♪ hi, everyone. high noon in the east, can the in the west. alex is office. first five stories trendsing this hour. dangerous heat wave. china rising or falling? new laws take effect today across the nation, actors' big leap, swimmer michael phelps. details throughout this hour for you. but first -- right now, 2.6 million people without power and air conditioning, following this weekend's mid-atlantic çóstorms. crews restoringç power in eigh states and washington, d.c. the damage is catastrophic and admit power could be out for a week in certain places, falling trees are blamed for many of thi 13 deaths across the region. president obama is offering federal assistance and funds to local responders, and people are

spending today viewing the damage and cleaning up debris in very hot conditions. farther south, atlanta escaped storms, but lived up to its nickname, hotlanta, reaching an all-time high. with a look at today's temperatures, weather channel meteorologist ray stagich joins me now. >> thanks, richard. more heat the big weather story as we head through the south central part of the u.s. big dome of high pressure in place. large and in charge. take a look at numbers from yesterday, and in some cases, all-time record-high temperatures . over 40 daily records, at least 4 all-time records, and at home base in atlanta for the weather channel, 106 yesterday was an all-time record high. the extreme heat through monday will be continuing, this upper level high stays in place, plenty of sinking air, plenty of hot temperatures, even on sunday, no treat. 104 atlanta, 104 nashville.

104 in washington, d.c. the story on monday, still pretty steamy. upper 90s to low 100s. we'll continue to see the heat and chance for stronger storms on the north side of this ridge as we head on through the daytime hours today. strong storms in the ohio valley, as these storms continue to rumble on off toward the east and south. severe weather a threat right along the stationary front as we go on through the daytime hours áoday. so we'll continue to monitor the severe weather threat here from the expert desk and we'll keep an eye on the heat. back to you. >> ray, thank you for that. front page politics and this morning, house minority leader nancy pelosi, responding to republicans blasting the president's health care law as a new tax. >> it's a penalty. it's a penalty that comes under the tax code for the 1% perhaps of the population who may decide they are going to be free riders, but most people not affected. >> a new tax on the american people? >> no, not a tax on the american people. a penalty for free riders. >> also new today, house speaker

john boehner saying hey, not so fast. >> even though the president tried to admit for over a year that it wasn't a tax, nobody believed it, and now we know it. but it's getting in the way of employers hiring new workers. because of these increased costs of government-run healthxd insurance and the fact that if they don't, they have to provide a tax. >> president obama, asking supporters to shell out more cash. a new daily beast reportñr that describes a late-night conference call from "air force one" asking donors to send more money and send it now. and governor scott said it won't expand the medicaid program. he recently said he would follow the law if upheld by the supreme court. joining me now, john harwood, and editor of citizen janmç politics, patricia murphy and

contribute for for "newsweek" and the daily beast. john, we'll start with you let's get to the daily beast report, saying basically it obtained a tape of the president asking donors for more money and in that report, saying "we just can't be outspent 10 to 1. that's what happened in wisconsin recently and if if things continue as they have so far, i'll be the first fitting president in modern history to be outspent in his re-election campaign." what have you heard about this call? and how unusual might this be? >> well, i'd like to hear the tape, first of all. i see the daily beast says they have the tape. i would like to hear the audio to affirm it's legit. let's assume it is. the president suffering a little vertigo. he way çóoutraised as a democrac challenger, way outraised john mccain and the republicans in 2008, and the idea that as a

sitting president, he mightñr b in inferior financial position has to be difficult. that being said, there is no chance underjñ+[ñ the sun thatk obama is going to be outspent 10-1. no chance he won't have a chance to get his message out. but customary for people to beg, wheedle and push donors to get the maximum out of them. >> he might be alluding to super pac funding. and you had written about this, john, in "the new york times," and toçpatricia, the fund-raising for the campaigns is five times that amount of super pacs, so are they expecting -- is the president perhaps warning of a future shift after the nominations of super pac funding really blowing up? >> yeah, this is a big concern for democrats. they know that there are just millions and millions of dollars for republican superpacks still

on the sidelines. they want to be ready for the onslaught. saw what happened again in wisconsin and seen some superpacs start to participate in races lower down on the ballot, so they know that republicans are going to be much better financed when it comes to super pacs because of citizens united. they don't know how much it will be. the big unknown. they want to prepe for it, and they are telling donors, start loosening your wallets, we know the onslaught is coming. >> talk about that down ballot issue. >> well, once -- once republicans feel like they have gotten the top of the ticket taken care of, romney starting to raise a ton of money on his own, starting to get super pacs that support him raising tons and tons of money. starting to see super pacs starting to look at these races down ballot, just as important to republicans to win the white house is to win the senate. they want all three bases of power covered. they want to win this. and starting to get involved in

senate races, supporting republican candidates. >> one thing important to remember. mitt romney campaign doesn't want to get ahead of themselves. they have not gotten the top of the ticket taken care of. weç saw in our nbc/wall street journal poll, president obama leading among all supporters had a larger lead in battleground states and made progress in the last month, even though people saying he made mistakes, said the private sector is doing fine, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. president obama with advertising that he and his allies have been doing has, in fact, hurt mitt romney on swing states on the issue of bain capital. the top of the ticket not taken care of on the republican side. >> i'm just talking about the money. just talking about the money. >> to you, john. they are worried on the obama campaign side whether they can continue the fund-raising. when you look at poll numbers out in the battleground states, they are spending a lot of money there. >> absolutely they are spending a lot of money. high burn rate in these

campaigns, and an early burn rate for the advertising going heavier than we've seen in past elections earlier. but president obama does have one advantage which is that the number of maxed out big donors he relies on is less than mitt romney and the republican campaign. the question whether the president can fire up the base, why gay marriage embraced that he did, significant gay fund-raising could be energized by that. i don't think the president looked to the hispanic community for a large amount of fund-raising, but he may have energized that community to some degree with his recent at the poretation decision. he has to get grassroots donors energized and that's the flipside or other side of the call that was written about in the daily beast. >> since we're talking aboutç money and the down market, once the top of the ticket is solidified, the question, when is that money invested? a half a million can make big difference in some of these races. might it make a difference in

the balance of power in the senate, john? wil closely contested. highly likely republicans will hold onto the house, where they are a decent margin. may lose a few seats, but likely to maintain control. in the senate, where democrats have 53-4%ó advantage so far, more seats that play. but favorable developments in certain races like maine and north dakota, where their chances of picking up seats, indiana as well because of the primary, that knocked off richard lugar, the veteran democrat, control of the senate could be very important, especially if republicans try to use those nonfilibuster processes, we call it reconciliation, to roll back elements of obama care. they might be able to do that with a simple majority vote. getting the majority is very important this time. >> the veto on the 2/3 requirement to overturn the veto. patricia, poll numbers are tightening up right now. massachusetts a good example of that. when we look at the money, what

