late night of voting in the house and now the fallout. good morning and thanks for getting up early with us on this the first saturday of the month of august 2014. there was lots of activity in gaza overnight in its military conflict with israel, we'll get all the details on that in just a bit. but first we begin with a drama left off late last night in the rare friday night session with the u.s. house of representatives with an extra day of work and extra night of work for members in the house after republicans had failed on thursday to pass their own plan to deal with the border crisis so they stayed into the first

day of their vacation yesterday. it lasted through the afternoon. it lasted into the evening and it lasted into those very late night hours. by the end, there were tensions and there were confrontations on the floor. this was even one member who suggested that the president of the united states ought to be placed in handcuffs. one of those bills that had congress approving $225 million for israel's missile defense system, thus allowing israel to restock its iron dome defense system which is responsible for shooting down dozens of rockets during the 3 1/2 week long war. the bill goes to president obama who is going to sign it he said in a press conference yesterday that the missile defense system is a way the u.s. can help, quote, to make sure that israel is able to protect to its citizens. then there was the marquee showdown of the night. two bills authored by republicans to deal with the border crisis. two bills that republicans had wanted to pass on thursday but that they ended up having to pull from the floor because the right revolted. republicans reshaped those bills yesterday to make them more palatable to the right and, one, they added more money for border

enforcement and also a provision that would make it much easier to deport the children from central america who have been crossing the border in large numbers. that vote came just after 8:00 p.m. last night. it was largely a party line affair. it passed the house 223-189. and then came the second bill. one republican leaders put together as red meat for their base, a way of getting everyone on board with the first one because the second bill deals what's called deferred action. the decision of president obama from 2012 to use executive action to allow hundreds of thousands of children who were brought to the country illegally to stay. the dreamers they're called. that second bill last night was to stop obama from expanding that program. and then to phase it all altogether. and this is where those tensions started spilling over. during the debate pennsylvania republican tom morino seemed to single out democratic leader nancy pelosi by saying under her leadership the democrats had a chance to address immigration but failed. after he spoke an angry pelosi

marched over to remind him the democrats passed the dream act. she was seen pointing her finger at him off camera in what was described in an aggressive manner and later he walked over to the democratic side to shake pelosi's hand and he told reporters his comments were not meant to be personal but afterward he seemed to get in the last word on twitter claiming, quote, rep pelosi called me an insignificant person on the floor of the house. i'll ponder that for a while while driving to williamsport tonight. michele bachmann also stoked controversy, can you believe that? she stoked controversy last night when she seemed to suggest during the debate that president obama should be handcuffed maybe metaphorically. >> what harry reid has the opportunity to do is to come back and join us. we'll be here anytime, any day, anywhere, anyhow, we will join him here in august, september, whenever, and he needs to put the other hand cuff on this lawless president's hands so that we can strain this president from granting amnesty. we invite harry reid to bring

the senate back and put the handcuff on the president's other hand so that we can have sovereignty again on our southern border. >> and after she finished her remarks bachman was reminded by the presiding officer to, quote, refrain from engaging in personal attacks toward the president. immigration measure passed in a close votes largely along party lines and all in all this was a some billick vote but it's a vote democrats hope to hang around those republicanins who supported it this fall. explaining to their constituents why they wanted to do away with protections hundreds of law abiding children now have. president obama called it partisan legation that will not address the problem and harry reid said he, quote, can't imagine a scenario in which he brings either bill to the floor of the senate with a vote and with that the house is off on its vacation and here we are not on vacation this morning. if it is your vacation it's a strange way of spending it.

kristen anderson, a republican pollster and msnbc contributor, sam stein political editor. >> first day of vacation. >> first day of vacation and look at this. i like to spend my vacations getting up at 5:30 in the morning, too, so glad we have that in common. i'm trying to, you know, figure out what to make of these votes last night. on the one hand i guess the first thing i'd start with is, and maybe, kristen, you're good to answer this as a republican, somebody thinking ahead to the fall, the whole idea here, right, for republicans, they knew that whatever they passed was not going to go anywhere in the senate. the president wasn't going to sign it. the idea was to say, hey, we passed something, we led, we tried to lead. i'm wondering if the way it went down, having to pull it off the floor, 24 hours of recriminations and screaming headlines and people like me saying, oh, gmy god, they are ruining it, do you think that anybody takes out of this, yeah,

republicans did something, or do they take out of it i messed up down there? >> they're the ones that stayed in town. and the senate went home for vacation. the house extended their session. they somehow got it done even if it's a bill that everybody doesn't love. meanwhile they have an empty senate chamber to send it to because harry reid said, well, let's all go home. i think it was important for them to pass something but what makes things really difficult for speaker boehner is when he was thinking to bring the first bill on thursday and there were folks on his right flank that were bailing off the bill he knew there would not be a single democratic vote that he could rely on which is sort of why you have the center of gravity in the house which is at the center of the republican party and maybe even further to the right of the republican caucus because boehner can't afford to lose very many within his own very broad range of republican personalities in the house to get anything done because he knows he's not going to have any votes from nancy pelosi's side of the aisle. >> that dynamic, sam, maybe you can speak to that. because this has been the story

for four years now, right? when the house goes to pass something, look, we're not getting any democratic votes, maybe one or two democratic votes, otherwise we're not getting any democratic votes and it becomes an issue can they get something that 218 republicans will vote for. are democrats that off limits to them? >> no. i mean, i think speaker boehner had an option here or had a choice here, i should say. one was to push the bill further to the right and put more money to national guard on the border, really crack down on this 2008 law that's causing all the children to come up from these noncontiguous countries or he could have tried to moderate the bill and win over democratic votes and break the rule that says you have to have a majority of a majority. and i don't -- as far as my reporting can tell and i may be wrong but i don't think there was ever a conversation between speaker boehner and leader pelosi about whether or not there was a way to cobble together votes. i grant you i think the house did pass a bill. a spade's a spade. they passed a bill. the senate didn't.

they're the only show in town. but it came at a tremendous price. i mean, a really, really tremendous price, which was a vote on ending doca. the bill that would allow dreamers to stay in the country. we're talking about 550,000 people who have taken advantage of this program who would now under this bill, it's never going to become a law, they would be deported essentially. they couldn't renew whatever they get to stay in the country. that is a vote that's going to really harm the republican party and anyone who has ambitions to be president for a long time. >> that's what i -- what i was thinking of last night because i was remembering when president obama first did the executive action in 2012 to do deferred action to protect these young dreamers, mitt romney was asked about it running against obama in 2012 and it was one of those situations you could see what an awful political situation he was put in because he didn't want to say the president was wrong because by saying the president was wrong he's basically saying i want to deport the kids. he didn't want to say he's right because the whole romney thing is he's never right about

anything. but basically the republicans who voted for the bill, not all did, but the republicans who voted for it have to explain what mitt romney didn't want to explain in 2012. >> that's right. what i find interesting is they also were talking about the president using his executive authority when at the same time they're suing him because he's using his executive authority. >> yeah. >> but this to me i actually look at this in a much more narrow view. i think this is a pyrrhic victory simply because he wanted to give his new leadership team something to hang their hat on quite frankly. >> they botched the first part of it. one, two. >> to me this is a very narrow thing. they knew this was not going to pass and, frankly, even a democrat congressman had a bipartisan bill with senator cornyn from texas, i thought was probably a good starting point for republicans to have this conversation, but they sort of turned their back on that as well. we talked about $3.7 billion initially and it's down to less than a billion.

