if i wing the lottery, it's going to be purchased. that and whole lot of fishing tackle. that's "the ed show." "the rachel maddow show" is up next. my birthday is this weekend. i got my present early from sue san. it's flies from 1930. >> there you go. >> mosquito flies to get me ready for fishing season. >> it's the hook that counts. keep those flies tight. >> have a great weekend. >> thanks so you at home for stays with us for the next hour. the city of new york has a population of about eight million people. quick math. if one in eight people were going the turn out to hear the president speak because he was visiting new york city, that would mean one million new york city residents turning out for a president obama rally. a million people.

new york city is a pretty democratic place. capital d democratic place but a million new yorkers are not going to turn out to hear anybody. that is the equivalent of what happened to the in the beautiful city of burling tton, vermont. the total number of people is about 40,000. the total number that turned out is 5,000. about one in eight people were at this rally. this was not a free, come on down thing. general admission tickets were $100. the reduced price aimed at younger supporters was $44. with a $44 minimum ticket price they turned out roughly one out of every eight people in the city. now, obviously, vermont is the opposite of a battleground state. after the president spoke in vermont today he went onto speak

in maine which is slightly more of a battleground state but not a battleground state. running for president, running for re-election means not just winning over purple states that might be undecided about you but also raising money from and speaking to an and energizing what they call the base. the people that already support you but from whom you would like more. more enthusiasm, more donations, more volunteers to work your honor campaign. when a candidate is speaking to his most enthusiastic supporters, when a candidate on either side is speaking to his or her base, the energy is important. you can see it operating in both directions. it's a two way street. you can see the way the candidate not only boosts his supporters and excites them very much by being there but his supporters boost him. >> today gm is back on top as the world's number one automaker, reported the highest profits in a hundred years. the american autoindustry is back and it's making cars that

are more fuel efficient so that's helping the environment even as we're putting people to work. yes, change is the health care reform that we passed after over a century of trying. already, americans can't be denied or dropped by their insurance companies when they need care the most. already, they're getting preventative care that they didn't have before. that's happening right now. change is the fact that for the first time in nine years there are no americans fighting in iraq. >> president obama, today, very much feeling it in campaigning in vermont and maine. you can see the president energized by what he's saying and by the very enthusiastic response from that crowd. here is what's the most under

reported 2012 story of this week. the biggest and, i think, most political move by any of the candidates. it got no coverage at all which surprises me given how much attention this has received. on wednesday this week president obama released there video. it's a video recorded at the white house in which he specifically addresses supporters of planned parenthood. yes, it's interesting that president obama is addressing planned parenthood supporters specifically. it's not just the fact that he did this, it's what he said in this video that i think is really newsworthy. i can't believe this didn't get more attention this week. >> over the past year you've had to stand up to politician who is wanted to deny millions of women the care they rely on and inject themselves into decisions that are best made between a woman and her doctor. let's be clear here, women are not an interest group. their mothers and daughters and sisters and wives. they're half of this country and

they're perfectly capable of making choices. when some politicians say they will get rid of planned parenthood, don't forget whair talking about, e limb flating the funding for care that millions of women rely on and leaving thoem fends for themselves. that's why last year when republicans in congress threatened to shut down the government unless we stopped fund planned parenthood, i had a simple answer. no. we must continue to send the message loud and clear. fp you truly value families you shouldn't play politics with a woman's health. that's why i know planned parenthood will continue providing care no matter what. as long as i have the privilege of being your president, neither will i. >> as much attention as this issue about planned parenthood

and reproductive right, i'm amazed that statement from the president to planned parenthood supporters did not get blanket coverage. in any case, as democrats have supported legal abortion and contraception acts and women's health in the past as they have supported those thing frs a long time, democrats have been shy about campaigning on that. as you can see from the president's remarks, they are not shy about it anymore when republicans put them front and center into 2012 politics. the president taking advantage of what the republicans have done there. we are starting to see the contours of the barack obama re-election campaign. you see it in the way they are going after republicans for what is seen as the republican agenda. you see it in the way that president obama is very enthusiastically engaging with his most enthusiastic supporters. this is the way the president will run for re-election. we're also seeing a little bit

