economic policy research. thank you gentlemen, both. that is "all in" for this evening. the "rachel maddow show" starts now. good evening, chris. thank you, my friend. thanks to you at home for staying with us the next hour. the city of winston-salem has not quite a quarter million people in it. it is a substantial city. big companies are based there. several colleges are based there. winston-salem is the fifth largest city in the state of north carolina. the mayor of winston-salem is this man, allen joines, a democrat, up for re-election of mayor this year. the challenger on the republican side is this man, james lee knox. he works for a local towing company. and despite being the only republican challenging the incumbent mayor of winston-salem for the mayor's job, james lee knox has just lost the support of his local republican party. the forsythe county republican party has announced that they no longer support james lee knox in his bid to become the next mayor of winston-salem.

this comes after mr. knox admitted using with the local paper describes as several derogatory terms including the "n" word in a confrontation with a local elections worker last year. mr. knox acknowledged that he used the racial slur after the 2012 election. he said he was trying to find out the name of a black elections employee with whom he had exchanged words during early voting. during a conversation with another county worker, mr. knox referred to the woman using several derogatory terms including the "n" word. mr. knox says he does not believe in using such words but that he, quote, got frustrated. that's how he explains it. he got frustrated. you get frustrated and out pops the "n" word. she was black. you know, as you do. so reportedly the state republican party in north carolina decided to not get involved in this situation in winston-salem, but the local party did drop their support for mr. knox. after initially telling the local paper that he felt that

the local republican party had stabbed him in the back. well tonight mr. knox officially just quit the race. i think this has happened early enough that it probably means his name will be off the ballot and that means the winner of the democratic primary in winston-salem will go on to run for mayor without any republican opponent at all. for an off year in politics, for an odd-numbered year, there's been a kind of a lot of elections drama in north carolina this year and a lot of it has been happening in north carolina's college towns. like in that dramatic development today in winston-salem. also there's been some drama in the town of boone, north carolina, the home of appalachian state university. the new republican majority board of elections there last week decided to close the voting site on campus at appalachian state. no more voting on campus there. if that were not enough, the new republican majority has also decided to limit early voting to just one site in boone, north carolina. they've combined three precincts to create what will be the third

largest precinct in the whole state with 9,300 voters all crammed into one voting location that has just 35 parking places. it includes the school, but as ari berman reported today at "the nation" this one remaining voting location is not only not on campus, it is not accessible by public transportation. it is over a mile from campus, and a mile from campus is along a 45-mile-an-hour road that doesn't have a sidewalk. so good luck, students. just try voting in that part of north carolina. over on the opposite corner of the state in elizabeth city, in the far northeast corner of the state, the chairman of the local republican party there has formally challenged the right of one candidate who wants to run for city council there. montravius king is a student at elizabeth city university, a historically black college. the local republican party chairman challenged montravius' right to run for office specifically because he lives at

school and registered to vote there. the new republican majority and board of elections agreed with the republican county boss. they ruled this week mr. king is not qualified to run for office. which means that mr. king and all the other students who vote at that school might also be ruled not just not eligible to run for office locally, but not eligible to vote. because the qualifications for being a candidate and the qualifications for being a voter are exactly the same. and they're saying so far he can't be a candidate. that republican party chairman saying he will, indeed, challenge the right to vote of all students at that historically black college in north carolina, and with that happening, north carolina lawyers and some leaders from the naacp went to elizabeth city state today. they went to that historically black college to start looking into that situation. and back up in winston-salem where they're having that trouble with the mayor, we reported on the show yesterday that the new republican majority

board of elections there has been making a push to stop all the early voting at winston-salem state university. it's another historically black school. the local paper reported on that a couple of days ago. the raleigh paper, the news and observer picked up the story yesterday and the story got picked up in south carolina, of all places. we also reported on the story last night here on this show, and now all of a sudden that elections board sees no rush. no rush to shut that voting center down on campus. they had previously said they were going to vote on that at tonight's meeting with the new republican majority on the board. right? but now all of a sudden they're saying, what's the rush? urgency, what urgency? now they're not going to bring it up until next year. that same news report noting the board's last two meetings had been filled to capacity. board of elections meetings in august filled to capacity. they had already been planning to move tonight's meeting on this contentious effort to close down the early voting site at the school. they already planned to move

