releasing taliban suspects around the world. weinstein makes a personal appeal to president obama saying in part, quote, if you accept the demands, i live, if you don't accept the demands, then i die. it's important you accept the demands and act quickly and don't delay. there will be no benefit in delaying. it will just make things more difficult for me. dominic di-natale is live in islamabad. >> reporter: jon, that will be the second time we've heard from al-qaeda claiming they're holding 70-year-old warren weinstein. in his message it was extraordinarily emotional and pointed towards president obama, particularly addressing some very personal points. in his comments, he reached out and said if you meet the militants' demands hopefully i will be able to rejoin my family, he says, and also enjoy my children, my two daughters, like you enjoy your two daughters. so very much playing to the heartstrings of the president and the rest of mek. there's great concern for this man, he's 70 years old, he has a heart condition, he's on medication. he did say in the message that al-qaeda were giving him all the medication he needed. he had a personal message for his wife ellen. we do know that weinstein himself, they are from rockville in maryland and we know his family is extremely concerned about his case. but al-qaeda has a history of capturing these westerners in pakistan. he was taken from his home in lahor back in august. the pakistani police have 2340 -- no leads as to where he is at the moment. we do believe, however, he's in the tribal region of western pakistan, from the video. we see that he's wearing traditional pakistani garb. it is like a baggy shirt and baggy pants. it would indicate perhaps he's hidden where he's trying to blend in with locals there but like i say, the pakistanis have no leads, jon. back to you. jon: what an awful case. dominic, thank you. jenna: some brand new poll numbers out today, on the likely matchup between the president and the presumptive republican nominee, governor mitt romney. after a bruising primary battle, mr. romney, gaining significant ground on the president, according to some new numbers from usa today and gallup. those numbers focusing on registered voters in the 12 battle ground states, you see them on your screen, likely to determine the election's outk our chief political correspondent carl cameron is live in washington with more. carl, how do these numbers shape up? >> reporter: this is a pretty important poll. the daily gallup tracking poll has actually had the race basically tied for weeks but this is different. this is a singular poll, taken at a snapshot of time where it's definitely a full blown survey, not one of these rolling averages. the 12 key battle ground states are likely to decide the flation november and romney has gained three points there, while president obama has simultaneously lost four since march. that leaves a two-point spread, a virtual tie within the poll's margin of error. partisan enthusiasm has shifted a bit in this battle ground poll, 55 percent of the president's supporters are either very or extremely excited to vote for him, and for romney, it's 46 percent. that's actually a reversal of where things were a couple of weeks ago. there's a new national poll from george washington university that shows it's a one point race and in that particular poll, a one point race nationwide, independents are going for romney by a ten-point advantage, 48 to 38 over the president. when you talk about battle ground swing states, independents a ten-point decifit for the incumbent president. that's bad news for democrats. jenna: very interesting point to make as we take a look at these polls. you always remind us, the election is five months after. anything can happen. we mentioned this bruising primary battle. it doesn't look like it's going to get easier for either gentleman. how can that be sustained when we look over the next couple of months and how that might turn off or turn on swing vote sners. >> voters are going to have to put up with an awful lot of negativity in these ads. all the numbers suggest that both cants candidates have to define each other negatively, which means that romney will go after the president negatively and president obama will try to define mr. romney negatively. at this point, obama has, his first two ads came out negative, it's now running a positive ad, it started over the course of the week yen and it's meant to sort of reframe the old reelection dynamic, not are you better off now than you were four years ago, but how will you be in the future, that is mr. obama's attempt to not have this election be a referendum on his first three years in office and turn it into a choice between himself and mr. romney. watch for both romney and the president this week to concentrate heavily on the economy. that's obviously the theme of the election. this year they're going to talk about middle class voters, middle class voters, middle class income families are the swing constituency of the independent moderate middle that make up those battle ground states that will di24 -- decide this election. jenna: the swing constituency. i got it, i'm with you. we're not going to go negative. we're going to be positive, you and i! >> put on your helmet. it's going to be a crazy five months. jon joond deep boots, i think! tall boots! >> prosecutors hope to wrap up their case in the campaign finance trial of john ed -- edwards. retaking the story, the lawyer for aris, rachel bunny mel i don't know, that lawyer facing cross-examination from edwards' defense team. they're trying to establish that edwards had no knowledge that some of mellon's money was being used to hide his extramarital affair with rielle hunter. jonathan serrie, live in greene borough, north carolina for us now. jonathan, what are we learning from this lawyer? >> reporter: the lawyer you're talking about, jon, is alex forger, he, of course, the estate lawyer for rachel bunny mellon who over the course of these events funneled more than $700,000 to andrew young, an aide that was working for edwards at the time. after news of edwards' affair broke, forger said he became suspicious and wondered whether his client's money was being used to hide rielle hunter. he called fred bayon who assured him that baron himself had covered all of hunter's expenses. according to forger, baron said this sounded like a scam, perpetuated