all coping with this? >> reporter: it's like they're in shock. in account ffact, they are in s. a lot of people just sitting yesterday by the shells of what was their homes or their mobile homes. three people lost their lives right along the roadway where we are here. behind me, can you see a family next door in a home that wasn't damaged all that badly, but this family has come together, and they're doing a little bit of cleanup in their yard here. but again, that home not that badly damaged. i can't say the same for this one. and the car in front of it here. you can see half of this home is gone. but the miracle that happened here was that nine people, thomas, took refuge in this house from nearby trailers and they all survived in an interior hallway. one of the trailers, and i know this is going to be hard to see, but that's what's left of it there, right in the back. again, the tornado completely blowing that away. there were two more just up from that, and unfortunately in one of those a woman refused to come out. she said she was going to ride out the storm and she ended up losing her life. two more people down the road. all in all in bertie county, 11 people lost their lives, about half the count in all of the state of north carolina. just a tremendously sad scene here. >> what's the resource for many of these people who have lost their homes? are they turning on family or is the red cross coming in to help out with accommodations for so many of these people? >> i'm not so sure about the accommodations. i think they are. most of them are staying with relatives, and it really is families coming together to help out. as i just showed you there. the red cross has been by, but for the most part it's just neighbors and relatives helping each other at this point. >> it's just amazing when we look at this video, all over the place there. jeff morrow, thank you, sir. appreciate it. naturally we have professional weather people who track storms like these, most from a safe distance. but what is it like to track a twitter up close and personal? that's where a dare devil group of enthusiasts come in, chasing twisters across the country, and they film them as they hit. one such chaser is chris strahan, he joins me now to talk about what he has seen while following these storms. chris, it's nice to have you with us. in my early days as a reporter i worked in lincoln, nebraska, and i used to have to chase after these storms myself. i was not a big fan of it, because it's pretty dangerous work. so how did you get involved in this and how long have you been doing it? >> well, i've been doing storm chasing now for a little over ten years. i think my enthusiasm for severe weather was the lack of severe weather that i grew up with as a child. i lived in santa barbara, california, and pacific northwest, and the lack of severe weather, i first got my first taste of severe weather, it was amazing. i was hooked instantly to know what caused it and why we could see it in distinct areas of the country and didn't have it in others. so the lack of it just spawned my interest in it. >> chris, explain the -- i guess when you learn about a storm system that's coming through, how do you spring into action? how many people are with you on your crew, and what is it that you go after? >> well, in this particular chase, on the 16th of april, i was by myself. you know, weather resources that are available off the internet, software programs that i have, all get me tuned into what the storms are doing, their movement, and almost realtime instances of what might be going on. so i'm able to track the storm for hours ahead of schedule, and can place myself in a safe location where i can witness these storms up close and not be in harm's way. and like my video i'd shown earlier, i was first on the scene for a semi that was overturned. i was able to help get that driver out safely, for him who was unaware of what was going on right in front of him. >> chris, in certain instances, and out in the field i know you've been doing this for the past three days and you said you're getting to a safe location, but have you ever cut it too close before? >> mother nature can always do what she wants to do. and as much as we try to play it safe, there can be instances where you just get in a very dangerous situation. i have been in a dangerous situation where the focus was on a tornado in front of us, and what's known as a satellite tornado spawned literally 50 yards in front of us, and fortunately it wasn't anything damaging, it was very small, but on the same token, completely unexpected at the time. >> all right, chris, keep up the great work. i know what it's like to chase these storms, obviously you've got it in your blood more than i did, but chris strahan, thank you, sir. >> thank you very much, sir. we're keeping a close eye on the stock market this morning. standard and poor's adds there is one in three chance that the rating on the debt will be downgraded in the next two years. let's take a look at the markets right now. you can see red arrows across the board with the dow jones down almost 244 points. the s&p down almost 25, the nasdaq down around 57. all right. so this week president obama will start to make his 2012 pitch across the country. the president starts in northern virginia tomorrow heading west later in the week for fund-raisers and debt discussions in reno and across california. the debate over how to being thatle our nation's deficit is far from over, and right now both parties are drawing a line in the sand. a democratic strategy and former spokesperson for hillary clinton and susan dell persio, good morning to both of you. many voters safe the debt ceiling vote, sticking to their guns, i want you both to take a listen to this. >> if you're going to ask this congress to support erasing the debt