do you think will happen as we look forward? >> well, money is going to continue to get dumped into the senate races and the senate just as important as winning the white house is getting control of the senate back. they know they won't be able to get a bill to romney's desk if romney wins the presidency unless they win the senate races and win control of the senate. in massachusetts, a great example. dead even race.ç north dakota, like john mentioned, so, so close. a race republicans hope to pick up. democrats have a really good candida candidate. now they are going race by race, starting to see how are we going to do this. democrats want desperately to hold on to each and every one of the races. republicans in a better position, because there are more democratic seats up for contest. so democrats, a little bit back on their heels, a few favorable developments, money is i huge part of that. >> nine out of ten i think in 2010, in terms of congress members, they raised the most,

nine out of ten actually won with the largest amount raised in those races. an important consideration. patrici patricia, john, thank you, have a great sunday. >> thank you. more now on the cleanup following a weekend of vicious weather. residents assessing the damage and cleaning up toppled trees and debris. mike seidel live in washington, d.c. it was a hot one yesterday, mike. >>ist a hot one right now, richard. cleanup under way. another day from the midwest to the mid-atlantic. still over 2.5 million customers without power here in the d.c./baltimore area alone. 950,000 customers on a day where we'll hit 100 degrees. this is why. we had the fdoratio, knocking down hundreds of trees. biggest, baddest, oldest tree we could find in d.c. this is an oak tree, you can notice the leaves moving a bit,

look at the size of the root ball. i haveç covered a lot of storm. this is about a 12-foot root ball. more importantly, it took down the power lines, transformers, normally aren't that color. a light gray, so there was some kind of fire activity around the transformers, and follow the power lines down the street and another power pole that came down, not so much from the wind, but because it was dragged down as the weight of this big tree put its force on these power lines and it's down there. some of the homes still without power. and a big problem with the cleanup is pepco has told the fire company, fire department, don't mess with these trees if they are on power lines. that is slowing things down a bit. pepco hopes to get restoration times and days available at some point. the main power company in d.c. and the maryland suburbs, heat just goes on and on. today's high up around 100. heat index already 102 in washington. the next several days, we may

not hit 100, but we're talking about highs in the upper 90s. not only here, down south, tennessee valley, midwest, another sweltering day today for some, fourth day in a row cracking the century mark. in atlanta yesterday, all-time high at 106. aren't you glad you are in an air conditioned studio? >> yes, i am and that root ball, an amazing effect. >> look at that? >> 6'8", that thing is about twice your height. >> just a couple inches taller than willie geist. >> thank you very much. and this summer's hot and dry weather is prompting officials to snuff out a 4th of july tradition. fireworks. localç governments from utah t indiana are calling off this year's displays. officials fear a fiery rocket or sparks could ignite dry lands and spark wildfires. drought expecting nearly 3/4 of the country. tax or penalty?x÷ &h(lc% how the health care ruling has ratcheted up the rhetoric in washington.

we'll hear from two members of congress, plus mexico votes. what today's election could mean for the drug war. there and here in the u.s. every communications provider is different but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company. ♪ we link people and fortune 500 companies nationwide and around the world. and we will continue to free you to do more and focus on what matters. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze

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in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from. so now, as an engineer, i have a career that speaks to that passion. thank you, mr. davies.

president obama and the white house today out touting the benefits of the affordable care act. jack lu said this about what the court cal penalty is. >> we have cut taxes by $3,600.

in the tax care bill it cuts taxes another $4,000. the only thing ini this bill tht puts a burden on individuals to pay more is a penalty for those who can afford insurance and choose not to buy it. and to be clear, that's 1% of the population. >> now, republicans say they are determined to repeal and replace the affordable care act. joining me xdnow, marsha blackbn from tennessee. >> good to be with you. thank you. >> you released a statement on the health care laç it read this "the president has consistently told the american people that this mandate was not a tax, this decision serves as yet another example of the lack of transparency and honesty coming from this administration and it shows their willingness to lie so they can impose will on the american people." congresswoman, what is the lie? >> look at the number of taxes. you can look at those that came into play. whether it was in 2010, 2011,

2013. there are another new -- through today, we have had nine new taxes put in place. >> which --

>> in this case, congresswoman,

the cbo. >> the nonpartisan group. and this affordable care act were not to go through. the nonpartisan group evaluating the cbo. it will make sense financially. i want to draw down on what that 1% is. when we look at the number. congresswoman -- >> what we have $500 billion in new taxes, and you can go to my website, blackburn.house.gov. we have a link there pull them down, look at them. the ones that went on the books in 2010, in 2011, 2012, what will roll on to the books in 2013. you can go through all of these. there are ç10 years of new tax that are there. the supreme court ruled -- >> specific to a carrthe afford care act.

it's very clear a nonpartisan group this is beneficial to government and we look at the deficit. >> no, i would -- >> i do want t/d move on. >> well, no i want to stay with that, because the -- >> no, we need to move on. >> i'll tell you what. one last comment, congresswoman, because i want to hit a couple other points before we run out of time. >> the cbo, there was quite a bit of discussion when cbo came out with thoseñi scores in 2009. i think you remember that, but theyñi were looking at adjustmes and this cost to the states and not considering all of that cost that would be transferred to the states through this process, so there was quite a bit of debate about how accurate those numbeì% were, and i'm sure that individuals can go back and look at some of those articles. and the discussions about how cbo arrived at those numbers. >> cbo's numbers were revised

periodically throughout the last two years, also outsight groups did look at the cbo numbers. did find different numbers, but they did see savings as well, according to nonpartisan groups. >> and the issue -- >> we are going to move on, because you agreed. 4 million people are expected to not accept this plan, even though they can affordç insurae on their own. they will be the ones that will be affected. this is only about 1% of the population. so when we look at the penalty versus tax, this might indicate -- this is a very small number of individuals that will be affected by the penalty. >> you know what? we found with ten care in tennessee was this. that the program through a period of five years, quadrupled in cost, and what you saw was a program that was supposed to be the last resort.

what happened, employers chose not to offer health insurance and had you people gravitating to the program because it was basically a free program, so i would take issue with what would be the 4 million number that are you using there. and, see, that is one of the things when you begin to look at the cost and you look at whether it was tennessee, with ten care, or guaranteed issue in new jersey, what you have got are programs that come in, and you have got that public option that tries to supplant the private sector, you see cost shifting, you see delayed reimbursement to your hospitals and to your medical centers, and you are going to see a reduction in the amount that they are paid for different services, we have a democratic governor here in tennessee that came in and reshaped the ten care program here in tennessee.

