the auto bailout and investing in clean energy and those sorts of things. you can expect pawlenty and jindal to talk about the fact that the unemployment rate ticked up last month. remember, richard, this bus trip falls on the same day that we're going to be getting the june jobs report. >> right. >> all eyes are on that report. you can talk to any analyst and they say the main issue of this election is still the economy. of course, we spent a lot of time talking about the supreme court cases last week. it's still the economy that analysts believe will determine the outcome of this race. by the way, president obama won ohio and pennsylvania back in 2008 and those states now still very much in play. richard? >> right there in the rust belt as the labor report does come out. we'll see what sort of reaction happens on friday. kristen welker at the white house, thank you so much. >> thanks, richard. >> talk to you later. mitt romney is off the campaign trail but not on vacation from his campaign duties. a photographer snapped this shot of mitt romney meeting with ben rhodes. when asked about the meeting, the campaign told nbc news they have no comment. and in a few hours, governor romney will make his first public appearance of the week. he'll be marching in the local fourth of july parade alongside another potential vp candidate, new hampshire senator kel. >> let's talk about what kristen was mentioning to us, the president kicking off his bus tour tomorrow. pawlenty and jindal will bracketing with him and rob portman as well, traveling to new hampshire this weekend. no word if he'll be meeting with romney. where do we stand in terms of the what's the messaging we're looking for going forward as the president goes out there and tries to make the message, put the message out there, that romney is a jobs expovertier? >> of course, the message that the obama campaign has been pushing hard from the very beginning is attacking mitt romney's record at bain capital. and as controversial as that tactic has been from both republicans and democrats, most notably corey booker and bill clinton, that's really the lane that the obama campaign is staying in. and they're sort of attacking bain capital from every angle they can find, their latest political attack ad against romney focused on bain capital investing in companies that ship jobs overseas. and that's -- i think it's a strategy that's really been working for the obama campaign. he's been able to paint romney as someone who's out of touch with middle class voters. >> cynthia, i do want to play an ad. you mentioned that right thousand. president obama and mitt romney putting out more than $10 million of ads this week. let me play you a little bit of president obama's ad here. >> what a president believes matters. mitt romney's companies were pioneers in outsourcing u.s. jobs to low-wage countries. he supports tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. president obama believes in insourcing. he fought to save the u.s. auto industry and favors tax cuts for companies that bring jobs me. >> so jonathan, this message, if hit well and hit strong, will it be well accepted? we're talking about ohio here as well as pennsylvania. two very strong manufacturing states. >> right. i mean, it's obviously a message that has a lot of resonance with voters in those types of states, the kind of blue collar voters that obama really needs to target. a lot of them are swing voters. at the same time, i mean, there's been some controversy over this attack in the sense that there's not a lot of evidence that romney played a role in deciding to send those jobs overseas. he was -- his bain capital was kind of affiliated or associated with companies that had workers overseas. but there's no evidence that he actually made the decisions to send them overseas. >> those details as we get more and more information on "vanity fair," of course, writing extensively on that this week. when we look at the swing states, though, cynthia, in this messaging from the president, we're also seeing bracketing as i mentioned at the top here. we see bobby jindal out there, tim pawlenty. this "s" this going to work as we look at the next two days? trying to offset the president as he's hitting strong that economic message and try to balance, if you will, the criticism of him and the economy overhe last several years. >> i think clearly both sides want to talk about the economy, both sides are vulnerable in different areas. i think as far as the effectiveness of the obama campaign's focus on bain capital, you know, there was a recent poll on swing states and it showed that 33%, this is an nbc and "wall street journal" poll. it showed that 33% of respondents in swing states said that the more they learned about mitt romney's economic business record, the more negative of an opinion they had for him. regardless of the sman tiemanti outsourcing or whether or not mitt romney had a role in deciding some of these things, the fact is these negative attack ads are very impactful and they're having a big impact inwing state voters. >> talking about swing states, jonathan, when we look at the messaging coming so far when we involve both of the candidates, one of the questions that comes up is on friday, the president will be in pennsylvania. he'll be in pittsburgh, really at one of the hearts of the rust belt. when we get the report, the president will be out there and will have to react, whether the news is good or bad. >> yes. in fact, the signs we've seen in recent weeks will be troubling with the manufacturing sector. i want to go back to the "vanity fair" piece that you mentioned and that, i think there's a lot more substance to this and we could be seeing a lot more about this on mitt romney. he has an incredible number of investments overseas, including in tax havens like the cayman islands, and there's a magazine piece that goes into great detail about the arrangements. some of them raise pretty serious questions about, you know, how he's maybe avoiding taxes in some of these situations. so far, romney has not been very forthcoming on giving up his tax returns. certainly not like we've seen past presidential candidates do. and so i think that that is an area