partisan battle that all told has some calling what we're watching the second most important race of the year behind the presidential election. polls in wisconsin close tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. both republican governor scott walker and his challenge democrat tom barrett cast their ballots early this morning. nbc's ron allen is in waukesha, wisconsin, with the latest on what's happening on the ground, and ron, as our first read team points out, this has turned neighbor against neighbor, co-worker against co-worker and it's taken wisconsin and certainly made this a national issue. >> reporter: it's also turned husband against wife. we were interviewing a voter earlier who was voting her for voting to remove scott walker. workers are getting their first break of the day. turnout here has been four experience during a statewide election. it gives you an idea of the intensity of the voting here.

this is a part of the state where scott walker wants to run up some big numbers. he won 74% of the vote in 2010 when he was first elected. but madison, wisconsin, today there's a big rally, a big get out the vote effort, they're hoping to run up the numbers in that part of the state as well because, again, turnout is going to be the key in this. they're predicting 60% to 65% turnout, 2.8 million voters. a day filled with passion and polarization in the state that's had so many recall elections. remember, this is the seventh time in the past 14 months or so that voters have gone to the polls. but, of course, this is the big prize, the governor's job is on the line. most polls have him leading, but you just another know how this is all going to end up because of the voter turnout pushing towards 8:00 tonight. tamron? >> thank you very much, ron. greatly appreciate it. one of the state's biggest pape papers, the "wisconsin state

journal," suggests the number of voters could rifle those in a presidential election. officials expect 50% to 55% of voters. joining me is the communications director for the wisconsin democratic party. graham, thank you for your time. >> thanks for having me, tamron. >> there's at least one headline out today claiming that democrats in the state are crying foul. that was the headline because milwaukee democratic party says that there are calls going out to voters telling them if they'd sign the recall that they did not need to vote today. do you know anything about that? >> sure. we've had reports from all corners of the state, not just milwaukee, but places north, south, east, and west that these robocalls have gone out. given the differenty tricks the republicans have pulled under scott walker, we will closely monitor to make sure everybody's vote is counted. the good news is everything else is going smoothly it looks like. there are really high turnouts, and it's very good for our side.

>> the state gop source was quoted saying this claim of robocalls trying to discourage people basically is because democrats are crying foul and they are the ones who are expecting this playbook -- they're making this up, the bottom line, forgive me for stumbling through the note. but the bottom line is the gop says this is not the case, these robocalls are not going out and there's not a problem here. >> in scott walker's wisconsin you can't take anybody's word for it. this is a governor who thought about putting troublemakers in otherwise peaceful funds. this is a governor with a legal defense fund. we don't trust republicans at their word under scott walker but we have a good turnout operation. we're confident we will get our voters to the poll and that we will prevail tonight. >> you have talked a lot about the ground game in your state. we know that the governor there outspent his challenger eight to one. a lot of money coming from koch

brothers from outside the state. there's a lot certainly that we can discuss here, but the reality is nationally you have so many people who are engaged around the country for this race. they're looking for signs perhaps of an indicator for what we might see come november when we vote for the next person or the person currently in the white house to stay there. >> i don't know about the d.c. parlor games, we have been badly outspent, but the great news is today's rate will not be decided by koch brothers numbers or club for growth money. today's race will be decided by wisconsinites who understand wisconsin's values and that we need to come together. we don't need divide and conquer values. i think that's why you will see mayor barrett prevail. >> why is the race so close? we know early on governor walker was ahead seven points in one of the last points. it's closer now. when you look early on at some of the i am imagines from the capitol with the protesters in the cold, in the rain, really

passionate and ready to take on this governor, why is it so close now? >> well, the proof will be in the pudding tonight. we're going to know real shortly. early turnout suggests a good night for us. but scott walker, we've absorbed a $50 million, 60 merchandi$60 h from scott walker. he had an instant army of corporate cash behind him selling these reforms. we lead the nation in job loss. he says he's a man of integrity. he's got a criminal defense fund. he uses these tools available to him by the koch brothers and the groups that are trying to buy wisconsin. if they can buy wisconsin, they can buy anywhere. people have been inundated with scott walker ruling the air. the good news is we rule the ground and our ground game will prove that today. >> thank you very much, communications director for the wisconsin democratic party. thank you. so what's at stake here? what could the recall election mean for organized labor and what about the implications for presidential race. let me bring in our "news

