around the city. all of that wiggle room, here, not there, this but not that, a hot medium, not a cold medium. there's a big reason why the rules will not go into effect tomorrow as planned. a state supreme court judge this afternoon blocking mayor bloomberg's limits on how big a new yorker's sugary drink can be. he called the rule arbitrary, capricious, applies to some but not all establishments. enforcing it would make the board of health an administrative will he vie thin. for now, sodas as big as you want, have buckets of soda, until we know the outcome of the bloomberg administration's repeal of that ruling. yes, in new york city, it is called soda, which brings us to tonight's chart imitates life. as we were trying to understand this afternoon's ruling on sugary drinks, which is easier than understanding the regulations mayor bloomberg wants to impose on the afternoon coffee order, we came across this fabulous map of the u.s. one man's attempt to plot if

soda is called pop or soda where you live. i can say soda. right now, i am in new york city. in the northeast, it is pure aquamarine soda country. also grew up in california, which is fairly solid soda country. looks like from ohio and michigan, all the way to washington state really, i might be more of a pop person. the south is solidly coke country, whether it is brand name coca-cola or not. if it is fizzy and tastes like coke but isn't coke. this asked people whether they are pop, soda, coke, or other person, where they grew up. you answer those questions, you will have helped fill out the survey. the results seem right to us, anecdotally. many of us took time to fill out the survey this afternoon and play with the colors on the map.

the chart imitates our life as we know it, especially here in new york city. that does it for us tonight. rachel is back tomorrow. if you want to see her tonight, she's on jay leno tonight. now it is time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." have a great night. the chairman of the republican party went to brooklyn looking for votes while republicans in washington were continuing to scare voters away. >> one year ago we offered our path to prosperity. this year we offer again the path to prosperity. >> the battle is over the budget. >> the ryan budget. >> will role out his 2014 budget. >> ryan's budget calls for elimination of obama's health care law. >> are you saying as part of your budget, you assume the repeal of obama care? >> good luck with that one. >> it isn't going to happen. >> wishful thinking. >> yes. >> well that's not going to happen. >> i am flabbergasted. >> they tried it 34 times. >> it has no chance. >> it is not going to happen and

he knows it. >> we believe it should. >> a record stuck on repeat. >> we believe obama care will not work. >> why do we have to live through this again. >> has to do with republican priorities. >> we believe obama care won't work. >> there are a lot of house republicans that want this repeal repealed. >> this is about putting an end to empty promises. >> he wants to rebeal obama care. >> somehow magically maintain savings of obama care. >> he is putting it in there because his numbers don't add up. >> he is happy to include $716 billion. >> $716 billion. >> the health care law ended up having. >> a dumb person's view of what a smart person sounds like. >> there's a reason paul ryan is doing that. >> this is not about policy. >> republicans would have a problem with their own caucus. >> this is about politics. >> if we simply operate based on political fear, nothing will ever get done. nothing is ever going to get done. nothing is ever going to get

done. >> in republican world, everything old is new again. >> are you saying that as part of your budget, you would repeal, you assume the repeal of obama care? >> yes. >> well, that's not going to happen. >> well, we believe it should. that's the point. this is what budgeting is all about, chris, about making tough choices to fix our country's problems. >> tough, unrealistic choices. paul ryan made his reputation in washington, especially his reputation with the political media by being the guy who was willing to make those tough choices, but now washington is beginning to catch on. advocating a budget that is impossible to pass into law as ryan has done year in and year out, does not make him a serious player in our budget politics. ryan just advocated the repeal

of obama care. would the washington media call president obama serious if he advocated increasing all our income tax rates? no, the washington media would laugh at that proposal and say it would never happen, which would be true. the washington media is now just beginning, just beginning to chuckle at paul ryan. and they're not laughing out loud yet, but his stuff just doesn't work like it used to. >> starting with people that are now 54 that you would start to give them when they become of age a government subsidy, a voucher, whatever you want to call it, premium support to help them pay for health care costs. now, i don't have to tell you, this is a big issue in the campaign between romney ryan versus obama biden. they think they won, and they think that's one of the reasons they won. >> it is not a voucher, it is premium support. a voucher, you go to the mailbox and get something. the premise that we lost the campaign, we won the senior vote. >> tonight, republican national