and it's dead on arrival for the president. but i do think this is at a tremendous cost to republicans. there's no growing the -- >> go ahead. >> i think the context here is also important about what they're going on in terms of this august recess. it's not necessarily a vacation. they're going home to their districts where they're going to be confronted by constituents in the town hall meetings who are going to want to know what is being done to prevent this border crisis from happening again and the belief, which i believe a lot of these republican members are going to hear from swints in their districts is, the president's action has acted as a magnet to bring people up to the country, whether it's true or not, that's what they're going to hear in the town halls. that's what a lot of people don't realize about august. they think it's a time when all the members go away and nothing happens and it's when they are in their districts and getting yelled at in the town hall meetings. >> something struck me this week, too, was the suggestion, i think it was dave weigel who wrote about it in slate, the idea that a lot of republicans who maybe weren't necessarily okay for voting for the thing on thursday were basically saying

that they had the calcati catic what do we have to lose here? we live in a country where the country blames the president for things and if we do nothing, we'll have to face angry constituents, they'll say something is wrong at the border and the president isn't doing anything. >> sure. from everything i got from the hill was this sort of leading catalyst for why they took the second vote which is a lot of the sort of more establishment members said we cannot adjourn for august recess and say we absolutely did nothing after weeks of calling this an urgent humanitarian political crisis we'd look silly and, you know, credit to them. they do have something they can put their hat on. but that's not a recipe for getting laws done. that's a recipe for getting a political statement done and it's telling at the same time that they were unable to do this border bill, they were able to call it reform legislation which gives you a template for how you can get a law passed which is both sides actually gave up a priority. both sides gained a priority. they came together in huge

bipartisan majorities. that one bill become law. this one won't. we have two very different things there. >> bernie sanders -- >> bernie sanders. >> john mccain. >> the socialist in vermont the heart of the compromise. new revelations that the cia has been spying on congress. cia director john brennan apologized to lawmakers this stweek after an agency report admitted that cia employees broke into and searched senate intelligence committee computers, that has oversight over the agency. they were snooping on an inquiry into the agency's interrogation methods. when this came to light brennan first denied it and then asked the justice department to investigate the senate staffers. democrat mark udall of colorado and martin henrik of new mexico called for his resignation. senator rand paul joined them last night. saxby chambliss has come to brennan's defense.

and yesterday in his press conference president obama defended brennan. much later the president made more news with this turn of phrase. >> even before i came into office, i was very clear that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 we did some things that were wrong. we did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks. we did some things that were contrary to our values. >> so, that line got a lot of attention yesterday. folks. i know the president uses folks a lot. just sort of conversationally. but just in the context of torture it seemed a little weird to people. also the context of this obviously there is this report that's going to be coming out, the report at the heart of the spying -- bringing out supposedly all sorts of terrible details about the torture program. what did you make of the president going out of his way to say that yesterday? >> it was extremely surprising

because he's generally not that open about it, frankly. and, you know, my guess i think, you know, we've been talking over the last few weeks about this progressive movement, this movement coming from the left, and to a way it's about that quite frankly. it's acknowledging that the country has made some mistakes and errors. he himself has taken criticism for his support for surveillance of phones and such and e-mails. so i think in some respects, it's a nod to the fact that there's growing pressure from his political left. but, you know, i -- my belief is that his support for his director i don't think that that is going to go very far. quite frankly, i think if you hear a lot more cries coming out of congress, i think something is going to have to -- he's going to have to move. >> that's what i'm starting to wonder about. there's sort of cross-party currents here, right? you have rand paul who did the filibuster against brennan.

but there have been lib rams who have been suspicious of this guy from the very beginning. when you get those two sides working together, something is going down. >> i thought the breakdown of the votes from the amendment back from a couple of months ago -- >> it was first in the house. >> it was a fascinating vote because it did not split along party lines at all. you had similar numbers -- i think slightly more republicans on one side than democrats but it really split congress in a very weird way that most of these bills don't these days. this is not a simple right/left issue. and in both parties interesting debate going on what's the appropriate role for surveillance. what's the appropriate path forward on national security. what i think is really tough and i think is going to ultimately lead to cia director brennan needing to stem down p down, th american people have a bargain with the intelligence community, we trust you to keep us safe but you need to do the right things as well and time after time over the last few months there have been more and more revelations that the american people have reason to doubt that they can trust the surveillance

community. this is now whunle is now one o. they were spying on senate staffers period. and i think that when wit comes to the lack of trust is that the time when it says in need of leadership change. >> if bloggers got access to this information, they'd be in jail right now. quickly, we've got to get to a brake, but the bottom line issue, how much danger is brennan in right now? >> a fair amount of danger. it helps to have the president in your corner. that can't hurt. if they were a first-time offense that might be something they can get over. but as you note it's a recurring theme that the cia is totally out of control and when they are actually spying on people who are in charge of their own oversight and simply saying he's called for a private investigation to make sure it doesn't happen again, that's an insufficient way to do it. let me say one thing quickly on the folks thing. the debate on whether -- it was proper to use the term folks is silly and stupid.

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she did not mince words about her future during an interview of katie couric of yahoo! news. >> should the political climate and your consideration of your replacement be factors in your decision? >> i am still here. and likely to remain for a while. >> this is -- i'm familiar with this story because it's -- supreme court justices tend to be older. they certainly tend to get old. that's what life will do. so this issue comes up whenever they get, you know, into their 70s or even past 80 and it really becomes a fascinating human question about, you know, you feel vibrant and certainly mentally, physically, you want to keep active and relevant and at the same time, you know, just given the nature of the court, look, if your party's president is in power, good time to leave. if the other party's president is, bad time to leave. i was thinking authorize marshall was waiting for a

democratic president to come there and in 1999 when his health isn't going to hold up enough it's never going to happen. the republicans are going to keep winning and 1991 he decides to retire and clarence thomas becomes the new supreme court justice and bill clinton gets elected a year later and that's how the things seem to work. >> and, in fact, when justice marshall was asked why you are retiring, he said i'm old. it's just that simple. there have been questions about questions ginsburg's health but she's still a brilliant meend. and i think part of this is, of course, because justices get confirmed with the senate and there was a chance that the senate may become republican so what does that do for all of what's in front of the supreme court and lined up to be in front of the supreme court? but it looks like she's still vibrant and she's going to be there. >> let me ask, the point she raised there, too, in this climate, democrats had changed the fill buster rules last year and the republicans on all the ambassadorships blocking the ambassadorships, does she have a point? if there were a vacancy right

now, could president obama get somebody through the senate? >> i think he could but it might not be the exact perfect person that the president would want. i think that we've -- it's not as though this president has not had appointments to the supreme court that have gotten through. i do think that republicans are likely to pick up some seats in the senate. it would be a tougher haul after november when republicans do pick up a few seats. but i don't think that it's true that nobody could get through the senate. >> just appoint scalia's nephew. >> that's the thing to watch, right now we say this climate, what happens if after november republicans control the senate in the confirmation process. turning to something else we want to get in here, how we choose the president. the iowa caucuses are not just for die hard voters anymore. there are new rules proposed by the state democratic party in the first in the nation caucus state yesterday to expand participation, for example, it would provide a new statewide precinct, something called a

tele caucus. it offers satellite offices and allows employers to attend meetings. democratic national committee rules and bylaws committee seemed favorable when presented with the changes yesterday. now i want my state to become a caucus state. i want a day off in the middle of the winter. >> they should have a national day off for voting. it's such an obvious thing. >> election day is a holiday. >> full australia and do mandatory voting but give people a day off. >> you don't have the bachman strategy of handcuff everybody and bring them to the polls? >> the president's victories in caucus states notwithstanding, it's the most vexing process you can imagine and i'm glad to see that they are actually expanding it, even states like new york which, you know, reliably blue states, whether or not we'll have early voting. >> the caucusing drove the clinton people nuts -- >> so little margin for error in

a caucus because so many people don't show up. >> and hillary, when there's primaries, she wins new hampshire and he wins iowa. and that's where he got the big delegate advantage. thank you to the panel and we'll see you throughout the show. yesterday's bombshell report from the medical examiner's office in the nypd choke hold case and we'll dissect the latest revelations in the irs scandal. before that we'll go live to gaza. that's next. that, my friends, is everything. and with the quicksilver card from capital one, you earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on everything you purchase. not just "everything at the hardware store." not "everything, until you hit your cash back limit." quicksilver can earn you unlimited 1.5% cash back on everything you could possibly imagine. say it with me -- everything. one more time, everything! and with that in mind... what's in your wallet?

