you, mr. clark, and also to you, mary, wherever you are, who made south philly such a famous part of our great country, long before rocky, long before even cheese steaks. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" tonight from new york. conservative talkers are circling the wagons around ted nugent, one day before the mitt romney backer gets a visit from the secret service. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> if the coyotes in your living room [ bleep ] on your couch, it's not their fault, it's your fault. >> now, how does that relate to the president? i have a real hard time putting that together. >> mitt romney meets real people who ask him to raise their taxes. >> none of us like to pay more taxes, but sometimes that's

necessary. >> it's a necessary evil. >> right, right. >> you won't believe their response to these republican middle classers. the the president was on fire in ohio today. >> this is about us together making investments in our country so everybody's got a fair shot. sam stein and bob shrum on what is officially a neck and neck race. and scott walker's troubles run deeper than he wants you to know. there are new developments in the john doe investigation. john nichols of "the nation" magazine has the latest. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. mitt romney's campaign has a ted nugent problem. the conservative gun in out and aging rock star is attracting the wrong kind of attention for republicans right now. nugent backpedaled today on the statements he made at a national rifle association gathering. >> i'm a non-violent guy. i don't threaten. i wouldn't waste my time threatening. i've never threatened anyone's life in my life. i would not win will not threaten anyone's life.

i certainly wouldn't threat the life of the president. >> nugent also said his speech at the nra was 100% positive and he stands by it. you decide. >> and if you want more of those kinds of evil, anti-american people in the supreme court, then don't get involved and let obama take office again. because i'll tell you this right now. if barack obama becomes the president in november, again, i will either be dead or in jail by this time next year. why are you laughing? you think that's funny? that's not funny at all. i'm serious as a heart attack. >> he's serious. well, the secret service is too. they will judge nugent's 100% positive speech real soon. in a statement, the agency said, "we are aware of the incident with ted nugent and we are conducting appropriate follow-up. we recognize an individual's right to freedom of speech, but we also have a responsibility to determine and investigate intent." ted nugent didn't sound too apologetic on twitter today.

he wrote, "when you do god's work so beautifully like i do, the devils go berserk. it's called inescapable justice and i, as always, will win in the end. precious." nugent's twitter account might draw some attention from the secret service investigation as well. so will his comments about president obama and hillary clinton in 2007. >> i was in chicago last week. i was in chicago. i said, hey, obama, you might want to suck on one of these, you punk! obama, he's a piece of [ bleep ], and i told him to suck on my machine gun. let's hear it for him. and then i was in new york. i said, hey, hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless [ bleep ]. >> it would make sense for republicans and right-wingers to denounce a guy like ted nugent, who doesn't appear to be playing with a full deck, but instead he threw their arms around him. >> i can't figure out what people are talking about. he's talking about him, that ted

himself, will either be dead or in jail. now, how does that relate to the president? i have a real hard time putting that together. if you want to see how you can be abused, read my book, "the greatest hoax." >> james inhofe. well, he never misses an opportunity to waste, does he? neither does the new, softer, kinder voice of conservative talk radio at america, mike huckabee, who called nugent a good friend and an incredible individual. >> i don't know whether the secret service is really taking what he said seriously. it really was not threatening at all. the secret service has their own issues to worry about. in fact, some of them probably need to be inoculated from a little colombian cat scratch fever. >> the double standard coming from the right wing is outrageous. when reverend wright said god damn america, the right wing said, words matter! heck, the right wing tried to ruin the dixie chicks for saying that president bush embarrassed them from texas.

>> just so you know, we're all on the side of yawl. we do not want this war, this violence. and we're ashamed that the president of the united states is from texas. >> no one has gone after ted nugent's comments the way the right wing went after the dixie chicks. the the romney campaign hasn't even mentioned nugent by name when responding to his comments. romney's camp is now saying they didn't solicit ted nugent's endorsement. but a report in the texas tribune tells a much different story. before endorsing him, nugent demanded that romney pledge there would be no new gun laws or restrictions on second amendment rights in his administration. romney obliged. ted nugent has put mitt romney and the republicans in a political untenable position. if romney throws nugent under the bus, he's got problems.

