on one of the most important weekends of the year. we'll be live at the beach tonight with the very latest. the other industry that's taking a big hit is seafood, and tonight i'll talk to top chef tom coliccio who went down to the gulf to see for himself whether he thinks their seafood is safe to eat. then later the man of the moment, lebron james, sure he is one of the best players in basketball history but why are mayors and governors across the country falling all over themselves to get him for their teams? we got lots to cover, a lot of ground to cover tonight but we'll start again with that number one story, the disaster in the gulf. we learned today that the cap on the ruptured well has been bouncing in the water, probably because of the effects of hurricane alex. well, now there are fears that less oil was being captured than we thought, so is this another setback on the containment effort? we'll bring in right now randi kaye live in new orleans with more. >> reporter: campbell, even losing one drop of oil for folks here in the gulf is a setback in the containment process. a bp spokesman saying today, confirming that high winds are accounting for that wobble that we are currently seeing on the underwater pictures. the wave height is expected to decrease through the weekend but officials do say that they are now capturing slightly less oil than before the waves and the rough water made that cap wobble or jiggle. campbell? >> randi, in his briefing today admiral thad allen talked about the government's use of skimmers in the gulf, sort of this skimmer surge. explain how it's going so far. >> reporter: well, a lot of folks here are talking about skimmers. i was actually out with governor bobby jindal yesterday and he is still waiting on the skimmers for the state. a lot of the parishes here have far more skimmers on paper than in reality. st. bernard's parish told us they'd have this thing cleaned up if they had as many skimmers as it says they are supposed to. but today national incident commander admiral thad allen talked about what he called the federal government's aggressive skimming strategy and admiral allen says that since the beginning of june skimming capability in the gulf has increased fivefold now from about 100 large skimmers to 550 skimming vessels of all different sizes today. so he says so far 28.2 million gallons of an oily, watery mix has been skimmed from the gulf surface, campbell. >> randi, also there is this report from noaa today with pretty unsettling news from miami and the keys. what is the probability that they are going to see oil on their beaches soon? >> reporter: it's looking just like they might. the latest report from noaa just out today as you said shows how the oil may impact the shoreline, who may get it, and the news really is not looking too good for the east coast. research based on -- has been based on four months and it looks like the florida keys, miami, and fort lauderdale could actually be in jeopardy now. those areas have according to noaa a 61% to 80% chance that oil will reach their beaches and noaa says the oil won't be in the form it is now. it would be much more degraded. the dispersant would have had some work on it. it would be in the form of scattered tar balls and not the large surface slick of oil that we've seen out here. the threat outlined in noaa's model though does not necessarily indicate that the oil will come ashore for sure. it all depends on the winds and the ocean currents and the weather really. we have 23 named storms expected, 14 hurricanes, so who knows what's going to happen and where that oil is going to end up. >> and those people are going to be anxiously watching. randi kaye, thanks very much. a new health advisory in effect tonight for all pensacola, florida beaches. the oily muck and tar balls littering the shore could spell disaster for the tourist hot spot, it already is again for this holiday weekend but may be for the entire year. we're in pensacola tonight for an up close look at the latest victim of the gulf coast oil spill. take a look. >> reporter: cleanup crews pore over pensacola beaches. oil stains and tar balls cover what was just a few weeks ago pristine, white sand. front loaders literally dumped pensacola's economy into waiting trucks. the virtually empty beaches are now under what the county health department is calling an oil impact notice warning people to stay out of the water and off the oil-stained sand indefinitely. does it worry you that the closure of these beaches might not just be for days, it could be weeks if not longer? >> yeah, we've lost this summer. the summer of 2010 is gone for pensacola beach the way that i see it. our season is from memorial day to labor day. we're sitting here the week before july 4th and there's nobody here. >> reporter: disgust, anger. for councilman larry johnson this show of cleanup force is too little too late. day after day the tides shift the sand. much of the tar and oil is buried before the crews get to it. johnson digs down. the oil appears beneath the surface like the rings of a tree that tell its age. >> john, this has been covered up from the night before. >> reporter: how many inches