is brutal. he hasn't recruited them. he hasn't spent time enough with them. hasn't made them feel as though he needs an army. there's still time for obama to build an obama party between now and next fall's general election but not much time. jack kennedy, elusive hero, comes out today. find out more at facebook.com/hardball. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. americans want jobs, so why are congressional republicans just wasting time? tonight, gop leaders find a new way not to create jobs. you won't believe what they have come up with this time. the real class warfare. republicans protect billions for ail companies but sock it to the working poor. how does that make sense? and herman cain rewrites his own

history as conservatives go ugly defending him. "politics nation" starts right now. welcome to "politics nation." i'm al sharpto% live from washington, d.c. tonight's lead, watch what they do, not what they say. here's a picture of a penny. on the top is the national motto "in god we trust." the same motto also appears on the front of the nickel. it's there on the dime. it's also on the quarter, and it's not just coins, in god we trust is on all our paper currency, too. here it is on the dollar bill. in fact, it's been on paper

money since 1957. we see it every day. but for republicans that's not enough. any moment now speaker boehner's house will push a resolution reaffirming in god we trust as the national motto. i don't even know what to say. mr. speaker, why don't you help me out? >> the american people are still asking the question, well, where are the jobs? >> good question. where are the jobs? earlier this year republicans railed against symbolic measures like this. house republicans wouldn't even vote on a resolution honoring the troops that killed osama bin laden. it was said at the time that his party wanted to focus on legislation that, quote, was substantive and meaningful. that's funny. he's fine with today's resolution. i don't find a lot of meaning in

a bill that adds zero jobs to the economy, and do you know what's worse? roll call estimates that this in god we trustç vote will cost taxpayers more than $215,000. how fiscally conservative. and as republicans waste the american people's time and money, they still attacking. >> there is nothing that has disappointed me more over the last eight weeks than to watch the president of the united states give up on the economy, give up on the american people, decide he's going to quit governing. >> quit governing? this man has quit governing? >> we're going to keep on pushing congress to get its act together, to get it done. in the meantime i'm not waiting so this past week, for example, i put forward an executive order to help families refinance their

homes. we put forward plans to help students manage their debt and their student loans. those are things that we can do that, you know, is a vision that i think the american people find appealing, and frankly, you know, we're just not getting enough help from the other side and that's what i'm going to keep on pushing. >> yes he keeps on pushing for jobs, but he's facing a united republican front that considers defeating him, not creating jobs, their number one job. now, let me be clear. i'm a minister. i believe in god, but i do not believe in the political use of god as obstruction towards the people of god. that's my personal belief. joining me now is congressman emanual cleaver, democrat from missouri, also the chairman of the democrat black caucus and richard wolffe, msnbc political analyst. thank you both for coming on the show tonight.

>> thank you. >> good to2be here with you. >> congressman, mr. chairman, let me start with you. as the republicans are doing this in god we trust, you are not only the chairman of the caucus, you pastor one of the largest churches in missouri. you and i are ministers so we're certainly not against the theme of in god we trust, but don't you think this is to distract from the real issues of the american people and to try to play to some religious right rather than deal with the substantive issues like in the american jobs act? >> this is unfortunate, reverend. i don't feel comfortable in voting on somebody else's trust. we already have in as a motto. it was voted on in 1956, put on our money in 1957. and nobody is fighting it. gandhi said action expresses priorities, so what we're saying and hearing now is that this is a priority for the united states. i don't want to question anybody's motives. all i want to say is that this

is not a priority that the public wants us to deal with, and -- and after this vote what's going to happen? i mean, tomorrow morning the dow jones is still going to be what it was going to be. the sun is still going to rise in the east. this is meaningless, and the whole issue of trust is theological, and i can get into a theological discussion. >> right. >> we don't have time, but this is unfortunate and a waste of time. >> well, i think, reverend congressman, it's time for the christian right to meet the right christians because i think this is certainly not only a waste of time, if they want to bring up affirming in god we trust, why don't they bring up how 99% of the country doesn't get enough of that currency and that 1% does. if you want to bring up currency while we are debating about how currency is -- >> what do you think these christian conservatives are going to go here? yes. there are real social issues that christians should care about around the country but