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accord to palestinian health officials. more than 1,600 palestinians have been killed since this conflict began almost four weeks ago now. 9,000 more have been injured. we're on the ground in gaza. and we have a live update. >> reporter: steve, let's start first of all with the diplomatic front. that's the side that i think a lot of people are hoping there will be some traction on. after the collapse of the cease-fire yesterday, there were talks as to whether or not any kind of negotiations would take place. the palestinian side led by representatives from the palestinian authority said that they were still prepared to travel to cairo to participate in talks under the leadership of the egyptian government, but that would require participation from the israeli government. we are now learning according to local israeli media reports that the israeli government will not be sending a delegation to cairo raising questions as to whether or not any chance at a cease-fire has now been viewed. the question is whether or not

israel will continue its operations unilaterally and by all indications that is still the situation happening on the ground. the main area of focus tends to be, as it has been over the past 24 hours is the city in the southern part of the gaza strip where israel has been shelling heavily and pushing forward in and around the town of rufa, forcing thousands to flee and driving that death toll up almost by the hour. now, palestinians say the israeli military has entered the vicinity of the town ordering people to stay home. they are calling it a massacre. but the israeli military says this is a rescue operation to try and recover one of its soldiers that it says was abducted by hamas militants. >> appreciate the update. stay safe. thanks for that. the cease-fire even if it had held for three days instead of one hour. the cease-fire was only ever intended to be a temporary break. some time for civilians in gaza to retrieve the dead and to buy more food and supplies before hunkering down again in the next wave of fighting. the violence overnight has put

into jeopardy peace talks that will take place in cairo this weekend, or maybe they will, and even before the negotiations have begun now clearly in jeopardy. a new poll conducted this week by an israeli television news network showed that 87% of jewish israelis support continuing the gaza operation. another survey said that 95% believe the operation is justified. 95%. with approval numbers like those is it any wonder that benjamin netanyahu said the operation will continue. what's his incentive to agree to a permanent cease-fire with that kind of support? at the same time amid endless pictures of widespread destruction the conflict is causing some on the global stage to rethink their opinions. jonathan shade of "new york" magazine writing that israel is making it hard to be pro-israel. his words there. he claims that net haddenia hugh has marginalized the leadership

that palestine has. the campaign of ils royal air strikes in gaza becomes a horrifying indictment. it is not just that the unintended deaths of palestinians is so disproportionate to any corresponding increase in security for the israeli targets of hamas' air strikes. it is that netanyahu and his coalition have no strategy of their own except endless counterinsurgency. to talk more about that and more we are joined now by roger cohen, a foreign correspondent and editor with "the new york times" and now a columnist with the paper. he wrote about the crisis and the controversy this week in "the times." the form editor with buzz feed and joins us now as well. roger, let me start with you because you were one of the voices who weighed in similar to what we heard in the jonathan shade piece that we quoted this week. i wonder that broader issue that he raised there because i think to outside observers it feels like we get to this point every few years where there are

rockettrocke rockets robbed into israel and they say we need to disarm the rockets and get the tunnels and there's all sorts of civilian destruction. and then we sort of repeat three years later. is there a -- are we reaching a moment here where people are stopping and saying there has to be a diplomatic track to this, too? >> i think we are reaching a moment but it's a particularly ugly moment. and the whole situation has become very untractable, steve, particularly with this apparent capture of an israeli soldier. i think jonathan's point and the point i tried to make is an important one, and that is, that secretary kerry as you know was in israel more than 20 times over the previous nine months. and i haven't seen anything that said to me that the government of prime minister netanyahu was serious about trying to reach out to palestinian moderates. the result is that this status quo continues. and part of that status quo is

this violence. now, right now feelings are running so high on both sides and you have 60 idf soldiers or so dead. you have more than 1,600 dead in gaza. and it's fueled to a point where i don't see how you tamp it down. >> well, so, let me pick that point up. because the numbers we read really jump out at you. 87% support for the operation among israeli jews. 95% overall saying this is justified. i look at that and say with that kind of support, that's the level in this country to give you an idea, george w. bush had that in the weeks after 9/11 and you can remember in this country george w. bush basically could have done anything with that kind of support, that's what netanyahu has right now. if there's any international calls for, hey, tone it down or getting to the negotiating table, there's no incentive for him to do that, is there? >> no, i think there's no incentive at all. it's kind of two things to this talk about. one is, you know, global condemnation on a kind of human

level of the killing that we're seeing in gaza versus a real change on the diplomatic front. we've seen some tougher language out of obama. but i can't say that we've seen any real shift. the fact that the europeans are really upset about this is nothing new. i feel like we're seeing kind of it's the beginning of this idea that maybe israel is reacting disproportionately but i'm not sure that's translated yet. >> is there a shift? are you picking up at all within israel when you see numbers like that, do you think maybe in the past there would have been more of a divide? there would have been, you know, more people saying skeptically not sure the government should be doing this? is there a shift in israel where they are becoming more hard line? >> absolutely. i think the right has been growing more and more and the left has been marginalized. and you have a government that's been kind of putting forward this line of security above all else and really talking up the threat. the threat that does exist. but -- and just understands that, you know, playing to these fears is a way for it to also remain in power.

the terms pro-israel and pro-palestinian. we should be talking about the government that's in power not, you know, israel as the country. >> roger, again, those numbers when you look at them, basicae y ically unanimous support in israel and what the government is doing right out in, what does it say to you? >> look, steve, israelis are spooked. the tunnels have really spooked israelis. if you were living there and thinking that some militants could pop out of the ground at any moment and start shooting you, look what happened in the washington area at the time of the sniper. it wasn't necessarily rational. the chance you were going to get shot when you went to a gas station were low. nevertheless, everyone was spooked. and that's the feeling right now in israel. there's a feeling that there's an organization there which in its charter calls for the annihilation of the state of israel. and it has built a cereals of tunnels that have led to a series of attacks that are causing what is close from what

i'm hearing to a state of rage and near psychosis in israel. and that is the feeling. that is the sentiment behind those numbers you're seeing. those are extraordinary numbers in a battle or mini war where you're seeing as you know very uneven casualties. but israelis feel that this organization bent on its destruction is getting stronger, that no state can live with these rockets being fired in day after day. and the operation now which began on the ground has a momentum of its own. and secretary kerry was not -- look, all he was trying to get was a 24-hour initially seals fire that two allow some talks to begin. he wasn't even able to get that. so, the fears many of us have had that this could explode at any moment have been

unfortunately to be right. >> yeah, john kerry secretary of state being excoriated in the israeli media and the numbers i think explain sort of the sentiment behind the numbers explain where that was coming from. thanks to roger cohen from "the new york times" and appreciate the time. still to come, today's show is brought to you by the number 94. we'll explain why next. th back . and a choice. take 4 advil in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. peanuts! peanuts! crowd cheers! "hashtag love dad" when you think aarp, then you don't know "aarp". our aarp tek program helps people find better ways to better connect with each other. find more real possibilities at aarp.org/possibilities from crest 3d white, new brilliance toothpaste and boost. after brushing, our exclusive boost polishes your smile and whitens with 3x the stain lifting ingredient