down is this, four inches, five inches? >> four or five inches down. >> reporter: pensacola is home to greg hall and diana stevens. >> it kills me. i mean, it kills my soul that the gulf of mexico is being destroyed. >> reporter: every day they walk the beach taking pictures. i-reporters for cnn, they've documented what they see. not pretty. gregg puts his hands in the water. when he takes them out, tar. diana holds a clean fish tank filter. not for long. >> this is it. just holding it in for a few seconds you can see you get tar balls. this is the sheen, the foamy orange stuff you see out in the surf. >> reporter: nearly every day more oil washes ashore bringing with it waves of overwhelming frustration felt by most people here. >> you can't get everything. it's kind of like cleaning this beach with a toothpick. it's just an impossible task. >> reporter: an impossible task with no end in sight. >> it's really heart breaking to look at. nearly 20% of all pensacola's revenue is earned in july but the numbers as john pointed out there are likely to fall very short this year. john is with us right now i believe from pensacola. are you there, john? >> reporter: yes, i'm here, campbell. >> give me your perspective right now where you are. >> reporter: you know, campbell, about half of that 20% you mentioned is made in the first two weeks, ten to 12 days of july, and they say that about 50,000 -- about 50% of the advance bookings for the july 4th weekend were canceled. the july 4th weekend, and next weekend, which is the blue angels air show weekend, are the two biggest tourist weekends they have here in pensacola and you can see, campbell, it's a no brainer. it's empty here. >> and compared to other years, i mean, this is going to be a huge hit, right? >> reporter: yeah, july 4th last year, 100,000 people were here and they actually expected that this year -- they do about 2 million tourists every year and they expected -- every summer -- they expected that this year this would be their biggest tourist year ever. and that's going by the boards very, very quickly. campbell? >> people are -- there are some people on the beaches, i know. are they getting in the water or staying out of the water mostly? >> reporter: you know, the few people that are here, there are those that we saw today that actually were in the water. you know, it's interesting about that health advisory, campbell, that the city, the county actually took it on their own to do that because as you know the epa has not set any standard for what's safe water, what isn't safe water. but as you saw in that piece when they brought out that fish filter, it was just covered. it would be common sense not to get in the water but we saw lots of folks in there today just the same. >> wow. appreciate it, john, from pensacola for us tonight. thanks. still ahead, when you see that oily muck spewing into the gulf it makes you think the last thing you should eat is gulf seafood. right? but not so fast. one of the nation's top chefs says eat up. he'll be here in just a minute to talk about it. vehicles like they like th 2010 malibu, traverse and silverado half-ton have each been named a consumers digest best buy. they like that chevy backs the quality with a one-hundred- thousand mile powertrain warranty. they're not just trading in, they're trading up. qualified lessees now get a low mileage lease on this malibu ls for around one ninety-nine a month. call for details. the switch to chevy starts at chevydealer.com. an everyday moment can turn romantic at a moment's notice. and when it does, men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident... in their ability to be ready with cialis. with two clinically proven dosing options, you can 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washing up on beaches, you have to wonder if any seafood from the gulf is safe to eat. well, one of the most famous chefs in the world decided to check it out for himself. he has a small empire of restaurants and his own tv show, tom collacio, and his own tv show, "top chef" was in the gulf last weekend and watched how they are testing fish and came away with this advice -- dig in. i spoke with him earlier about his trip. tom, so good to have you here. >> good being here. >> you went down to the gulf with a few other prominent chefs to sort of investigate i guess how safe the seafood was. tell us what you found. >> there were seven of us. we went down to grand isle and we were there sunday. we got there sunday afternoon and we spent -- we went out not actually in the gulf because it was a little rough with the storm coming in so we stayed in the bay. you could see that there were some areas in the marsh lands damaged by oil. a little oil here and there you saw on the surface getting sort of skimmed up but then after that we spent a lot of time with fishermen and families and talking to them just to try to get a better idea of what was going on there. there's sort of two stories right now i think you need to tell about the gulf. one, this is devastating. it's horrible what's going on down there. they need to stop this oil somehow some way. hopefully it will happen with this new well. but on the