tonight's meeting to a different floor of the building in which they usually meet in a larger room in order to accommodate what they'd been told to expect was going to be another large turnout. winston-salem state students are just getting back right now, still arriving on campus this week. the student body president is johnny on the spot here saying student leaders were planning on attending tonight's meeting. and with that expected large turnout, with that reaction and that attention in the press, to what they had planned on doing, they have put it off. for a year. and in fact the elections director for the county is now saying that no public comments about closing down this voting site will even be allowed to be spoken at tonight's meeting which they are still holding in the larger room. so all of a sudden they're very shy about what they had been planning to go right ahead with tonight. the fight in north carolina is getting to be a very interesting fight, and i think from a national perspective it feels like it's happening all of a sudden. the more we talk to people and

pay attention to the local press and local discussion there, you get the sense in north carolina it doesn't feel all of a sudden. it feels like we're getting to the loud part of a natural crescendo. started, of course, in 2010 when republicans did really well in the midterm elections in north carolina. once they got in. in 2010. because they did great. they took advantage of the fact they were there in a sense this year and they redistricted the jeepers out of north carolina. thus earning themselves supermajorities in both houses of the legislature to go along with their new republican governor, north carolina's first republican governor in 20 years. pat mccrory had been the seven-term mayor of charlotte, north carolina. he was thought of as a republican who might conceivably govern the way that mayors tend to govern which by necessity tends to be a kind of technocratic moderate get things done kind of way of working. it has not been that way with him as governor, though. with his supermajorities in the legislature, with the

republicans' ability to do whatever they want in the state for the first time in 20 years, they are going for it. and it has been a hard, fast and rather radical right turn on everything in the state from abortion, to taxes, to funding education, to most recently this very dramatic move getting attention on voter suppression, voting rights. moral mondays in north carolina, on mondays, in north carolina. moral mondays started back in june. people started showing up at the state capitol, protesting inside the state capitol building getting arrested week after week. more than 900 people have been arrested so far in those demonstrations altogether. now that the state legislature is out of session, they've been moving moral mondays around the state. the first one they held outside the capitol was in the mountain town of asheville, north carolina. thousands of people showing up on a monday to protest their government. look at that in asheville. last night moral mondays on the road was in charlotte.

which, of course, is where pat mccrory spent seven terms as mayor before he became the governor. >> quite a few people showed up. maybe more than was expected. >> absolutely, paul. 2,000 people according to charlotte police. all of these protesters have one thing in common. they are frustrated with the direction the state legislature has taken in raleigh and they wanted their voices heard. everything from cuts to education, to the new voter i.d. law, women's rights, the new tax laws, the changes in the capitol have folks fighting mad. >> i'm furious for our students, women, poor people, old people, sick people. i just feel like the state of north carolina has taken a huge step backwards. it's just not right. and i'm ready to fight. i'm mad. i'm angry. and i'm ready to fight. >> fighting mad. in that larger than expected

crowd last night in the governor's hometown of charlotte. the protest movement in north carolina is promising enough now. promising enough to people who are fighting against what the republicans have been doing in that state. that our guest last night on this show, nine term state senator ellie kinnaird, she announced yesterday she is quitting the state senate at 81 years of age, after 16 years of service, she is quitting the senate. she's 81 years old but not quitting because she wants to retire. she's not retiring. she's not quitting in protest of the new voter i.d. law or in protest of any of the other things republicans have done. ellie kinnaird is instead resigning to fight, to work full time outside the system with the people who have been turning out for all of these protests all over the state. dovetailing with this now very interesting, very energized fight in north carolina is new news today from national democrats. that they plan a 50-state strategy. they plan to wage a 50-state sort of counteroffensive to try

