it plight just be mayhem. in just a few hours republican primary frenzy reaches fever pitch in indiana, ohio and north carolina and while the poll watchers have been so far focused on the establishment versus the tea party narrative, in ohio the grass-roots has adopted a different and much wilier strategy. faced with the difficulty of toppling powerful incumbents like house speaker john boehner and governor john kasich the tea party sin said the focussing its energy and resources on down ballot races. as the "wall street journal" reports, ohio conservative activists are looking beyond those long shot challenges to the goal of shaping the party from within by recruiting candidates for a host of lesser races. ah. a host of lesser races. so while today might see very few top-of-the-ticket candidates unseated, a particularly powerful strain of grass-roots fever could result in considerable tea party power at

the local level. what does that mean practically speaking? according to former congressman and one-time boehner ally steve latourette, it means "you may wake up wednesday morning and find central committee of the ohio republican party populated with a lot more members of the tea party." and the buckeye state is not alone. when texas held its primary in march, national outlets focused on the fact that senator john cornyn crushed his tea party challenger steve stockman. but down-ballot in the lone star sate it was an entirely different story. among the host of lesser rices, rice political science professor mark jones says "the state level results show the tea party is alive and well in the state of texas." so while john boehner can kick back tonight with a glass of merlot and watch his direct results roll in, he should remember change often comes with the bottom up and reports of the tea party's demise are greatly exaggerated. joining me now former democratic

governor of ohio and president of the center for american progress action fund ted strickland and "washington post" columnist in eugene robinson. governor strickland, let me start with you first given your familiarity with the buckeye state and the goings on there. meaningfully, how much of an effect do you think a surfeit of tea partys down-balloting in local precincts, how much affect can that have on state governance on hold? >> well, i think eventually it can have a great affect in ohio, at least. the ohio republican party is very divided these days and although speaker boehner is going to win tonight, we know that, it is, i think, telling that even with his -- in his own party from his own congressional district there are members of the tea party that are very unhappy, very energized and, as they focus on these down ballot races -- i'm talking about the central committee members that make up the heart and soul of

the republican party -- i think that bodes well for the tea party in ohio in coming elections. and i was going say that the tea party in ohio has some very extreme elements within it. and speaker boehner may not sympathize with those folks but he's got to deal with them. >> and, you gene, this is story of the modern republican party, right in? they have opened up the carnival tent flaps to a group of very far right conservative activists who may not be running the party right now but effectively prevent those at the top of the party in leadership doing anything. when you think this is also the republican legislative and electoral strategy it may come as a surprise to a lot of americans that the gop has full legislative control of 26 of our 50 states and won 270 state legislative seats nationwide in

the 2010 midterms. this is proved to be a very effective strategy for the tea party. >> yeah, it's been very effective and this is, in effect, another front in this war that we've been seeing within the republican party. and i think there's a lot of promise in this for the tea party, not only do these sort of local lower-level candidates have the backing of tea party grass-roots supporters but there's also sport -- tacit or not so tacit -- from major tea party figures like mark lee and ted cruz and the sort of national tea party gurus who have tried to intervene in some of these state republican races. not necessarily the down ballot ones but the -- but some of the congressional primaries and this is -- they're just going to have to work this out.

>> but you know what's interesting to me, governor strickland, is that the republican party seems to understand that more radical elements are not really where they want to push the party or take the party, for example, in 2016 in a presidential race and i thought this quote from chuck gla grassley was stunning to me in terms of what it revealed. he said "i'm not saying people like rand paul and marco rubio and ted cruz shouldn't be president. i'm just saying i want to elect somebody and everybody is so anti-washington now that it might be better to have somebody that is outside of washington." this is in the big push to get a moderate republican governor at the top of the ballot for the republican nomination. >> well, at both the state levels, certainly ohio, and at the federal level over the last few years the tea party element within the republican party has dominated, they've called the shots. in ohio they've taken extreme measures to limit choice, to cut

back on voting access and at the federal level they shut down the government. john boehner and i had a talk soon after he became speaker. we were in an ohio state football game and he came up to me and we were chatting and he said "ted, i can't control these people." i suppose thinking about the tea party members. and he said "so i'm just going to turn them loose and see what happens." and at the federal level we've seen what happens when you turn these people loose. they closed down the government and they obstruct and they refuse to do anything that's in a positive direction for the country and in ohio at the state level they've controlled, they've passed legislation that, in my judgment, and i think in the judgment of many ohioans, is very extreme. and so they may not be winning today phenomenon the ohio primary and in the primaries in indiana and north carolina, but they are a vital force within

