somebody on television. he's it's not something that i subscribe to. >> ruth marcus from the "washington post" is here for our daily fix. can we get serious, ruth. >> our daily fix of mommy wars. >> you know, you're a mother. i am not, but -- >> we can still be friends. >> we can still be friends. >> how weird is that. >> this has touched a nerve with a lot of people. but first of all, what was i think lost in the conversation is what hilary rosen was trying to say inartfully but trying to say. >> definitely inartfully and i tried to sort of be her interpreter on something that i posted early yesterday morning. you can find it at washingtonpost.com. >> indeed. >> and look, the mommy wars are like one of these sectarian conflicts or trash fires by the new jersey turnpike that never go out and they'll flare up at a moment's notice. what she was trying to say was that the romney campaign which put, is using her as their emissary to women. >> she's their bulletproof shield. >> that's fine. she seems incredibly likable and has a terrific life story but in many ways her life story is not the life story of many women. >> hilary rosen arriving at the most recent state dinner to tell you that hilary rosen is not just that person on television as president obama described it. she was a guest in his house. she has been a supporter. and they threw her under the bus. >>en an then drove over her. i think one threw her over the bus. they took turns driving over her. >> driving forward and back. >> i'd like to say i guess it's very nice that the romney campaign and the obama campaign can find something to agree on. i think it's a little bit sad that it's this. and i just disagree with the president. sure, we don't want people going after people's spouses but when the romney campaign puts her front and center, does a video featuring her talking about her family and her husband, i think it's fair not to say she never worked a day in her life because that's obviously a dumb thing to say as hilary rosen has said but that perhaps her life experience is not on a par with the life experiences of many women who don't have the luxury of choosing whether to work or not. in that regard, there's a lot of really important conversations to have about women's issues not on the mommy wars between the two candidates but on things like pay equity that the romney campaign doesn't seem to want to engage in or the violence against women act or any number of issues on which women voters may be slightly different than male voters. that's where i'd like to see the debate go. >> hilary rosen trying to defend herself, this was her explanation. >> look, mitt romney brought his wife into this conversation. this is not about ann romney. this is about the waitress at a diner in you know some place in nevada who has two kids whose daycare funding is being cut off because of the romney/ryan budgeting. >> of course, she was then on later in the day and again later last night trying again to explain herself. she's apologized. the romney campaign instead of accepting an apology is fund raising off of this or trying to and hoping that they can close a gap which is you know, as i wrote a canyon, the 19-point gender gap which will, if it persists, mean that they will not win the white house. i mean it has to be narrowed for them to have a shot at it. >> the just as the president obama has been wanting mitt romney to run and merge him as president clinton did with gingrich, he wants to american romn romney/ryan with the chairman of the budget committee. you're see the romneyny team trying to be obama/rosen for a while. she does have ties to the white house. she doesn't work for them or the dnc. i think fundamentally while this has been a sort of good news event for the romney campaign, they have a lot of really serious work to do with women and hilary rosen is not going to solve their problem. >> in the next hour, mitt romney is going to be at the nra convention. i don't think we've talked enough about guns essentially in the aftermath of trayvon martin and a lot of the other conversation, mike bloomberg lid the way on mayors trying to fight against guns. this president signed legislation permitting guns to be carried in national parks which is one of the big achievements for the nra. but mitt romney is clearly an anti-obama convention the national rifle association. do you recall mitt romney back in the last campaign, i think it was april of 2007 trying to prove his. >> shooting varmints. >> his street credit with the nra. let's watch. >> i'm not a big game hunter. i've always been a rodent and rabbit hunter, small varmints if you will. and i began when i was oh, 15 or so and have hunted those kinds of varmints since then, more than two times. >> well, i'm not sure he's going to be talking about those varmints or them varmints or whatever you call a varmint. >> whatever those are. >> but clearly he, when you talk about edge issues, guns are an issue for generally republican candidates. and clearly mitt romney is going to try to fire them up. >> yes, and this really. >> no pun intended. >> this shows the tension and the difficult line that he's walking and it ties into the women's issue because i took a look at the gender gap between men and women on gun rights issues, and guess what, it's just what you would expect. women are much more sensitive to approving of gun restrictions than men are. so here simultaneously you have the candidate who did not do well with the most conservative part of his base needing to shore up and make sure that that base is on board while simultaneously wanting to, needing to appeal more to a segment of the electorate that's not going to want to hear his nra, let's go out and shoot the varmints message. >> both sides, the left side of the brain and the right side of the brain. >> he's in a difficult position is what i'm trying to say. >> ruth marcus, see you later. thank you very much. and