for joining me tonight. you can watch him tomorrow afternoon, filling in for martin bashir at 3:00 p.m. eastern. i will be glued toe temperature the rachel maddow show is next. thanks to you at home for staying with us for the next hour. i actually want to start off tonight with a shout out to the newmont mining corporation of denver colorado, exceptional work today, newmont mining corporation, a standout performance, literally, their performance today as an american company stands out. cnbc does this thing every day called a heat map, we talked about this last week, they take the 500 biggest, most actively traded companies on the stock market, the s&p 500, and they create a map of them showing basically how the overall day went for those 500 companies. if the company gets labeled as green, that means they had a good day, their stock price went up, if they are labeled as red, it means their stock price went down.

you can see the heat map here, on the left side of the screen. that's what the heat map on cnbc looks like on a typical stock market day. we haven't had a typical stock market day in awhile so we had a go awhile back in time to find this example. again, this is a normal day on the heat map. this is what the heat map looked like on what was not a normal day. here's what the heat map looked like today. oh, boy. remember, red means i had a bad day. wait, what -- right over, far corner, what's that up there? quadrant 72 or something, out of the 500 dots, there was one green dot today in the entire s&p 500 on the heat map, one company had one good day, and that was newmont mining corporation of denver, colorado. they were the one company that was doing okay today, one minute before the closing bell, so good job, newmont mining corporation. i should note, however, by the

time the market did close, newmont mining corporation of denver, colorado, was also down by 28 cents. so one minute after they were the only green dot on the heat map of 500 dots, their dot went red too. so what's the better visualization tool for how things went today? the entire s&p 500 heat map turning red like this? not even an isolated pinpoint of green anywhere around to make us feel a little better. is this the best visual metaphor for today or is this the best visual metaphor for today? the percentage drop in the s&p 500 today was, look at the bottom number there on the right, 6.66%. seriously. 6.66%. 666. just in case the number gods were not being clearer, it had to be 666.

even if you don't care about details about how and why this was a bad today, if all you can stomach absorbing the devil horns and red screen, i am trying to imply this went badly. even if you're not interested in how it was bad, there's one important detail that's worth absorbing. if you absorb no other detail other than this, here's the detail to understand, while everybody was selling off all of these stocks today, what were they buying? they were selling every stock they could get anywhere near, what did they buy? they bought u.s. treasury bonds. the u.s. treasury bond is you loaning the united states money in exchange for a promise from the united states the country will pay you back with interest. that's the only thing that got bought today, that and gold. our friends at newmont mining corporation happen to be one of the largest gold miners. other than gold, u.s. treasury bonds. everybody in the market fleeing to the security of the full

faith and credit of the united states of america. the tectonic thing that happened in american finance and also in american politics over the last three days is that a ratings agency, standard & poors, said don't buy u.s. treasury bonds. standard & poor's said if you loan money to the united states, we are less sure than we used to be the country will pay you back. the whole point of the downgrade was to say the u.s. treasury essentially can no longer be trusted. the market responded by giving the u.s. treasury all of their money. >> it's kind of hard to sell treasuries when you have a market meltdown here. the fight to quality is still the u.s. treasuries, it's the best thing out there. >> flight to quality. best thing out there. that was also what president obama was talking about today in his mid afternoon statement on the markets at the white house. >> on friday, we learned that the united states received a downgrade by one of the credit

rating agencies. the markets, on the other hand, continue to believe our credit status is aaa, in fact, warren buffet, who knows a thing or two about good investments said if there were a aaaa rating, i'd give the united states that. i and most of the world's investors agree. >> the whole assertion of the u.s. credit rating downgrade is that if you lend america money, america may no lopger be -- may no longer be good for it. people should think twice about loaning the u.s. money. people shouldn't be treasury bills anymore because america might not pay it back. nobody, nobody believes that is true. >> this is not an issue of credit rating. there is zero probability of default. >> zero chance we are not going to lend back people money buying treasury bills. zero chance. nobody disagrees with alan greenspan on that. the market knows that. they showed it today.