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we are now inside of 100 days until election day the day of the 2014 midterms, so we are quickly approaching the homestretch. with that in mind we want to take a look at the lay of the land right now, 94 days out, 94 days from election day, can democrats hold on to their senate majority? can they eat into that 17-seat majority that republicans have in the rouse right now? without governorships some big states swung hard to republicans in their 2010 midterm rout which ones are most likely to swing back this year? good news for democrats is that it seems like a republican wave

like the kind of wave that wiped them out in 2010 has yet to form this time. president obama's approval rating has hung in the low 40s, the job rating has sunk to the 30s in the states with some of the most competitive senate races, but even more unpopular are congressional republicans and their antics this week might earn them even less trust from the independent voters they need. 2014 doesn't appear to have a defining issue so far like the iraq war in 2006 or health care reform in 2010 so it looks like it may be defined by the map. here to help us talk about the map and to share his projections at least from this point 94 days out we're joined by larry sabado, and larry, thanks for getting up with us this morning. let me just start with a basic question. i want to try to get through a lot here with you. we are here the morning after the house got the two bills through last night, the republican border bills. you had the whole fiasco on thursday. in terms of the midterm elections and battle for control of the house, do you think what

we watched this week had any effect? >> oh, i think all these things have some effect because they end up energizing one group or another or one party supporters or another. but we always have to remember it's early august and while you and i follow politics, every one of those 94 days until the election, there are an awful lot of people even in a low turnout midterm year who are going to tune in in september or oket or even election eve. >> what do you see? i mean, we're saying in 2006 we can remember there was iraq, there was republican corruption, that was something democrats made hay over. in 2010 obviously the affordable care act and the whole agenda of the first two years of the obama term. it feels from an issue stand point a lot quieter this time. do you see any real driving or defining issues out there or do you see overall this as a quieter and unusually quiet midterm? >> i think it's a quieter midterm. i've called it kind of dull which you are really not supposed to do if your field is

election -- >> or television, yeah. >> this is not a 2006. this is not a 2010. you're absolutely right to say that at least so far we have not seen a wave develop. now, i'll grant you sometimes waves develop in september, even october. i see some whitecaps. i see a lot of whitecaps. and mainly those whitecaps are beating against democratic buoys. why? because of the map. you mention the map. you have to go, for example, to the senate map. steve, this is the best map the republicans have had since 1980. it's somewhat of an accident and a coincidence. it's a combination of who decided to step down and who's running again and what the political nature of the states are that are up. you know, the senate's divided into three classes. this class of states actually is by far the most republican of the three classes. only half the people vote for senate this year. in the other two classes it's

two-thirds to three-quarters of the people who vote. you've got no california in the mix this year. no new york. no pennsylvania. no ohio. no florida. so, this is a very peculiar map full of densely red small states. there's a tremendous advantage to the republicans. >> so, that's the senate side. i'm curious about the house. the number democrats need if they will get back the majority right now is 17 and we know historically very hard in the midterm for the president's party to gain any seats let alone 15. 17. steny hoyer said, no, we're going to do it. the we are outraising republicans. what do you think realistic if the elections were held today, how do you think the democrats would be doing on the house side? >> steve, of course, you know, i hike st like steny hoyer, but democrats

would be lucky -- lucky -- to hold what they've got or have a tiny, tiny gain, a couple of seats. we have it at the crystal ball right now at least republicans gaining five to eight seats. they already have a majority. and you can operate the house on a small majority. they've already got that majority. probably, you know, we see it going from 234 where it is today once you fill in the open seats up to above 240. now, that can change somewhat between now and november because nobody knows who's going to be indicted next week and nobody knows who's tongue is going to be disconnected from his or her brain and say something really dumb, so you never know. but on the whole, this is a very difficult year for democrats in the house, too. look, steve, you know this. most of these -- most of the results for the 2014 election were determined in 2011 when the lines were drawn.

>> right. true. and we'll keep an eye out. we didn't get to it today but a lot of governors' races but we still have 94 days left and we'll find time for those as well. thank you, larry, hope to talk to you lot during the fall. still ahead the medical examiner's report in the nypd choke hold death. conclusions that will only fuel the controversy. we'll talk about it. new olay regenerist instant fix collection fills wrinkles, reduces the look of pores and smoothes texture for a skin makeover in minutes. instant fix perfecting collection. olay. your best beautiful. we're changing the way we do business, with startup ny. we've created tax free zones throughout the state. and startup ny companies will be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in jobs and infrastructure. thanks to startup ny, businesses can operate tax free for 10 years. no property tax. no business tax. and no sales tax. which means more growth for your business, and more jobs. it's not just business as usual.

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new york city mayor bill de blasio released a statement yesterday that reads in part, we all have a responsibility to work together to heal the wounds from decades of mistrust and create a culture where had the police department and the communities they protect respect each other. de blasio promised while campaigning for mayor to give a greater voice to minorities who felt police had been targeting them unfairly. the union that represents nypd officers, is standing by the officers involved. released a statement that reads in part, we believe if garner had not resisted the lawful order of the police officers placing him under arrest this tragedy would not have occurred. back here to discuss where it leave new york's mayor and new york in general, our resident new yorker today, so, basel, everybody has seen the video and everybody has heard the dying gasps of this man and it's just terrible. the report concluding that this is a homicide obviously caught a lot of people by surprise. but a medical examiner's report

concluding that versus prosecutors actually pursuing something like that versus actually getting some kind of conviction on those grounds there's a long way between there and there. where do you think it's going? >> that's absolutely right if you look back 20 years to anthony baez and the case of his death in the hands of the officer using an illegal choke hold, it was a judicial trial. it was not a trial by jury. criminally negligent homicide. he was actually not convicted of that but convicted on civil rights charges and he served i think six or seven years. it seems like that's sort of the trend. unfortunately. because the community is going to call for criminal charges and i think they will come. the question is, will he actually -- will the officers or anybody involved in this will they actually get convicted is another story but the calls for the criminal prosecution i think are completely appropriate. this man begged for his life. the cops -- and, in fact, the

paramedics essentially watched him die. and i think the mayor's position was firm but they're going to be calls for him to do a whole lot more especially since he sort of campaigned on ending stop and frisk trying to heal -- >> this is his issue. >> right. and tried to heal the relationship with the community. i want to add quickly it's about race but it's also about power and authority and how that's used in communities of color everywhere certainly in new york city. >> as we say the family will be speaking out today and obviously that's the next chapter in this we'll be finding out what they have to say, that will be coming up very soon. thank you. still ahead, why a federal prosecutor has issued a warning to new york governor andrew cuomo in a corruption investigation swirling around him. next the latest on the ebola outbreak as two infected americans head home.

