spreader in a wind storm. also today in iowa michele bachmann shrugs off that scarey "newsweek" cover photo. while london is burning. riots spreading to other major i zs in the uk. the prime minister rushing back from vacation and recalls parliament for an emergency session. for the first time police say they may use rubber bullets tonight to contain unruly crowds. and heartbreaking return. president obama now has traveled to dover, delaware, to honor the 30 american service members killed when their helicopter was shout down in afghanistan over the weekend. there will be a private ceremony as their remains arrive back today on u.s. soil. good day i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. we begin with whiplash on wall street. after monday's historic plunge, stocks are on the rise today for now, but underneath it all nothing has really changed and now all eyes are on the fed. gene sperling is director of the

national economic council and assistant to the president and joins us now. gene, what can the president do? >> reporter: i think what the president needs to do is what he said yesterday, reemphasize, do everything in his power to make clear that we as a country have got to act in a bipartisan way both to do more in terms of short-term growth and job creation and to make clear that we've got greater certainty of long-term fiscal discipline. we need both of those things. i think what we've seen many the last week is that there is real harm to the kind of firm line drawing in the sand that gives not only our american people but markets the sense that we can come together to solve the important problems we need both for short-term growth and long-term fiscal discipline. i think the president reaffirmed that yesterday. i think there are more members of congress. more in the american people who understand that type of putting our economy first, politics second is what is an imperative

for all of us right now. >> so far, it's been a lot of politics first, putting the economy second from all sides. there's just been a a lot of finger pointing all around. what do you want to see from the fed today? do you want to see a third round of quantitative easing? >> you know that smart economic advisors at the white house don't comment on the independent federal reserve and particularly not an hour before they're about to speak. >> well, what about the ideas and what about possible ideas for calling congress back? there's actually been some criticism even from friends. you heard from a number of democrats that the president should have been stronger yesterday. that he should have been more focused. he should be by this time calling congress back. let me play a little bit of a conversation today from former governor and former senator and former goldman sachs ceo with joe scarborough. >> first of all, we ought to send out signals of confidence.

it's easy to sit on the sidelines when you're not governing. i would love to see the president call the leaders of congress back to washington in the next week, walk out together and say we're going to do the grand bargain. >> what a great signal that would send. >> it would send an enormous confidence setting tone for the market. >> why not call them back? >> reporter: andrea, as you know, there is not a single leader who did more, worked harder went more the extra mile than president obama did to put that grand bargain together. he has helped sign this important downpayment on deficit reduction. he's made clear in every way possible that he wants a grand bargain. that that requires having both entitlement reform -- >> this is a crisis. why not?

why not have john boehner come back to washington and have them sit down and try to pick up where they left off? >> reporter: andrea, the issue, let's be very clear, the issue is not how many times they meet together. the issue is getting a meeting of the minds that we need bipartisan compromise. people can be assured this president will do everything that is constructive and productive to bring together that grand bargain. but what we need is we need everyone to stop drawing firm lines many the sand. every budget expert, every independent expert. everyone knows that requires a combination of entitlement reform and tax reform that both contribute to deficit reduction. the president's reached out, will continue to reach out. what we need is more pressure on those who are insisting on just firming up their positions. refusing to compromise to decide nothing's off the table and that they're willing to come to that table with an open mind and the

spirit for job growth measures and to take the tough entitlement and revenue measures that are needed to give us, put us on a path of long-term fiscal soundness. >> but, gene, finally, even "the new york times" today is saying where is the broader vision from president obama? can you tell us did the president even pick up the phone and call john boehner? have they had private conversations since the s&p downgrade? >> reporter: andrea, what this president has done has been as significant as anything i've seen and courageous as anything i've seen a president do. this is a president at a time with enmany of his supporters said we should save medicare to be many more of a political issue said we are going to be serious. we are going to be willing to bo modest, reasonable medicare reforms and other entitlement reforms as part of a comprehensive effort with tax reform that would raise revenues on those who can most afford it to bring down our deficit.