ceiling, there's got to be something structural on the debt side. >> it's going to have to be concrete, and i've yet to see that from the administration. >> this is not about a debt ceiling being erased, it really comes down to a debt suggestion. this is about 73, 74 times we've done it. we've got to be fiscally responsible and right now we've not shown that to the american people. >> they want to get the cuts voters are looking for but is this the wrong way to address the problem? >> i don't think it is productive, and i think it's down right dangerous to try to play politics with america's ability to pay its obligations. i think most americans agree the u.s. should pay its obligations, so not raising the debt ceiling could have a devastating impact on the economy moving forward. having said that, i think everyone agrees that we need to do something to pay down the debt. we need to do something to cut federal spending, i think the president and bipartisan group of people in congress are working on that, and i think that's the right approach. but to threaten to hold hostage our ability to pay our debts is not the way to do it. >> susan, on that note of bipartisanship, allan simpson says the more debt plans offered the better in this circumstance and we're starting to see a multitude of options. how do leaders sort through all of these and find best fit for the nation at this moment? >> it's a good thing to start with the debt ceiling should not be a political object like barack obama treated it when he was a u.s. senator. but right now what's important is the message that congress sends out to the public, and there's a different definite difference between the two parties. the democrats are talking about basically raising your taxes and the republicans are talking about economic growth. and that's really where we need to keep our focus. it's no mistake that, or no accident i should say, that the day that obama goes on his tour talking about the debt the market crashes 230 points. >> when we talk about these bipartisan efforts, the main one of the gang of six, and they're also promising some tough cuts for both sides, take a listen to this. this is mark warner yesterday. >> what we're trying to do with a bipartisan group is say, let's actually start with something that takes a lot of the ideas from the simpson/bowls commission, and our hope is prayer is the people of good will from both parties will basically check their democratic hat and check their republican hat and say let's take this on. >> all right. so is it really the last hope for a real bipartisan effort here? >> well, i don't know if i'd say it's the last hope but i do think it's a promising development that you've got a bipartisan group that is working on this, i think the president's speech last week is a good starting point for discussion. i know the gang of six is working on a real bipartisan solution, and that's what we're going to need at the end of the day. i want to make a quick correction to something that my colleague just said, and that is the democrats don't want to raise taxes on you, we want to raise -- make sure that the upper income, the wealthiest americans are paying their fair share. the president has proposed and passed tax cuts on an overwhelming majority of americans, and there's no talk about increasing taxes on the overwhelming majority. i think it's ironic that the same people that are trying to play politics with the debt ceiling now are the same people that during the bush administration voted repeatedly to raise the debt ceiling while also repeatedly voting to take america's largest surplus and turn it into america's largest deficit. so let's stop playing politics with it now, find a bipartisan solution that brings down spending, and takes care of our obligations. >> all right. i want to thank you both for coming on this morning. we appreciate your insights. so right now, one half of a married couple can sponsor their partner for the right to live in the u.s. but thousands of same-sex couples are denied that right. and now there's a major push to change the law. you're going to meet and hear from one such couple next. and three potential gop contenders for the white house spent the weekend slamming the president and shoring up tea party support. but are any of them actually seriously running? [ female announcer ] little acts like using less material can make a meaningful impact. ♪ because everybody wins when you use less. switch to future friendly products from p&g, like new concentrated tide powder detergent. with 24% less packaging and more stain-fighting power. future friendly from p&g. shaky! shaky! shaky! shaky! [ laughs ] shaky! shaky! [ gasps ] and if you named your own price on car insurance, you could be picking up this tab yourself. so get allstate. you could save some cash and be better protected from mayhem like me. [ dennis ] dollar for dollar nobody protects you from mayhem like allstate. [ dennis ] dollar for dollar delicious gourmet of gravy. and she agrees. with fancy fest gravy lovers, your cat can enjoy the delicious, satisfying taste of gourmet gravy every day. fancy feast, the best ingredient is love. just don't feel like they used to. are you one of them? remember when you had more energy for 18 holes with your buddies. more passion for the one ya love. more fun with your family and friends. it could be a treatable condition called low testosterone or low t. come on, stop living in the shadows. you've got a life to live. [ male announcer ] so don't blame it on aging. talk to your doctor and go to isitlowt.com to find out more. welcome back, everybody. the house and senate are now taking up bills that would grant same-sex couples the same immigration rights given to hete heterosexual couples. right now immigration laws don't apply to same-sex couples. the uniting