moments ago, u.s. ambassador to the united nations susan rice called the north korean rocket launch deplorable speaking on behalf of the u.n. security council which she shares this month and said the launch violated u.n. resolutions and could be met with new action despite its spectacular failure. in pyongyang today, the show must go on. today kim jong-un appeared at the unveiling of statues of his father and grandfather. richard engel is chief foreign correspondent and has been reporting for us exclusively all week from inside pyongyang. >> reporter: we are now in kim il-sung square. the invauling of the statues ended 20 minutes ago. the scale of this event is enormous. this is nos task to organize in a country where most people don't have the cell phones so they come in groups with their schools, with their factors. it's all organized at a fairly local level and they are still coming out. maybe there's 100,000 people here, maybe more. it is very hard to know. everything in this country is highly orchestrated. the reaction so far today to what is being described as a failure of the rocket and satellite launch has been one of celebration. >> translator: even big countries like russia and the u.s. only succeeded in launching a satellite an after many failures. although we failed this time, i'm proud that we're able to try to launch a satellite and i'm sure after this farrell, we can succeed nef launching a satellite in the future. >> reporter: people expressing their absolute devotion and confidence to this country's leaders, past and present. and now, everyone is just on their way home and they are still, still coming through the streets. >> richard engel in pyongyang. with me now here, korea expert at georgetown university victor cha, also the asia director at the national security council, traveled to pyongyang and also the author of the new book "the impossible state, north korea past and future." victor, you and i were both in north korea together. we see a very different north korea now as this young leader tries to establish his credibility, but this enormous embarrassment of a failed rocket test, another failure. the white house is suggesting that the failure was because of sanctions because they've not been able to get advanced guidance systems that a lot of the things that they need for these tests are just not available to them any longer. >> i think that may be true. we don't have all the details on why it failed. initially i see it as a failure along the lines of what happened in 2006 which is sort of the initial ascent phase. so they've been always trying to build these missiles around their own technology. so sanctions certainly hurt them but this is just, there's no one else to blame but them for a really bad failure that will blew up their birthday party for the leader. >> and here, what are the political repercussions now? they've had the embarrassment. they had the world there to see it. there's no question, they can't trite to get away with saying it didn't happen. i mean norad was tracking it minute by minute as were all of the other intelligence operations. we had word within 20 minutes that it had failed. how do they get over that now? will they try another adventure, a nuclear test, some sort of military confrontation at sea to tie to prove they can still do it? >> that is certainly the concern as we look forward that they may try to compensate for this with perhaps a third nuclear test. we've seen in the news they are doing tunnelling at that site and preparing for something. and i think so that's a very big concern. but i think it's interesting they had to admit that it was a failure because all the media were there but at the same time, i think it's a manifestation of they don't think they can keep news out of north korea anymore. that's why they had to tell the truth. >> when we were there in 2006, there was no internet. only some privileged members of the foreign ministry, our guides who had spent time in beijing had had even contact with the internet. is there more penetration now? is it like other societies we've seen, you know, behind the walls of toe talnairism who now have real communication? >> i think there is more penetration. there's a country tailor-made for the internet, it's north korea because they don't get out much but can view the world through the internet portal. once they introduced it into society it becomes a firk tour. you can't get rid of it. through the border, it's much more porous now. to me, that was the interesting thing about them admitting the failure. >> the u.s. is relying on china, again, hoping that china will help in the u.n. security council that will without a new resolution that they can tighten sanctions and some way force north korea to behave. but really we will have very few weapons left at our disposal and china has its own interests. >> i that's right. if this thing had succeeded we might have seen more chinese cooperation. now that the test has failed, i think the chinese are going to say let's get back to diplomacy and calm this thing down. they may go along with the statement today but i don't think they're going to do much behind the scenes to help. >> well, victor cha, the book is "the impossible state." you know it so well. thank you so much for guiding us through it. these are peril lous times. >> thank you very much. right now in tampa, florida, president obama is getting ready for his trip to the latin america for the summit of the americas. let's listen. >> we're not a country that's known just for what we buy and what we consume. after all, our middle class was built by workers who invented products and made products and sold products, the best in the world all around the world. our economy was thriving when shipping containers left ports like this packed with goods that were stamped with three proud words, made in america. and those exports inspired a lot of good paying jobs in