of how mitt romney, the likely republican nominee is going to run against president obama. we'll have a bit more on that later in the show. of course before mr. romney can fully skbrump a general election against the president, he has to dispatch his rival frs the republican nomination. at this point in the campaign that means mitt romney has to be showing that he's consolidating his lead, showing he is locking up the republican establishment. pretty much every single day that means that mitt romney rolls out a high profile republican establishment endorsement. last week it was jeb bush. this week it was republican senators mike lee and marco rubio and former president george h.w bush. getting endorsements like that, having high profile surrogates, if mr. romney that's been a double edged sword this year. on or staff and our blog we talk

about this as mitt romney's surrogate problem. right around the time of michigan primary you may remember mr. romney picked up the endorsement of fred upton. how did he express his enthusiasm, he told the michigan press how wrong he was on the auto bailout on one of the biggest issues in his state. how does mr. heck express his enthusiasm. he informed the nevada press core that mr. romney was dead wrong on the biggest issue in his state, housing. how does randy pullen express his enthusiasm. he said my guy has a hard time connecting with people. yes, sir. you're not helping. former republican governor jon huntsman of utah drops out

himself. how does he express his enthusiasm. >> gone are the days when the republican party used to put forward big bold visionary stuff. we're going to have problems politically until we get some sort of third party movement or some alternative voice out there that can put forward new ideas. >> by the way, vote for mitt in the meantime until we get the third party we need because the republicans are such days aster. mitt romney got the endorsement of tom davis of virginia. how does congressman davis put into words his undried led enthusiasm. >> he may not be mr. personality. he gives the fire side chat and the fire goes out. >> with friend like those. this week mr. romney got the endorsement of marco rubio.

how does he express his enthusiasm for mr. romney? he told a son servetive media outlet, there's a lot of other people throughout that some of us wish had run for president, but they didn't. so, i guess vote for mitt. yesterday mitt romney received the endorsement of george h.w. bush. how did barbara bush express her enthusiasm. ? >> i think the worst campaign i've ever seen in my life. >> for those you have keeping track of the bush's there year, mitt romney has the endorsement of george h.w. bush, barbara bush and jeb bush yr. all of that raises the question of the other notable bush son. >> george w bush been here and

have you sought his endorsement? >> i have haven't met with him. we speak from time to time. >> we got to get out of here. >> now you see why. >> you speak all the time. >> has he endorsed you yet? >> no. >> not helping. nobody wants to talk about george w. bush. this is not helping the reporters are still there. don't ever talk about that again. nobody knows how hard it will for a republican to beat this president. beating a sitting president is never easy. this is sort of par for the course what mitt romney is dealing with when it comes to his supporters. does he have to worry about a battle with not just the sitting democratic but with his own

flank? does he have to worry about the litany of talking points from people he's presented as his own team? this does not seem to be a normal problem that should face a front-runner for republican nomination. i don't know if it's normal. it doesn't seem normal to me. joining us is a guy that knows if this is a normal problem to have. it's steve schmidt. thanks for being here. >> great. good to be with you. >> when you line up all the different off message things that mitt romney's endorsers have said, often very close to the time that they were getting press attention for endorsing him, when you line them up next to each other, it seems like a problem. am i making a problem where there isn't one? does this happen all the time? >> you're kientds nd of making

problem where there isn't one. this is a good week. they are coming to acceptance that he's going to be be the no, ma'am nominee. he's in the final stages of wrapping this up. it's been a long contest, hard contest that drained the support levels in the middle of the electorate. we're starting to get into that transition part of the race. all in all pit's been a good week. >> it's been interesting to watch former first lady bush, former president bush, the senior, jeb bush and also jeb bush's son for that matter endorsing romney raising the question whether there be an endorsement made. that was made by explicit in the photo op. how much does the question of the george bush endorsement loom

at this point? >> i think it's in a republican primary. president bush is regarded and thought of. won't be a factor in the general election. the record that's going to be front and center in this election is not president bush, it's president obama's. if he endorses in the republican primary it's helpful to mitt romney. i suspect as mitt romney gets to the next stage of closeness to wrapping this up, you'll see president george w. bush weigh in as well. that will be a good day for mitt romney. >> you think that wouldn't have a downside. seemingly try to pivot to president obama on foreign policy. it seems a huge liability for mr. romney that he's got as all of his foreign policy advisers all of these george w bush foreign policy add vvise sers.