committee chair reince priebus ventured into brooklyn where he wasn't probably the only one named reince, he went to meet with voters as part of the rnc post election listening tour, just a short time ago, reince priebus was on sean hannity. this is what he had to say. >> this is our moment to layout our vision for america in a budget. you think it is about time we as republicans get on the same page, all leverage everyone in the house and senate and get on board and repeat and repeat and repeat. other thing we need to do is quit bashing each other. focus on things we can agree on and repeat them over and over again. >> chris, how could they resist reince priebus? come on, that's a sellable message in brooklyn. >> let's just continue doing the same thing we have been doing the past four years which has been working so well for us, only we're going to do it

better, do the same thing, but do it better and be nicer to each other. that's going to work out. that's the remarkable thing about the paul ryan budget. i get the sense that a lot of people in the republican party really did want to do something different after the election. they really wanted to take some lessons from that and try to move forward. the problem is they boxed themselves into a corner, basically put so many policy options totally off limits, like anything that would involve raising revenues, that they have nowhere to go other than paul ryan releasing another budget that looks exactly like the last budget. >> and so ari, is time running out on the serious man of budgeting act? you get chris wallace going that's not going to happen. >> when fox news has to be the voice of reason over what happened in november, that's always a bad sign for paul ryan. as for the chairman, i live in brooklyn, i welcome the chairman to brooklyn. i think the problem is -- >> do you know anybody named

reince? >> i don't. >> but you know, get a brooklyn phone book. they still have phone books? >> the thing about brooklyn, people don't just listen to what you say, we are from brooklyn, new yorkers, we look at what you do. that's a basic concept that goes to the heartland and to the country and what people saw. the lesson he took on medicare is funny. viewers of this program remember as you pointed out that they were actually running, trying to accuse the democrats of cutting medicare, to the extent they have any politically viable medicare argument, it was a deceitful one, but one that went to the liberal foundation of the fact that seniors and many other people believe in medicare and want it to be there. that's the last point you were discussing last week on the show with chris hayes, the demographic problem is huge. they can't have their bluff called when you look at the republican base from the voting last cycle, people over 65, and white voters over 65 went for republicans by 22 points. if they want to dip into that by

reversing the medicare argument they made and going after it, and people think it is going to happen, they're going to be in more trouble. >> krystal, on this point, they ran against him saying you cut medicare and cut it for obama care. >> right. >> the wonderful joke, the latest joke called the ryan budget, he leaves in the medicare cuts that were done within the obama care legislation and then wants to repeal everything else in obama care. >> he assumes not only the medicare savings, he also assumes the tax increases that came with obama care so that he can make his numbers add up, not to mention the tax increases that were part of the fiscal cliff deal because apparently according to what he said in his interview, he doesn't want to look backwards and refight that, although he obviously wants to refight obama care. the fact of the matter is this is not a governing document. paul ryan is not about governing or trying to actually come up with realistic plans.

this is like a john gault, fanciful, like a wizard budget. the numbers don't add up. he has to assume these savings or it doesn't work. >> listen to what he said when chris wallace asked him where the compromise point might be. >> the president would like to raise $600 billion at least in added revenue by clearing out so many of the deductions and loopholes for upper income people. you want not nips and cuts but structural reform to entitlements. did you get a sense, first of all, are you willing to give up one to get the other and did you get the sense he was? >> look, we already had a tax increase, we have a spending problem, and i like to think we can find common ground how and where to cut spending and get entitlement reforms. will he take the premium support and block medicaid, i think he won't. >> i believe the president will not accept in any way.