other hand there's a lot of hope. there are fishermen still fishing. >> right. >> the fishermen that aren't cleaning up the oil are actually fishing and the fish out of the gulf is safe. there's a lot of different agencies testing the waters, tissue samples being taken every day. i think over 300 since may. >> just to be clear they're not fishing in the oil spill area. >> no, no. 30% of the gulf is closed off to fishing. there is a huge buffer zone between where the oil is and areas you can fish. and it's being patroled by the coast guard from air, from helicopter, from planes, boats. and the penalty for fishing in closed waters is you lose your license to fish in federal waters. federal waters start three miles from the beach so they'll lose their livelihood if they get caught fishing in closed areas. >> so they're testing fish. i know noaa is doing it, and they're looking for any, i don't know what the science of it is. >> they're looking for hydro carbons in the fish, actually the presence of oil in the fish. >> and they haven't found any. >> absolutely none. and the reports that i've seen from the louisiana fish and game, the samples are taken that are sent to independent labs for testing and you can actually go to www.louisiana seafood.com and see those tests and see the actual tests being taken. i was skeptical going down there. i've been fishing my entire life and i wanted to see what it was like down there. >> right. >> so when i got the opportunity to go, i was skeptical. i really -- >> see, that's how -- i'm a mother, i've got two little kids and i'm supposed to give them seafood? >> i have an 11-month-old. >> you have a perception issue. you're a chef and you love seafood and you care about the industry and you're trying to help them by conveying this to people but you have this huge perception because of what people are watching on tv every night. >> the perceptions are wild. people are coming into my restaurants not wanting to eat seafood at all. >> right. >> cod and things like that that come from the north atlantic, never, you know, been south of new jersey, they're getting lumped into it. i think this is something the entire seafood industry needs to tackle. >> really got to educate people. >> yes, number one. there is this crazy perception that they can't go down to new orleans because there's oil lapping on the beaches. it's a hundred miles from the spill. the perceptions are running wild. you know, i was skeptical and i am, you know, i would say 99.9% sure from everything that i've seen from talking to the fishermen, from talking to the various scientists down there, that this is safe. you know, what's interesting is seafood is not tested by the usda. meat is. seafood is too perishable. it usually goes from fisherman to distributer to restaurants and this is the only seafood actually being tested. so this is the safest seafood out there probably. >> the restaurants in the area, i mean, look. this had a devastating effect on the local economy but restaurants have to be especially hurting, right? >> it's interesting. i've heard new orleans is actually pretty busy. in fact, i think that, you know, anderson cooper has been there and i guess commented that the streets are busy in new orleans. >> right. >> but grand isle and places like that, these are tourist areas. >> right. >> and, you know, obviously the fishermen if they're not fishing are working the spill and from what i understand a lot of them are getting their checks from bp. i'm not a fan of bp but i understand. it's the hair dressers, it's the guy who was selling slushies, you know. >> right. >> the local restaurants down there because they rely on tourism. we're down on grand isle in a house overlooking the beach on a day where it's 95 degrees on a sunday. you'd expect the beach to be just filled with people. >> nobody. >> no one is down there. >> one prominent new orleans chef named susan spicer is filing a lawsuit against bp. i know she has been a judge with you on "top chef" so do you support the lawsuit? should other restaurant owners be thinking about getting onboard with this? >> i've known susan for over 20 years and i consider her a close friend. i'm not in new orleans. i don't know what's going on. what i don't want this lawsuit to do is to in any way sort of make that perception worse that you can't get seafood. because you can. >> right. >> and that's the only thing i'm afraid of. my understanding now is the lawsuit has been filed and she's gone on record saying that. this is to just in case it gets worse. >> right. >> because it can get worse. this thing changes every day. so this is just in case it gets worse that she wants to get her suit on file now. but again, i think the message needs to be there is seafood there, fishermen are fishing and the fish is safe. i hope that message doesn't get lost in this lawsuit. >> and any chance i guess i can't let you go without asking you this, that your show, "top chef" will do something with this sort of idea of what's going on down there and try and work it into the story? >> we're currently in our seventh season and already shot the entire season with the exception of the finale but we're back in production probably sometime in early fall and i'm going to try to make sure we do something with the gulf seafood, louisiana seafood. >> great to have you here. >> thanks. >> good to meet you. thanks for coming on. coming up, the battle over immigration reform is just beginning. why arizona governor jan brewer is angrier than ever while other leaders are calling for calm on the border. we're going to hear from the los angeles mayor antonio villaraigosa. it could be michael steele's biggest gaffe yet. why some in his own party are calling on the republican national committee chairman to resign. the power and versatility of six tools packed into one. more innovation, more great values. craftsman. 