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today one of the two aid workers infected with ebola in africa is arriving home to the united states for treatment. the second will be coming home a few days later.

health officials stress the two will be quarantined in a tightly controlled process at emory university hospital in atlanta. they will be flown here on a noncommercial jet in an isolated pod and the plane will land at a military facility instead at atlanta's international airport. the cdc has advised americans to avoid all nonessential travel to the countries that have been hardest hit by the virus and the u.s. government has said it will send 50 more people from the agency to africa to help stop the outbreak. looks like we're about to board. mm-hmm. i'm just comparing car insurance rates at progressive.com. is that where they show the other guys' rates, too? mm-hmm. cool. yeah. hi. final boarding call for flight 294. [ bells ring on sign ] [ vehicle beeping ] who's ready for the garlic festival? this guy! bringing our competitors' rates to you -- now, that's progressive.

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we'll have more updates on msnbc throughout the day. for now, though, we want to turn what many in politics believe is an endangered and exotic species. they call it the swing voter. polling experts say the share of votes that were actually up for grabs were 3% to 5%. in the cook political report highlighted a study this year showing yet again that the growing legions of self-described independent voters really aren't that independent after all as amy walter explains, quote, those who call themselves independent may actually be closer to the views of the core gop or core democratic policy positions than even those who identify themselves as a party member. in other words, we like to say we're independents but most of us just end up voting always for democrats or always for republicans. so, given all of that a new poll out this week caught my eye. it shows mitt romney, remember him, with a nine-point lead over barack obama in a hypothetical rematch. president obama, of course, beat

romney by four points in 2012 and he's never going to be running for president again but moods have changed a bit in the last two years and probably helped romney's cause that he hasn't had to talk or do much in the last two years, so take that number with a big grain of salt. but, still, in the obama/romney rematch romney is up by nine. and put romney up against hillary clinton and in that same poll clinton crushes him by 13 points. what that means when you look at those two results side by side in this case there's actually a significant number of people who say they'd be comfortable voting both for romney and for hillary. those would be real swing voters or at least that's what it looks like right now at this somewhat far-out point. who are they? who are these potential swing voters? mostly female about 70% are, the majority identify as independents. the group that sewoured on president obama but is enthusiastic for hillary clinton. figuring out who the voters are

and motivates them will be key for the democrats' prospects of keeping the white house. are they loyal just for hillary or would they vote for a different candidate? back with me is basel, and kristen anderson, republican pollster and sam stein white house correspondent for the huffington post. this caught my eye. the look back in the rear view mirror, mondale might have beaten reagan and mcgovern beat nixon during watergate, what do they really mean? i am wondering looking ahead to 2016 because right now at least president obama's poll numbers are not that great. they're not that terrible but not that great either. they would be in general an iffy proposition for democrats to hold the white house for a third term but then i'm wondering does hillary clinton bring something extra to the table by virtue of her, you know, sort of her reputation, her image, her personality? is that what this poll is telling us? generic democrat might be in trouble right now but hillary clinton a different story. >> yeah, i think so.

and i think it's something that i've mentioned on the show before. i think what voters are looking at is, yes, we want somebody that represents our ideology but who also can get the job done within the constraints of the institutions that he or she would have to work with and i think when you look at that kind of candidate, i think that's why hillary clinton stands out. again, notwithstanding a lot of the pressure that might be coming from the left. i don't think that a lot of voters are looking at hillary and saying she doesn't necessarily represent anything on the far left. but they also want to know that, again, that there's somebody that's there that is -- that understands politics, that is willing to work across the aisle and truly does understand how to use the power of the office and work within the constraints of government that most people think is dysfunctional right now. >> kristen, how do you see this? the republicans have obviously been stepping up their attacks on hillary clinton ahead of time. is there thinking on the republican side, look, if we can get her not to run and get her

out of the way as a candidate, we'd be in great shape? >> she's formidable, if she doesn't run, who will run. it's a very appealing proposition to republicans that hillary clinton would not run. on the other hand, at the same time that she brings a lot of big strengths to the race, name i.d., and her favorables while they are slightly down since the book tour are still pretty good. she also brings with her a lot of baggage. the clintons have been around for a while and i think what a lot of voters will want in 2016 is they'll want something fresh and new. they're going to want some change. to the extent of bringing somebody that represents the past is not bringing in change. i think it leaves a lot of voters on the table. it's ideology swing voters, i don't know what the exact axis on which this election will turn will be. for all that hillary clinton certainly has some strengths. she's definitely not inevitable in a general election. >> sam, i wonder, what do you

make to the numbers? >> to the fresh and new element and the numbers as well, we can't have this discussion without talking about gender and the fact that she would be the first female president is incredibly alluring to a lot of people especially female voters but also male voters, too. it would be an historic candidacy along the lines of what barack obama was. i think that's incredibly alluring. but with respect to swing voters, you know, it's funny if we were in a parliamentary system there's a diverse array of voters out there. within each party there are factions. the republican party has civil libertarians, rand paul types, the neo-cons and then there are the anti-wall street types and hillary clinton is not, let's be honest. there's a wide swath of ideology diversity within the party itself. we've got a two-party system, the system we have is a two-party system and that means that you either have to show up and vot or not. and i think that's where you have so little crossover and that's where you have the 3% to

5% of voters is limited cross-section. >> if i can add to gender there's always rales. a reverse migration of african-americans leaving northern cities and going to the south which is changing the mix of the electorate in states like georgia, kentucky, mississippi. and i'm not saying that those states are going to go blue anytime soon and it may not have any impact on the 2014 race but perhaps in 2016 you could see more activity by a lot of those -- a lot of those african-american voters and a lot of i think -- >> just to button that up, let's start with the first topic we talked about which is immigration reform. the hispanic population is growing and growing and growing. and i've seen nothing from the republican party to win them back over. if anything they have alienated them further. those are all factors about the voting base that everyone has to consider going forward. >> i just wonder when we talk about hillary, is there an assessment of her now that's different because of what's happened over the last six years? 2008, you know, she was so

vulnerable because of the iraq war vote. democrats just did not want to nominate somebody who voted for the iraq war and that sort of, you know, the sale date has passed as a political issue. and i wonder 2014 do people look where we are right now, democrats will say it isn't barack obama's fault, they will say republicans have refused to do anything he wants and even that do the democrats look at hillary a little differently because that's what she was warning about, she was saying it will happen, barack obama was saying i'll bring washington together, he acts like the clouds are goes to open and the choirs will sing and the angels will come down, i know what it's really like to fight these guys, maybe it has more appeal? >> the other thing different over the last six years the pop p populace has emerged and do people want to vote for a candidate closely tied to wall street and is sort of maybe not from the elizabeth warren wing of the democratic party? while i don't actually think

that represents a huge vulnerability for her in a primary setting in a general election setting to the extent that republicans have the opportunity to claim a more populace mantle. >> who is the anti-wall street republican? >> first of all, i don't think she's so tied to wall street and you talked about her baggage before. i would say it differently. i think she is the most vetted candidate we've seen. there's not much to hillary clinton that voters don't already know. and so that's why i think -- i think some of her language even if it's not quite the language of an obama in 2008, i think what she would be bringing to the table is a discussion about incrementali incrementalism. it may not have to be this broad brush in these large sort of national policy -- national bills to change policy like health care bill and so on, but even within the institutions, even if you govern incrementally there are still policy fixes that you can bring to the table that i think address the issues

without necessarily the broad brush. >> by the way, that hypothetical hillary clinton/mitt romney choice i am getting closer and closer to saying i think mitt romney might run. >> come on! >> come on. >> limited reaction. >> i would bet you a doughnut. >> why wouldn't he? >> way to raise the stakes. i'll explain that another time. not just -- but up next we'll talk about the new e-mails from an irs official. why was she cursing? who was she cursing about? do they mean the investigations will continue? what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america.

