newspapers she read, she didn't give any details, but neither did she lie. when asked which supreme court decisions she agreed with, again, she couldn't offer details, but she didn't lie. where as from medicare to marathons, mr. ryan appears to be a fraudster and what's more, sarah palin ran a faster marathon than paul ryan. three hours and fifty nine minutes and that's a fact. romney fails to bounce. democrats celebrate. let's play "hardball." i'm chris matthews in charlotte, sight of the democratic national convention. let me start with something you have to experience to believe. the difference between republicans and democrats. when they get together.

last week in tampa, it had the feel of a business convention. today in charlotte, it was like a labor day picnic. one reason for the upbeat mood, the much ballyhooed spike in the polls. the so-called bounce that mitt romney was supposed to get from last week's convention didn't happen. could it be that a convention based on grim resolution, lack joy, was it the lack of good will humanity that kept is nomination from soaring? could it be that wood doesn't bounce? i was in my early teens when i noticed the difference between these two parties. at the democrats convention in 1960, there was always someone yelling, will the delegates please clear the aisles and no one did. at the republican convention, i heard someone say take your seats and they did.

i guess are republicans are more disciplineded or docile, but democrats are more exuberant. for whatever reason, delegates here act like they're at a fair. republicans acted in tampa as determined, excited when someone said something nasty about the other side. even chris christie called the audience at the convention flat. first time i've heard that. it was jackie kennedy who grew up a republican who said it was just more fun being a democrat. from glorious charlotte on this labor day, that's it's still true. chuck todd is nbc's political director and white house correspondent. and howard the great and msnbc analyst. ladies and gentlemen and the crowd, here are numbers. gallup tracking poll.

shows the president holding steady with the one-point lead over mitt romney. 47-46. a margin unchanged in the past days. survey of national showed a mixed reaction to the republican convention. 40% said they'd heard of read about it. what they heard about it made them more likely to vote for romney versus 38% who made them less likely. not exactly a resounding bounce. >> i feel like we're at college game day. this is great. going to put on the hat. we're going to put on the hat. the donkey or elephant. >> what did you feel like at the republican convention? ha! ha! >> ha! we said before these conventions, there would be bounces and guess what? no bounces.

why? $500 million was spent before the conventions even started. this is a locked in electorate. it was locked in before the conventions. it's locked in after. mitt romney was not trying to hold a convention to fire up the the base. he was trying to hold a convention to make suburban women like him. that's not going to be you know what we're going to find out? i would say the only way to determine a bounce on romney is his likability number in two weeks. that's the number i'm curious about. that's when we'll know. >> howard fineman. >> i survived tampa. now glad to be here in charlotte. i can't resist. that convention was like dropping a bowling ball in a sand box. okay. and -- i can say that. if they were trying to reach middle america with that convention, i don't think they did it. i think the speeches weren't that good. i think the tone was kind of mean. and i think as chuck says t country's locked in.

it was more of a negative message than a positive message overall. >> let's look at what the president had to say. he took some time to make fun of the convention and republican policies. let's watch the president. >> it was a rerun. it could have been on nick at nite. we've seen it before. you might as well have watched it on a black and white tv with some rabbit ears. those ideas don't work. they didn't work then. they won't work now. >> you know, let's talk about this better off worse off thing because i think the republicans caught the democrats flat footed the last couple of days and the media, too, doing our job. how come the democrats can't make a simple point? in 2009, we had a stock market going through the ground. 6500. losing wealth, disappearing. people were scared to death we were facing a great depression. we had an unemployment rate spiking past 10%. today, we're back.

didn't go over the cliff. a stock market up to 13,000. why aren't the democrats a little proud of what they've dope? >> i have no idea why they got caught so flat footed su eed su. they answered the question you just answered it today and the irony is when the president announce announced his re-election, remember, he went to columbus, ohio. and he himself said, don't, it's not about -- the question isn't are you better off, it's are you going to be better off. they know this was an issue and they were shocked when asked the question on sunday. >> they messed up then had an emergency meeting sunday night. why didn't they have the meeting before and my explanation is to too great an extent, the obama campaign has focused on romney and not enough on dealing with this inevitable question. to focus on them. if you don't brag about whatever

