that's ail in. rachel mad maddow starts now. good evening. >> good evening, chris. that was awesome. thanks for joining us this hour. every four years in the great wind-up to the president yal election there is one christmas that happens during the primaries aside from actual christmas. it's the civic high holy day of the primary season called super tuesday. super tuesday was created in 1988 by southern democrats who thought if a bunch of their southern states held primaries on the same day they might get a national democratic nominee the south liked. 1988 is the year they ended up running michael dukakis against poppy bush. i'm not sure the plan worked but super tuesday has stuck with us as the high point of the presidential primary calendar. it's not always decisive in terms of picking the nominee.

it is a watershed moment in making the decision about who will be the nominee for each party. super tuesday is covered that way. deservedly so. in theory, just mathematically speaking you can just about wrap up the nomination if you do super tuesday right. >> good morning. super tuesday the, the most important day in the gop race so far. voters casting ballots in 11 states. how would it all shake out? will it be the end of the road for one or more candidates? >> the stakes today are huge. >> this is an abc news election update. super tuesday showdown. >> good evening. welcome to this big day in the race for the white house. >> it's super tuesday, decision day in 11 states including a big one that could have the power to tip the republican race. >> so that happens every four

years in the presidential race. super tuesday! it's very exciting. in years where there isn't a president yal election and there is a midterm elections for congress, members of congress, senators and governors but no presidency in a midterm year there is no exact equivalent of that kind of news, civics dork, exit polling, hysterical holiday. we do get close to it. a week from tonight is the closest thing we are going to have to a super tuesday for this this year. a week from tonight the primaries happen in arkansas, georgia, idaho, kentucky, oregon and pennsylvania all in the same night. i have not only cancelled everything i was going to do that night. i have cancelled everything the next morning as well thinking it will be a late evening. part of of the reason a week from tonight is worth looking forward to and part of the reason the elections are getting more interesting overall than everybody thought they were

going to be is because the polling so far for this year's elections and the primary results so far don't show things working out the way everybody thought they were going to work out. for example, senator mark pryor, democrat of arkansas, up for re-election, widely presumed to be in serious trouble this year in running for re-election. senator pryor voted for the affordable care act. voted for obamacare which is supposeded to ban automatic ticket to failure for democrats in the southern states at least if you listen to the beltway media. on his way into the election he became vulnerable mark pryor who was forced to run are against and from his own party's president. he became mark pryor, the most vulnerable senator in the country over matched by tom cotton, a conservative leader, a rock star candidate. conventional wisdom, the unanimous belt way wisdom was mark pryor from arkansas was definitely going to lose this year.

his senate seat would flip from blue to red. he was the most vulnerable senator in the country. that's not at all what happened. mark pryor has been polling 10 and 11 points ahead of tom cotton. senator pryor is up by double digits. that's not the only big surprise in arkansas. another arkansas democrat, governor mike bebe is defying the common wisdom about what's supposed to happen to democratic politicians in the state. he engineered a way to expand obamacare to cover thousands more people. got the republican controlled legislature to pass itful when tea party republicans threatened to take away health care from people who had just gotten it governor beebe shamed and browbeat them for months until they gave him what he wanted. the it was a vicious political fight and governor beebe won.

look at his approval ratings. what? arkansas adults approve 74%. governor beebe is a popular governor in a southern state. governor beebe is among the most popular governors in america. nobody has an i approval rate aring over 70%. but he does. this year governor beebe is term limited out in arkansas. the democrat who wants to replace him is trailingment democrats have an interesting challenge. mark pryor had more than $5 million in ads spent against him already at this point in the cycle. koch brothers groups and groups on the right have been trying to soften up mark prior since obama was inaugurated. for miss they have been attacking him. he's staying afloat and winning in the polls now. he's winning by double digits. arkansas democrats have this immensely popular democratic governor who has taken step that