by andrew young. end quote. now, all of this raises questions whether the money that was coming from baron and mellon were part of the same alleged scheme as the prosecution would like the jury to believe, or whether these are separate issues. listen: >> the government charges one big conspiracy but if there are unrelated conspiracies it may set up nicely for defense's motion to dismiss the conspiracy based on the way it was charged. >> reporter: the defense is trying to portray all of these donations as private gifts, not campaign contributions, as the prosecution is arguing, jon. jon: so the central question in all of this is how much did jon edwards know about this money. has the witness shed any light on that? >> yeah, that's what both sides are trying to get to. during testimony, forger recalled a conversation that he had back in the fall of 2008 with edwards'tory at the time, wade smith, in which he quotes smith saying, quote, yes, john acknowledges now these were for his benefit, talking about the funds that the campaign aide had been receiving over this time. but that leaves some ambiguities. does now mean that edwards only acknowledged the funds after people such as alex forger started raising questions about the funds? or did he know about them all the sniem and what did he know about how the funds were being used? all questions that both sides are going to attempt to resolve in the courthouse behind me, jon. jon: the battle goes on. jonathan serrie in greensborough, thank you. jenna: our next story is another big story, political new upheaval in europe, taking the toll on our markets. not much, the dow down 28 points. but this is after french voters ousted president nicolas sarkozy over the weekend choosing fran wa hollande as france's first socialist president in 17 years. let's go to greg palkot streaming live from paris. >> reporter: jenna, the french are getting used to the idea francois hollande is their new president, he defeated the incumbent president by a slight margin, nicolas sarkozy. i chatted with a few people on the way to work, listened to their hopes, listened to their concerns: >> good, good. >> yes. yes. >> why? >> change. >> i'm very glad. >> you're very glad. why? >> it's goodbye. >> goodbye! >> i hope that francois hollande is going to do a good job and i'm hopeful. >> do you have fears, perhaps too much spending? >> that's my fear, that he's not going to control public finances as he should have, or as he will be alleged to do. it's going to be a tough job for him moving forward. >> reporter: hollande did make a lot of promise necessary that campaign, he called for an end to austerity, emphasis on growth and that could mean tax hikes and more spending, that an an antiausterity vote, has spent the marks down here. they are settling down a bit. insiders say once hollande gets into office he could be hopefully more pragmatic. as for sarkozy he's a victim of the tough times, he's the 11th european leader to lose his job since the start of economic trouble on the continent. he also might be a victim of his brash style, with indications that he and his wife karla will step away from the political limelight for a while. hollande is set to be sworn in may 18th and president obama has already invited him for dinner at the white house on his way to g8 and nato summits in the state later this month. washington wants a little bit of reassurance both on the economic and security side from this new administration. back to you jenna. jenna: we're going to talk about how this might affect our markets, our economy in the united states later on in the show, greg. thank you very much. jon: a murder morgan stanleyry to tell but after a worker is found dead just hours after that horse race. the evidence police have uncovered so far. we're live with more on that. jenna: what a strange case that is. also brand new information on the world's most wanted terrorist. al-qaeda leader ayman zawahiri. where secretary clinton says he's hiding out today. jon: plus she's be been accused of stalking nba players. you won't believe how close she actually got to them. jenna: wanted to take a shot, jon. jon: could have been a three-pointer, from that range! details on this crazy video, next. 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[ laughter ] we're servers at red lobster. and we sea food differely. jon: police in louisville, investigating a death at the site of this weekend's kentucky derby. track employee, found dead inside one of the barns at churchill downs, just hours after that famous race. police now are treating this case as homicide. eric shawn is following this story for us live in our new york newsroom. >> reporter: jon, he is a churchill downs track woark and authorities say it's murder, perez is from guatemala, he was a horse groom at the track. police say there does not appear to be a connection between his death and the kentucky derby itself but it does seem to be they say a matter of timing. his body was found at 5:00 a.m. sunday, hours after the 138th running of the derby on saturday. police say his injuries are consistent with some type of altercation and they say there were several altercations that night. >> the report was that he was discovered at the scene. detectives were able to determine there was foul play involved, however, we still do not have an exact cause of death. so we'll await the coroner's report for those details. >> reporter: about 200 people like perez live full-time at the track. they reside in dormitories or small amounts taking care of facilities and horses. police are trying to find out exactly where he was and what he was doing right after the race. they are also interviewing track workers, including his 19-year-old son, who also works there. police don't know exactly how long the body was in that barn or if that was the exact spot where perez was killed. an autopsy we're told has now been completed, the coroner's office tells fox news there were injuries on the body and say more information about be released in the coming days. certainly a tragedy after the joyous churchill downs kentucky derby. jon: i would think with all of those people having been there for the race and the hubbub it's got to make their investigation tougher. >> reporter: press interesting case and certainly delving into that to try to find out what happened. jon: eric, thank you. jenna: high drama at the opening round of the