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[ male announcer ] aleve. proven better on pain. the back lash against president obama's immigration reform is in full swing. despite the president's call to secure our borders and his recent deployment of 1200 national guard troops to help get the job done, yirz governor jan brewer blasted the president's plan as, quote, disappointing to say the least. listen. >> i will not, and i know you will not, accept the notion that border security is the responsibility of the border states. >> but a leader in another border state says brewer is missing the point here. while he admits the system is broken los angeles mayor antonio villaraigosa says effective immigration reform isn't about talking tough. it's about building bridges. and mayor villaraigosa is joining me live right now from los angeles. good to have you here, mayor. appreciate it. the president made his first big speech on immigration reform, the first one of his presidency, just yesterday. and i think most agree that there's virtually no chance of congress passing anything really before november. are you disappointed that the administration didn't take this on until now, didn't make it a higher priority earlier? >> actually, this was his first major speech, but he's had a number of high level meetings with republican leaders, with democratic leaders on the issue since early in the year. he's reaffirmed on a number of occasions his support and his belief that we should pass comprehensive immigration reform this year and the fact is as i've said to many who have criticized him he doesn't have a vote in the congress. it's up to the senate and the house to do this and i believe that they need to do this this year. the fact is, this immigration system, both parties, everyone agrees, is broken. we need to secure our borders without question but we also need to provide a pathway for citizenship. >> so republicans, you know what their arguments are here, and they argue particularly the law in arizona is really a response to the failure of the federal government to secure the borders. do you believe that the administration has now adequately secured the borders? >> well, i think they've done a lot more to provide personnel at the border and more technology at the border. i do think that the best way for us to secure our borders is to fix the broken immigration system. so if we want to do that we can. just provide more personnel there and more technology. we need to make sure that employers are held accountable for hiring the undocumented illegally. we need to make sure that there's ramifications and consequences for hiring the undocumented, but also provide a pathway for citizenship that says, look. i broke the law. i have got to get at the end of the line. i got to pay my taxes, and i've got to ensure i haven't broken the law in other areas as well. >> let me push you on the border issue just a little bit, because i want to ask you if you agree with what arizona governor jan brewer said last night that border security should not be in her view the responsibility of border states and you're a border state mayor. do you think the president has sent enough troops to the border to get the job done? >> well, i believe there is more personnel there than at any time in our history. i think we have adequate personnel but more importantly if we want to secure those borders the federal government does have to provide that, not the border states. i agree with that proposition. but by the same rationale of thinking i also believe that states should not be passing laws like arizona did. that's the federal government's responsibility under the supremacy clause. you know, you mentioned republicans and democrats. we just passed at the u.s. conference of mayors an organization that's bipartisan. democrats and republicans unanimously passed my motion that called for the federal government to pass comprehensive immigration reform to secure our borders, to hold employers accountable but also provide a pathway for citizenship. they also unanimously in that motion called for the repeal of the arizona law. >> your city because of the arizona law is boycotting the state and governor brewer is angry that the president hasn't called for you to stop the boycott. listen to this. >> he could have talked about the boycotts and put cold water on that craziness. you know? that's what we want from our president. we want leadership and in the end we want our border secured. >> so, mayor, you