and frankly the s&p ratings agency knows that, too. the agency that downgraded the u.s. credit rating friday night sent over to the obama administration their press release explaining the downgrade they were about to do. this is the draft. we have the draft. this is the draft press release. this is not the final version, this is the early version that was obtained by politico,.com, we have a link to it on our website. the spoiler alert here if you read this is that the math here is wrong by $2 trillion. what they were initially going to use as their justification for downgrading the u.s. credit score was math that was really, really wrong, math that said, for example, that the u.s. didn't deserve to be alongside a country like france in having a aaa credit rating because our debt problem was so much worse than france's. once their math problem was pointed out to them that we're not in a worse situation than france, they just dropped that justification altogether and decided to downgrade us anyway. this doesn't really have anything to do with the math. this doesn't have anything to do

with numbers, they are not even making an assertion our credit is any substantially worse than we used to be. that we're any less likely to pay back our borrowers than we used to be. they are not making a numerical argument, they are not making a financial argument. they are doing political punditry, they are indicting political brinksmanship in washington. the bizarre flirtation with the default this year. the cult of intractability that exists on one side of the aisle in washington now. >> the political gridlock in washington leads us to conclude that policy makers don't have the ability to proactively, you know, put the public finances of the u.s. on a sustainable footing. >> why downgrade the debt when it's actually about the political process? >> the political process becomes important, because that speaks to how this fiscal and economic and monetary choices are being made. that influences the trade

worthiness. >> if you corrected the political settings, that would certainly improve the credit standing of the united states. >> it is kind of weird for a ratings agency to make its executives available for these kinds of interviews, to explain their rational this much, but the more they explain, the clearer is comes this isn't about the particular calculation about the amount of debt. they don't even seem to care their math was wildly, wildly wrong on that. what they are doing here is about politics. no, we're not going to default because of anything wrong with our economic ability to repay our debts. the only reason we even flirted with default earlier this month, and we did get close to it, only reason we got close to it was not because of anything economic, but it has become fashionable in republican politics to threaten that the united states should default. once the debt ceiling deal was reached, the top republican in the senate, mitch mcconnell, described defaulting on our debt as a "hostage that's worth ransoming."

he described it as a template for how things would go forward. what we have done is set a new template. in the future it will not be clean anymore. whoever the new president is, it's probably going to be asking us to raise the debt ceiling again, then we will go through the process again and see what we continue to achieve in connection with these debt ceiling requests." that is not some tea party fringe member pressuring. the leader of the senate republicans. that is the leader of the senate republicans. saying you like getting within hours of defaulting? well, get used to it. we're going to keep doing that whenever we can. of all of the republican presidential candidates this year, all of them but one, all of them but jon huntsman, said they'd vote against raising the debt ceiling, meaning that as presidential candidates they are advising members of congress to vote against raising the debt ceiling. they are advising congress to

let the united states of america default. members of congress, who in some cases seemed they'd be delighted to do that. republican congress quoted this week -- saying "we are not kidding around, we would have taken it down." by "it," he means you, the u.s. economy. we wanted it to go nuclear. if we are talking about the risk of default, if we are talking about playing with fire, this is not a both sides kind of thing. the beltway loves to say both sides deserve the blame, this is the platonic form of not both sides fault. i'm sorry if this sounds partisan to point it out but this is not both sides with the same error. this was republicans alone causing this problem by saying they would not raise the debt ceiling. and it is liberals and democrats who have been saying all along

that this take by the republicans was dangerous. that's why it's frankly weird to be a liberal pundit reading the s&p press release about republicans behaving dangerously in washington, the reason s&p downgraded the u.s. credit score was essentially the list of liberal and democratic talking points against the republican congress taking the debt ceiling hostage. this sounds like it's straight off an msnbc teleprompter. "the political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as america's governance and policy making becoming less stable and effective. the statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy. that is what s&p said. that's their press release. what they said was the reason for the downgrade. the chairman of s&p's sovereign ratings committee told "the wall street journal" it involved a level of leadership greater than what we had expected. this is not both sides. i'm sorry to tell the beltway. i know it's upsetting. this was not both sides. liberals and democrats have been saying what republicans have

