that's it for me. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." the news continues in "the situation room." good evening. i'm john king. two major breaking news stories. just released court documents reveal new details about the night trayvon martin was shot and killed and why authorities decided not to go with manslaughter but instead to charge george zimmerman with second-degree murder. the launch window now open and the world is watching. north korea is about to launch a harmless satellite. critics see a stabilizing ballistic missile test in the works. we begin tonight with high anxiety over north korea's threat to launch a satellite, a launch pentagon officials believe is to test a ballistic missile capable of launching a nuclear warhead capable of sitting the main land. weather is such that officials

believe the launch could come at any time. let's take a closer look at what they are worried about. this is north korea. i want to show you new satellite images from april 9th. a clear image of the launch pad. the rocket is here. you see preparations, rail mounting. that's how they brought the rocket out. the ex university deflector is right here. you see support vehicles way up here on the distant edge. now, let's look at a more recent satellite image released today. a bit grainy. if you notice here, i will try to highlight it, you can see support vehicles much closer to the launch pad. not much activity over here by the fueling tanks. the analysts that have looked at this believe based on this can activity the launch would happen from one to three days from when these images were taken. what are we worried about in this area, the big worry is because of the reliability of the korean missile technology. they have had problems in the

past. you see the drop zone. when the missile launches, the first stage is supposed to drop in the waters here. a lot of fierce in south korea and japan that there could be a problem and the missile could fall this way. the second stage supposed to drop harmlessly in waters down here in the fiphilippines an indonesia, on alert in case there are problems with this missile site. this is a taepodong 2/unha 3. the north koreans call it this. if you look at this rocket, three stages, one, two, and three. you can see the sizes of the engineering working on it. 98-feet tall. range of over 4100 miles. that means it could reach alaska, not quite, to hawaii. the fuel, liquid in the first two stages. u.s. officials aren't quite sure the fuel in the third stage. that has been the problem for north cre yarks the technology, you reliable, the pentagon would say, because it is based on 1960s soviet technology.

a quick comparison here. make the other stats go away first. give you a bit of a comparison. the koreans had a launch three years ago, first stage work, second stanl work. the third stage was the problem. if you look, the rockets are remarkably similar. the question is, what improvements have they made, if any, in the third stage? that's what officials are worried about. this could come at any moment. we will follow the development. for now, let's turn back to the united states and the trayvon march kin case. prosecutors say the suspect, george zimmerman, profiled the teen before the shooting and before killing hill. the charging affidavit has just been released. it goes on to talk about a 911 call he made on the february 9th. during the reported call, he made reference to people he felt had committed and gotten away with break-ins in his neighborhood. zimmerman stated, these expletives, they always get away and also said these expletive

punks. what else can you tell us, david, what new details in this affidavit? >> reporter: this affidavit is clearly taking us into the thinking of the prosecution here. that paragraph you just read shows that they are getting at the intent, the possibility that zimmerman had malicious thoughts as he was going after trayvon martin. also in that affidavit, we were seeing that the prosecution believes that it was zimmerman who initiated the confrontation with trayvon martin. with he know zimmerman has told friends and others that he was on his way back to his vehicle when he was attacked by trayvon martin. there is no indication of that in this affidavit. this is just first step in which the prosecution is giving us an idea of how they intend to take this case to a jury. >> george zimmerman, his first court appearance today. he is behind bars again tonight. what do we know about his first night? jail? >> his first night in jail will be like his second, third, fourth. he is in protective custody, not

in general population, we saw that he went to the store there nd awas able to purchase some snacks. he purchased a deck of card and some other things apparently settling in, at least for a few days ahead. we know his attorney will be seeking a bond hearing trying to get bond to get him out of jail at some point. that hearing has not been set. indefinitely, george zimmerman will be in jail until that bond hearing is held. we do know that the next firm date he has in court is in late may. until then, we are waiting to see when that bond hearing will be held. >> live for us on the scene in sanford, florida. david, let's dig deeper on these court documents. two cnn legal analysts. mark, i want to start with you, given your knowledge of the state court system, the prosecutor could have had a manslaughter charge. he decided to go with second-degree murder. as you look at this affidavit, does she have based on this early, early affidavit, did she