>> congresswoman, we've run out of time. >> i would vary with you a little bit ofç that 4 million number, and cbo went in and said this year, already the cost of the obama care implementation had doubled. >> cbo does come up with some numbers is what you are seeing as we close. >> good to be with you. >> thank you. >> have a great afternoon congresswoman, appreciate it. number two on the first five web stories, china rising or falling? manufacturing grew in june by lowest pace in seven months. and it raises questions on beijing's efforts to prevent the world's second economy from slow sloely too quickly. china's spectacular economic growth has been largely driven by external demand. let's take a paint project from

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rethink possible. in today's "tech watch"çó making calls may be the last thing on your mind when you pick up your phone. smartphone users spend only 12 minutes talking on the phone, but spend two hours a day using the gadgets it's believable. users spend ten minutes sending text messages, 25 surfing the internet. the other time is used checking social networking sites and listening to music. time to today's list of number ones. daily beast calls boulder, colorado, the most creative city in america. top billing based on the number of high tech çstartups and green-friendly businesses.

san francisco comes in number two, thanks to a multitude of colleges, boston number three. actor woody harrellson, another achievement for his resume. sexiest vegetarian according to peta. jessica chastain hlands the honr for women. >> i wish you could really talk to me. >> you're my best friend, john. >> at the box office, "ted," the foul-mouthed raunchy teddy bear on pace to win the weekend. a 52$52.5 million take is predicted. justin bieber's "boyfriend" tops the billboard's album chart. those are your number ones. ♪

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." i'm richard lui in forxd alex witt. new today, house minority leader nancy pelosi, talking about whether the health care law will survive challenges. >> you fought in the trenches to get this thing passed. it wasn't easy. is repeal unrealistic? >> yes. >> mitt romney to republican leaders, we're going to lead the charge on this? >> i think that part is over. do we want to fight for better? we want to continue to lower costs and we built that into the affordable care act. >> joining me now, former deputy communications director for the obamaç administration and incoming traveling press secretary to the 2012 campaign, jen sochi and white house political director and cnbc

political director, sarah taylor fagan. >> good afternoon. >> certainly. the house will vote to repeal the affordable care act. that vote largely seen as symbolic. what exactly are the republicans hoping accomplish with this? >> it certainly makes the point that the way this law came about, the -- the political dealing that took place in the senate to get this passed is indicative of zhao how unpopular it is across the country and so this is another way for republicans to make that point. and to keep this debate alive in this election and we heard what the supreme court said on thursday, and ultately, if republicans have the hope of getting this law repealed or replaced with something else, it's going to have to be done at the ballot box this november. >> sarah, 30 times at least it's been voted upon by the house, either parts of it or elements of it, how many more times might

we see this? >> i think this issue had gone away from the public debate here in recent months, in part because the president didn't want to talk about it because it was so unpopular, and so the house has an opportunity again to bring it up, and after there has been significant debate here, post the supreme court ruling, have an opportunity r people and some conservative democrats to go backç on the record on the issue. >> let's talk about the unpopularity. jen, we have the poll from "usa today," taken right after the ruling, and it shows that 52% of americans want to either repeal the law entirely or repeal parts of that law. so what should the president do here at this moment? should he try to resell the affordable care act or leave it alone moving forward? >> here is what we know as a fact, millions have been helped by the affordable care act already. millions more helped in the future. 3.1 million young people have

health coverage right now because the health care act. lots of pieces of the law are still being implemented. we want to focus on the implementation so pieces can be put into place as the law is meant to do the more people get to know and learn about the affordable care act and benefits, the more they like it it's a process we'll be undergoing several months. >> jen, what should the president do then? try to resell it or leave it alone? >> well, the president is going to be talking about the affordable care act and the benefits to people, including young people who are covered. millions who have benefited from deductions because of closing the doughnut hole and the 129 million people who have preexisting conditions who will be covered in the next couple of years. he'll be talking about that out on the campaign trail at events, and it will take a little bit of time for people to understand and appreciate all the pieces of this law, the president said earlier this week, he didn't put in this in place, because he

knew it was the bestç politics. it's the right thing to do to cover people that weren't being covered. and make sure small and large businesses that were suffering from large costs much health care are helped through the process. >> and he will continue to beat that drum. and i want to play a short comment that was made right after the opinion came down from the supreme court. listen to this.ñi >> there's only one candidate, gore governor romney, who has committed that he will repeal the obama care tax increase. >> when we hear that from louisiana governor bobby jindal. does mitt romney and his allies benefit from raising the obama care spectre? it doesn't seem like it's a good issue. >> i disagree. you see already since thursday, romney raised close to $5 million on the internet, due to impassioned activists who are more likely to get engaged,

knock on doors, put up yard signs and do all of the things necessary to win an election, this issue has really energized conservatives and really coleased them around governor romney. >> at a certain point, does it make sense for him to say, tearing down this legacy of president obama's -- tearing down his own legacy, and, therefore, he should probably move off this, after he is able to maximize the fund-raising, $4.6 million there. >> yeah, i think because there is so much energy, because this issue when it is put in place at a federal level,d!=1e differe than what governor romney did in massachusetts, that r@ ly this is a -- a rallying cry for people who don't like this law, believe it is an unfunded mandate. it has now been deemed a tax, which is what conservatives thought all along. >> mr. romney will have to move

off of this. >> this there are a number of issues that this election be decided on. economy will be central. >> that makes sense. >> there are a number of issues. >> the 4.6 million, big boost in one day. the president according to the daily beast and we talked about this earlier, had a call with donors, and he had said, we cannot be outspent 10-1. raising wisconsin as an example, and then he said, if things continue as they go so far, i'll be the first sitting president in modern history to be outspent in his re-election campaign. this is not the first time the president has asked for money. but at what point will this issue explode even further when it comes to fund-raising? what does this tell about the president's concerns, even after the health care ruling and what is perceived as a win for him? >> you saw the obama campaign confirm they outraised mitt romney during that period. it's a political campaign. the obama campaign is completely

prepared to be outraised, we expect that to happen. but at the same time, we need every dollar, we need every volunteer and every person who is going to support the president be out there and support the president. we're at a pivotal time. he's going to remind people of to play a part in the process. that's ñrfund-raising, but also volunteering, calling your neighbor, doing everything that's important in a campaign. >> jen and sarah, we'll see big numbers this year certainly. we may rupp on out of space. >> thank you. >> have a great afternoon. >> right now, people from texas and arizona are keeping an eye on an election they cannot vote on. millions in mexico, voting for the next president. and the potential results have u.s. officials concerned. four candidates are vowing for the seat of felipe calderon. how are things going in mexico city today?