honestly i have sympathy when i hear republicans trying to reach for this kind of card, because it's really hard for republicans right now to wrap themselves in the flag. they have a president who killed the public enemy number one, got osama bin laden. pulled out of the situation in iraq and beefed up the presidency in afghanistan so the national security flag is gone. the jobs promise isn't being delivered on and maybe they don't need to deliver on it because the economy is growing at 2.5% anyway but, you know, of course they could do more on jobs, that would be nice, but they are stuck in a dynamic where they can't get the president anything so what they got. got meaningless stuff like this which the representative said nobody is questioning. i don't know where -- it's like the war on christmas. who is waging this one? >> yeah. well, they will be doing that, next affirming christmas like someone is trying to act like we're cancelling christmas. let's hear what herman cain tried to say about the president. herman cain raised whether the president used god enough in his

speeches. >> i believe it was intentional because he did it three times. two of which i know about and a friend of mine said he actually knew of a third one. now with all of his teleprompters how could you not put there in there. no, i believe it was intentional. >> now a lot of people on the right are trying to put this around the blogosphere that the president doesn't mention god and clearly they are trying to play now towards this real right wing religiousç right kind of thing which i think is unfortunate and that's why i wanted to raise it. i'm glad you're on, reverend cleaver, because clearly you and i and many christians have a firm belief, but it's based on your work. you can't use god in christianity and then turn around and vote against trying to feed the hungry and care for the outcast and clothe the

naked. your action, faith without works, is a dead thing. they need to read the bible that they quote. >> yeah. i'm so really frustrated by all of this. the amazing thing is that we're saying more and more people more religious than god. there are people who are actually making god look irreligious. i mean, after all, if you look at the times that jesus used the name god, there are very few. from time to time he used father and so forth, but the -- the fact that somebody doesn't use the word god doesn't say anything about them. god is supposed to be in our heart, and more importantly in our actions. >> well, why call me lord lord and not do what i say. i read that somewhere, and it wasn't richard wolffe that wrote it. richard, let me put this up to you. let's look at the jobs bill that the house of representatives, the republicans, have put forward, and let's see how moral they were in terms of caring for those that need help in this

country. eight aimed at deregulation, and deregulation helps big business. five aimed at oil drilling so their so-called 15 forgot jobs bills that they want the senate to pass doesn't seem to me to be caring for those that we were told that we should care for if they want to use religion asç e basis and the bible as their -- as their book of what they want to go by. >> yeah. and, look, you're a much better theologian and i thought caring for god's plan was part of it and regulating the oil industry to make sure they don't spoil the planet seems caring about the world around us, but in any case, look, we're talking about a presidential debate among republican candidates that currently is being led by a guy whose research amounts to a friend who may have heard something about a speech. where's the quality to the

debate? where's the people listening or reading the white house transcripts where the president ends every speech saying god bless the united states of america. they obviously missed the prayer breakfast and everything else. get the economy moving, get it moving for everyone because the economics are a moral issue, too. it's tearing families and communities apart. but do your homework, for pete sake. let's get out there and find people who are paying attention and watching the news. >> reverend -- >> congressman cleaver, how do we get this back on track to start talking about jobs and the things that the american people and the things that you've been pushing with the jobs, how do we get this off of distractions and back on what the american people need? >> well, i'm going to vote against this innocuous resolution tonight and hopefully two-thirds of the house will not vote for it, and -- and it would then provide us an opportunity to say to our colleagues that it's time to move to the agenda that the american people sent us here to address, and that is

jobs. there's nobody going to get a job with the passage of this resolution. in fact, we may lose four or five jobs with the cost thatç will be incurred from doing this. and one of the things that has to happen, the american public must become articulate in demanding that congress move toward jobs. i don't think that we need to waste another day. every time i go home, every weekend, i run into people who are jobless, and they would like for us to take some action, and would i rather stay here all week every week until we do it, but we've got to get people back to work or it's going to do immeasurable damage to the spirit of america. >> congressman cleaver and richard wolffe, thanks for coming on the show tonight. and let me say i want to be real clear, that we are not at all anti-god. i'm a firm believer in god. i'm a firm believer in my faith and my denomination which is why