lay out a strong case? >> no, not for second-degree murder. it is bare bones. she put in -- they put in the bare minimum to barely, in my opinion, eke over the line to take it to second-degree murder. second-degree murder has to show a depraved mind. you don't -- you barely see that. you can see how they cautiously drafted that. they put in the bear minimum to establish what they needed. it doesn't state anything significant that hasn't come out already. it does show the indication of where they are going. i would also point out just for the viewers that the expletives that were deleted and have been censored when it was read were not racial ep titafs. they whether vaulgarities but nt racial. >> if you do read the affidavit, the prosecution is clearly trying to say the 911 operator,

first said we don't need you to do that, meaning keep following trayvon. at another point, told him, just wait, the police will be there. the part we are talking about, no racial language was used or he does talk about these expletives, they always get away or these expletive punks. he was so frustrated with past troubles he was determined to do something about it. do you agree with mark it is hebea bear bones and weak submission. >> it says these are not all of the facts but some of the facts. a judge quite readily found probable cause based on this. it lays out the elements for second-degree murder. i think what was so interesting in the affidavit is that it is clear that the prosecutor painted a picture of a pursuer, of a first aggressor.

in that affidavit, it is outlined that george zimmerman profiled trayvon martin, followed him, disregarded a police dispatch and then confronted trayvon, a struggle ensued and it also indicates that trayvon martin's mother identified her son's voice as the voice on the 911 call that we've all heard yelling for help. so when you look at all of that, i think part of this affidavit is the prosecution outlining that they don't believe that stand your ground law implies. outlining george zimmerman as the first aggressor and making it clear they do not believe it was a justifiable homicide. >> we have not heard from george zimmerman. let's listen to mark o'mara describing the state of mind of his client. >> he is facing second-degree murder charges now. he is frightened. that would frighten any one of us. but, on the other hand, i'm not concerned as some others may have been before me of his

focus. he is glad the process is in place. >> he is glad the process is in place. he also says that by next week, he hopes to get a bond hearing more. what are the odds that george zimmerman will be released? >> i think they should be good. it is very significant. the two key parts that the state would look at or the court would look at are, does he provide a risk of flight? is he in danger of the community? >> well, i believe that terms and conditions can be crafted that he would be in home confinement or otherwise. the danger issue is not likely going to be there. we know he did a voluntary surrender when he didn't have to be in the country. he made lanes to get here as soon as it was announced. i think that is clearly going to be something that mark om'meara argues. the bond is going to be set at a time available on the judge's docket. the first available time, a reasonable time that gives him time to prepare a bond motion is

when we he can expect to have that here. is there any significance to this. this is trayvon martin. sabrina fulton on the "today" show this morning said something that shocked a lot of people. let's listen. i believe it was an accident. i believe it just got out of control and he couldn't turn the clock back. i would ask him, did he know that that was a minor, that that was a teenager and that he did not have a weapon? >> you could see the family's attorney was quite stunned when she used the term accident. that their encounter, she says, was an accident. any legal significance to that? >> i just spoke with sabrina. she is a grieving mother, not a lawyer. she certainly isn't at this point. she wasn't a witness to what happened on february 26th. so she is speaking as a grieving mother. she did issue that clarification, that she was sort of piggybacking off of what tracy martin said that had

george zimmerman not gotten out of the car, this would never have happened. she feels it was an accidental meeting between the two. i don't think there is any legal significance, other than the fact that i think many people are watching the reactions of this family and that by all accounts, sabrina fulton has comported herself with such grace and dignity. i think that has really come across. also, big political story. cnn contributor, hillary rosen are, apologizes to ann romney after these comments started a war of words over working women. >> his wife has actually never worked a day in her life. she has never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing in terms of how do we feed our kids? how do we send them to school? how do we -- why do we worry about their future? >> those comments last night on cnn's anderson cooper, 360,

provoked a firestorm. angry tweets from republicans and this response from ann romney. >> i know what it is like to struggle. if maybe i haven't struggled as much financially as some people have. i can tell you and promise you, that i have had struggles in my life. >> it provoked an immediate decision by team obama to denounce a long-time friend and ally. >> rosen apologized. mitt romney should not be on the campaign trail saying to women, my wife tells me how it is for women out there, because people will sometimes take for granted some of the niceties that they have in life. the romneys are people of wealth. >> president obama himself waited this afternoon with an interview with kcrj, a quote from the president. i don't have a lot of patience for commentary about the spouses of political candidates.

