on the broadcast tonight, battleground. the republican race on the eve of a big shake-up and the question from last night's gop debate that a lot of people thought was out of line. hitting home. after the week that was on wall street, tonight a remarkable sign of the times, what had thousands of people lining up today. fighting back. the extraordinary ways friends and neighbors are taking the streets back from the mobs who turned their lives upside down. and did you see this? given the news of this week, it's about time we got caught up on all the stuff that slipped by. also the free show for every american coming up this sunday night. american coming up this sunday night. "nightly news" begins now.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good evening. on the one hand, a lot of republicans like their chances in 2012, because of the shape the country's in. on the other hand, the current shape of the candidate field is something a lot of republicans are grappling with. while it's way early yet and this coming weekend's iowa straw poll really isn't an indicator of anything, some notable story lines have emerged, mitt romney has the money, rick perry may have the momentum. and michele bachmann remains in the news for how she's treated the others. it happened again last night in the big debate in iowa. it's where we begin tonight with nbc's andrea mitchell in des moines. andrea, good evening. >> reporter: good evening. it was arguably the most memorable moment of that debate, brian. it was the question to michele bachmann about her marriage, her faith and how it would affect her ability to be president. today people were talking about

whether women politicians are still being treated differently than men. >> did anybody catch the debate last night? >> reporter: she is the front-runner in iowa, but on stage last night, for michele bachmann, a political debate unexpectedly turned personal. >> can you describe the moment in your life when your husband said you should study for a degree in tax law. you said you hated the idea, but you explained, quote, but the lord said, be submissive, wives you are to be sub miss sif to your husband. as president, would you be submissive to your husband? >> thank you for that question, byron. marcus and i will be married for 33 years this september 10, i'm in love with him.

i'm so proud of him and both he and i, what submission means to us, if that's what your question is, it means respect. i respect my husband, he's a wonderful godly man and a great father, and he respects me as his wife. that's how we operate our marriage. >> reporter: there were gasps and boos at the question. >> you could feel the barometric pressure or that press room change. but she deflected it nicely, she showed she could play at this level. >> reporter: lester holt asked bachmann about it on "today". >> was it important to clarify it and do you think you did clarify your thoughts on that? >> oh, i think so, i think it's important to talk about respect. we have been married for 33 years and the basis of our marriage is respect. and i'm just grateful to get that answer and that comment out. >> reporter: at the state fair today, sarah palin said any question's fair in a debate. but when asked about that answer -- >> that's her opinion, being submissive to her husband means

respecting her husband. and i respect my husband too. >> reporter: if todd said don't run, would you not run? >> i can't imagine my husband ever telling me what to do politically. >> reporter: if todd said don't run, would you not run? >> i can't imagine todd telling me what to do politically. >> reporter: others gave bachmann high marks for her response. >> you can still hear the crowd kind of rally around if they think something's just not fair. >> reporter: and there were signs it could help her with some voters, at least in iowa. >> i thought it was extremely rude. i thought the question was extremely rude. >> reporter: and why is that? >> it wasn't even part of the issues, none of the issues, to attack the family. it was wrong. >> reporter: byron york who asked that question said today that it is a serious and legitimate issue, a human moment that michele bachmann handled well, what everyone else thinks, michele bachmann has clearly become something of a rorschach test in american politics today. brian? >> all right, andrea mitchell, at the iowa state fair. thanks. and our chief political editor and chief white house correspondent chuck todd is in

des moines, iowa tonight. chuck, where does the gop stand now going into this crucial but again very early weekend? >> reporter: well, look, if it wasn't clear before last night, it is crystal clear today, thanks to the entrance of rick perry, mitt romney's front-runner status, the two minnesota republicans, michele bachmann and tim pawlenty believe that tomorrow's straw poll is the last chance for one of them to stay relevant in this presidential race. the mad dash to the republican straw poll in ames tomorrow brought many of the contenders to the iowa state fair today. >> it's hard to get things done to move this country in the right direction, i have done it. >> here's something they don't know about herrmann cane, i have been going against the odds all my life. >> we have to endorse a very basic principle and that's called freedom. >> reporter: but today's buzz wasn't about anything said on the state fair soapbox, it was