were part of that, you know, in her word "craziness" that she's talking about there. do you think your boycott is really the best solution? the people of arizona are certainly the ones suffering in the end whether they support the law or not. >> well, reasonable people can disagree about the means by which we demonstrate our opposition to this law. i think this law is unconstitutional on its face. it's discriminatory. i believe as she does, as governor brewer does, that it's a federal responsibility to secure our borders and to enforce our immigration laws. i also agree that the system is broken. that we have to have respect for the rule of law, but that we have to create a framework that reforms that current broken system and we can only do that through legislation. >> and finally let me ask you, because you've seen a lot of these national polls, i've seen a couple, one showing 57%, one 58% of americans support the arizona law. why is the american public for this bill? why do you think they disagree with you? >> well, actually 57% support the law and 57% support comprehensive immigration reform. i think people are frustrated, campbell. i think they recognize the system as broken and they're frustrated that the beltway hasn't fixed it. president obama's called on the house and the senate to do that. they should do that in a bipartisan way but if there's not the republican support for it we need to move this legislation along. >> all right. mayor, it's very good to have you with us. appreciate your time tonight, sir. thank you. >> thank you. still to come tonight is michael steele finally gone too far? up next outcry on the right after the rnc chairman calls the war in afghanistan a war of obama's choosing. and get this year's colors up on the wall...this year. let's get better prices... and better paint. let's break out the drop cloths, rollers, brushes, and tape. let's start small. then go big. no matter what the budget. and when we're done, let's take a bow. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now, get $5 off any one-gallon can of any behr or glidden paint. tonight there are new calls for embattled republican chairman michael steele to step down coming not from democrats but from some prominent voices in steele's own party. "weekly standard" editor william kristol condemns the chairman for remarks he made about afghanistan at a recent fundraiser and says the recent remarks that the war in afghanistan is unwinnable is grounds for his departure. here is what steele said that got him in trouble. >> keep in mind for our federal candidates, this was a war of obama's choosing. this is not something the united states had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in. he is such a student of history. has he not understood that you don't know that the one thing you don't do is engage in a land war in afghanistan? >> and of course it was a republican president who led a nato coalition to invade afghanistan right after the september 11 attacks. i spoke a little earlier tonight with cnn's chief political correspondent candy crowley about the hoopla. so, candy, you've now got bill kristol of "the weekly standard" calling for steele to resign. in an open letter he writes, quote, needless to say the war in afghanistan was not a war of obama's choosing. it has been prosecuted by the united states under presidents bush and obama. your statement puts you at odds with about 100% of the republican party. how much of a blow is this to steele? >> well, it's not great. i mean, he -- not only did he not seem to understand in that statement he made what this war was about and that it started with 9/11 and that we went after al qaeda being protected by the taliban in power in afghanistan, he didn't seem to understand the party's position. this is not a good thing. but let us also add that michael steele has been in a bunch of trouble before several times and he survived all of them. >> but let me read you what he said in response to, or his attempt rather to clarify his remarks. he said, quote, during the 2008 presidential campaign, barack obama made clear his belief that we should not fight in iraq but instead concentrate on afghanistan. now, as president, he has indeed shifted his focus to this region. our country must give our troops the support necessary to win this war. it's confusing i think. clarity was the goal here. but could that appease fellow republicans at this point? >> you know, i have no idea. i mean, what he did was a 180 there. the big thing here wasn't that he said this is president obama's war. plenty of people had said now that he has put more troops in afghanistan than president bush did. it is president obama's war. but not in the way he said it. he said it as though president obama had started it, which he did not. what really is bothering republicans at this point was the suggestion it's a war that can't be won. that is so far from republican orthodoxy at this point. they are the main supporters of this war. it's the democrats who tend to look at it and think my goodness, it's not winnable. it comes at a really key time. they're trying to get funding for the increase in troops there and basically