was there when i was born, i know i was born in hawaii. tonight he's doing a series of fund-raisers in new york. opening line at each fund-raiser, "i'm barack obama. i was born in hawaii. they didn't ask me for any i.d. on the way in." they believe this settles it once and for all. there are going to be a bunch of fringe folks, as you just mentioned, who will still come up with box 9, box 15, whatever you may like. but at the end of the day a majority of americans are going to say case closed. >> gloria, you've been getting the rundown from administration officials. why did they decide to deal with this issue now and not, you know, 2 1/2 years ago when they released what was a completely valid document, the certification of live birth? >> reporter: i think there was just a sense from the white house aides i've been talking to that this had reached critical mass. the words you hear when you talk to white house advisers is the president was frustrated. this had become a corrosive issue. this had infected our politics. and i think the final straw, if there was a final straw, was that the president gave a very important speech on how he would attack the deficit.