i resent people playing with it and using it for political means. i resent people to tell their children to say their bless on food that is not going to be on the table because daddy and mommy cannot work. i resent people that hold up a bible but won't read the part that says how can you love god whom you've never seen by hate your brother and sister who you see every day? any night you want, mr. cain, we can sing "amazing grace" together but then we ought to come out and be graceful. ahead, rush limbaugh comes to herman cain's defense, and he resorted to an appalling way to do it. >> what's next, folks? a cartoon on msnbc showing herman cain with huge lips eating a watermelon? what are they going to do next? >> you better believe i'm responding. plus, theç political world sti

buzzing about rick perry's speech heard round the world. we bring you outtakes. and the effort to roll back the gop is in full swing. the fight against voter suppression grows. you're watching "politics nation" live from washington, d.c. stay with us. ♪ ♪ ♪ when your chain of supply ♪ goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there ♪ ♪ track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that ♪ hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪

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folks, day two of herman cain's campaign for damage control has not gone much better than the first day. today he's blaming liberals and making clarence thomas comparisons. smart. the latest ahead. ♪

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welcome back to "politics nation." today even more evidence of the gop's class warfare. remember paul ryan's speech last week when he had the nerve to attack president obama for being divisive. >> hope and optimism that were the hallmarks to his first campaign. he has launched his second campaign by preying on the emotions of fear, envy and resentment. sowing social unrest and class resentment makes america weaker, not stronger. it's disappointing that this president's actions have exacerbated this form of class warfare in so many ways.

>> it amazed me that republicans can say things like that and practically the same breath they vote against jobs for teachers and fire fighters. now they have turned their attention to a new target which they claim is one of the biggest drains on the budget. it's not subsidies for big oil, it's also not tax cuts for the wealthy. it's food stamps. >> no program in our government has surged out of control more dramatically than food stamps, and nothing is being done about it. we cannot do this. we don't have the money. >> going after food stamps? more than 40 million americans relied on the program to feed their families last year. a number which has increased because of the recession, and while the gop is bravely protecting the richest 1% from class warfare, a group of democratic lawmakers has

accepted a challenge to try to live off the same grocery budget food stamp recipients do. that's a little over $30 a week. joining me now is one of those lawmakers, representative marcia fudge works will start the food stamp challenge next monday. thanks for being on the show, congresswoman. >> thank you, reverend al. it's a pleasure to be here. first of all, tell me what do you hope to achieve by the campaign of going on a $30 a week food budget starting monday. >> well, the main thing that i and my other colleagues want to achieve is just make people understand the increasing incidence of poverty throughout this country. i'm going for one week do everything people do every day. 45 million americans are on food stamps every day, and when you take the $31.50 a week per person that they receive, that's $1.50 a meal. reverend, no one can live on that and not be healthy.

i mean, we as a nation are talking about we can't afford food stamps when we are cutting things that most people feel we can live without veryç easily t we have to feed the hungry people, especially the children. more than half the people on food stamps today are children, reverend al. what did the children ever do to people? i just don't understand. >> it's amazing, and these are the people that are investigate on in god we trust as we speak. look at this graph here. this is what is so outrageous to me. when you look at the oil subsidies versus the food stamp cuts, oil subsidies, $4 billion a year. paul ryan proposes to cut food stamps for 12.7 billion a year. i mean, it is amazing to me they want to subsidize oil billionaires and give tax breaks, 4 billion, and then cut