is the state not only understands but appreciates. and likes. the most suspense in arkansas now will be whether or not their candidate to succeed the popular governor can find a way to capitalize on unexpected democratic momentum in the state. that democratic candidate for governor mike ross is running way behind the republican candidate for arkansas governor. you know what? if mark prior and governor beebe are any indication, there definitely is a clear path to democrats winning and winning big in arkansas. that's the unexpected truth about arkansas right now this year, this election year. same thing is going on in kentucky. we think of kentucky as a red state. president obama lost in kentucky by 17 points. kentucky does have a democratic

governor who made it the second issue to not only support obamacare but to take maximum advantage of it for kentucky to get as many people signed up as possible. he's aggressive and had in material terms huge success. kentucky is among the most successful when it comes to signing people up. more than 400,000 people so far in that state. his reward for championing obamacare in a state where president obama lost by 23 points is that he's one of the most popular governorses in the nation. ace approval rating is 63% right now. it's astonishing for any governor but a democratic governor in a state the obama lost by that much? the obamacare governor? the common thought would be

senator mitch mcconnell would have a strong primary challenge from a tea party republican matt bevin in the republican primary. that was going to be the big contest. the right versus the very far riechlgt mcconnell is leading by 20 or 30 or 40 points depending on the poll. you would think mitch mcconnell's worries are over but the place he has a problem may be with the general election. not on his right but on his left with the democrat running against him in the general. two separate polls show him leading allison grimes but they show him leading her by a point, a single point. and he's the incumbent. that's arkansas and kentucky. also look at georgia. in georgia it is the same phenomenon told from the other side. you have democratic governors who embraced the affordable care

act. expanded medicaid. the states love them for it. incredibly popular democratic governors in the red states. even in the red states that supposedly hate president obama so much, they love what the democratic governors have done there. they love those governors. in georgia, you've got a southern state, southern governor who was a republican who made the opposite decision. nathan diehl would not expand medicaid even when hospitals warned they were going broke and shutting down from treating so many people without health insurance. the governor said no and that's followed him around. that decision has been really unpopular in squa are. look at this. this was the poll posted this this weekend. they asked registered voters if they would be more or less likely to vote for deal because

of the decision not to expand medicaid. 13% said they would be more likely. 40% said they would be less likely to vote for him because of that policy. the governor signed a new deal they are calling the guns everywhere deal. it opens the way to bring a concealed weapon into churches, bars and maybe the gun lobby and the conservative media cheered that decision. the people of georgia didn't like it. that law is polling at 37% in georgia. 59% of people in georgia say they don't approve of the guns everywhere law that nathan deal signeded. that law is unpopular. now polling from the atlanta journal constitution puts governor deal within the margin of error in his race against his likely democratic opponent jason carter.

that's not where nay than deal or georgia republicans in general want to be. quoting the atlanta journal constitution they say democrats have a serious chance to end republicans' statewide dominance and win u.s. senate and governors' race this is year. maybe the atlanta journal constitution polling is an outlier are. the governors race in georgia shows deal doing better. showed him up by ten points n. the senate races again in georgia this is not going the way they said it would. part of the way you can see republicans thought they had it all sewn up in georgia. georgia would be a great year for them. part of the way you can tell georgia republicans are excited for the senate race is how many of them jumped into the race. including three incumbent congressmen who are giving up their house seats in order to unfor the senate seat. they had to make a big sacrifice. they all did it. in a seat republicans thought

they would hold onto they all pitched their old careers in order to sign up for the sure bet senate seat. but none of them polled great against the democratic challenger who won't have to fight off rivals in a bruising campaign like they are. democratic michelle nunn in georgia has more than a fighting chance against any of the five republicans who leapt into the supposed gimme race for republicans in squa. so common wisdom be damned. georgia and arkansas and kentucky are not going the way the beltway said they would. the primaries will be decide add week from tonight along with idaho, oregon, pennsylvania and the other three, all on the same night. in pennsylvania there is ap interesting race to watch for replacement of tom corbitt. that's a tough competition but the fight to see who earn the right to replace him will be

fancy to watch. super tuesday is a week from tonight. and tonight two states held primaries todayment polls close tonight in west virginia at 7:30 local time, about an hour and a half ago. west virginia has a senate seat to fill. jay rockefeller stepping down. both senate primaries were basically sewn up. natalie tennant, the early favorite on the democratic side. on the republican side the a.p. declared shelley moore capito the winner. she is considered the favorite in november but west virginia has been going more red. keep in mind democrats hold all of the state offices. the senate race will be an interesting test in terms of the race are.