the senate left without passing that funding so the timing's awful. the words were wrong. but i think that second statement steele put out clearly is a 180 on his part kind of trying to get out of it. >> so if steele can't stick to the talking points why is he still there? how does he? you pointed out he keeps surviving all these gaaps. are there any good reasons for republicans not to get rid of him? >> yes. november. it's just messy to get rid of a republican chairman at this point. and more than that, it's way too complicated. you would have to bring all of the republican committee together. that would be the chairman of every state and two or three others from those states into washington or somewhere to vote him out. so in addition to being messy it's complicated and, by the way, michael steele's term is up in january and it may just be a less complicated, less messy way to go to wait him out until january. >> candy crowley for us tonight with the latest. thank you very much. >> thank you. coming up, the latest in the increasingly bizarre case of the alleged russian spies. new questions tonight of two more suspects revealing their true identities. in a few minutes the lebron james sweepstakes intensifies as teams line up hat in hand just how far will they go to court the nba superstar? first, joe johns is here with a look at some of the other stories we're following tonight. an explosive case filled with racial tension is in the hands of a california jury. former oakland transit police officer johannes mehserle, who is white, is accused of murdering an unarmed black man on a subway platform. the shooting was captured on cell phone video and led to rioting 19 months ago. the city of oakland is preparing for a possible repeat of violence. however, jurors have retired for the night without reaching a verdict. they're expected to continue deliberations after the 4th of july holiday. another sign the economic recovery is sputtering. new employment numbers came out today and they were disappointing. the labor market lost 125,000 jobs, coming in below expectations. the unemployment rate fell slightly from 9.7% to 9.5% but that is no silver lining. the decline happened because more americans just plain stopped searching for jobs. tonight three republican senators say they do not want elena kagan on the supreme court. the senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, alaska senator lisa murkowski, and utah senator orrin hatch all say they will oppose kagan's nomination. hatch called kagan a brilliant scholar but questioned her legal experience. minority leader mcconnell questions whether kagan would be an impartial jurist when applying the law. with a democratic majority in the senate kagan's confirmation is still viewed as all but certain. and an unmanned cargo spacecraft went way off course and missed its rendevous with the international space station today. the russian vessel was supposed to dock with the space station but overshot it by two miles. there are six astronauts onboard the space station. nasa says they were never in danger. engineers with the russian space agency will try to dock the vehicle again within the next few days. two tons of stuff on that ship that flew by. it's like missing the grocery run, campbell. >> no kidding. all right. joe johns, tonight, thanks very much. still to come, what's going to happen to the kids of those accused russian spies? a couple of them may be headed back to russia. also tonight, lebron mania hits fever pitch as the basketball great nears his big decision. we'll tell you how cities across america are jumping for hoops to try to win him over. the story getting all the buzz this 4th of july weekend, a new poll that suggests 1 in 4 americans don't know that we fought the british in the revolutionary war. according to a new survey from maris college 20% weren't sure which country we fought. another 6% guessed france, china, japan, mexico, or spain, which brings me to the perfect video to kick off the weekend, little kids re-enacting the american revolution. >> hey, you british soldiers, your parliamentary system is treating us unfairly. >> yeah. >> well, we want your money to support our economy. >> don't worry. i wrote a declaration for independence. go ahead and sign it. >> i'll sign it. >> this river is dangerous. let's cross it. >> i want to -- this hurts my head. >> now we can stand as an independent nation. >> we hold these truths to be self-evident. >> that all men are created equal. >> yeah! >> yeah! >> happy independence day, everybody. now a little more news, the latest on that russian spy caper. court documents today reveal two more accused spies admitted to investigators they used false names and are indeed russian citizens. and now new questions are being asked about the fate of the alleged spies' children. who is taking care of them? will they remain in the u.s. or go to russia? here is cnn's brian todd. >> reporter: campbell, prosecutors say they hope to indict all of these five suspects by next week. in the meantime, most of them, including some married couples, are being held without bail and their children are in real limbo. emerging from what authorities say