from poor children 12.7. >> that's right. and they have already been doing it, reverend al, quite frankly. they have already used food stamp dollars as offsets to other things that they want to do so what we're doing right now is trying to say to them enough is enough. we're not going to allow the super committee to cut food stamps any further and won't allow the farm bill to be reauthorized and cud food stamps. they would rather take the food stamp money and way for wic or black farmers or teachers and fire fighters. they do not understand the gravity of the situation in the country. >> and the gravity, let me point out, congresswoman fudge, one in eight americans. >> that's right. >> are getting food stamps. we just showed the graph. one in eight americans are getting food stamps. you're talking about a lot of people. when you look at this graph, one in four of those getting them are children, like you're saying. >> that's right. >> innocent children. then when you look at factç th in august 45.8 million americans

filed for food stamps, 45.8 million americans filed for food stamps, we're looking at american people and shutting down $1.50 a meal while we're saying don't give tax cuts for the rich. don't bring them back to the taxes they used to pay and give all kind of tax breaks to oil billion airs. if that's not immoral, i don't know what it is. >> well, it goes back to what you were saying, reverend al. that's the real class warfare here, to let the poor continue to be poor or to become poorer, and let the wealthy continue to -- to increase their wealth. that's the real class warfare here. it's not in government who are trying to take here of the people who we believe are the most needy and most vulnerable people in our community. it's them trying to make sure at all costs the wealthiest people in this nation continue to be wealthy. that's the real class warfare. >> while i have you here, congresswoman fudge, you have a big vote going on in hoe home.

election day is next tuesday and there's voting on. >> yes. >> i joined you a few nights ago. how is that looking, and what can you tell the country because a lot of what happens in ohio is going to have a lot of national ramifications. >> thank you for asking, reverend al. it's going extremely well. we are going to win. we are going to defeat, absolutely defeat issue two, and we're going to set the bar for the rest of the united states to say, look, if ohio can do it, you can do it, too. we don't have to take it. we are the people, and it is a government for the people, by the people, and we are the people, and we're going to make sure that our governor and the people in the state of ohio can no longer dictate to us how we should live and how we should work. >> and for people thatç didn't watch the show last night, issue two is around collective bargaining and unions, and we're dealing with that in ohio and then also going to have to deal with voter i.d. >> right. >> thank you, congresswoman marcia fudge, and keep on

fighting and thank you and your colleagues for dramatizing this egregious, egregious proposal. >> thank you. >> thank you for being with us tonight. >> my pleasure. >> ahead, conservatives are rallying around herman cain and playing ugly. >> that's why our blacks are so much better than their blacks. >> the latest on the right wing effort to rescue herman cain. plus, kim kardashian and the republican candidates. yes, there's a connection. i'll explain coming up.

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[ woman ] wow. that's amazing.

>> i mean, come on. live free or die. that's like live free or die. victory or death. bring it. >> that was one of the many highlights from the new hampshire speech rick perry gave that everyone is still talking about. clips of the speech have gone viral, racking up more than 500,000 hits on youtube. we showed you some of it yesterday but didn't have time to fit in all our favorite outtakes. so here's more rick perry. >> way before this other project came along, we had agreed to come up here, and i said you think there will be snow? i can't stand here in front of this crowd and not just, you

know, love on you a little bit. declared that our rights were endowed by our creator, and among thoseç were life, i lovet that they start with that one. my plan is pretty simple. it does deductions for the mortgage, deduction for charitable, yeah, you can keep that in there, and you can wave good-bye to the capital gains tax. i always have fun with your name. >> now, you would think perry would want to run as far as he could from that performance. think again. here's what he said about it today. >> i guess you can do anything you want with a video and make it look any way you want, but i felt good, felt great. i think the mess average got across very well, so it was a good speech. >> governor, you think the mess age got across well?