we have a couple of fascinating races in nebraska where polls closed a few minutes ago. in the republican primary for senate, this has been closely watched. the local tea party favorite is shane osborn, former state treasurer. he got the nod in part before tea party groups. his name is ben sasse. he's the university president. last time republicans got themselves into this kind of tangle a long shot candidate, a third candidate, a dark horse named deb fischer ended up winning a senate seat almost by stent after the early front runners picked each other off in 2012. this year the stand-off between shane osborn and ben sasse may have opened the way for a self-funded candidate named sid dinsdale. republicans will be watching closely. so will we as results continue

to come in. we have about 3% in. also they have a republican primary for governor. nebraska will be replacing four-term republican governor dave heinman who has endorsed jon bruning to with be his replacement. he's the attorney general. pete ricketts is the son of the wealthy owner of the chicago cubs, joe ricketts. in 2006 he challenged ben nelson and got endorsements this year from ted cruz and paul ryan and scott walker. again we have only 3% in. not much to extrapolate here. it shows you in republican politics, anything can happen and just might happen again. we'll watch tonight for returns from nebraska where the polls closed a few minutes ago. we have about 3% in now. as we get results in over the course of the hour we'll let you know. stay with us.

some things are above politics. even things done by government just don't stop for political things like, say, on january 17, 1995 when the great state of texas was swearing in a brand new governor. george bush was sworn in as texas governor. he gave his inaugural address. on that same day the state of texas also went forward with the execution of a man who was mentally retarded.

that was the state's own assessment of him. mr. marquez's lawyers presented evidence he was mentally retarded. at 25 he had difficulty counting money and according to a test given to him by a state appointed psychologist he thought the biggest cities were new york, new orleans, montana, oregon, and wisconsin. that's what he said when asked for the five largest cities in the country. a texas district court found he was, quote, mildly mentally are retarded with an iq of 65 to 70 compared with a normal iq of 100. iq tests and the terms mental retardation are problems but from a legal perspective they are specifically defined. an iq score of 70 or below, that's generally the legal cut-off for mental retardation in a legal context.

what we might call intellectual disability. 70 or below. they killed a man with an iq of 65 to 70 on the day george w. bush was first sworn in as texas governor. and that wasn't enough. in 1997 under george w. bush they killed a guy whose iq was between 58 and 69. a couple years later they killed a guy whose iq tested as low as 64. texas wasn't the only state killing people who it said were mentally retarded. but texas killed enough of them under george bush that it did become a national issue in his run for the presidency in 2000. when he won the presidency in 2000 it continued to be an issue. ahead of his first trip to europe as president reporters asked the new president george bush about that issue from his days in texas. that ended up spawning this headline that you just really never want to see. president aides clarify bush

stance on executing the retarded. the president said, quote, we should never execute someone who is retarded. but that was an issue for the administration because of course george bush had done that a bunch of times. his successor as texas governor, rick perry. look at this headline. rick perry when president bush answered the questions rick perry vetoed a bill in texas that would have banned executing retarded people in texas. the legislature passed a ban on that and rick per ay vetoed that ban. >> i am vetoing house bill 236. let me explain why. house bill 236 is about whether to execute mentally retarded capital murderers. we do not, in texas. >> oh, yes you do, texas. you did so over and over again. but that veto happened in 2001.

i have to say from a personal perspective that's one of the more amazing headlines any of us will see in our lives. ban on execution of the retarded is vetoed in texas. if any of us talk to st. peter one of the questions will be are you american? okay. are were you alive on june 18, 2001? can you explain your own behavior with regard to this headline, please? personal aside. in any case, that was 2001. the following year, june 20, 2002. that was when the united states supreme court ruled that, no, it actually in america is not constitutional to people who are that disabled. adopting the conventional definition of an iq score lower than roughly 70 the court said the 8th amendment of the constitution prohibits the legal execution of anybody with that level of intellectual disability. if the law considers you mentally retarded they cannot legally kill you in any state in the nation.

