if mr. smi der truly wants to help indian country, then he could provide financial support. while at the same time, ending his callus use of this racist epithet. that is all. the ed show is up next. good evening. welcome to the ed show live from detroit lakes, minnesota. i'm ready to go. let's get to work. >> i'm pretty thirsty. >> that's right. >> don't drink the water. that is what toledo, ohio residents are being told. >> 400,000 recent departments have been told to turn off their taps. >> the problem is an algae bloom. >> it's reached critical proportions. >> it's fueled by fertilizer runoff from farms. >> they are capable of producing toxins that can harm people,

harm animals. >> every year, we face this problem and it's been getting worse. >> looks like we're actually driving through paint. it's so thick. >> that toxin can cause diarrhea, vomiting and liver damage. >> i'm concerned about doing the dishes, taking a shower. >> he ohio national guard alone provided some 50,000 gallons of water. >> my baby doesn't eat. >> it's a challenge for lake erie and the country. >> good to have you with us. thanks for watching. we start tonight with water in america. when this story first unfolded and i saw it i thoutd, gosh, wonder if the republicans have to drink this stuff, maybe they will have a change of attitude when it comes to climate change in america. this story that has unfolded in toledo, ohio and a ban on simple drinking water has caught the attention of a lot of people.

climate change crumbling infrastructure and lax environmental regulations are putting america's drinking water at risk. if changes rp s aren't made, to algae could threaten water all across this country. this week we've seen a massive al gri blogae bloom in like eri. tap water was banned for over 400,000 people for two days. a lot of people wondering is the water okay now? the consequences of drinking the contaminated water could be dire. the bacteria that is behind the blooms can cause skin rashes, burns, vomiting, and liver damage. to call this a natural disaster i believe would be a flat out lie. we know exactly what causes this blooms. a number of manmade factors contribute to the outbreak. the main culprit is fosterrous run over from farms using

fertilizers. meanwhile, the effects of climate change certainly play a role rising temperatures and increased moisture during the summer provide the perfect breeding ground for these bacteria. aging infrastructure can also be blamed. sludge from sewage processing plants providing food for the bacteria, leaky septic tanks and outdated storm water drains. they're also to blame. it's the perfect storm of events scientists have known about for a long time. let go back to 2011. lake erie saw its largest algae bloom in history. over 1900 square miles.' go bac. lake erie saw its largest algae bloom in history. over 1900 square miles.s go bac. lake erie saw its largest algae bloom in history. over 1900 square miles. scientists in ohio say this problem is getting worse. >> the problem started coming back about 2000, 2002.

it has accelerated. and the bloom we saw in 2011 was 2 1/2 times worse than any of the blooms that we saw back in the 1960s and '70s. >> phosphorus was banned and it curbed the blooms for a while, but they have resurfaced. this type of regulation is need order needed on a much larger scale. air rec erickson of red state was outraged, he wrote washington state has turned its recent departments in to a group of drug runners.outraged, he wr state has turned its recent departments in to a group of drug runners. as what point do we tell the politicians to go to hell, at what point do we tell them on get off the couch, march down to their state legislate chos and

them to a bloody bull p? if that's the approach, we won't make any change. uneducated anti-regulation science denying republicans care less about the environment. america needs a wakeup call. the epa in this country has said toxic algae blooms are a major environmental problem in all 50 states. this week beaches on lake champlain in vermont could be closed because of algae blooms. vermont officials say the warm weather is to blame. >> blooms are becoming most of prevalent. >> reporter: blue-green algae is in bloom in certain areas. >> the places where we see them regularly, are you likely to have them for for a longer

period of time. >> the algae blooms in lake champlain will not impact drinking water in the area according to officials. every year a similar problem happens in the gulf of mexico. nitrogen runoffs create a dead zone. this year's dead zone is over 5,000 square miles, rough lit size much connecticut. it's hard for sea life to survive because of low oxygen levels. mine while cmeanwhile californi experiencing a stree ining extr. the dark red areas are parts of the state suffering the highest category of drought. saturday governor brown declared it a state of emergency.

no one can deny severe weather has gotten worse because of climate change. action must be taken or we will be left behind as a country. other countries are on this, we are not. even china on monday announced beijing plans to ban all coal use by the year 2020. america needs to take similar action to protect our water, our environment and of course action can be taken right now to stop algae blooms, regulate phosphorous output, decrease greenhouse gas emissions and rebuild our infrastructure. but it will take a commitment. and i think that it's important for us to listen to every single word politicians say. this sound bite caught by attention yesterday. in ohio, governor john kasich. >> i wapts to make sure that i

would be comfortable with my family, my daughters, my wife drinking the water. and when i'm comfortable with that, thenn i think we're in a position where we can say to the people here in toledo that we feel good about it. and we can move forward. >> well, governor, i'm glad you feel good about. are you willing to call a press conference and drink some of that green stuff or just tell us about it? this is a serious situation and the bomb light is the experts are saying it is getting worse. there wasn't a bottle of water available in the city of toledo over the weekend. is that what we have to look forward to you because we have science denying republicans making policy? i want to know what you think. tonight's question. would you drink water out of lake erie? a for yes, b for no.

