new post today query

[admin]

I have a message board setup on my web site
with different fourms and i want to have a colum showing new messages today
but i can't figure out how to get it into one query here is what i have so far...

table #1

502_messsage (
name text not null
email text not null
message longtext not null
date date
time time
.....
area_id int not nul)

table #2

area_id (
area_name text
level int
area_id int )

and my query is as follows

SELECT area_id.area_name, area_id.area_id, area_id.level, COUNT(502_message.area_id) AS 502_message FROM area_id LEFT JOIN 502_message ON area_id.area_id = 502_message.area_id GROUP BY area_id.area_id;

wich gives me the area name, id, access level and the number of post, but i want to a a colum displaying the new posts today by comparing the post date to the current date

Thanks!