america including right here in florida. that's the country i want us to be again. and that's why two years ago, i set the goal of doubling american exports by the end of 2014. today, with the trade agreements that i've signed into law, we're on track to meet that goal. soon, there are going to be millions of new customers for american goods in south korea, in colombia, in panama. soon there will be new cars on the streets of seoul that are imported from detroit and toledo and chicago. and that's progress. and i want to thank two key members of my cabinet who are today, labor secretary hilda solis is in the house. and u.s. trade representative ron kirk because they worked really hard to make this happen. now, one of the ways that we've helped american business sell their products around the world is bill calling out our competitors making assure they're playing by the same rules. for example, we've brought trade cases against china at nearly twice the rate as the last administration. we just brought a new case last month and we've set up a trade enforcement unit that's designed to investigate any questionable trade practices taking place anywhere in the world. see, we're going to take action whenever other countries are skirting the rules, breaking the rules, and putting our workersen an our businesses at an unfair position. and we're also going to make sure that you've got access 0 more customers. 95% of the world's consumers live outside our borders. we want them buying our products. and i'mal to go anywhere in the world to open up new markets for american businesses. in fact, that's what i'm going to be doing right after this visit to tampa. i'm heading to colombia to take part in the summit of the americas which brings leaders from the caribbean and north south and central america together. >> everybody knows how critical this part of the world. in latin america alone, over the past decade, tens of millions of people have stepped out of poverty and into the middle class. so they're now in a position to start buying american products. that means they've got more money to spend. we want them spending money on american-made goods that american businesses can put more americans back to work. now, the good news is already our exports to the western hemisphere are up by 46% since 2009. i want to repeat that because that's obviously important to tampa. tampa's one of the biggest ports in the country. and a lot of the business being done here has to do with trade between us and latin america. so the fact that it's gone up 46% since 2009 is a big deal for tampa. in florida, exports to this region are up nearly 30%. we now export more to the western hemisphere than to any other region in the world. and those exports support nearly 4 million u.s. jobs. this is one of the most active trading relationships in the world. and you see it up close here at the port of tampa. every year, more than 2.5 million tons of fertilizer head out from here to farmers in the caribbean and central and south america. engine oils that are produced not far from this port get shipped to countries throughout the hemisphere. everything from recycled steel to animal feed gets sent from here to customers all across latin america. so while in colombia talking with other leaders, i'm going to be thinking about you. i'm going to be thinking how we can get more businesses like davids access to more markets and more customers in the region because i want us selling stuff and i want to put more americans back to work. >> president obama in tampa, florida, speaking about trade, expanding trade with latin america as a jobs action for americans as he heads south for the summit of the americas. top democrats meanwhile have been quick to distance themselves politically from hilary rosen denying she has any relationship with the dnc. >> we have an obligation. politics and public life when someone even friends say things that are inappropriate to say so and she actually is your employee, not ours. she's works for cnn i think cnn would not allow her to be an operative for our campaign or the dnc. she's not, she never has been. >> david axelrod, of course, on cnn. florida congresswoman debbie wasserman-schultz chairs the democratic national committee. thank you very much for joining us. >> you're welcome. >> let's put a certain matter to rest what is your take away from the whole flap over hilary rosen and what she said and what she meant? >> well, as a mom, and hilary rosen is a mom as well, i think we all agree that being a mom is hard work. and hilary rosen knows that, i know that. i think the important thing here is that the policies that mitt romney has desperately been trying to distract attention away from his policy of support for the blunt rubio amendment which would have allowed bosses to decide for their female employees what kinds of access who health care they could get, the fact that his campaign couldn't the other day come out in the support and say whether or not he would have signed the lily leadbetter fair pay acting into law if he were president or vetoed it in the fact that he supports tax policy that would make it much harder for women to be able to balance work and family and make ends meet. they are desperately trying to deflect attention away from that. it the fact that be mitt romney opposes the buffett rule and thinks it's okay and this would be important for women because so many women work for men who make far more than them. the buff fell rule says if you make more than $1 million, then you should pay a higher tax rate than your secretary or someone who works for you that makes less than you. mitt romney opposes that. >> congresswoman. >> that's the larger point that hillary was making. >> >> it would be harder for women economically. >> i understand the larger point. she spoke inartfully and apologized for it. "the wall street journal" on february 16th did an article about you and said