nugent takes this head-shaking crowd with him. these are the guys standing in the nra crowd shaking their heads in accord, yeah, right. this crowd is stuck with mitt romney, because mitt romney has a shaky record on gun control and they're nervous about it. romney needs to have these people if he wants to get elected. he can't afford to lose this crowd. bottom line, romney needs to sweep these nugent comments under the rug. get them out of here. it's amazing what the right wing can get away with, isn't it? they just say, hey, he's a rock star. he's free to speak his mind. nugent, his comments go beyond with hateful rhetoric. he was basically advertising violence. republicans in the romney campaign, how have they responded? like cowards. they are afraid to throw this guy under the bus after saying that we should chop their heads off on election day.

get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, does mitt romney have the political courage to publicly denounce ted nugent? text "a" for yes, text "b" for no to 622639 or go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com and we'll bring you the results later on in the show. i'm joined tonight by "washington post" contributor susie parker and james, professor at lehigh university. great to have both of you with us tonight. susie, you have written about ted nugent's career when it comes to his remarks about women. would it be the correct thing to do at this point, beyond these comments, for the romney campaign to take a closer look at what his background is? >> yes, i think so. i think it would really benefit romney in a way to do that, although he would be, as you said, throwing himself possibly under the bus. but he needs to come out strong

for women and he totally needs to denounce what ted nugent said. ted nugent has a long history of just saying vile things about women, both in his song lyrics and from about hillary clinton, debbie wasserman schultz, nancy pelosi, the list goes on and on. so, yeah, he should -- romney should totally denounce ted nugent. >> james, are you surprised that the right-wing defense of ted nugent? i mean, why defend ted nugent? who's this guy? well, as i explained, the head half shaking crowd who is all about firearms in this country and the nra, romney can't afford to throw them under the bus, so he's stuck with nugent. how do you see it? >> i think you're right, ed. and the i think people don't understand is how powerful the nra lobbies is. the stand your ground laws are largely a result of the nra lobbying power. so ted nugent may not be a romney surrogate, but he's certainly an nra surrogate. and this language of violence -- here's the thing, ted nugent is a nut case, and he's going to

say crazy things and maybe we'll pay attention and maybe we won't but when you give him a platform, then you have to begin to worry about the kind of people he's going to influence. and god bless the secret service here. with this particular president, they've had to field a lot of credible and less credible sort of threats and different situations, much more than any president prior to president obama, and so people may think that they're overreacting, but in actuality, this is their job. they actually have to address this guy and figure out how serious he is about the things he's said in the recent past. >> i'm also curious about the report out of texas, that says that romney talked to nugent and wanted his support. because it was tagged, the son of the candidate, who tweeted out something saying, hey, that's cool, ted nugent is supporting my dad. so -- and i also would like to know, as far as the conversation is concerned, did he really ask for ted nugent to go to the nra and say some things and really gin up this crowd? susie, i want to play some audio of ted nugent on the road yesterday. here it is.

>> wasserman-schultz is such a brain-dead, soulless, heartless idiot that i could not be more proud that this soulless, heartless idiot feebly attempts to find fault with ted nugent. listen to nancy pelosi, this sub-human scoundrel. >> wow. >> now, susie, if mitt romney asked for this guy's endorsement based on what you just heard, what does that tell women in this country? >> well, i think it says that whether you're, you know, whether you're pro-gun and pro-hunting, which ted nugent is very much a part of that culture, what he has said about women is completely vile. it's horrible. and i think romney already has a problem with the women, with the gender gap. and so i think it only means that it gets worse here. i mean, you could say that ted nugent's just a washed up '70s wash star, but he has power, he has twitter followers, he's all

over the place with the nra. and so i think it just says that -- it goes back to you -- men should not get away -- politicians and people like ted nugent should not get away saying these kind of things about women in america. it sets a very bad precedent. >> so do words matter? it certainly mattered when reverend wright offered up a couple of problems to president obama to the point where he had to give a speech on race and distance himself from the preacher. >> absolutely. or just think about hilary rosen last week. they wanted to crucify insinuaing the fact that perhaps miss ann romney had perhaps not had the kind of work experience most women have. and i'm not trying to deploy fear tactics, but it's not just about crazy ted nugent, it's the people he's listening to, his twitter followers and the nra fanatics. there are people that listen to this and it exhorts them and gets them all riled up.