the republican party and the republican party's got to deal with it and if they don't deal with it they will become a regional minority party at the very best. >> and let's be clear, too, eugene. north carolina, tom tillis, who is expected to win, has all the bearings and all the marks of the tea party platform. i mean, this is a man who is head of the state senate, has enacted voter suppression laws, restrictions on reproductive health. you name it, a litany of conservative ideology data points. they have been put into place because of tom tillis and he is seen as the establishment moderate which is, you know, a testament to just how far right the tea party has moved the goalpost. >> exactly. >> i wonder what you make of john boehner, that anecdote from governor strickland is so telling, "ted, i can't control these people." john boehner is up for reelection tonight and while he's expected to win handily, there is -- there are some political scientists who will say if he doesn't get -- he won

with 84% of the vote in 2012. if that percentage goes down by any measurable margin the tea party will say that is a testament to boehner's weakness and we are hearing once again as we do every two years rumblings that they will try and oust him as speaker. do you they is a possibility at this point, eugene? >> well, i think what time is it? [ laughter ] at any given minute there could be an attempt to oust john boehner as speaker or at least that much dissatisfaction with him as speak er among the tea party wing. the problem, of course, is that who are they going to find who wants that job and who will do it and john boehner will do it. as governor strickland said, we've seen what happened when you turn these people loose but think can't let them go, right? because this is a lot of the energy and enthusiasm and a lot of the money that's fuelling the republican party. so they're going to ride out these primaries today and they're going to hopefully from

their point of view bump through the primaries later in the month and if at the end of the primaries they can say "we haven't nominated another christine o'donnell for senator, we haven't nominated another candidate who's going to have to run an ad saying "i am not a witch," then they'll consider themselves ahead of the game. [ laughter ] >> right. it's just later when the "i am not a witch" candidate actually wins the race that they think they have a problem. governor strickland, there are fearsome outcomes for both sides of the aisle come this november and for democrats it's the question of who retains control of the senate and it had predictions, they may be early but they are not particularly good. there's an 82% forecast if you listen to some folks that the democrats are going to lose the senate, certainly 2016 races are more favorable to those on the left side of the aisle but the inimmittable eugene robinson has a piece out in the "washington post" today and says "it is time for some happy talk from democrats."

eugene i think rightly says democrats fixed the economy, they expanded access to health care oh, and they ended two wars. show a little happiness, it ee' contagious. are the democrats doing a good enough job in your opinion? >> they aren't. we ought to be celebrating, alex. americans now have access to health care. children cannot be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions. young people can stay on their parents' health care plans. almost 20 million additional americans have insurance coverage through various means, the exchanges, through signup plans at the state level through the expansion of medicaid we ought to be celebrating this. it's great news for the people of ohio and it would be even better news for the people of texas if governor perry would expand medicate there --

medicaid there and florida and elsewhere. we ought to be celebrating. for decades, for decades this country has needed a comprehensive health care program. we now have one and i'm not going to use the "but" word. i'm going to say -- >> just full stop. full stop. >> yes, no buts. >> it is a great, great step forward and we ought to celebrate it and if democrats do that it will benefit all of us. >> i would like to see mary lann dp -- landrieu in a pharrell hat doing a rendition of "happy. requests then i know democrats are going for it. thank you both, gentlemen. after the break, a new report from the white house says the world will be hot and flooded within the next 100 years. it is a concept that appears to be quite literally -- quite literally -- above the heads of republicans in congress. . that is next on "now." it starts with little things. tiny changes in the brain.