who appears to be in the lead there today? >> hi, richard. as tens of thousands of mexicans go to the polls, they are being watched closely by hundreds of election monitors from around the world. this is bag day here. a big turnout. and at some of the polling places in mexico we have seen lines that are blocks long. leading in the polls, in the presidential race, is 45-year-old enrique pena nueto. he is from the pre, they led mexico until they were voted out in 2000 among widespread allegations against corruption. pena says pre is the party to reduce the horrific violence seen inç certain parts of mexi now. some people read this as mexico

intending to lessen its focus on the controversial drug war which caused 55,000 lives. >> mark potter from one of the largest cities in the world, if not the largest, mexico city for us today.jf thank you so much. the fight over franking and a documentary going after a new man to bring it to new york. the director of "gasland" is next. . but they don't know it yet. they will. it's a steakover! the steak is excellent. very tender... melts in your mouth... so delicious... tonight you're eating walmart steak. what? it's good steak. two thumbs up. look, i ate all of mine. it matches any good steak house if not better. walmart choice premium steak in the black package... it's 100% money back guaranteed. try it for your fourth of july barbeque.

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we link people and fortune 500 companies nationwide and around the world. and we will continue to free you to do more and focus on what matters. a new short film out from the director of "gasland," the documentary that took on hydraulic fracturing, the controversial method where water, sand and rock is pumped underground to release the gas trapped there. >> governor andrew cuomo says will let science, not emotion, base his decision on whether to let marcellus shale be franked. with 100,000 gas wells, his

decision could fundamentally transform new york. >> joining me now is josh fox, director of the academy award nominated documentary "gasland." thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> we picked that part of the latest movie which is called "sky is pink." "the sky is pink." the governor said he will let science decide this. you don't agree with that? >> no, i do. it focuses on industry-related science. smoking gun memos in the industry drawers that prove they have known all along, for decades that their process contaminates ground water. >> you agree with the governor's approach to this? >> if the governor pays attention to the science and not the +áju)jtjumation. >> there are others that say in this science approach really is still not the right approach. that's what i was questioning to you at the top there. >> gas drilling and fracking is an industrial process.

it is especially harmful where you have places that are needing ground water. they are telling you the sky is pink. what we found is that they hired the same pr company that the tobacco industry hired for decades to smear the idea that tobacco caused lung cancer and the gas industry had memos inñi their drawers showed well long their well casings fail at alarming rates and causes leakage of gas. >> "the sky is pink" is look the at other states that might be considering fracking. >> new york is in a moratorium. but california this is the same method message that could be made to jerry brown, pennsylvania, drilling like crazy. in 32 countries worldwide, we're exporting the technology, but the technology is fatally flawed. it leaks, contaminates ground water and the gas companies have

known about it for decades. they have spent $747 million, getting an exemption to the safe drinking water act. what's happened across the country if you pay attention to investigative reporting, people's water supplies are being contaminated across the united states and being forced to move out of houses,ç force leave properties that very have lived on for generations. >> do you expect a class action institute this? >> there are ñimany. >> people will sue the gas company and have to enter into -- >> will they effectively stop the fracking move that so many gas companies are employing at the moment. >> we have to move away from fossil fuels. fracking has opened up new reserves, marcellus shale. and we are movintz dangerously toward more dependence on fossil fuels"r >> many are saying you have to go for everything right now, because there is so little energy and immediately turning

away from fossil fuels will be difficult. >> we know renewable energy can right now. we have to phase out every single source of energy generation. we have plans to power america with natural gas for the next 30 to 40 years. >> quickly, i want to get this out there. you will do a followup. >> "gasland ii" on the way. we're releasing it at pinkskyny.com. you can also find it on victmeo and youtube. >> thank you so much, josh. >> we reached out for the governor's office for a comment, they did not return our request. alec baldwin's big leap. he tied the knot with hillrrhea thomo thomas. among those inç attendance, hi 16-year-old with ex-wife kim

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how math and science kind of makes the world work. in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from. so now, as an engineer, i have a career that speaks to that passion. thank you, mr. davies.

houseç spoker john boehner vowing to repeal the affordable care act. >> a common step by step approach that puts in place the kinds of policies that will make our health insurance system more what i'll call patient-centered, and lower cost. >> joining me now is democratic senator richard blumenthal of connecticut and former attorney general of connecticut as well. good afternoon. >> good afternoon, richard. >> you have probably been watching this. the response immediately from states, specifically gop governors, basically saying they will vow not to implement president obama's health care act. regardless of the ruling that came down on thursday. when we look at the mechanics of that, do states have the ability to do that? >> they do have the authority to

refuse, for example, to expand their medicaid coverage, but they would be making very unwise judgments, because, remember, that these medicaid expansions are essentially covered by the federal government for the first three years 100%, and the federal share diminishes to 90%, so the medicaid expansion of coverage for the most at risk patients is really a great deal for the states and they kind of would be cutting their nose off despite their face if they rejected it kwirl. likewise, insurance exchanges will reduce the cost of insurance for their employers as well as their individuals. so, again, refusing to implement the program at the state level would be very unwiseç for thei own residents and taxpayers. >> in terms of signalling to their very own residents, saying we won't take something that's freeñi for the first three year

and paying $9 out of $10, it seems like it would be a very difficult message atñr least toe put out there for respective state residents, and, you know, as part of trying to get this done, though, we just dig down a little deeper, they have to pass legislation at each state to be able to implement the law. how lengthy of a process might that be here, senator? because they have a deadline of january 1, 2014. >> very serious and important question. how quickly they will begin implementing. states like connecticut already begun. other states have joined connecticut at the forefront of this effort. it is a challenging process. first, never been done before. second, it combines an outreach to the insurance companies, enlisting and engaging them. there may need to be some flexibility in the program, but they need to begin right away, so i think responsible governor in this position will begin the

implementation process, even if they thevsh8óiosioózó may be a part of some of them there will be an effort to repeal it and ultimately repeal will not work, because i think the american people really do want us to move on to address the economy, and job creation, and reducing the cost of health care, a real challenge right now, maybe the main challenge in the health care system, bring down the cost, raise the quality, end the fragmentationç and the maze th most people endure when they go through the health care system. one out of every seniors that go throughñr the medicare program suffers some kind of medical are error that costs us billions and billions of dollars. the american people don't wantñ us to rebattle and relitigate. they want us to move on. >> thank you for letting us rely on your experience as state attorney general experience. i want to move on this is a bit of sound from tennessee republican senator marsha

blackburn. >> this wasn't a tax. remember all of the argument we went through and the discussion whether we were in committee with the bill, whether we were debating it on the floor? it was this isn't a tax, this isn't going to be a tax. all we're going to do is penalize you if you don't take an action. >> is it a tax? >> it is really not a tax. i know the supreme court has said it is one. it's a penalty in essence for failing to buy insurance. but regardless of the label, my hope is that we recognize that only 1% of the whole population will be affected by this penalty or tax, whatever you want to call it. >> the 4 million people we've been talking about so far. senator blumenthal, thank you for your time. >> thank you. swimmer michael phelps coming in first again. he and ryan lochte, their mostñ