67622 or go to our blog. let me bring in dr. jeffrey roiter, director of the ohio c grant college program at ohio state university. doctor, good to have you with us. have these blooms been getting worse in the lake over a long period of time or is this something that has abruptly happened? >> no, would he have seen a gradual increase in the concentration ofs for fo s foph coming into the lake since the mid 1990s. the blooms returned in wow 2. so over the last dozen year, the blooms over the last six years have been worse than the early blooms. and the trend is in the wrong direction, yes. >> doctor, how can water be not good to drink and then 48 hours later it's okay? a lot of people responded to our story last night wondering how do we know it's okay to drink. >> well, they were doing lots

and lots of testing on that water. and the key thing you have on recognize that the water at the intake, the source water or the raw water coming into the plant clearly was not safe to drink. and i think every understands that. in the process of removing the toxins from the water, they got the level down to as far as they could get it and when they observed what level that was, that was above the level recommended by the world health organization and that's when the plant issued the do not drink ban. so it was close to being safe at that point. but it was above that level and so they had to shut down. >> okay. would regulating things like phosphorus have a positive impact?

>> i would argue that -- not argue. i think that the point is that if we wapts to linl nature this problem, we have to reduce the amount of phosphorus going into the lake. so regulations would help. s the question for society, are regulations the best way to bring down the phosphorus. >> do this bloom currently in the lake still threaten drinking water? is this something that they will be dealing with every day, every week, are or it just doesn't sound like this rob will subside. what about that? >> that's a very good point. a big worry for us right now is this is relatively early in the season and the bloom is likely to persist into october and maybe even the end of october.

and it's not likely to peak until september. so we really haven't seen the worst of it. it's likely that conditions in the lake that led up to this bloom will repeat themselves. and they will likely repeat themselves at different cities along the shoreline. and as you look around the country, they will repeat themselves in other areas, also. the key thing is i think we learned some things, hopefully we've learned some things about dealing with those large concentrations when they come into the plant so that while the conditions that led to the bloom will repeat, the actual exceedance of recommended levels of the toxin within the water will not repeat hopefully. >> all right. doctor, i appreciate your time tonight. thanks for coming back on the ed show. we want to focus in on this story no doubt. you're a great resource. let me bring in senator bernie

sanders of vermont. senator, when does it catch the attention of dozeniers? 400,000 people. i haven't heard anything like this in the past. we see the impacts of climate change damaging our nation every day. and yet the sense of urgency just isn't there. i want your take on what sun folding here and also what is going on in vermont. >> in-the point you make is well taken. this country faces a lot of crises. one of the areas that we have not focused on enough is the situation regarding water. and it's not just toledo and not just vermont. it is lakes all over the country that are being overrun by algae because of phosphorus run over. and what we have is a situation in states and in washington where the republican party basically says freedom is about

allowing polluters to destroy our air, our land and in this case our water. and i think that is pretty crazy. common sense suggests we have to do everything that we can to protect clean drinking water in this country. climate change and global warming is making a bad situation even worse. on top of all that, many of us recognize that we need plas sif i massive investments in infrastructure. many think it's roads and bridges and rail. yes, it is, but it is also water plants and waste water systems. the truth is that for a small system or a town or state government, building the kind of quality waste water plants that we need so that runoff getting into the water is clean is an expense suffer prive propositio view, the government has to be very aggressive in washington in

making sure we rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and that includes waste water plants and water systems. >> water treatment plans are not cheap. if you're going to allow this kind of runoff, you'll have to make some compensation for it on the other side which are extensive in their construction and price. so what is the answer here? >> we have to work with agriculture and here in vermont, we are working very hard with farmers to significantly reduce the amount of phosphorus getting in to our lake. i was mayor of burlington in the early '80s and we constructed one of the major environmental projects in the history of the

state of vermont and is that building a new sewer separation. china is the major carbon

polluter in the world and they are now poisoning hundreds of thousands of people dying unnecessarily in china. so this is an important step. but the pot line here to my mind is we as a planet have got to understand that climate change is real and causing devastating problems. we have to moving a agreing a gy to sustainable energies as wind, solar and geothermal. and when we do that, we help safe the plan either and we create a whole lot of jobs. so that has to be something way up there on the priority list. >> senator sanders, good to have you with us. we will continue to follow the story in toledo, ohio and around the country. remember to answer tonight's question. share your thoughts with us on twitter, follow us on twitter and facebook.