good it is you have done, nobody else is going to do it for you. >> if you don't toot your own horn, who's going to toot it. yesterday on the sunday show circuit, democrats seemeded to have trouble answering the question. >> i think everybody understands we were this close to a great depression because the leadership of this president. we staved that off. beginning to recover. >> are we where we need to be? no. >> can you honestly say that people are better off today? >> no, but that's not the question of this election. >> well, by this morning, the obama campaign clearly had gotten its act together somewhat. >> are we better off today than four years ago when president obama was elected? >> absolutely. >> by any measure, the country has moved fofr ward over the

last four years. >> folk, let me make something clear say it to the press. america is better off today than they left us when they left. you want to know whether we're better off? osama bin laden is dead and general motors is alive! osama bin laden is dead and general motors is alive! >> that was great. chuck, let's talk about this. you know when you have a world series in baseball and you win the games. you win some games away. and then you're going home. it does seem almost like the democrats have won a couple of games away and they're coming home here. no wonder they feel better. >> well, they feel better because what did romney have to do at his convention? the fact he had to spend his convention fixing his own personal issue meant what? their june and july campaign worked. it meant that romney didn't -- that's right. that the romney couldn't run a convention that was more proactive. he had to do repair work. i remember mike murphy three months ago saying he thought both convention, that both guys

would be in such bad shape that bould bailout would need to use their conventions to rehabilitate their image. the president is in a position where he gets to try to make the case, hey, don't lose faith in me. this convention is about answering that question and joe biden, the old prodrs that he is, did a good job of making the key point. individuals are suffering. obviously. but the country as a whole, they argue, democrats argue, is better off and certainly better off than it would have been otherwise. >> how about the fact, hey, i want the the press to hear this. >> and i think sometimes, chris, if you win a couple of away

games to pursue your analogy, you're on the trip home, not paying close attention. they know they were coming here. >> tough here. it seems to me that when a candidate has to spend a whole week of a convention to establish the fact he's one of the species that's voting, that he's a human being, i mean, it's an amazing low bar when you say i'm going to the convention to prove i'm a person with a ticking heart and that i have some compassion, humanity and personality. >> that's all he did. but don't forget, this is what republicans believe. the opposite problem reagan had. that reagan had all likability in the world, but he had to prove he was ready to do the job. the country believes romney's capable of the job. the question is whether he shares middle class values and that's what the whole point of that convention. >> i want so see this favorable rating. >> why do you think two weeks is necessary? >> i think you have to let the the convention settle in. by the way, wung thing we haven't talked about, the ratings were not good. i'm talking about the collective

audience. the romney camp, they defend the lack of bounce by way of saying that obama actually didn't have that great a bounce out of his convention and as chuck said, the country's very divided. i think they're disappointed. they needed more than they got and i don't think they're going to get anymore in the next several days. >> i like your analysis, chuck. that a lot of this is already decided. we keep seeing poll numbers. 47-47. let's take a look at this ad now. obama campaign's out with a new ad today in seven swing states going after romney. >> the middle class is carrying a heavy load in america, but mitt romney doesn't see it. under the romney plan, a middle class family will pay an average of up to $2,000 more a year in taxes. but at the same time, giving multimillionaires like himself a $250,000 tax cut. so, romney hits the middle class

harder and gives millionaires an even bigger break. is that the way forward for america? >> look at that picture of romney. chortling there because the rich are getting a better deal. it worked. >> i think it's the right way to go because the voters in the middle. that 6 or 7% that you're talking about, want to hear some specifics. i disagree it's all about emotion with him. i think they want to hear something specific. you're a human, fine, tell me your plan. tell me what it is and inning this ad goes at the lack of specificity that there was at the convention. there were no numbers. this goes after that. i think it's a smart ad for them to do on the attack while they remember that they got to talk more about themselves. >> i'd simply go to economic values. >> this is still a -- all elections are values elections. romney wins on the metrics.

loses -- >> thank you. what i didn't like about the romney speech was all these wars he wants to fight and not one second of thought or emotion about the guys and women over there now. it was all about the concept. he was right on that. thank you. coming up, the reverend jesse jackson says republicans have a three pronged strategy for voter suppression. he joins us now, also, marriage equality. the democrats plan to support gay marriage in their platform. how do republicans use that as a wedge issue to peel off more conservative democrats. and the democrats will not consider the success of the convention if they don't come out of it by expanding the gender gap, win women by enough and president obama can jog across the finish line. finally, the strategy being employed by the republicans.