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more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now, save $600 on this maytag french door refrigerator, just $1,598. and good day. i'm richard çlui. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." what's happening this hour. the fight over the affordable care act. >> the fact that 1% pay the penalty in massachusetts tells you a great deal. this was a plan that governor romney supported, it's something that i think he would have been proud of. a model at the federal level and congressional budget office looked at, said it would have the same impact. time to get over the debate and implement the law. >> all right. mike viqueira live with more. we've been looking at this after

thursday's victory for the white house. how will they pivot off of it going into the new week? >> it's funny, jack lu on the one hand says we need to get past this on the one hand and certainly the obama campaign would like to do that on the other hand, getting stick in there to governor romney, look at what governor romney did when he was the governor of massachusetts. the individual mandate. video clip they pass around of governor romney endorsing exactly what was so controversial and republicans fought so hard for to repeal just that. the individual mandate.ñi not only is mitt romney now promising to repeal it on his first day of office if he does end up occupying this building behind me, congressional leaders will vote on it first thing when they get back from the july 4th recess. they voted on it in the house of representatives. all sides now, even governors, republican governors, rick scott, scott walker, and today

bobby jindal said they will not implement key provisions. that's the k they will simply ignore it for the time being. they think as a political calculations if they enact some of these things, they will provide a disincentive for people to fight against it. john boehner said about his plans to repeal about the obama health care law. >> this has to be ripped out by its roots. this is government taking over the entire health insurance industry. the american people do not want to get on this path. they don't want the government telling them what kind of insurance policy they have to buy and how much they will have to pay for it. if you don't like it, we're going to tax you. >> the debate rages on at least until friday many you know what happens then. the new jobs numbers for june come out. >> aall like watching those. always something to talk about. mike viqueira, thank you so

much. joining me now rachel smoelken and dave weigl. rachel, in your paper, you report there is a handful of republican governors who will resist implementing the health care law. political listing, christie, nikki haley, bobby jindal, scott walker and rick scott. we know from the law they cannot reject the implementation of the affordable care act, so what is theç political gain here? is this all really on the state level? is it really down ballot this argument will be made? >> this is really act of defiance we're seeing by some republican governors. not all of them, but certainly high profile governors in the republican party say they simply aren't going to put exchanges in place. the obama administration countering, we're moving forward with this law.

this is an election year gambit. we have an election coming up. now that the supreme court has ruled, we'll wait for the election and see if mitt romney is the president as of november, coming in in january, we'll wait and see what happens then. >> dave, what you do you think? >> i think they are getting external pressure from the tea party at large, conservative donors and conservative interests who thought the decision would go another way. trying to bide more time. the weakness with them making this argument and the weakness with them delaying is what the white house was talking about. an exkrugsiating thing to go through, and you don't want to fight about health care much more than we've already fought about it. when mitt romney talks about repealing it his first day in office, let's think about how congress work. if congress is spending its first months of relitigating the health care fight instead of job

creation, that's excruciating. this is not what voters want to be hearing about at the moment. >> what will we need hear about this? chuck todd says a week, maybe ten days, and we'll probably move off of this. >> yeah, i -- oh, sorry. >> go ahead, dave. yes, i think we will get -- when the jobs numbers will make us pivot. mitt romney has the word jobs tattooed on his forehead and wants to get back to that. >> that's the winning message for republicans. rachel, what's your thought? >> both campaigns want to talk about jobs. this election, about jobs and the economy. we'll hear about health care as it relates to overall messages. mitt romney, talking about federal overreach. president obama doing too much with the federal government and use health care with that message. president obama underscores his efforts to help the middle class and he will use health care as

it relate to that not talking about the individual mandate parts that aren't so popular, but much more popular provisions, like keeping young people on their insurance, to underline how much president obama will try to help middle class americans. >> many questions that came out on thursday. one of the big questions what is is is next for the supreme court? has it swung one way or another? are we in a gray space where it's no longer judged in those terms? >> this is still a very conservative court. roberts court is conservative. whatever heart palpation that liberals thought about roberts this week, they'll forget them when maybe affirmative actiooç comes up next year, when any campaign financing thing comes in in the next court. conservatives have realized roberts, by rescuing the act on -- with the congress' taxing power, instead of expanding the

definition of the commerce clause, a very conservative thing to do. it will give conservatives more maneuverability, the next time something ambitious comes up in the congress. hard to go through other programs that might get struck down. one thing i'm interested in. the way he's defined it, with social security privatization pobl? that people could put money in stock market accounts. generally by most definitions, this was a conservative decision. >> when you look at this, rachel, do you believe the supreme court has gone through a bit of a change, a switch, or i was asking earlier today here, we can't look at it in the same terms, especially when we look at what chief justice roberts and justice kennedy. >> a legacy defining moment for the chief justice. everyone expected uó5 to go on way, the went the other way. siding with liberals on a 5-4 decision. we have not seen that from

before. that does not mean he's suddenly a liberal justice. we have a lot of big cases coming down the pipeline that the court will face. affirmative action, a gay rights case, a gay marriage. he we won't see a whole new >> and another issue, which we were just talking about in the last hour> right. this is something that republicans are very good on getting message about. not something that's entirely new. look back at 2010 at ads against the vulnerableable democrats, they pointed out that if you didn't pay, you have to pay a tax, they prefer to say it as a $5 billion tax increase. they prefer to talk about a $5 billion medicare cut. that hasn't changed. they have dealt with this very well. americans with boss pyrite, rnc,

romney campaign, every part of the giant pratt us get on that message. a consolation prize message. able to hit barack obama on taxes anyway, but they can't say he did something unconstitutional. >> rachel, last word to you quickly. >> this was certainly the consolation prize that the chief justice threw to republicans and conservatives. quickly trying to jump on the tax piece of the argument. bottomline, president's signature legislative achievement was upheld by the supreme court. >> keep cool out there. thank you. >> thank you. coming up, president obama works about the possibility of making history in november by being outspent. what he's doing to prevents that. > storm weary residents learn power outages could remain another week. 2.5 million people without electricity in eight states and washington, d.c. power companies say workers are making progress, but slowly