appreciate your comments. coming up, rand paul's dine and dash. the republican senator heads for the hills after being approached by two immigration activists. but first, americans are finally getting the treatment they need. we'll discuss the treatment of the charitable clinics. new set of wheels, then... wham! a minivan t-bones you. guess what: your insurance company will only give you 37-thousand to replace it. "depreciation" they claim. "how can my car depreciate before it's first oil change?" you ask. maybe the better question is, why do you have that insurance company? with liberty mutual new car replacement, we'll replace the full value of your car. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. we (cha-ching!) (cha-ching!) many empt(cha-ching!) it felt like we were flushing money away. mom! that's why we switched to charmin ultra mega roll. it's charmin quality and long lasting. with more go's per roll,

it pays to use charmin ultra mega roll. charmin ultra mega roll is 75% more absorbent so you can use less with every go. plus it even lasts longer than the leading thousand sheet brand. for us, mega roll equals mega value. cha-ching! we all go. why not enjoy the go with charmin ultra mega roll?

this is the first power plant in the country to combine solar and natural gas at the same location. during the day, we generate as much electricity as we can using solar. at night and when it's cloudy, we use more natural gas. this ensures we can produce clean electricity whenever our customers need it. ♪ where the reward was that what if tnew car smelledit card

and the freedom of the open road? a card that gave you that "i'm 16 and just got my first car" feeling. presenting the buypower card from capital one. redeem earnings toward part or even all of a new chevrolet, buick, gmc or cadillac - with no limits. so every time you use it, you're not just shopping for goods. you're shopping for something great. learn more at buypowercard.com time for trenders. keep this touch with us. you can get my podcast. access it when you want. social media nation has decided, we're reporting today's top trenders voted on by you.

>> number three. rope ride. >> incredible rescue 12 miles off the hawaiian island. >> scary real fast. >> dramatic rescue all caught on gopro cameras. >> stranded boaters capture their rescue on camera. >> we saw the helicopter about an hour after we made the phone call. >> hovering helicopters managed for grab the passengers from the sea. >> the best part about it was everybody was fine. everybody stayed calm. we were all in a really good mood the whole time. >> come in, the water is fine. >> the number two trenders. word play. >> 5,000 new words have been added to the official scrabble players dictionary. >> how can anyone make a wodrd out of theseletters? >> those aren't even words.

>> mix tape and beat box. >> plus triple word score plus 50 points for using all my letters. game's over. >> and today's top trender, critical care. >> we think this fight for health care is over, we're sorely mistaken. >> republican governor scott walker wants to side step obamacare. >> you turned down $119 million in federal money to expand medicaid. >> kind of tough to have health insurance and see a doctor if you can't pay for it. >> free clinics are still critical to closing the health care gap. >> millions of hard working uninsured people are making the difficult choice between going to the doctor or putting food on the table. >> we go to all cities to show that there a problem for the working poor. >> this saturday in madison, the national association of free cl clinics will host a clinic for those in need. >> get medicine and treatment that they need. >> we are trying to build a healthy america one patient at a time. >> joining us tonight, executive

director of the national association of free and charitable clinics. nice to have you back with us. do you fantastic work for a lot of americans. but i think some people are wondering why is there still such a need for clinics such as the one that you're associated with and work with? now that obama care has gone into effect, what is the atmosphere right now? >> here is the one most biggest common misconception we're fighting is that people think that the affordable care act was universal solution. you and i both know the universal solution would have been medicaid for all. or medicare for all. but really what happened was the affordable care act is just a first step. it is not a complete solution. in wisconsin, there are 222,000 people without access to health care. and one of the reasons we're here and one of the reasons 1200 clinics across the united states of america still do the work that we do every day is because

we believe that everyone deserves access to health care. and we're not going it go away quietly. we're not going to bury our head in the sand. we won't say just a low percentage of uninsured is good enough. >> so what has changed for your organization since the affordable care act went into effect? >> as of right now, i'll be honest with you, out of the 1200 clintonic i clinics, three have closed their doors. that's it. another 20 opened their doors. at this point in time, it may be too early to say, but we have not seen a dramatic decrease because every is not covered as of yet. there is so much work that we still need to do. that is why we will continue to do these clinics and we know supporters will join us to make a statement to say access to health care is important to everyone. it's not just a political statement. it's what we all deserve. >> your clinic this week in