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welcome back. we saw two big wins for democrats last week with those voter i.d. laws sweeping the country. in ohio, a judge turned over the ban. and in texas, a fall court blocked the law ruling it would impose quote strict unforgiving burdens on poor, minority voters, so it's no wonder why republicans are so fired up about the laws. check out the reaction. south carolina governor nikki hailey got when she brought it up last week in tampa. >> we said in south carolina that if you have to show apick i.d. to buy pseudofed, so step on an airplane, then you should have to show i.d. to have the right to vote. >> imagine getting roused up

about restricting voting. that's what you saw there. according to reuters, voters in south carolina, liking the proper i.d. are 20% more likely to be black and just over o one-third of voters do not have a driver's license. reverent jesse jackson joins us. you were calling me up last week, you were so angry and concerned as a leader, civil rights leader, about this new empl ploy. >> you got the right to vote because of the voting rights act. to vote in 65 blacks to vote and then 18 years to vote in 1970 and then students could vote on campus and we were able to get bilingual voting. it is a product of the voting rights act. their plan is negation, purging voter suppression and confusing

people. it is a very similar part to win the election. >> it seemed like they're trying to deny. for example, if you come from the south like you did and move north and you live in north philadelphia, that means you've got to go back to somewhere in south carolina to get your birth certificate. you've got to figure out how to get it with an i.d. card. >> jefferson davis democrats were not republicans, never stopped trying for their right to vote. tragedy of it is -- in year 2000, win or loss and the loser won. in 2004, you had machines and people. so the ideas, you have a million one voters perged in ohio. a million in pennsylvania and 500,000. they may lose -- we must not allow the vote to be stolen. >> as a civil rights leader, when you hear code language, i'm

a white person, i hear it. you talk about welfare in queens like reagan did and food stamp president like newt gingrich did. you talk about welfare without work. i hear it. do most people hear it? >> for example, welfare came in when most poor white people in food lines could not get a job. based upon need. most poor people are not black or brown. they're white, yellow. >> why do politicians wave that bloody shirt? zbluz. >> because it incites fear. they have an i-85, you have the carolina panthers and the charlotte bobcats and the atlanta falcons. all this because the civil rights movement won. >> bird blockers lose. >> sticker on the doors and

block doors. they use ax handles. the discipline marches. the mothers in the marches are due all the credit. >> thank you. reverend jesse jackson. mayor anthony fox, mayor anthony fox. >> yes, sir, welcome to charlotte. >> you want to say a word of welcome and then we'll get back to this other stuff. >> i want to welcome you to charlotte. glad to have you. we're going to have a great week. >> we have never had a welcome like this. ever. this is better than new york even. any way, let me ask you about the voter turnout. are you concerned this state is really one of the closest? within the margin of error. >> it's going to be close in north carolina and the efforts that the republican legislature have taken to try to take the vote away through voter i.d. laws, through shortening the

early voting periods. we're going to get the phone calls, door knocks, we're going to get out and vote. north carolina is going to go for the president. >> let me be able to positive and give you a chance. the reverend jackson has been through every hell with the civil rights fact. he's got some trace of on the part optimism. is there optimism in this part of the country? >> no question. i wouldn't be mayor without the help of people like jesse jackson. but in this point in the new south, we are working to build a new economy. we're trying to diversify our economy in growing our economy. this is the first convention that will have a stated diversity goal so that we're expanding not only the vote, but also the the ability of people to participate in the economy. >> the workers, that's because of the civil rights movement in

the south. troops are home from iraq. our movement has made the new south possible and prosperous for all. >> remember harvey gantt, mayor of this city, african-american. he ran against jesse, the other jesse. and they had a tv ad, a guy with white hands ripping up the pink slip saying you needed that job. >> yes. >> does that still go on? >> he paved the way for barack obama in 2008 and anthony fox in 2009. sometimes, we have to have a pioneer who helps people understand that we are not running these races to represent just one part of the society. we're running these races because we want to be judged by the concept and not by the color of our skin.