american families act would allow those families to live in the u.s. without the fear of being torn apart. and joining me now from california is karen boiola and karen ricard. also judy writes about the hard choices these families have had to make in a book called "torn apart." ladies, thank you both for coming on to tell us about your story today, and, judy, i want to start with you. you had to retire early to actually stay with karen. explain why. >> yes, that's right. because karen has to be out of the country and cannot stay here with me uninterruptedly, we either had to be apart or i had to quit my job so that we could be together. >> so, karen, as we know, same-sex marriage is not recognized by the federal government right now. so. >> true. >> so to you, how would this bill allow the same-sex families to be together legally and for you to be in this country from the uk as a permanent resident? >> because judy could then sponsor me for immigration, which would allow me to live here permanently. >> and what is it like right now for you? why wouldn't you, per se, get a work visa to live in this country or go about your own accord to come to this country legally of your own choosing? >> i wish i could. but i'm going to be 71 this year, and a little bit old to employ in something new. and it would also be virtually impossible for me to find anybody to employ me. there is no other way for me to live here except through marriage, or if i had a relative, a close relative living here. but basically there is no other way for me to live in america. >> now, the bill was introduced this past thursday by patrick leahy of vermont, and congressman nadler, admits the bill probably won't pass the house. why is it so important to reintroduce this bill if that happens? >> well, i think it's very important to keep fighting for our civil rights and our equal rights. you know, there are about 36,000 at least people and families in the situation like ours. the census in 2000 showed that, the new census will show a larger group i'm sure, families like ours and families with children are being torn apart by current marriage and immigration laws at the federal level. >> same-sex couples and families are really forced to make some gut wrenching choices between spouse, between family, career, even having to end relationships. >> right. >> but you two did something that i think you're going to make public today for the first time. you actually got married recently, correct? >> yes, we did get married. i'm sorry we didn't bring you with us, but karen can tell you what happened. >> yes, after about six years and all this backwards and forwards, and we've had so many, you know, terrible moments in our lives, we decided that we were going to do something for ourselves. and so a couple of weeks ago, judy and i just sneaked off on our own, didn't tell anybody, and so far nobody knows, so we're making this public on national television. >> we went to vermont and got married. >> yes. >> well, congratulations, and if you would like to make publicly known where you're registered, now you can get a lot of gifts, but we congratulate -- >> we're not into that, but thank you very much. >> well, it's just a part of getting married. >> i'm proud to say, though, we did get married in senator leahy's state of vermont. thank you, senator leahy. >> we'll continue to follow this bill as it continues to move through washington, d.c. we wish you two the best. congratulations as newly weds and congratulations on the book, it's called "torn apart." >> this one is for you, thomas. >> thank you very much. i look forward to getting it. thank you very much. it's a major sum think the week to find the causes and potential solutions to stopping the rising tide of childhood obesity in america. is this an epidemic spiraling out of control? we're going to ask ezekiel emanuel of the national institutes of health. also pain at the pump, we're all feeling it. some states have $4 gasoline. is your state one of them? ♪ i was diagnosed with copd. i could not take a deep breath i noticed i was having trouble. climbing the stairs, working in the garden, painting. my doctor suggested spiriva right then. announcer: spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled maintenance treatment for copd, which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. i love what it does. it opens up the airways. announcer: spiriva does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. stop taking spiriva and call your doctor right away if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, have vision changes or eye pain, or have problems passing urine. tell your doctor if you have glaucoma, problems passing urine, or an enlarged prostate, as these may worsen with spiriva. also, discuss the medicines you take, even eye drops. side effects include dry mouth, constipation, and trouble passing urine. it makes me breathe easier. i can't do everything i used to do. but there's a lot i can do that i was struggling with. announcer: ask your doctor if once-daily spiriva is right for you. how are you getting to a happier place? running there? dancing there? how about eating soup to get there? campbell's soups fill you with good trition, farm-grown ingredients, and can help you keep a healthy weight. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. >> announcer: this past year alone there's been a 67% spike in companies embracing the cloud-- big clouds, small ones, public, private, even hybrid. your data and apps must move easily and securely to reach many clouds, not just one. that's why the network that connects, protects, and lets your data move fearlessly through the clouds means more than ever. [ groans ] [ marge ] psst. constipated? phillips' caplets use magnesium, an ingredient that works more naturally with your colon than stimulant laxatives, for effective relief of constipation without cramps. thanks. good morning, students. today we're gonna continue... this thursday, health and medical experts will descend on the cleveland clinic to discuss a national health issue that many, many say is reaching crisis proportions. we're talking about childhood obesity which doctors say is a dangerous condition for kids and adolescents and it's getting worse. according to a 2008 survey, 17% of children in america 2 to 19 years old were classified as obese. but beyond these statistics, what can parents and doctors learn to actually help kids lose weight and keep it off? joining me now is dr. ezekiel emanuel of the national institutes of health. sir, it's good to have you with us. for a lot of parents watching this right now and also for a lot of teen kids, they know what their situation is like, if they have to lose weight. but the stats worsen when you look at how obesity in kids has grown from decade to decade. so explain to us what you've learned. >> if you look at the 1960s, '70s and '80s, about 5% of children were obese and that has tripled to about 17% or 18%, as you said, now in the 2000s and it really took off after about 1988, 1990 and has substantially inkraemsed. so now 12.5 million children are classified as obese. >> it's amazing numbers when we think about this. sir, explain what's behind the numbers here, and what are the risk factors, the basic risk factors for these kids with obesity now. >> well, one of the important points is that if you're obese as a child you're much more likely to be obese as an adult. and it just dramatically increases your health risk for things like diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, and i think one thing most people don't know, is it also increases your risk for a lot of cancers. breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer. so being fat has tremendous health risk, it also has tremendous cost for the entire society. about $150 million a year is spent on people, obesity-related health problems and the risk of death is tremendous, 112,000 potentially preventible deaths per year from obesity. so it's a very huge problem. >> explain the focus about the summit on thursday. what are you going to be talking about, and is the topic going to be parental responsibility? >> well, again, you have to look at obesity as multi factorial. there's not just one thing, and the idea that there's a silver bullet we're going to switch it and that's it, i think is a real mistake. we have to go all the way through various factors. we have to try to encourage breastfeeding, we know that that decreases the chances of obesity starting very early. we need to get parents information, whether it's front of the pack labeling or it's information about increasing the amounts of fruits and vegetables in a diet. information on how to shop and how to prepare foods. we also need to increase access so that the healthy choice, the less -- fewer calories is the easy, convenient choice. we also have to get the fast-food restaurants, the packagers, to reformulate so that they have reduced the calorie content in their various items. one of the things we've noticed is that over.last 20 years the average size of things like fries or coke or a bagel has dramatically increased so that consuming them adds pounds without even thinking. >> finally, fighting childhood obesity is a signature cause that first lady obama has going on now. what is your take on some of the criticism she's received from conservative corners calling attention to this issue and pushing for changes in school menus? >> completely misplaced. i think this issue wouldn't be on the national attention, we wouldn't be taking it by the horns without her leadership, and it's been tremendous, whether it's the garden or going to schools to try to get them to feed children better, building playgrounds, just the entire package has been a tremendous importance for focusing national attention. and i think it's going to make a difference. again, as she points out, it's a lot of series of small changes. there's not one single thing to do. but we know in this country we can do it. we've done it with smoking, we've done it with safety in cars and fatalities, with he can do it with obesity. >> it just raises the level of conversation, that's for sure. thanks for coming on today. we appreciate your time. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. three tea party favorites hit the campaign trail, but do they really plan to challenge president obama come 2012? and they're called office park warriors, how far the perception has hit one group particularly hard. we're talking about college-educated white guys. oms. with unpublished rates. which means i get an even more rockin' hotel, for less. where you book matters. expedia. there's another way to minimize litter box odor: purina tidy cats. tidy cats premium line of litters now works harder to help neutralize odors in multiple-cat homes. and our improved formula also helps eliminate dust. so it's easier than ever to keep your house smelling just the way you want it. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home. [ whispering ] shhhh... did you hear that? it sounded like the chocobeast. the what? half man, half beast. he'll stop at nothing to sink his fangs into people who steal other people's chocolate temptations. you guys have nothing to worry about, right? aaah! [ all scream ] nice job, chocobeast! thank you. [ male announcer ] six indulgent layered desserts, at 150 calories or less. new temptations. it's the first jell-o that's just for adults. hi, everybody, i'm thomas roberts. here's what's topping the news now. search and rescue teams are canvassing the eastern part of north carolina after a weekend of deadly storms. governor beverly purdue says these never seen anything like this destruction caused by the tornadoes that killed at least 21 people in north carolina alone, and more storms are expected for tomorrow. the san francisco's giants fan that was beaten outside a baseball game last month was place the back in a medically-induced coma after suffering seizures this weekend. bryan stow had his skull fractured in an adak by dodgers fans and remains in critical condition. gas prices are creeping above the $4 per gallon mark. new york became the sixth state to rise above $4 per gallon, joining alaska, california, connecticut, hawaii, and illinois. washington, d.c., also makes this list. the national average is $3.83. recent retail surveys may suggest consumers are reaccount ing by purchasing less fuel. the inability to make real strides in trimming the nation's deficit has a top ratings service downgrading the outlook on our debt from stable to negative. we're looking at a triple-digit drop a few hours into trading and the s&p highlights what they believe is a risk, real risk of a down grade in our debt rating over the next two years. tyler mathisson joins me now. explain to all of us, we're seeing serious dives in the markets today. >> this was a real body blow to equity investors this morning, and a bit of a surprise when standard & poor's, one of the leading debt rating firms in the country, said while they were still viewing american debt as aaa rated, the outlook was negative. it had turned to negative, which means basically there's a one in three chance that over the next couple of years that debt rating might drop from the bluest of blue chip levels, aaa, to something less than that. that is worrisome, because it would mean that you and i, the taxpayers, would have to pay more to borrow. and when we're borrowing 40 cents of every dollar we spend in this country, that can be a very costly item. now, the good news is that they didn't go and down grade the debt immediately today, but they said it was on the horizon, and there was real concern about whether politicians would be able to reach that long-term deficit reduction package that we all so dearly hope for. thomas? >> tyler, thank you very much. appreciate it. as we talk about this news, if there's anything we can take from the recent rise in unemployment benefit filings, it's this, that america's recession is far from over. the down turn has hit many working americans hard, particularly white collar men in their 40s. experts say occupational optimism in that age group is low. the magazine's latest issue addressing the subject called "dead suit walking" in "newsweek," the co-author of that article joins me now. so, tony, i know it's the punch line called the beached white male but explain to us what you were able to find through your reporting and how tough this is for college-educated white guys. >> all things considered, it's still better to be a college-educated white guy, but compared to past performance these guys are doing worse than they ever have done before. once they're out of a job, they remain out of a job for longer. so they're five times as many unemployed guys for over a year than in the aftermath of the dot com recession. that's why we say beached. >> to minorities have been hit hard as well, but why white men from 49 to 59 having such trouble getting back, re-engaged into the workforce? >> there's a perception that men in that category are not open to retraining, if they're not promoted quickly enough they're going to file suit, it's an overall feeling that they're not doing what their salary dictates they should do. so for every $10,000 these guys make they tend to be out of work for an extra month compared to others in the population because they have higher standards. >> we just mentioned a moment ago optimism looks low. we want to look at some of the stats in your story. according to a poll, out of 250 men aged between 41 and 59, 60% think they won't work again. 82% worry about not working again. 58% won't accept a job beneath their skills. so one of the arguments is a lot of frustrated guys out there is, well, maybe i can do something at least for now, so it means i guess maybe having to take a bruise to the ego infoto get ba into the workforce because maybe you won't be making the bucks you were anymore. >> lots of guys feel they're never going to get back to where they were, they're resigned to that, but i'm not selling my house. most of the guys hold on to their assets, most of the guys admit being tired, depressed, but known is considering marriage counseling or divorce, so there's funny details string throughout. >> but the one thing they're considering is ceo boot camps? >> yeah. at a loss are if anything else that's working for you, you might as well try to retrain and put an extra edge in your int are viewing skills. >> nothing wrong with that. great read, thanks for coming in today. so president obama made his run for re-election official and this week he's heading back on the road to pitch his message and bring in some campaign cash but he's not the only 2012 player trying to make headlines across the country. take a listen to several republican contenders appealing to tea party groups just this very weekend. >> to the gop establishment, if you stand on the platform, if you stand by your pledges, we will stand with you. >> we have a disaster on our hands. we have a man right now that almost certainly will go down as the worst president in the history of the united states. >> all right. so let's say good morning and bring in nbc deputy political director mark murray. we're getting used to these unique quotes from trump but it feels like we haven't seen sarah palin firing up a crowd in a long time. what can we take from these latest stops? >> of course palin was speaking in wisconsin which had its fair share of political drama over the last