tv MSNBC Live MSNBC July 10, 2012 8:00am-9:00am PDT
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president obama and mitt romney hit two battle ground states. taxes and the middle class as new polls showed the race for the white house is at a virtual stand still. president obama is in the air right now, heading to cedar rapids pushing his plan to extend tax cuts for those making under $250,000 a year. meanwhile mitt romney also in colorado where he will pull the town hall and both sides coming out today with surrogates, over who is the real outsourcer in
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chief. >> mitt romneys to continue for companies that ship jobs overseas. >> we will unveil a plan today in iowa on barack obama being the outsourcer in chief, taking taxpayer money. >> nbc's director is joining me live from nbc. the white house is trying to change the conversation from the poor jobs report to middle class tax cuts. how worried is the white house about outsourcing starting to dominate the conversation? >> they are not on that story. clearly what they are trying to do is have a text conversation. they believe they have two arguments they can make. they are going after mitt romney personally on his tax issues and the second part of this has to do with the idea of putting mitt romney in a position where he has stories about how he uses overseas shelters to save taxes. he is fighting to keep his own tax cut in place. that said, the one thing about
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the story when you couple it with this tax story, i do think it highlights the fact that here are things that we heard from candidate obama in 2007 and 2008. roll back the bush tax cuts and stop these tax incentives for corporations to ship jobs overseas and he accomplished neither. >> the new poll, the washington poll shows that despite the earlier than usual ads in many places and the supreme court's ruling on health care and immigration, president obama and mitt romney are deadlocked at 47%. it also shows how the vast majority made up their minds. what do those things say about this race? >> we saw this in our poll two weeks ago. there is a hardening of the two political bases and this idea that america is polarized. you are seeing it reflected in the presidential preference numbers that we see in all the
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polls where you have this between 85 and 90% of democrats sticking with obama. 85 to 90% of republicans with romney. the slice of undecided voters is so small, it makes you wonder are we talking about swing voter or talking about turn out numbers and voters that swing between voting and not voting. i think that's what all of the poll numbers are saying. we have a hardening of the arteries. we are a polarized country and it will be a 51-49 election. the question is which way will the wind blow on that one day in november. >> a hardening of the arteries. appreciate that, sir. the news always being made on the daily run down. 9:00 here on hs nbc. the word of the day on the campaign trail at least shaping up to be out sourcing. republicans stealing a page from the president's playbook. now hitting the president hard on this angle with the rnc launching this website called
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obamanomics. outsource.com. let's bring in the power panel, a reporter for "the washington post" and jimmy williams, a democratic strategist and msnbc contributor and republican strategist, also an msnbc contributor. i will start with you. the rnc chairman holding a news conference in about a half hour. he is expected to accuse the president of being dishonest on outsourcing. he started. what is profiting this new angle of attack? >> partly "the washington post" had the story about what is essentially a broken promise. to eliminate for companies that shipped jobs overseas and hasn't been able to do that. what you are seeing is a real message that romney himself has been an outsourcer in chief in those ads and they have been
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effective and there has been hammering among republicans about mitt romney's lack of a defense. now today there is a sense that republicans are finally having a defense against this charge that has been so damaging to mitt romney. in many ways he got a lifeline with these recent stories about obama's outsourcing record in the white house. >> sorry this a direct response to the bain attack ads? >> absolutely. "the washington post" highlighted that what's in president obama's ads on romney is not factually correct. you will have a lot of mud on who is doing the outsourcing, but what's important here is mitt romney and republicans are not giving the president the way to take the moral high ground. they are purchasing back and purchasing hard. this is a fight that the president can lose. >> jimmy, susan alluded to the fact of that fact check.org
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stuff and saying romney is a "corporate raider who shipped jobs to china and mexico ". are completely false or thinly supported. why not pull those ads? >> because it's politics. >> they don't have to be true? >> that's a terrible response, but it's the truth. i don't think my panelists would disagree. the best defense is offense. i can understand why they would go out and go on about how obama is the outsourcer. the senate record was clear on this issue. they are not going to talk about that or should they. the obama camp will have to defend this and he has to defend his campaign pledge and his promise to take care of this national manufacturing and job problem. he has not addressed that until a campaign election year this year. so i can see where the romney camp is going with this. they are going on offense and they think it will knock obama
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and the campaign off their stool. i'm not sure it works, but i'm not sure it doesn't work. we will see if it has legs. >> here's something the romney campaign does not like to talk about. his tax returns. those are coming on the topic of conversation for a number of folks. haley barber yesterday saying that he released more tax returns if he were mitt romney. >> should he return, release the tax returns. >> i would. should it be an issue? i don't think it amounts to diddly. >> you have haley barber saying what newt gingrich. that along with the ongoing questions about the overseas accounts and the elevators forced cars in and his beach house and ann romney's bird shirt. what can republicans do to work on this perception about mitt romney being perceived as the rich guy's rich guy? >> he is going to have to