there he is saying look, if this is anything, it is just a negotiating -- >> you could say he is inadvertently candid about how political his whole approach is here. there's another problem from the footage you played tonight, lawrence. when it comes to obama care, we need to keep repealing it. when it comes to the tax increase, that's settled, that can't be touched and will never happen again. you start to see the game here. anything that has obama's name on it must be fought on every field, every place in the courts, in the court of public opinion, in congress, even when they keep losing and losing to the conservative justices. but the other stuff, of course, they're willing to wipe away any time. >> progress today, bipartisan progress on immigration, senators saying we think we found a path to citizenship we can all agree on. that's the kind of thing that not only israel progress but i think makes paul ryan look even

more dated. he looks like a game we've already played. >> i totally agree with that. he has not been leading the charge in actually moving the republican party forward, so he looks like he is out of it, not part of that conversation. and i also agree with you. it is remarkable progress and the fact that jeb bush in his book got behind the ball is a recognition of how far the party has moved and how quickly. they're recognizing demographic realities, they realize they have to do something about it, be able to move forward. i still think that immigration reform is a tough sell for some republicans in conservative red districts because they've spent so long demagoguing on this issue, it will be hard to turn that around overnight. but it is encouraging, one of the few encouraging signs you can point to with this republican group. >> ari, it looks like they're on the way to having 60 votes in the senate for something that is substantial, will be considered substantial. and will probably include some

form of victory lap for marco rubio. it is the kind of thing that will continue to make the paul ryans the old -- as young as he is -- the old republican party, and rubio the new guard. >> exactly. for people that pay attention to the content of the policy, it will probably have some conservative ingredients as well. it is not like they have to walk away from the table saying they only co-signed what obama strictly wanted. i think that's the real question as we go into this period, which of the leaders see dividends in doing things and working across the aisle and while they don't do it very often, people like chris christie and marco rubio have shown there's a third way there. >> krystal, is it conceivable, one of the big stars on the bench of the republican party, jeb bush, many people say he is the savior, as soon as he makes the move we have somewhere to go, that he could spend a week with a new book about immigration that would have absolutely no effect on the republican dialogue about the

subject? >> no effect and no positive impact for him in terms of looking at 2016. >> a setback for him. >> absolutely. i would make not only the comparison with marco rubio that doesn't look good, but also chris christie, straight shooter, says what he thinks. worst part of this is that jeb bush seemed mealy mouthed, like he was trying to be in the right place politically. never a good look. >> different position on immigration each day, even though he had written a book about it. >> yes. >> crystal ball, ari, thank you for joining us. coming up, ashley judd is close toer running for senate in kentucky, bad news for mitch mcconnell. why did no one notice a big republican star quit politics today? just up and quit. was it just because he didn't explicitly say he was quitting? the end of a bright, shining republican political career is in tonight's rihanna

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. ashley judd is close toer running. and today, a big star republican, joint star republican dropped out of politics forever. and no one noticed in tonight's "rewrite." humans. even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else comes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance.

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the senate is not nearly as dysfunctional as it is made out to be, there's great relationships in the senate. our problem in the senate is leadership of the senate, not members of the senate. >> unpopular senate minority leader mitch mcconnell up for re-election in 2014. according to a poll, only 17% will vote for mitch mcconnell, no matter who runs against him. 34% will vote against mcconnell, no matter who runs against him, and 44% will wait to see who his opponent is. if mcconnell survives a republican primary challenge, his general election opponent will likely be, we hope, actress and activist ashley judd. we, of course, being the political media who would love to see a movie star run for anything. according to former kentucky political reporter howard fineman, ashley judd has told

advisers she will announce her candidacy in early may. a public policy poll of kentucky voters conducted in december shows judd polling within four points of senator mcconnell. joining me now, "the washington post" and sam stein. nia, four point gap against incumbent is basically you're winning. when it comes to normal political arithmetic, when they poll below 50, then the undecideds go to the challenger. she hasn't run an ad or done a thing and is within easy challenging distance of the republican leader of the u.s. senate. what is going on here? >> i mean, i think those low poll numbers you cited, 17% of folks in kentucky, those are the only ones want to vote for him.