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built for business. after all those hearings, after all the investigations there is still no evidence that the irs discriminated against conservative groups applying for

tax exempt status but house republicans are still determined to prove there is. in the processed of all that digging, republican chairman of the house ways and means committee dave camp revealed new e-mails on wednesday showing former irs official lois lerner distaste for conserves which reinforces many conservatives' opinions about the irs. she had this to say about right wing talk radio, so we don't need to worry about alien terrorists it's our own crazies that will take us down. they released an unredacted version showing she was conversing with her husband. while there is no evidence that the irs discriminated against conservative groups when awarding tax exempt status we know they targeted progressive groups as well there's evidence the person in charge of the division at the time ridiculing conservatives and calling them all sorts of names. congressman camp forwarded the e-mails to the department of

justice as further evidence of criminal wrongdoing and asked again for a special prosecutor to pursue the matter another way to keep up the pressure for yet another irs investigation but it also shows where the distrust and resentment that fuels the conservative movement comes from. so back here with the panel. that's what made this so interesting to me i guess is, i mean, everybody hates the irs, but running against the irs, running against taxes and big government is a particular thing on the right. i've said all along i've been waiting for and still have not seen any evidence there was actual targeting specifically of conso conservative groups. i can only imagine being a conservative and seeing e-mails like this and somebody at the irs is having exchanges about people that believe like me. >> it comes on the heel of the e-mails, the dog ate my home work and the hard drive crashed. and it's a drip, drip, drip that

make people particularly on the right go we can't trust these guys. if you look at the things that sparked the irs scandal when it first broke. it broke right around the same time the ap scandal broke, where it was the question of this is a administration taking special action whether it's going after journalists or activist groups that have been critical of the administration. are they taking extraordinary action -- >> but then it turned out when it came to the yours there was nothing there. >> there were a number of conservative groups who didn't have their applications looked at for months and months and months and they had to answer books to be read and -- >> liberal groups -- >> not nearly as conservative groups and the question is how high up does it go, right? was it a poorly intentioned bureaucrat in the midst level making a bad decision or does it is go all the way up to lois lerner or a director in the administration. that's what conservatives are trying to find out. >> i've done a lot of reporting on this, there were more liberal

mentions than conservative mentions. and there were tea party organizations forming. they were newer and fresher and more -- hold on a second. >> what they were asking was beyond the pale. >> it's clear that she had an n animus against conservatives but i'm a little bit upset about the way the investigators have done this, they've released redacted e-mails, e-mails taken out of context time and again. while i was quite upset two days ago over the fact it looked like she was talking neg tevel about conservatives to fellow irs officials the fact that she was doing it to her husband doesn t relieve the problem, it's a different context. i've talked to republican lawmakers who have said very similar things about conservatives in private or to, you know -- i'm a journalist.

i'm not their husband here. we have to consider these things in the context. i do think you're right in some respects but i think the case has been overblown. >> i do. the point that gets my attention with this, again, is i still haven't seen anything in terms of targeting, any evidence there. i think there's a fairness case to be made and i'm imagining liberals under a republican presidency even if it was a spousal e-mail exchange they would be very outraged and suspicious and this feeds it. >> i think there can be a case made in that context. and i look at this and say there is no smoking gun and someone can't have a conversation with their spouse about what they think about politics. we're assuming that bureaucrats don't have political opinions. we imagine that they do. and i haven't seen a smoking gun. this is a manufactured scandal. and i'm loathe to even -- >> i do think they could have used yahoo! she's using work e-mail to talk to her husband. hey, you get caught up. >> the irs actually did subsequent to all of this relax

some of their rules so they are actually fast tracking them to make sure it doesn't become an issue going forward. >> i'm curious, where do you think this is going? do you honestly look at this and say you think this will uncover some kind of grand conspiracy to go after conservative groups? i can see the politics, too, if this is firing up your base and they hate the irs and stuff like this comes out, i can see the political benefit, do you think there's a grand reveal here? >> i don't know. it's been really hard for a lot of the investigators to get the evidence they want, to this get the people to testify that they want. i don't know in the end we'll see some big grand conspiracy or have evidence that there was. i think it's important for them to continue to press to find out does this administration take extraordinary action when it comes to folks who are going to criticize them whether it's spying on senate computers through the cia, whether it's tapping the phone lines of journalists in scandals and it's all fitting into a pattern that

is disconcerting, not just to republicans, it should be disconcerting to anyone who believes they can criticize the administration freely. >> i don't think you were targeted. anyway, thanks as always to sam stein of the huffington post for getting up this morning and coming up federal prosecutors sent a stern warning to governor andrew cuomo this week in a cru corruption investigation. we never thought we'd be farming wind out here. it's not just building jobs here, it's helping our community. siemens location here has just received a major order of wind turbines. it puts a huge smile on my face. cause i'm like, 'this is what we do.'

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this is holly. her long day of outdoor adventure starts with knee pain. and a choice. take 6 tylenol in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. onward! we learned that andrew cuomo has lawyered up in the wake of new scrutiny by a federal prosecutor. as you may know the scandal is now rocking the cuomo administration. questions whether his office interfered with an anti-corruption commission he created when its investigation got too close to the governor. there are new questions about whether that kind of interference maeve continued even after the publication of a three-month investigation by "the new york times" last week.

several former members of the commission came out to defend governor cuomo this week in the wake of that report and to deny that there can be any interference at all with their investigation. u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york appears to find that timing suspicion. on thursday "the new york times" reported that he sent a letter to governor cuomo advising him if his office was calling former commissioners and asking them to defend the governor that that may fall under the category of tampering with a witness or obstruction of justice. u.s. attorney's office has been following up on an investigation it had started but hadn't yet finished in to why the commission was disbanded prematurely. "the albany times union" said one of the top aides personally contacted commissioners to make those public statements. thursday night the new york daily noils revealed that governor cuomo's office has hired a, quote, prominent, white collar criminal defense attorney to represent them in this case. governor cuomo's office issued a

statement saying they were just talking with relevant parties about what they say were inaccuracies in how "the times" story was reported by other outlets. this is how governor cuomo attacked "the new york times" earlier in the week drawing what he said was the wrong commissions. he said the chair always acted independently. >> he rejected the request. the rejection is ipso facto a statement of independence because he said no. and he could and he did. if you had watched the movie to the end, the name of the movie would have been independence. you named it interference. watch the movie to the end. >> governor cuomo has enjoyed astronomical approval ratings throughout his first term and he still does according to the most recent polls.