to advance voting rights everywhere in the country. it's not just a defense to what the republicans have been doing, but as an alternative to what the republicans have been doing. as an alternative to how aggressively republicans have been trying and succeeding in many states to roll voting rights way, way, way back. joining us now, michael sergeant, president of the group called american values first. a 50-state initiative to encourage efforts to make voting easier in every state. mr. sergeant, thank you very much for being with us tonight. >> thank you so much for inviting me, rachel. >> so seeing the "washington post" reporting on this today was the first i learned about it, and i don't totally understand. i feel like i have been waiting to hear some sort of national answer from democrats about a national strategy to combat what is obviously a national republican strategy to roll back voting rights. what exactly are you doing? >> what the american values first voting rights strategy, is a 50-state strategy to promote policies and legislation that

will, you know, ease access to voting as well as opposing the myriad of voter suppression measures going on in the states. over 30 states right now have either passed legislation or are in the process of passing legislation that would make it more difficult for people to vote. we're talking about students. we're talking about the disabled. we're talking about elderly. we're talking about minorities. this is really a truly -- it's an attack upon, you know, american values and, you know, american rights. >> we have been reporting on that for years now in terms of these very aggressive republican efforts, very similar republican efforts in lots of states to try to roll back voting rights wherever and whenever they can. what we've seen so far in terms of a pushback is a lot of legal fights, right? the department of justice, whether or not they can use the voting rights act, in some cases defending states' voting rights

against what republicans are trying to do there. we've also seen local fights organized by local community groups and politicians like i just documented in north carolina. we have not seen any sort of national strategy organized by democrats spanning multiple states to try to push for it. so when you say you're going to fight to turn back this tide, what exactly are you going to do? >> well, you know, a big part of the program really is, you know, the mobilizing and working with state legislators around the country actually passing the laws and are in position to oppose these laws. that's one of the things american values first and voting rights project is working on. we have the ability to work with legislators across the country, you know, it should be legislators of whatever political persuasion, who believe that all americans have the right to vote and we should -- and it should be encouraged and should be made easier, not more difficult.

and unfortunately, far right, many far right forces have been working on limiting the right to vote, you know, to try to guarantee certain political objectives. >> can you give us any idea of the scale of your efforts and how you are connected to democratic party politics or democratic party organizations at all? how long are you guys going to be around, and how big a deal are your efforts going to be? >> we're planning on being around and working on this issue as long as it needs to be worked on. unfortunately, i think it's something that's going to need to be worked on for a long time. you know, we work, you know -- the american values first works with legislators, state legislators across the country, and that's the first line of defense regarding protecting people's rights to vote. and american values first works very closely with the democratic legislative campaign committee which is the democratic party organization that works with democratic state legislators across the country. >> democratic legislative campaign committee.

now i have to set a new google alert. michael sergeant, president of american values first. thank you for helping us understand your efforts tonight. >> thank you so much, rachel. >> we have been reporting on this story for as long as this show's been on the air, we've been reporting on voter suppression and protecting the right to vote. and every time you get sort of national-level democrats to talk about it, they tell you how bad the problem is and they tell you how much it must be fought. but the fight has been a state-to-state fight and a lot of it has been a legal fight, and a little bit of it has been a legislative fight. but to imagine the democratic party waging a national 50-state political fight on this subject, i feel like that's something that everybody's been waiting for. everybody's been covering this. everybody's been watching this happen for years, has been waiting for. this rollout of this american values first thing has been very subtle. and that was certainly their first national tv appearance. we shall see if this turns into a big deal.