we will ask david axlerod about the decision to throw hillary under the bus. to test a rock at the time that may be capable of reaching the united states. a japanese defense site where they are ready to shoot the rocket down s we will talk with our correspondent from japan. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye-care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. [ male announcer ] ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. now, that's a pill worth taking. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. help protect your eye health.

mcallen, texas. in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so every piece of equipment knows where it is, how it's doing or where it goes next. ♪ this is the bell on the cat. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪

helping you do what you do... even better. i heard they found energy here. it's good. we need the jobs. [customer:] we need to protect the environment. [worker:] we could do both. is that possible? [announcer:] at conocophillips, we're helping power america's economy with cleaner, affordable natural gas. more jobs. less emissions. a good answer for everyone. well, if it's cleaner and affordable. as long as we keep these safe. there you go. thanks. [announcer:] conocophillips.

>> other major breaking news stories. at the top of this hour, the window opened for north korea's long range missile launch. japanese on alert to shoot it down if it strays and threatens japanese territory. >> tell us about those missiles behind you and how worried are the japanese authorities that it could go astray? >> reporter: well, let me tell you first about the missile batteries. what you are looking at over my right shoulder, downtown tokyo for a little context. a residential area. just hin t just behind the missiles are apartments. those missiles are armed and pointed at the sky and ready to

go in the unlikely event that parts of the north korean rockets fall on japanese territory. how likely that is a concern or whether or not this will take place, that they will have to shoot it down, a lot of military experts say it is unlikely. it is expected to go over southern japan. there are also patriot missile batteries on the southern island of okinawa, also japanese territory. three warships that have been deployed in waters around japan. those are loaded with interceptor missiles. what japan is trying to do is so show a series of moves that show military might. what they want to do is to meet north koreas huffing and puffing with huffing and puffing of their own and say if this country is threatened, they will shoot down parts of that rocket. john? >> we will stay in touch tonight. north korea could launch at any minute despite repeated on jexs.

today, the secretary of state, hillary clinton, joined the chorus of threats. >> there is no doubt that this satellite would be launched using ballistic missile technology. if pyongyang goes forward, we will all be back in the security council to take further action. >> why won't north korea listen to the rest of the world? joining me from denver, former am bass dar, skris stauffer hill, who led the six-party talks back in 2005, one of the few american diplomates that knows north korea so well. >> you have a new leader in north korea. kim junk g un, what are we abou to learn about him? >> this strikes me about the fact that they didn't simply have their act together. other times this he have broken agreements. it is usually after some long

pause in the negotiating process and negative context. these were moving forward and they broke it any way. i think they really don't have their act together and i think there are some real disagreements within north korea. >> is it they just don't have their act together as keystone cops or they don't have their act together because of a significant power struggle? >> well, you can never rule out the keystone cop aspect of it to be sure. you have a young, as you said, untested lead ter. he is being helped by his aunt and uncle. his uncle has gotten himself into trouble in the past, been in external exile. there is a bit of a power struggle and a military that doesn't like to listen to anybody. >> they have nuclear weapons and they are about to test a rocket if successful, if they figure it out, could reach alaska and then

one would assume they would try to improve their technology beyond. what can the world do if they won't listen? >> well, first of all, i'm not too worried about alaska. the real concern is, as you point out, they will start improving that technology. this missile program is part and parcel of the nuclear program. i think we need to redouble our efforts to prevent the technology from getting there and unfortunately, there clearly are some holes in that effort. secondly, i think we do need to go back to the security council as secretary clinton indicated. the problem is, we are kind of running out of sanctions. we have done a lot of things against them. it is clearly not sufficient. i really think we need to get the chinese far more engaged. china, like a number of countries is preoccupied by its internal problems. in this case, i think they really are going to have to step it up a little. this is a real problem. >> former assistant secretary of state, ambassador chris.