that you had occasionally turned to hilary rosen and to anita dunn, a former white house official, for political and media advice. and that has caused a stir among republicans claiming that she is connected to the dnc. can you set the record straight on that? >> hilary rosen does not now nor has she ever worked during my tenure for the democratic national committee and does not work for the campaign, does not have a contract with either the campaign or the committee. and as david ached rod pointed out, she has a contract with cnn as a contributor and they actually released a statement yesterday saying they prohibit their contributors from having formal relationships, contractual relationships with campaigns. >> well, if that's the case, i mean, she's clearly a supporter. she was a guest at the state dinner. we just saw pictures of that. did the white house throw her under the bus? i mean a lot of people are questioning the loyalty factor the way david axelrod immediately tweeted, the way the president spoke out as if he didn't even know her, when people are commenting on tv. i mean, people in this town know hilary rosen. she is a very well-known successful well liked figure in democratic politics. >> she is, and she's my friend. and i'm happy to say that she is, but hilary rosen would be the first to say that she's a big girl. she has a thick skin. you know, she like me has grown the skin of an alligator and this is politics on a national stage, and when you make an unfortunate comment, which she acknowledged she made, sometimes it's going to come back to bite you and you're going to have to do some backpedaling but what hillary and what we would like to underscore coming from the democratic national committee's perspective as well as the campaign is that women in this country, there's a reason there's a 23-point gender gap right now that mitt romney is losing to the president by 23 points among women because he is so dramatically wrong on issues that are important to women. even lisa murkowski, the u.s. senator from alaska who is a republican said in alaska in her district last week when asked whether there is an attack on women coming from the republican party on the issues that matter to women, that if women -- if people don't think that there is, they have only to ask their wives and their daughters about that. because making sure that we have affordable access 0 birth control is important to women. the republicans opposed that. making sure that women have teeth behind the notion that we could have equal pay for equal work and not continue to earn 77 cents on the dollar for every dollar a man makes for the same job. those are things that the republicans led by mitt romney have overwhelmingly opposed. that is going to be the issues that are important to women in this campaign. >> let me show you that some things don't change. flashing back to 1992, it was the day before the illinois primary and bill clinton then a candidate had just had a very contentious argument with jesse jackson in a debate on a sunday night about his wife hillary rodham's work for the rose law firm. and i went to a lunch counter the next morning during rush hour to ask her a question about that debate. and i want to play that response for you. >> sure. >> i could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas but what i decided to do was to fulfill my profession before which i entered before my husband was in public life. >> hillary clinton had was facing those questions and she was slammed for the way she answered it. in fact, the clinton aides, the campaign aides took her outside and she immediately did a news conference with us on a street corner to try to say she was not demeaning people who worked outside the home. there you are. >> thank you. >> thank you, but you know, the mommy wars really i think have been so overblown. i think women who work outside the home, women who stay at home, they all have hard jobs and we need to make sure we respect the priorities of women, barack obama does. mitt romney does not. >> thank you for that perspective, debbie wasserman-schultz. >> thank you. >> and nbc news chief white house correspondent and host of the daily rundown chuck todd joins me now. i know you feel strongly that the issue, the mommy war issue is really not in play here or shouldn't have been in play because that's not what hilary rosen was talking about. >> i think what's been fascinating is the other part of the story we haven't covered, this is always a -- this is one of those it's easy to have this conversation and have this debate because people do have strong opinions about it. but let's also look at tactically what happened here. this was a manufactured controversy. now the dissimilar to what happened with etch a sketch, war on cater pillars if you recall, this is something. >> this is the silly season. >> both political parties are very effective at doing this in a way that we've not seen. it's faster and quicker than ever to distract us. it's twitter and it's because there are so many more what i would call advocacy media outlets able to fast track the stuff. >> it's the velocity i'm wondering why aren't we having the conversation and you've been trying to have this, we tried to have this about, this is about -- there's actually a middle ground here called workplace flexibility, things like that. there are other parts of this conversation that it didn't spark the debate i think a lot of working mothers would like to have. >> how about paying women who work in the home or making sure that they get some social security benefits for the years that they put in raising children. >> that's been an issue for a lot of stay at home mothers for a long time. >> there's a lot of issues we are not debating while we're going off the track. >> we learned that conservatives will quickly rally around mitt romney in a way. any doubting that, watch how quickly they rallied around that. and secondly, they are nervous go about the gender gap. that gap in places like suburban colorado, suburban philadelphia and the suburbs of florida, virginia, they can't be down double digits. >> interesting stuff. thank you very much, my friend. chuck todd. and still ahead, lone star showdown. latest in the battle over women's health rights with planned parenthood president sa see richards. this is "andrea mitchell reports." 