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>> flames and thick black smoke fuelled by searing heat and winds. >> there's massive flooding going on right now in the florida panhandle. >> in california, some communities could soon run out of water entirely. >> a bold new push on climate change from the white house this morning. >> the report says climate change is real and it is already happening. >> the primary cause is burning of fossil fuels. >> at a time when the administration is rolling out emissions regulations. >> it's the crown jewel of the climate action plan. >> the war on coal that the far left flank of the democratic party is simply demanding. >> we still have members of congress who don't believe in climate change. >> it's human behavior contributing to climate change. >> there's obviously a debate about that. >> the biggest danger we face is inaction. >> the only major political party in the world today that denies the existence of global warming is the republican party of the united states of america. >> the gop may continue sailing down river of denial, but as the species floats towards extinction, they may want to

read this conclusion from today's report. climate change once considered an issue far distant future has moved firmly into the present. the report points to dozens of devastating statistics, the year's 2001 to 2012 were warmer across the country than any previous decade over the past century. and 2012, the year hurricane katrina wi-- hurricane sandy wid out a swath of the east coast, that was the hottest ever recorded in the nation's history. sea levels have risen eight inches since the year 1880 and are expected to rise up to four feet by the year 2100 and the flooding caused by climate change could cost as much as $325 billion by the end of this century. but even though 97% of climate scientists agree that climate change is real and that an environmental apocalypse is a distinct point, republican leadership could not be more dismissive. this was senate majority leader mitch mcconnell just a few hours

ago. >> later today we expect the president to talk about the weather at the white house, presumably he'll use the platform to renew his call for national energy tax and i'm sure he'll get loud cheers from liberal elites, from the kind of people who leave a giant carbon footprint and then lecture everybody else about low flow toy lots. >> low-flow toilets. that's what the ranking republican in the u.s. senate thinks about when he thinks about climate change. today president obama will give a round of interviews to meteorologists all around the country to shore up public support for action. but some people at fox news are pressing these meteorologists to ask about something a little bit different but something they think is much more urgent. >> tomorrow president obama is going to do interviews with meteorologists all across the country about a new climate change report. >> yes, because the science is settled. >> i hope they ask him about benghazi. like the weather man from, like, montana should ask him about

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recklessly when he admit he is shot his younger brother. one boy pulled the trigger fatally shooting his older brother. >> he says the boys were trying to figure out how to work the gun when the older brother pulled the trigger. >> the two-year-old found the gun underneath a bed and accidentally shot himself. >> the tragic story, a two-year-old is dead after finding a gun. >> sheriff's deputies say the little boy somehow got his dad's g gun. >> reporter: but what if there was a gun a child couldn't shoot? a gun with the technology to ensuring it could only be fired by its owner? that gun exists. it's real. i held it. i fired it. >> good shot. how does it feel? >> amazing. >> reporter: it feels like a massive step forward, like the iphone of firearms. a smart gun. there's just one problem. you can't buy it anywhere in america. that's not because it's illegal and it's not because its

manufacturer isn't trying to sell it. the question is, can you sell it? >> the t demand is there. i receive e-mails constantly from people wondering where they can by the handguns. >> reporter: belinda padilla leads the american division of armatix, the german company trying to sell the first smart gun in the united states. she met me at a maryland gun range to demonstrate how it works. >> so red means you are not the authorized user or you have not activated the watch. >> so when you grip that, it's telling you right now you cannot fire this gun. >> correct. >> reporter: the armatix gun only functions in the owner is wearing a special watch. >> my code is entered, it says it's good, i hit ". enter" now i pick up the handgun and it's green. green means i'm the authorized user. >> if the watch and gun are separated by more than ten inches after, say, a suspect wrestles it away from a police officer, the gun stops working. >> putting the ammunition in.

i can fire. i now take the wristwatch away, it's more than ten inches, the grip tells me i cannot fire, i full trigger. i get nothing. i return it here within ten inches, pull the trigger. created by legendary gun designer ernst mauch, the smart gun is supposed to retail for about $1800. about three times cost of some popular traditional handguns. it may just be the beginning of what could be a technological revolution in firearm safety. >> the ones that are clamoring most for are the law enforcement officers whose colleagues are being shot by bad guys using police handguns. >> you want to really make sure that that thing is not in the hands of someone else. >> that's right. and it's not only the domestic law enforcements. it's also our military. when i was the dod inspector

general, one of our big concerns was we had caches of weapons. >> and you're just pouring weapons into a place and all it takes is one raid on an unsecured facility and you've got a thousand u.s.-issued weapons walking around iraq or wherever it is. >> that happened within the last year in syria. the bad guys actually raided a warehouse and got the weapons that were designed for the good guys. joining me now the host of msnbc's "all in" chris hayes. chris, it's a fascinating series, i think we can call it. you have like three different pieces on it. my first thought was, like, okay the nra is going to be opposed to this no matter what. but who can get the nra to move? who can get this thing legalized? and i thought back to the washington state bill that sort of enacted gun safety reform in and around domestic violence issues and the reason that happened is because the nra realized, oh, women vote, they constitute a powerful piece of the electorate and the nra caved on an issue that they have not moved on for decades, right?