there's been national attention to the execution texas planned to carry out tonight. texas still kills more of its prisoners than any other state in the nation. rick perry hit a milestone of having killed 250 people all the way back in 2012. he's kept up the pace ever since. today's planned execution in texas was supposed to be the first one anywhere in the country since two weeks ago. the neighboring state of oklahoma tried to call off an execution it had started when things went horribly wrong. they started lethal injection using the drugs obtained from unknown sources. the man they were trying to kill writhed and strained and spoke and gasped and reared his head. they eventually called off the execution, closed the binds to the witnesses and said he died of a heart attack 43 minutes after the injections started. after they had said the execution would be stopped.

tonight in texas was supposed to be the first execution area in the country since it happened in oklahoma. like oklahoma, texas refuses to disclose the source of drugs it's using to kill people or allow any independent testing or verification of what they are using and in what dosage. they have kept it secret. the man scheduled to be put to death in texas tonight asked federal courts to stop or delay his execution on those grounds about the drugs and even though one district court judge said in his ruling on the matter that the horrific narrative of what went wrong in oklahoma should sober reflection on the manner in which this nation administers the ultimate punishment though the district court ruling included that language the appeals court refused to stop tonight's texas execution on the basis of texas keeping the drugs secret and the question of whether or not oklahoma's disaster with their secret drugs has implications for other states. interestingly though just a

couple of hours after that court ruled they weren't going to stop the execution on the basis of the drugs question, the same court did stop the execution in texas tonight for a totally different reason. in march 2010 rick perry made three appointments to something called the texas board of examiners of psychologists. it's the state agency that regular fwlat -- regulates psychology in texas. one of the people appointed was just able to do a full professional psychological evaluation of the man who texas was scheduled to kill tonight. a report kites evidence that the man cannot tell time. he cannot read a gas gauge in a car. he cannot understand money or basic measurements. the psychologist did a full scale iq testing of the man and declared him to be mentally retarded. she found he had a full scale iq of 69.

by virtue of the supreme court ruling from more than a decade ago that should stop him from being executed because of the supreme court telling texas and every state they had to stop executing people that were that disabled. the ruling came down in 2002. because of that ruling this man should not be legally executable in texas or anywhere. what's remarkable and very texas about this story today is the reason this finding had to happen so late, the reason this ruling today stopped this man's execution only a few hours before it was going to start is because texas had in its files three other iq tests for this guy that basically showed the same results. they showed him at or below the threshold under which the state shouldn't be allowed to kill him. the state never disclosed it was in possession of evidence of three intelligence tests suggesting that mr. campbell was intellectual ti disabled.

texas had the tests in their own state records showing he's mentally retarded. they denied having the tests when the lawyers asked for them. they denied they existed and wouldn't hand them over until now at the last minute. now at the last screeching instant texas was finally told by a federal court they have to stop and they cannot kill this guy tonight. now this guy who the state of texas secretly knew to be mentally retarded. he won't be the first execution since the horror movie that happened two weeks ago in oklahoma, the execution they tried to stop after it was started. two questions remain tonight. what will be the next execution after the horror show in oklahoma? and did the horror show in oklahoma change anything? president obama said after what happened in oklahoma he wants a federal review of executions. the execution that was supposed to go through tonight, the

governor said it should be cause for sober reflection on the way people kill people in prison now. is anything different? joining us now is richard deeter, executive director of the death penalty group in washington, d.c. i appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> according to the supreme court the mental competence standard should have been settled for more than ten years. is there a question as to how it is applied in texas or specifically in this case? >> yes. texas has never passed a law. the bill that governor perry vetoed. they have never passed a law even after the supreme court's decision defining mental retardation or determining how it should be determined. it is left up to the individual judges with their own personal ideas about what constitutes mental retardation. >> wow. we have heard atkins challenges because of the name that