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there were a lot of big legislative achievements in president obama's first term. health reform obviously is the big one. something democrats have been trying to achieve for 60 years. president obama and the democrats in congress got that done. also, wall street reform to try to stop the worst of the abuses there that led to the financial crisis at the end of the bush presidency. to preclude the possibility of another giant wall street bailout like we had at the end of those years.

also the lilly ledbetter fair pay act so women can sue to get equal pay as men doing the same work. also the nuclear arms treaty with russia. the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. repeal of don't ask, don't tell. expanding the hate crimes law. overhauling student loans to take out the weird subsidized private middleman in the loan system that was there for no reason. the 9/11 first responders bill. the stimulus. remember cash for clunkers? right. the president had a lot of legislative accomplishments in his first term. particularly when he had democratic majorities in both houses of congress. in his second term, the president has been pretty clear about what he's aiming to with this half of his presidency. he's talked about taking action on some tough stuff. climate change. he's already made a go at federal gun reforms although

that has been a tough slog already. of course the big kahuna, everybody is waiting to see how it turns out, say it with me now, immigration reform. five seconds after the 2012 election results were announced, even lots of republicans and conservative pundits agreed that there was really no excuse to keep not fixing our stupid and broken immigration system which has been stupid and broken for decades. it has been stupid and broken for so long because of congress' inability to get it fixed. the previous republican president could not even get his own party in congress to go along with his effort to fix the system, but in 2012, after losing the presidency to a democratic president, who went from 67% of the latino vote in 2008, to 71% of the latino vote in 2012, as mitt romney just got trounced, after the 2012 election results, even republicans were conceding it was time to fix the immigration system. and thus was born a vague mist-like esoteric sense in washington that something would happen. surely if the political logic is is this clear and so many important people even in republican politics see that

political logic that is so clear, then surely doesn't it seem like something will happen? feels that way. and, yes, after hemming and hawing of almost epic proportions, the united states senate, controlled by democrats, did pass an immigration bill. the senate is controlled by democrats. 14 republican senators crossed over to get it passed. passing in the senate, though, does not mean it has passed into law. and having a vague misty sense that it must pass, that it ought to pass, that it might pass, that surely it's got to pass, right? that vague abstract positive feeling that it should pass is also not the same thing as something actually passing into law. it really does have to go through the house, too, and the house really is controlled by republicans. and whatever funky smelling cloud of smoke has settled over the beltway's reasoning on this subject about how surely it's got to pass, it doesn't seem like the republicans are going to let it pass. the chairman of the house

judiciary committee is a key gatekeeper for this thing. if it can't get past him, it can't get past his committee. if it can't get past his committee, it can't get a vote. last night he did a town hall at which he said he will do everything he can to ensure that the senate's comprehensive immigration bill never gets taken up in the house. he said he is flat-out opposed to the whole point of the bill and it will never happen. he's saying he will do whatever it takes. he will do whatever he can. and what he can do is stop it. plainly. personally. he said that around 7:00 p.m. eastern last night, and although this vague sense persists in the punditocracy that surely something is going to happen, it has to pass, republicans would be insane not to fix this problem for themselves. even though that unsourced, feel-good sense still seems to pervade washington and people who are paid to watch it for a living. if the republicans who control the house say no, then it's no. it's not going to happen. and as of 7:00 p.m. last night, they are saying no full stop.

and i know that in the marginal sense of what has just been advanced, it's just this anonymous guy, bob goodlatte who nobody could pick out of a lineup. seems like a processed story and it's not getting press today because he's not all that famous. he's the head of the committee who has to make if happen and he's saying no, and this is a huge moment on a huge issue, arguably the hugest issue in washington for four years. and republicans are flat-out saying, no, don't care, we aren't going to do it. put a pin in this story today, even though the headlines about it have not been huge, put a pin in it. unless something changes radically, the republicans just killed immigration for the foreseeable future in this third week of august 2013, and on their heads will fall the political consequences probably for a generation, hence.

