamps, food stamps didn't stimulate the economy. they stimulate government dependence. most americans don't yearn to be dependent on government subsidies. they want economic freedom. economic freedom comes from work and wages, not welfare. since the time i was old enough to drive that tractor. i knew that the american way was not about empowering government. it was about empowering people. that's the american way. [applause] today's leaders see it differently though. and to be fair president obama did inherit a bad economy, but to his fault he made it worse. he delivered trickle-down bureaucracy come spending close to $800 million of stimulus that went down, trickle-down to the bureaucracy to handpick industries to create temporary jobs. instead of eliminating our economic crisis, he worsened it. instead of addressing the dead, he e

secretary of agriculture, tom vilsack. secretary of the interior, ken salazar. secretary of transportation, ray lahood. secretary of housing and urban development, sean donovan. and the small business administrator, karen mills. well, this is an outstanding crowd and i don't want to stand in the way of a lot of good work that's going to be done so i'm going to just make some brief remarks at the top. we've got small business owners here. we have farmers, we have ranchers, public servants, clean energy entrepreneurs, and community organizations from all across rural america. and i'm here because i want to hear from you and my cabinet wants to hear from you. there are two things that i know for sure. america is going to come back from this recession stronger than before. that i'm convinced of. i believe that. and i'm also convinced that comeback isn't going to be driven by washington. it's going to be -- [ applause ] >> it is going to be driven by folks here in iowa, it's going to begin in the classrooms of community colleges like this one, it's going to start on

it's hosted by his agriculture secretary and former iowa governor tom vilsack. the president will wrap up his tour tomorrow with two more town hall meetings in illinois before returning to washington. vice president joe biden is on his way to asia today for a weeklong trip as part of an effort by the administration to enhance the u.s. role in asia. >> live on c-span at 5:30 eastern this afternoon, pakistan's former foreign secretary will be at johns hopkins school of advanced international studies to talk about the strained relationship between the u.s. and pakistan. "the wall street journal" reported on monday that the obama administration will start basing its aid to pakistan on whether the country meets a scorecard of u.s. objectives to combat al-qaeda and its allies. >>> and all this month watch booktv in prime time on c-span2. tonight journalism and newspapers. at 8 p.m. eastern, william mcgowan talks about gray lady down, what the decline and fall of the new york times means for america. at 9:40 we'll hear from the authors of "will the last reporter please

well, i know that the secretary of agriculture does, tom vilsack said this. >> when you talk -- he saidlk about the stamp program which is the food stamp program, you have to realize that it's almost an economic stimulus, every dollar of benefits generates $1.84 in the economy in terms of economic activity. if people are able to buy a little bit more in the grocery store, someone has to stock it, package it, process it, ship it. all of those are jobs. it's the most direct stimulus you can get in the economy during these tough times. so if you give people money that they didn't earn, and you tell them to go spend it on stuff they normally couldn't afford, everyone is better off. >> very quickly, jay carney earlier this week or last week came out and said unemployment benefits are stimulus as well. this is -- this is an administration that just doesn't get it. it's really -- it's socialism. the more you give, the more you stimulate. no. sorry, it's got to come from a private sector. >> coming up on the show, tea party patriots called racists and terrorists and some democrats want you to b

in recent interview, agriculture secretary tom vilsack said of the snap program "you have to recognizehat it's also an economic stimulus. if people are able to buy a little more at the grocery store, someone has to stock it, package it, shelve it, process it, ship it. all of those are jobs. it's the most direct stimulus you can give in the economy during these tough times." so is that actually true? are food stamps a stimulus? joining me now, senior fellow for project 21 and fox news contributor and economy and radio talk show host mark levine for an interesting debate. good morning to both of you. mark, i'll give you the first crack at this. really? >> yeah, it's actually food stamps are some of the best economic multipliers. all you have to do is look at a paper by the chief economist for moody's and talks about the fact if you spend a dollar in the grocery store, it actually turns out to be about $1.73 in economic stimulus because groceries need to hire more people, packers and shipers need to hire more people and they go out and spend money on their kids, you know, for christmas an

he will be joined by agricultural secretary tom ball vilsack. >> good morning, everyone.ant to thank you for joining the call. obviously with president obama embarking on this taxpayer funded campaign tour, we are here to launch a campaign of our own called obama's debt to are, to remind the people of this president's failure to create jobs and of his failed policies that have only made things worse. but we are doing as we have had said, text messaging that we're launching, making calls to independent voters, we are holding press conferences, and in each state where president obama will visit, we will not stand idly by while this president perpetrates this fraud of a bus tour why using taxpayer dollars to spend it -- spin his failure to put america back to old word. a few days ago he said he would renew his focus on creating jobs. of course, he cannot help themselves because he is the campaigner in chief. he would rather be out campaigning than in washington leading our country out of the ditch that he put us in. he is out here today in minnesota talking about jobs. but t