the problem is whether it is the candidate he would want. his strategy has been to raise a bunch of money and play a bunch of negative ads against his opponent and do a carpet bombing. you can see some of it starting already with some of the outside groups already running "the ed show" against ashley judd. so that's the question. democrats would like to see some folks get in the race, not sure ashley judd could stand the limelight and scrutiny she would get if she runs against mitch mcconnell. >> let's look at one of the ads already run against her. >> you know what this country really needs? an independent voice for obama. >> i am committed to president obama and vice president biden. i think he's a brilliant man. >> someone who will never forget where she came from. >> it just clicked, tennessee is home.

and it just clicked. >> kentucky. >> tennessee is home. >> ashley judd, an obama following radical hollywood liberal who is right at home here in tennessee, i mean kentucky. >> sam stein, is that the best they've got? >> no. i'm sure they have more than that. that's the opening -- >> sam, here is what they don't have. they don't have a voting record to run against of some kind. there's all sorts of negatives she could have picked up as a politician that she doesn't have. >> yeah, that's a fair argument. she doesn't have a voting record. on the plus side for her, she will have an incredible fund-raising base, right? she will drive immense coverage which can be good and bad. on the minus side, you have some of the old statements and clips and have them dregging up stuff about tennessee, about some of the more liberal causes she championed in her time. it is a plus and minus. in the end, comes down to what mitch mcconnell brings to the table. he is a complex politician in a

sense, obviously has a real deficit of trust in kentucky, otherwise his poll numbers wouldn't be that bad. however, he is sort of a known quantity there. he has done a lot for the state that you and i know and no one else in the national media comprehend because it is local. he brought so much money back to that state, people know and trust him for that. he is a pretty good politician when it comes to state politics. it is not a walk in the park because his numbers are in this poor state that they are currently. >> nia, sam is right, i don't know everything he has done for kentucky. i know he slapped his name on some federal buildings. >> that's true. >> in kentucky which is kind of a sleazy thing to do. but apparently kentucky, they don't know what he has done. numbers are terrible. here is a robo poll from harper polling, run by someone that used to work for mcconnell. so if there's ever going to be a favorable mcconnell poll it will come from here, mcconnell 49,

ashley judd 40, which is still incredibly positive for ashley judd. that is the way elizabeth warren was polling against scott brown in massachusetts when things started up up there. >> that's right. but i do think elizabeth warren was more of a match for massachusetts than ashley judd is for kentucky. sure, she went to university of kentucky, she's at the basketball games all the time. but in terms of her prior statements, she at some point referred to removal of mountain stop coal, removal of mountain tops for coal production and compared it to rape. there are some statements, you have to imagine that they've got tons of research on ashley judd and that she might not wear well over time for folks in kentucky. it is a very conservative state. i think the question for democrats in general is would she hurt the entire ticket. if you're, for instance, kay

hague enin north carolina, do you want to answer questions about ashley judd. does she allow republicans to really attack the entire class of 2014 as so progressive and so liberal and out of step with mainstream. >> i don't think that happens because she's obviously -- she brings one asset to the table, trained to be in the public spotlight. not like she is new to this. she's in front of cameras all the time. she's very obviously talented. >> politics and acting are two different things. she's trained to be an actor, she is not a professional politician. >> this isn't -- it would be weird for her to have a moment where she, you know, melts because of the scrutiny. she can obviously stand the scrutiny of the media. the other thing works in her favor, attacking her could come off as insensitive, could come off potentially as sexist in some respects. she has that ability. she can relate probably to female voters in kentucky better than mitch mcconnell. one other thing is that obama won't be on the ticket which is

important for her. in kentucky, obama is not very popular obviously. so it won't be like people are driven to the polls to vote against the president. >> obama is going to be on the ticket. >> not in 2014. >> they go as a referendum on obama saying do we want to send more people to washington who can sign onto obama or block his, you know, last two years. i think he is going to be on the ballot in many ways. >> you know who we need on this subject on this show? >> ashley judd. >> in addition to ashley judd who has an open invitation obviously, we need the last word's unofficial senior kentucky political analyst, george clooney, who is from kentucky and knows a little about what ashley judd has been doing for a living lately. so george, any time you want to enlighten us. >> we're not good enough, lawrence? >> no, sam, all i would do is add george to this panel, he

would be one of three. he would have to fight his way in with you. >> george and i usually don't do panels together. i could make an exception. >> i will fly up especially to sit with george. >> all right. bookers are at work. thanks very much for joining us, guys. >> thanks. coming up, the unholy alliance between nascar, national rifle association and fox sports network. and the president did some standup comedy this weekend, it is that time of year again. we will bring you his best jokes and reviews from people who were there. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready?

