north carolina shutting out same-sex marriage with a constitutional amendment. people behind the movement this morning saying they're not anti-gay, they're pro-marriage. mississippi searching for adam mayes wanted for killing of a tennessee woman and her teenage daughter. the police expand their search for the two young girls. pomp and perception. queen elizabeth ii arriving in a golden carriage wearing a crown with 3,000 diamonds. going before parliament to talk about saving money. "newsroom" starts right now. this morning we begin with new details and backlash over the al qaeda plot to bomb a u.s. bound plane. we know it was an undercover operative working for saudi arabia and the united states. according to "the new york times," the operative handed over the bomb to the fbi and now that bomb is undergoing extensive study. the newspapers reports it was sewn into custom fit underwear but unlike the bomb that malfunctioned on the 2009 flight into detroit, this one had fail safes to ensure it detonated. now the backlash. intelligence officials and lawmakers are outraged that someone leaked details and major investigations are being launched. >> it's unfortunate this has gotten out. this could really interfere with operations overseas and i'm sorry to do this but i can't comment on any of those details. i know it's out there. i know it's being reported. i also was at a briefing this afternoon with top officials and there's a real great concern that this got out. >> tom is a former assistant director of the fbi and joins us from washington. good morning, tom. >> good morning, carol. >> let's talk quickly about this investigation. what kind of possible damage could be caused by these leaks? >> i think there's been tremendous damage caused by it because it interrupted an ongoing operation and investigation. all of the sources that i've talked to who are extremely high level have said there was no expectation that this operation would leak and in fact none of them knew of the operation. no one in circles in washington if you didn't need to know it, you didn't know it until it became public through the media. it's clear the cia, fbi and administration were not prepared for this story to come out at this time and completely interrupt the operation. >> the story did come out and details quite frankly are fascinating. here's this man, this mole, who infiltrated al qaeda. this bombmaker, al asiri wanted to plant a bomb on his own brother. they are hardcore. the courage it must have taken for this man to infiltrate al qaeda is mind-boggling. >> that's true. it's absolutely amazing that they did recruit someone that would be willing to do that. but what we don't know now is how many other somebodies are there. are there other suicide bombers who intend to commit suicide? have there been other devices similar to his already made, already deployed, and who knows if they're going to be detected in airport scanning machines in europe. that's the danger in this factor. an operation has been cut short before all of the players are known and before all of the details are known and before really we know more about what al asiri is up to at this point and how many other bombs are out there. >> what exactly is he doing and al qaeda in yemen on the arabian peninsula doing right now knowing someone infiltrated their group? >> right now he's just going to continue to make more bombs and continue to recruit more people who are willing to die in their effort to attack americans or westerners. he's just going to continue doing that all along. i think at this point just this is my opinion but the cat is out of the bag. i think the public and tsa and airport screeners around the world should be seeing photographs of what this device looked like and being told here's what to watch for. here's what's out there at least in this device. obviously al asiri and other al qaeda members in yemen know that we have the device. this is public information now. they know that the information is out there. there is no need to keep it from them. they are aware of it. why keep it from the screeners who need to have that information across the globe to have an idea of what they are looking for. >> i guess i meant he would be looking at his recruits and sort of seeing what other plants there may be. i'm sure he's doing that too. in southern california, the fbi is investigating security concerns surrounding two southwest airlines flights out of john wayne airport. one was searched by a bomb squad and canine units before leaving santa ana. another one taken to a secure area. >> looks like there are problems with the runway. >> southwest 1424 heading 360 climb and maintain 3,000. >> it looks like the runway's occupied with some basic security issues and we can't land right now so stand by for further information. >> they were responding to nonspecific threats and crews found nothing out of the ordinary. investigators have not said if these incidents are linked. this morning gay rights activists are regrouping and gearing up to fight the latest statewide ban on same-sex marriage. voters in north carolina overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment which defines marriage as between a man and woman. opponents of the measure are vowing to challenge results and are planning rallies later this week. >> we said we were going to have a million conversations across this state. no matter what the results tonight, their conversations cannot be stopped and cannot be undone. >> we are not anti-gay. we are pro-marriage. this campaign has been about one thing and one thing only. protecting marriage is the union between one man and one woman. >> north carolina becomes the 31st state to define marriage as a heterosexual union. more states will vote on similar same-sex marriage bans later this year. wisconsin's embattled governor knows who he'll face in the june 5th recall election. last night tom barrett was chosen as the challenger. he lost in the 2010 gubernatorial race. more than a million people signed petitions for walker's recall after he cut most collective bargaining rights for state employees. a changing of the guard in indiana and undeniable message being sent to washington. for the first time since the 1970s, hoosier voters rejected six-term senator richard lugar. he was ousted by a fellow republican who said he won't budge on his republican values. >> this race is not about animosity. it's about ideas. it is about the direction of the republican party. it is about the direction of our country. >> my public service is not concluded. i look forward to what can be achieved