i don't know how much more the president can do in sending that message. and anything that the constructive. anything that will help lead to that effort this president's going to do. we're going to focus on the results not just having public meetings. we're focused on what will bring that result. that's what the president is calling for. that's why i went out yesterday and made clear. drawing firm lines in the sand has real negative consequences for our economy. that's been very clear over the last week. we have got to bring everybody together for a compromise, a grand bargain to give us the confidence and soundness we need on our long-term fiscal situation. and the room to do more significant things on spurring job growth in the short-term. >> thank you very much, gene sperling from the white house. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. as we said federal reserve policymakers are holding their regular meeting. now scheduled in the week of the downgrade and the market crash. today's session is anything but

ordinary. with us now chief economist and senior managing director president of the committee for responsible federal budget. thanks so much. diane, first to you, is there anything left that the fed can do? >> certainly there is stuff the fed can do. it's not a lot of big bang for the dollar. the fed is not out of options. i think today we'll see them lay a fertile ground work for easier policy going forward. everything from hints about downgrading the forecast. they'll be very direct on that. they'll talk about the situation in europe. i wouldn't be surprised for them to mention the uncertainties surrounding the downgrade to the u.s. debt rating by s&p. i think that's important as well. the fed was very quick to sort of thumb their nose at s&p and say that won't matter for bank capital ratios. clearly they're on the defensive now and they are moving to blunt the repercussions of that downgrade and all the head winds that we face now. the fed ever since that revision

to gdp has really been on pins and needles. i think we are going to see some fertile ground for additional stimulus and perhaps qe 3 by the end of the year. >> do you think that they can ignore "the wall street journal" and others, the editorials saying that they've already possibly created an asset bubble criticizing qe one and two? >> i think they can. i think it's their job and their mandate to continue to do something with the economy so we are in a growth recession. the most likely snare joe is we avoid a double dip recession. that said we're not going to have growth that's enough to take the fed out of their mandate and feel that they're comfortable with inflation picking up. now commodity prices have fallen and they can point to inflation abating as unemployment continues to rise. these are issues the fed has to act on. even though they have the criticism out there, that has not stopped ben bernanke yet and i don't expect him to stop going forward. >> does this weakness and the

fact that there's been this downgrade and all the problems in europe, does this take the steam out of the real effort towards any near term deficit reduction? >> i actually hope not. first off, what it does is it focuses the attention on the eskimo that's about to get pointed in washington. that supercommittee has to refocus its energy on planning two to three times as much savings as they're charged with. they're supposed to find $1.5 trillion in savings. they need to go much bigger than that if they want to re-assure credit markets and the fiscal situation is under control and not face more downgrades. but at the same time as you point out and as we're seeing in many places the economy is so weak and so we have to put in place a plan that is able to both deal with our medium and long-term fiscal charges in a way that doesn't derail the economy and hopefully provides more space upfront for that economy to gain hold. we're going to have to look at

jobs. hopefully stimulus that's ektive and look at really credible changes to the budget over the next ten years with a real focus on entitlement reform and tax reform and just go much bigger than what we've been talking about so far. otherwise we are going to be in for a very rocky fall. >> thank you very much. so let's bring in john harwood. any signs from the politicians that they realize the gravity of the situation, but the urgency of getting together and doing something significant? >> reporter: i think they realize the urgency, andrea, but the difficulty of getting over the hump, getting a deal as gene sperling suggested a few moments ago remains pretty formidable. that's why i wouldn't expect the president to call congress in august because the divisions that they displayed over the summer, another few weeks of showing those to the world, you know, how are people going to react, what effect is that going

to have on confidence? i do think the president is more likely to take a more aggressive tone towards congress. a lot of democrats are urging him to fight more aggressively now that he at least has the debt ceiling raised through 2012, and if you do have potential action as diane suggested from the fed, that might be the most effective economic boost that could be gotten more so than anything he would get from congress. if that's the case. if he's going to be blocked with this agenda anyway, maybe he guess on the attack. congress is more unpopular than he is right now. >> at the same time, a lot of people including democrats very critical of his statement yesterday that it was first of all combining the economic message and the mourning for our service members. he should have come out they say over the weekend and said something about afghanistan so then he could have made a separate statement just about the economy that that combination fell flat. and say critics, it obviously did not re-assure markets.