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ladies and gentlemen, there has been medical miracle made, a medical miracle made. herman cain has overcome his amnesia. yesterday morning, yesterday morning he was denying all reports that he sexually harassed two workers during his time as president of the national restaurant association back in the '90s. >> if the restaurant association did a settlement, i am not -- i wasn't even aware of it and i hope it wasn't for much but nothing happened, so if there was a settlement it was handled by some of the other officers that worked for me at the

associations. >> he was singing the same song just two hours later at the national press club luncheon. >> i am unaware of any sort of settlement. i hope it wasn't for much because i didn't do anything, but the fact of the matter is i'm not aware of a settlement that came out of that accusation. >> but miracle of miracles, somewhere between the national press club and the fox news studio in washington he gotç h memory back. >> yes, there was some sort of settlement for termination. we ended up settling what would have been a termination settlement quite frankly. >> any idea about what she was making a year? >> 45,000 to $50,000 a year maybe. >> did you ever see the settlement agreement with her. >> no. >> you didn't sign it? >> i don't recall signing it. the fact that i say i don't recall signing it doesn't mean that i didn't sign it, but i simply don't recall if i signed

it. >> okay. he didn't totally recover his memory, but after a good night's sleep he remembered even more today. >> the word settlement was in the political article, i remember an agreement and in many companies and organizations call separation agreements. you don't call them separation settlements so this is why later the idea of the agreement did come back to memory. after 12 hours during the day, many events, many interviews, i was able to gradually recall more and more details about what happened 12 years ago. >> that explains it. he needed a few hours to jump start his memory. look, we don't know exactly what happened. we do know herman cain is failing in damage control, but conservatives are making this a different issue. joining me now msnbc contributor melissa harris perry, a

professor of political science at tulane and a columnist for "the nation" and john that incapehart, editorial writer for "washington post" and an msnbc contributor. melissa, youç saw the tape and let me say this, again, you and i have agreed that we don't know what happened. we're not accusing him. >> right. >> but it's this inconsistency of reaction, and let's remember, melissa, they were given ten days to respond to politico, not 12 hours, and they never came up with a consistent response, so i think that is what's troubling is with a ten-day notice and then after those ten days you still get different answers at different hours, it just doesn't fit right. >> there are a lot of troubling aspects of this, and as you and i were talking about on the radio earlier today, it's certainly truly we do not have

enough facts of this case to adjudicate whether or not an act of sexual harassment occurred. as you know, the women have not been able to come forward apparently as a result of the way that this settlement agreement was structured, so we have not heard fully their side of the story, but, you know, i was thinking back again to the fact that this was 12 years ago, and we just celebrated or just marked the 20th anniversary of the anita hill testimony at the clarence thomas senate nomination, senate confirmation hearings for the supreme court, which means that this was less than a decade after that, and employers were very kind of sensitized to the question of sexual harassment in the workplace. it had become much more of an issue after those hill/thomas hearings, and so the idea that someone could have faced an accusation, one that then led to a financial settlement or a severance of employees and have no memory of it, i'm realizing, you know, again just today as i've been thinking about it over the past 12 hours, just how surprising that is for him toç

say that he just doesn't remember that. >> well, jonathan, your paper this afternoon, let me show you a statement that joel bennett, attorney for a woman who accused herman cain of sexual harassment, said to your paper, quote, if we didn't have a written settlement agreement that says confidential and disparagement, i think she'd be very comfortable coming forward. well, do you think that the political media is going to ask mr. cain to then waive that and let her come forward and put this to bed? >> you better believe it. i think some have already called on him to do that, and in that same story that's on the web right now, the lawyer says that there's some question as to whether because of the remarks made by herman cain on this issue, particularly when, you know, he recovered that part of his memory, whether he had already waived the confidentiality agreement by

some of the comments that he's made, but that's -- that's a legal question that has to be answered later on. you know, rev, there's something to keep in mind here. it's not that politico asked herman cain and his campaign the question ten days ago and left it at that. they approached that campaign on october 20th, october 24th, october 26th and then jonathan martin, the person who wrote the story, went up to herman cain on sunday, october 30th, and asked him point blank after those three other attempts got no answers whatsoever from -- from the media organizations, so herman cain to say after 12 hours of being able to sleep and recall, you know, recover my memory, that's a load of bunk. >> well, i mean, i think you -- you don't understand, jonathan. let me help you out. >> oh, please. >> and melissa, the problem was -- an coulter cleared it up. the problem is he's just a different grade of candidate.