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release the tax returns. that's going to have to happen. they don't want it to be an issue. they want a better referendum on president obama and his past 3 1/2 years in office. with that if they can be successful, they don't have to worry about the other stuff. team obama is going that way, trying to create this class warfare because they don't want to right on their record. they want to keep the heat and the president needs to deflect it. >> if mitt romney releases the tax returns, we should note he gave us an estimate of 2011. if he releases more, what might we find out about mitt romney's money? >> i don't think we know. at this point, interesting that susan is suggesting he should release more and haley barber said that and chris christie at some point said the same thing. there could be this push from republicans that he be a little bit more open with his
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financials. we don't know yet. he know he released over two dozen years or so to john mccain as he was being vetted for the vice president slot in 2008. he obviously -- somebody knows what's in those tax returns and the american people don't. their fear is this becomes a bigger story than it is. they are ignoreing it and think it will go away and it won't mean dilthddly. >> mitt romney is not violating the finance laws, but we alluded to it's not these issues individually, but collectively. the tax returns and the offshore accounts and the garages in the house. it's the narrative that all of this helps to build. >> we have been talking about mitt romney's ability to relate to common americans. regular normal americans that don't live in manhattan or near
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this building behind me. that has been something we have been talking about for over a year now. frankly he has a credibility problem when it comes to as ability to relate to people. if he has swiss bank accounts and he is putting his money in accounts in foreign countries and it's like a john grisham novel. they don't like what's in them. the bottom line is he has got to figure out a way to get these returns out and deal with the damage if there is going to be damage with them and try to make himself say look -- by the way, no one has a problem with mitt romney's wealth. ronald reagan was wealthy and the bushes were wealthy. bill clinton was not. we don't have a problem with wealthy presidents, but presidents who don't understand how it relates to people who don't have it. >> thank you so much.
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and thanks to you as well. power panel on this tuesday. appreciate you guys. president obama will be speaking live at 1:50 eastern time. he is scheduled to speak at 1:50 eastern time. the president runs a few minutes late. we will have it for you live. congress back in session right now. in case you didn't know, next hour, of course, repealing the president's health care law. they are taking it up for the 31st time. we will talk to the congressman about why the gop continues to move forward with this vote. also must be the quickest divorce deal in history. what does she know? less than two weeks after announcing the split, tom cruise katie holmes are one step away from officially being divorced. we will talk about that. ♪
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responding to critics asking why the vote in the first place? >> we announced that we are going to vote again. of course they go why? why? why? you know how they go? why? why? it really boils down to one simple word. resolve. we are resolved to get rid of the law that will ruin the best health care delivery system the world has ever seen. >> joining me now is oklahoma congressman and former chair of the national congressional committee. i will try not to use the voice that speaker boehner just used to mock us, but i want to ask
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you, why? this is the 31st time the supreme court has upheld the law. at what point does this become settled? >> it probably will be settled in the election. this is to make it crystal clear to the american people and the final decision is in their hands. once they saw this law, they didn't like it and they continued to show that. they changed the house of representatives in 2010 and they will have an opportunity to change the presidency and the senate. if they do, this law will be repeal repealed. if they don't, it will be with us for a long time. >> this is a symbolic vote? >> it's more than symbolic. we will see democrat who is voted against repeal the last time and move and join us. you will see obviously every republican in the house vote no. it makes clear what a partisan bill this is and the opposition is bipartisan. simply no republican for this legislation. >> you mentioned the only
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support for democrats. what about the supreme court? >> they said it was constitutional and justice roberts made a clear point saying that doesn't mean it's wise. it's not the court's job to defend the american people from poor decisions. i think that's true. i think he keyed it up just right and frankly somebody that believes in the democratic system, i am glad the american people will have the final say and the final responsibility as to whether or not this unpopular law continues. >> let's talk about oklahoma health care and showed that 624,000 oak home ans are uninsured right now. they said they would become eligible for medicate and they have not decided on whether to accept it just yet. what happens to the people in oklahoma if the state does not accept the expansion? >> i think if we go step by step and do the right things in washington, d.c., that allows
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associated health care plans and have medical insurance liability reform and allow companies to go and pool and insure things. we can do a lot to eat into that number. we think this particular plan will bankrupt of follow government. it's full of taxes. $500 billion rate on medicare what will happen to those people when we drain that much money out of the system just at the time that the baby boomer generation is retiring. we think there is a lot better way and the american people looked at this for three years. three years of the debate and three years since passage and we don't like this law. we would like to have it repealed. that will be a big part of the election. >> thank you so much. appreciate your time today. >> thank you. >> a little bit later we are going to get the other side. chris van holland of maryland. he will join us live at 11:30 eastern, about 12 minutes from now right here.