>> huckabee, the former governor of arkansas, has got a new talk show out in the industry and he is promoting it as less confrontation and more conversation. huckabee said that there was nothing threatening about nugent's comments -- >> thank god the secret service does not agree with mike huckabee here. listen, huckabee is, for all intents and purposes, washed up as a presidential candidate. whatever he's trying to do in his new show is to try to attach to what the media frenzy is around what ted nugent said. this kind of language is dangerous. violent language doesn't always lead to violence, but sometimes it does and that's what we need to protect ourselves against. >> susie, why did hilary rosen's comments about ann romney get more attention than what ted nugent is getting. the right wing was all over hilary rosen, but now they're

circling the wagons and protecting ted nugent via, of course, mr. huckabee, who was a man who was elected by the people of arkansas, who is now saying that the secret service has more important things to do. really?! >> yeah, i think that the right wing is always very good at circling the wan gones, and it goes beyond just huckabee is good friends with ted nugent, they're hunting buddies. they've been hunting all over the country together. and so this is what happens and the left just has to be louder than the right when it comes to ted nugent. they have to keep up this war against him now. they can't let what he says slide, whether it's about the president or nancy pelosi or hillary clinton or whoever. >> well, it will be a story tomorrow. let's see how it all turns out with the secret service. susie parker and dr. james peterson, great to have you with us tonight. thank you. remember to answer tonight's question there at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts on twitter @edshow.

coming up, middle class mitt is touring middle america, the people he wants to connect with. he sits down with a bunch of folks from pennsylvania, middle classers, and he really doesn't have much to say. we'll play you the awkward exchange tape coming up. sam stein of "the huffington post" will be here for the conversation and new revelations about the john doe investigation surrounding wisconsin governor scott walker, john nichols of "the nation" will join me here in new york for the inside scoop. stay with us. we're right back.

coming up, middle class mitt, he sits down with regular folks in pennsylvania. this guy, he just can not connect with people. we'll play you the tape and you can decide. president obama was in ohio talking about the economy today. he sounded a heck of a lot better than the mittster, i'll tell you that. bob shrum will weigh in on that. and the war on women rages in ohio. republicans add a last-minute amendment to defund planned parenthood. state senator nina turner will join me. share your thoughts on twitter using the hashtag ed show. we are right back.

welcome back to "the ed show." okay. let's have the conversation in this context. 72% of the american people think that the buffett rule is a good idea. in other words, they like to see the congress pass this. they'd like to see that the wealthier americans pay more. mitt romney spent tax day trying to connect with regular folk in pennsylvania. romney invited some middle classers in the state of pennsylvania to come in and let's have a glass of lemonade together. and what did they tell the candidate? sometimes it's okay to raise taxes. sometimes you have to raise taxes.

and oh, by the way, the stimulus package, mitt, it worked! here's part of that conversation. >> and you're working as well? >> yes, i'm employed as a school nurse and we're actually from greensburg, pennsylvania and i'm a school nurse at one of the local districts in that area. >> public school district. >> public school district. >> and how is the school district doing? >> the school district is doing well, but like every school district, this year, you're looking at the budget, so this is when things will have to cut here, cut there, cut that. you never know when you're on the chopping block. i hate to see any kind of cuts towards education. >> and you're seeing that in pennsylvania. this is a tough time, i presume, for state budgets and local budgets, in many cases. >> yes. >> people really hurting and home values down. >> when you're reading in the paper, it's like, this school district is looking at, you know, raising their mills and this school district is looking at raising -- you guys in latrobe, you know they're looking at it. every district is looking at having to raise taxes. >> most of the fat's been trimmed from this budget, so a lot of those costs are fixed that the districts have to pay to pay the teachers enough to