you think it wouldn't have a negive effect? >> they have come up one to one even in favorable to unfavrable. he's been out of public eye for four years. people rise in esteem as time passes as they are out of office. it's a period of history that he served in with a lot of division in the country. elections are always about the future and not the past. i don't think we're going to have an argument about the term of the 43rd president. i think the argument will be around the term of the 44th president. i don't think it's going to be a big deal in the political calculus of this election. >> you can talk me into a lot of things about the republican way of looking at politics, but the idea it will be a good day when george w bush endorses mitt romney, i finally found the thing that we're living in totally opposite universes and

can't see the same facts. will you come back the day that happens and we can talk about it? >> absolutely. it will happen. it will be a good day. >> it will be one of those days when we realize there are two different americas and two different ways of seeing these things. thanks for your time. appreciate it. the wisconsin primary is coming up fast in the republican race and there's a lot the republican candidates should understand from the way that wisconsin governor scott walker has decided to govern and the way wisconsin has reacted to it. coming up for the first time ever on this program, news from k.i.s.s., the band. that should make the five of you really happy. please stay with us. [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now.

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federal court ruled to the that parts of the union busting bill that turned wisconsin inside out and led to a recall effort against republican senators and scott walker, parts of that bill was ruled unconstitutional. the federal court ruling strikes down parts of the wisconsin law. it argued that some union rights governor walker stripped be restored by may 31st. the election board voted to make it official, that governor scott walker will fall a recall election in wisconsin along with governor's recall, the wisconsin election board ordered recall elections for the state's

republican lieutenant governor and for four republican senators. in wisconsin, republicans have already lost majority control of the state senate in part because of the first round of elections held last summer in which two republicans were ousted. before their decision to strip union rights republicans had a big majority in the wisconsin state senate. thanks to those recalls and the resignation of another senator facing a recall, wisconsin senate is tied. they have split control between republicans and democrats. there's not a majority leader, there are co-leaders. with four more recalls to come in wisconsin, republicans might lose more seats in the senate they may lose the lieutenant governor and the governor. this is the red hot political context for the presidential campaign happening. it's thought of as the most important of tuesday's contest. in part because it's rick

santorum's last chance to make a convincing argument for his campaign to continue. competing in wisconsin means competing in state where republican ideas are being received in the streets like this. do the republican presidential candidates see the ballot of scott walker as a cautionary tale. are they treading lightly on the issue of stripping people's unions right? are they keeping their distance from the guy poised to be the first recalled governor and only the third governor recalled from office in american history? no. the republican candidates are not doing that. rick santorum give a special scott walker shout out every time he speaks a loud in wisconsin. >> joined with another courageous governor we follow scott walker's lead. stand up and fight for freedom. you did it with scott walker. you have to stand up and fight hard to make sure that governor walker is reelect pd p.

>> when he says reelected, what he means is fight hard to make sure governor walker is recalled before he's allowed to finish his first term in office. it's not quite the same thing. mitt romney isn't about to let rick santorum walk out on that limb all by himself. mr. romney talking to wisconsin supporters made sure to throw his support behind governor recall as well calling mr. walker excellent. he called him an excellent governor. mitt romney is planning a trip this weekend to a don't recall scott walker campaign call center. rick santorum telling a supporter he may try to do that too. why that might sound like a fun time or a political necessity, think about what this means down the road. a brand new nbc marist poll shows president obama beating mitt romney by 17 points in wisconsin. it shows the president beating

rick santorum in wisconsin by 13 points. now, at this point in the campaign, rick santorum losing by less to president obama might be important to republicans deciding between these two guys in the primary. if the best case scenario for the republicans is losing the general election by 13 points, if that's the best case scena o scenario, the big picture for republicans in t state looks bad. the republican scott walker is facing a historic recall election this year is not just because some of his political opponents don't like the cut of his jib. it's because tons of wisconsin voters are out raged by what walker was done in governor. they needed to elect more than half a million signatures in order to trigger the recall election. they turned in nearly twice that number. they turned in more than 930,000 signatures. after a lot of fussing about fact checking and due diligence, after they launched a special