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and these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. >> oh, one of the greatest moments in the history of standup comedy. it is silly season again in washington. this is the time of year when the president is invited by reporters for evenings of free food and jokes. saturday night was the annual gridiron dinner in washington, which is closed to cameras, but with a roomful of reporters, most of what was said has leaked out. and this time perhaps inspired by the romney 47% secretly recorded video, a secretly recorded video appeared yesterday on the minnesota star tribune's website, starring of all people, minnesota's senior senator, amy cloeb shar. >> i know i was picked to speak tonight from a binderful of

women. you first went to michelle obama, but she was doing the oscar's. then you went to hillary, and you know she doesn't like to travel. and then to susan rice. but john mccain blocked her. and then you ended up with me. and you should know that what i don't have in fame i makeup for in hard work and preparation. and i can tell you one thing, i prepared more for this speech than the president did for his first debate! >> joining me from the last word's binderful of women, minnesota democratic senator, amy cloeb shar and national political reporter for "the washington post" at saturday's gridiron dinner. senator, minnesota already has a standup comedian in the united states senate. what are you trying to do here. this is franken territory you're

venturing into. >> lawrence, thanks for having me on. great time to get together and poke some fun. al is funny, but keeps it under wraps. i get to hear some of his jokes. >> you really went at some points that would be considered politically sensitive, but there's something about those rooms that allow jokes that in any other situation you wouldn't come close to being willing to tell. what is it like to get up there with this material, the president is there and everyone who your jokes are aimed at, almost all of them are there. do you feel kind of nervous about this? it is not like a politician to be cracking things like that. >> it is not for the risk averse. i will say bobby jindal did a great job, the governor of louisiana. to sit and hear him, i thought this is like the olympics where you have to do the extra back

flip just to survive. so i actually added a few jokes from the podium. but i will say the president had a good sense of humor and probably i did want to know how he would react when i said his secret service code name because he aged a bit in the white house changed from renegade to 50 shades of gray. is that something i normally say to the president of the united states, no, only in that room. >> did you sneak a look at him every time you made a joke every time to make sure it was okay? >> i did, i would like to remain on his export counsel, i was hoping he took it in good humor. >> karen, you have been to a lot of these, i have been to one of these a long time ago. it is different from all of the rest because it really in the past always was a really sealed room and next to nothing leaked out about what was said there. now more and more leaks out. and finally, finally, we have secretly recorded video from the gridiron, which by the way, when you look at the camera angle, it wasn't so secretly recorded.

obviously he was holding up a camera phone getting the shot. that's a big break for protocol there. >> the gridiron club, the traditions of gridiron go back to the grover cleveland administration, and if you look around the room, it looks like some of the members go back to the grover cleveland administration as well. but i think it got a rude introduction to the video age a few years ago when president bush got on stage and started singing. and boy, those camera videos were on the internet within second. i do commend senator cloeb shar. she got the two secrets of this, one is self deprecating humor goes a long way, and topical stuff goes a long way. she was working a little blue, making jokes about the size of general allen's hard drive. she did a great job. >> i have to do for the audience, i have to read these which is tragic.