governor -- >> you guys got any problems you want me to handle, a fire anywhere, people trapped? >> no. >> no? like a bad automobile accident where you need me to help some folks? >> nothing like that. >> you need me to get a cat in a tree? >> no, i think we're all set here. >> trooper, what do we got? >> mayor, thank you for coming. there's a two-alarm fire on state street. a car broken down on route 1. little girl lost her cat in a tree. >> as you were. governor, i've got this. >> booker. >> last year republican governor chris christie of new jersey joined forces with the

democratic mayor of new jersey's largest city, newark, cory booker, to create a video parody of their political selves, a moment to move past our political differences. it was a great publicity stunt for all of them. it was all in good fun. until it became an awkward situation. now when it comes down to actually throwing support behind a candidate for political office, governor chris christie really cannot side with his buddy, the really very popular mayor of newark, cory booker, who is now the democratic candidate for u.s. senate in new jersey. chris christie and cory booker go way back, you know? i mean, for guys in opposite parties with big national profiles, they have a lot of mutual respect. even a mutual publicity stunt under their belts. now partisan politics dictate that chris christie cannot go with cory booker anymore. now he has to go with somebody amazing who is running against cory booker for that senate seat.

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the largest newspaper in the state of virginia has today called on virginia's republican governor to resign from office. citing his diminished credibility and a drained capacity to leave the commonwealth. the virginian pilot newspaper in norfolk said "the prospect of governor bob mcdonnell's leadership is untenable. he must devote his full attention to sorting out his personal and legal problems and for the good of his office, for the good of the state, for the good of every virginian and his family and his himself, governor bob mcdonnell should resign." this is the second major virginia newspaper to call for governor mcdonnell's resignation. the first was "daily progress" newspaper in charlottesville, virginia, next week. even the "washington post's" pretty doctrinaire republican columnist jennifer ruben is calling on governor mcdonnell to

resign. the latest calls for the governor to step down follow the news reported in the "washington post" that federal officials spent yesterday meeting with lawyers for both the governor and his wife. separate lawyers now for each of them. we'll have more on that in a moment, though. they spent yesterday meeting with governor's lawyers and his wife's lawyers giving those lawyers a chance to argue for why federal prosecutors should not bring criminal charges against bob mcdonnell. asked today about that repeatedly by reporters, governor mcdonnell said he did not want to talk about it. >> can you tell us at about the results of the meetings yesterday with your lawyers? >> no. i came to talk about hiring veterans and why that's important. i can talk to you about the budget. we had a great day yesterday, but i don't have anything else to say on that. >> that was sunny governor bob mcdonnell today in fairfax, virginia, fending off one of many questions about essentially whether the commonwealth of virginia should be bracing itself right now for their sitting governor to be criminally indicted. it was about a month ago someone created a new website at forbobmcdonnell.com, hosting a piece of paper, containing this

apology from the governor saying the governor was "deeply sorry for embarrassment certain members of my family an i brought upon my beloved virginia." it's always a very strange way of phrasing it, right? going out of his way even in his apology saying it was certain members of his family for whom he was apologizing and only secondly was he apologizing for himself. that weird dynamic was pushed to the fore late on friday night when in a friday night news dump for the ages, governor mcdonnell's spokesman told the "washington post" that, yes, there was even more the governor had not yet admitted to about his corruption scandal and his ties to a troubled virginia

company. but these new disclosures friday night, look at this, these new problems they're admitting to just now, they were definitely all the wife's fault. the governor didn't even know. oh, and also the governor and his wife have hired separate legal teams to represent them now. what the governor is blaming on his wife, this news they broke late friday night, is the first news we have had since the scandal broke months ago that governor mcdonnell and his family had a personal financial stake in this company from which they took all those gifts. more than $140,000 in cash and a rolex watch and a bergdorf goodman shopping spree and lake side vacation home and the loan of a white ferrari and all the rest of it. potential prosecution of the governor hinges on whether those gifts and that cash he took from the company were essentially bribes, payment for official actions that bob mcdonnell then took as governor to benefit the company that was giving him all the lute. his wife traveled around the state and country touting the company's products. the governor and the first lady hosted a product launch event for the company at the virginia governor's mansion. the governor and the first lady arranged meetings for the company's ceo with top state