mba playoff series and not because of the competitive play. a woman with a history of stalking players made it on to the court during the knuckles-lakers game. she then started yelling at the players before security got ahold of her. you can see they eventually escorted her out of the arena. she was arrested red and is now charged with trespassing. so we don't know which side she was on! lakers or -- >> jon: good thing metta world peace wasn't on the court. she could have caught an elbow to the ear! jenna: you never know what's going to happen if you just wander on! jon: president obama facing new challenges today as he fucially kicks off his reelection bid. you didn't know that hasn't happened yet? what voters are saying about mr. obama's handling of the economy. brand new poll numbers from key swing states, next. plus, new troubles for spirit airlines. the discount carrier is going to court. what that could mean for air travelers everywhere. details, and a live report, coming up. most life insurance companies look at you and just see a policy. at aviva, we do things differently. we're bringing humanity back to life insurance. that's why only aviva rewards you with savings for getting a check-up. it's our wellness for life program, with online access to mayo clinic. see the difference at avivausa.com. jenna: welcome back, everyone. returning to one of our top stories today, these new poll numbers just out, showing major changes in the likely general election matchup between the president and the presumptive republican nominee, governor mitt romney. according to new numbers from usa today and gallup, mr. romney is gaining significant ground on mr. obama on the economy, leading 60-52 percent. that's when it comes to the swing states, by the way. that's a 28-point swing from march. but on the important issue of likability, the president holding a solid lead also in the swing states, 58-31 percent. joining me now, managing editor of the hill, bob cusack, nice to have you with us -- have you with us. so the takeaway, you let him balance your checkbook, the president you have a beer with? what do we make of the results? >> the bad news for romney, voters like to have that beer with their president. i think romney has to work on his likability. the good news for romney, bad for the president, is the unemployment rate has dropped nearly a full percentage point over the last year, and still, mitt romney has the edge, unemployment has gone up since president obama took oivment so weaknesses and strengths here but this race is very tight. jenna: it's interesting to see the head to head. we're going to show people the change in march from now. you see the tightening. this is after so many were talking about how the bruising primary season would really hurt mitt romney and now you see the head to head matchup in the states. very close. why that you -- do you think that's so close now? >> i think the voters and polls show this, there's not a lot of optimism about where the economy is headed, and the president has been making the case that the economy is improving but we have work to do, mitt romney countering this is not good enough, 8 percent, 8.1%, we should be lowered to 4 percent unemployment rate and a lot of people have not given -- have given up, they're not looking for jobs. that's the battle. the one think helps the president is the enthusiasm. it seems like the enthusiasm is going up for president obama, and not so much for mitt romney. jenna: we actually have that. you're talking to our producer, which i appreciate, bob. it's like you have the whole segment down already! here's what we have, the democrats leading, 57-46 percent in the swing states. that's the first time we've seen that, the democrats take the lead in the swing states. this is after we saw in 2010 the tea party, joe biden yesterday saying that the tea party has taken the republican party. but where is that enthusiasm on the gop side? >> well, that's i think part of the bully pulpit, where the president has been able to attack a lot of white house hopefuls, whether it be newt gingrich, all the frontrunners, rick perry at one point, but the dnc and president obama have solely focused on mitt romney for the most part over the last several months but still, mitt romney is there, so that is very good news for romney, but romney does have to unify the party, he's got to have a very big convention this summer so that people are fired up for him and also i think he's got to show a softer side so that people like him more. he can't be down 27 points in the lineibility poll and still pull this thing off. he doesn't have to win it but he's got to get at least i think within 15, ten points. jenna: a lot of numbers for all of us to take n that's what made this story so important for us today, bob. a big takeaway for you, what are you going to be watching over the next couple of weeks? >> how both men appeal to independent voters. they supported president obama in 2008, 2010, republicans grabbed them up. that's the battle, winning the independent vote and of course, firing up your base. but that's the message right now, and i think that we're going to have a roller coater race, but i don't see one of these men pulling away. i think it's going to be very tight throughout. jenna: makes it all the more interesting for us, which is good as well. nice so -- to have you with us, thank you very much. jon: interest interesting -- some interesting comments this weekend, rubio launching an attack on president obama saying he lost his political touch and was a different candidate than he was in 2008. a fair and balanced look at those comments and what it might mean in the race for the white house, coming up. plus, a shocking new report on captured taliban fighters, and charges the u.s. is releasing them in afghanistan. the reason why, next. >> announcer: meet mary. she loves to shop online with her debit card, and so does bill, an identity thief who stole mary's identity, took over her bank accounts and stole her hard-earned money. now meet jack. enough to enjoy retirement.saved angie, the waitress at jack's favorite diner, is also enjoying his retirement. with just a little information, she's opened up a credit line, draining the equity in jack's home. unfortunately, millions of americans just like you learn all it may take is a little misplaced information to wreak havoc on your life. this is identity the