website where people could report recall petition fraud which they were sure existed, after much republican consternation that those numbers couldn't be real, there could not be possibly more than 900,000 people in wisconsin who want to throw scott walker out out of office. after all of that it turned out that, yeah, more than 900,000 people want to throw scott walker out of office. only about 3% of the signatures that they turned in were thrown out. only a handful of names were thrown out because they were fraudulent names which republicans promised there would be a ton of. it was less than a handful. a grand total of four signatures of more than 930,000 were thrown out one name that was thrown out was the name i love scott walker, thanks. that turned out not to be a real person. first they thought they had five fake names. they thought a they had aldolf

hitter, donald duck and i love scott walker, thanks. they thought they had five fake names. turn it turned out they fungky was four names. he got an apology from the election's board. we're sorry we thought you were fake. no matter who wins the republican primary in wisconsin on tuesday, that presidential primary, come november, all of wisconsin will know that whoever the republican nominee is for president, that republican was a scott walker guy and in wisconsin in 2012, that's not good. the next big sound. they sound awesome tonight. and when i do find it, i share it with the world. you landed the u.s. tour ? done. this is fantastic ! music is my life and i want to make the most of it

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wall street journal posted a big investigating page one story yesterday morning by what appeals to be a tax sherlt set up by bain capital. basically, the story raises questions about whether bain capital came up with a way for its employees to benefit from them devaluing assets in order to avoid paying taxes on them. in this election year it raises questions about whether mitt romney, the former head of bain capital to do advantage of said tax practices. obama called on mitt romney to release his tax returns dating back to the '80s. he's released two years of tax returns. that's in contrast with his own father who released many more

years of his taxes when he ran for president. the romney campaign said it's outraged by the obama campaign's latest request for mr. romney's taxes. here is how the romney campaign responded in particular. i think this is strange. this was their response to the obama campaign asking for mitt romney's tax returns. this what that romney campaign said. obama should release, obama should release the notes and transcripts of all his meetings with world leaders so the american people can be satisfied that he's not promising to sell out the country's interests after the election is over. in what universe is the response spo release your tax returns, the statement that the president should release notes and transcripts. why would you think it would be a good idea to do that. why do you think that would be good for the country? why would you bring that up? what's the connection? right. this is the new mitt romney

campaign thing now. your mission is simplg, win one last election to gain unchecked flexibility, weaken our defenses and transform the world. dmitrir will transmit the information. >> starring barack obama as president flexible. >> that's the new ad from karl rove's dark money group. he says in his dealings with the kremlin as in his dealings with the rest of the world president obama has demonstrated breathtaking weakness. here is the reason why the republican vs these new talking points. the romney campaign is thinking this is their new thing. this is their new approach against president obama. economy thing maybe not working out so they are resetting the romney campaign as a foreign policy campaign. whether or not you are fan of president obama's approach to

foreign policy, here is the hiccup for the romney campaign with this new approach. they can't just say, president obama is wrong on foreign policy. they have to also make it seem like mitt romney would be better and b that's hard to do when your mitt romney. >> i also think we have learned that our troops shouldn't go off and fight a war of indy pen dense for another nation. >> this is an afgani. this is an afghan. okay. money is afgani. afghan is person. it's not as bad as when rick santorum called the people of afghanistan, afghanstanis. >> than the iraqis and

afghanstnais. >> mitt romney calling the afghan people as if you would call the american people dollars. it's not as bad, but it's not good. the words are very similar, come on. mitt romney is running for president. more than ten years in a war. pretend to care about that enough to get it right at a debate if you're running for president or correct it when you get it wrong. mitt romney says it over and over again. whether or not he memoryizes his flash cards, he has a larger problem in trying to run a foreign base campaign. he does not have appear to have a foreign policy. here was mr. romney last april arguing against troop withdrawals in afghanistan. >> we witnessed a weakening of our military and a decline of our standing in the world. president obama's troop

withdrawals in iraq and afghanistan were quite apparently based upon electoral expediency, not military requirement. >> against troop withdrawals in afghanistan and iraq. here he is for them in june. >> it's time to bring troops home as soon as we can. mitt romney on a timetable for exiting the iraq war in 2007. >> do you believe there should be a timetable in withdrawing the troops? >> there's tho question but the president and prime minister have to have a series of timetables and milestones that they speak out. those shouldn't be for public pronouncement. >> they have to have a set of timetables. this is what he said in 2008. >> i do not support and have never support a time withdrawal. i've never talked about a timed withdrawal with a date certain for us to leave.