i'm just channelling what a lot of democrats and obviously the republicans who are more partisan are saying about it. even the home team doesn't feel satisfied with what happened yesterday. >> reporter: it plainly didn't re-assure markets. we saw what happened after the president spoke. his options are not great at this point. certainly the white house is breathing a sigh of relief today that markets are up a couple hundred points. you can be sure that the white house economic team is scanning everything possible that they believe they could do using executive authority, other steps that they can roll out. things that they could ask the congress to do. but many of them because of the near term effect on the deficit and the requirement that it would involve spending would be very, very difficult to get done. >> john harwood has been on it all weekend and your interview with tim geithner making a lot of news. thank you so much for taking time today. a final sad te terribly sad homecoming today.

30 american service members killed in afghanistan in action. you see the president arriving in dover. we are live at dover air force base in delaware where president obama has just arrived for the private ceremony of the dignified return. sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. yes! ha ha! [ clicking ] ♪ what happened? power went out, want a hot dog? [ female announcer ] oscar mayer selects are made with 100% beef and have no artificial preservatives. [ female announcer ] oscar mayer selects are made with 100% beef

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r. president obama arrived at dover air force base in delaware a short time ago to pay his respects to honor the 30 american service members who lost their lives when their helicopter was shut down in afghanistan over the weekend. two c-17s carrying the troops' remains arrived at the base earlier today where a dignified transfer ceremony will take place this afternoon. nbc's tom costello is in dover, delaware, and joins me now. tom, this is such a terribly sad moment for the families, for all of their fellow special forces

members, for the president, the commander in chief. >> reporter: i think it's heartbreaking for whether you're a family member or obviously the president, a member of the military or just an american, it is absolutely heartbreaking. the president's trip today was unscheduled and it was a surprise. he arrived within the last 45 minutes or so. he is going to be joined mere here by the secretary of defense leon panetta and the chairman of the joint chiefs admiral mike mullen. they will be meeting in private with members of the military, we presume family members. we don't know how many family members will be here. 30 members of the u.s. military were brought back on the c-17s today. they include 22 navy s.e.a.l.s. but also representatives of the army and the air force all of them were lost in this ferocious attack on the chinook helicopter in afghanistan over the weekend. along with them of course, there were eight afghans because they still need to identify all the remains, that process will take some time. a mortician experts here at

dover air force base will begin that very difficult job we presume rather quickly. the ceremony that you spoke of is going to be held within the 2:00 hour. again, the president will be there. we don't know how long he plans to be here. we're told it will be for some extended period of time. but as we have said over the last few days, andrea, this single incident is the single greatest loss of life with the united states and afghanistan throughout its ten-year war here. 30 members of the u.s. military lost in addition eight afghan soldiers as well. it has renewed calls in some quarters to rethink if america should maintain this level of a presence in afghanistan. the secretary of defense yesterday reiterated that the united states will stay the course until terrorism is defeated. back to you. >> tom costello, the sad duty there. of course 22 members of the navy s.e.a.l.s. a very -- a very tesh loss for everyone concerned. thank you, tom.

and we're joined now by msnbc military analyst general barry mcafter ree. general, we've seen losses before, but this one is particularly terrible for everyone to sustain. it raises questions. tactical questions why were the navy s.e.a.l.s, why were the special forces going in if there wasn't a high value target there? >> reporter: the central reality is that this is a classic case of laying down your life for your brothers. what we see the regiment force, s.e.a.l. team six there's been a war for a decade. a lot of them are on the sixth, seventh, eighth, combat tour. if one's in trouble, they'll go to their rescue. that's the reality that we're talking about. later on i'm sure the military is going to have to do an after action review to try to sort outing look, what can we learn from this incident?