couple of weeks. but the big takea way is the 2012 race is off and running right now. in addition to trump and palin over the weekend we saw rick santorum in new hampshire, tim palm lenty was in iowa, newt gingrich is in georgia, even mitt romney was in florida on friday. all of these events had in some way to do with tea party rallies in conjunction to tax day that actually occurs today. it's obviously a time where republicans want to talk about their anti-tax status, but it's clear that 2012 race is off and running, and i'm not even sure that palin and trump are going to be ones who would end up running, but clearly everyone is out in the field, particularly in the places like iowa, south carolina, and new hampshire. >> let's talk about michele bachmann. should he was out in south carolina saying the gop would win or lose the presidency with the moves that they make right now in 2011. she's speaking again at the top of the hour, and then in new hampshire. these are pretty important states, mark, right? when we come to talking about marking out the early 2012 map? >> absolutely, thomas. in fact, south carolina has decided the gop nominee going back to 1980. it's a crucial state. but michele bachmann is in south carolina today meeting with south carolina's republican governor nikki haley. if palin doesn't run, if trump doesn't run, there would be this tea party void and michele bachmann would be someone who would seem prime to really move into that territory and she certainly could mix things up in the republican race. >> all right. it will be one to watch as we get going leehere. new rules are now in effect for air traffic controllers after officials say several controllers were caught sleeping on the job over the past couple of months. the latest incident just saturday morning at a regional radar facility in florida. the new rules are going to require a minimum of nine hours off between shifts compared to the previous eight. no more swapping schedules to get a three-day weekend here, and more managers on duty to cover your early and late-night hours. the faa administrator and head of the air traffic controllers' union are also beginning a tour of control towers around the country. that begins today. one thing transportation secretary ray lahood says won't happen, allowing controllers to take naps during their shifts. >> paying controllers to sleep will not be part of what we do at the faa. we're not going to pay controllers to nap. >> joining us by skype, mary ski yav voe currently an aviation attorney. good to have you on this morning. this issue of allowing controllers to take naps during their shifts, particularly during overnight shifts, has been talked about for a while. it's will not been recommended by a panel of faa officials and members of air traffic controllers in the union that say it might even be necessary. so give us i guess the real back story here of what is allowable in such an important position. >> well, thomas, what's allowable is, you know, only what secretary lahood just said. in a federal position, in a government position, you are not allowed to sleep on the job and the faa had additional regulations saying no, no napping on the diop. this is a highly-paid job and you're expected to come to work prepared to do your job for the shift. millions of americans work overnight. so it was secretary lahood who made the decision that they won't allow these scheduled nappings, but i worked in japan for a while with air traffic control and they do. they actually have a dark sleeping room, completely darkout rooms and the controllers do take restorative naps and it works. but they have a smaller workforce and tens of thousands of fewer flights and planes. so it's a more controlled and small group. but other countries do do it that way. but i think lahood's on the right track because he's getting a hold of the situation that's been going on for years. >> but, mary, is it just me, and i hate to be a conspiracy theorist here. but these stories have been coming to light, you know, almost weekend, day in, day out, and here we are now talking about this. do you think that this may be a more, i don't know, contemplative move by people working within this industry to say, we need better rules here, we need two-man shifts, we need opportunities to be able to take a nap, so to speak, before we come back to this arduous work. >> these issues have been around for a very long time. people probably remember the pat co strike back in 1982, and these were some of the same issues. sleeping controllers have been around when i was inspector general, we investigated many cases of it. but i think what happened is they got caught with reagan national, and that was sort of the tip of the iceberg, but it was our nation's capital, and now a lot of people are responding, and different groups have different agendas, but one thing for certain is a lot of, you know, rule breaking has been brought to light. and if they're getting a handle on that, that's a big plus, but it's been around for decades. >> thanks for coming on, mary, great to see you as always. >> thank you. >> also a reminder that in our next hour, my colleague, contessa brewer, will speak with ray lahood about this very issue and a whole lot more. make sure you stay put for that. rebel forces are on the run in libya. we are seeing retreat in ajdabiya where anti-gadhafi fighters are blaming the lack of nato support for losing ground, and there are reports this morning of gadhafi soldiers shelling misrata, hitting rebel factions with rockets and artillery fire. more than a dozen people were killed over the weekend as colonel gadhafi's military makes this latest push to take back major coastal cities. stephanie gosk joins us from benghazi. give us the latest on the ground and reports that -- paint a really rough picture for