health officials so he could lobby the state on how great his company's products are and how great they should be for the state and they should be covered under the state employees' health insurance. were all those favors that the governor and his wife did for that company, were all of those favors done in exchange for what they got from that company? for the rolex and the cash and everything else that the governor took for himself and his family from the company's ceo. that has been the question up until now. that is the quid pro quo question that presumably federal officials were discussing with the mcdonnell family's his and hers lawyers all day yesterday in virginia. now, though, you can add to that this new admission from the governor that his family also had tens of thousands of dollars of stock in the company, themselves. bought allegedly by the first

lady at times that coincided with the official actions that she and her husband took as governor and first lady to help that company. she bought stock the day she flew to florida to tout that company's product to researchers. she bought stock the day after she arranged a meeting between that company's ceo and a top virginia state health official. so think about that. not only was the first family taking very expensive gifts and cash from this company that they were helping, they were also helping themselves by helping the company because they had a personal financial stake in it. a personal financial stake. stock in the company that the governor had never before disclosed. the "post" has since reported that governor mcdonnell knew about the stock as early as 2011, but he is just admitting to it now. on friday night. in the middle of the night. blaming his wife. ahead of the meeting on monday morning where his lawyers and his wife's separate team of lawyers got their chance to beg federal prosecutors to please not bring criminal charges. oh, and also, there are reportedly still more gifts from this company's ceo to the mcdonnell family that still have not been disclosed. apparently reported in the "washington post" with two sources, we're talks about golf

clubs for each of the governor's college-aged twin sons and also an iphone for the first lady. okay. anything else? seriously. anything else? i mean, when governor mcdonnell apologized a month ago and said he had paid everything back, when he did that a month ago, he made the kind of implicit promise that all apologizers make. which is that the story's over. this thing for which i need to apologize has been disclosed. you know what i did wrong and

i'm sorry for it. it's over. and bob mcdonnell's case, we have no idea. the apology a month ago has proceeded just another month of yet more new details of new stuff that he did and he took and was hoping to get away with. things he has known about for years like the stock ownership that he was still trying to keep secret even after supposedly coming clean and making his big apology. and so, yeah, what next? golf clubs and iphones have been added to the list. stock options -- stock in the company has been added to the list. what's next? presumably there's more. this now shows signs of only getting worse, not better. if him apologizing was him not coming clean, then there's no reason to think that there isn't more to come. joining us now is delegate scott surovell of the virginia legislature, one of the first members of the legislature to call for the governor to resign. he made that call in july. thank you very much for being with us tonight. >> thanks for having me, rachel. >> so you have suggested that if the governor doesn't resign on his own that maybe the legislature should look into trying to force him out using other measures. do you still think that would be appropriate? and would that mean impeachment? >> well, it certainly sounds like there's an indictment that's imminent, and if it turns out the governor does get indicted and his wife gets indicted i think that's something we need to very seriously look at. >> so far, ken cuccinelli,

republican candidate for governor, current attorney general of the state who has his own ties to this scandal, himself, having accepted about $18,000 worth of gifts from the same ceo involved in this scandal. he has said there should be broad-scale ethics reform in the state, not that there shouldn't be specific accountability for the governor but that the ethics laws in the state should be changed and that would be the appropriate response. what do you think about that? >> i don't think there's any question that virginia's ethics laws need revision. i've made a serious of proposals in that regard. ken cuccinelli suggested we need to have a special session on that now. i think that would be -- now is

not the right time. we have elections in about 80 days. i just think right now a special session on ethics reform would be kind of a political sideshow and we have to wait for our general session which starts in january. if we do have any special session, i think if the governor is indicted and he refuses to resign, then i think the only special session we ought to have should be one for the governor to come and explain himself to us. if he doesn't resign, we ought to be talking about having impeachment proceedings. >> mr. surovell, following this from a national perspective, the thing that's been remarkable about it, beyond the personal career trajectory here, this fall from grace from somebody who had been talked about as vice presidential or presidential timber, to have fallen in this really shabby and tawdry scandal so quickly. the thing that has been notable about it has just been that it never seems like it's over. even after the apology, even after what seemed like the initial rush of almost unimaginable disclosures in this. there's just been more. every few days, there's more and more and more and more. why do you think that is? what do you think is the overall truth of what happened here?