in the senate in the next eight months despite a very difficult national election atmosphere. >> senior congressional correspondent dana bash is in indianapolis this morning and in a sign of lugar's bipartisan record, president obama praised lugar after last night's defeat. i want to read part of the statement from president obama. i want to express my deep appreciation for dick lugar's distinguished service in the united states. we didn't always agree on everything but during my time in the senate he was often willing to reach across the aisle and get things done. in fact, it's that spirit of compromise that might have cost lugar his job, right? >> reporter: it sure is. i heard that from voter after voter that we talked to at the polls yesterday. they thought that richard lugar agreed with the president too much and in this really extraordinary race got even more unusual last night because as soon as senator lugar was finished with his concession speech, he had aides release this memo. it's about a three-page memo. he really tries to explain his decisions. one is his decision to vote with the president on his supreme court picks, on things like immigration and in this he also says that i believe that those votes were right for the country and i stand by them without regrets. he didn't do what a lot of other incumbent republicans did to defend themselves from challenges from the right. he didn't attack right. he stuck with what he thought was correct in terms of his votes. >> okay. so what does this mean for the country and the polarization of the senate? you cover capitol hill. you're our congressional correspondent. will it get more ugly? i can't remember a recent law that congress has passed lately. >> reporter: there are a few but you have to dig for them. you are right. there is no question that richard lugar was one of the last remaining people as i just mentioned who did what he thought was right even though he knew politically it was very, very bad for him. not saying that people who are there now don't go by their principle but richard lugar did it to his own peril. in this extraordinary memo he put out, he talked about the fact that he's very worried that bipartisan in his word he wants people to know is not opposite of principle. it's not a dirty word. it is okay. and he was very scathing in his parting shots, if you will. just like olympia know was who voluntarily retired. another moderate that worked across the aisle. these people say they are concerned about the state of politics. he also said that if the republican party, his own party, continues to allow outside forces to not allow nuance, they'll become a minority party and maybe even worse. carol? >> reporting live for us from indianapolis this morning. former presidential candidate rick santorum is still explaining his endorsement of mitt romney. santorum went on "the tonight show" and host jay leno wasted no time talking about that endorsement that many say lacked enthusiasm. >> it was kind of buried. there were 16 paragraphs. it was the 13th paragraph. by the way, this mitt romney fellow is running for president. at one point you said he was the worst republican we could ever put against obama. didn't you say that? >> i say that with respect to the issue of obama care. can you imagine what "the tonight show" would look like if the government ran "the tonight show?" >> i see how it looks with nbc running it. >> can you imagine? >> santorum also gave leno one of his souvenir sweater vests which became his signature look during the campaign. i'm sure jay will wear it -- i don't think he will. ron paul is still in the race and he'll be joining us in the next hour. should ron paul drop his presidential bid? his supporters don't think so. in fact, they are threatening to cause chaos at the republican national convention if he's not allowed to give a prime time address. i'll ask congressman paul about that. president obama and mitt romney are trading jabs on the economy. which man has the right approach to get the nation back on track? tennessee police looking for these two little girls and the man they think kidnapped them. police hope new surveillance video will lead them to their suspect. you're doing okay, mom. i can call you "mom," right? i know we haven't known each other very long, but you seem like a real keeper. you're not perfect. but you're trying. anyway, i want you to know how much i appreciate you. you know, right? how much i love you. you're doing okay, mom. you do a lot of no.aking?. look i'm going through the rapids. okay... i'll take it. sync your card with facebook, foursquare and twitter for savings. that's the membership effect of american express. ooo no. the hotel lost our reservation. nonsense! you book at travelocity, your reservation's guaranteed. well, i did not book with travelocity, okay?!? [ female announcer ] get the travelocity guarantee anywhere when you book with our new app. you'll never roam alone. it is 15 minutes past the hour. time to check our top stories. new details and backlash in al qaeda's failed plot to bomb a u.s. airliner. we know the planned suicide bomber was really an intelligence operative working for saudi arabia and the united states. lawmakers and government officials want to know how details were leaked and if they damaged the investigation. take a close look at this new video. tennessee police hope it will help them find adam mayes and the two little girls he's suspected of kidnapping. mayes is suspected of kidnapping the girl's mother and older sister whose bodies were found on saturday. police have arrested mayes' mother and his ex-wife. they are accused of helping him. yahoo! ceo's decision to lie about his college degree on his resume has cost yahoo! search director her job. he will keep his job for now. patty hart was in charge of the ceo search and was responsible for hiring him. a senior yahoo! executive says thompson lost his credibility. a special committee is continuing to investigate the matter. it is the number one issue many americans will take with them into the ballot box in november. the economy. republican candidate mitt romney is trying to convince voters president obama is bad for the economy and he will do things differently. tuesday in michigan, governor romney spent seven minutes to make sure voters got the point. >> his four years have been a disappointment for all of us. president clinton said the era of big government was over. president obama brought it back with a vengeance. president obama is trying to tirelessly expand the welfare state. the president takes his marching orders