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there has been a lot of focus on voter id laws that are popping up in states, but the one state that could be impacted the most, pennsylvania. up to 750,000 voters possibly disenfranchised. we will talk about that and no risky business between tom cruise katie holmes when when it comes to their divorce. they have reached a deal and "people" magazine spills the details on the other side of this break. [ man ] ever year, sophia and i use the points we earn with our citi thankyou card for a relaxing vacation. ♪ sometimes, we go for a ride in the park. maybe do a little sightseeing. or, get some fresh air. but this summer, we used our thank youpoints to just hang out with a few friends in london. [ male announcer ] the citi thankyou visa card. redeem the points you've earned to travel with no restrictions. rewarding you, every step of the way. redeem the points you've earned to travel with no restrictions.
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lightning fast. that's what the speed of divorce settlement is being described as as hollywood insiders and sources close to the couple. the deal hammered out behind closed doors less than two weeks after holmes filed the papers ends their five-year marriage, but leaves a lot of questions about the cause of the split. the assistant managing editor of
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"people" magazine that covers the divorce in the latest issue. here's the thing. when you factor in the hush-hush nature along with the speed of which it was carried out, it raises two questions primarily. at least two. who gets what, and what sort of picture is painted about the relationship itself? >> who gets what, this is not a split like his split from nicole kidman. they were not together long, but there was an iron clad prenup. this was never about money. she was never looking to get the homes. she wanted one thing and one thing only. that was primary custody of suri. >> is she walking away from the property? >> she is not walk accident away. she was never entitled to it. that prenup was hard core. >> what does this say about the nature of their relationship? the speed of the split? >> just how much distance did
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exist between the two of them even before she pulled the plug. as stunned as tom was by the fact that she filed, he was aware that she was at the very least unhappy. she has been very unhappy for a very long time now. when tom and nicole split, you could look back and a year before the split, they were still making out on the red carpet. with tom katie photos, other than the first burst of being on the carpet, maybe the year after suri was born, gradually she looked more and more glum and unhappy. they have been seen together less and less. the proof is there in a lot of the pictures. >> this is tom cruise's third marriage. correct me if i'm wrong. we don't seem to hear a great deal from his previous wives about their marriages. is that because they are just that classy or are there legal
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arrangements perhaps that keep them from talking openly about what it's like being married to tom cruise. >> let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say they are classy. i don't think any lawyer would be worth his hourly rate if there were not a confidentiality clause. >> we are never going to know precisely what happened. >> do we know between tom and nicole? it has been over ten years. >> what's next for katie holmes? >> katie is going to be focussing on her career now. one of the things she felt most. one of the main sources of satisfaction with her life. how happy she was. she absolutely wants her career to take a front seat again. >> assistant managing editor of "people" magazine, thank you for your time. campaigning in colorado with a twist. mitt romney will do something he has not done in two months. we will tell you about that. parents get into a fight in a little league game not because
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of anything the players did though. wait until you hear what touched this off. first, britain's queen becoming the olympic torch just over an hour ago. there she is. fancy hat and all. the queen watches a name hand over between two torchbearers. day 53 of the relay and that means 17 days to go until the opening ceremony. going for gold. hope solo of course. the u.s. women's soccer going recently and tested positive for a banned substance and she is still going to london with a warning from the u.s. anti-doping agency. she took medication prescribed by the doctor and did not know it contained the substance. you know, those farmers, those foragers, those fishermen.... for me, it's really about building this extraordinary community. american express is passionate about the same thing.
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extend the bush tax cuts. they took to the airwaves telling the john fredericks radio show small businesses would suffer. >> another kick in the gut to the middle class in america. we just saw a terrible jobs report just last week and now to add a higher tax on the job creators and on small business is about the worst thing i can imagine to do if you want to create jobs. >> nbc's garrett hang is in grand junction with the candidate. is romney trying to focus on taxes? he is on the defensive over this outsourcing. what is he saying about that today? >> we haven't heard much from him yet today. we are about to have a town hall event. you never know what the voters will bring up. talks to the folks, we expect to hear more about a tax issue in particular. this is something that is on a lot of folks's mines.