>> you know, rachel, this state has a proud 237-year history. we've had 71 governors. we've never seen anything remotely close to this in the history of this state. and from the second these stories started to come out, you started to hear a drip, drip, drip. and it never seemed to end and you always heard there was something else coming out, something else coming out. even just last week the governor, i think, gave a -- he issued a statement indicating he had returned, he and his family had returned all the tangible gifts they had received from johnny williams. when the governor was asked if he would tell everybody what those gifts were, he said, no, he's not going to provide a full accounting of the gifts. it's clear we still haven't had a full disclosure of exactly what went on between the governor's family and this guy. still to this day after three months of this. and after repeated calls for myself and other legislatures, for him to come clean, he hasn't come clean. and i think there's more out there and that's one of the reasons i called on him to resign. he's clearly distracted by it and not being forthright with

virginians about what's going on here. >> you are a democrat, the handful of politicians in the state, legislators in state who have called on the governor to resign will all democrats. i wonder if what your sense is of the prevailing political winds. we've now got two major papers in the state including the "virginian pilot," largest paper in the state today calling for the governor to resign. still there have been no elected republicans joining those calls and saying he ought to go. there's really been no republican criticism of governor mcdonnell at all. do you think that has to change? as newspapers around the state, in particular, start really turning on the governor in this? >> you know, i would think that that would be a good start. there's been one member who suggested we ought to have some ethics reform. nobody's called on him to resign. i think if he's indicted, which it seems like is very probable, i think you're going to start to hear people on all sides say it's time for the governor to

resign his position and turn it over to the lieutenant governor. and, you know, from what i've heard, from what i've read in the papers, that could be imminent with what you were talking about with him meeting with the u.s. attorneys just yesterday. we'll see. what disappoints me is that we, you know, this state shouldn't be outsourcing its ethical responsibilities to the federal prosecutors. in our constitution places ethical enforcement with the virginian legislature, which presisted the federal government by ten years. the idea we should hide behind federal prosecutors and leave it to them to figure this out is disappointing to me. i think if he's indicted, i think you'll start to see some action. >> delegate scott surovell represents southern fairfax county in the virginia legislature. thank you for your time tonight. i realize this is not just a personal story, this is a political crisis for your state, and i appreciate your being willing to talk to us about it. thank you. >> thanks for having me. governor chris christie has made a major endorsement in the race for new jersey's open u.s. senate seat, and it probably didn't go the way he wanted it to.

that's next. the governor of new jersey,

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the governor of new jersey, chris christie, is an acutely and dramatically image-conscious politician which is funny because he wants his image to be he doesn't care what people

about him. he so desperately does. when he vetoed the ban on .50 caliber sniper rifles in new jersey, a ban he, himself, proposed in the first place, and he also partially vetoed background checks for guns in new jersey which is supported by 95% of even gun owning new jersey households. the governor of new jersey, chris christie, is in an acutely and dramatic image-conscious politician. he doesn't care what people think about him. but he so desperately does. so when he vetoed the ban on 50-caliber sniper rifles in new jersey, a ban he himself had proposed himself, and he also vetoed background checks in new jersey, which is started by 95% of even gun-owning new jersey households, when he signed those vetoes, new jersey governor chris christie made sure to do it late in the day in august. look at this, on friday, you do something like that, hoping nobody will notice what you are doing. at the same time he made the decision on the guns, that is when he made the ban on creepy people, that one he made sure to announce on monday, right on the start of the new cycle, so he could get lots of praise for doing something like that, while nobody noticed him caving on the gun proposal. chris christie is acutely image-conscious. so it has to really chap his hide today that republican political etiquette requires