the repeated tense exchanges last night between minnesota republicans tim pawlenty and michele bachmann. >> you implemented cap and trade in our state and you praised the unconstitutional individual mandate and you called for requiring all people in our state to purchase health insurance that government would mandate. that sounds an awful lot like barack obama if you ask me. >> she led the effort against obama care, we got obama care, she led the effort for t.a.r.p. and we got t.a.r.p. itch if that's your view of effective leadership, please stop. >> reporter: a first place showing could establish either as a top challenger to mitt romney and rick perry, neither of whom are attending the ames event. romney is already back in new hampshire and texas governor perry announces his candidacy tomorrow in south carolina. >> are you going to run? >> i'm still thinking about it. >> reporter: and sarah palin couldn't stay away, she stormed into the state fair reminding iowans she still might run.

but she also had nice things to say about rick perry, whom she campaigned for extensively in 2010. >> there's still plenty of room in that field for common sense conservatives who have executive experience. >> reporter: now a lot of republicans out here, brian, are nervous that sarah palin is somehow going to pull a surprise and not run, but pull a surprise and endorse rick perry, they're actually pretty close personally. we'll see on that front. by the way, keep an eye on ron paul, he could end up spoiling this whole thing with the minnesota folks and end up winning the straw poll and we start all over watching perry beat romney. >> boy, are politics in the air this summer of 2011. chuck todd at the state fair tonight, chuck, thanks. we turn now to the economy, what a week it's been for anybody with money in this market. wild swings, every day of the week, it's finally over for this week and here finally is where we stand, stocks went up again today, nearly 126 points on the

dow. the other indexes regained some ground as well. but for the week, the dow was down. overall 1.5%. we have asked our friend sue herrera from cnbc to join us once again from their global headquarters. and, sue, to me, the lead story today was, this consumer confidence number, it's not a surprise, i mean we could have guessed it. but it's just stocking to realize that the last time it was this bad was 1980 when jimmy carter was in the white house. >> i think you're right, brian, we all knew it wasn't going to be a good number, but it was way, way below what wall street thought it should be. consumers are more pessimistic about the economy than they have been in some time, three decades. and that's because of the problems in washington, high unemployment and the wild ride in august that investors have been taking by the stock market. it remains to be seen whether the volatility we have seen this week continues into next week. but that statistic certainly

didn't help, brian. >> you guys have been running null tilt, will you please try to have a nice weekend. we'll see you monday. here's a sign of these hard times, a crowd of 4,000 people came to get dental care for free today at a church in a suburb of atlanta. 4,000 of them. many of those who waited in line for hours to be seen by a dentist are people who said they never imagined it would be them in this circumstance, or that it would come to this. our report tonight from nbc's mark potter. >> reporter: the line to the clinic stretched around the block, with more than 1,000 people already there when the doors opened at 5:00 p.m. with 200 dentists and 1,300 other volunteers this free clinic north of atlanta is sponsored by the georgia den it will association, that cares for those who cannot pay. >> they're getting fillings, root canals, extractions. >> reporter: among the chronically poor and their families are some new faces in line. for 15 years, before she lost

her job as an administrative assistant, karen spears had dental insurance but now can't afford care. >> never anticipated it. and then my mother got sick and had to care for her while she was in hospice and, you know, could not get a job. >> reporter: clinic organizers say they're seeing many jobless people now who could afford private dentists a year ago. >> a lot of these patients were our patients last year. they have lost their jobs, they have lost their benefits. >> reporter: the demand for this clinic is so great, that after the first 1,400 patients were admitted today, another 1,000 were given these yellow id bracelets and told to come back tomorrow. among those told to return is sheila phillips who had a 30-year sales career before losing her job another ibm two years ago, now she struggles. >> it doesn't say anything about me, it says something about the