nation" political panel, msnbc contributor michael smerconish and john nichols, washington correspondent for the nation. he's live in madison. john, i will start with you. talk to me about the feeling you've got on the ground there. >> it's absolutely incredible. in fact, i have got to tell you, if tom jefferson and james madison were around looking at what happens with that right to petition for the redress of grievances, they'd be some pretty happy men. wisconsin is having just a complete democratic, small "d" democratic explosion. in the city of milwaukee a couple minutes ago, the milwaukee election commission called in the reserves. the turnout has been so high in the city that they needed to move extra election officials into particularly precincts on the north side of the city because they have so many new voters, so many people who have never voted before registering today. it's really -- it's a wonderful,

wonderful sight to see and it's going on all over the state. not just in democratic areas but republican areas. this is going to be a maximized turnout. it's going to be again exactly what you want in a country where the people are supposed to be in charge. >> michael, let me bring you in. tom barrett was asked early this morning about the president not coming in to help him out. we saw bill clinton and others lend a helping hand. let me play what he said. >> do you feel like you have been a little ignored by the president in this? >> not one bit because this started as a citizens' movement, a grassroots movement, it will end as a grassroots movement as it should. i think there are some that want to make it a national election. that's part of my gripe about this is i don't want wisconsin to be the experimental dish for the right wing. >> so, michael, do you buy that, that barrett is saying this is really just about wisconsin or is this something larger and he just doesn't want to say right now because we know if it doesn't go his way tonight what some of the talking points might be from the republicans.

>> i think if barrett loses by a whisker, there will be many on the democratic side of the aisle wondering and kicking themselves at not encouraging the president to come in and to make himself more visible in this race. i think that the issues that are at the core of this the proposed evisceration of collective bargaining rights, it really transcends wisconsin. i think that there are a lot of folks, as evidenced by all the outside money being spent in wisconsin, who are rooting and doing more than just rooting for a particular side. so i think it has national implications, and i think that if scott walker is -- keeps his job, shall we say, it will bode poorly for the president though his poll numbers are better than what barnt's numbers have been. >> the obama campaign released an ad for barrett today, but, john, let me ask you about this back and forth tweeting war, i guess it's called a twitter war, between the president and the rn c chair rieince priebus.

the president sent out a tweet. it's election day in wisconsin tomorrow and i'm standing by tom barrett. he'd make an outstanding governor. >> reince priebus repolite bold tweet from the president who wouldn't actually campaign with him or step foot in wisconsin. noting that the president was in illinois but did not travel to wisconsin. john? >> well, reince priebus is from wisconsin. he is a defeated state senate candidate from down in kenosha who now runs the republican party, and occasionally i think he gets very excited about the fact that his name is mentioned in the same breath as the president of the united states. but the fact is it's kind of a silly back and forth. i have been all over the state of wisconsin in the last few days from rhinelander in the north to kenosha and racine in the south, east, west, i haven't heard anybody say, oh, where is president obama? i hate to tell president obama and reince priebus that the people of wisconsin seem to be

really excited about their election and really into the question of who is going to be the next governor. and i know that people in washington and new york like to believe that elections are all about them and that nobody can really think about stuff beyond the beltway so to speak, but the truth of the matter is out here this election is about trade union rights, about how you do budgets, and, frankly, about people deciding whether they want to turn out a poster boy for the tea party. >> michael, let me bring you back in. you have also the fact that governor romney's not been to wisconsin standing side by side with walker. he was there for the primary campaigning for himself, but not for walker. so that point that reince priebus and others make seems to go up in the wind when you look at that point. but to the larger issue here, whether we believe that folks in the beltway or new york think it's all about them or not, we know tomorrow's headline realistically, michael, will include something about the presidential election.

>> well, it will, and it's interesting to hear what you've noted, that, frankly, neither of the candidates, romney nor the president, wanted to invest their personal capital and get too tied into this race, and i think that's a conclusion that's unmistakable. i think the entity with the most to lose nationally speaking are the unions, because this could embolden anti-union efforts in other states and there are already a number of them that are under way. so that's really the group that has the most to lose tonight, i think. >> all right. thank you very much, michael smerconish, john nichols. a great pleasure having you both together. >> thank you. coming up, back on message. >> the romney republican plan is austerity and more unemployment now and blow the lid off later. >> bill clinton making up for perceived misstep going after romney even harder. a clinton laying out a new strategy for president obama? plus, president obama's campaign is out with a new ad accusing romney of having a

double standard when it comes to the candidate's record on jobs. >> they're saying don't hold mitt romney accountable for the first three years he was in office. we'll show you more of the ad and why some are saying it's a double standard. we have breaking news also. u.s. officials have confirmed that al qaeda's second in command was killed during a u.s. drone strike in pakistan. he was killed during three days of strikes in what pakistan's foreign minister is calling, quote, a violation of pakistan's sovereignty. u.s. officials describe him as irreplaceable in his expertise and influence over the terror network. [ male announcer ] this is genco services -- mcallen, texas. in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so every piece of equipment knows where it is, how it's doing or where it goes next. ♪