>> boeing and airbus come to -- the civil rights movement. these jobs would have gone north. once the bearers came down, why has it benefitted the civil rights? it hurts when you see poor people who are -- medicare. and when carolina plays a big football game, because -- >> you know what's changed in democratic convention politics? >> it used to be the guy who gave the webest speech lost. teddy kennedy in 1980 and jesse jackson in 1984 and in 1998. this time, the guy who gives the best speech gets to be the nominee this year. thank you, sir. >> most content, too. has no empty chairs. >> thank you.

the democratic convention kicks off tomorrow. we'll be back from charlotte in a minute. but tonight, join me for the premier of msnbc's documentary, barack obama, making history. a lot of people worked very hard op this and i think you're going to love this tonight. 10:00 eastern, barack obama making history.

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we're back here in this crazy weather, just like in tampa, but it's nicer here. you ladies have been waiting in line. i love it. >> it's not raining. we sbort barack obama. >> what are you doing in the rain here? >> i'm a new jersey delegate here to support president obama. >> women for obama. when are you going to run for

office? yay! >> are you old enough to vote? >> no. our friends are. >> we're from california. glad to be here. >> this is wild. charlotte. charlotte. charlotte, thanks for the welcome here. what are you going to vote for this election? >> barack obama. >> do you have any republicans here? what do you think? you're standing in the rain, lady. >> yes. >> we got the camera getting wet. thank you. sir? >> we're from north carolina. >> four more years. we're excited. we're pumped up. >> we've got the mayor who's headed the convention.  you know why i sell tools? tools are uncomplicated.

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here's what's happening.

president obama has arrived in louisiana where he'll view storm recovery efforts. he's expected to speak in about two hours there. earlier in a visit to toledo sh ohio, he responded -- to unnecessary roughness and said that new coach would lead to a losing season. as for mitt romney, he was off the campaign trail today spending labor day in new hampshire where he was photographed voting. came out in favor of gay marriage equality, now, his party's set to follow suit, becoming the first major party to officially endorse gay marriage tomorrow. polls show more americans support it now than oppose it,

but in places like virginia, ohio and north carolina, opposition is still strong and the question is, will it hurt the president and his party? barney frank from massachusetts and mayor villaraigosa, the mayor of los angeles. gentlemen, watch this. conservative groups are trying to drive home the point that president obama's out of touch in this issue. take a look at this new ad produced by gary bower, just caught it this morning. let's watch this ad they're running here. >> hey, honey. how are you? >> fine. i guess. >> what's going on? >> well, obama is trying to force gay marriage on this country. that's not the change i voted for. marriage is between a man and a woman. >> that's not the change i voted for either. >> what can we do? >> we can vote for someone with values. >> well, you know, i don't think

that's a very realistic discussion. i've always wondered what it does to their relationship. nothing probably. here's the line they're putting out. obama is trying to force gay marriage on this country. you know the language that's coming out and the platform of the democratic party. does it meet this. is it forcing gay marriage on the country? >> not forcing gay marriage on the country. what he's speaking to is the notion that marriage ought to be a fundamental right. that the government shouldn't deny someone who loves someone the right to marry. if we believe in family values, then marriage ought to be for all families. >> and how does a right get promulgated by the supreme court, by the voters or how does it happen? >> it's the regular campaign of divide and conquer, of fear. they'll be spending a lot of

money. ins gaiting, engaging in that kind of fear. on a lot of issues. >> congressman frank, there's a big possible frank going to the supreme court on this. what do you think? >> well, i don't think there's any likelihood of this supreme court saying -- than in the future and frankly, that's not what most of the gay, lesbian and bisexuals are fighting for. we are trying to have the say that state by state, each state has defined marriage and the the federal government to say i will recognize these marriages in massachusetts and iowa and new york and not those. two circuit courts including a lot of republican appointees have said that. the notion we're going to force this. no, nobody could force it if we wanted to. it's being done on a state by state basis. ultimately, the supreme court might reach it. the case that was one in san