so you then look at the statistics around who dies from these guns in the home, gun violence in the home. children. guns cause twice as many deaths in young people as cancer does. if you told moms out there that there was a way to cut cancer rates in half they would do it. do you think women are a a key piece in getting something like a smart gun legalized? not legalized, in stores. >> part of the problem is when you're talking about the washington bill or other bills, there you're in the arena of a policy fight. the nra lobbies and moms who demand action lobby and they fight. here what you have is essentially fiat policy being made via a small group of menacing intimidating thugs who are raining down death threats on people. so it's not even like we can have this this discussion where it's like "you mom, you go to capitol hill and nra you go to capitol hill and let's argue it out." you have essentially policy by

intimidation in the case of a gun club outside l.a. and in the case of the gun store in maryland. so, yes, that's the corps constituency. when you talk to armatix, the core constituency they see are families that own guns that are worried about their kids and particularly people that aren't real rah-rah i have a million guns people, right? in fact, they actually see as an entryway -- >> which is what one of the gun store owners was talking about. let me ask you, though -- okay, so there are families that want this but there's law enforcement officials who are in support of this, right? this makes the pro and distribution of weapons that much safer. where is the lobbying campaign that brings together moms as consumers, families as consumers and law enforcement officials as people who use weapons to say we want these things available to the public? >> part of the problem right now is -- and it's a little like the who killed the electric car issue -- part of the problem is we're at the earliest crest of innovation. this is the first real proof of concepts smart gun the kind of

weapon law enforcement would use and want is probably several generations away. the problem is all the obstruction at this early point is stymieing the kind of innovation you would get later. i think you're identifying something key which is you need law enforcement to get there n there as a constituency and say we're going buy these as prototypes, we'll create a market for this because we want to see what the market produces swhachlt smart engineers can come up with for something for us down the line. >> do you think the sort of trajectory here -- i think it's great you're covering this now as opposed to after the entire sort of movement to get a smart gun in stores is dead. do you think the analog is electric cars and hybrid vehicles which, for a long time, languished and now all major car companies have some kind of hybrid. >> it's a breakthrough thing. once you get the breakthrough you'll see a flood. the first cell phone looked a lot different than the iphone. lord knows what the smart

engineers can come up with if you can get this through the door. >> that makes you the gordon gecko of the smart phone. >> that's right. >> in all seriousness, it's a very timely piece, congratulations, chris hayes, host of "all in." thank you for your time. catch chris tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern. just ahead, the new jersey supercommittee hears its first testimony on bridgegate from an exchris christie aide, but there are new indications the governor has more to worry about than just the traffic problems in fort lee. details on jersey's fiske next on "now." [ male announcer ] new crest tartar protection rinse. the only rinse that helps prevent tartar build-up and cavities. a little swishing. less scraping. yes! [ male announcer ] new crest pro-health tartar protection rinse. it helps you escape the scrape. [ female announcer ] we eased your back pain, you turned up the fun. tylenol® provides strong pain relief while being gentle on your stomach. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®.

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there was a boy who traveled to a faraway place where villages floated on water and castles were houses dragons lurked giants stood tall and the good queen showed the boy it could all be real avo: whatever you can imagine, all in one place expedia, find yours a new chapter began today in the saga known as bridgegate. as the new jersey supercommittee investigating the george washington bridge lane closures heard testimony from their first witness, former christie administration director of intergovernmental affairs christina renna. renna worked directly under christie deputy chief of staff bridget kelly and it was renna