established the standard. we have heard atkins challenges about mental capacity of prisoners facing execution all over the state. it's a common part of death penalty appeals processes. the other thing that seems new though is the other part of the challenge that at least thus far wasn't successful in stopping the execution tonight. that was the question about states being allowed to use secret drugs, drugs they don't explain the origins of and won't let anybody else test to kill people. what's your assessment of whether or not that will be a legal avenue that may change capital punishment in this country? >> i think it's one of the fundamental things the federal courts need to address. this is due process. this is protected by our amendments to the constitution. when you go to into a hearing you don't want one arm behind your back. that's where the defense is. they don't know where the drugs are coming from. it's hard to criticize the source or the person who there

is a split and it has to get decided by higher courts. >> let me ask you about something that's been bothering me since we have been watching states scramble to try to find drugs to kill people with. and then also to address legal challenges and political challenges as to what they are using and how it is working. it seems to me when i look at the supreme court ruling that said lethal injection is constitutional it doesn't violate cruel and unusual punishment. seems like the supreme court was specific that they ruled to kill people using a three drug combination. no state in the coy kri kills people using a three drug cocktail because you can't get one of the drugs anymore. is it clear to you that it holds up now that the drug combination

they based it on doesn't exist anymore? >> no. it's not that they necessarily knew. they did establish principles for what if someone comes up with a florp pt it has to be something that's available and that will more than likely not cause serious pain that the other method has. there are tests. i think we are in a new environment. especially with this secrecy. things the court didn't anticipate. things that were demonstrated in the oklahoma execution of how bad and painful they could be. that hadn't happened in previous executions. >> to the extent that constitutional question depends on the empirical question of how much pain is caused and how the drugs work, that experimentation is happening in execution chambers. in state after state with unwilling subjects. it's amazing. executive director of the death

penalty information center. thank you. >> my pleasure. >> we have lots more coming up. including breaking news in the middle of something else that governor chris christie of new jersey was doing which wasn't welcome news for him but made for a big day in new jersey.

new jersey governor and republican presidential hopeful chris christie made his monthly regular appearance on a new jersey radio show tonight. he does it every month.

they call it "ask the governor." tonight while he was in studio taking questions from callers and from the show's host, some rather big news broke about chris christie. and about the state of new jersey which was bad timing for the governor in that radio studio tonight. that story right here is ahead. stay with us. which is funny, because i still do it better than her. [ afi ] i do not like sweeping. it's a little frustrating. [ zach ] i can't help out as much as i used to. do you need help? let's open it up. [ afi ] it's a swiffer sweeper. [ zach ] it's a swiffer dusters. it can extend so i don't have to get on the step stool. ♪ it's like a dirt magnet -- just like my kids. [ afi ] this is a danger zone. voila! i am the queen of clean! [ zach ] yeah, this definitely beats hanging out on a step ladder.

today was a big day in new jersey.

in the middle of governor chris christie's monthly radio show moody's announced that they would be downgrading new jersey's credit rating. again. governor chris christie has held himself out as a national model for the republican party on the basis of his supposed fiscal responsibility, his fiscal record in new jersey. thanks mostly to chris christie's tax policies today marks the sixth time -- sixth! that new jersey has had its credit rating downgraded just since chris christie has been governor. with with today's announcement governor chris christie ties the all-time record for the most credit downgrades in the course of any one governor's time in office. so that happened today. also as statewide elections took place in nebraska and west virginia new jersey had local elections. basically there are leks all the time in new jersey. they had local elections in one part of the state. another round in a few weeks. if you want to hear about norj

new jersey where the bridge shut down happened, this is the democratic party headquarters for the democrats of fort lee, new jersey. the mayor and two city council candidates, they are pictures standing at the access lanes to the george washington bridge. the lanes that were shut down as part of a political vendetta by the christie administration that's yet to be explained. if you missed it as the wrap around on the door you may have also seen it as a flyer. look. a bridge to success! at the bottom it says while we were fighting for fort lee residents, our opponent was supporting christie! they say that while standing at the bridge lanes. on top of that, governor are christie's spokesman took the stand under oath to involve his involvement or lack thereof in the bridge scandal that's currently featured on the local campaign flyer. >> what needs to be said up front is i had no knowledge or involvement in the planning or

execution of this strange, unnecessary and idiotic episode that brings us here today. nor did i play any role -- knowing role in any actual or perceived cover-up. i, too, would like to know from those who hatched the scheme just what they hoped to accomplish and very simply, why. >> good point. it is as yet all unexplained, even according to the governor's top staff like his spokesman who you saw testifying today. he testified he told christie's chief counsel christie was involved in the lane closures. that msnbc at least the governor's chief counsel knew staffers were involved in what happened on the bridge well before the governor dismissed the suggestion as absurd to the new jersey press. well before this.