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"the new york times" called it a cleanup operation. former president bill clinton was back on message at three fund-raisers in new york city last night saying a romney presidency would be, quote, calamitous to our country and the world. this comes just days after he praised mitt romney for, quote, sterling business career. >> let me just be as simple as i can. i don't think it's important to re-elect a president. i think it's essential to re-elect the president. >> joining me now "washington post" deputy national political editor anne kornblut. i think your title gets longer by the day, anne. good to see you on here. >> sorry about that. >> that's okay. i love it. let's talk about bill clinton. our first read team points out this hard-hit at romney got a lot of attention because of the perception or reality that he was off message when referring to romney's, quote, sterling business record. >> yeah. it's almost as if they planned it, right?

we spent a lot of last week revisiting the subject of where president obama and former president clinton diverge, of course, after he talked about the business record, as you mentioned. and that only served to tee up the event we saw last night. now, it would have gotten a lot of attention either way. had a lot of celebrities involved, it's president clinton and the clinton/obama rivalry even though it's long gone and four years old now still piques a lot of attention. nonetheless, i think what we saw last week really drew more attention to it. that's not to say there were real differences. i'm kidding about teeing it up. i think there were real differences. i think you saw him speaking to the campaign a little bit in public there. >> there are real differences perhaps, but when he was in wisconsin, the president -- former president noted that when you are not campaigning or when you're the former president, you can kind of say what you want. obviously though he saw the need to come at romney in a significant way saying that it

would be basically a disaster for the country and for the world. >> no question. and, you know, while he might have some strategic differences with the way the obama campaign is executing it, obviously in the big picture when it comes to the economy, when it comes to probably just about everything, he sees president obama as far superior, not to mention his wife is in president obama's cabinet. so there's no question that he is in line and if anything this was the other shoe dropping. i think we probably saw the romney campaign celebrating a little bit too early what amounts to more or less a minor strategic difference rather than a major philosophical one. >> let's talk about this article. roger simon with politico has written an article pretty critical of the former president, but he says basically though the obama campaign wants to use clinton to raise money, tone it down, and chill out. do you see it the same way? >> well, look, they want to get the most out of the former president and so far they've said that they will take the good and the bad.

you know, they're not going to be able to control him. they're not going to be able to control any former president. a former president is probably up there in the category of donors and lawyers as the categories of people who are involved in politics who will not be told what to do. so they might hope that he would tone it down some, but i think that's unlikely and in some ways that's what actually lends president clinton his credibility. he's going to say what he thinks, and they're going i would expect continue to take the good with the bad. >> in that same article i mention, roger simon personally shot down this idea, but it is out there, that perhaps the former president is more focused onllusive run by hillary clinton in 2016. do you buy any of that 1234. >> no. and if he is i think you could game it out either way. is it better for romney to win, is it better for obama to win? there would be upsides to both. it's hard to see that. that run obviously took a great toll on their family.

obviously a lot of peep want to think about it. it's fun and it's really alluring to think about because her popularity is so high right now, but the minute she steps back into the fray, they'd be back in the fire. so we don't know and i think, like i say, you could argue it either way. anne kornblut, great pleasure having you on. the senate is preparing to vote on a bill that calls for equal pay for men and women at work. today senate majority leader harry reid slammed governor romney for not taking a stand on this issue. >> he should show some leadersh leadership. opposing fair pay for all americans is shameful. >> first lady michelle obama praises disney for its new policy banning junk food. it's one of the things we just thought you should know. >> with this new initiative, disney is doing what no major media company has ever done before in the united states. never heard of it. well, that's what we're doing today. car insurance x has been