this is similar to 2005 when four navy s.e.a.l.s got overrun. one surviving and the rescue force again was shot down in a ch-47 with a huge loss of life. they have to study it. the central reality is this is a rescue mission. >> and it's your sense that this was an rpg because given the altitude that the chinook was likely at, it's just hard to imagine that this lucky shot could have brought down this helicopter? >> i wouldn't call it a huky shot. they've been barrage firing rpgs at soviet helicopters and ours for years. they did the same thing in iraq. that helicopter model is a terrific aircraft. modified for operations, very sophisticated. but when they're in a target with direct gunfire, direct

rocket fire, that rpg will go out darn near 1,000 meters if it hits you, you're probably coming down. i've been on chinooks hit by machine gunfires, machine guns will bring down a chinook also. >> it's just -- there's obvious going to be a lot of after action reporting on this. the loss is extraordinary. thank you so much. and we will be back.

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the fact that we have not been able to deal with our challenges, does result i think from a lack of leadership. and leadership starts at the top. harry truman used to have the sign on his desk that says the buck stops here. this administration's sign should be the buck stops somewhere else. >> mitt romney isn't paying attention to the rest of the republican field. he's staying on message against president obama. the white house was taking

notice. obama's campaign team is signaling that they plan an aggressive counterattack on romney's character. ben smith is a senior reporter from politico and has our political briefing today. ben, your reporting is that they are going after romney and they think they can portray him as not authentic. what are they trying to accomplish here? >> you have a situation where the president cannot run on the strength of the economic recovery. >> clearly. >> so they're anticipating that the race against romney has echos that the goal is to disqualify his opponent. and the campaign that they're laying out has two tracks. one is this gordon geko wall street raider and the other is that he's a little weird and phony. i think that it seems tril yal and petty. i think that's the direction that they're headed right now. >> it seems trivial, petty and

going negative before the campaign has even started. >> this is the conversations going on you know, among obama's advisors right now. they're not taking television ads or anything. this is basically what they're planning to do once the race gets going in earnest. >> all right. thank you very much ben smith from politico. >> thank you. coming up next, rick perry trying to steal the spotlight in iowa without stepping foot many the state. plus the country's leading mayor is here to talk about the effect on the crash on state and local governments. police in london are calling in re-enforcements as violence rages for a third straight night and is now spreading across the country. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health.

topping the headlines right now on "andrea mitchell reports," wisconsin is holding a recall election today for six republican state senators. they're fighting to keep their jobs after voting the governor's

law stripping most public employees of their collective garr bargaining rights. neighbors mobilized as are other interest groups and turnout could be high. polygamist leader warren jeffs will spend the rest of his life in prison. a texas jury has sentenced jeffs to the maximum sentence today less than a week after the 55-year-old was convicted of sexually assaulting two underage girls in what he took as wives in what his church called spiritual marriages. newly released security video from joplin, missouri, shows how powerful the tornado was that tore through the city last may. take a look at the storm ripping through the high school cafeteria. the school this fall will have to reopen in a nearby mall. more than 30 people were killed in that storm may 22nd. and after a night of worst rioting in london and the spread of unrest to birmingham and other major cities, prime minister david cameron has cut

short his vacation in tuscany and come back to order more police officers to the city streets and he addressed the rioters directly. >> you will feel the full force of the law. and in you are old enough to commit these crimes, you are old enough to face the punishments. and to these people i would say this, you are not only wrecking the lives of others, you're not only wrecking your own communities, you are potentially wrecking your own life, too. >> we go now to london. michelle, i don't think london has ever seen anything quite like this. now it's spread to birmingham and other places. this can't still be the individual case that set this off? >> reporter: you know what, this has been going on for three nights. tonight would be the fourth night. it's really disturbing at this point. for people to see these pictures you look at them and think how could this be london? what really is this?