francisco on the california law only said that if california once granted the right of same-sex couples to marry, they couldn't take it away. that doesn't even give people who want to. remember where it comes from. gary bower is a very odd extreme right winger, who ran for president and i think he has more fingers than he got votes. >> let's take a look at the are republican platform. it says we affirm our support for a institutional amendment defining marriage between one man and one woman. we applaud the states of which have enshrined the traditional concept of marnl ariage and sup the campaigns under way to do so. the idea of putting a institutional amendment out to make sure there's never marriage equality. >> they're enshrining in our

constitution -- it should be reserved for expanding rights to more people. that's the america that i know and love. that's the america that gave me the voting rights act. that gave me a civil rights act. that opened up the country to give me the opportunity to be mayor of los angeles and chair of the democratic national committee. >> in fact, that amendment, paul ryan's voting for it, it not only says no further same-sex marriage. it would cancel my marriage. allowed to stay in effect. mitt romney tried as governor to undo it. in seven states, marriages that have gone after five years and here's the problem. haven't happened. they have to make things up. because all -- we've had same-sex marriage in

massachusetts for eight years and a number of other states. tens of millions of americans now live in areas where you can have it and nothing bad has happened. so that's why they have to resort to this sillyness and they're the ones who are not only in the minority, baugh growing minority who talk to their people in their 20s and 30s. they understand if you love someone of the opposite sex, the fact that the two women across the street who love each other have a slim chance of affecting your life. >> i remember about 20 years ago at a convention in philadelphia, you said to the young people there, mostly gay people, that things were changing. certainly are. mitt romney in line with his party's platform. back in may, he said he rejected both gay marriage and civil unions. >> i think people have differing views on marriage and i respect those views. when i served as governor of my state, this issue arose.

same-sex marriage. i pointed out i'm in favor of traditional marriage and don't favor civil union or gay marriage. >> some republicans take issue. according to politico, that includes billionaire romney backer david koch. when a reporter reminded him his candidate strongly opposes, he responded, well, i disagree with that. >> when mitt romney ran against ted kennedy, he said he was going to be a better defender of gay rights. not on marriage. that's been untrue. mitt romney as a business man brings marketing techniques to politics and he's got a consumer angle here. comes with an expiration date. we know any policy he take, it's not good after a certain time. >> we're going to miss you, mr. frank. nobody else thinks like you.

thank you. mayor villaraigosa of los angeles and barney frank. up next, president obama enjoys a big lead among women, if they can push that gender gap this week, they can they can get president obama over the top in november. that's ahead. deys a mhea fo.m rb s iautgyotam stbe, e or deys a mhea fo.m rb looking for a better place to put your cash? here's one you may not have thought of -- fidelity. now you don't have to go to a bank to get the things you want from a bank, like no-fee atms, all over the world.

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president obama has consistently had a power base among women voters and democrats hope last week's convention will only strengthen that. the party adopted a plank on reproductive rights that reads -- and endorse legislation to make clear that the 14th amendment's protections apply to unborn children. in other words, a personhood amendment. on top of that, todd akin, who brought the term legitimate rape into the national discussion, has refused all calls to get out of the race and appears to be dug in. even before the the convention, the poll had president obama leading mitt romney by ten points among women. joining me now is north carolina governor bev perdue and barbara lee. the bay area. thank you. let me ask you, governor, thank you for welcoming us.

we have never had a welcoming, even in the rain. >> all north carolinans. obama down here has a plus one among women, but it's close. why is romney doing so well among women in north carolina? because we're just starting to get the word out about what romney believes. it's about the policies. romney's not said a word about education. he's against contraceptive health care coverage. as women in this state begin to resognate around the issues, the policies, you'll see those numbers change. >> a new poll shows that president obama and governor romney tied among north carolina women, but among all likely voter, romney leads by just four. i find that very close. >> it is close, but it's early, chris. people are just now beginning to folk. you've got the country evenly divided. then you count all those new people we're registering. our democrats are aggressively

registering people. i believe there's 150,000 or more we've done. we're going to go on those college campuses. every young woman in america should understand that we're at risk with this threat from the republican party. >> let's take a look at ann romney. she spoke about a number of things. i find it fascinating her perspective. i'm not knocking it, but i notice it was different than you hear from democrats. let's listen. >> it's the moms of this nation. single, marriemarried, widowido really hold this country together. we're the mothers, the wives, the grandmothers, the big sisters, the little sisters and we are the daughters. you know it's true, don't you? i love you women! >> you know what i noticed,