been doing is dangerous for months now. knowing republicans would not listen to any liberal or democrat saying that, liberal democrats even drafted the ghost of ronald reagan to try to make the argument for them, please, listen to reagan even if you won't listen to us. don't do this to the country. still, the response from congressional republicans was essentially no, we want to burn it down, and they very nearly did, and now the people that sell fire insurance are making us pay more for our fire insurance policy because it turns out there's an arsonist in our family. the market dropped today not because the u.s. isn't going to pay back the people buying treasury bills, in that case, people would not have bought so many. darn treasury bills today. that's not why the market tanked. the market tanked today, that cnbc heat map looked the way it did today. we had the sixth worst day in terms of point drops today because the global economy is in bad shape, europe particularly and the u.s. economy is in bad shape and it doesn't look like the u.s. will get better fast enough to help ourselves, let

alone offer help to the rest of the world. we really, really, really need some american jobs. we really need policy to create american jobs. the fear you are seeing in the american markets is fear about whether or not we are capable of fixing that problem that we have as a country. what got sold off today was mostly stock in private companies and people ran for cover away from private companies. and to the security of the government. the government now needs to prove itself worthy of that faith. the government needs to prove itself capable of fixing our real economic problems. and right now, i know it sounds partisan, but believe it. one side in our politics really is trying to set the whole thing on fire. and the other side is left to figure out not only how to stop to stop them from doing that, but also how to find enough nonarsonists on that side of the aisle to participate in building something that will work for the country, right now and fast.

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congressman barney frank of massachusetts joins us next as does ed schultz, who is in madison, wisconsin. please, stay tuned. i looked up, and my jell-o pudding was gone. jeremy, look at me. look at that smile. that is pudding face. you took my pudding! the evidence is hard to dispute. [ male announcer ] get your pudding face on with oh-so-cool and irresistible jell-o pudding. that's me with the blow dryer and the flat iron until i see smoke. so pantene said, "breakage and split ends? no problem." they gave me this pantene called breakage to strength.

[ female announcer ] the keratin protection pro-v system helps prevent then repair split ends. zero fear of breakage, 100% more strength. no regrets, just health. i'm not giving up the heat. [ female announcer ] the breakage to strength system from pantene. a very bad day on the financial markets as you hear the closing bell on wall street. >> every single major index has closed to the negative. >> s&p 500 shellacked, people, 6% in one day. >> hey, washington, welcome to your double-a hole. >> what a day it has been.

the market closes at the lows of the afternoon. >> the last time we saw such a drop in the dow was november 20, 2008, a time none of us would like to return to. >> yeah, we're pretty much there at this point. >> we knew from the outset that a long debate over the debt ceiling, a debate where the threat of default was used as a bargaining chip could do enormous damage to our economy and the world's. that threat, coming after a string of economic disruptions in europe, japan and the middle east has now royaled the markets and dampened consumer confidence and slowed the space of the recovery. >> joining us now, congressman barney frank from massachusetts, congressman frank, thanks very much for your time tonight, i appreciate it. >> welcome, thank you. >> when we spoke friday after we learned about the downgrade, you said taking standard & poor's seriously is not something rational people ought to do, the market tanked today but did not follow s&p's advice, everybody

bought u.s. treasury bonds. what explains that? >> well, the market is, to a certain extent, a hall of mirrors. reality gets displaced by people's perception of reality, and i'm not surprised. i said that people shouldn't pay attention to standard & poor's, and, you know, the rating agencies presumably bring to the table specialized knowledge. where they were supposed to be doing that with mortgage-backed securities, they screwed it up badly. they admit. they told people this was wonderful stuff when it was crap and didn't check it. everybody knows everything. i'm disappointed but not surprised. but the key, i think we have to get some jobs and deal with the debt and there's one way to do it. we are today spending $140 billion a year approximately on afghanistan and iraq to no good purpose. iraq was always a mistake, in

any my judgment. afghanistan started out with a reasonable possibility. it has deteriorated. we defend western europe against nonexistent threats. i want america to be strong and able to defend itself, but i don't want us to take on the job of policing every political dispute everywhere in the world. we could reduce our military spending by $250 billion a year, 140 billion from the iraq and afghanistan wars, and over 100 billion in western europe, japan and other wealthy nations and bring that money home. we could use half of it to bring down the deficit and half to produce jobs. there are today 600,000 fewer local employees, public works employees, people who shovel the know and pick up garbage, police officers, firefighters because we have sent the money overseas in ways that is useful. i want to help fight poverty and aids but now we have to say to our friends on the other side