>> i worked the cones actually on that unbeknownst to anybody i was the guy out there. i was in overalls and a hat. i was the guy working the cones out there. you're really not serious with that question? >> the p governor's spokesman testifying today that well before the governor said that to new jersey reporters he had informed the chief counsel that, in fact, christie staffers were involved in the shutdown of the bridge lanes. joining us is a reporter from wnyc, matt katz who asked that question in decembe it's nice to see you. thanks for being here. >> you got it, rachel. thanks. >> let me ask you about the timing and assertion. has michael druniak created a problem in terms of the explanation for who knew what when? if he says the chief counsel who the governor said he talked to every day knew before that press

conference, before you asked him that question that christie staffers were involved somehow. >> we learned today there were a lot of alarm bells going off for months before that press conference. before we found time for traffic problems in fort lee e-mail that blew this wide open in january. yet there was no real out rage. there seemed to be no actual internal investigations going on. it's that silence that democrats were really trying to ask druniak about today. you knew this was going on. top officials knew there was something questionable happening. why weren't they looking into it more? he's still the spoke sman for the governor. he says it was political season. christie is running for rere-election. they thought this was just democrats making hay. they knew there was squabbling at the port awe thor ti which

runs the bridge between officials. they attributed it to that. democrats smell a cover-up. they think the reason why these left arm bells were sounding and nobody was reacting is top officials including maybe christie himself knew what was going on. they asked him questions for seven and a half hours. >> in terms of the way the questioning started i wanted to play a clip from his introduction before he got questioned. it was interesting that he went right to the question of why this happened. it's seemed strange to me there's never been an alternate explanation, any sort of proposal or even a hypothetical from the administration as to why this might have taken place as to why the bridge shutdown might have been ordered by people who were loyalists and staffers to chris christie. was there further information about a potential motive or what

might have started this in the first place? >> we know just as much about why this happened today as we did on january 8th when this blew open. it is amazing. we still do not know what came before the time for traffic problems in fort lee e-mail. part of the reason is because the five most significant figures in this -- the five people we know were involved in a very significant way refused to talk. they are employing the fifth amendment rights and not talking. we don't know anything about that. that's part of the reason why democrats today were focused on the cover-up. maybe if you understand what they were trying to cover up and if they were trying to cover things up and why christie may not have pursued more information about the closure of lanes to the busiest bridge in the world then maybe they can start to understand why this happened, what the motivation was, and if political revenge was part of it. >> if it was, who done it, basically.

in other words that's what it goes to. matt katz from wnyc doing leg work of the legislature investigating this thing. good to see you. >> thank you, rachel. >> all right. if you have the same job for 50 years, the number of ways you can imagine your career winding down has got to dwindle to maybe a couple, right? that makes tonight's news about an institution in congress such a shocker. that's coming up. stay with us. [ male announcer] surprise -- you're having triplets.

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there once was a republican congressman from michigan named thaddeus mccotter. remember him? besides having a name that sounded like he might have signed the declaration of independence, congressman thaddeus mccotter also produced internet videos of himself talking politics while he sweetly played classic rock progressions on his guitar while also showing off his array of interesting socks. thaddeus mccotter had a very healthy self-regard as a congressman which also caused him to very briefly run for president. he announced in 2011 that he planned on becoming president thaddeus mccotter. but soon it was clear that he would no longer be even congressman thaddeus mccotter because in 2012, somebody finally noticed that his campaign petitions to get his name on the ballot in every election since 2008 were really obviously fraudulent.