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they try to defend this this on the sax that file as individuals rather than try to defend the key tax breaks for folk who is make a lot of money. most small businesses file as individuals to increase taxes on them would hurt job growth. it's the singular issue that romney is most comfortable talking about with the small business job creation. >> he will be staying on the tax message. >> they will try. there is a crowd here expected to be fairly friendly. we are in a county that john mccain won. about 54% with a heavy mormon population. you will get questions that will be on message. it will be a good spot. worry worry thank you, sir. >> my pleasure. >> right now, republicans are launching an assault against president obama ahead of his arrival in iowa with the six electoral votes. the head is holding a news conference to launch this
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website. obamanomics outsource. republicans are turning the tables and calling the president the outsourcer in chief after obama's recent accusations against mitt romney. joining me now, national press secretary, ben, good afternoon to you. good morning, i should say. >> thanks for having me. >> let me get reaction to the new claims by the romney campaign. >> the republicans are trying to make a lot of noise to distract from the fact that mitt romney was an outsourcing pioneer who invested in companies that shipped jobs and created them in india and china. there is a big difference. the president fought to end tax breaks for those who ship jobs overaccess. mitt romney's plan would eliminate taxes on profits that companies bring back to the united states creating an incentive to create jobs abroad. >> here fought to end the tax breaks, but the president hasn't been successful in that fight. >> republicans held it up, but let's take a look at the rest of
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the record. he doubled our trade enforcement actions against china. look at one action on chinese tires saved 1200 jobs. mitt romney called it bat for our nation and our workers. they believed it was essential to believe that workers can compete on an even playing field. >> here stopped short of culling china a currency manipulator. >> here publicly and privately suppressed china and they have done so and he will continue to do. >> let's talk about the out sourcing. fact check.org said two of your ads call romney an out sourcer or not. not well-supported that they said after reviewing numerous corporate filings with the securities and exchange commissions, company histories and press releases and the evidence offered by the obama and romney campaigns, we found no evidence to support the claim that romney while he was running bain capital shipped american
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jobs overseas. where did the obama campaign get its facts? >> fact check.org does not read "the washington post." let's look at specific companies. a stream international took a look at potential sites where they can open a call center and determined the unemployment rate was too low and they pursued cheaper labor costs wherever they can find them and opened the call center in india. the media eliminated jobs in california and washington state as it was creating them in china. these were companies on the frontline of the trends of outsourcing american jobs. mitt mitt romney invested in them and acquired them, but personally profited from them. >> the claim is that this happened while he was at bain, not after he left. >> correct. through 2001 while he said he was gone, mitt romney remained sole owner and remained on the management committee.
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he was in fact certainly involved in these decisions. he signed sec documents that may clear that he was on the management committee. >> let's talk about what everyone else is talking about. the fund-raising numbers for you guys. showing that the romney campaign raised 35 million more than your candidate last month and the campaign out with a new e-mail to support. we just got our hands on it. here's just a snippet. this is from the president. we can win a race in which the other side spends more than we do, but not this much more. how are you guys going to make up the difference? >> we anticipated that special interest would mobilize to give unlimited amounts and in an attempt to defeat the millionaires. the koch want to maintain their subsidies. the way we counter this is growing the donor base. americans have contributed to this campaign that goes directly into the organization we are
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building on the ground. the republicans bet they can win on the air with special interest funding negative super pacs and our bet is we can win it on the ground. neighbors talking to neighbors. >> sorry the fund-raising gap, is this a testament to lack of enthusiasm in the candidate or is there more at work here? >> take a look at the latest in enthusiasm gap numbers. cnn poll out recently and the democrat his a 10-point margin in enthusiasm. romney supporters are less supportive of romney than they have been in past republican nominees. we have more donors to our organization and far bigger organization with more volunteers on the ground where they are getting their money is from the special interest. they want to protect their tax breaks and subsidies and special deals. >> they put out a new ad calling on mitt romney to release more tax returns. what do you think are in those
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returns? >> mitt romney has been the most creative candidate for president since richard nixon. he disclosed year and won't say why he opened a corporation offshore in bermuda and why he keeps his finances offshore in the cayman islands and why he has a swiss bank account. is to avoid paying taxes and the other is to hedge against the dollar. there questions about whether he closed it in the amnesty period. we can clear up the answers to these questions by releasing additional returns. this is something that rem da democrats and republicans have done for years. his own father released 12 years. romney has an obligation to open up with the american people. >> national press secretary, thank you. >> thanks for having me. >> taking aim at president obama's health care law. a half hour, the house set to