who say we must cut spending, don't tell me to tell a 78-year-old woman living on $19,000 a year she gets no cost of living where you will continue to pour money in to coffers. at this point, i agree with your analysis of how we got here. but now we can say to some of the people who helped us to get here. okay, let's bring a couple hundred billion dollars of home that is spent overseas in unconstructive ways and that's what we need to do to get jobs. instead of putting the money in to kandahar and kabul and baghdad where it is not used well, let's put it in to our cities and highway construction and putting people back to work here. >> there's been a lot of coverage, recently speaking, of an emerging split among republicans on that, on the issue of defense spending and whether or not the pentagon might be a place where they could stand some cuts. there's been less coverage of whether or not democrats are unified around that idea. how much support do you think you have from the white house

and other congressional democrats? >> from the white house i'm worried about. that on the congressional democrats, i offered an amendment to cut by a substantial amount the increase to the pentagon. the democrats voight voted with me on that amendment 154-546789 the republicans voted against it. we got 60 or 70. ron paul has been good on this. other republicans, but my problem is the president and i strongly support him and i will, but i'm appalled to read to read he is thinking of exceeding to an iraqi request that we stay in iraq longer than george bush wanted to and leon panetta who is a great liberal and concerned about the budget when he was in congress has bought in to the notion that more and more and more is important to the pentagon even if it goes beyond legitimate expense needs and he said the other day and i was disappointed and wrote to the president said, say it ain't so,

joe, barack. he said let's cut entitlements and not the military. let's be clear about taxes. it is not revenue it is taxes. i want to go back to the clinton tax rates for people in the top 2%. here's what we are proposing. if you make more than $250,000 in income after your deductions f you make more than $250,000 a year in taxable income, for every $1,000 additional you make, i want to tax you $30. $30 on every thousand above 250. if we do that, we pull out of iraq and afghanistan, we can start on a better path to reducing the deficit. we have to do some restraints elsewhere. we don't have to cut old ladies who are living on $19,000. we don't have to make people who stood on their feet working hard work a few more years. the irony is we are subsidizing the military budgets of western europe. none of them pay a percentage of

their gross domestic product to the military like we do so they can give their people better health and retirement and benefits than we do. but some of the tea party theory. maybe it is the stop clock theory. it is right twice a day. many perceive this against the established republicans, the john mccain, dick cheney position. we have been making progress. this is our moment. if we cannot at this point, when we are told we are in a crisis. when the stock market is tanking, when we are unfairly downgraded by s&p but the fact is it is out there. when there is a panic about the need to make substantial deficit reduction, to spend $100 billion a year in the corruption of afghanistan and iraq and deny that to debt reduction and job creation here is the definition of stupidity. >> congressman frank of massachusetts, everybody thinks that you are so far on the left of the democratic caucus you

would say stuff that would never appeal to republicans and every time you talk about stuff that will appeal to republicans. >> i'm working with several republicans and i will continue to do it. i will hang out with anyone if it gets something done right. >> appreciate it. we'll be right back. ♪ [ recorded voice ] onstar. we're looking for city hall. i'm sending directions to your car. [ recorded voice #2 ] turn right on hill street. go north for two miles. ♪ [ man ] this is onstar. i got a signal there's been a crash. do you need help? yes, please. i've got your gps location. i'm sending help. [ female announcer ] introducing onstar fmv. get it installed on your car at best buy or visit onstar.com for more stores.

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tomorrow is a very important election day. in the great state of wisconsin the middle of august is a weird time for elections, but this is what you would call regularly-scheduled politics.

tomorrow's elections are recall elections against six republican state senators who sided with wisconsin governor scott walker on his stripping of union rights in that state. democratic state senators taking a unified stand against that. electrified the democrat base leading to protests like these all through the spring. that energy has been converted into the recall effort for tomorrow. if democrats end up controlling three more seats after these recalls than they did before the recalls, they will take back the senate from the republican party's control. it is not at all a sure bet that democrats will be able to do that. it's fairly impossible to make predictions here, there's no precedent for a recall like this in wisconsin. it will, of course, come down to organization and enthusiasm and get out the vote efforts, it will come down to turnout, and msnbc's ed schultz will be broadcasting live tonight from madison where a crowd is already gathering for him and he'll be there live tomorrow as well. live at 10:00 p.m. eastern.