we will keep in touch. thanks for your help and insights. a bit later, we are joined by team obama's senior political strategist, david axlerod, including the campaign's decision to denounce hillary rosen. the race to find the source of a new and big oil spill in the gulf of mexico. food differently. ♪ i'm michael bazinet, president of creative digital imaging of bangor, maine. we have customers all over the united states. we rely on the postal service for everything that we do. the eastern maine processing facility is vital to our operation and our success. if we lose this processing facility we could lose clientele because of increased mailing times. we would have to consider layoffs as a result of that. closure of this plant will affect all of us. ♪ with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain.

cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaids, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or serious allergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you with less pain.

cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer.

>> welcome back. here is kate bolduan with the

latest news you need to know. >> we are here to give you some headlines. let's get you up on where we are this evening. an unusual calm in syria today, especially u.n. envoy says the country is not in line with the cease-fire. he says troops and tanks are still on the ground. activists say 21 people have been killed in the sporadic violence. secretary of state, hillary clinton, says the cease-fire is important but syrian president will still have to go. the u.n. is preparing to send in observers. in other news, a sheen of oil is spreading across ten square miles of the gulf of mexico. that's about six barrels of oil. the oil company, royal dutch shell, discovered the rainbow sheen, saying it is not leaking from their drilling in the area. it has been two years since b.p.'s deepwater horizon exploded in the gulf and killed workers. the number of people filing for unemployment benefits increased

last week to 380,000. this is an increase in numbers from the week before. last month's jobs report also failed to meet expectations. why the slow-down in job growth? the unseasonably warm winter boosted hiring in january and february. it sounded a little backwards. >> the economy is not growing as fast as we think. we had an early boom because of the warm weather. >> let's hope for a later one in the coming months. >> let's hope for that. politically, the white house is hoping for that. team obama spent today playing defense. next, we will ask the president's top political strategist, how much damage has been done by a democratic critic of mitt romney's word. >> why people view this dust-up over working women and political loyalty very differently. and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you."

and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. in here, great food demands a great presentation. so at&t showed corporate caterers how to better collaborate by using a mobile solution, in a whole new way. using real-time photo sharing abilities, they can create and maintain high standards, from kitchen to table. this technology allows us to collaborate with our drivers to make a better experience for our customers. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪

ahead this half hour, new worries about the economy. the election just seven months away. is the white house sweating. we will ask david axlerod. a fiery political debate erupts when a democratic strategist says stay-at-home mom ann romney never worked a day in her life. the white house is quick to turn their back. michelle obama versus stephen colbert. what the first lady has to say about her husband's campaign and colbert's airline.

democratic strategist and cnn contributor, hillary rosen said last night that mitt romney's wife hent worked a day in her life. the comment was quickly condemned by the obama's senior advisers and first lady michelle obama. even the president weighed in telling a local tv station, quote, i haven't met mrs. romney. she seems like a very nice woman who is supportive of her family and her husband. i don't know if she necessarily volunteered for this job. so, you know, we don't need to be directing comments at them. why this firestorm starts. joining me from chicago is david axlerod, the senior strategist in the obama re-election campaign. i want to play what started all of this. hillary rosen was on anderson cooper 360 talking about what some call the role on women and mrs. romney when she said this.