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begin debate with new efforts to repeal the law with the vote expected tomorrow, it will be the house's 31st effort to either defund or repeal the affordable care act. two republican-led committees are holding hearings on the law today. here's house speaker boehner this past hour. >> this law is driving up the cost of healing care and making it harder for small business to hire people. this is not what the american people want. they want to be empowered to make the decisions and they don't want the government involved in this. we will continue to work to repeal this. >> democratic congressman from maryland, congressman, good morning to you. the latest in an effort to repeal health care once again will be doa in the senate. what does it mean for the overall tone there in d.c.? >> as you said, here we go
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again. this is a total waste of taxpayer dollars and this will now be the 31st time that republicans have taken this up in the house going nowhere in the senate. at the same time a bill that has gotten no vote here in the house is the president's jobs initiative and the plan that was presented to the house of accept rentatives and last september and while we have taken 31 votes to repeal patient protections and members of congress have for themselves and want to deny constit we constituen constituents. >> let's talk about the impact it will have potentially on states. rick perry yesterday blaming the latest -- he is the latest to say he wouldn't implement the state's program required under the law including state medicate programs. what can the federal government do if other states say they are
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not going to implement this law? >> a couple of things, craig. with respect to the exchanges, if states decide to deny their people the opportunity to go into health care super markets very much like members of congress has, if they deny the opportunity, they can set it up which would be ironic for the governor who is care so much about state rights. under the bill, they would relinquish that responsibility to the federal government on the exchanges. with respect to medicaid, it's important to understand that every state right now participates in medicaid where the current average is $6 of federal money for every $4 of state money. that's the current medicaid program. under obama care, the match for the states is much better. for five years it's 100%. after that it goes to $9 in
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federal money for every $1 of state money. governors who are current lie taking a much lower federal match would be saying they want to deny millions of their people health care when the federal government and folks from other states, taxpayers will be getting the benefit and not the taxpayers in their states. >> let's talk about the house republicans planning to vote on permanently extending all of the tax cuts yesterday. the president saying he wants to limit those cuts to folks making $250,000 or less. do you support the president's $250,000 threshold or do you align yourself with some of your other democratic colleague who is say it should be higher? >> i support the president's proposal. what the president proposed is simply to return to the clinton-era tax levels or the top 2% of income earners in the united states. people making over $250,000.
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we present it to the republicans the idea of saying if you are making $1 million a year and under, you would be able to keep your tax relief. they rejected that. there is no reason not to return to where we were in the clinton years when the economy was booming. we created 20 million jobs this. republican nit that asking the highest earners to contribute more to reducing the deficit will hurt the economy has been disproved by reality. we lived that reality for eight years under the bush administration by the end of that eight-year period, we had lost net private sector jobs. that theory is just another excuse for tax policies that help the very wealthy people like mitt romney, not surprised that mitt romney loves the idea of continuing the bush tax cut for the very wealthy. he does very well under those policies. >> congressman, thank you. >> you're welcome. >> here's a look at the other
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stories topping the news. the death toll from the vicious heat wave that gripped the country stands at 96, including at least in st. louis alone. we are learning about two more deaths in virginia. corn prices are soring to new highs amid fear that is the midwest drought could be one of the harshest in decades. they are up 31 cents yesterday alone. check out this scary video from new jersey. this is a 17-year-old jumping from a chair lift. she was so afraid she would get struck by lightning. >> i was okay, broken leg, broken arm, broken ankle. whatever. that completely beats getting struck by lightning. my friend was like don't cry. we are going to be okay. i was like we are on a metal death trap. >> surprisingly, melanie is not seriously hurt. check out this. take a look at this video.
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this is a baseball brawl between a group of little league parents in georgia. officials say it may have started over one parent playing music too loud and disturbing the other parents. fortunately no one was seriously hurt. our current dividend tax rate will expire this year, sending taxes through the roof and hindering economic recovery. the consequences? millions of americans will see their taxes on dividend income spike, slowing investment in u.s. companies and jeopardizing development in energy projects that create american jobs. ask congress to stop a dividend tax hike -- for all of us.