earn a decent wage and pay their benefits. and unfortunately, now, beyond the fat, you're getting the arts programs that are starting to be cut, things of that nature. and i think those are situations, again, where everybody's going to have to have a seat at the table. there are going to be painful choices all around, but amanda and i both got public school educations that were topnotch and we would want our kids to have the same thing. none of us like to pay more taxes, but sometimes that's necessary. >> it's a necessary evil. >> right, right. >> right. part of the problem was going years back, when the stimulus money came out, that was integrated into and the budgets and when it was gone, it was considered a shortfall. >> and that's one of the questions, like i said, we had stimulus money from last year, that money's not there this year, so now we have this deficit. >> they pulled from the budget a little bit last year to make things -- ends meet. >> yeah, yeah. >> nearly $34 billion of stimulus money went to the state of pennsylvania. it helped keep the state alive. the people sitting at the table

understand that, yet mitt romney is running around the country telling folks that the stimulus didn't work. behind closed doors, he's telling wealthy donors that he's going to make major cuts to the department of education, but on the road, that's what he hears from the folks. he didn't say any of that to the people sitting at the picnic table, did he? he couldn't even tell them that public education is important, because he doesn't think it is. mitt romney has been running for president for the last six years and he doesn't know what to say to these folks. he doesn't have any answers. worse yet, he doesn't have any solutions. let's bring in sam stein, political reporter, "huffington post." sam, good to have you with us tonight. >> thanks, ed. >> okay, i'm partisan, i'm a liberal, i'm a democrat. the tape doesn't look good, sam. >> well, i thought it was actually a very telling moment. one of the, you know, more important early campaign telling moments, because it got to this distinction in the campaign

where, you know, mitt romney has been talking a lot about the need to scale back, the need to scale back government, the need to keep tax rates low. but when you actually distill, when you sort of needle down to the basics, people are willing to pay more money for government services. and people recognizing importance of government services. now, we had this debate last summer over whether or not the government should pay more money to retain teachers and to repair schools. every republican in congress voted against it. and for a while, you saw the poll numbers reflect anger with that. it's going to be interesting to see whether mitt romney will, you know, adapt to these settings that he's having or to the poll numbers that he's confronting and sort of soften this stuff. what you noted, rightfully, it was only sunday night where he was in a private fund-raising event and he was talking about using the department of education solely for the purposes of going after teacher unions. >> exactly. and he didn't say that to the folks in pennsylvania. and that is what is so telling about mitt romney. what he says to your face and what he says behind closed doors to the people he's shaking down for campaign cash, it's a totally different world. i mean, those people, at that

picnic table, were giving the candidate a slice of life. they were saying, hey, look, this is what it's like in our district, this is what we want, and he sat there and had no solution, made no commitment. so i ask in the total picture, where is mitt romney gaining? who is starting to jump on the bandwagon for this guy? what am i missing? >> you're not missing much. i mean, let's go back to george w. bush, when he ran in 2000. it was on a platform of using compassionate conservatism to revamp the way the republicans approached education, what ended up being no child left behind. but it was a pro active, positive message about what the government could do with respect to education reform. the republican party has moved very far away from that, into the point where they no longer see the government as useful for any social function, save defense. and so mitt romney has a real challenge on his hand. because i tend to believe and i

think the polling numbers back this up, that people, voters specifically, want to know what a candidate is for. not just what he's against. and mitt romney has to outline exactly what platforms he's for. >> i will make the case that mitt romney doesn't understand their world. he hasn't lived in their world. he doesn't know their world, and he doesn't have any solution whatsoever. you put president obama in that position, he has got an answer for those folks. he, at least, gives them a game plan on what he is going to do to try to make it better, to alleviate things in that community. >> one quick thing -- >> and he would make a commitment to public education. >> sure. one quick thing to note, when you look at these early general election campaign polling numbers, people trust mitt romney to handle the economy. but when you ask them, which candidate do you like more, they are siding heavily with barack obama over mitt romney. and that's sort of an empathy gap i think you saw reflected at that picnic table and gets to the point you're making. which mitt romney has yet to figure out how to be relatable to people. but the you're not addressing the the fundamental concerns, that's more problematic.