>> you have mitt romney running around the country saying, well, you know, my wife tells me what women really care about are economic issues and when i listen to my wife, that's what i am hearing. his wife has never worked a day in her life. she has never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing, in terms of how do we feed our kids and send them to school and why do we worry about their future? >> now, jim ma cena, the campaign manager took issue on twitter almost immediately. you took issue on twitter almost immediately. the first lady sends out a tweet critical of this. the vice president says it was wrong. the president himself answering questions about it. why is this such a big deal? >> i don't know in the long term whether it will be a big deal. it was an unfortunate comment, unfortunate for two reasons. in the battle of politics,

family are civilians and should be treated as such. they shouldn't be pulled into the debate in that kind of way as targets. so it was unfortunate from that respect. it did feel like a den at the gra den egg grags of stay-at-home moms. there are moms that are working that would like to be home and to suggest that you are not working if your staying home, raising a family, often active in the schools and the community and causes, that's not right. my own wife was a stay-at-home mom and worked harder than anybody i know. often, the moms are the ones who are handling the family finances as well. it was an unfortunate comment. hillary has acknowledged that. it is true that the romney campaign jumped on it like a raft in the deep blue sea. they were drowning under the weight of their own problems.

they couldn't come up with an answer of whether governor romney supported the pay equity law, the first line president obama signed and he endorsed and warmly spoke of governor walker who just repealed the pay equity law there. i think that has more durable meaning to the women of this country than this. >> i think there is no question, the substance of the debate about the economy and the role of women in the economy is more important. you say the romney campaign jumped on it. that's true. they saw an opening and they seized it. that's what a smart guy like david axlerod would tell his client to do. you guys seized on it too. wait a minute, the vice president has said some things he had to take back. debbie was german schultz criticized her friend, hillary rosen, has said things that have made the white house cringe. why so fast to trash, forgive me, my word, not yours, somebody who is a trusted ally of the white house who has been out there defending the president quite a bit? >> i think we have an obligation

in politics and public life, when someone, even friends, say things that are inappropriate to say so. in certain ways, when your friends say it, there is more of an obligation to do so. i think that's true on both sides. i've been disappointed on the other side of the i'aisle just recently when governor romney and others were not willing to stand up and denounce speech they felt that most people would call inappropriate. i thought we had an obligation to speak and speak very, very quickly to make clear that this didn't reflect our point of view and that we thought hillary didn't -- should apologize. she did do that. the other thing that we should clear up is that she actually is your employee, not ours. she is -- she works for cnn, i think. cnn would not allow her to be an operative for our campaign. she is not. she never has been. she is a supporter of the president. the romney campaign has

throughout the day portrayed her as an adviser to the president. that's simply not true. >> she has been an adviser. i was about to move on. she has been an adviser to chairman debbie wasserman schultz. she has visited the white house and was very close with anita done, your former communications director. she is a paid ply lee of cnn, a contributor. >> she has been part of the political community in washington for a long time. i am sure she has visited the white house frequently under other presidents. john boehner visits the white house all the time too. >> that's where a lot of your friends are cringing, though, david. hillary rosen is not john boehner. she has a lot of friends in the obama white house. >> she is my friend. look, i said several minutes ago that we have an obligation to speak out. hillary herself has acknowledged

that her -- that she misspoke and said something that she regretted saying in the way she said it. i accept that. >> let's move on to the economy. the president has been helping and telling the american people he thinks things are finally going to start to get pet ter. you have a couple of encouraging months. last month's job report, only 120,000 jobs created. the government tells us new claims jumped up to 380,000 last week. abc washington post poll numbers. who do you trust to better handle the economy. romfy is slightly ahead of the president for who would you trust to handle the economy? you know how these campaigns work. there is a psychology to the economy. george h.w. bush learned it in

1992. when the statistics were starting to get better. people didn't believe it. how long do you have to turn around that last number? 64% think the country is on the wrong track. >> first of all, let me say that we have said throughout that this is going to be a long, hard comeback. we have had 25 months of positive private sector job growth. it has gone up and down and moving in that direction. we need to add to that and add momentum to it. we have always said it was not going to be a straight line. you use an example of bush in '92. the biggest gap in that washington post poll, john, i know you study these things closely, was in who identifies with your problems, who understands what's going on in your life? there was a 30-point gap between the president and governor romney on this. there is a reason for that. governor romney is out of touch with the concerns and the economic anxiety of the american people. when you look at his