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cause we want to show them something new. you ready? let's go. walmart can now convert your favorite dvds from disc to digital. no way. if hulk smash disc... it's no big deal. now you'll never break them, scratch them or lose them. we can use that. you'll never break them. so what do you guys think? we love it. it's only two bucks per disc. that's cool. that's the walmart entertainment disc to digital service. bring in your favorite dvds to your local walmart photo center to get started. don't go in there. don't go in there. they don't listen. we're following breaking news regarding california's ban

on same-sex marriage. today a big decision that could lead right to the supreme court. plus, another case of alleged voter injustice. last week it was florida. well, today it's texas. more than 1 million voters could be kicked off the election rolls. we'll tell you what's happening in the lone star state. plus, today's "news nation" gut check. a lot of you have been tweeting us already. do you think wisconsin's recall election will have any impact on the presidential race? and be sure to check out our "news nation" tumbler page. ...the united states would be on that list. in 25th place. let's raise academic standards across the nation. let's get back to the head of the class. let's solve this.

[ male announcer ] kellogg's® mini-wheats cereal has 8 layers of whole grain fiber... so they stick with you. ♪ 45 bushels of wheat on the farm. 45 bushels of wheat! ♪ all morning long. there's a big breakfast... [ mini ] yeehaw! in those fun little biscuits. welcome back. we're following breaking news out of san francisco, california. just a short time ago a federal appeals court refused to reconsider a legal challenge to california's prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage. sponsors of the ban say they plan to ask the supreme court to review a previous ruling that deemed the law unconstitutional. nbc news justice correspondent

pete williams joins me now from washington, d.c. so, pete, does this breaking news come as a big surprise here? >> no, i don't think so. i think most people did expect that the full appeals court would not hear the case. now, let's talk about the immediate effect of it. there is a 90-day hold on the effect of this ruling. that means that even though this appeals court is letting stand a ruling finding prop 8 unconstitutional, no smetiame-s marriages can be performed in california in the next 90 days. if the backers of prop 8 within those 90 days ask the u.s. supreme court to take the case, which they almost certainly will, the stay continues. let's continue the what ifs. if the backers of prop 8 ask the supreme court to take the case, and we believe they will take that step, then if the supreme court agrees to take it, we probably wouldn't hear about that until the fall, and the case couldn't be argued until probably next spring, maybe next february or march at the earliest. now, one other thing is

interesting here, tamron. on a separate track from a totally different part of the country, there's a different and related issue, and that's a challenge to the federal defense of marriage act. a federal appeals court has found that unconstitutional. that's the law that says that the federal government cannot recognize a same-sex marriage even in the states where same-sex marriages are legal. so the supreme court may be asked to take that case, too, and it could be that both of the cases will be before the supreme court in the coming term. either way they're not going to take this term. this term is about over, but they could both, one or the other or both could be argued next term that starts in 201. >> what is the immediate impact on same-sex couples that want to get married? >> the ban remains in effect for the three-month period and i would expect the backers will get their papers in and that

will extend the stay. we do know that at least four judges would have taken this case. so we think the vote is probably somewhere around 21-4 against hearing this appeal. >> all right, pete williams. thank you very much with the breaking news out of california. we'll see where it leads. thank you, pete. and developing now on capitol hill, the senate is preparing to vote on whether to move forward on a bill that calls for equal pay in the workplace. the paycheck fairness act, that's what it's called, would require companies to prove that differences in pay are not based on gender. it would also make it easier for employers to tell others how much money they make. many companies prohibited that kind of thing from happening. this morning senator harry reid called on mitt romney or called him out for failing to say whether he stands on this bill. >> even mitt romney has refused to publicly oppose this legislation. he may oppose it, but he's afraid to say anything about it. why? because it's obvious why. he should show some leadership.

my opinion, governor romney. >> nbc capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. we see how it factors into the presidential race, but it's also interesting, senator nelson, who voted against this in 2010, i believe, has now changed his tune this time around. >> reporter: what he's saying, tamron, is he will not stand in the way of allowing this bill to go forward. he'd like to see some amendments and changes, but the real math here is that democrats need to get 60 votes, and so far in talking with senators today, they don't seem to have it. one of the senior senators who has been a huge proponent of this tells me she's got 53. that would include all of the democrats and the two independents, but no republicans yet. so they're trying to make this a very big visual as well with lily ledbetter, if that name is familiar to you, earlier in the president's term, there was a big victory for democrats with