state of our economy. >> reporter: an economy where for many even basic care is now a luxury. mark potter, nbc news, woodstock, georgia. speaking of health care, there's news tonight about a very controversial part of the obama health care law that will eventually require just about every american to purchase health insurance. today a federal appeals court in atlanta said the requirement's unconstitutional. this means the courts are now split on the issue, that likely means it's headed for the supreme court, perhaps next session. overseas this friday night, defiant protests continue in the streets of syria, even in the face of a brutal crackdown by the government of president assaad who's ignoring pressure internationally to step down, there was more bloodshed and killing in syria today. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel has our report tonight. >> reporter: in syria, they called today the day we refuse to bow. and in at least 12 cities, thousands of protesters after friday prayers showed they will not bow or be cowed.

chanting against syrian president assaad. it is a brave act of defiance. at least 25 demonstrate fors have been gunned down by the government in just 48 hours. 2,000 human rights groups say have been killed since march. the syrian government says it is facing armed rioters and considering what is happening in syria to london's recent outbreak of looting and vandalism. >> reporter: but few believe that. some syrian military officers are defecting and pressure on the syrian military is building from the united states, turkey and saudi arabia. >> we'll have to see a lot of bloodshed happening for the next few weeks, perhaps months. >> reporter: as syria is rapidly becoming a pariah state. richard engel, nbc news. still ahead as we continue on a friday night, the fight back, that's what they calling the recovery, the citizen's uprising against thuggery in london and throughout the british countryside tonight.

nbc news can confirm tonight after a week of raging fires, riots, looting in the streets of london and beyond, bill bratton, former chief of police in new york and l.a. and boston has been asked by the british prime minister to come on board as a consultant to work with the british government to control this kind of out of control mob violence. meanwhile there's some uplifting news tonight from the ashes of this week. a lot of regular folks, friends,

neighbors are taking a stand for their own streets. nbc's jim maceda has our report tonight from london. >> reporter: it was not a week for the proud or patriotic here. >> i don't know why people do this. >> reporter: moments of senseless violence, hatred and desperation shocked the nation and those beyond. now the cleanup has started, but so has the fight back. >> we will do whatever it takes to restore law and order and to rebuild our communities. >> reporter: there's defiance in the streets, vigilante groups seeks and turks defending their communities. police raids on alleged rioters have led to at least 1,700 arrests, the courts are in overdrive. the fight back is also in the heart. 81-year-old widower allan biber thought he had lost everything when thieves broke into his barbershop.

>> they took my coffee, sugar, i can't believe it. >> reporter: nor could he believe the $40,000 an internet campaign raised to get the world war ii vet back in business. this malaysian student had every reason to hate britain, mugged, had his job broken and then robbed by the very people who appeared to help him. britain's total strangers raised about 30,000 as a gift to him. >> the courtesy, the concern for your neighbors, that had gone from british life and had caused these riots and paradoxically may have come back in their aftermath. >> reporter: there are now centers for donations and walls for compassion. >> we are proud of our city and we want the world to know that. >> reporter: a nation taking control and believing in itself once again. jim maceda, nbc news, london. up next a little girl's

legacy, beyond her wildest dreams in life.

charles murray died today. he was the recipient of the medal of honor from world war 2. it was just before christmas 1944 when, after landing on omaha beach, as a young lieutenant, pushing toward germany, he single handedly launched an attack on an enemy position, using artillery, grenades and a rifle, he stood his ground on a hill despite being visible to the enemy. he killed and scattered the entire german force, captured ten of them. when a grenade was thrown at him, he took eight pieces of shrapnel.