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[ gasps ] [ male announcer ] get a retirement plan that works... at e-trade. this week, local planned parenthood groups in texas filed a lawsuit in federal court trying to overturn a state order excluding their centers everywhere stopping low income women from getting health care. the rule is essentially a state ban on providing government aid to abortion providers or their affiliates even when not providing abortions. groups say the rule is unconstitutional. it is only the latest in the battles pitting states and the federal government against women's health care providers. cecile richards, president of planned parenthood joins us now. texas has more uninsured women than any other state. >> that's correct. >> second of all, abortion services are only 3% nationally of planned parenthood's services and in texas in particular, planned harnthood affiliates provide basic health screening to low income women. >> that's right. >> was this a law or an executive order? how did texas governor perry basically exclude these affiliates from being able to get the federal money. >> actually what he's done is thrown hundreds of thousands of women off of health care basic preventive care as you said. this is the impact in texas now is on women getting able to get birth control, life saving cancer screening, and other basic well women checkups. already hundreds of thousands of women have lost that care. this latest move by the governor would actually end the entire family planning program in the state of texas impacting more than 300,000 women. and many of them as you say are either uninsured since so many women in texas are or lack any other health care provider to whom they can go. >> whafl standing to do you have and what do you think is the likelihood of getting some action in court? this is federal court. so the you're not going to a state court. >> that's right. >> obviously, you've got a steep climb there. >> you know, it's interesting. what we've seen across the country is the courts have been very friendly to saying legislatures can't dictate to women who they can go to for health care, particularly a state like texas where of the 3 million people we see every year for health care, in the state like texas, a lot of them are in rural areas where there's no other women's health care provider. that's one of the reasons why we've had a very good record in the courts, hope we will in texas. but i think more to your point, original point is women in texas just like women around the country cannot figure out why the legislatures with all the issues that are on the minds of the american people, jobs, health care, access to good education for their kids, why had he are squarely focused on getting rid of women's health care options in america. it just makes no sense. >> speaking of getting rid of women's health care options, what about arizona? i know you've been flying around the country trying to put out fires as legislatures around the country have been moving on and moving against some women's health programs. arizona, governor brewer has she just sign this had abortion law. >> the most restrictive law in the country, a law that would absolutely put legislate tors and politicians squarely between women and their doctors. it's such a restrictive law. we don't understand all the implications for women yet, but i think that's what the really of concern for women is really not just women, but men and families which are that people don't believe that much decisions about health care and certainly personal private decisions about health care should be made by either politician oz are by legislators. unfortunately, that's what governor brewer just agreed to in the state of arizona. >> and before i let you go, obviously the topic of the day, the last 24 hours has been the comment about ann romney. your reaction to the debate that has been going on? >> well, actually, i just heard chuck todd on your show and i couldn't agree more. i think this is sort of a washington gotcha kind of conversation. the real question for me, you know, as a mother myself, i think for all women whether they and moms whether they are working in the home or working outside of the home, the reason they're concerned about mitt romney is because he is absolutely pledged to get rid of women's health care access, five million women he said he's going to end the national family planning program. he's going to get rid of planned parenthood. he's opposing birth control coverage by insurance companies. that's why you're seeing a 19-point gender gap i think. i think the rest of this is kind of washington insider conversation. and i think really you know, what voters are concerned been is what are the positions that mitt romney has when it comes to women's access to health care. >> cecile richards, thanks for joining us today. >> good to see you. thanks. >> up next, one of the new stars of a new hbo series "girls" allison williams previewing sunday night's big debut. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ you're probably muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. zyrtec®. love the air. [ crowd chatters and groans ] ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] hunger getting to you? grab a ritz crackerfuls. made with real cheese and whole grain, it'll help keep you satisfied until your next meal. get hunger before it gets you. every generation has its coming of age fiction. now there is an edgy new tv series that will shatter myths about the lives of today's young women in the big city. "girls" is already getting rave previews for its gritty naturalistic write agen the talents of the actors portraying the four young women starting out in life. allison williams caught the attention of this show's executive producer jud apatow by posting this youtube video. her original take on the madmen theme. ♪ there was a boy, a very strange enchanted boy ♪ they say he wandered very far, very far over land and sea ♪ a little cheyenne sad of eye but very wise was he ♪ >> and that was enough for apatow, not surprisingly to reach out to williams and eventually cast her in "girls." take a look. >> we texted adam about tonight and i have into the heard anything back. anna, look at me, he never ever texts you back. >> maybe i should call him. didn't you say texting is like the lowest form of conversation. >> a totem of chat. the lowest would be facebook then texting then e-mail then phone. face to face is, of course, ideal but it's not of this time. >> okay, how many i supposed to get him face to face if he refuses to text me. >> allison williams part of the cast of hbo's "girls." congratulations. that was a very funny clip. >> thank you for having me. >> well, first of all, you know, you went to yale. you've always wanted to be an actor. and then you post that video. you also did a spoof. i wanted to show the spoof for funny or die you did on kate middleton and prince william. you wrote this yourself. >> i want to get a glimpse into your everyday lives. >> of course, i mean i think our everyday lives are quite borg, don't you in? >> we don't really do much. i love reality shows. >> he does. >> i love love reality shows. >> i don't understand. >> i think they're just magical. really, really -- >> i was really taken of justin bieber from never say never. >> i love that film. >> there's no question why he reached out to you. allison, tell us about "girls" and what is the quality of this? because i think one of the special things is the writing is the script. >> i think you touched on it nicely when you said it's just about the girls in their 20s trying to figure out what they like in life, who they are. the larger existential questions that are glossed over by matters like rent and friendships and boyfriends and all of those other things. i think it really adequately and accurately balances all of the weight of all of those things. i also ling lena is so brilliant in her ability to capture her own context. she is so young and also writing about this time in all of our lives which is a very unique ability. >> i was very interested in the comparison to woody allen as that kind of writing because i mean, we think of the great shows of the past. you know, west wing, aaron sorkin, some of the woody allen movies. it takes really great writing to have a break-through show, doesn't it? >> yeah, and i think it takes a really strong voice. the writing is amazing but she also directs it, the executive producer and she stars in the whole series. that's so much responsibility. and i think that you know, she shoulders that seemingly effortlessly. and her voice is just so thorough and so strong and so consistent throughout the whole series, that i think it's a really nice thing to have. it's this through line for the rest of us to sort of ride with. it's been amazing pleasure to play a character alongside her. >> allison, we should disclose that i know you. you were part of the nbc family obviously coming from the family of brian and jane williams and your brother. so we've shared a lot of happiness over the years, but this is such an exciting moment. what does it feel like to get up and i have to say i pick up my "new york times" today and there you are. there's a full page ad. i mean, it must be sort of an out of body experience. >> it's completely out of body. that puts it really, really well. it's really hard to wrap my head around. i've been wanting to do this since i was tiny. for it to be actually happening and for me to be in a show i'm so proud of and i'd be a fan of even if i weren't involved it doesn't get much better than this. every day when i wake up, i bound out of bed like a disney move. i can't wait to tackle whatever comes at me. it's been an amazing experience. i'm so happy. >> i know you've worked really, really hard for this, but this is that will break through moment. now, there are going to be a lot of people asking you about the fact that this is so intimate, it's so real. it's so captures the generation of four young women and this is not "sex and the city" with manolos. these are young women who have real lives, real problems. it's funny. here's another clip you're sharing with us. >> told me that you were getting an std test. fine. do you really think that sounds like a lot of fun? >> i mean, like just to get to have sex and have a test about it. >> this thing asks you if you wear a seat belt and if you operate machinery. >> those are important things if you're going to have a baby, you need to wear a seat belt and stop operating machinery. >> is it difficult to play this kind of role? because it is so real, so honest, and often, you know, so intimate. >> actually, that is a really interesting challenge because my whole life i've played characters i had very little in common with. when i read the script and met marnie, i saw a lot of kinship with her and thought that would be an amazing challenge to play someone with whom i have a lot in common. she's very real, very grounded and on the total cusp of a complete meltdown at he every moment. that's interesting to investigate. i also find the characters in the show to be so relatable and familiar to me. i feel like they're the girls i hang out with and the girls i know. what a pleasure to be part of a cast that feels real. we feel like those girls that live down the hall from you and you hear them giggling occasionally but you don't