an act that passed that bears her name about being able to get back pay if you have been as a woman not paid the same as men. this is a continuation of in some ways the political drama about the importance of women in this year's electorate, and certainly democrats also believe in the merits of this saying that it is too often that women are earning less for the same kind of work. now, there's some other voices that say, well, that's because women tend to go into fields where salaries are lower, and democrats are saying, no, that's not the case. there's a lot of evidence saying that it is still 77 cents on the man's dollar. so they're trying to push this forward. one of the concerns republicans have is this would allow women to sue for punitive damages if they find out that they do make less for the same amount and type of work as men. so they're concerned about too much litigation. there's a lot of the details going on here that are always the underlying arguments in these fights over bills, but democrats see this as a very

important win. you heard majority leader harry reid calling out mitt romney who says he is for equal pay but is not weighing in on the specifics of this bill. this should play out this afternoon. a hurdle for democrats to get to the 60 they need. >> and the other point republicans are making on this, kelly, is that they believe this would put unnecessary burdens on businesses, but you point out the reality of this is that this issue very important to many women here, women who could make the difference come november in the election. already there's been a gender gap we've talked about. it may have closed slightly but there's still a significant gap between mitt romney and the president when do it comes to women. is this putting pressure on republicans knowing what's at stake here and how this headline might read, that republicans are against fair pay for women? >> women republican office holders are feeling a little less pressure. i had one say to me that she does not feel like any of her

voters would think she's not in favor of issue that is advance the cause of women even if she might be against this in particular. but it will be interesting to look at, say, for example, scott brown, who is running for re-election in massachusetts who has been trying to appear very open to concerns of women in massachusetts, a state where he is certainly up against a challenge to hold onto his seat with the presumed democratic challenger there elizabeth warren. so he would be someone interesting to watch. there has been this argument throughout the year about is there a war on women? is that for real? are there issues where the parties really come down differently? so it's politically very potent. in a practical everyday lives of women it's an issue that matters, and there are concerns that some have who oppose this who say that people in the office don't necessarily want to share with co-workers, men and women, what they all earn. so it would change some of the dynamics in the workplace, and it could create some differences that would make people uncomfortable. they come back though democrats

say to the fact that women are often the leading bread winners in many families in this country and that they are still lagging behind when it comes to earning the same. so it is something that people are watching closely. it will play out big here today and, as i mention, democrats are still trying to get some republicans to come along and so far we have not found any republicans in the senate likely to vote with this. >> all right, kelly o'donnell, thanks for joining us. greatly appreciate it. now to the issue of a possible double standard. the obama campaign is out with a new video charging team romney of having a double standard when it comes to the economy and jobs. the video features obama deputy campaign manager stephanie cutter. here it is. >> mitt romney had a lousy jobs record as governor of massachusetts. that's a fact. under his leadership the state fell to 47th out of 50 states in job creation. in other words, they are saying don't hold mitt romney accountable for the first three years he was in office because he inherited a bad economy. now they use a different standard for assessing president

obama's record. the hypocrisy is breathtaking. >> in a response andrea saul tweeted, mitt romney inherited a bad economy and made it better. joining me now to talk about the facts, nbc news senior political editor mark murray. let's take a look at what is fact, what is spin. i don't even know what some of the categories we can call these things these days but nevertheless, let's talk about the obama ad here and what it charges. a case of hypocrisy. >> here are the facts. when mitt romney was governor of massachusetts from 2003 to the beginning of 2007, massachusetts as ranked with all the other states in the country was 47th out of 50 in job creation. on the sunday shows in particular romney campaign senior adviser ed gillespie said the first year of romney's governorship it ranked last, 50 out of 50, but by the end of his tenure in 2006, massachusetts was essentially in the 30s or so

and, therefore, there was progress. now, that whole obama campaign video and the response you're hearing is basically saying, well, if you guys aren't going to count the first year of mitt romney's governorship, then if we're holding the same standard, 2009, at a time when the economy was -- when jobs were being shed hundreds of thousands of jobs per month, shouldn't count for president obama either. if you count his last year or last year and a half or so, that ranks -- that shows up pretty well. so that's the thrust of the campaign video that they put out this morning. >> so the response from the romney team from andrea saul then is not dealing with the heart of the ad or the web ad which is are we comparing apples to apples or something very different here. her tweet, while it may have certainly had a punch with people who want to hear that, it does not deal with the web ad itself. >> well, they really haven't responded, you're right, to the double standard charge. what they point out is when mitt romney left massachusetts when