but how might these legal matters overtake his re-election campaign? could they? to answer that we turn to brian weiss criminal defense attorney to politicians including tom delay. he join us from houston and paul butler a professor of law at georgetown university. a team we like to call butler and weiss and we like to call on them whenever politicians get in the news like this and it seems to happen a lot. paul, let me start with you from the prosecutors standpoint. you've worked in the u.s. attorney's office and this is extraordinary where the u.s. attorney in new york sends this letter to governor cuomo basically putting him on warning. the fact that that letter got out, the fact that he sent it, it seems to me this is an unusually step for a prosecutor to take. >> it's got to be aggressive. we have this commission that's investigating this long, sordid history of public corruption in new york. and incredibly there's a public corruption investigation of that commission and then we have a

governor who has made a big deal of the commission and the governor knows he's being investigated for witness tampering and he actually reaches out to witnesses and tries to influence their statement. >> right. that to me is the sort of extraordinary thing here. because we talked about this on the show last weekend, there had been that story in the "new york times" that looked at all the potential meddling with the commission itself. that story ran and people said, whoa, cuomo might be in trouble here. and it turns out what we're talking about now, forget that story, maybe that was all legal, maybe it was, what he then did in the last week since that story came out now there's potential criminal liability there. >> that's what this has in common with the other thing we're always talking about, the christie investigation, what is it? it's always the cover-up. again, i don't think there was any real criminal exposure in what cuomo did. he started this commission, so he probably has the power to end it even though it was weird how he did it all in the middle and that's one of the things that the u.s. attorney is looking at. but what he does not have the

power or authority to do is once there's an official judicial investigation, to try to disrupt that. that's called obstruction of justice. that's called witness tampering, no proof, we're a long way from a criminal case but his lawyers have got to be selling him sit down and shut up. >> brian, he has tired a, quote, prominent white collar criminal defense attorney. you as a prominent white collar criminal defense attorney, if you were hired by the cuomo team, what would you tell them? >> i think you go to tell them rule one in the political playbook, when it comes to dealing with the media, it's the hippocratic oath, first do no harm. look, this is not the governor's first rodeo. he's political royalty. he's a former assistant da, he's a former a g, he's got to know by speaking up in this context he's not doing himself any good. it was unnecessary. it didn't have to happen. it was borderline bush league. these are seasoned prosecutors,

they would have spoken up, they would have had his back. but having said all that, i think it's interesting that the governor went to the movie context because one of the movies that comes to mind is "stripes" to quote noted legal sage, i think our buddy needs to lighten up, francis. had is not a situation where this sitting governor is going to put himself in harm's way. it was clearly a knuckleheaded move. >> paul, if you're bhara, what are the next moves here, when it's this public and done in this public of a way, is there pressure to show something pretty quickly? >> if he goes after the governor, the most powerful, state official in new york, he can't do that unless you got a good case. it's the classic public corruption rule if you go after the king you have to kill him. i don't know if he's got that kind of evidence now. what's fishy here is apparently folks made one statement to the prosecutor's office and after cuomo reached out to them they

changed their story, again, that's something that's got to be investigated. >> yeah. and so, brian, looking ahead, then, in terms of, you know, cuomo's in a tough spot because he's running for re-election right now, granted the polls have shonel itwn it's a pretty lopsided race but maybe the numbers change in wake of the news. these are questions raised on the campaign trail throughout the fall. how does he address them as a candidate for re-election while something like this is playing out legally? >> i think he's got to subscribe to the chris christie mentality. i'm doing my best to govern the people of my state. there's an old west texas expression, i'm a plow horse more concerned with trying to pull this load with the flies buzzing around my behind. you've elected me to do this job. i think i've earned your trust. don't let this one snapshot of the movie ultimately impact the electorate's perception. but, again, it is a page from the christie playbook of wanting to take that victory lap. these guys would have had the governor's back and it was,

again, wholly unnecessary for him to prime the pump. >> so we've got references in so far to "stripes" to flies buzzing behind people's backs. >> "sharknado." >> and that as well. and this is a story we'll be following closely. we'll both of you back to talk about it i'm sure. another governor across the hudson from him, too. anyway, paul is not going anywhere, though. thank brian weiss. paul has last-minute cramming to do. check the newspapers around uf, paul.

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...waiting... ...for a safe arrival. introducing the all-new subaru legacy. designed to help the driver in you... ...care for the passenger in them. the subaru legacy. it's not just a sedan. it's a subaru. live from studio 3a in rockefeller center usa, it's time for "up against the clock." today's contestants, she's a giant in the political world now. but her first job was working on the king kong ride at universal studios, please welcome kristen soltic anderson. since he once had to wear a buzz lightyear costume at a christmas party he soars against the competition now, it's basel jr. he gave future first lady

michelle obama a ride to his airport in a big green oldsmobile when they were both law students. say hello to paul butler. and now the host of "up against the clock" steve kornacki. >> ah, thank you, jim cutler. thank you, contestants, thank you to everybody out there tuning in at home for another action-packed edition of "up against the clock," our weekly current affairs quiz show. you know the rules by now i think but we'll run through them just in case. this is a fast-paced news and current events quiz. we play for three rounds each of them 100 seconds long. questions are worth 100 points in the first round and 200 points in the second and worth 300 in the third. contestants you can ring in at any time, but a warning you'll be penalized for the incorrect answers, it's a risk when you play "up against the clock." there are two special bonus questions scattered throughout here. we'll explain them when they come up. our contestants will be playing today not just for victory but a

chance to play in our tournament of champions at the end of the season. to qualify you'll first have to win today, as always i will implore our live studio audience, please, no outbursts. i will ask you to put your hands on your buzzers. are you ready to play? >> ready. >> ready. >> ready. >> definitely, paul's ready. let's reset that one. put 100 seconds on the clock. this is the 100-point round and it begins with this, an ad tieing gun abuse to every town for gun safety group -- >> mike bloomberg. >> the billionaire founder. 100 points for basel. the ohio legislature is considering a new specialty license plate with witness 2.0 pribt printed on it commemorating this -- basel? >> lebron james. >> going back to cleveland. 100 points. this texas headquartered oil

giant already the united states largest oil and gas company announced on thursday that it had grown profits by 28%. call time. you've probably filled up at an exxonmobil station before. 100-point toss-up question. this prominent republican announced friday that he'll resign -- paul? >> eric cantor. >> stop the clock he's resigning on august antd. exciting news, it was the video bonus trigger question. because you answered it correctly, you'll now have a chance to add an extra 100 points to your score. very simple. we've asked a celebrity to read a famous political quote and all you have to do is correctly identify who said that quote and we'll give you an extra 100 points. there is no penalty for guessing on this one so please take a look at the video monitor for this week's celebrity bonus question. >> i'm wink martindale and sense i know a thing or two about game

shows hopefully i have this week's "up against the clock" quote of note. let's go back to the 1964 presidential election. and it actually involves not one but two different quotes. one is in your guts you know he's nuts, that was the mischiefious twists the democrats put on the actual quote which in your heart you know he's right. the slogan of this republican presidential candidate. who is it? >> barry goldwater. >> correct. and wink martindale is proud of you on that one. an extra 100 points for paul butler. put the clock back up on the screen and get it running. it was revealed on wednesday night that this former president is currently writing -- bassle? >> george w. bush. >> is currently writing a biography about his father. correct. 100 points. toss-up question, sarah palin launched a new website -- kristen? >> colbert.

>> bought the sarahpalin channel. a line used by kevin spacesy's in "house of cards" was stolen from him an incoming house majority claimed this week? >> love that show, too. what's his name. >> kevin mccarthy. he took the job this week and promptly leveled that accusation. brings us to the end of round one. basel out in front about 300, paul, 200, kristen 200. tight game. this is anybody's to win. we'll raise the stakes as we move to the 200 point round. these questions are twice as hard and twice as valuable. 100 seconds up on the clock and let's get going with this. the national labor relations bord ruled this week -- >> mcdonald's. >> that mcdonald's right is technically a joint employer and could be held liable for issues. correct. 200-point question. bill and hillary clinton are kicking off their august summer vacation this weekend in what east coast beach destination?

kristen? >> martha's vineyard. >> incorrect. summer haven for the top 1%. >> hamptons? >> the hamptons, correct. the confidence behind the answer. big swing. 200-point question on thursday, hours after he was videotaped twisting the arm of a house gop staffer this alaska republican congressman apologized saying he never should have placed his hands on the employee. >> what's his name? >> i -- i saw the video. >> yeah. >> they all saw the video but -- >> i'm not willing to buzz in. already in the negative. >> don young of alaska. he apologized 200-point question. this week monica lewinsky -- >> "vanity fair"? >> "vanity fair." hired her to be an ongoing contributor. 200 points. back in positive territory there. disparaged by critics as the kill the gaze law this country's -- >> uganda.