get to see them that often. it's a pleasure to depict that corner of life. >> i know you did some improve in college. >> yeah. >> is there a time when you know, with lena and the others where you work on the script and dialogue and contribute something? >> yeah. it's an amazingly collaborative process given that none of us or at least i would not consider myself even though i wrote the kate middleton thing, i wouldn't consider myself a professional writer. we do get to do improve on set, which is a pleasure for me because that is my background and sometimes we use it as a tool to loosen up the scenes and sometimes it ends up being in the final product. it's fun to see what little moments sneak in that weren't in the script. for the most part, the writers and our executive producers craft these scripts that are like mini novels and have larger macro themes and smaller things going on in the microlevel. they're so brilliant. whenever we read them, we're consuming them. it's really, really exciting. >> i'm so excited for you. some day i'm going to say you helped me when i lost my voice at the democratic convention in denver. >> i remember. >> and that some day i'm going to say i worked with allison williams. >> that would be such an honor. >> it's very exciting and happy birthday. i can't think of a better way to have a birthday than a full page ad. >> it's pretty nice. >> lots of luck. thanks for doing this. >> thank you. and, of course, you can catch the series the premiere of "girls" on sunday on hbo. we'll be right back. hey officer how's it going? 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[ humming ] a new twist in the zimmerman case. moments ago a seminole county judge presided over a status hearing and it was reveal at that hearing that the judge's husband works in the same office that zimmerman had previously contacted for counsel and that that office has a contract with cnn. the attorney mark o'mara has expressed concern. the judge said he needs to put it into writing if he wants to disqualify her. we will keep you up to date. and which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? welcome. in the next 24, we're going to have, first we've had the tax releases from the bidens and the obamas which don't have anything starting in it but it is clearly designed, as we're all doing our taxes to point out that mitt romney has not exactly been forthcoming. >> they always do this. but of course it has a little more salience this year as we've only seen the year of mitt romney's taxes. he may be filing for an extension this year but i think there's a very important question about the previous years. >> and of course, his own father set the standard of this. the gold standard, if you will. back in 1968 he was running for president briefly and he said that you should disclose the last dozen years. because disclosing one year can be artificially -- >> sure. and i think particularly with a situation as complicated and politically combustible as governor romney's, it is the argument, the explanation for why he doesn't want to disclose it but it is the argument why it is even more for him than the ordinary candidate who has been earning the same salary year after year. >> and you certainly noted something. i think you tweeted it out after one of our segments earlier with debbie wasserman schultz. >> this could get me in some trouble but i think i'm allowed to say one political story we'll be about is debbie wasserman schultz' hair. she's talked about her hair which is normally very curly. cringely. it's her trademark. she came on with a beautiful new straighter do and it looked, to use mitt romney's favorite word, marvelous. it really did. >> well, i'm glad you went there. chuck todd and i were noticing it but -- >> you need to really be brave to give an opinion on this. >> thank you so much. ruth marcus. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." hey, thomas. good hair. >> thanks. coming up in the next hour, presidential candidate mitt romney will speak today. he is due to speak within the next half-hour. we'll bring you those comments live. plus the police chief of a small new hampshire town killed overnight while trying to serve a search warrant. we'll take you live to the scene. plus, explain why police killings are on the rise. man: 1939 -- my parents ran across an ad for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. and on small business saturday bothey remind a nations of the benefits of shopping small. on just one day, 100 million of us joined a movement... and main street found its might again. and main street found its fight again. and we, the locals, found delight again. that's the power of all of us. that's the power of all of us. that's the membership effect of american express. do about medicare and social security... security. that's what matters to me... me? i've been paying in all these years... years washington's been talking at us, but they never really listen... listen...it's not just some line item on a budget; it's what i'll have to live on... i live on branson street, and i have something to say... [ male announcer ] aarp is bringing the conversation on medicare and social security out from behind closed doors in washington. because you've earned a say. developing news. in minutes, mitt romney is expected to defend gun rights while speaking at an nra conference. we'll bring you his comments live. meantime, president obama who wants to make tax rates fair for all americans releases his tax returns. who will pay a higher tax rate this year? you or the president? the u.n. goes into emergency session after north korea's failed rocket launch. the live report straight ahead. plus, george zimmerman's lawyer is trying to bail his client out of jail before he goes on trial for killing trayvon martin. what are the chances? we'll ask former u.s. attorney kendall coffey. and mayor or super hero? the mayor tells how he ran