focused on his business experience that's going to have more substance to it and more legs than we'll see in the next few weeks. >> jonathan strong, cynthia gordie, thank you both. >> thank you. details on the new agreement with pakistan that could alter u.s./pakistani relations. first, the heat is on. temperatures rise as hundreds of thousands remain without power. we'll get a live report from the weather channel. that's coming up. only the beautyrest recharge sleep system combines the comfort of aircool memory foam layered on top of beautyrest pocketed coils to promote proper sleeping posture all night long. the revolutionary recharge sleep system from beautyrest... it's you, fully charged. get a free set of sheets when you buy a select beautyrest mattress. hurry, offer ends soon. it's tough to stretch the fourth of july into a long holiday weekend this year but people are hitting the roads anyway, even if it's just for the day. according to aaa, more than 42 people will venture at least 50 miles from home, despite the midweek holiday and the brutal heat that's covering ch of the east. leslie collins is a travel adviser. smack dab in the middle of the week, does that sort of slow down the receipts within we look at the businesses, the tourist industry across the country? >> i think you'll see fewer people taking the entire week off just to go somewhere for the fourth so probably but a lot of people are still taking to the roads and celebrating the fourth. >> on the flip side, they have two days on both sides. >> right. so yes, for some people it might work out just fine. >> what's the expectation in terms of the receipts? is it expected to tick up or down. >> in general we're seeing more summer travel in general this year. trip adviser did a survey. 86% of the travelers that will be taking to the roads or skies at some point this summer. that's up from 81% last year, in general, more summer travel. >> where are ty going? mostly to the united states. within the states -- >> staycations if you're from the united states and other countries are coming here. >> yes, the northeast is the most popular section of the country followed by the west and the southeast. >> tell us about it, right? you're in the northeast, ittette goods busy during the summer. when we look at the economy, though, there's been mixed indicators certainly over the last six months, is that affecting at all expectations? >> we're seeing a few things. the drop in gas prices is making more people hit the roads this summer. we're seeing about 10% more travelers will be taking road trips. that's always a good sign. >> we're looking at airfares going up. >> yes, that's the other side. with our summer travel survey, 70% of the travelers will be taking road trips, 64% were going to be flying. >> what are you watching when you're looking at the market today? >> well, you're watching a lot of things. i think in general, gas prices is always one -- >> we're glad that's lower right now. >> yes, we're definitely god that's lower. on the national level i think it's about $3.33, $3.34 a gallon. that's good. that's down from april even. >> and that 50-mile distance is pretty typical, i guess? >> yes, yes, i think that's a good distance. >> leslie carlin, thank you so much. >> thank you. maybe you're traveling to new york's coney island. here in the new york area, we have the 97th annual nathan's famous hot dog eating contest. always fun. on the men's side, joe, chestnut weighs in at 210 pounds. he holds a contest record with 68 dogs. he says this year he wants to eat enough to win. for the women, sonya quts the black widow" thomas weighs in at a mere 100 pounds. but she's tough. she's going for 45 dogs in just ten minutes. good luck to both. after college, i moved back in with my parents. i was worried about 'em, you know? i mean for instance my mom went to bed tonight before making my dinner. which is fine, i mean i, i know how to make dinner. it just starts to make you wonder. is this what happens when you age? my friends used to say i was the lucky one. i had the fun parents. where's the fun now? night guys! 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[ female announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astra zeneca may be able to help. on this fourth of july there is little freedom from the sweltering temperatures that are gripping much of the nation. it's particularly uncomfortable for the nearly 900,000 people still without power following last weekend's devastating storms across the mid-atlantic. >> i want to take a shower more than anything in my life. i've never desired something more. >> i'm very, very, very hot. i have to sleep in the basement because it's so hot in my room. and like as soon as i get up from the basement, i'm like sweating. >> after some five days, joining us now with a look at what to expect when you head to that barbecue today is the weather channel's alex wallace. i get a sense, based on the big red thing behind you, more heat. >> exactly. it's not just going to be food cooking on the grill. folks heading outside wl be cooking right through the middle of the country and to the east as well. places like d.c. where people still without power. it's going to be another scorching time there as well. the jet stream well to the north. that's keeping the cooler air at this time of the year up into canada. south of it, though, that's where we're watching the numbers creep up. we'll shall talking 100 degree readings as we get in towards this afternoon, places like kansas city, st. louis as well. very, very hot times expected for our day, again, with this massive ridge which doesn't look to be doing anywhere anytime soon. that is the problem. we're talking days and days of this extreme heat to contend with here across the middle of the country. spreading towards the east as well. we'll show you exact numbers and what we'll be finding this afternoon, from kansas to little rock, the 100s will be in place. we're dealing with 100s in chicago as well. we have heat advisories stretching from the upper midwest and the ohio valley. there you go to the mid-atlantic, including in an around d.c. all the way up to philadelphia where excessive heat warnings in place. heat index