wealth all right. romney is asking people to trust their futures to him, but is asking questions about those abilities, hi ability to make bain leader or his own ability to shelter a great personal fortune? is asking those questions small minded? that's rich. "hardball" starts right now. one week later. what have we learned? let's play "hardball." leading off tonight, where's the bounce? a lot has happened in the week since paul ryan joined the romney ticket. conservatives are thrilled. energy is up. money is pouring in, but republicans are also nashing their teeth over ryan's plans

for medicare. and now, we learn that the anti stimulus crusader ryan asked for stimulus money for two companies. that's something he's denied, but yesterday was forced to concede the bottom point. bottom line is the veep pick working? also, mitt romney claims he paid at least 13% in taxes each of the past five years. democrats say prove it. consider this. you probably make a lot less than romney and paid a lot more than 13% and this fight isn't going away. plus, is it swift voting 2012 style? a group of navy s.e.a.l.s is trying to deny president obama and paul ryan has always been a disciple of iran. so why is he suddening running in the other direction? and let me finish with pennsylvania's last chance to hold a fair presidential election. we begin with whether mitt romney's choice of paul ryan is working. ed rendell was governor of

pennsylvania and now, an msnbc analyst and nia henderson is covering the campaign for the "washington post." nearly a week later, the key question is what effect has the wisconsin congressman had on the race. now, immediately after the choice was announced saturday, a democratic operative suggests this. here's my prediction. the cycle of reaction will be exactly the one with palin. the press will say, interesting. democrats, up, press, he's so dynamic. what a boost of energy. republicans, the base loves it. then the press. he's breathing new life. then the democrats, oh, but wait, there's more. where are we in that spectrum relative to paul ryan? >> you know, i think as the press were at the hmm face and republicans, we've got the

speeches that are coming up. at the convention a week from now. obviously, there is a lot more picking over ryan's record that we've seen out of the press and a lot of reaction from republicans who have this initial burst. a lot of money pouring into the romney campaign, but still, there is a sense from republicans that maybe this boost of energy and this bold pick might not end up being worth it because of all of the conversation now that we're having about the stimulus package, about medicare, because this was a campaign let's face it, the republicans thought they could win just on the economy. but we see now we're talking about medicare. >> i said before this pick was announced, that one thing that united conservatives and this white house was a desire that paul ryan be the pick. how are each looking at it now? >> first of all, i think it's a little bit too soon to say which

way it cuts. i agree with malika. it's been much worse than palin because it came on much faster. but the reason it came on much faster is because the romney campaign was absolutely unprepared to answer the question, which they should have known they were going to get. okay, governor, you've said during the primaries that you endorsed the ryan budget and the the ryan medicare plan. you still believe that? and of course, you see governor romney backtracking, but hasn't been able to explain. recently, he says he's for it 100%, but said there were some disagreements. it's a mess. all we're talking about is medicare instead of the economy. talking about romney campaign up again. it's brutal. the stimulus, so unprepared. >> want to show you some data.

what kind of bounce? actually, a pretty small one compared to past candidates. now, "the new york times" looked at the post announcement polls and found ryan netted the romney campaign about a point. looking at past tickets going back to 1984, the average was closer to six points. so the net net of this so far, whether it's the medicare conversation, the stimulus response, seems to be you know, nothing there that's disearnable. >> right. although i think paul ryan will give a good speech at the convention because he's a good spinner and he doesn't necessarily cue to the truth, so i think he's going to give a very effective speech. that may change a bit, but it's been a disaster. one thing romney campaign wanted to do was keep this on the economy. and again, the lack of preparation. how about congressman ryan. michael, if you'd read by book, number one out of my list of

politicians is when you don't vote for something and then try to use it or take credit for it and i sided congressman ryan writing this letter to the department of energy. >> relative to stimulus funds. >> right. how could he have not known that? it's just shocking. >> governor, i'm not so sure this medicare thus far has been a net negative. it seems to me that white house is a bit on the defensive. they've got this new campaign commercial as a matter of fact, i want you to show. see if it seems defensive. >> now, mitt romney's attacking the president on medicare? aarp says obama care cracks down on medicare fraud, waste and abuse and strengthens guaranteed benefits. and the ryan plan? aarp says it would undermine medicare and could lead to higher costs for seniors.