he was no longer governor, the unemployment rate was at 4.7%. when you compare that to the current 8.2%, they say, that shows you mitt romney's economic stewardship versus president obama's. now, tamron, it is important to say, too, there are a lot of economists out there who believe that the presidency, governors, have sometimes really little to do with the overall unemployment rate. if everyone could have a magic wand, there would be full employment during every presidency, during every governorship. there are a lot of factors that play outside of fiscal policy on where the current unemployment rate is. >> mark murray with a little bit of what's if first read today. greatly appreciate it. >> thanks. in about a half hour mitt romney is scheduled to make a campaign appearance at businesses in ft. worth, texas. right now the state along with florida being closely watched for an aggressive effort to repof whr remove what they say are ineligible voters from the rolls. that's plagued by problems including fally procedures,

other procedures. lisa olson reported on this for "the houston chronicle." we're talking about some issue was computer programs but there's also a concern that certain groups are being targeted, particularly people who might vote for democrat or president obama. >> i didn't find any evidence of that in my reporting, but there certainly are lawsuits that have been filed both in harris county and in galveston county in which democrats and other groups are making those kinds of allegations. i was looking more at the process that's used across the state in my reporting. >> what is the process across the state then? >> well, there's an effort to weed out dead voters, voters who are convicted of felonies, and voters, of course, who are noncitizens who say so when they go to get called for jury duty. and that effort really is what depends on these outdated

computer programs and these old procedures where there's a lot of comparison of records that are basically hand generated by voters when they register to vote and then compared with all sorts of other databases. and then these cancellation notices go out and what i found was there were 300,000 cancellation notices that went out past -- after the last presidential election to voters who were valid voters. and so in that effort to clean the rolls, they were targeting basically what looked like the wrong people, and a lot of times it was because a voter shared the same name as someone else or a voter failed to get a notice that was sent in a mass mailing. these are the kinds of procedures used not only in texas but in other states and that result if a lot of people even without knowing it being suspended as voters or even canceled. >> and those people obviously feel that at least so much so that this is an injustice that there have been lawsuits filed, but there's been concern while

you are reporting your report did not find it, but in the hispanic community in texas, there's concern that group of voters have been targeted or perhaps some of this data certainly leads to a trend of more of their names being on the rolls than anything else or removed from the rolls. >> there's a lot of problems with people with all kinds of common names, and certainly in harris county and across the state hispanics share first and last names more than anglo texans. so these kind of problems can be experienced more often by people who are hispanic, but in harris county there were not more disproportionate numbers of cancellations of hispanics as compared to anglos. but that doesn't mean it's not an issue of a lot of concern, and certainly hispanics and others also use different variations of their name. so they can be, unfortunately, red flagged because, say, they use two last names on one record

and one on another record or a woman can be -- receive this kind of notice because she got divorced or married or changed her last name or uses a different last name as a professional. >> but, lisa, going to the lawsuits that are filed, what is at the heart of those lawsuits for those people who feel they are being treated beyond unfairly, that their rights are being violated perhaps? >> well, that's the issue that is of concern is whether these procedures, whether or not they're being enforced fairly or unfairly are impacting certain groups, and i think certainly in the research i did primarily in harris county, you could see that poor neighborhoods were impacted, young people, people under 30 were much more likely to be suspended or canceled regardless of their age or regardless of their ethnicity. >> as i understand it more than 1.5 million texans could be

removed from the state's list of registered voters. thank you for your time today. >> thank you, tamron. up next, jury selection in jerry sandusky's trial gets under way. we'll have the very latest from pennsylvania. but first, there's a lot going on today and here are some things we thought you should know. first lady michelle obama joined walt disney chairman as disney took a bold step. two announced a disney policy to stop airing tv ads for junk food during the programs aimed at children. the move would apply across all of disney television properties, including abc network. >> this is a major american company, a global brand, that is literally changing the way it does business so that our kids can lead healthier lives. >> the plan is part of the first lady's lets move initiative which tackles childhood obesity. a new poll shows americans

are more partisan now than they have been in a quarter century. the study of the pew research center found the partisan gap between democrats and republicans is nearly doubled since 1987. that's the year they started recording the data. and a new viral video had some fun with the president's public speeches. it's a mash up of the president singing the popular pop tune "call me baby." ♪ ♪ and all the other boys ♪ try to chase me ♪ but here's my number this country was built by working people. the economy needs manufacturing. machines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year.