>> i think maybe the romney campaign maybe learned something from this, if you're going to sit down to people and listen to the problems, at least give them an idea of where you're going to go. but, of course, when you've already told donors that you're going to butcher the department of education, on and on, it doesn't give you a whole lot of room, does it? sam stein, great to have you with us tonight. >> thanks, ed. take care. >> you bet. president obama led the charge today in ohio, painting a stark contrast with republicans and meeting with some regular folk. mitt romney might want to take some notes on this one. and scott walker is in quicksand with the john doe investigation surrounding his time as milwaukee county executive. last year, he racked up tens of thousands of dollars in debt with criminal defense attorneys. the story with john nichols. stay with us.

welcome back to "the ed show." republicans love to accuse president obama of redistributing the wealth. we all remember joe the plumber. but here's the president in ohio today. >> investing in a community college, just like investing in a new rode or a new highway or broadband lines that go into rural communities, these investments are not part of some grand scheme to redistribute wealth. understand, this is not a redistribution argument. this is not about taking from rich people to give to poor people. this is about us together making investments in our country so everybody's got a fair shot. >> president obama was at a community college with a job training program. 90% of the people who graduate

have a job within three months, according to the president. and he talked about the importance of investing in education. >> we created a foundation for those of us to prosper. somebody gave me an education. i wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. >> before the speech, the president met with four of the students, one of them, david palmer, a vietnam veteran, who worked as a truck driver for 23 years before they phased him out. thanks to a government-funded job training initiative, david is learning a brand-new trade. >> 60 years old and starting a new career. >> that's pretty exciting. >> it is very exciting to me. >> let me tell you, once somebody's been a marine, they can nail just about anything. >> that's what they tried to drum into my head at boot camp, so i guess that's right. >> you kind of get the feeling president obama is just a heck of a lot better than this than mitt romney. let's turn to bob shrum, democratic strategist and professor at nyu, and i want to preface my comments to you, bob,

in the last segment that we ran, showing mitt romney with those folks from pennsylvania, they were hand-picked republicans sitting at the picnic table with mitt romney. and i think we just saw a real contrast here. do you think the obama team is hoping that mitt goes out and does more of that stuff? >> well, he's going to have to try, because he has to find some way to connect with people. but he's very bad when he's spontaneous. you know, i watched that segment and he looked like a man who was visiting another planet. one where there was no general motors, which there wouldn't have been if he'd had his way. he couldn't even empathize with those people, let alone give them answer. someone would say, the arts budget is being cut in school, and he'd say, yeah, and scratch his arm or scratch his face. he just doesn't relate to people. you look at the president, he's in his groove, he's out there campaigning, he knows what he wants to say. he knows what his fundamental message is. who's going to stand up and fight for you and who's on the other side?

>> what's that story about fdr when he was, you know, going around after he had passed away and they had a procession and someone asked the man standing in the crowd, did you know the president? and he said, no, but he knew me. what about that? is that what we're kind of looking at right now? >> well, sure, and actually, it isn't a matter of romney's wealth, because franklin roosevelt was wealthy. john kennedy was wealthy. and people all over the world, when john kerry was killed, put his picture up. and it stayed there for years in their homes. that's because they felt he cared about them. he knew them. he knew what they were going through. you know, romney's problem is, he can't answer those people's questions. the president was talking about retraining today and about jobs. romney's endorsed a budget that would shred retraining and destroy 4.1 million jobs in the next two years while also shredding medicare. so he can't really answer the questions. he wants to take the department of education and reduce it to, i guess, nothing more than a kind of inquisition against teachers'

unions. i mean, this guy can't answer the concerns of ordinary people. that's going to become clearer and clearer as this campaign goes on. >> here's the president on the republican budget proposals today. >> they decided to double down. instead of monitoring their views even slightly, you now have republicans in washington, the ones running for president, proposing budgets that shower the wealthiest americans with even more tax cuts. folks like me don't need them. it's one thing to deal with the deficit in a way that is fair and asks everybody to do their fair share and dealing with a deficit as an excuse to do what you wanted to do anyway. >> he is really hitting this point home. it's almost daily, that the president is making sure that miss message is, i'm with you and they aren't. >> right. and he's speaking in a great democratic tradition that goes back to franklin roosevelt, to

truman, to kennedy. i mean, he's out there talking about the fundamental values of the democratic party, but in a 21st century context. and he connects, i think, remarkably well with people. you know, for a long time, people complain that the barack obama of 2008 wasn't around. he was awfully busy on substance, not paying enough attention to speeches. well, i think the barack obama of 2008's back in 2012. he's fighting on the substance. he and the labor department have done a remarkable job on this retraining and community college initiative. but he's also out there, i think, beginning to speak to people in a way that moves their minds and their hearts at the same time. >> bob shrum, always a pleasure. great to have you with us. >> thanks, ed. >> there's a lot more coming up in the next half hour of the ed show. stay with us. scott walker's legal troubles are worse than anyone knew. john nichols of "the nation" has the latest. and ohio republicans are trying to pull a sneak attack on women. democrats are fighting a stunt that would defund planned parenthood.