and could raise future retirees costs. >> it came after days of attacks that president obama has robbed medicare of hundreds of billions of dollars. >> i want to bring as much clarity as possible, so i prepared a small chart here. my plan presents no change. the plan stays the same. the president's plan cuts medicine dare, excuse me, well, let's see. i got to -- there we go. by $716 billion. cut. >> it's an awfully complicated issue. who wins or who's winning thus far? >> well, i actually think that republicans are winning this fight. which in some ways, let's face it. these ads they put out, a lot of

political ads are really pop began da and in this way, they have very much won this war. you have democrats goin on the defense i have on medicare. something they have been the champions of and something that people are more readily identified democrats with than republicans. you saw republicans lose the race in upstate new york over this issue, but they have since been able to reframe it and frame obama as someone stealing from medicare and in actuality, it's sort of slowing the cost of growth and saving money in medicare advantage. but you see there that republicans have been very, very smart in getting out on the offensive there around ryan's plan and in some ways, being able to separate a mitt romney from a ryan. who knows if it will be perfected down the line. if they're going to be able to keep this going, but so far, so good. we'll see ryan in florida. i think he's going to be with his mom there. why would he want to cut in

medicare as we know it, he'll be there. making that argument. so i think so far, i would give the victory to republicans over this week. >> the other issue you've made reference to, "the boston globe" and other outlets reported ryan tried to steer money to companies in his home state. he had called the stimulus a wasteful spending spree. on monday, he was asked about that. >> a report came out again today in the ap, a repeat of "the wall street journal" article from a couple of years ago where you had asked for stimulus money for your district. is that accurate? >> i don't recall. i haven't seen this report so i can't comment on it. i oppose the stimulus because it doesn't work. it didn't work. >> and today, he released a statement conceding he was wrong and wrote after having these letters called to my attention, i checked and they were -- in the same way matters involving social security or veterans affairs are handled. they should have been handled

differently and i take full responsibility for that. governor, i understand you called him out in your book about wu srsses. apart from denying it and being held accountable because it was wrong, what's wrong with an elected official who opposes a program, doesn't get his way and then on behalf of his constituent, tries to bring home all the bacon he can. >> nothing. what's wrong with what happened here is he lied about it. it's not constituent services when you write the secretary of energy and ask them for money for a program. i would never send a letter to the secretary of energy of the united states as governor without reading it and signing it and proving it myself. so that's number one. he looks like a fraud and this is the guy who was suppose to be this new, honest young gun. he looks like a phony. there is nothing wrong. his defense should have been look, guys, i was against stimulus, but it passed and if states were going to get money

for economic development, i wanted wisconsin to get its fair share. that would have been a perfect answer. on what malika said -- >> on medicare. >> yeah, i agreed on the short-term, but number one, democrats haven't been forceful enough. one, congressman ryan kept the same $718 billion cut in medicare in the ryan budget. we should hang that around his neck and number two, the difference from what the president wants to do, when the president cuts medicare, he's cutting it on the provider side. most of those cuts were cuts to what the drug companies could make by supplying drugs to medicare. when republicans make cuts, they're cutting it on the beneficiary side. >> thanks so much for being back on "hardball." come up, mitt romney says he's paid at least 13% in taxes in each of the past five years and isn't planning to release more. romney made more money and paid

a lower tax rate and the fight over his tax returns not going away. look at those toys. insurance must be expensive. nah. [ dennis' voice ] i bet he's got an allstate agent. they can save you up to 30% more by bundling your policies. well, his dog's stupid. [ dennis' voice ] poodles are one of the world's smartest breeds. are you in good hands?

new poll numbers from two key states. first in wisconsin. paul ryan's home state and a new cnn poll taken since ryan was put on the ticket finds president obama ahead by four. 49-45 and to my home state of pennsylvania, a new poll gives the president a five-point lead. 47-42. we'll be right back.

i just have to say given the challenges that america faces, 23 million people out of work, iran about to become nuclear, one out of six americans in poverty, the fascination with taxes i paid i find to be very small minded compared to the broad issues that we face.