look at how ann coulter explained it. >> our blacks are so much better than their blacks. we have very impressive blacks in our party. white woman in scarsdale said i didn't like that you called me honey. this isn't dropping your pants and say kiss it, an outrageous attack on a black conservative who is doing extremely well and will be our vice presidential candidate. >> i'm missing something here. how did race come in this, melissa? >> i want to know whose black you are, reverend al. i -- i'm not owned by either side. if she's talking about who owns a black, i'm not one of those, and it's interesting to me is mr. cain saying that he's owned by coulter and that crowd because she says our against their -- i don't fit in either category. i wonder if she has some ownership papers on mr. cain. he said that the rest of us were

brainwashed. it's very interesting. >> i don't know. it really was distressing to hear this -- just the possessive, you know, pronounce, our blacks and their blacks. that alone is indicative of sort of where at least this one republican pundit is on the question of sort of, you know, the freedom of african-americans in this country, but listen, there's no way that race isn't going to be part of this so i think it's actually okay and we should take a deep breath on this. i don't think this is happening because herman cain is african-american. this is happening because herman cain is an extremely unlikely ç front-running candidate who part -- part of what's so surprising, so surprising he's a front-runner he wasn't quite prepared to deal with this so any front-runner is going to have this. >> right. >> but that said, it doesn't mean that race won't inflict this,conversation, that it won't be some part of it. we're not allowed to just talk about race when it happens on one side. it clearly is going to be some part of this conversation as well, but the notion that has a

high-tech lynching is an obscene idea. >> i'm glad you brought that up because no greater defender of racial harmony rush limbaugh also brought in race today, jonathan. let me show you what he said. >> oh, boy. >> what's next, folks? a cartoon on msnbc showing herman cain with huge lips eating a watermelon, what are they going to do next? the racial stereotypes that these people are use to go after herman kairngs what is the one thing that it tells us? it tells -- well, it tells us who the real racists are, yeah. but it tells us that herman cain is somebody, can't you see? we cannot have a black republican running for the office of president. we can't have one elect the. we can't have an hispanic. the left owns those two groups. >> now aside from the fact that mr. limbaugh is the one that has done things against president obama with songs like "proper

negro" and all these other things and he has this imaginary msnbc story when we have real racial derogatory references that he's made and of others on the right about the president, i don't think the left is the one that filed these lawsuits that we are talking about the fact, that there were lawsuits and settlements, we're not talking about somebody made an accusation. >> right. >> there were lawsuits and settlements here. >> right. reverend al, this is not a vast left wing conspiracy to bring down herman cain. what this is a self-inflicted wound by herman cain and his campaign to not answer questions put to them now 12, 13 days ago. you know, the thing that galls me about rush limbaugh and ann coulter suddenly showing concern about all this is like why is all of a sudden this concern

y'all after years of stereotyping and derision and putting down african-americans and people of color? why suddenly are you rallying around the defense of this one man? you know, this guy is in trouble because he got himself in trouble, whether he did what he did back in the late '90s. that's -- you know, we'll find out what happened or hopefully we will as more information comes out, but the trouble herman cain finds himself in today has nothing to do with the left, has nothing to do with african-americans who don't like -- like the fact that herman cain is a conservative. it has everything to do with the fact that herman cain, front-runner for the republican presidential nomination, didn't expect to be here and is not prepared for the media spotlight he's under. we've seen the changing of his answers from, you know, abortion, to the border fence, to a whole lot of other things, and we're seeing the same pattern now with this. >> and i think that we've got to have one standard. i defend mr. cain having the

same standard i say of anybody else. he's innocent until proven guilty, but you don't give inconsistent answers, and we don't call you on that, and iç still say that and professor perry said that today. we will defend that he be treated the same way. >> sure. >> but don't tell us to defend inconsistencies and don't tell people that you own them, miss coulter. you're not helping them. >> can i just say, reverend al, i want to go on the record right now as someone who works at least part-time for msnbc i enthusiastically with a certain kind of glee that goes from my toes to my ears would love herman cain to be the republican nominee for the u.s. presidency. >> good. i want every republican out there to vote for herman cain. i don't think there would be a better match than cain versus president obama. >> i would love it. >> we don't want to bring him down. >> that would be a great race. >> that would be fabulous. >> jonathan capehart, thanks for

your time tonight. >> ahead, voter suppression is happening right now in america, but new signs today show democrats are fighting back, and it was fun while it lasted. kim kardashian's marriage over in 72 days. but what can republicans learn from it? stay with us. [ male announcer ] this is lara.