there. residents and officials are fallen trees and limbs responsible for many of the 13 deaths and 20 injuries. stranded amtrak passengers on the move again. buses pulled into cincinnati this morning after picking up more than 200 passengers in west virginia. their train spent 20 hours at a station, because storm debris blocked the railway. passengers said the delay proved frustrating. >> i thought i would be there like, you know, ten hours, 15 hours, but it ended up being almost three days. >> we always thought about taking a train ride, and decided this was a good time to try it. i would mark that off my bucket list now and i don't know that i'll do it again. >> despite the troubles, the train did have xdlights, air conditioning, and food. up next, the vote south of the border. what's at stake for the u.s. in

today's presidential election and mexico? you're watching "weekends with alex witt." you do a lot of kayakingno. whoooa i'm in a river. what are some good kayaking words? like...rapids? look, i'm going through the rapids. ok. i'll take it. new offers in new places so you can try new things. sync your american express card with facebook, foursquare, and twitter to find savings. that's the membership effect of american express. but why doesn't it last? well, plaque quickly starts to grow back. [ dr. rahmany ] introducing crest pro-health clinical rinse. it actually keeps your teeth 91% clean of plaque even at 2 months after a dental visit. new crest pro-health clinical rinse.

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lower gas prices getting people on the road. all travel well for july 4th. stockton, california, the biggest u.s. city to file for ç bankruptcy. the city owes nearly $1 billion in long-term debt.

creditors seized city hall earlier this year. the city laid off police and firefighters, prompting officials to say public safety at a crisis level. joining me now is economic reporter, matthew deboyd. boy, sounds really tough out there what led to the situation in stockton, california. >> hi, ñirichard. what happened was stockton really wanted to capitalize on the housing boom in t( early 2000s. very near san francisco. it wanted to become a bedroom community for the san francisco bay area, and they really just overbuilt, took on too much debt and got completely destroyed by the housing down turn and the financial crisis, and now are unable to meet their obligations, so they are going with -- >> is there something they could have done negotiate the get at an earlier time? >> they kept layering it on, layering it on, layering it on. the irony, stockton is starting to turn around a bit.

the market, the housing market is starting to turn around marginally. the second largest region in terms of foreclosures. high unemployment rate. starting to see light at the end of the tunnel in stockton. good times have come back and they have fixed the debt problem. it looks pretty katcataclysmic paper. but trying to close a shortfall. maybe they could have managed if they weren't obliterated by the housing crisis and financial crisis. >> what about the state of california? any talk about getting bailed out? >> you know, what reallyç happened was they -- they passed a law that put stockton into something called mediation prior to the bankruptcy, and this was viewed as you away for municipality toçó work things o with creditors. the good thing for stockton, the way this works out, they have done what you call in bankruptcy, a prepack. you know, talked with a bunch of creditors, a third of them

agreed to new terms. >> but not enough. >> not enough, exactly. >> the biggest u.s. city to ever file for bankruptcy. what might this mean to other cities across the country? >> it depends. could be a good thing, could be a bad thing. the last city, viello, california, they only had 50 million in debt. not a billion dollars like stockton. you don't want another situation where the bankruptcy goes on and on and it's a terrible thing, and what they want to have a is a quicker, in and out sort of deal. and that's the game plan for stockton at this point. >> okay, also northern california. matthew deboyd, thank you very much. >> my pleasure. a new month and new laws. what will happen in vegas, when no one claims a winning jacket pot. you are watching "weekends with alex witt." [ valeda ] since the very beginning,

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today, july 1st. new and unusual state laws in effect across the country. for example, if you're a fan of goose liver pate, or foie gras as it's called, you won'tç fin it in california. as of today, restaurants no longer serve it, because it violates an animal cruelty law. in illinois, if you throw up in a cab, the driver can now charge you $50 for the cleanup. and in kentucky, any pow or missing in action flag displayed by a public institution has to be made in the u.s. in virginia, a concealed handgun permit is a valid form of voter i.d. in vegas, unclaimed casino winnings will get split between the state and the casino. 75/25.

right now, people from texas and arizona are keeping an eye on an election they cannot vote on. millions in mexico are voting for their next president, and the potential results have u.s. officials concerns. the result of the vote will lead to changes in how mexico deals with drugs and the cartels. to help us understand what this means north of the border, jose dias ballarte from telemundo, on the phone from mexico city. mi ñiamigo. >> muy bien, ricardo. it's expected 60 million people will come out to vote today. largest election this country has ever held. and you can see huge lines across this country, people waiting patiently for their opportunity to vote today. >> jose, talk about texas. talk about the border states and what this means for the united states. because we've had six months of

an intense drug war south of the border that bled over here and >> absolutely. as you know, richard, almost 60,000 people have been killed here in mexico as a consequence of the war that has been carried out against these narco cartels. and, you know, the fact of the matter is, it's been a fascinating thing to see these past three months of presidential campaigns in mexico, where very little of the air space has been used to talk about what these four presidential candidates, if they win, would do about the war against drugs. >> hmm. >> 65,000 to 50,000 deaths in the last six years. what this means for the united states, depending on who wins the presidency tonight, there could be a different focus on how to deal with the cartels. >> how come it has not taken up much of the debate there? >> because there are so many poor in this country.

the economy, whereas it is growing, at a very feeble rate, really doesn't help millions and )mujz really are living on a le day-to-day existence level. the fact of the matter is what i think we in the united states with should be concerned about are certainly keeping our eyes out for, what happens if the next presidential candidate. the person who wins the presidency, says, you know what? something you hear over and over again here among the intelç l intellegencia, let's make it ñi legal. why should we deal with the blood quotient when it's americans demanding the drug, let them get it. >> of the four candidates who is seen as having the best

policies, the best platform for the united states in the view of the united states? we're hearing that the candidate from the party called pre. >> yes. the candidate of the pre party is expected to win today, pena is he representing the party that for 71 years was in power until the year 2000, but he has been pretty pro american, as has the ruling party. the gentleman in close second place, that's a different story. is he much less, you know, pro-u.s., and he claims that he won the presidency six years ago and it was robbed. let's see what happens today. >> jose diaz balart. thank you so much. we appreciate your time. >> gracias, ricardo.