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begins with back pain and a choice. take advil, and maybe have to take up to four in a day. or take aleve, which can relieve pain all day with just two pills. good eye. >> per a lot of debate about pennsylvania's voter id law. that could get the state's 8.2 million voters and 9.2% don't have the id needed to vote in the upcoming election. a civil rights attorney and to director of the advancement project. let's start with the argument that a lot of folks make. a lost folks say why don't they have a driver's license or a government-issued id? what's the big deal? what do i say to those folks? >> this is an interesting story
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in pennsylvania. the declaration of independence was signed here saying we were all created equal, but pennsylvania passed a law that makes us anything but equal. in fact there about 760,000 already registered voter who is don't have id. in fact what's important is that the reason that this was done was for partisan gain. the reason was that obama only won by 650,000 idea $750,000 do not have id. >> let's talk about why folks don't have ids. when people hear that, they don't understand. if you live in washington, d.c. or new york or chicago and you live within a few blocks of work, you might not need a driver's license. >> that's right. you don't need a driver's license. you get on the train or the bus. in fact for many people it's a cross factor of paying for the
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underlying documents like the birth certificate. we have a plaintiff in our case going to trial. 93-year-old miss applewhite. she doesn't have an id because she couldn't get her birth certificate. she was able to get the birth certificate, but now she can't get the id because the birth certificate doesn't match her adopted name. there lots of reasons why people can't get this id. the bottom line is why should this stand in the way of participation in our democracy. >> we will have to leave it there. as always, we will continue to follow this story. we'll be right back. between taking insulin and testing my blood sugar... is this part of your life? freestyle lite test strips? why, are they any... beep! wow, that hardly needs any blood! yeah... and the unique zipwik tab targets the blood and pulls it in. so easy. freestyle lite needs just a third the blood of onetouch ultra. really? yep, which is great for people who use insulin and test a lot. max and i are gonna run out and get them right now.
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president obama will make his case for another four years in iowa today, reaching out to what estimates show are about 142,000 persuadable voters who will swing the election in that state. polls show the president deadlocked with mitt romney for the hawkeye state's six electoral votes. we should note the president won iowa four years ago.
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joined by sue dvorski, chair of the iowa democratic party. good morning to you. 142,500 voters. that's what real clear politics estimates the number of voters who will probably decide the election in that state. how do you win those independent voters? >> good morning, craig. thanks for having us on. you know, the way we are going to win those persuadable voters is with the message. i think that the president is here in cedar rapids to a sellout crowd, very excited to see him, to talk about his vision for the middle class, for growing an economy from the middle out, not from the top down, and that's a message that's going to resonate with iowa voters. >> unemployment rate in your state far below the national average. national average about 8.2%. in iowa, just over 5%. why is isn't the president doing better there in most polls? >> well, i think that we have
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been -- we have been bombarded because of our first in the nation status which is a remarkable privilege but also a huge responsibility, we have been pounded here for a year and a half with, you know, a really, a set of facts and i'll put sarcastic quotes around that. we have just been being pounded so we have continued twoshg on the organization and fighting back against disingenuous at best and sometimes outright falsehoods being spread about the president's record. we are prepared to do that. >> this is the president's fourth visit since the start of the year, the des moines register there suggesting that some of the iowans who were so excited about president obama's historic run in 2008 are not nearly as excited this time around. the article talks about an enthusiasm gap that exists in the hawkeye state. are you seeing that type of gap on the ground there? >> i'm not.
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that article talked to republicans who had voted for barack obama, but i think when you get out there and talk to democrats across the state like i do every day, there is no enthusiasm gap. there is a very clear understanding on the part of democratic activists from corner to corner in this state about what the stakes are, the contrast could not be greater. people are totally prepared to get this work done and that allows us to really talk to our good friends and neighbors who are registered no party. in fact, the largest segment of voters in iowa are registered no party. so that's where our message goes. i'll tell you that they are receptive to a message talking about the middle class, talking about main street businesses and main street communities. that's a very iowa message. >> thank you so much. appreciate your time. again, don't forget, folks, we will hear from the president live, 1:50 eastern live right here on msnbc.
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that wraps up our coverage for this hour. "now with alex wagner" up next. what's coming up? hello, craig. obama surrogates are ramping up the swiss bank account narrative against governor romney. we will ask debbie wasserman schultz whether the offshore attacks are working. plus, we will get wonky with ezra klein regarding the president's tax cut plan. and republicans are comparing the affordable care act to the titanic and the gestapo. are their latest efforts to repeal it simply an exercise in futility? [ male announcer ] if you have to take care of legal matters.
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