whose staff volunteered to secure democratic endorsements in christie's reelection bid, including the endorsement of fort lee mayor mark sokolich and it was renna who bridget telly tasked to delete kelly's twitter account after her now-infamous "time for some traffic problems in fort lee" e-mail became public. during testimony today, renna denied any involvement in those traffic problems for fort lee. >> i had no knowledge of or involvement in the bridge lane closures. >> but renna did address the confounding culture of retribution and insularity at the office of intergovernmental affairs, or iga, as well as her boss kelly's inexplicable anger towards mayor sokolich. >> there are several example which is i would like to not name names but i'm sure we can all think of who those people would be z where things were

scaled back. bridget was clearly upset a few days prior. she did not give me a reason why. here we go again, she makes in this comment about the mayor so now i am certain that something is going on with the mayor. >> renna cast doubt on the accuracy of the taxpayer funded report by christie appointed law firm gibson-dunn, the one that absolved the governor. >> mandatory directive were not my words. you notice they're not in quotation marks. that was gibson-dunn's words. i didn't see these until it came out publicly. >> so you didn't have a chance to correct any of the -- their characterizations. >> they're minor facts in my interview throughout it. >> there are some inaccuracies. in releasing the report, gibson-dunn reported it was not a transcript of interviews but rather a summary of the discussion that reflects counsel's mental thoughts and

impressions. one can only wonder if other inaccuracies resulted as counsel gathered their mental thoughts and impressions. joining me now politics editor for biz insider hunter walker and washington bureau chief at mother jones, david korn. we have breaking news here, gentle folk. hunter, i'll go to you on this. the governors of new york state and new jersey respectively have announced they have sent a letter to the port authority announcing a bistate commission, a bistate special panel on the future of the port authority. that is presumably because it is now an open secret that the port authority has been used as a political cookie jar by which to dispense favors and punish enemies. >> right. you know, this is a bistate agency and the bridge in question here goes between new york city and new jersey and one thing that is happening coming up that is really, i think, pertinent is port authority executive director pat foye is

being called to testify in front of the committee and this is a cuomo appointee. we've started to see some murmurings in the new york press about what cuomo might have known when. i sent him a freedom of information act request and they have claimed they have no communications with anyone in the port authority or anyone in the christie administration about this debacle as it unfolded but also pro-publica put out an interesting report this week that, like the christie administration, the cuomo administration reportedly uses personal e-mails rather than official ones. so we'll see what they knew. >> patrick foye's testimony, i think, dave korn, is something that a lot of people are looking forward to because he is the first foreign say this so-called traffic study is a load of i can't say on television. >> it's cable. >> well, it's cable. your thoughts on christina renna's testimony? i thought the most damming part was "there have been some inaccuracies" because it once again shifts the public back --

it refocuses our attention on the absurdity of the gibson-dunn report and the fact that it's basically a watercolor of impressions and mental thoughts. >> boy, i think at this point in time the gibson-dunn report is, like -- has less credibility than new coke. it's a million dollars of taxpayer money down a rat hole. no one has taken it seriously. it hasn't done anything to enhance confidence in the chris christie operation. >> if anything, it's decreased confidence. i think it's had exactly the opposite affect. >> i investigated me and guess what? i did pretty good. but the other things that came out today that were of interest to me was, you know, this was in the report but just watching christine renna talk about how bridget ann kelly came to her a month before this all became public and asked her to basically get rid of an e-mail that was incriminating, an e-mail that has subsequently come out and so it showed like

there was some sort of coverup at the time, she testified that she did not think that bridget ann kelly orchestrated the closings. that means, oh, somebody else might have, though she wouldn't say who he she thought it was. also she didn't -- when bridget anne kelly came to her and said "destroy this piece of evidence" she thought about going to the new jersey governor's council's office but then decided not to because it might cause some problems. so, you know, chris christie talks about how there was no culture of intimidation. this woman did not seem to believe, even though she had a pretty high position, that she could go into a counselor's office and raise this without maybe putting her own job on the line. so i thought that was -- those are kind of the highlights, the lowlights of this testimony. >> hunter, the culture of intimidation seems to be following people even into these testimonies before the supercommittee in so far as christina renna was talking about, you know, strange sort of relationships and, you know, a