was a deep cover operation, three accused russian spies appear in federal court. the judge calls each a danger to the community and a flight risk, orders them held without bail. they include a married couple, patricia mills and michael zatoli who have separate lawyers and don't even make eye contact with each other in court. mills' face showing clear signs of strain. authorities say she is trying to get their two children, ages 1 and 3, sent to russia to be with her relatives. there are at least seven children among four married couples in this alleged spy operation. children struggling not only with sudden separation from their parents -- >> they are both of them innocent. >> reporter: but also the accusation that their parents weren't who they said they were. the government's complaint says illegals, spies who don't have diplomatic cover, sometimes work under the guise of married couples and will often have children together. this further deepens an illegal's legend. i asked child protection advocate terry braxton about that. now the children might question whether their parents were ever even married, actually felt an emotional bond with each other, because they could be spies, could be set up to do all of this. how bizarre is that? >> you know, i don't have any precedence on which to base an opinion so, you know, i think it is certainly something i've not experienced before. and i can't imagine that any of the kids in this situation are going to feel good about it. >> reporter: the kids may not have even known their parents' names until now. prosecutors say suspect patricia mills told investigators her real name is natalia and her husband's real name is mikhail. i spoke about the balancing act with a former fbi operative who helped catch russia's mole hannsson a case in the hollywood movie "breach." >> how hard is it to be a spy when you have kids of any age? >> it has to be incredibly difficult because the focus of your life is to be a spy, to accomplish the operation, to accomplish your objectives. when you're a parent, you're supposed to take care of your kids. you are supposed to put them first in your life. and a spy can't do that. >> reporter: experts say despite the bizarre nature of this case the children of all of these suspects will very likely be handed over to whomever the parents choose for guardianship unless there is evidence of abuse on the part of the parents. campbell? >> brian, thanks. coming up next, mayors, governors, and even president obama have weighed in on this. it is the lebron james sweepstakes and it's heating up as nba teams engage in a high stakes battle to lure the coveted superstar. we'll look at just how much king the court. can count on. a car that keeps going, when others might quit. a car that stands strong... when you need it most. and expects to handle the unexpected. at chevrolet, we created a team of red x engineers who are obsessed with quality. red x torture tests every car down to the smallest detail. because everyone deserves excellence. ♪ because everyone deserves excellence. 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[kids giggling] announcer: you don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent, because kids in foster care don't need perfection. they need you. the nation is in the grip of lebron james fever. now that the cleveland cavaliers star is a free agent, everybody is trying to guess, will he stay with the only team he's ever played for, or is it time to move on? fans from cities across the country are taking to the internet to try to sway his decision. check out the video of a group of clevelanders singing to the tune of "we are the world." ♪ please stay lebron we really need you no bigger heart that's going to love you half as much as we do it's the choice you're making will you go or will you stay what will we do without you if you move away ♪ >> and not to be outdone here is a group of broadway singers trying to sell lebron on new york. ♪ take your family down to fifth avenue and new york too ♪ ♪ ice skating when it's cold at lincoln center ♪ ♪ cake by the slice and despite what you heard new yorkers are nice ♪ >> joining me now are sports radio host stephen a. smith here tonight and also comedian steve hofsteder joining us as well. these aren't just fans who are launching, lobbying campaigns right now. you have the governor of ohio who was in one of the videos, the mayor of new york is going on tv every five minutes and making a pitch. why do people want him so badly? why is this such a big deal? >> first of all, the singing is going to determine. clearly not going to new york. to be serious he's going to mean a lot of money to any city he goes to. it's projected if he comes here and helps the new york knicks win a championship that particular season it would generate $60 million for the city. you have to remember when michael jordan, somebody he is comparable to in terms of cache and things of that nature, certainly not in the form of championships yet in his career but michael jordan when he retired from the game of basketball they projected he was worth $60 billion -- i'm sorry $1 billion to the city of chicago. so that's, i mean, this is -- he's