these anti-gadhafi forces. >> reporter: well, it was a bit of a rough weekend for them, thomas, and part of the reason was the weather. it just shows the airstrikes at times, when the weather is bad it's difficult to hit targets. a sandstorm here, and push forward, but when the skies cleared the airstrikes came back and rebels were able to reclaim a lot of their lost ground. in misrata, you also see the limitations of these airstrikes for a different reason, in that city what's happening is gadhafi forces are setting up positions in urban areas, taking shelters around civilians so airstrikes are almost impossible without killing even more civilians in that city. and we already know that many of them are dying under the constant shelling day in and day out. the u.n.'s humanitarian chief is in the country today, trying to secure a corridor for humanitarian aid for the people there. >> stephanie gosk, thank you. hundreds of people are looking for, and police are received 250 tips, but still no sign of a missing nursing student, holly bobo. we'll get the latest on that investigation coming your way next. [ sneezes ] allergies? you think i have allergies? you're sneezing. i'm allergic to you. doubtful, you love me. hey, you can't take allegra with fruit juice. what? yeah, it's on the label. really? here, there's nothing about juice on the zyrtec® label. what? labels are meant to be read. i'd be lost without you. i knew you weren't allergic to me. [ sneezes ] you know, you can't take allegra with orange juice. both: really? fyi. [ male announcer ] get zyrtec®'s proven allergy relief and love the air®. [ male announcer ] in 2011, at&t is at work, building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity... and making a substantial investment to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible. but afraid you can't afford it? well, look how much insurance many people can get through selectquote for less than a dollar a day. selectquote found, rich, 37, a $500,000 policy for under $18 a month. even though dave, 43, takes meds to control his blood pressure, selectquote got him a $500,000 policy for under $28 a month. ellen, 47, got a $250,000 policy for under $20 a month. all it takes is a phone call. your personal selectquote agent will answer all your questions ... and impartially shop the highly rated term life companies selectquote represents for your best rates. give your family the security it needs at a price you can afford. call this number or go to selectquote dot com. selectquote. we shop. you save. welcome back, everybody. a desperate and expanded search continues in tennessee for a missing 20-year-old nursing student. authorities say holly bobo has been missing for six days. holly's brother told police he last saw his sister on wednesday being led away from her home and into the woods by a man dressed in camouflage clothing. fbi, police and hundreds of volunteers from all over tennessee are now scouring four separate counties in the hopes of finding her. joining me now to talk about the case is investigative crime reporter michelle sigona. based on your investigative experience and also your knowledge of profiling and what you no he about this case, the circumstances of the abduction, what kind of suspect do you think we're looking at here? >> i think this could possibly be someone who was obviously watching the home, canvassing the area, picking up on some routines. holly's dad even spoke out about that, that he believed that it's someone that knew the routine. her parents had left, she was going outside, getting ready to get into her car. her brother was inside, so there seemed to be a small window of opportunity there for someone to be able to come up, approach her, and then get her to say something to walk off into the woods with him. >> police are now saying holly wasn't necessarily taken by force, as you're pointing out, but rather led by her arm or hand into the wood. so it may suggest holly may have known her abductor. also what are police saying about the brother'seye-witness report about the person he says was wearing camouflage clothing? if the brother was suspect, why didn't he do something some. >> when i spoke with investigators, they said first it did appear that possibly she may have been obviously dragged off into the woods, and then later on when they talked to the brother again, that that may not have been true. you know, the person may have walked off, but that the person looked like her boyfriend from behind. that's key, because obviously if there wasn't screaming, there wasn't yelling, things of that nature, he may have just looked oust the window, saw him standing there, oh, he stopped by for a moment, whatever the case may be, then off through the woods they went. then we did learn over the weekend her lunch pail was found quite a distance away from where she went missing, so that could possibly be an indication as to which route they took when they left the area. >> i know the fbi has been a part of this search since day one. what do they bring to the table especially working in coordination with local police? >> you know, the fbi when they get involved in these types of cases, they don't necessarily take over, but they're there to offer assistance, especially to the local decatur county authorities, to the tennessee bureau of investigations. they'll bring in a lot of their experts, sometimes they'll ship folks in from various offices, they bring, you know, forensic experience, things of that nature. they've also helped to coordinate a lot of the volunteers on the ground. you know, investigators only asked for a couple hundred people to show up from the community. >> yeah. >> thomas, more than 1,000 over the weekend, just people are pouring out their hearts, their souls, their time, and then they're telling them, you know, look. if you find something, don't touch it. there was a gentleman who apparently came a piece of duct tape that had blonde hair on it, not saying it belongs to this or not, but he's not going to touch that, he's going to pick up the phone, call authorities, they'll come in and sort of do what they need to do to pick up and collect those types of evidence for this case. >> we certainly do hope the best for holly's family in this investigation. michelle, great to see you. thanks so much. meantime, in maryland, the police are still looking for a teen girl missing since december of 2010. 