we'll take you to the buckeye state for the latest.

the plot thickens in the john doe investigation surrounding wisconsin governor scott walker. back in february, walker announced that he had hired two criminal defense attorneys to assist him in the case. in march the governor set up a defense fund. but it turns out walker actually hired the lawyers much earlier, some time last year. by the end of 2011, walker already owed his attorney law firms at least $55,000. according to his recently filed financial disclosure statement. the john doe investigation was launched almost two years ago. criminal charges have been filed against three aides to scott walker from his time as waukee county executive. the charges include doing campaign work on company time. meanwhile, scott walker is out traveling around the country, state to state, trying to rock

star his way to a defense fund. he spent yesterday at the illinois chamber of commerce and another republican event in michigan. walker is selling himself as a guy who stood up to the big government union bosses. and the righties, well, they're out there at these state events, basically eating it up, giving him standing ovations, but it was a different story outside. thousands of pro-union protesters showed up outside walker's event in illinois. hundreds more greeted walker in michigan, protesting his assault on public education. i'm joined tonight by john nichols, washington correspondent of "the nation" magazine and author of the book "uprising." john, what does this mean? okay, he's got attorney bills, but what does it really mean? >> well, he's got a lot of attorney bills, and that means a lot. you just mentioned $55,000. but that's not the whole of it. this is the important thing. the financial disclosure forms give you wide range.

so he's confirmed he spent -- or he owes $50,000 to one firm. he owes between $5,000 and $50,000 to another firm. so we could be at $100,000. and his campaign has spent $115,000 more hiring two additional firms -- >> what kind of work are they doing? what are they, answering all the questions for him? >> this is what the governor tried to suggest back in february. he said, oh, i needed somebody to help with the paperwork and all that. but these two firms that we're talking about, the core two firms with $50,000 and $5,000 to $50,000, these are core defense lawyers. he's hired lawyers who list on their website that they deal with murders, with major drug cases, with grand jury investigations and john doe investigations, where you really -- you know, this is the big-deal stuff, where people go to jail. and so i want to emphasize, these are good lawyers. these are outstanding lawyers. but they're not election lawyers. they're not government lawyers. >> is there a chance that the shoe would drop before the

election, before the recall election, on this john doe investigation? where he could be indicted? >> that's clearly a huge fear of the republicans. last week, one of the most prominent republican lawyers in the state, a former candidate for attorney general wrote a letter to john chisholm, the district attorney running this prosecution, john doe, basically attacking him, suggesting that his staff was partisan. suggesting that john chisholm was really doing something that was untoward. >> i understand that they're beating him up on talk radio too. >> oh, milwaukee talk radio, it's daily. >> so they're trying to intimidate the prosecutor? >> exactly. they want to, at the very least, they would like to make sure that no charges, no more charges are brought between now and june 5th. >> so these out of state events, basically, it's trying to be a rock star tour and take credit for going after organized labor and going after public sector jobs, and he's trying to gin up as much visibility as he possibly can.

is he working? >> it's not just visibility, ed. this is money. he goes to these other states because this is where he raises, you know, dramatic amounts of additional money. remember that in his last filing, campaign filing, 61% of the money came from out of state. so he's going to these other places. yes, to do some rock star turns, but remember, he's in the fight of his political life. he wouldn't leave wisconsin just to appear before the illinois chamber of commerce. >> he's leading in the polls. public policy polling has walker at 50%. mayor tom barrett, who many people think that he's going to get it, at 45%. and there's also a fight starting to break out in the democratic party. >> they're wrestling for it. >> okay, they're wrestling for it. why is walker ahead, if he's gotten all this negative publicity? >> ed, $12 million worth of spending over the last year. and the democrats have not begun to counter that. governor walker keeps saying that he is the subject of a huge negative ad campaign by the quote/unquote big labor bosses, but that has not been there. that's not reality. >> so he's lying?