what does this represent at this point? why is it to this extent? we talked to the mayor this afternoon, it's right. police were not prepared for this. they never expected this level of violence in so many parts of the cities. at least a dozen different flash points over the last three days. tonight it's quiet. that's a good sign. it might be. yesterday at this time there were pockets breaking out all over the city. but police and the prime minister made a big show of it today saying okay, tonight police are prepared. they're going to put 16,000 officers out on the street. supposedly that's measure were out here during the royal wedding. they're going to use plastic bullets, armed vehicles. it sounds like that could be a deterrent. there's a lot of buzzing on social media of people saying let's meet up at this time and place making some people worried. there's the frustration in this community south london, there's a century old family business that burned to the ground last night. the people that live on these blocks say the police are saying

that now, why weren't they doing those things and why weren't they prepare first-degree for the last three nights while they were kouring in their homes while 14 and 15-year-olds armed with pipes and samurai swords were literally taking over their neighborhoods. >> it's just incredible, michelle. i know that an emergency session of parliament has been scheduled. the prime minister's back. there's got to be political fallout as well. thank you so much, michelle, on duty in london. and back here at home, the s&p downgrade and the market crash puts even more pressure on congress now to come up with budget solutions. and they've got only ten weeks for that special committee to do so. so far washington hasn't done anything to inspire confidence of its ability to respond. joining me now los angeles mayor president of the u.s. conference of mayors. mr. mayor, i know there's a trickle down, a rapid trickle down because so much of the budget in california and in local communities comes from federal dollars. we're going to see a cut back

and revenues are going to be shortchanged also because as the economy slows, they're not going to get the taxes that they expected. >> there's no question about that. with the downturn in the market we know that there's going to be an effect all across the board in terms of the economy and revenues. that puts us in a very precarious position. you said it. they have ten weeks. and they have ten weeks to create jobs, to put a plan together. to put people back to work. it's not just about the deficit and the debt. that's behind us now. i think we all recognize what a disaster that's been. but they're going to have to make up. the best way to make up to the american people is to help put them back to work. we've put a plan together that can create a million jobs but incentivizing localities like ours, local governments to put up their own money to invest in

infrastructure and transportation. that effort, america fast forward requires that the government just loan us the money that we would be generating over a period of time and will pay it back. there are bond programs they could do. the simpson-bowles commission talked about the need for raising the gas tax. we've got to do things to put people back to work. they've got to get to work on that issue now. >> do you think that there'd be support? generally there's been a lot of opposition to raising the gas tax particularly out west. >> well, you know, the u.s. conference of mayors has joined the afl-cio and interesting enough the u.s. chamber of commerce in support of increasing the gas tax. but if they don't want to do that, they can do innovative financing programs. bonding, and loan programs and incentivize us to put up the money.

what we can't do is continue to diter in the way that they've done around the debt and the deficit. what we can't do is put our head in the sand and not acknowledge the fact that the economy -- the best way to give a shot in the arm to the economy is to put people back to work to pay taxes and generate the revenues that we need right now. in our cities we don't have the luxury to engage in the kind of debates that you've seen where democrats won't address entitlements and republicans won't close tax leap hols or raise some taxes on the wealthy. we can do all of that in a way that the simpson-bowles have kind of created a frame wok for. we can do it in a way that incentivizes localities to put up their own money. what we can't do is to continue to debate this without acting on the need to put people back to work. >> jon corzine said that the president should at least call the leaders back and start

working on this right now. do you think the people should be calling people back from vacation? >> without question. the idea that they would be on vacation as the economy is going into the toilet is once again the kind of political malpractice that you saw over the last few weeks. they need to get back to work to put america back to work. and they need to find a bipartisan solutions that include as i said the innovative financing programs like the transportation loan program both john mica in the house and senator boxer in the senate have agreed to expand that program to a billion dollars. there's talk of an infrastructure bank that could be funded with -- out of country profits that they could bring back on shore. there are things that we can do to put people back to work, but

we have to be committed to doing that. they should come back from vacation to get on with the business of putting people back to work. >> mayor thanks so much for joining us from l.a. and rick perry on the republican side trying to steal the thund frer the announced republican candidates competing in iowa this week for the ames straw poll. perry's campaign has leaked word that he's getting in. he'll make that clear in two appearances on saturday. first in south carolina then in new hampshire. he's going to be in iowa on sunday. clearly timed to draw attention away from the iowa straw poll saturday night. now there's reports that he's going to also speak at a fundraiser sunday in iowa. paul burka is senior executive editor of "texas monthly." you've been watching governor perry for a long time. this is very tactical what his weekend plans are given the fact that all the other candidates are in ames? >> absolutely.