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i'm martin bashir. coming up, tick tock goes the clock. we start with a total recall in wisconsin before focusing on a busy 24 hours on the campaign trail. we'll be live with mitt romney

in texas. plus, breaking news. we get reaction to the senate vote on the paycheck fairness act. now back to tamron. right now the first day of jury selection is under way in the sex abuse case of former penn state coach jerry sandusky. three jurors have been selected. sandusky arrived at the courthouse with his attorney to face 52 counts of alleged abuse against 10 boys over 15 years. in an emotional turn, a pennsylvania judge has ruled eight names of sandusky's alleged victims will be made public during the trial. nbc's michael isikoff joins me from bellefonte, pennsylvania. so the jurors that are selected, one woman, a middle aged woman, she said she had penn state football season tickets. another person a 24-year-old man. we're learning a little about these three people already selected. >> reporter: right. the most interesting development is that sandusky himself is playing an active role in jury selection. at one point his lawyer, joe

amendola, moved to strike one of these potential jurors on the grounds that she had ties to one of the witnesses in this case, mike mcqueary. apparently the woman's husband was a doctor who was in the same physician's group as mike mcqueary's father. amendola said that was too close. he wanted to strike it, and san ducky overruled his lawyer saying, let it go, i think she would be fair. it's a pretty good indication that jerry sandusky plans to play a very active role in this case. >> another person selected, a mother of two who works in retail, but, michael, a lot of people are talking about the judge a's -- judge's decision include the name of these alleged victims. why did the judge make that decision? >> reporter: well, first of all, the defense lawyers had made a somewhat novel motion on the eve of trial saying that -- offering their clients to be identified by pseudonyms, not their real names, arguing they would suffer severe embarrassment and

humiliation if they had to reveal themselves as the victims, alleged victims, of child sex abuse, and the judge shot that down saying, look, no witness who is the victim of a crime wants -- looks forward to having to testify in open court and subject themselves to cross-examination, but this is something we ask every citizen to do. it's their civic duty and motion denied. the defense -- the lawyers for those victims didn't take well to this. many of them were very upset about it, but they say it's not going to change the basic position of their victims, of their clients, that they are going to testify in this case. >> michael isikoff live for us in pennsylvania this hour. thank you. our "news nation" gut check is up next. do you think the outcome of tonight's recall race in wisconsin will have any impact on the presidential election? we'll tell you how to weigh in. but, first --

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♪ hey, i just met you ♪ and this is crazy ♪ but here's my number >> you can join the "news nation" on our twitter page. we're playing this some by carly rae jepsen because a few minutes ago i referred to the songs a "call me baby" and it's "call me maybe" and i was sent a link to the song. so much we discussed all hour and i got checked on a song. all right. time now for "news nation" gut

check. just about six hours ago before polls close in wisconsin's historic recall election, many people are wondering whether the results will predict the outcome of the presidential rate. the latest mar ququette law sch poll his governor walker six points ahead of mayor tom barrett. at the same time polls have president obama eight points ahead of mitt romney, 51% to 43%. it may seem like a contradiction but msnbc news political director chuck todd points out there are some wisconsin voters who will stick with governor walker now and the president come november. so what does your gut tell you? will the outcome in wisconsin have an impact on the presidential election? go to facebook.com/newsnation to cast your vote and take a look at what the "news nation" is saying about yesterday's gut check. after facebook announced it's working on new technology that i would allow children under the age of 13 to use the site with parental supervision, we ask should kids under 13 be able to

use facebook? 10% said yes, 90% of you said no. there you have it. and i guess our lesson of the day is "call me maybe" but not "call me baby." i'm tamron hall. don't call us at all. tomorrow, blues legend, buddy guy, you can call us about this, we'll talk to buddy guy about his new book and about singing with president obama. a good chicago man. martin bashir, a good british man, up next. e, airline credit s promise flights for 25,000 miles, but... [ man ] there's never any seats for 25,000 miles. frustrating, isn't it? but that won't happen with the capital one venture card. you can book any airline, anytime. hey, i just said that. after all, isn't traveling hard enough? ow! [ male announcer ] to get the flights you want, sign up for a venture card at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? uh, it's ok. i've played a pilot before.

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good afternoon. it's tuesday, june the 5th, and here is what's happening. ♪ total recall. >> the romney republican plan is austerity and more unemployment now and blow the lid off later. >> they're not offering anything new. they're just saying things are tough right now, and it's obama's fault. there's no