values, that's what matters to you, some some cases up to 115. and night time temperatures don't get a chance to cool off at all. we all want to enjoy the fourth of july activities, richard but we want to take it easy out and about. drinking water and staying hydrated. >> and air conditioning. alex wallace, thank you so much. is this wild weather across the country just a fluke or a sign of climate change? that question's been asked. joining us now from london is environmentalist and author david derothschild. thank you for joining us. >> good morning. happy fourth of july. >> we appreciate that. is this the new normal, the weather we're looking at now, or is this an oscillation over a broad set of data? >> i think the reality is we're going to change what we call the normal. you know, we built our systems around stability of. we're been living in stability for the last 10,000 years here on planet earth. we've changed the make-up of our atmosphere. it was cold this year, everyone says it's warming or it's cold now. now it's hot and what's going on? the reality is we don't have, you know, sort of this norm anymore. we've got these massive swings, excessive heat, excessive flooding, fires, it's really showing that it's out of control. >> as an environmentalist, david, when you look at history, contextually and empirically, when have we seen this before? >> these are not records we want to break. we're seeing annual rainfall in two days, heat spiking all over the place. so you know, i don't want to be a pessimist but we have to start adaption and mitigating for the changes we're seeing in our atmosphere. we have nearly -- it's a big carbon foot prin, that's thickening the blanket around our planet. that is warming our planet and causing this ripple effect, this knock-on effect. we have to start see politicians talking about mitigation adaption and moving to a more sustainable economy. >> some in some parts of the world you can't even see the sky because of such situations when you have these pollution storms such as in the southeast asian region. despite what you mentioned earlier, which is many people across the countrynd around the world have been talking about, boy, it is hotter, it is colder than we originally thought. this is some statistics we dug up from "the washington post" pole that came out recently. only 18% being global warming is the biggest environmental threat. why do you think we're seeing this? >> the reality is, the economy takes precedent. am i going to save the polar bear or keep my job? the cuddly polar bear seems to lose out every time. what we have to start doing is saying it's climate job, we're now talking about energy security. we have to look at pollution, the fact that there's these undeniable human fingerprints. we cannot we're losing fish, our forests are falling faster than ever, topsoil is eroding. we've seen plastic in our oceans overtaking the plankton in some areas. we have to get out of the idea is how much is man-made, that's a futile debate. we have to concentrate on the human fingerprint. we're at war with nature, which means we're at war with ourselves. >> david de rothschild, thank you. >> thank you. california fighters are battling a new blaze. it's the latest in fires across the west. much-needed relief will om today when 20 tanker planes are deployed to help combat fires in the region which is already suffering from record heat. the deployment comes after four people were killed in a tanker crash in south dakota on sunday. this week, president obama will get another round of crucial monthly jobs numbers. we'll get a preview of that and what they cowl mean for both the president and mitt romney. i'm jennifer bond with first infantry division in bagram airfield inning aafghanistan. i want to wish my family in arkansas a happy independence day. i love you and i miss you guys. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback at gas stations through september. it pays to discover. there it is ! there it is ! where ? where ? it's getting away ! where is it ? it's gone. we'll find it. any day can be an adventure. that's why we got a subaru. love wherever the road takes you. wow, there it is. good morning, i'm richard lui. let's take a look at the headlines for this fourth of july. president obama will be celebrating the nation's 236th birthday today at the white house. he'll speak at a naturalization ceremony for active duty service members before hosting a barbecue this evening for service members as well. mitt romney is taking a vacation break to march in a local parade in new hampshire. it's not all pleasure. romney is meeting with top advisers and the aide overseeing his vp search. switzerland, physicists have found evidence of a so-called god particle. it could hold the key to understanding the size and shape of the universe. drivers are getting a break at the gas pump this fourth of july. the average is $3.34 a gallon. 25% lower than a year ago. patricia, it seems like we don't have to worry about higher gas prices on our economy. do the experts here, do they expect that prices, that they will continue to drop in the coming months? >> well, i don't think they see them really going up anywhere for now, at least. if you look at the energy information agency expecting output to increase by about 7% this year, economic development in the u.s. not doing that great. i think demaned in general will be not going up this year. that's what analysts expect. we have had a glut in gas and that is not going to change anytime soon. >> you know, another item that's been watched so closely, especially this week, is that coming out of the eurozone and the bank bailout that did result in the dow getting a good jump earlier on. the question is going forward, is this going to be strong enough to maintain that confidence? >> well, i think it was a bit of a confidence circuit breaker we saw of the eu summit last week. i think sentiment has changed since then. i think now the implementatn is what is very, very important, indeed. what is on the agenda, what is in the vision is definitely something that's more of a united states of europe, i.e., going forward and trying to converge fiscal policy as well as political agenda in general.