17-year-old felicia barnes of north carolina strandished after christmas of last year. she was last steeen at her half sister's apartment in baltimore. volunteers fanned out to search the park and the surrounding area. the park was identified by people of interest in the investigation, though a body was found, police say it was not that of barnes. so on today's flip side, no experience, no problem. from rappers to sports stars, there are plenty of people running for office these days with no political cred whatsoever. is that best way to go? do they actually stand a chance? how are you getting to a happier place? running there? dancing there? how about eating soup to get there? campbell's soups fill you with good nutrition, farm-grown ingredients, and can help you keep a healthy weight. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. [ ben harper's "amen omen" playing ] we believe doing the right thing never goes unnoticed. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? welcome back, everybody. time for the flip side where we look at a story behind the headlines. today, it is all about the unexpected on the campaign trail. case in point, luther campbell, former front man for '80s rap group 2 live cru, he has his sights set on the miami mayor's office. carl lewis is the latest sports star taking a shot at politics. he can look to other former jocks who turned athletic success into a life in elected office. and we go inside the beltway now where heath shuler was a star at the university of tennessee and a top three pick in the nfl draft. but he traded in his cleats for a suit and made his way to capitol hill representing north carolina's 11th district and becoming one of the leading voices among the blue dog democrats. but if we're really talking about famous politicians, there is no better place to start than the governator, arnold schwarzenegger, serving two terms as governor of california, a state that is not afraid to vote a celeb into office including the most famous and successful celebrity turned president, ronald reagan. and there you have it. our flip side today. that's going to do it for me today, i'm thomas roberts. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 eastern. i'm also going to be filling in for tamron hall at 2:00 p.m. today for "newsnation" where i'll show you -- >> what. >> i'll show you my personal pictures from the premiere of "water for elephants". >> wow. impressive. >> they're really bad. >> are they on facebook. >> facebook, i don't know. i think i -- >> go right now and we don't have to -- no. i don't want to ruin the surprise. >> they're really bad pictures. we'll talk about it at 2:00. >> i'm talking to transportation secretary ray lahood and we're talking about the new faa rules, another air traffic controller was caught sleeping on the job. talk about all of that. plus, gas prices hitting 4 bucks a gallon in some places. we're talking about this cheaper, greener alternative. how you turn garbage into gasoline. and during this holy week, here is a question for you, what if there is no hell? would that change how some christians live their life? sin city, baby, right after this. [ giggles ] hey, max. [ announcer ] you can help significantly extend your dog's healthy years. a groundbreaking 14-year study by purina... proves that puppy chow, then dog chow nutrition, fed properly over a lifetime, can help extend his lovable antics up to 1.8 healthy years. long live your buddy. [ laughs ] oh, max. long live your dog. purina dog chow. double dog dare you to try better-tasting than ever purina dog chow. we know your dog will love it. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses... not paid by medicare part b. that can save you from paying up to thousands of dollars... out of your own pocket. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you'll get this free information kit... with all you need to enroll. put their trust in aarp medicare supplement insurance. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. the prices are competitive. i can keep my own doctor. and i don't need a referral to see a specialist. call now to get a free information kit. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. and the advantages don't end there. choose from a range of medicare supplement plans... that are all competitively priced. we have a plan for almost everyone, so you can find one that fits your needs and budget. with all medicare supplement plans, there are virtually no claim forms to fill out. plus you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare. and best of all, these plans are... the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. when they told me these plans were endorsed by aarp... i had only one thing to say... sign me up. call the number on your screen now... and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan. you'll get this free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare, to help you choose the plan that's right for you. as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. good monday, everybody. i'm contessa brewer covering the big news from coast to coast and the big story we're watching right now, tornado alley. search and rescue teams are on the ground in eastern north carolina. the stat