from union bosses and rails against the right to work states. have you seen the president's vision of the future? to help us see it, his campaign has even created fictional character. what does it say about a president's policies when he asks to use a cartoon character rather than real people to justify his record? >> you get the point there. coo of the economic cycle research institute is with us now. welcome. >> good morning, carol. >> romney blasted the president's policies for seven minutes. he actually spent nine minutes on his own ideas. he wasn't specific about what exactly he would do differently. romney talked about bringing jobs back, for example, with pro-growth regulations and pro-growth taxes and pro-growth labor rules. translate that to us and tell us how that might fire up the economy in the short-term. >> i'm sorry. this is unfortunate. it won't. i don't think there really is a policy that will. just to be clear, all i do is study the business cycle, recessions and recoveries. and we made a call at the end of last year that we would be going into a new recession by the middle of this year and when we look at all of the incoming data and a lot of it -- the general tone has been one of a recovering economy. but when we look at the incoming data, it looks as though things have already been slowing. all of the indicators that tell us where we are in the business cycle have now turned down. early on we saw output like gdp or industrial production or sales or income. this is a real tough one. income, very, very weak here. the current readings that we have now, very low readings, they are already at weak readings that we saw after the last ten recessions began. those income readings are already recessionary and then of course we have had jobs growing quicker until february of this year but now they've started to rollover. this really looks like a business cycle downturn like unfortunately recession call is correct and what typically happens is after a recession begins -- >> let me interrupt you for just a second. i really want to get into the specifics of romney's speech. not all economists agree with you by the way. >> most don't. >> so you have a darker vision of the economy than most economists do. if what you're saying is true, don't we need a new way of dealing with the economy and is he the right man to do the job? >> i think that's an open question, okay? because the presidential politics, presidential policies, these kinds of things, things that will happen between the administration and the congress, they are effective at laying the rules of the playing field for three or four or five years out. in the near term, the business cycle will not be denied. likewise with monetary policy. when numbers get bad, people say the fed should print more money. that will save things. but if you look at 222 years of u.s. and business cycle history, we've had 47 recessions. policy makers on both sides of the aisle and central banks since early part of the last century have tried to deny every single incoming recession and they have failed. i suspect we'll have a 40th recession. the only question is when and if you're just reading the actual data and not forecasts, the actual data on income and jobs growth and the other indicators of recession, we're pretty much there. it's not recognized. it doesn't get recognized. it's not obvious until a half year later which oddly enough lands right around the election. >> right. let me ask you this last question. mitt romney is a successful businessman. there's no doubt about that. you deal with ceos every day. you talk with them. you study them. are ceos best equipped to fix a sluggish economy? >> look, we need some jobs, right? that's pretty clear. they are sitting on a lot of cash and the question is what would induce them to start investing that cash in particular in the united states? and the simplest answer is more demand, right? more people wanting stuff. right now what we see is consumption slipping and the hope has been more jobs would lead to more con consumption but it's just not happening. that's missing link here. that's starting to dawn on people. >> thank you so much for joining us this morning. we appreciate it. >> thanks for your time. >> still ahead on "newsroom," a man has a big reason to thank dustin hoffman. the actor saved his life. [ female announcer ] introducing coffee-mate natural bliss. made with only milk... cream... a touch of sugar... and pure natural flavors. coffee-mate natural bliss. from nestle. add your flavor naturally. it is time for middle class talk back. we wanted to give middle class americans a chance to ask direct questions of the presidential candidates. today it's moira bindner's term. they are struggling with an underwater mortgage and recent periods of unemployment. this week she had a question for governor romney. >> governor romney, my question for you is what ideas do you have about those people who are underemployment and have settled for jobs that really don't utilize their talents. i think your record shows more cutting companies and selling them so how would you encourage employers to really utilize people? >> okay. so we took the question to governor romney. christie campbell from the romney campaign shot us an e-mail. tuesday in michigan governor romney addressed the issues concerning americans like moira. because of president obama's disastrous economic policies, americans are struggling with unemployment, underemployed or have given up looking for a job. >> this is a time for new answers and a new direction. it's the only way our future can be better than the past and as this new direction creates new jobs, it will also create the increasing demand for workers. that produces higher wages and better benefits. with the right direction and the right leadership, america can be reinvigorated as an economic powerhouse and families can depend once again on stable jobs and rising home values and more opportunities for their children. this can be more than our hope. it can be our future. >> governor romney added he'll describe policies of that new direction throughout his campaign. next wednesday we'll take another one of your questions this time to president obama. join me next week for middle class talk back. police are still searching for adam mayes wanted in killing of a tennessee woman and her teenage daughter. right now police are expanding their search for the woman's two young girls, alexandria and kyliyah. i've still got hours of battery life. it's an ultrabook. you bring great shame upon this coffee hut. with a long-lasting ultrabook,