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educators improve student success in math and science. let's shoot for the stars. let's invest in our teachers and inspire our students. let's solve this. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." i'm richard liu in for alex witt. crews are working to restore power to more than ç2.6 millio customers. power outages could last for days. the deadly wildfire near colorado springs, colorado, 45% contained and 2/3çó of evacuees returned to return home. two chimpanzees mauled a student at theñi renowned jane good a goodall institute.

andrew overly was dragged about a half a mile. for the first time since last year's earthquake, a nuclear reactor went back online. it came amid protesters outside the plant. in china, a celebration today marking the 15th anniversary of hong kong's return to chinese rule. after the event, a heckler interrupted the swearing in of hong kong's new executive. the fast five headlines. more reaction to the supreme court's decision to uphold the affordable health care act. a hot topic on "meet the press" where howard dean and bobby jindal debated legitimacy. take a listen. >> all the economic stuff is hocus-pocus. massachusetts is doing very well economically, relative to other states. so all of this stuff about it's going to bankrupt the state, mitt romney is the one that showed this could be done for the whole country. i don't get this at all, why are we having this fight? >> the court did something that i disagree with. they are eroding our freedoms. they are more honest than the

prerkdent. they called it what it was. a huge increase in tax activity. >> in massachusetts there are very few people who actually had to pay. most people got health insurance, that's a fact, isn't it? >> that's theç whole point. this is not about collecting revenue, it's about changing behavior. >> on the heels of the historic victory, president obama spending part of the weekend at camp david to mark the 4th of july holiday. he'll return to washington on tuesday. both sides analyzing the implications of thursday's ruling. many are shocked that chief justice john roberts sided with his liberal counterparts. we have two former clerks of chief justice roberts. good afternoon. >> good to be with up. >> hello. >> let's start with you, josh. you two have the rare inside track to the story. you worked with chief justice

roberts in the past. know him for his legal thinking. the big question on everyone's mind was did he flip perhaps at the last moment? josh. >> you know, it's difficult to say, richard. my own reading of the opinion is that he did not flip at the last moment, but he perhaps was taking his time to make up his mind. it looks to me, this is pure speculation, but it looks to me as if there was parallel drafting going on, justice ginsberg and the three others that joined her on the concurrence, justice kennedy and the three other justice who's joined what looked to be principally his opinion were drafting and the chief justice waiting, trying to decide which way he was going to vote. that's my own best reading. >> erin, what do you think? >> i agree with that, if you read bothç the dissents and th concurre concurre occurrence, both read as individual opinions which is unusual. >> jump into the mind of chief justice roberts for a moment.

you know him well, as does your husband. we don't. >> yes, he's -- as people have said. a great jurist, a great legal advocate before the court. he has an immense respect for the court as an institution, as well as for the elected branches. i think that -- >> how does he think? how does he approach the idea of coming up with his opinion? >> he's a very analytical justice. i think having come from practice and from the d.c. circuit, he carefully looks at a case. he is very intense about his preparation and looks at the sides very closely. >> the two of you are aware of these processes, but for those of us who have not clerked for a chief justice, when we deconstruct the process just a little bit, prior to the official vote, the judges schedule an informal meeting where they argue or debate the topic and then they vote. as we look at that,uwñi are the justices allowed to informally

talk to one another after that vote? what do they know, josh? >> they are certainly allowed to talk to one another after the vote. they do speak with one another, typically that back and forth takes written form. the justices rarely converse in person after the conference. the conference that follows the oral argument. after that point, they typically will exchange membrane raorandar types of notes. there are months çlong, ongoin conversation that happens, but it's rarely done in person. >> what might have told you about chief justice roberts' decision on this opinion, what doxd you know of him that would have made you understand that his decision would go with the liberal associates' justices? >> you have to dissect the opinion pretty closely, because on two points, the jeff justice actually goes with either six other judges on the medicate

points to find that congress overstepped its bound imposing conditions on the states. and then with the four dissenting justices on the commerce clause point. so i think have you a decision here you have to look at from several angles. >> and so what tells you, though, erin, what you know about chief justice roberts, about how he may have gotten to that point. it wasn't expected at that point. everybody saying it was not a decision that they would have thought would come down 5-4 in favor when we look at the individual mandate. >> that's correct. it was a surprising decision and from looking at the opinion, the chief invokes a doctrine of constitutional avoidance that says when questions are close, you look to a statute to see if there is a way to uphold it. that's the best way of understanding the chief's opinion. >> a look into the way that chief justice roberts thinks. two former clerks, also married, and law professors right now. thank you for spending tile with

us this weekend. >> good to be with you. >> thank you. what's next on the health care reform front? aç repeal on the law july 11st and open enrollment for uninsured americans will begin in october 2013. and starting in 2014, insurers will not be able to reject people because of preexisting conditions or charge them more because of medical problems. now from matt lauer to los angeles mayor antonio villaraigosa, you'll hear the practical joke that mohammed ali plays on matt lauer, but we start with road stories. ♪ where in the world is matt lauer? ♪ >> more than anything else does anyone else see in, they say where is the world is matt lauer? it allows me to see places i

never would have seen. never probably gone to the slopes of mt. ever rest or an oil or natural gas platform on the northern coast of scotland. >> i was in the market the other day and this guy walks up to me and he says, hi, are you the mayor? and i said yes, i am. he said -- well, i can't is a it on tv. he cussed me out. he has the right to his own opinion. you know, he feels strongly about things. >> i love riding my bike. one of my favorite things to do in terms of thinking through stuff. i find it like gives me a real -- people talk about runner's high which i never personally experienced. but i do get a biking high for sure.ç >> mohammed ali is a childhood idol. a photograph, and i called him and i said i found this great photograph, and i met him inñi w

york and i walked in with this huge picture, took it out of the frame and put it on the champ's lamp. grabbed pen and he went and i said what do you mean? not my fist. i thought i just paid a lot of money for that. i paid a lot for that thing. i said are you kidding me? and he smiled, and he said, yeah, it is. he signed it. >> the image is of a series of hand rolled native indian cigars being which have been hand rolled since the 17th century. a big fan of the one and only winston churchill, and winston churn hill, used to, as you probably know, smoke a cigar between each course. so he would have normally four or five cigars in the evening. >> it has sort of an old spanish feel to it. it's spectacular. >> well, when i said decorated this office, i didn't do all that that's been here from the beginning. they restored it.