that's not the case. simply wrong. >> actually, simply, totally correct. you have to idea what your own policy is, do you? when it comes to libya, whatever you think was the right thing to do, trying to figure out what mitt romney has done, has baffled anybody that has tried. abc news did some great reporting in october of last year because last march he said he supported military action and in april he fled down a hallway to avoid answering reporters questions about libya saying i've got a lot of position ons a lot of topics but walking down the hall isn't the best place to describe those. in april he accused the obama administration of mission creep and mission muddle. he once it was successful, he said he was pleased with how it's gone. laid out step by step by abc, the respoens from the romney campaign, remember the guy who said the etch a sketch thing. this is what he said about mr. romney on libya.

he said mitt romney has responded to the situation in libya as it has developed going to it's the president who has been unclear what his intention was with respect to our military's involvement in libya. whether or not you agree with president obama on foreign policy and i think that most americans find his foreign policy uncontroversial, it's hard to imagine that mitt romney will portray himself as the guy that makes more sense on foreign policy. if this is the new romney campaign plan, this is awkward timing for them to relaunch their campaign around the idea of a mitt romney foreign policy genius central. they have been making all lovey dovey with the paul ryan budget who mitt romney says he loves pit. mitt romney would like them to think mitt romney right there behind him. paul ryan's budget has a big foreign policy problem, which is he's just accused all of the top u.s. generals of lying to

congress. >> why did the committee choose to go against the advice of the generals? >> we don't think the generals are giving us their true advice. we don't think the generals believe that their budget is really the right budget. >> you don't believe the generals? this is not an obama defense budget. we saw all of combatantt commanders and service chiefs say this is what we need. this would not be first time. this would not be odd for a defense budget to decline after conflicts. >> i agree. what i believe is that this budget does hollow out defense. i believe it goes beyond where we ought to go to have a strong national defense to keep people safe. i think they are using budget gimmicks as well. i think there's a lot of budget smoke and mirrors in the pentagon's budget. it's not a true, honest and accurate budget. >> he said they did not give their true advice. we don't think the generals are

giving us their true advice. we don't think they believe their budgets is right budget. here is the chairman of the chief of staff responded. he said there's a difference between having somebody say they don't believe what you said versus calling us collectively liars. my response is i stand by my testimony. this is a strategy driven process to which we mapped out the budget. romney campaign is looking for a new wagon to hitch their wagon to. they are having problems with the old line, the economy is bad, blame barack obama. mitt romney, trust me on foreign policy. that's their new plan. give it a go. you never know. i think this is a bad idea for them. joinening us now is david corn. he's author of the new book "showdown." was told the definitive story of

how the last president sold the country a decade ago on why he thought it was great to invade iraq. thanks for being here. >> good to be here. >> i was talking about whether the george w. bush hangs over the campaign in a positive or negative way. he said it would be great day when they get the endorsement. i think it already looks bad for romney that he has the george w. >> i'm not sure people make the connection when they look at mitt romney. the more he talks as if he comes from the 1970s and 1980s when it comes to foreign policy, they will put the connection that he's looking back ward and not forward. he's a hard sell, that his foreign policy, whatever it may be is better than barack obama. he's been doing this for a good coupling of years and calls the president an apologizer and an

appeaser, i don't think that just rings true. i don't think it hits the mark. i tell the story of what the president did on egypt, libya, the bin laden raid. i think again and again he came across maybe not every minute of those crisis, but at the end that deliberative and devicive and got a good outcome without a loot of expenses being paid by the u.s. if the romney campaign chooses to engage on that level, the president can start telling that story and he'll make a pretty good case. mitt romney will have a hard time refuting with just his empty rhetoric that republicans always throw against democrats as being weak on national defense. >> do you see it that way? do you see it as a generic republican versus democrat template that they are trying to apply here whether or not it fits mitt romney or whether or

not it fits barack obama. they are hoping people associate republicans in a positive way with foreign policy strength? they associate democrat with weakness even if it doesn't fit these men very well? >> they're going back to playbook 101, which is call the other party weak. there's a new book called "drift," you talk about ronald reagan losing the first primaries and he came out and started talking tougher on national security and starting saying things that weren't necessarily true about the soviet military being bigger and having more money spent on it than the u.s. military and presto, he started winning primaries. not enough to get the nomination in '76, but it helped him in 1980. i think they see the same old playbook, you get up there and say things that might not be true. that the president wants to apologize or is an appeaser and