but i did go back and look at my taxes and over the past ten years, i never paid less than 13%. >> welcome back to "hardball." in that alleged effort to be candid, mitt romney opened up the issue of his tax returns. the obama campaign pounced. a campaign spokeswoman replied, prove it. but today, campaign manager sent a mass e-mail addressed to his counterpart with this deal. quote, if the governor will release five years of returns, i commit in turn we will not criticize him for not releasing more. romney campaign manager replid quote, hey, jim, thanks for the note. it is clear president obama wants nothing more than to talk about romney's tax returns instead of the issues that matter like fixing the economy and reigning in spending. will the obama campaign ever let him shake the story and do taxes matter? joan walsh is editor at large for salon.com and author of

what's the matter with white people. eamon javers is cnbc's washington correspondent. is this getting traction? do the american people care about the fact that romney is releasing only two years? >> i think if you frame it in terms of documents and details, the the american voters don't necessarily care about that stuff. it's kind of complicated and confusing, but what they do care about, kind of in the gut, is this sense of somebody's getting away with something you're not. so if romney's paying a lower tax rate than other americans, those folks are going to resent that and see how that happened. >> is he in fact paying less a tax rate than most americans? >> e yeah, what we're talking about here is the federal effective tax rate. that's after you take your deductions and everything else. he's saying over the past ten years, he paid 13%. most americans, so your median income was about $75,000 a year. those folks paid less.

about 5.6% than an effective rate, although they also paid payroll taxes, so most americans are paying a lower rate than mitt romney paid, but the problem for mitt romney is that there are a lot of high income people who earn a lot in salary paying much high eer tax rates because they're getting their money in salary, not earnings from investments. so those folks are the foclks ae the ones who look at a 13% rate and say boy, i wish i could get to that. >> so long as he's paying lawfully, in order, if we have a beef, isn't our consternation better directed at the tax code? >> he's probably doing things legally, we haven't seen anything to indicate he wasn't, but we don't entirely know and the extent to which he's using these accounts could contribute

to this lower tax rate. there are lots of things he could be doing that would make you a little squeamish. i have to say, the last poll i saw said that about 63% of american voters want see more tax returns and finally, every time he opens his mouth to talk about this, he sounds more and more entitled. i mean, calling those 60% of americans small minded and ann romney's tantrums last night. i mean -- >> i want to show it. last night, ann romney made clear she and mitt will not release more tax returns. here's what she said. >> the more we release, the the more we get attacked. the more we get questioned, pushed. and so, we have done what's legally required and there's going to be no more tax releases. >> is she not correct as far as she took the argument?

the more they release, the more they will be suggest to this kind of scrutiny. >> sure, to the extent that the more we talk about anybody's policy plans they may get more scrutiny. it's possible they would get less. the it's possible. it's possible that -- it's possible we would see things and it would be just the same stuff we saw in the other two years and we would all move on. i doubt it because if that were the case, i think they would have made these records available to us sooner. there's got to be something more off putting than what we've seen so far. >> i think that hits it on the head. you can infer here that what's going on is that the romney campaign has made a clear, political calculation that the heat they're taking for not releasing these returns right now is less than the heat they would take for whatever is in the returns that they think would be embarrassing and part of the reason is because there are two kind of rich people. there are rich people who work for a living and earn a high salary and rich people whose

money works for them and that's the camp that the romneys are in so their taxes are very, very low and we have seen the swiss bank account and ann romney trust. that's just in the stuff they have disclosed, so they know what's in the rest of the documents and they feel that whatever it is would be worse and ann romney said almost exactly that. we're going to continue to get hit and questioned if we put these things out. >> i think probably part of their thinking might be that harry reid overplayed his hand in the way he handled this scenario and at least within their base, within their constituency, that the net net of it has been just fine. >> within a lot of people. harry reid came out and said he had a secret source, that mitt romney hadn't paid any taxes without any basis or proof, that's a tough allegation to lay at the feet of a presidential candidate especially when you're not willing to back it up. so i think that the romney camp

was pretty happy when they saw that because although it enflamed the issue, it gave them a villain to go after. i've been on the campaign trail all week with paul ryan across the country and every time you mention harry reid, there were boos from the crowd. they do not like that guy and that gave them a real foil and that can help sometimes. >> joan, i guess that raises the question of how it's playing with independents. to each of the bases, i think that is -- from the gop side of the al, i know because i get the phone calls, that name doesn't carry much sway. >> the last poll i saw independent cared about is, too, michael. i feel like listening, every time i hear that sound bite of mitt romney saying well, i went back and looked at ten years and checked myself. i think that makes the issue more tangible because it's like, hey, buddy, they're there. you just looked at them.

just turn them over to other people. i think it's going to get reporters even more avid to get more information. maybe they won't find harry reid's source, the mystery man, but you know we all know reporters are out there looking for any kind of sourcing they can find and his sort of waving in a certain way, weather iavinn years that only he can look at i think made the issue much more vivid to people and i don't think it's going away. >> on that, we can all agree. go ahead. >> as a reporter who's done some investigative reporting, it's very hard for a reporter to get ahold of personal income tax information. it can be a felony for government officials to release it. i think the romney camp is pretty secure. they'd have to have a rogue agent inside their own finance team and i doubt they do. >> thank you. appreciate you being here. up next, how do you think joe walsh responded when someone called him a loose cannon?