because of the fraud, mr. mccotter failed to qualify for the primary ballot for his own state, and he subsequently resigned from congress. michigan congressman thaddeus mccotter served ten years in congress, but then it was over. well, today another very different michigan congressman learned that his career may be ending in the same why. he, too, has been deemed ineligible for his own seat because of the discovery or at least the allegation that his petition signatures to get on the ballot are invalid. except this time it's not some anonymous back bencher, this time it's john conyers, one of the longest serving members of congress ever. he was first selected to the house from the detroit area in 1964. he's a fixture of democratic politics in the house, and there's no question as to his re-election chances in november. but of the roughly 2,000 signatures that conyers

submitted, the wayne county clerk determined and declared today that only 592 of those signatures was valid. the county said most of the signatures were collected by people who were not themselves registered to vote in michigan which means that everything those people sent in is invalid. and so john conyers, as of now, will not be on the ballot. to defend the seat he has held for five decades. that said, a conyers spokesperson said in a statement tonight that the congressman believes he has been barred from the ballot in error. he says he will be challenging the ruling of the wayne county clerk. of course, the congressman could also run as a write-in candidate. after 50 years in congress, one thing people know is how to spell your name. we don't know how this is going to play out, but watch this space.

okay. best new thing in the world, it is an update, and it's a good one. right now as we speak, south carolina does not have an official state fossil. lots of other states have one. 43 other states, in fact. but of the seven states that don't have one, one of them is south carolina. and that's a fact that 8-year-old olivia mcconnell just could not abide. miss mcconnell wrote to her state lawmakers in south carolina and asked them to please sponsor a bill to make the columbian mammoth the official fossil of south carolina. she pointed out, number one, that the teeth of a fossilized mammoth were first dug up by slaves in south carolina in 1725. number two, she says south carolina doesn't have its own state fossil. 43 other states do. and number three, she says rightfully, quote, fossils tell us about our past. olivia signs off in this letter to her legislator, quote, please work on this for me. your friend, olivia. and her legislators worked on it. two south carolina lawmakers sponsored the bill. it passed through the house, but then it turned out that this

fairly harmless, fairly adorable official state fossil bill just didn't sit right with some members of the south carolina senate. one senator was so upset by this bill, he tacked on an amendment that would get rid of any more state symbols. no more state anythings, he said. but then another senator decided that he would let the state fossil bill go ahead, but he would add to it three full lines from the book of genesis in the bible. so the first line would say the mammoth would be our state fossil, but then there would be these new lines in the bill. quote, and god said bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth after his kind, and it was so and god made the beast of the earth after his kind and cattle after their kind and everything that creepeth upon the earth and god saw that it was good and god saw everything that he had had made and behold it was very good in the evening and the morning were the sixth day, end quote. end of the bill. later on in the legislative

process, the bible language amendment was shortened so the bill would say that the columbian mammoth, quote, must be officially referred to as the columbian mammoth which was created on the sixth day with the other beasts of the field. the woolly mammoth which extinct roughly 10,000 years ago. if you believe that the book of genesis is true and that the earth was made only 6,000 years ago, then you do not believe in the fossil record. so that makes the bill inherently kind of hard to get. behold our official state thing that we don't believe in. that's how we left things a few weeks ago in south carolina. sorry, olivia, i don't know how to explain what happened. but now after the senate bill with all the bible stuff in it couldn't get through the state house, south carolina has decided to give in on the genesis stuff. the new version of the bill now just says the columbian mammoth is designated as the official state fossil of south carolina, period, end of story, no things creepeth or beasts of the field and that version will soon hit governor nikki haley's desk. if she signs it, olivia's work

will all have been worth it, and it will still have been this amazing that this is how it had to happen. good work, olivia. you're almost there. olivia. you're almost there. best new thing in the world today. "first look" is up next. good wednesday morning, everybody. right now on "first look," mers in the usa. a patient with a deadly virus comes in contact with 20 health care workers as global health officials rush to contain it. sizzling san diego. massive wildfires are forcing more than 20,000 people to evacuate. 5% contained and winds making things worse. bounce house horror! check it out. a massive wind lifts a bounce house into the air while three children are still playing inside. plus, a major mining disaster with over 200 killed. we have breaking details. thanks for joining us, everybody. i'm betty nguyen. we begin with breaking news