prescriptions, he simply wants to go back to the same thing that got us into this mess in the first place, big tax cuts for the wealthy. cut wall street loose to write its own rules. the president is fighting for not just to get people back to work but to make sure work pays, to make sure the middle class is growing and to make sure if you work hard, you can get ahead. if you act responsibly, you will be rewarded. everybody from main street to wall street plays by the same rules. that's how we are going to get this economy moving, education, research and development, getting control of our energy future with a 21st century energy plan. that's how we are going to get this economy moving in the long run and create a larger and thriving middle class. that's a big difference between us and governor romney. >> let me close on a more playful note. when team obama led by david axlerod goes into the strategy room and they are look ago at the electoral map, who is mitt romney going to pick at his running mate, who do you this i on this day is at the top of the

list? >> gee, i don't know. i think there are a lot of theories about that. they are month are active in their war room thinking about that than we are in our war room. you have heard the theory that maybe he can pick someone who will help him address his very serious trouble with hispanic voters or maybe he can pick someone who will help him address his problem with women. ultimately, the reality of vice presidential picks is they rarely help you but they can hurt you. you ought to pick the person who you think could be a plausible president. the best possible replacement for you and someone who can handle this whole part of the process. that's not easy. my guess is he will make a more conservative choice, maybe not politically. i don't know about that. a more conservative choice in terms of the array of people he is considering. >> free advice from governor romney to david axlerod.

appreciate your time. we will keep in touch. >> thank you. coming up more on the political outcry over hillary rosen's comments. we talk truth just ahead. i live on branson street, and i have something to say... [ male announcer ] aarp is bringing the conversation on medicare and social security out from behind closed doors in washington. because you've earned a say. ♪ you make me happy [ female announcer ] choose the same brand your mom trusted for you. children's tylenol, the #1 brand of pain and fever relief recommended by pediatricians and used by moms decade after decade.

of pain and fever relief recommended by pediatricians according to the signs, ford is having some sort of big tire event. i just want to confirm a w things with fiona. how would you describe the event? it's big. no,i mean in terms of savings how would you sum it up? big in your own words, with respect to selection, what would you say? big okay, let's talk rebates mike, they're big they're big get $100 rebate, plus the low price tire guarantee during the big tire event.

so, in other words, we can agree that ford's tire event is a good size? big big

tonight's truth involves an outspoken protag nist, a high profile target, an apology and a stunning portrayal. hillary rosen is the instigator, mitt romney's wife, ann, her focus. >> his wife has actually never worked a day in her life. she has never really dealt with

the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing, in terms of how do we feed our kids and send them to school and why do we worry about their future. >> no surprise, ann romney takes offense. >> look, i know what it is like to struggle. if maybe i haven't struggled as much financially as some people have. i can tell you and promise you, that i have had struggles in my life. >> what is surprising at first glance is how quickly team obama threw a long-time friend and ally under the bus. from michelle obama, every mother works hard and every woman deserves to be respected. from david axlerod, he tweeted this, also disappointed in hillary rosen's comments about ann romney, they were inappropriate. they show 35 white house visits by hilary rosen.

she has been a trusted long-time friend and adviser. >> i don't know that hilary rosen, i know three personally. so i'm not sure that that does represent the person we are talking about, necessarily. so i really can't comment on the number of visits. i'm not sure that's accurate. >> forgotten, i guess, is her help with the gay rights community felt the president was dragging his feet on don't ask, don't tell and several other issues. >> this is a heavy load. already, in the first nine months, we have seen progress on several of those things. >> forgeten too, it seems, hilary's help when liberals were furious when president obama had agreed to extend the bush tax cuts. >> we really do see this is the best way to get middle class tax cuts extended and to get unemployment benefits extended. overall, i think we are going to see a lot of democrats coming to the table here. >> or more recently as the president takes a pounding for