>> my love affairñi with the spt of golf goes back to my dad. my parents were divorced when i was only 8 years old, so my weekends with my dad were enormously important to me. >> look at this baby doll. >> i mean -- are you kidding me? >> she is so adorable. >> i want her to be empathetic and compassionate and happy. andç everything else is great. >> that's my daughter, natalia, and natalia and i, that was when i was elected speaker for the second time and my daughter was upset because her brother was in the first picture on ap. so she wanted to be in the second picture. >> i will be walking her up the aisle which will be extremely painful for me. i found the whole thing very, very difficult to come to terms with. the idea of handing over my little girl, kind of tough. >> i'm a doting father, my 8-year-old daughter rolls her eyes and my son is ten, on the one day i drop him off at

school, kisses me in the car so he doesn't have to let his friends see. >> we just celebrated our 26th anniversary. >> that's her shoulder. >> what are you doing there, pal? a little pda.ñi >> sneaking a little kiss. it was us at some ball. we like that photo. >> i want to invite to you go to alex's facebook passenger and click on the office politics logo for past photos as well. the president's urgent có,z for cash, next. you're watching "weekends with alex witt." e the more you know, the better you trade. so we have ongoing webinars and interactive learning, plus, in-branch seminars at over 500 locations, where our dedicated support teams help you know more so your money can do more. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our teams have the information you want when you need it. it's another reason more investors are saying...

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there it is ! there it is ! where ? where ? it's getting away ! where is it ? it's gone. we'll find it. any day can be an adventure. that's why we got a subaru. love wherever the road takes you. wow, there it is. time for the big three and today's topics, cash calls, new swing state polls and must reads. let's bring in my big three panelist, we have jonathan alter, author of "the promise," reporter for real clear politics, eric pike and former communications director for rick

santorum, robert tranum. robert, we'll start with you. the daily beasi said it obtained a tape from president obama asking for more money from "air force one." we just can't beñoutspent 10-1. that's what happened in wisconsin. and if things continue as they have so far, i'll be the first sitting president in modern history to be outspent in his re-election campaign." is this routine? >> no. routine for politicians of all kinds to do what they call dialing for dollars. this is a moment of some peril for the obama campaign. a very interesting story that lloyd grove got from one of the donors who was on the call, they are worried about getting blown out by super pac money. they can basically match what romney raises. both probably raise in the 700 million to $800 million

category. but have you people like adeleson, literally promising to put in hundreds of millions of dollars. and right now, obama is behind, not just behind the total romney is spending, but behind just what romney himself is spending. forget the super pacs, so they are in a hole financially, and the president's main point to supporters on this call was that early money is much more helpful for their campaign than late money, it doesn't do any good to have these donors max out at $330,000, $40,000, in october. they need them to max out in july and august so they can reserve the tv time on -- in september and october. otherwise, the super pacs will buy up all the tv time. so this is about tvç time. early reservations of tv time, the president saying you've got to get us the money in order to

do this. >> there is limited amount of tv spots to be purchased, and with erin to, to echo what jonathan saying here, the obama camp did fire off a campaign e-mail, i will be outspent it was titled. we can't be outspent 10-1 and still win. what's your thought on this? the urgency, is this routine? >> if you remember in the 2008 campaign, president obama then outspent john mccain by kwutqui bit. we had the opposite situation then, where johnñi mccain was outspent and drowned out by obama. he is very worried, knowing that helped him in his last campaign. >> could this be a tactic by

obama to give the republicans a false sense of security? >> possibly. i thinkdx?jjfj a bit ironic tha the president chose not to take the matching funds in 2008 and he outspent john mccain almost 3-1 and the tables are now turned on him. that's one point. the secondlp point, and i thoug it was interesting in lloyd rose's article, the president sounds almost desperate, defeatist, and probably exasperated, asking for people to max out. a hint of desperation we haven't seen from this candidate and president for a very long time. >> talking about the money, the money being spent in the swing states, the new nbc news/marist poll showing tight races in swing states. new hampshire, tied, michigan, president obama leading, and in north carolina, the president leads by 2%. erin, to you, here. these polls done right before the health care ruling. how much might that have changed the numbers here in the states

that we're seeing? >> we'll have to see and we probably won't know for about two weeks. it takes about two weeks for big developments like this to really cycle through into some of the state and national polls. so some of the things that we're hearing from the obama campaign is that it does it does make pr obama look like a winner. you remember from his remarks on thursday that there still are ways to improve upon this it law and improve health care coverage in the united states and that was a very good message for him because it looks like he's not just doing a victory lap, he wants to keep working at it. so it's very possible that the numbers will continue to track up a little bit for him here after. >> jonathan, what's your thought on the swing states? >> i'm waiting to see, but there's real intensity that the gop got out of the decision. they raised a lot of money right after the opinion was announced and it's very good for their base mobilization. my question is how the politics will play out over the course of the fall more than the immediate

reaction in the swing states. in other words, will obama finally be able to frame his signature achievement in a way that is appealing toç voters? so far he hasn't really been able to do that but now that people are learning a little bit more about, he he might say to them, look, do you want protection against discrimination, against people with pre-existing condition, do you want that taken away? if you're a senior, do you want drug prices to go up and so forth down the line of this achievement. if he can do that, then he can turn this to his advantage. >> robert, we'll get to you on the other side. next, the big lee stay with us and we get their must reads. wa, you can't use something as abrasive as a toothpaste because it will cause scratches. as a result of those scratches, bacteria will get lodged in that denture and as they multiply in the mouth the odor can get stronger. i always advise my patients to use polident. it has specific agents in it that can kill bacteria. using polident daily,

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and we're back with the big three and their must reads. let's bring back the panel. robert, let me get your reaction to the swing state polls and then give us your must read. >> sure. there's a sub message about health care and whether or not it will be good for america or

not and the obama campaign does not want to have that conversation. they want to talk about the main message which is the economy. so i don't necessarily think that the president will be focused on health care per se and this battleground states. and now my must read. we often think about apple and mastercard and citibank and major companies being headquartered in new york city or somewhere else. that's not true. they're actually headquartered in wilmington, delaware. fascinating article in the "new york times." if you're interested in why those companies are housed in wilmington, take a look at will this article. >> tax havens. >> that's right. it's all about the economy. >> it is. erin, to you. >> in the "new york times" today, there's a great story about the supreme court and the surprising unity the nine justices have shown in most of the cases they've decided in the last term and the judicial branch is often the forgotten of our three branches until monumental decisions like the one this week come out.

so it's a good time to focus back on the supreme court. >> goodç point. mostly 9-0. >> most of the time, yes. >> jonathan, what's your must read? >> it's this fortune piece on "fast and furious." a long 8,000, 9,000 word piece that will change everything you think you know about "fast and furious." and explain why the politicians are blowing a lot of smoke on this and how the hands of the agents down there were basically tied in terms of interrupting these gun purchases because gun control opponents have made it very hard for them to enforce the law, prosecutors have made it very hard. and it really doesn't make darrell issa look very good or the so-called whistle blowers that he and cbs used to break this story. >> thank you all. >> thank, richard. >> that wraps up this edition of

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