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first crossed the wires about a single incident in afghanistan with an almost unimaginable american toll. the helicopter carrying 30 americans, 7 afghan commandos and an interpreter were killed. of the 30 americans killed, 22 were navy s.e.a.l.s. all but two of whom were members of s.e.a.l. team 6. this crash is the single deadliest incident for americans in afghanistan since the war began nearly ten years ago. we do not know all the names of those killed and this is complicated by the secrecy of the membership of some elite special forces teams but we are learning more about those killed thanks in large part due to the coverage of their hometown newspapers swrechl links from green forest, arkansas and

rockford, iowa, shreveport, louisiana, jacksonville, north carolina, nashville, tennessee, cape cod, massachusetts. we have linked to some of these at our blog today. maddowblog.com. in addition to learning more about the casualties we are learning more about the circumstances of the incident as in the a entire decade of this war. the taliban, of course, took credit within hours of the attack, but that doesn't always mean much. according to u.s. officials, it was a rocket propelled grenade but more details are unknown. this is a twin rotor helicopter. it was on its way to provide support to army rangers on a mission, apparently targeting a taliban leader. the chinook helicopter was hit before reaching those rangers and those same army rangers were the first to secure the crash site after the chopper came down. joining us live from afghanistan is richard engine, nbc chief

foreign correspondent who is up at an ungodly hour to be with us. thank you very much for joining us. really appreciate it. >> it is a pleasure and i think it is an important story, not just for the loss of life, which is itself very tragic, but it says a lot about the war itself and how it is going, that ten years, nearly ten years on you can have the single deadliest incident that would involve so many elite troops. it says a lot where the country is going and where the u.s. mission is going as well. >> what do we know about the mission that resulted in the crash? the specific mission and why so many elite troops were involved in this? what does it say to you? >> effectively you had a mission that was underway by the army rangers. this is not the people who go to ranger school, who wear the tab on the uniform. this is the 75th ranger regimen, which itself is an elite group that operates covertly and has

done a lot of the deadly missions in this country and other countries around the world. the rangerme regimen was on a mission hunting a taliban leader or several leaders of the taliban in the tangy valley. it is 60 miles southwest of here. it is remote and has steep sides, loose shale. you can't drive in to it. a lot of foot paths. they were in the valley and came across several taliban fighters, leaders, people carrying rpgs. they engaged them according to the military's official account and at some stage of the fire fight they called for backup. the reinforcements that arrived were mostly navy s.e.a.l.s and as they were with landing to try to provide more fire power and more support, that's when this

chinook helicopter, or transport helicopter, a vulnerable, big, slow, transport helicopter was hit from the ground by a single rpg shot. the taliban says that it brought the helicopter down and the u.s. military isn't disputing that. >> in terms of the way the taliban brought it down, what about the means by which it was brought down? does this seem, to you, like it was a lucky shot with a low-tech weapon that doesn't often have the chance of doing this or say something about the taliban's tactics and weaponry? >> exactly. >> just a lucky shot? >> just a lucky shot. this is an old weapon. this is not something that is developed for this conflict. it is not like they got stinger missiles. it was a ot so it is not an accurate weapon. it's very low

altitude when chinooks are coming in and they are turning, in particular, they create a broad target. and this one just happened to hit the chinook and bring it down, killing everyone on board. >> richard, a toll like this is the sort of thing that brings the nation's attention back to the afghanistan war. whether it was a strategically sensitive mission or not, it has everyone talking about the war again. i know you have been in and out of afghanistan in the last couple of years in particular, where do you think the u.s. is strategically in relationship to our overall reason for being there? >> i think we are in a weak position and i think that is going back to why the story is so important, beyond the terrible and really significant loss of life. because these aren't just soldiers. it's always an awkward position to say that one person's life is more valuable than another. and you can never make that

judgment. it is a moral call. but strategically and tactically, these soldiers have an incredible -- these s.e.a.l.s who died have an incredible amount of training and experience that is lost and that is something that doesn't get regenerated quickly.es it meanfor afghanistan and the u.s. involvement here? the u.s. is in the midst of a transition. the u.s. is drawing back some soldiers right now. we are supposedly ending this surge starting this summer, and then it is starting this summer and fall and going in to next year. the problem is, the afghan government isn't filling in the gaps and stepping in and taking control of the areas. so you are seeing the u.s. try to draw back but the afghan government not stepping up. and it's creating a situation where afghanistan is getting more dangerous. there's more chaos. and it's going to be a problem as the u.s. further intensifies