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the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? woah! [ giggles ] the fight against republican efforts to suppress the vote is on and gaining momentum. and we have been reporting on this. 14 states now have photo i.d. laws on the books. democratic law enforcement john conyers and jerrold nadler are calling for congressionalç hearings to investigate this wave of new laws. democrats in tennessee are pushing back, too, announcing efforts to educate voters there. next week mississippi will vote on a ballot initiative that could make them the 15th state to enact a voter i.d. law. also on the front lines wisconsin. the league of women voters is suing to stop the voter i.d. law

passed by governor scott walker and his republicans. filing a lawsuit to block the law, hoping to overturn it before it goes into effect next year. joining me now is andrea kaminsky, executive director of the league of women voters in wisconsin. thanks for joining me today. >> happy to be here. >> why did you think it was important to fight back against this law, andrea? >> well, the league of women voters for 91 years has believed that voting is a fundamental citizen right that must be guaranteed. it's a core issue and this violates that principle. >> now the league of women voteers is non-partisan, but let me just show the american public the partisan, not partisan but the political reality. if you look at this graph,

president obama in 2008 won wisconsin by 414,818 votes to be exact. with this voter i.d. law, according to one study, this is the -- they would affect 475,000 peopleç of voting age who don' have proper i.d., so you're actually talking about a margin of victory that could be impacted politically next year if these voter i.d. laws go into effect. i know that's not the league's motive, but i want people to understand this is no just casual matter. we're talking about what could really be a deciding factor in a presidential election in the state. >> that's correct, and -- and every vote counts and we know that -- that this law has a

greater -- places a greater burden on some groups of people than others. the league's position on this goes back way before the current political polarization, but we do see in wisconsin that every vote counts. >> now the thing that i think is most disturbing to me and many of our colleagues in the voting rights and civil rights community is when you look at the voter fraud in wisconsin, according to the probe of 2004 fraud allegations. there were 26 confirmed cases out of nearly 3 million votes cast, 26, 3 million people voting in 2004. 26 cases are the only confirmed allegations, so, i mean, we're not talking about a problem here. we're talking about there's something else here going on because clearly you're not talking about something that's a widespread problem and you're going to affect hundreds of

thousands of people. >> that's correct. >> thank you, andrea. i'm going to have to go. go ahead. finish your statement. >> those 26ç cases were not cas where the voter i.d. law would make any difference. they were cases of felons who were voting who should not have been voting. they could have had i.d. i.d. wasn't required then. voter i.d. only prevents actual voter impersonation. we don't have a single case of that. >> all right. thank you so much. we're out of time, but we will have you back. thank you. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] cranberry juice? wake up!

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we end the show tonight by talking about kim kardashian. forç the first and probably th last time. she married kris humphries back in august, and they just announced their divorce. the marriage lasted only 72

days, and they got a rough reception on the morning shows. >> the marriage lasted just 72 days. 13 less than the engagement. >> she was reportedly sick of his partying and mooching. he called her materialistic. >> raise your hand if you think this may, may have been part of some kind of reality tv publicity stunt. >> but the kardashian news got us thinking about some other relationships that didn't last very long. for example, iowa's love affair with michele bachmann. she won the gop straw poll in mid-august, but by early october, she had fallen to fourth place in the state. that courtship lasted just 59 days. rick perry was the next republican to walk up the aisle. he surged to number one in the national polls by late august, but he fell from grace in just over a month. the gop's love affair with rick perry lasted just 35 days, and then