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less germs. healthier mouth. mitt romney says he wants to cut funding for pbs. oscar the grouch was like, seriously, i already live in a garbage can. how much worse could my life get? which explains why today "sesame street" was brought to you by the leaders o and bama. >> think it's a bad sign if you start addressing concerns you're too much of a loose cannon? this might ring a bell. >> the government sets the rules. don't blame banks and the marketplace for the mess we're in right now. i am tired of hearing that crap. you know what? it just pi srkpisses me off.

>> an episode from joe walsh. walsh and his challenger fielded questions if reporters this week. the congressman was asked straight up whether he's too much of a loose cannon to stay in congress. >> am i too much of a loose cannon? look, i went there because i'm squared to death this country has precious little time to turn this thing around thand that causes me to be more outspoken. i said and tammy wants to jump on this, all joe walsh does is stream from the mountain top. am i too much of a loose cannon? no. i think people appreciate any democrat who talks straight to people. >> ask yourself when was the last time you cast a ballot and thought, you know, that guy will really scream from the mountain top. next, rage against the machine

unleashes some rage against ryan. romney's running mate is a big fan of the band that sings about corporate greed and blasts wealthy oil companies. if you think that's an odd pick for a guy in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy, you're not alone. the lead guitarist could do without paul ryan in his fan club. he penned an op-ed that reads -- >> because he's the embodiment of the machine our music has been raging against for two decades. i clearly see ryan has a lot of rage in him -- a rage against the poor, against the environment, basically the only thing he's not raging against is the privileged elite. the response to ryan's reasoning, that he likes the sounds of the songs, not the lyrics. quote, i don't care for paul ryan's sound or lyrics. finally, every baseball stadium

has traditions. the playing of sweet caroline during the eighth inning at fenway. if you're at nationals park in d.c., it's the racing president. the four larger than life mascots, george washington, thomas jefferson, ab lincoln and roosevelt hit the field during the fourth inning. if things go as most expeblgt, tomorrow will be the 500th straight loss for roosevelt and the losses haven't been graceful. he's been tripped, attacked, the one time he crossed the finish line before the other, he was disquali disqualified. so, what if the 500th time turns out to be a charm? up next, a group of ex navy s.e.a.l.s is trying to deny president obama from taking credit for the raid that killed

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the dow, s&p and the post in gains for a sixth week in a row. the dow adding 25 points. s&p 500 tacking on 2.5 and nasdaq up 14. apple shares hitting an all time high on anticipation of rumors and ipad mini has gone into production, but facebook shares tumbling 4%. a day aftinsiders could start selling. it's the worst performing stock in the past three months. now back the "hardball."

welcome back. a new organization special operations opsec education fund is going after the president for the biggest achievements of the obama administration. the capture and death of osama bin laden. the anonymously funded group with tea party and gop ties has admission to go after all politicians who leak classified information for political purpose, but in their new documentary, they charge the president with taking sole credit of the raid and harming national security interests. take a look. >> they did it. this administration didn't capture or kill or eliminate bin laden or anybody else. there's a whole lot of folks in the military and intelligence community working on this for a very long time. >> mr. president, you did not kill osama bin laden. america did.

the work that the american military has done killed osama bin laden. you did not. >> democrats are already calling this a swift vote campaign and plan on fighting back against what is expected to become a tv ad campaign this fall. gabriel gomez was a former navy s.e.a.l. and a member of the opsec group and john salts is president of vote vets. thank you for your service to our country. mr. gomez, i want to start with you. doesn't the president deserve credit for issuing a very difficult order? this was far from a certain mission and in the process, we invaded the sovereign the of pakistan. do you give him credit for that? >> absolutely. we have always been to the conclusion that the president deserves full credit for giving the green lilgt on the operation. it was a difficult decision. a lot of his advisers were gens it and you have to give him 100% credit. >> and it was something for

which he was strenuously criticized during the campaign. he was called nooif and worse when during the course of the campaign and i know it because he said it to me on at least three occasions, that he was willing to take that shot even if were in pakistan. they thought that was mistaken. >> we agree and have never said he should not have full credit. >> so, your criticism then is that this whole mission has become politicized because of the leak of information. isn't that 20 some minute video that i watched the other night politicizing this operation? >> no, i mean, if you look at the whole video, we go through a lot of the points. we give the president a lot of credit, but i think one of the pointse try to highlight, if you look at some of the prior wartime presidents, lincoln, eisenhower, they only gave credit to the troops and that's what we were trying to highlight in the video.