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>> that is the night that scott walker's stripping of union rights in the state of wisconsin got suddenly shoved through the state assembly. that happened after 1:00 a.m. on friday, february 25th of this year. tuesday, august 9th, marks the punctuation mark, thend of the sentence that started that night six months ago. recall elections inspired by the standoff over union rights begin when polls open at 7 a.m. local time in wisconsin tomorrow. nobody in the national media covered the wisconsin story earlier, more thoroughly, more urgently or any better than msnbc's own ed shultz. live tonight on recall election eve, ready to cover the contest

from start to finish is mr. shultz himself, live in madison. great to see you. thank you for making the time tonight, my friend. >> it is an honor to be on here tonight with you, rachel. i think we are in the eye of the storm for the fight for the middle class in this country. tomorrow's going to be a benchmark day. no question about it. >> ed, i hear the enthusiasm of the folks gathered behind you. this is sort of an unprecedented situation in terms of this many recalls, this time of the year, coming out of this environment in wisconsin. the polls seem close. everything seems unpredictable. what are you expecting to happen in tomorrow's election from everything you are hearing on the ground? >> i think there will be a tremendous turnout tomorrow. it is something wisconsin had never been through before. this is unchartered territory. there are polls all over the place. but there are airs of confidence among the progressive movement and those who are supporting governor walker.

he had scott fitzgerald tell the "new york times" that they would maintain the majority here in the senate in wisconsin. no doubt about it. so you have these two titans. these ideological struggle that will be played out tomorrow for the entire country to see. it's the best of america. in the eye of some the worst of america. the lack of listening to voices has brought us to this point. i think that it is something for the entire country to see. i think this is the eye of the storm for the fight of the middle class in america. what happens here, if scott walker's republicans win, and if they maintain the majority, the question is how does the progressive movement move forward in ohio to recall senate bill 5? what does this do for the confidence of those under middle-class attack in the state of michigan? i think tomorrow is a huge day for the progressive movement in this country. >> i how do you think, ed, the

national political situation right now is effecting what might happen tomorrow? we have obviously the white-knuckle hostage situation over the debt ceiling. the tanking of the markets. the presidents response to it. are those national winds blowing in wisconsin? are they affecting how people feel about their own state's politics on a night like tonight? >> i think, rachel, what happened in the market today is a great motivator to progressives across the country. a lot of middle classers, a lot of low-income people got hurt today. rich people move their money in and out of the market all the time. i had a well-placed wall streeter tell me that wall street can't stand this president an they don't want him to succeed no matter what he does for them. the fact of the matter the agenda for the republicans has been to slow the economy, to make the election about the economy. wall street is part of that. and i just think president obama is facing a landscape of

obstructionism that no other president has had to face. he has a deck of cards in front of him that i don't think any president has had to deal to the american people. this is tough politics being played out and one thing i keep here hearing in wisconsin is they can't take your heart, your soul or your vote. there will be a big turnout tomorrow. some people on the republican side say as much as 70% in the six districts. if that is the case, that would certainly parallel what took place in 2010. i also think, rachel, we are seeing citizens united play out on paper in a big way. in the midterms in 2010, on the state level, on the state races in wisconsin, less than $4 million were spent. we're now pushing $40 million on six selected races in the recall. i mean, this is money -- we have never seen before in the heartland. so it will be a day for america to watch.

no question about it. >> ed, turning the telescope around, one thing that you and i have talked about so many times over the years frankly is what is going on in wisconsin resonates nationally? whether national and d.c. democrats know that there's a democratic base. they look at wisconsin and recognize there is political gain to be gained by both courting and respecting and standing up for your base. do you think that d.c. democrats get it the way that wisconsin democrats do? >> i do not. i do not think. i think there's a real disconnect. i think that you are going to see people come to the polls tomorrow concerned about the kitchen table issues. they are tired of the obstructionism that has taken place this and the rancoring that has taken place in washington. this is a chance for them to show their choice. that they don't want the corporate tax breaks that walker put out. they don't want the top 2% to get all the breaks and more

hardship on people with fixed incomes. that is why this is so big. this is a microcausism of what the national conversation has been. if the democrats don't show up big tomorrow, it could be really tough for 2012. >> ed shultz, msnbc's own. i could not be happier that you are where you are right now. thank you for being there and thank you for being with us tonight. >> thank you, rachel. great to be with you. >> ed will of course be back at 10:00 eastern live from madison with that beautiful pumped up crowd behind him tonight. the biggest story in the news is, of course, the economic crisis, but beyond that and the wisconsin elections tomorrow, there's a lot else going on including incredible footage we are getting from the rioting in london. the worst rioting in london in a generation and some big news in u.s. presidential politics that is under the radar today. that is up next. every day, all around the world,