say i'm going to be tougher. >> is it going to hurt mitt romney to have taken a stance for withdrawing the troops from afghanistan and against withdrawing the troops from afghanistan, for a timetable in iraq and against a timetable and having taken every position under the sun on libya while it was happening before it and after it? his ability to be identified with any particular foreign policy position, does that make it a harder place to throw the punches from? >> you mean to be a flip-flopper? let me think about that one for a moment. i think if he tries to engage that level of detail, he can be blown out of the water because he doesn't have a strong position. he has been back and forth. i can just see if it rises to the level of the presidential debate, the president being out there and able to say, hey, what's in libya, my friend? you said this. you said that. i got the rest of the world to join together.

it doesn't cost us a single troop. i was leading from behind the scenes in a collective manner that worked much better than anything that happened during the bush years. you remember the bush years. those people that were advising you from the bush years. i think again and again obama will have a very compelling argument on the details. the only question is if he's going to engage on this if it will become an issue during the campaign. >> david, in your book, "showdown," you said the name of my book, i'll say the name of yours. you go into fair trade. the length of time the president spent on them and the foresight he had about them and the way he decided to position the yiet, but specifically based on what was going on in each country. do you get the sense the white house think they have an election year narrative to tell

about the spring given the fact it's still ongoing and still unsettled in so many places that americans worry about? >> what's great about doing this book is going wac after the fact and look at episodes that you and i were debating and in that time period images were being or impressions were being established for the president. i think on egypt was on his back for diterring because he didn't call from a bar rack to leave right away. he was both nudging his own government which a lot of people had an interest in preserving the status quo and speak to the aspirations of the people in the streets of egypt and elsewhere that were looking and nine months prior to that he had already talked to people within his administration about looking forward to the changes in the arab world. i think mitt romney will have a difficult indication to make against the president.

>> david corn. thanks for your time. nice too be with you on a friday night. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back. [ cellphone rings ] tuscaloosa? schenectady. des moines. ok. ok. ok. i can't always be there to weed my petunias. so now we use miracle-gro shake 'n feed plus weed preventer. it feeds plants and prevents weeds for up to three months. so my plants grow bigger, more beautiful, without all the weeds. guaranteed. [ cellphone rings ] with miracle-gro shake 'n feed, anyone can have a green thumb. [ cellphone rings ] everyone grows with miracle-gro. is moving backward. [ engine turns over, tires squeal ] introducing the lexus enform app suite -- available now on the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. see your lexus dealer.

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to be prepared to work hard, long hours. they say they want to hire a veteran to do this job. kiss is putting out the call through hiring our heroes program. that is a big deal here where we work in part because it is sponsored by nbc news. the idea of hiring our heroes is to find as many jobs as pos for the estimated 1 million unemployed veterans. we have a link where you can send your resume to kiss if you are interested in this gig. it's that sweet overlapping spot in the venn diagram between the u.s. military and the kiss army. but great as that is, that is not the best new thing in the world. this is the best new thing in the world. tomorrow, toson arizona is going to be looking at something like this. maybe with different architecture in the background, probably with fewer people wearing warm gloves and hats. these are pictures of the first-ever parade in the united states to mark the end of the iraq war. to say welcome home and thank you to iraq war veterans.

the iraq war ended in december. this parade was held in st. louis in january which is why everybody looks cold. a hundred thousand people showed up. it was a huge success. this is a big deal. tomorrow, the second big parade in the united states of america to mark the end of the war. and this time, it will be held in tucson, arizona. as was the case in st. louis, this isn't the military or the government coming up with this idea. this is just citizens, just regular folks, regular americans, civilians who wanted to say thank you and welcome home. the organizers of tomorrow's tucson parade said they were inspir inspired by what saint lose did. if you are in driving distance of tucson, events start early, 7:00, in which the names of all of the personnel will be read out loud. that service is likely to go on all day. people are invited to drop in whenever they want and stay as long as they wish. but the parade itself starts at 10:30 a.m.