the only time these president, lincoln and eisenhower and other wartime presidents ever used the word i was i thank you, the troops. just highlighted the difference between the current administration and how they view giving credit as opposed to other wartime presidents. >> i'm glad you brought that up because there's something that got left on the cutting room floor. you and your organization say the the president is trying to take -- listen to what he said in his address to the nation the night bin laden had been killed. >> over the last ten years, thanks to the tireless and heroic work of our military and our counterterrorism professionals, we've made great strides in that effort. we've disrupted terrorist attacks and strengthened our homeland defense. in afghanistan, we removed the homeland government and around the globe, we've worked with our friends and allies to capture or kill scores of al-qaeda

terrorists including several who were a part of the 9/11 plot. >> and sir, it's not just that he said it that night, i've heard it say it time and time again. wors like thanks to the work of our military and counterterrorism professionals, so where is the beef where regard to the president of the united states? >> i think if you watched his whole presentation the night osama bin laden was killed, i think you would come to the conclusion just like we did. is that he focused i think a majority of the comments on himself as opposed to the troops. we're not saying he didn't thank the troops, he didn't give credit to the troops. we're saying that a good majority of the presentation was focused on him and his administration. >> mr. gomez, it's an uncomfortable position for me to be in disagreement with a navy s.e.a.l. here's the transcript, sir. i think that's a

mischaracterization. >> i'm laughing so much. i'm wondering if mr. gomez is going to shoot another video where he says we give the president full credit for killing osama bin laden. you don't come on and support a video like that and say the comments he just said, which is the president did a great job. the reason that is is what you have is a lot of conservative a activists behind this and you've got some navy s.e.a.l. guys out here -- the president clearly says the troops, the president clearly ordered on operation the kill osama bin laden and let's talk about iraq. a war that started because of faulty leak in intelligence. the identities of a cia officer and you know, these are the hard core facts. let's talk about the issues right now. you have a president who opened the va to thousands of veterans

to come into the system from desert storm and agent orange. you have a republican, mitt romney, who said he's running for president, i would not have moved heaven an earth to kill osama bin laden. what they're trying to do, ended the iraq war and a president now, $11 billion -- >> i have no tolerance for those who leak classified information and leak national security in the process. eric holder is pursuing investigations an prosecutions in that regard. it strikes me, this was the biggest news event in the ten years since september 11th. there was an insachable appetite on the part of the media to get to this. regardless of what the president's predisposition might have been, the media were going to shake a story out of what

happened in pakistan. where am i wrong? >> well, i'd like to go back to a couple of things jon said. first, this organization, opsec, is not just a group of navy s.e.a.l.s. >> and they have a general who believes osama bin laden, they believe was a birther in this video that believed that the president of the united states wasn't born in america. 9/11, you know -- >> i haven't interrupted. >> you haven't. go ahead. >> this group has a large number of former army, navy, air force, marines, essentispecial operati personnel. you can't bucket just one group into a certain political party. i would argue jon's group isn't just one political party. >> it's vote vets. we have 220,000 members.

>> let him finish. >> my point is i'm sure his group isn't just -- ours has an eclectic group. we've got democrats, republicans, independents. i myself, fact check this. i donated to obama's campaign in '08 in obama's campaign. just like a lot of people in our group. just like people you service in the army. people have different backgrounds. you can't just bucket a group of people. >> i'm not bucketing, i serve with people of all political persuasio persuasions, you've lied. okay. there's been no evidence that's come forth so far. you're saying the president didn't say thank you when he did on tv and there's a big difference between telling the toout and us having a civil disagreement on policies on

whether or not you support the ryan budget or the president's budget or whether or not you want to a timeline in afghanistan or endless war like mitt romney. there's a huge difference and you promoting a video that directly lies about the record of the president of the united states. >> i wish i had more time. i don't. thank you both for your service to our country. >> thank you. >> this was a nonpartisan issue. >> thank you. up next, why is paul ryan now running away from ayn rand? this is "hardball." the place for politics.

this week, the biggest action in the presidential race has been in four states. virginia, colorado, iowa and florida. here are the top five cities where the campaigns and their allies have spent the most this week on television ads. at number five, charlotte, site of next month's convention. four, denver. three, des moines. two, back to colorado. colorado springs and the top city for campaign ad spending this week, roanoke, virginia. we'll be right back. copd makes it hard to breathe, but with advair, i'm breathing better.