high gas prices. >> the president can't control the price at the pump. what president obama has done is he has said we are going to depend lesson the pump. he doubled the fuel efficiency standards for cars. >> i am not defending what hillary rosen said about ann romney. she says, she could have and should have chosen her words more carefully. she suggests, let's declare peace in this phoney war and go back to focus on the substance. in the debate to come, you will see how people view this stuff very differently and why. as we explore that truth. is phoney or no the first casualty of this war, is the friendship between hilary rosen and team obama. let's talk to three working moms. author of the richer sex, liza mundy, president of concerned women for america, penny nance and democratic strategies, maria car doe na. loo liza, i want to talk with you. what is this really about, a war

of words between two people involved in politics but more than that. >> the narrative of women and selection keeps bringing up things we thought we had resolved. who would have thought that contraception was going to rear its head and become a topic of debate. similarly, the mommy wars is something we all thought we had put behind us and presumably, the narrative has to do with the fight for women's votes. this tug of war. is it jobs? is it reproductive issues? is it the economy? also, sort of can you invoke your spouse to argue that you understand women's issues? i would argue that both candidates, actually, are doing that. the president has also described himself as a father and a husband and, therefore, he understands women issues. that seems to have not been resolved either, the position of the spouse and mouhow much bonae is that you are married to a woman is when you understand women's issue us.

>> let's look at the gender gap. it is huge. the abc washington poll. chose of women among president, president obama, 57%. >> they think she is better for them and their candidate. if she is going to be so public and high profile, does this come with the territory? >> absolutely. there wasn't a problem for her, what hilary rosen said. you saw all the democratic top guys for obama backpedaling and, as you said, throwing her under the bus. the problem was for the obama administration. if you took a look at my facebook page, you would see very angry women over what was said. women work very hard. i have woshlged rked at home an outside the home. the hardest she understands -- yes, she did. she did and it was heart felt, i know her and it was heart felt. but she acknowledges that it was

a poor choice of words. if you look at my facebook page, you see a lot of women who actually agree with what she said. and the reason is because underlying all of that, the point that hillary was making is that you cannot as a presumed presidential nominee for a party basically say as an answer that you get -- that you give to a woman voter at a campaign rally, you can't say, look, i wish my wife was here because she's so much better at answering these questions. you can't dodge that and expect people to look at you. no matter how articulate ann romney is, absolutely she's an asset, but she is not the one who is responsible for coming up with the issue platforms that are presumably going to be the ones that are going to be the ones he's going to fight for to close the gender gap. >> i actually agree in part of what you're saying. i think mitt romney has to give

voice to women's concerns on his own better. what she was saying is as a stay-at-home mom that ann romney had no perspective on economics. i would argue that women in america, women who are making tough choices every day at their kitchen table about a budget should be the ones talking about this white house because we're $15 trillion in debt. we make tough decisions. we understand economics. >> women are likely to be, if history stays on track, the majority of the votes this november. is this a silly debate for women at large who are not creatures of washington? i see that with no offense. you're working, whether you're at the office or at home. i think it's also a debate about elitism. the obamas have had the elitism charge made and i think it's an attempt also to imply that ann romney has been somehow exempt from the economic pressures that

many families, mothers, fathers, working people, stay-at-home moms filling in for men out of work, that they have been through. so i think to a certain extent the elitism charge is being hurled as well. >> let me ask you in closing, as a cnn contributor, paid by this network, like hilary rosen, but somebody who comes out sometimes and before you go on to talk about an issue check with your friends at the white house, what is it? what are your talking points here? what do you think of how they treated her? you have immediate tweets from the campaign manager from the top strategist, the vice president talks this, the first lady tweets about it. the president was asked questions in an interview so he has to answer them. thrown under the bus? >> i think partly yes. but i also understand, and hilary understands this very well, that it's all politics and that in this era of immediate see, the campaign saw that they had to respond to something because they knew that the

perception was going to be exactly what the perception was of hilary. >> couldn't you say we know she's a lot smarter than this but she misspoke. the language was gone. >> right, because -- >> disposable. >> because, again, that is politics. now, you know, i'm hoping that they're done with that because i do think that if they continue to comment on this, they're going to be extending the story. >> well, we'll see how this goes. >> please continue to comment. please. >> we need to focus on the substance. we're going to call a time-out tonight. i suspect we might be back again. a criminal charge for the jetblue pilot who melted down during that cross-country flight and what he's accused of after apparently screaming and banging on the cockpit door. everything that i've gained in life

has been because of the teachers and the education that i had. they're just part of who i am. she convinced me that there was no limit to what we could learn. i don't think i'd be here today had i not had a wonderful science teacher. a teacher can make a huge difference in a child's life. he would never give up on any of us. thank you dr. newfield. you had a big impact on me.