read one of the president's jokes. he said now i'm sure you noticed there's is somebody special in my life missing tonight, someone who has always got my back, stands with me no matter what and gives me hope no matter how dark things seem. tonight i want to publicly thank my rock, my foundation, thank you, nate silver. and karen, as you know on this program, we ran nate silver's numbers pretty much every night and found out election night how accurate they were and how reassuring they must have been as the president just indicated all year for him. >> and he was making a joke about a number of journalists, including bob woodward. he was talking about the flap that's been going on with the white house and bob woodward. he said hey, what's the worst that could happen when a president gets into a fight with bob woodward? >> senator, what is the good of these kinds of evenings, of the media getting together with politicians, with office holders, and joking around like this. >> well, at this point in

washington i think any function where republicans and democrats are coming together is a good thing, and there were a number of elected officials there, people talking to the press, and it is one more venue where people can at least try to be civil to each other. none of the three speeches i would consider snarky. they were all pretty positive. my favorite joke from the president was when he talked about how john kerry was doing well stepping into hillary's shoes but taking it too far when he was showing up every day at work in pant suits. i thought that was the president's best joke. he said he is too tall for pant suits, it is an ugly sight. in any case, i think that's positive, for me, having my dad there who is 84 years old and wrote for the minneapolis paper for nearly 40 years, sitting next to my 17-year-old daughter who is now the editor of her high school newspaper, that was a cool thing. so it was a positive evening, but now we're back at work. that was my point at the end of the dinner, people need to come

together, get things done. >> karen, it is the only place i have seen al gore be really, really funny was at this dinner. he kind of changed his image at that time with the washington media in his performance that night, and was that something that bobby jindal pulled off successfully? >> oh, absolutely. and again, beginning with self dep ri cation, made fun of his performance, response to the state of the union address and also had elaborate jokes about marco rubio's as well. again, he has great comedic timing, which is something a lot of us hadn't had a chance to see. there's probably a video of that somewhere, too, that's going to make it out. >> senator amy cloeb shar, in the running for minnesota's funniest senator, thank you for joining us. karen, thank you, too. >> thank you, lawrence.

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that's why i recommend polident. [ male announcer ] cleaner, fresher, brighter every day. so if a tree fell in a forest and no one was there to hear it, what if a politician, a big star, a politician quits politics and no one really hears it? well, that's what happened today, and that's next in the "rewrite." d new start. your chance to rise and shine. with centurylink as your trusted technology partner, you can do just that. with our visionary cloud infrastructure, global broadband network and custom communications solutions, your business is more reliable - secure - agile. and with responsive, dedicated support, we help you shine every day of the week.

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i don't need professor warren commenting on my votes. >> scott brown doesn't have to worry about that any more, he doesn't have to worry about anyone else ever talking or speaking or commenting on his votes during his brief run as united states senator. in the "rewrite," the final "rewrite" of scott brown's political future. remember the day after scott brown won ted kennedy's senate seat in a special election, and suddenly the republicans had a new big star and people started talking about scott brown as a possible presidential candidate? >> barack obama, jfk, they started eyeing the white house the day they started the senate. do you think you're presidential --

>> i haven't even been to washington yet. i don't want to say that's a silly question. >> turns out it was a very silly question. not just because scott brown supports a woman's right to choose and therefore could never win a republican presidential primary, but also because as we now know, scott brown was just a guy who got lucky in a special election as he proved in his campaign to hold onto his senate seat against elizabeth warren's challenge. >> professor warren. >> can you imagine 100 professor warrens down there? >> massachusetts voters only had to imagine one professor warren down there. and they made that dream a reality. now getting reelected in massachusetts shouldn't have been so hard for scott brown. all he had to do was distance himself from mitch mcconnell and crazy republicans on things massachusetts voters obviously wouldn't like, but scott brown wasn't smart enough to do that,

and so elizabeth warren beat him and beat him badly. when it was clear john kerry was on his way to secretary of state, opening another massachusetts senate seat for another special election, democratic congressman ed markey was the first to announce he would run for the kerry seat, and everyone, but i mean everyone assumed scott brown would not only run for that seat but be the front runner for that seat. everyone except one lonely television voice. and you heard it here first, which is to say you're hearing it right now. scott brown probably won't even run against ed markey. but i didn't know the half of it. i was pretty sure scott brown was afraid to run against ed markey, and would instead wait and run for governor next year, an office he would have a much better shot at winning because it would be an open seat. but instead, a month ago, scott