it's very shrewd move. he steals the thunder from whoever wins the iowa caucuses. this is the way governor perry has operated throughout his career. he never plays by other people's rules. he plays by his own rules. he's always pretty successful at it. i think this is -- this is pretty typical. he has a veteran team. they've been together for ten years and they always have a plan. >> and what is -- what is his power base right now? people see him as a threat perhaps to michele bachmann because he comes from that wing of the party and he also has evangelical roots. within texas we know there was a divide between him and george w. bush. he was lieutenant governor. no love loss there. what is his larger base within the republican party? >> he has two power bases. one is the very conservative

group which would be represented by the tea party. but the other is the business community. now obviously governor romney has made inroads in the business community. but here in texas perry has just total support from the business community and it's a generally wealthy business community which funds him very generously. they can't do that in the same way many the federal campaign as opposed to a state campaign, but he's forming superpacs all over the place here. i think he'll be very well funded by not just by texans but largely by texans, plus people nationally as well. >> paul burka, thanks so much a veteran rick perry watcher. we're all going to be rick perry watchers in a couple of days. we're out on the campaign trail with michele bachmann. what she is saying today about that unflattering "newsweek"

cover. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc.

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hi everyone i'm tamron hall coming up on "news night", 30,000 college students have been cut off from michigan's stood stamp program in an attempt to save millions of dollars. one state official says students should get a part time job and not depend on the government. some of those students say the food stamps made all the difference in the world for them. it is today's gut check. a nationwide manhunt is underway for three siblings accused of shooting at police and robbing a bank. 11 states have up billboards warning that the siblings could be in their area. plus what one of the suspects texted to his owof tt and more away. right now congresswoman michele bachmann is in arnolds park, iowa, rounding up support for saturday cease straw poll. it is this the latest cover of "newsweek" that is getting most

of the attention today. >> come to ames, we're going to have a ball. >> campaigning in iowa michele bachmann is energetic taking aim at president obama. >> when the ratings downgrade came out last week, where was president obama? did he rush to the microphone to get confidence to the american people? he got in a helicopter, he took off for the weekend. >> those close to her say she's unphased by this week's "newsweek" cover photo captioned at the queen of rage. >> have you seen it yet? >> i have not. >> it's a close up, sort of a wild eyed photo with the headline queen of rage. >> well, we'll have to take a look at ? >> a statement "newsweek" editor said michele bachmann's intensity is galvanizing voters in iowa right now. and "newsweek's" cover captures that. >> it's a very provocative photo. she's a very provocative candidate. she is stirring a lot of intense

passions among the electorate and passions among her party and i think the cover reflects that. >> how could a woman even critics describe as attractive be made to look this bad? >> she looks blank and confused. i did think it was unfair. >> in the cover story bachmann tells "newsweek" you use the word anger, it's not anger. people are saying the country is not working. bachmann has built a fan base for her opposition to raising the debt ceiling. >> do not raise the debt ceiling. >> but she's generating excitement among evangelical voters key to winning in iowa and south carolina. by making no apology for her positions on social issues. on sunday bachmann was in an iowa church with the pastor played the video celebrating the so-called on version of a gay man joses he is now straight. >> homosexuality is an a bomb nation. >> controversial bachmann's own must reads a a list that shows a

book defending slavery. >> i don't think we have seen a candidate with sort of the views and frankly the extreme views that she holds last in national politics. >> this year is different from all other years in lots of ways. jamie is traveling with the bachmann campaign. you're at a rally. she's about to speak. she really seems to be brushing this off. people close to her seem to say her vanity is not attacked. they're annoyed, but they're not making a big deal out of it. >> that's right. the campaign says that congresswoman bachmann is not interested in getting into a conversation about the "newsweek" cover. they say she's focused on the straw poll and being successful there. and continuing the meet the voters in iowa. >> but you had some interesting details, you talked to people about the way this picture was taken. according to the bachmann