major breaking news story. south korea's wtn television is reporting that north korea has launched its rocket. north korea has launched the rocket. we told you at the top of the program the launch window was open. we're waiting for this right here, right now. north korea has launched its rocket according to south korea's wtn television. let me check in with john. john, one of the things we know is that north korea says this is a peaceful satellite. the world thinks it is a test of ballistic missile technology. the launch has gone through. what are our questions now? >> well, the question is what happens next. of course the south koreans will be watching closely whether or

not this rocket separates successfully, where the debris will land. south korea has said they will shoot it down. what is different about this rocket launch as compared to 2009, it's taking a different trajectory. the three previous ones have gone north -- or to the east, rather, towards japan. this one is heading due south towards the philippines as well over south korea. the philippine government is very concerned too about where the debris will land. will it fall in the pacific or will it fall over the philippine islands somewhere so they are tracking this. this is all going to happen over the next ten minutes. if this launch goes according to plan, it should reach orbit within ten minutes and we should get our first independent confirmation that the satellite is broadcasting within about 20 minutes and that will come from somewhere in western australia. the next opportunity for independent confirmation will be when the satellite if it does reach orbit passes over south america. but the bigger picture in all this, john, is what happens next. because in the past, the north koreans have followed up these rocket launches with nuclear

tests. >> john will stay by. we'll waiting to watch does the missile separate appropriately. does it stay on the path of the launch that north korea says it will stay on. that is a huge question. i'm going over here to the wall just to show you one of the things we've been thinking about as we go. as john just noted, north korea and south korea here. this is the satellite imagery here of the launch pad. we saw in recent days, the reason we knew this launch was imminent, all this activity. all this activity right here near the rocket site was one of the reasons we knew the launch was imminent. now wtn reporting the missile is in the air. this is the question, as john noted, the trajectory is supposed to have the first stage drop off harmlessly, north korea says, in waters here. second stage should drop harmlessly in waters to the north of the philippines. but as you see from these areas here, should it go astray, should the launch go awry, should the technology fail, there are concerns it could hit south korea or japan if it drifted this way. there are concerns if it went majorly off course it could strike land in the philippines. this is the major conversation as you go forward.

the question now is will it work? i want to show you this technology. we're talking about this missile. you see from the gentleman standing down here, there's a better shot here, just the size of this missile. again, south korean television reporting it is in the air, 90 feet in length. the range more than 4100 miles. that could reach alaska if it were aimed this way. that is the concern of the pentagon tonight. are they testing this new ballistic missile technology? it is based on 1960s soviet technology. that was one reason people in the region, including in japan are worried north korea could again have a launch that goes awry. in japan they are carefully and nervously watching this. as you can see over her shoulder there, kyung lah, obviously the concern is should it go astray, they might have to shoot it down. >> reporter: certainly. and we haven't seen any movement on the part of the military here. those patriot missile batteries

that you see right over my shoulder, they haven't moved an inch and we have not seen any movement here on the ground of military personnel elevating any sort of concern or escalating any sort of military readiness. we're not even seeing people run around here. so we haven't seen any reaction on the part of the japanese. but remember, the trajectory is not expected to be over tokyo. very much what you're seeing over my shoulder is just in case. what we anticipate is that if there is any part of the north korean rocket that may fall into japan's territory, it would be further south. there are four patriot missile batteries there on the southern islands of okinawa, john. >> live in tokyo, part of cnn's international coverage team. our coverage will continue on erin burnett outfront. north korea has launched its missile. the world is now watching. tom foreman takes away our coverage right now.