culture of intimidation. she didn't even want to name names about mayors, they may have sort of focused their energies on. michael drewniak is going to be testifying at some point. one wonders where any of these former christie aides feel like they can fully sort of expand on their time working for the governor because there still seems to be this residual apprehension. >> that comment david pointed to where she was saying that she was not comfortable reporting this request to delete the e-mail, and she said it came in a late night phone call, she thought it was strange, she actually delete it had e-mail and moved it to a person account, or they said she kept her banana republic receipts because she wanted to be able to say -- >> because that's a lock box. >> she wanted to say i did delete this but she wanted to preserve it because she could tell something was wrong. but interestingly she was saying she was afraid of kelly and yet she described kelly as constantly stressed, erratic. so i think your question is

absolutely right. who felt comfortable in this office and, you know, who wasn't terrified? >> david, the story of the story is the one that has been really, i think, less covered and it came out the end of last week and this is chris christie's fiscal stewardship of the state of new jersey because the convention all along has been there's going to be nothing tying them to bridgegate and republicans will once again coalesce around him because of his stellar record as governor of the state. in reality, the christie administration disclosed an $807 million budget gap two months before the end of the fiscal year. the state may not be able to make pension payments, it may have to slash property tax rebate, it may have to cut school funding and, oh, by the way, jersey is tied with the state of mississippi -- which i don't think most people think of as an economic edgen in the united states -- as the 48th in the nation in private sector job creation. these are not good things for chris christie. they are potentially even more

damming than anything else we've talked about today. >> substantively they are but i think he's not in a position where even the substance of what he does matters in terms of 2016 because bridgegate is far from over, particularly the part of bridgegate that will look at the misuse or possible misuse of sandy funds and all the deals that went on at the port authority. that still has yet to come out. >> one last note just on the fiscal stewardship here. new jersey has recovered 37% of the jobs lost during the recession, new york state has recovered 122%. just a river that separates the two cities, states, but, oh, what a gulf it is. hunter walker and david corn, thank you for your time. >> sure thing. coming up; his books have tackled elevator inspectors, post-modern press junkets and, yes, zombies. now author coleson whitehead is taking on the world series of poker. i will talk with him about his latest work plus las vegas, beef jerky and robotrons.

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there have been memoirs about poker and several movies set in vegas. through there's only one book that really gets to the heart of something called the leisure industrial complex. auth author colson whitehead discusses his new book called the noble hustle. that's next. [ ship horn blows ]

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consumer arenas dominated by the modern-day casino. gargantuan in scale, single-minded in execution, a pure expression of consumer will. this is the setting as described by the author colson whitehead of his new book "the noble hustle." a book in which a mere mortal and a novelist set out to concur the world series of poker.

along the way there are road trips, there is beef jerky, there is leisure wear, there are high-rollers and, of course, there are robotrons. those things are all there as a middle-aged man already bowing and half broken under his psychic burdens decides to take on the stress of being one of the most unqualified players there the history of the big game. joining me now the author of "the noble hustle: poker, beef jerky and death" colson whitehead. >> thanks for having me. >> what a tease: poker, beef jerky and death. three things i'm interested in in varying degrees. to get to the world series of poker, you talk about your preparation and you say you prepared on three levels, mental, physical and existential. i want to start with the one that seems most complex, existential. how did you prepare yourself existentially to take this deep dive into sin city? >> i got the assignment to play in the world series of poker and

i was excited. i was a home player in a very casual game, $5 buy-in and love poker so i was very excited. then i realized from reading books i knew nothing about tournament poker. it's very different. different rules, different conventions so i was going to have to take a more serious approach. >> you don't just kind of waltz into the world series of poker, in other words? >> no, prepare yourself. i mean, i realized early it's sort of -- was turning out to be sort of eat, pray, love for depressed shut-s in like myself. >> you call high-stakes poke err hoar poon fight on a disintegrating chunk of ice in polar seas. not the most welcoming environment. >> you're trying to stay in and people are going out and the field gets smaller and smaller down to one final table. so learning how to navigate the sort of changing landscape of the poker room was a big ordeal and kept me up nights. >> i'm not a world-class poker

player or an am dhaur can call myself a poker player but i have been to vegas several times and find it sad-making. you capture this so beautifully. you talk about the necessity of vegas in terms of what it provides the american public. you write "the mere fact of vegas, its necessity, was an indictment of our normal lives. if we needed this place to transform into a high roller or a sexy swinger to be somebody else, a winner for once, then certainly world beyond the desert was a small and maly place indeed. this is what i think of vegas, too, as a confirmation of the misery of our normal everyday lives. >> i first went in '91 after college. i thought vegas was campy and kitschy. thin i put a nick until a slot machine and won five bucks and if you can win five bucks why not ten bucks. so i converted. and over the years as they made it more of a family resort place you can gamble, you can have a spa day, go to a nice restaurant