>> well, let's just say he's not -- well, let me put it this way. john deen, the watergate figure, said the other day that walker is more nixonian than nixon. >> the founder of the united with wisconsin, the group that led the movement for the recall walker, what's that mean? >> he was endorsed by barbara lotten, by congresswoman guinn moore, by lina taylor. so he's getting a lot of useful endorsements. and the united wisconsin movement is a very grassroots movement. but kathleen faulk, his opponent, still has significant labor support. it's a real primary. >> it is a real primary and it's coming up within the month. now, the next thing is, and i keep saying this, i sense this on the road, that people around the country get this, as the template, and the vice president told me this when i interviewed him last week. he told me he thinks this is the template to defeat citizens united. you've got to have the boots on the ground, you've got to have the social networking, you've got to get your next-door neighbor out there.

is this going to happen? >> you just mentioned united wisconsin, that group, grassroots group, hardly any paid staff, they put 30,000 people on the staff to gather the petitions to put this recall into play. if those 30,000 people go back out in may once they've got a candidate, they can have a huge impact. that's real grassroots. >> well, let's say that walker wins the recall and gets indicted. i mean, this prosecutor can't win. he's going to be viewed as a partisan player no matter what happens. if he pulls -- drops the shoe before the election or after the election. and let's say that walker does become successful and hold on to a seat and then he gets indicted, what's that do wisconsin? >> and he's hiring a lot of top lawyers -- >> the lawyers aren't going to get him out of this. the evidence is either there or it isn't. >> yeah. >> i mean walker, this is where he knows whether he's guilty or

not. is there a chance that he would resign before the recall? >> no. this guy's going to hang on to the very end. that comparison, more nixonian than nixon is important. but this is vital. you're going to elect a governor and a lieutenant governor, that firefighter, mailen mitchell running for lieutenant governor. if he got lieutenant governor and he's governor, walker steps down, mailen's the governor. >> thanks for being with us. right-wingers have dominated talk radio in this country for decades. but there's in hope for lefties. holy smoke, there's three in the top ten. that's next. why you fell in lr in the first place. and why you still feel the same. but your erectile dysfunction -- that could be a question of blood flow. cialis for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart

is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30-tablet free trial. up next, the talk radio world might be dominated by conservative talkers, but i'm claiming a victory for progressives tonight. and in the big finish, i'll talk to ohio state senator nina turner about the continued attack on women's health care in her state. don't forget to tweet us using the hashtag ed show. stay tuned. we are right back.

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and in this great country of the united states of america, between 50 and 75 million people today listen to radio for at least five minutes. radio remains a persuasive part of life in america. and talk radio is still overwhelmingly dominated by right wingers. but tonight, i can report a small victory of sorts. the editors of "talkers" magazine are out with their latest heavy hundred, which they do every year, most important radio talk show hosts in america. yours truly, well, i'm not only in the top ten, i'm in at number four. how in the heck did a lefty get up to number four?! holy smokes! of course, behind limbaugh, who is at number one. and we have found out that he certainly is too big to fail, he can say anything with no repercussion whatsoever. sean hannity proving in at number two that lies go a long way in this business. and michael savage, well, we all know his history and what happened here on msnbc. and i'm right ahead of my good friend, laura ingraham, who

cracked the top five this year. rounding out the top ten are number six, dave ramsey, some guy named mark -- oh, look at this. number eight, thom hartmann. a great talker in america. glenn beck slips to number nine. and number ten is the black eagle, joe madison. can you believe that? three lefties in the top ten! feel good about it, listeners. don't forget to listen to me on sirius xm radio channel 127 monday through friday and i will speak for thom and also speak for joe, if i may. the three of us thank you for listening to our progressive talk radio shows across america. you can follow me on twitter @edshow and like "the ed show" on facebook. coming up, the war on women heads to john kasich's ohio. state senator nina turner is on the front lines. she'll join me next. ed show survey tonight, i if you're one of those folks who gets heartburn