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when a huge important story like the current economic crisis takes up all the oxygen in the room, deservedly so, has the unfortunate side effect of squelching most coverage of other news even if it is important as well. take for example the riots in london for the third day running. it started on saturday night. a protest against a police shooting of a man turned violent. residents told the "new york times" there were two underlying reasons for the unrest. quoting from the times, frustration and the impoverished area as in many others in britain has mounted as the austerity budget has forced deep cuts in social services. at 'same time a wildly held distain for law enforcement here.

by sunday, the second day the violence had spread to other neighborhoods it spread north to infield where looters attacked local stores and to the south to brickston. i used to work there actually. where 200 people targeted high street this. by this evening, police were battling londoners. they torched buildings and buses and firefighters battled a huge blaze at a furniture store in south london. the violence also spreading. there are reports of rioting now in camden in north lon and noting hill and clapem. the violence spread to smaller cities in britain as police arrested looters in the cities of birmington and liverpool as well. the prime minister of britain, the mayor of london and the home secretary, the minister responsible for domestic security have been on vacation for the start of the rioting. they are all back from their holidays now to try to get the situation under control.

we partner with the news agency itv and they have put together some incredible reporting and video footage of the rioting in london. we have some of their best reports in a spot that is easy to find at maddowblog.com if you want to see more of that tonight. in 2012 politics the biggest news of the day is the ames straw poll in iowa this weekend will not be the biggest 2012 news of this upcoming weekend you may remember romney's announcement he was running was stepped on by maybe candidates sarah palin and rudy giuliani when both of them made sure they were also in new hampshire and also making political news on the day that mr. romney was trying to make a big splash with his own announcement. it is like wearing white to somebody else's wedding. am i stealing your moment? i'm sorry. this weekend the nonbridal proverbial white dress will be born worn by perry when the candidates trying to make a splash in the ames iowa straw

poll will find themselves overshadowed by rick perry making the first presidential campaign trail appearances in south carolina and new hampshire. the rick perry soon to be campaign leaking to anyone who will listen today that although governor perry won't formally say he's running for president on saturday, these appearances mean that he is running and they do represent the official, unofficial start of his campaign. so anyone who sees iowa and the iowa straw poll and any pr bounce they may get from doing well in the straw poll as crucial to their campaign, hint, hint, michele bachmann, rick perry has a present for you this weekend. we will have more on governor perry's candidacy and why i personally think it is quite nornt the republican presidential field. we will have more on that over the course of the week. and finally an answer to a campaign finance ministry -- mystery, excuse me. about a million dollar donation to a pack connected with mitt

romney. you may remember covering this last week. the million dollar contribution to the romney campaign came from a group called w span llc which was created in march. it donated money in april and dissolved in july. just before the pack had to report the donation to the feds. who did the money come from? it is frankly impossible to find out from public recordkeeping, which is the point of a super pack. they can take unlimited money from companies and company can form and dissolve without leaving much, if any, chase of the money they just laundered. his reporting on the donation, prompted the donor to come forward to address questions raised by the media concerning the contribution. i will request that restore our future pac amend its public reports to disclose me as the donor. it was a long time mitt romney

supporter and has given the maximum individual donation allowed by law which is $2500. >> i think the whole controversy with regards to this contribution sort of disappears when he came forward and said he was the contributor. >> wouldn't it be awesome, the whole controversy disappeared? the donor in this case is a retired managing director at bane capital. he left bane in 2007 but interestingly when we called his family foundations office to follow up on this statement about the donation, the person who picked up the phone when we called answered by saying, hello, bane capital. yeah. bane capital is the private equity firm where mitt romney made millions of dollars he did not inherit and while we know one former bain executive is behind this donation to romney's pac, the roberts finance laws in the past couple of years means if any executive wa