that he, as a republican governor of new jersey, somebody who possibly wants to be president, he has got to endorse the republican party's nominee for the united states senate from his state. everybody knows who the democratic nominee is, cory booker, a guy nationally known, heavily favored to win the seat. but the republican party nominated somebody, too, they nominated this guy. >> president obama, don't tread on my freedom, president obama, don't tread on my liberty, president obama, don't tread on me. don't tread on me. >> steve lonegan, a candidate in new jersey, the only office he held was in bogota, new jersey, population 200, but this guy who runs for everything, he really is a perennials candidate, even

running for governor, he has now become the republican party's nominee for the united states senate. the real one. and of course, democratic groups are gorging on the buffet that is steve lonegan's statement. it is like his greatest hits, circulating fundraising value, and also for nationwide republican brand value. it is amazing that this is the guy who the republican party has nominated for the united states senate. >> i'm a radical. >> this is a ponzi scheme, the biggest disappointment i had when rick perry came out and called it a controversy, the ponzi scheme, is that he didn't stick to his guns, because it is.

people are going to say doesn't this mean a tax increase for the poor? and the answer is yes, it does. >> that is their problem, not mine. >> i think both of these programs are meant for destruction. >> so the way acutely image-conscious governor chris christie had to spend his afternoon was cozying up to that guy, talking about him in the senate, how much he supports him and a hopes he wins. yeah, chris christie and steve lonegan, this is going to be one of those relationships that it is going to be fun to watch it develop. doctor walks into a drug moisturizing lotion has an active naturals oat formula that creates a moisture reserve so skin can replenish itself.

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forget it. it is okay, it was a bad joke, and bad jokes, things that fall flat, get crickets. there is a mobile cricket for all occasions, any occasion, browsing, i found 39 different apps for cricket sounds. they say they're trying to fill that awkward silence for a bad joke or faux pas. instant funny, watch this, somebody brings out the lamest diss on the planet? give them some critics, we have learned to fill silence with? the sound of cricket. highlighting the fact that it is silent, that it is not working. earlier, they documented the life cycle of a scandal, they

found that they focused on three news outlets that cover a lot of national political news, and from which many other news organizations often take their cues. so near the beginning of the irs scandal there was a huge spike in interest in coverage, politico.com, running an amazing six stories during their second week. the washington post, 16 stories that week, the new york times, nine stories that week. but as the facts came out from the stories and emerged it became clearer and clearer that the scandal was not all that scandalous. it petered out. stayed petered out. which meant that the news stations were given lots and lots and lots of information, but when it turns out that president obama was not richard

nixon, they were left to figure it out. today we learned how the scandal was not a plot by the obama administration to bankrupt the enemies and target the tea party. how workers were also asked to be on the lookouts for progressive groups, just as they were conservative groups. just proof that it is a one-sided deal. the evidence before that showed being singled out for scrutiny by the irs was not really a political thing at all. on top of all that, we again have anymore documentation that the irs scandal has been disproven. more exoneration, so this is how political scandal journalism works. that something is more interesting when it seems it may be terribly wrong, point at the wrong thing, but when something actually turns out to be not that wrong. when the facts of why it is scandalous as it was said to be, that story is not nearly as

interesting. sometimes it is just interesting letting people know how that stuff turned out to be the truth. . good wednesday morning. right now on "first look," outrage over the senseless murder of a baseball player and the three oklahoma teens charged in this horrific killing. a cool-headed school assistant helps prevent what could have been a shooting massacre. an incredible scene in michigan caught on tape and the driver is expected to recover. plus, beau biden at one of the country's major cancer hospitals. a harrowing tourist accident in new york city as dr. oz assists and a massive fire in the motor city. good morning. i'm mara schiavocampo. it was a harrowing day for students and parents in an atlanta suburb after a run-in with a gunman.