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ed show survey tonight, i asked it. does mitt romney have the political courage to publicly denounce ted nugent? 3% of you said yes. 97% of you said no. coming up, ohio republicans continue the war on women by going after planned parenthood. i'll ask state senator nina turner what this could mean for women in her state.

we are not children. women do not need a permission

slip from government to decide what is in the best interest of their bodies. >> welcome back to "the ed show." that was ohio state senator nina turner, talking about the gop's latest attack on women's health care. in a moment, she will join me again. mitt romney vows he'll get rid of planned parenthood if he becomes president of the united states. but governor john kasich in ohio might beat him to the punch in that state. ohio republicans have unveiled a new plan that would strip planned parenthood of nearly $2 million in federal funding. the proposal, part of a budget bill, would block federal funding from being administered by the state to ohio's 37 family planning centers. ohio law already prohibits public money from being spent on abortion services, so what republicans are doing is going after women who use planned parenthood for checkups, cancer screenings, and other preventative care. it's part of a nationwide effort by republicans to roll back the clock on women's health care. senator barbara boxer explains.

>> you have mitt romney saying he wants to, quote, get rid of, unquote, planned parenthood. he wants to get rid of planned parenthood that serves 3 million americans and gives them basic health care, prevention, with breast screenings, other kinds of cancer screenings, std screenings. ly tell you this. it hurts the american people, that type of policy. >> i'm joined tonight by ohio state senator nina turner. senator, good to have you with us tonight. in your words, what is happening in ohio? >> well, like thieves in the night, my republican colleagues in the ohio house the tucked into our mid-biennial budget an amendment that would effect live defund planned parenthood by about $1.7 million. but what that means more than the dollar amount is the impact that this right-wing public policy is going to have on everyday women. this is a social and economic

battle that we're fighting isn't the state of ohio that you can no longer be poor. it is a crime to be poor in the state of ohio, to be a poor woman. you won't have access to screenings, like cancer screenings and mammograms. you know, 96% of what the planned parenthood provides is for preventative health care. ed, this is an absolute shame and people should be outraged. >> well, planned parenthood serves, as i understand, over 100,000 women in the state of ohio. is that number correct? >> yes, that number is correct. >> okay. so if the gop kills planned parenthood, where are these women going to go for health care services, such as cancer screenings, such as other health care procedures that are provided by planned parenthood? >> well, ed, obviously, they don't care. you know, one of our colleagues talked about how they can just get on a bus. you know, this total disregard for women in the state of ohio, but also poor women in the state of ohio, again, in urban areas and rural areas, and it's not just the women, ed.

these women have families. a lot of these women are mothers. what if they are sick? what happens to their children? this is a heartless bill. you talk about a heart beat bill. let's talk about heart beats. they do not care about women in the state of ohio. and i'm going to tell you something, ed, we're not going to take it. the ohio democrats, we have lost a petition drive, and ed, i would love all of your viewers to go to the ohiodems.org/plannedparenthood, sign our petition and we are going to deliver those petitions to governor john kasich and tell him and the republicans in the ohio general assembly to keep their hands off of women's bodies and their access to health care. >> well, is the governor -- has he indicated whether he's going to sign this and support it? what's happening? >> well, ed, it's his mid-biennium budget. he has not said anything as far as i know, but these are his counterparts in the house that have put this provision in the mid-biennium budget. but hopefully our petition drive will send a strong message to

the governor that we're not going to accept this in the state of ohio, and hopefully he will have the opportunity to line item veto that section of the mid-biennium budget. >> finally, senator, what do you make of these folks across america, especially republicans, who believe that the war on women is made up? i mean, it certainly seems that there is a legislative agenda to discriminate against women. okay, if you don't want to call it war on women, what is happening in your state? we've got discrimination on the books and in the budget. >> oh, it's a war on women. and ed, they declared the war. it is not a figment of our imagination. anytime you have policy makers using the power of the people to disenfranchise folks through voter suppression, to take away preventative health care for women in this state, women are about 5.8 million, we're 51% of this state. and to have folks who don't care whether or not women, particularly poor women, have access to health care.