a moneymaker. >> compare him to -- explain how good he is. i mean, compare him to other athletes in terms of ability. >> well, first of all, he is the most dominant player in basketball. kobe bryant has the best skill set. he may be the best player. but lebron james is the most dominant. he's 250 pounds. he's 6'8", built like a brick chiselled house for crying out loud. i mean, he comes at you like a locomotive. you cannot stop him. he can shoot over you. he can jump over you. he's got the speed to go through you or around you. you cannot stop him. you're either too small for him, too big, too slow, whatever the case may be. he is the complete and total package as a basketball player with the exception of his free-throw shooting. >> break it down for us, steve. which teams are actually in the running? i know you have a little bias here. >> i'm a knicks fan. i hope they're in the running. i'm also not delusional. i think he is staying in cleveland. the guy has a tatoo, the akron area code, 330. the only reason i know that it's the akron area code is because of lebron james. he is a hometown guy. i think he wants to put them on the map. not only is he one of the basketball players in cleveland but probably one of the baseball players too. he is their sports hero. this is their guy. >> he has been honest. he wants to go somewhere where he can win. listen to what he told larry king last month. >> my ultimate goal is to win a championship and i understand that me going down as one of the greats will not happen until i, you know, win a championship. so for me, the team that i decide to go to or if i'm staying in cleveland that ultimately has a chance for me to win a championship not one year but multiple years and for me to continue to get better and help that team win will be my decision. i'm going to do what's best for me and my family. >> where do you think he's leaning? >> i think he's going to south beach. i think he's going to miami to play along side dewayne wade. you have to understand they have approximately $44 million in salary cap room. they would re-sign wade, could bring lebron james onboard and in order to get that third player which is -- they don't really want amar'e stoudemire who is on his way to the knicks, in all likelihood they want chris bosh. if you're talking about dwayne wade with lebron james with chris bosh you have a dynamic trio that instantly makes them the favorite to represent the eastern conference in the nba finals. lebron james is a dominant player. we all know that. we heard him talk about winning. he is a winner by any stretch but at the same time has been devoid of championships. when you look at the former gm who resigned a few weeks ago or was let go depending who you believe he put together a decent enough team where people like myself had cleveland going to the nba finals to meet the los angeles lakers and boston bounced them right out of there. somehow lebron james is culpable for that. he knows he can't do it by himself. you got a guy like dwayne wade who already won a championship, averaged 45 points in the finals and is hungry for another one himself. that would be a way to get that title. >> that was way more than i ever wanted to know about basketball. glad you're here for me. you can comment on what he said but i also want to get your take, one of your takes on the amount of money that is being kicked around when people are trying to woo him right now. >> the most amazing thing is people are saying that the money is what's going to do it because he can make more in cleveland if he stays or the endorsements will be in new york. >> right. >> they're not factoring in, first of all there is no income tax in florida. that is a huge reason for him to go there. he can keep all of his money. if he goes to new york, the property taxes are lower. so i don't think the money is going to do it. this is also a guy who hasn't looked at a price tag in forever. this is a guy making a ton of money. he'll make his money from commercials. i don't think he'll make his money from the contract. it's not going to compare. the reason michael jordan was worth a billion dollars to chicago is because the money follows. >> gentlemen, thank you for being here. and doing this for me. we'll see what happens. i really appreciate it. have a great weekend" larry king live" starts in a few minutes but up next tonight's punch line. >> i tell you i'm ready for the 4th of july. it's my favorite holiday. no presents, no church. just a zippo lighter and trunk full of explosives. finally tonight's holiday weekend punch line. take it away. >> here in new york city fireworks, i like it, because if you spend the holiday in the city, you know this, that the fireworks, what they do is, well, they're beautiful to look at but more importantly they drown out the gun fire. >> the nigerian team finished last in their group. they didn't win any games and as a result of that the president of nigeria, good luck jonathan, has suspended them for two years. and what does this say about the state of our news organization in this country that a guy named good luck jonathan is president of the largest country in africa and i'm only just now finding