campaign this was a light check typically a contact sheet is made up oof a lot of pictures. they at "newsweek" would choose the one they think is most appropriate. you said they showed some pictures to the campaign and the campaign had other preferences and they went with this which was not part of the formal portrait? >> that's right, andrea. that's what i've learn from the campaign, the campaign had an opportunity, andrea to indicate their preference. and the photo that ran on the cover was not among the batch that the campaign sent back to "newsweek." >> well, some people are saying, clearly it was an attempt to get some buzz, which it has, but some people do believe that it is sexist. there haven't been too many male candidates portrayed this way. this issue isn't going away not anytime soon. thank you, jamie. good luck out there. we'll talk to you later. >> thank you. and what political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours?

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so which political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics.com chris cillizza joins us right now. chris -- >> yes, andrea. >> everyone is focused on iowa and you are focused on wisconsin and a good thing it is. >> i like to see what other people think. >> where people zig, you zag. >> yes. >> and he was live out there last night and now we will see what happens to the six republican state lawmakers and the word is a lot of voting today. >> absolutely, andrea. you have hit the nail on the head and we have spent hours and hours watching the protests in the wisconsin state capitol and scott walker stripped the

collective bargaining rights of unions and fast forward four months, this is what happened. democrats got recall petitions on the ballot and today, wisconsin voters are voting, and six republican state senators are up for recall. why this is important. republicans control the wisconsin state senate by three votes, and that means if democrats pick up three seats, now they are the majority party and it is a national referendum that look this is labor trying to insert itself insisting that it is relevant in political campaigns, and if they win tonight and retake the state senate, it is a big lift. frankly, a nice thing for democrats on a week they have not had all that much good news. >> and well, no good news, and nobody has had good news democrats and republicans, but labor has had a terrible year or two with all of the setbacks and the card check and all of the other items on the national agenda and yesterday i was told

that there was a frank discussion with the president and we know what frank means in nondiplomatic terms, and so things are not so well for labor and this would be a big win. >> just what we have seen over the exit polling over the last five or six polls, unions are dropping, and they put a huge, huge emphasis down in arkansas to beat blanch lincoln to win in the primary, and they lost. if they come up short, it is going to be a lot of the labor is withering on the vine stories tomorrow. >> we will see. we know you won't be withering, because you will be right here, chris cillizza. >> thank you, andrea, we will. >> and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports," and remember to follow the show online and at twitter at mitchell reports. my colleague tamron hall has "newsnation." >> and in the next hour, we are following two developing stories. back home, president obama is at

dover air force base where the president will preside over a private ceremony to honor the 30 service members killed in afghanistan over the weekend. their remains arrived a few hours ago and we will give you the latest. >> the federal reserve board will make a statement on the economy and following a policy-setting session, and the dow is going up right now, but will that change after a fed announcement? we will have more on that on "newsnation," minutes away. ♪ ♪ introducing purina one beyond a new food for your cat or dog.

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i'm tamron hall and the "newsnation" is following developing news right now. the heartbreaking homecoming for 30 u.s. troops killed in afghanistan. in 15 minutes a private dignified transfer ceremony will begin with the bodies of the 25 special ops forces and five air crewmen and eight afghan forces and one interpreter arrived at dover, delaware, this morning. the president arrived on marine one on an unannounced trip.

tom costello is there. the media is not allowed in, but tom, what can you tell us about the ceremony? >> well, the president's trip is unscheduled and an announced and he canceled a trip to ohio and arrived here and this dignified transfer procedure or ceremony gets under way in 15 or 20 minutes or so, and the president spent the next two hours here on base. we expect that the members of the military are here, and some family members may be here for the ceremony. as you mentioned, 30 american service personnel are here and among those who are, whose remains were brought back to the united states today. in addition, there were eight afghans who also were brought back and the reason for that is that the expertise that dover offers in terms of the mortuary services and identification and they want to go through the remains ofhe