brown signed on as a fox news contributor. and today, he completed a full pay let by quitting politics entirely and simply chasing the money that his political celebrity earned him. of course, that's not the way the political media has reported scott brown's move today. they're simply reporting that scott brown has decided to take a job in the law firm where the firm says, quote, he will focus his practice on business and governmental affairs. that is the lobbying world's euphemism for lobbying, governmental affairs. so today, scott brown became a lobbyist! that's death for a politician ever hoping to run for office again. even scott brown is smart enough to know that. this is as clear a career moment as this was.

>> with this announcement that i am not seeking re-election, i determined it is best to transfer the authority of governor to lieutenant governor parnell. i have given my reasons, no more politics as usual, taking my fight for what's right for lads in a new direction. take the words of general macarthur. he said we are not retreating, we are advancing in another direction. >> the moment sarah palin advanced in another direction, it was very clear she was quitting politics forever. but of course, the political media didn't understand that and continued to fall for the idea that someone who had quit a governorship halfway through could actually ask voters to vote for her again for president. scott brown is smart enough to know that he cannot go off and become a lobbyist, then take that dreaded occupation onto a debate stage as a candidate for anything ever again.

this is scott brown's full palin. take fox news' money and go for the money

as reported on this program last month through the research of the new republican timothy

noah, the percentage of gun owners in the country has been dropping dramatically. now comes "the new york times" with a report this weekend showing the household gun ownership rate has fallen from an average of 50% in the 1970s to 49% in the 1980s, 43% in the 1990s, and 35% in the 2000s. the findings contrast with the impression left by a flurry of news reports about people rushing to buy guns and clearing gun shop shelves of assault rifles after the massacre last year in an elementary school in newtown, connecticut. regardless, the national rifle association continues to inflate its clout. last week, the nra announced it is partnering with texas motor speedway and sponsoring a nascar race in april. nra ceo wayne la pierre said nra members and nascar fans love their country and everything that is good and right about

america, salute our flag, volunteer in churches and communities, cherish our families, and love racing. on april 13th, we'll all come together at texas motor speedway. but connecticut senator chris murphy sent a letter to the nascar chairman and ceo asking him to say no to the nra. he wrote by giving sponsorship of a major nascar race, nascar has crossed a line. you have decided to put yourself in the middle of a political debate, and you have taken a side that stands in opposition to the wishes of so many newtown families who support common sense gun reform. the nra sponsored race will be broadcast on fox sports network. joining me now, senator chris murphy. senator, why should the nra not be sponsoring a nascar race. >> first, nascar has been generous since the tragedy in my

state and newtown. the ceo i wrote the letter to who donated $50,000 to sandy hook elementary school, nascar's foundation matched it, and so i have no complaints about what nascar has done for newtown, they just made a mistake here. the fact is that nascar and most major american sports have stayed out of politics, and to make a decision in the middle of a major legislative debate over guns to take a side to announce the nra is sponsoring a nascar race at the height of a legislative debate in which the nra has taken an extreme position, not just against the assault weapons ban but even against background checks i think is out of bounds. i asked the nascar to take a look at it. i'm not going to introduce legislation to stop them from doing it, but i think in the interest of a lot of their fans who support the kind of common sense gun measures, they should stay out of this debate.

>> the "the new york times" report follows timothy noe's report last month, that gun ownership rates are declining, it is now a minority activity in the united states and this impression when these events happen and people rush out to buy guns through paranoia that they're somehow going to be prevented buying guns, people think gun ownership is going up, when in fact it seems to be that people are hoarding or amassing more and more guns in that same home that already has guns. >> yeah. and listen, i think you can tie that statistic back to why the nra has taken such an extreme position. ten years ago, the nra came to washington after columbine and argued for universal background checks. today they're arguing against them and frankly stirring up the paranoia if you get a background check and gun store has a record of that, that's going to allow the government to track you down and take your gun. why is the nra doing that?