congresswoman, two things. the perspective. woman who work outside the home or which they work less. it's a particular attitude about working outside the home as if it's only a necessity then you're better off not having to do it. the other thing, you want to stay home and have more kids. these are values which are valu. but they seem to be different than the ones i've known over the last 30, 40 years. women would like to work outside the home even if they quote, didn't have to. whatever that means. it's not always about the more the better. >> women want choice. they want to make decisions over their lives. they want to make decisions over their health care. they want to make decisions over where they work, when they work. they want to make decisions over the education of their children. and they want to make decisions as it relates to their senior years in terms of being able to take care of their family members. >> how do you like the way she talked about you? >> as a single mom and a grandmother, you know, i want my

grandchildren to have access to comprehensive sex education. i want them to know they have those rights. my granddaughters as even daughter and girl in america deserve, they have the right to decisions over their bodies. my mother, i want all senior citizens to have access to medicare as we know it. not privatize medicare. i want our mothers to be able to have pay equity. >> womens are the ones in the family normally, and maybe this isn't right, who pay the closest attention to their parents. right? >> absolutely. >> it's true. >> you know that's exactly where it is. may i make a point? i've never seen a bunch like this here is against regulation. they want less, less, less. then a woman in the bedroom and they want to control everything. i don't get that. >> i love north carolina. i went to grad school here. i call it --

>> we'll sell you a second home any time you want to come. >> when people say outlaw abortion, do they know what that means exactly -- i guess there were fewer abortions technically. but so many girls would be in a predicament they wouldn't want to be in and they're going somewhere to have it dealt with. you're not going to stop it. you're going to drive it underground. >> they're going to go somewhere to end the pregnancy if they can afford it. but in cases of poor women you'll get back to the case of coat hangars in the bathtub and women will die. it's tragic. >> are you surprised romney wants to move ahead and talk about getting rid of the judges. get them on the court so they can end roe v. wade. they're serious. >> that's right out of -- we've seen what's happening in texas and all over the country. people have got to stand up. women understand that it might be their daughter or their granddaughter who's raped.

there's no such thing as legitimate rape. and that young woman should have a choice about what to do with her body and life. >> i have to have sk you, you cover more liberal areas. berkeley and oakland and all that, those are not racist parts of the united states. people live there because they like diversity. this republican ad campaign about welfare and giving up the work requirement to me is all of the old language and lingo? >> these are code words. when you talk about the food stamp president and welfare and the way they talk about welfare. i was on public assistance. we have many young women who need that bridge over troubled waters until they can find a good paying job to take care of their families. there's so many people because of the economy and because of the previous administration's economic policies who need assistance yet. they need food stamps.

but the way the republicans are preventing this, of course it's cold. and of course you'they're tryin play into the worst fears of the american people. it's not going to work. people know better than that. i think people will rise to the occasion. they're going to get out and vote for president obama. they're not going to listen to the right wing rhetoric of this. >> i remember the campaign against harvey when jesse was hanging on until the last term or so. you needed that job. does that go on here? >> you have the ad there in the paper. we're really concerned about -- in my state it's what the voter i.d. is all about. we believe we identify voters anyh anyhow. >> thank you for the warm welcome. when we return, let me finish with republicans for refusing to -- with the election. you're watching "hardball," the

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let me finish tonight with this strategy being employed by the republicans. the move to limit voting amongst minorities. to reduce the number of votes, cast out african-americans by eliminating early in person voting. and most viciously by demanding the presentation of

government-issued photo i.d. cards. the republican leader in pennsylvania was open about the purpose of this last tactic. its purpose is to get romney the electorate votes of pennsylvania. and then the relentless push against white working class voters to get them angry at welfare recipients. get them furious at obama for doing it. and throw in a slur by the republican presidential candidate about not needing to show his birth certificate and hugs of birther donald trump and you've showed your colors. this is a nasty campaign cut back the black vote, anger up the white vote. it is tribal, un-american, nothing to be proud of. a strategy which will go down into the history books for all the disgustingly obvious reasons. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. don't forget the msnbc documentary "barack obama: making history" tonight at 10:00 eastern. "politicsnation" with al sharptta