it's become more welcoming. they just get -- they become better and more efficient at making this leisure complex attractive. and i'm not -- they're not trying to break you and bankrupt you, they want you to spend money. so just a bit so you get a taste of misery. >> and some reward. >> and some reward. you come back next year. >> these are my own words, there are some insidious calculations on the part of casino owners. you write about this. "whoever invented poker was bright" the saying goes, "but whoever invented chips was a genius." uncouple cash money from its associations and people gamble more freely. the plastic tokens are tiny slivers chipped off an abstraction. i think that's such an atut point and an important point. it's like foundational to vegas that you don't feel like there are any stakes when you're playing. >> if you're throwing cash in, take out your wallet and putting it on a table that's one thing, you feel it. if it's coins, a card you

insert, a depp debit cart, why not. keep it going, take out more money, keep going, but not too much. stay in control if you can. >> what did you learn? you came through the rabbit hole, you're a novelist, you're not, as you say, a world-class poker player, maybe one the most t most unqualified people. you made it. how did it change you spiritually or mentally or physically or existentially. >> poker i think as the a system describes the chaos of our daily lives. from hour to hour we're winning, we're losing, walk across the street in mid-town and you're in a good mood on 41st and in a bad mood on 43rd. and that kind of randomness is built into poker and i think it ascribes our daily existence and if you give yourself open to it, the hope the next card will save you, the next big hand, that's not such a bad way to live. better than having no hope at all. >> i suppose so. what do you think about -- there's a whole conversation about gambling and online gambling politically, a bill to

restore a federal ban on online gambling was introduced in the house in march. you were -- you communed with the people that play that stuff religiously on unrelatingly perhaps desperately sometimes. did you come out thinking one thing or another about the industry? >> well the feds cracked down in online gambling before i started my training or else i could have stayed home. instead i had to go to casinos and drop off my kid at school, say good-bye to the other parents and -- >> go gamble. >> gamble, confess i was going to gamble. but for a lot of people that's how they made their living is making $50,000 a year playing 60 hours a week and paid their mortgages and put their kids through school. i think the lobbyists are too rich and too strong so i'm sure it will be back soon. again, it's -- it's your choice. i don't dwell on gambling addiction in the book. but it's definitely coming back, i think. >> it's interesting you take a more sympathetic view of the people who are playing. i think there's a lot of folks

who will be dismissive and say this is predatory lending, if you will, or a predatory marketplace. and there are people in live off of this. >> well, if you go to casino at 2:00 p.m., a lot of older folks, you know, you don't want them gambling with their social security checks, hopefully they have set some money aside. >> they've dropped their kids off already. this is their gambling. >> for the early bird special. but, again, it's sort of up to you and how you'll have it -- how you'll live your life. keep in the control, keep it moderate and maybe just three days in vegas every two years, maybe that's the way you can stand. >> just three days in vegas. there's a sequel. there's a movie version of this book "the noble hustle" is out in stores today. congratulations, author colson whitehead, one of my favorite authors. great to have you on the show. thank you and congratulations. >> my real pleasure. >> we'll have more for you after the break.

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i know what my money is doing. grandpa! i rebalanced my portfolio on my phone. you know what else i can do on my phone? place trades, get free real time quotes and teleport myself to aruba. i wish. sfx: car unlock beep. vo: david's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

that's all for "now." i'll see you back here at 4 o'clock p.m. eastern. "the ed show" is up next. good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show" live from detroit lakes, minnesota. i'm ready to go. let's get to work. >> an alarming new report on climate change. >> no longer to be dismissed as tree-hugger mumbo-jumbo. >> temperatures in the u.s. could soar by as much as 10 degrees by 2100. >> the sobering forecast about how climate and weather conditions may change mere in the united states. >> the last decade was the hottest ever recorded in the united states. >> we will respond to the threat of climate change. >> president obama is moving in the right direction on the keystone xl pipeline. it's di delaying the