the entire third infantry was present when he was awarded the medal. went on to serve four more years in europe, then in korea then in vietnam. three silver stars, two bronze stars, a purple heart and of course the medal of honor. charles murray was 89 years old. his death leaves 84 living recipients. we also learned just today there will be a new recipient, he's a marine. dakota meyer will receive the medal from president obama in september for his actions in combat in afghanistan. we have a remarkable making a difference update to tell you about tonight about a little girl outside seattle who wanted to do her part to help the less fortunate. instead of presents for her 9th birthday, she asked for $400 so kids in the third world could have clean drinking water. friends and family kept her clean water drive going, the word spread and this morning,

exactly two months after her 9th birthday, the total raised hit $1 million. talk about making a difference. there's more information on this story for you on our website. the greatest show on earth will be in the sky above in the where you live tonight, barring cloud cover. it's the annual perseid meteor shower, considered optimal this year because there won't be a moon in the sky. it's best viewed with the naked eye, there will be an average of one per minute, the show gets better as you get closer to dawn and then it lasts a few more nights into the early part of next week. up next here tonight, some of the news we didn't get to during this very busy week, including the walking away hit of the summer.

finally tonight, let's be honest tonight, we lost 30 of our finest in afghanistan, the week's death toll is now 42 in our nation's longest war. we lost our nation's top credit rating, just as we were still processing the fact that congress can't agree on anything or get their work done on time. those were the stories we spent most of our time covering this past week. but there were others. so in our last two minutes of the week here, let's get caught up. >> two, one, and we have ignition. >> reporter: this was the thing

that was going to make us feel good about ourselves after a rough week. the u.s. has been anxious to launch a space plane, a hyper sonic flying wing that could go from new york to l.a. in 12 minutes at 13,000 miles an hour unless it crashes, which is what it did this week nine minutes after takeoff. thankfully no one was on board, just don't call your travel agent quite yet until they work the bugs out. that thing in the sky over new york this wreak was a banner that read, thanks for the downgrade. you should all be fired. a missouri woman paid for it. to be flown over standard & poors building after it downgraded our credit rating. in retired space news, a rare sight as discovery and endeavor came nose to nose while being moved at nasa. the two have decided to remain just good friends. >> ernie. >> bert. >> who are you talking to? >> speaking of which, bert and

ernie are not gay, there's an online campaign to get them to marry. and in an effort to ixnay that kind of talk around the kids, the folks of sesame workshop actually put out a statement saying they're just friends and reminding us, they're puppets after all and, quote, do not have a sexual orientation. as opposed to vladimir putin, the matthew mcconaughey of russian presidents who loves taking his shirt off and never misses a masculinity opportunity has been at it again, bending a frying pan and scuba diving, not that there's anything wrong with that. or with this, for that matter. ♪ i hear the train a comin' >> the technical name is boom chaka, boom chaka. the reason you know that's a johnny cash song was marshall

grant, the bass player behind the man in black all those years. he died this week at 83. and you know how every summer there's a song that we always associate with that summer? it's safe to say this year's song is "pumped up kicks" by foster the people. it's a surfy california style delivery system for a gritty underlying message. and then there's the french, while fighting off bank failure this week, they have somehow found a way to dispense baggettes in vending machines for those times when you've just got to have a crusty loaf of bread. just like the times when you've got to watch web videos of mishka, the talking husky, say, i love you, mishka, what a good dog. and because of that we're working on a profile of mishka for this broadcast. and that's our broadcast for this friday night and for this week, thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams, lester holt will be here with you this weekend. we of course hope to see you right back here on monday night, in the meantime, have a good weekend. in the meantime, have a good weekend. good night.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com . we begin with developing news. good evening, everyone. i'm janelle wang in for jessica aguirre. >> i'm raj mathai. an amber alert for a 2-year-old girl allegedly kidnapped by her father. they say the child's life could be in danger and the pair could be heading to the bay area. >> nbc bay area's reporter joins us now. kimberly, you spoke with