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we're back. for year, there's been a powerful group of conservatives who have been devotees of free market thinker ayn rand. includes alan greenspan, rand paul, barry goldwater, justice clarence thomas. thomas goes so far as to invite new clerks to his home every summer to a screening of the fountain head. now, paul ryan, who has long embraced the philosophy, but now that some other ideas are proving to be an embarrassment for a politician who needs support of evangelical christians, paul ryan is running away from his muse. joining me now -- robert, isn't the answer here that it is poison? she was an atheist and now, he wants nothing to do with her. >> michael, i have spoken with

paul ryan at length about his past history with rand and he told me he had rand during college. that does not make him an objectivist. he is a roman catholic. objectivist. that he was inspired by rand because she believes in the free market. that's when he identified with her back in college and still today. that doesn't mean he believes fully in everything she ever said or wrote. >> all right. but i don't think it was only back in college. i mean, when paul ryan spoke to a group of rand devotees he credited the thinking for inspiring him to get into politics. let's listen. zl. >> the reason i got involved in public service, if i had to credit one thinking, one person it would be ayn rand. >> what's your analysis of this issue? is it as i put forth, about her

lack of faith? >> well, i'm not certain. to the long list of things we can blame paul ryan for, let's add to that list, forcing us to rehash ayn rand. rand is an adolescent fascination. of the tedious egotism. a man aspiring to the vice president si seems to be in a protracted adolescence where he idolizes ayn rand. she was adamantly and militantly pro choice. she would not agree that our rights for instance are god given. she would think that we make them for ourselves. that poses problems for paul ryan, i suppose. >> i must confess.

i went through the same phase. i suspect you did too. >> i read shrug. we've all read rand. when i spoke to paul ryan one on one about this, when he told me about the core of why he was attracted to rand was not her atheism, it was because of the way she championed entrepreneurs. that's what he's trying to take into politics. to be pro market, pro business. that's at the core when he talks about his i said trags. it's that theme. not the other elements that you have to pay attention to. >> yeah, i guess the issue is that he never explained it as such until the eyes of the nation were on him as a potential vice president. >> he used this book shrug on his interned in congress forcing them all to read this. ayn rand believes the government had no function except the military, police, and the judiciary. that everything else was out of bounds. so paul ryan sees her as an

inspiration is a bit chilling. >> not so much, mr. reagan. i respectfully disagree. when ryan talks about rand, he also talks about rand in the same context he talks about milton friedman. free market leaders. to say anything beyond that, all you look at the political career. this guy is not just a new face on the national scene. he was elected to the house in 1998. when you look at his record and you till me it's a randian record, i would disagree. it's a conservative republican record. >> no one is crazy enough to have a randian record. yes, you're right about that. >> ron paul perhaps. >> ron, i have 15 seconds left. was your dad an ayn rand person? >> no, he was not. no, he was not. i never saw him with atlas shr or the fountain head in his hand. >> thank you both. >> thank you. when we return, let me finish with the legal battle over that tough voter i.d. law

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let me finish tonight with this. the lead editorial of today's washington post said that among the new republican backed voter i.d. laws, pennsylvania is the one with the most demonstrable motivation. upheld the law which would

require a photo i.d. for voting. voters proposed -- they sound reasonable except when you understand close to a million of them don't have the requisite form of photo i.d. to vote. many urban, poor minorities who constitute the president's core. democrats in the city they enjoy a 6-1 registration edge. robert simpson of the commonwealth court acknowledged it might have a bipartisan favor. but he refused to stop it. 3 as a quote, minor change to the state election code. but it's actually a major change. what happens next? this case now heads to the state supreme court which currently consists of six rather than the customary seven members. that's because one justice was suspended after being criminally charged leaving the court with three republicans and three democrats.

at the helm is the justice ron castille. he's a war hero who never fell compelled to tow a party line. that independence has spanned his career. and just eight months ago it was him to distinguished himself in a partisan ruling when the state supreme court threw out a legislative map which was designed to benefit the gop. and they did it by a 4-3 vote. many eyes are now shifting to justice castille. to see if he will stand in the way of this partisan equivalent of bush v. gore. john roberts did not want a repeat of that on his watch. choosing instead to say we're a government of law and not men. similar thinking might motivate justice castille acknowledging there's a not a single known case