>> uganuganda. ruled out. in his second trip to the state this summer, marco rubio will be in iowa to campaign for this republican senate -- >> joan years. >> form eer virginia governor b mcdonald and his wife are on trial for taking cash and gifts from a businessman trying to promote what kind of product? kristen? >> a supplement to help people -- some kind of vitamin supplement. >> we'll accept that a vitamin or diet or nutritional supplement. end of the round. up to 500. basel in the lead at 700 and paul at 400. one of the closest races wove had yet and it will be decided in the round of champions. the 300-point round. very tough questions. we dim the lights for dramatic effect. >> oh, wow. >> we put 100 seconds on the clock and we'll crown a new champion right now with this. creating 6,500 new jobs, panasonic announced this week

that it would build a new battery factory in the united states in a partnership with this california-based electric carmaker. >> kristen? >> tesla? >> correct. 300 points for kristen into the lead. more than 20 million gallons of water flooded -- kristen? >> ucla. >> correct. another 300 for kristen. running away! former illinois governor and ex-convict george ryan said this week that 14 years is an excessive sentence for this man his famous -- >> blagojevich. >> correct. george ryan said too long the sentence. when asked in a visit to capitol hill this week if he'd ever trade his life on the baseball diamond for the halls of congress, this philadelphia -- basel? >> oh. >> time. i'll complete the question. >> oh, man. >> three-time all-star said, quote, never say never. >> i'm going to hate this. unbelievable. >> time. the pitcher's name cole hamels.

300 point question. president obama lost support in hollywood this week when the fee mail star of "the dark knight" said i believed in him -- basel? >> anne hathaway? >> maggie gyllenhaal. mitch mcconnell and rand paul will make appearances this weekend at -- >> fancy farm? >> correct. 300 points. when the hill's 50 most beautiful people washington list was released it included this third term maryland democratic house member the first african-american woman to represent maryland in congress? >> donna edwards. >> is it enough? it is not enough. and kristen with a stirring third-round charge wins the game with 1500 points. congratulations. we have a new champion and bill wolf will tell you what you've won. >> as our champion your name will be engraved using thefine

est sharpie ink on the gold cup. and you'll receive a dvd copy of the classic -- and our jackpot round for today's grand prize. a $50 gift certificate to quick meal good cart midtown man tottto the manhattan, and operated by a former chef from the russian tearoom. i had it for lunch today. delicious. enjoy the meal and congratulations. back to you, steve. >> all right. a delicious as ever prize package. congratulations to you and you can sign the mug in a minute but i have your jackpot question here for the food gift certificate. it is this. eric cantor formally announced his resignation for congress. before he lost his republican primary in virginia in june, who was the last member of the republican leadership in the house to lose in a primary? >> ooh.

oh, i should know this. i don't know the answer. i'm losing out on the -- >> you will not get that gift certificate for the cart but his name guy vanderjack. the head of the nrcc. defeated in michigan in 1992. but congratulations, kristen, it still was an impressive victory and you are in contention for the tournament of champions. basel and paul, you'll get the home edition. thank you for playing today. we'll be right back to wrap up the show right after this. two medium cappuccinos! let's show 'em what a breakfast with whole grain fiber can do. one coffee with room, one large mocha latte, medium macchiato, a light hot chocolate hold the whip, two espressos. make one a double. she's full and focused. [ barista ] i have two cappuccinos, one coffee with room, one large mocha latte, a medium macchiato, a light hot chocolate hold the whip, and two espressos -- one with a double shot. heh, heh. that's not the coffee talkin'. [ female announcer ] start your day with kellogg's frosted mini wheats cereal. with whole wheat goodness on one side and a hint of sweetness on the other, it's a delicious way

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all right. there is more news coming in this hour about the efforts to evacuate the two americans with ebola back it to the u.s. for treatment. the humanitarian group they work for says the specially equipped jet needed to bring them back is in the air and on its way to atlanta right now. the and they have confirmed that dr. kent brantley is the patient onboard. the plane will have to return to

africa 0 to get the other aid worker in coming days. we'll have more updates and follow this on msnbc throughout the day. until then, though, i want to wrap up the show today with our panelists, with the contestants from "up against the clock" who just played. we want to find out what you didn't know at the start of the week that you know now. paul, we'll start with you. >> that eric garner's official cause of tet was homicide. that means when the police put him in that illegal chokehold and slammed him to the ground, that's what caused his death. steve, we know in new york a black man can be arrested for illegally selling cigarettes. the question is whether in new york a cop can be arrested for putting a black man in an illegal cohokehold and killing him. >> basel? >> positive news out of africa. a very unique summit next week, august 6, which is jamaicans' independence day, for my family there. the president is hosting this africa summit which will hopefully spur millions and

perhaps a couple billion dollars in investment, there's a new consume he class, a growing middle class. china has been there for a long time making significant investments. the. >> chrkristen? >> drama in poster land this big, groundbreaking 100,000 sample of american voters for the midterms but this week has led to drama. the national organization that sort of governs standards for polling has come out criticizing them for using nonprobability sampling to do their work. traditionally if you're into campaigns and you see the campaign polls, calling people on the phone, asking them who to vote for. cbs and "new york times" are trying a new methodology and it's leading to some interesting friction and debate in the polling world. >> some people heard the story this week, too, the news that came out of the study was last sunday saying they're raising the likelihood, 60%, based on that so it is interesting now to see db we don't just have polls anymore. we have the discussion what was the methodology and polls are getting things wrong. i to want to say congratulations to kristen as well.

we play this game show most weeks. this is the first time in the history of this game show that a contestant has gone to negative numbers at some point in the game and come back and won it. >> yes! >> you had fallen to neglect it tiff 100. there's hope for everybody out there. i think it's a metaphor for life in some way. we can all go into negative territory and come back. >> glad to be a beacon of hope. >> great lesson, kristen. i want to thank all of our guests today. coming up tomorrow one of the quirkiest, one of the funnest, one of the craziest traditions in american politics is the rowdy cheer and jeer fest that takes place this weekend and every year in ken ctucky at a place called fancy farm. we will be joined with the highlights. coming up next is melissa harris perry and more developments on the two americans who contracted ebola are being brought home to the united states. don't go anywhere. melissa is next and thanks for getting up.

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this morning my question, how do we respond to an outbreak that cannot be controlled? plus, republican implosion as the gop battles itself over a border bill. and the optics of war. but first, the medical examiner's report is in. it was homicide. good morning. i'm melissa harris-perry. we begin by going live to harlem in new york city and host and national action network president reverend al sharpton and the family of the late eric garner are addressing the media. the 43-year-old garner's death last month occurred after new york police department officers tried to arrest him for selling

untaxed cigarettes on staten island. cell phone video ignited a public outcry and friday new york city's chief medical examiner ruled garner's death was a homicide resulting from the compression of his neck, the chokehold, a compression of his chest applied by the officers. garner's asthma, obesity and hypertension were also said to be contributing factors in his death. live now to events under way in harlem. >> homicide. you all know what that means. now, so this is not about the family overreacting. this is not about civil rights activists polarizing. this is about an illegal chokehold that caused the death. let's start to deal with the facts. [ applause ] now, the fact that there was an