madison, i would imagine a lot of the folks vice president sha doctor in a long time, but gifrp the governor's refusal to go ahead with obamacare, what has that done to the state? >> we have 53 clinics in the state and they are continuously seeing people every single day. they're turning people away. we have people calling us and looking for an appointment. they don't understand what badger care means. they have insurance but they can't afford their medication or many people just don't go for the doctor because they can't afford it. and that's why we're here. and that's why we're making this statement. we're giving care, but we're also saying that will is so much for us to do. and we are not going to turn our backs on the people who need help. >> okay. how can people get more information about this weekend's clinic in madison? >> i really hope that everyone decides to come and volunteer with us. but more importantly, if you're

a patient or you're a person who needs some help, you go to our website and we'll be happy to connect you with a doctor or sign you up for a volunteer shift with us. >> all right. it is great to have you with us again. good to see you, nicole. you're doing fabulous work. i've seen firsthand you've changed the lives of a lot of people and your volunteers do fabulous work. volunteerism is what it's all about. i hope the people in madison who have health care take a little time out of their day to come help out. great to have you with us. coming up, senator rand paul left his buddy steve king high and dry when approached about immigration activists. what happened? plus voting rights are being challenged write republicans in wisconsin and ohio. senator nina turner joins me to discuss that.

[ female announcer ] we help make secure financial tomorrows a reality

for over 19 million people. [ mom ] with life insurance, we're not just insuring our lives... we're helping protect his. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. transamerica.

transform tomorrow. then boom... what happened? stress, fun, bad habits kids, now what? let's build a new, smarter bed using the dualair chambers to sense your movement, heartbeat, breathing. introducing the sleep number bed with sleepiqtm technology. it tracks your sleep and tells you how to adjust for a good, better and an awesome night. the difference? try adjusting up or down. you'll know cuz sleep iq™ tells you. only at a sleep number store, mattresses with sleepiq start at just $999.98. know better sleep with sleep number. weit's not justt we'd be fabuilding 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.' the fact that iowa is leading the way in wind energy, i'm so proud, like, it's just amazing.

welcome back. appreciate all the questions. love hearing from our viewers. our first question comes from blair. he wants to know are any of your good friends republicans? yeah, there's a few. we don't talk politics. it's kind of an unspoken rule. they don't want to talk politics with me. and i don't want to talk politics with them. i do have a few friends that will not change. but that's how they are and i still like them. but, yeah, we just don't talk politics. i have a few republican friends. our next question is from marilyn. what do you think the real reason is for such hatred toward our president by republicans? gosh, that would be a good question for glenn beck the way

he's talking as of late. republicans are about one thing and that is not only power, but absolute power. and they will run over and they will trash anybody anyway any how to get that power to run the country e. tthe way they want t. it's unfortunate when right now your voices won't matter. but they will in november. stick around. rapid response panel is next. this is your cnbc market wrap. stocks, dow slides 139, s&p falls 18 and nasdaq finishes with a loss of 31. shares of target sank more than 30%. disney reported profits that easily beat estimates. stock fiscal cli fluctuating stocks. and time warner down after fox withdrew its offer for the company.

te and i have a problem. i need to speak with your fraud resolution department. ugh, we don't have that. what should i tell him? just make that super annoying modem noise... (shuuuuuuuh....zzzzzzzz...de ee...dong...shuuuhh...) hello? not all credit report sites are equal. classic. experian.com members get personalized help plus fraud resolution support. join now at experian.com. with enrollment in experian credit tracker.

when folks think about wthey 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.

but parallel parking isn't one you do a lof them.ings great. you're either too far from the curb. or too close to other cars... it's just a matter of time until you rip some guy's bumper off. so, here are your choices: take the bus. or get liberty mutual insurance. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. see car insurance in a whole new light. call liberty mutual insurance.

with koelcome back. new video reveals what republican lawmakers do with their vacation. on monday senator rand paul and congressman steve king appeared at a funds raiser together. king waste in order time recycling irrelevant con receiver difference ta conservative talking point. >> what is the economic system of the united states? pre-enterprise capitalism. no secret to us, but a mystery to the white house. i'm not sure barack obama could pass the citizenship test. there are tricky questions like what is the economy of america.

that's a stumper. >> after the speech, it they had lunch together. things got dicey when two activists approached them. they introduced themselves as members of the dream action coalition. well, rand paul senator from kentucky took a bite of a sandwich, grabbed his beer and quickly wisked away from the table by an aide. congressman steve king stayed and had a confrontational interaction. >> you came from a lawless country. do not import lawlessness into america. >> i'm not. i'm here -- i'm a psychologist. i can help this country so much in my own community. but there b >> do you want to live in a country that respects the rule

of law? >> you may remember his infamous comment that some undocumented immigrants have, quote, cal cal the size of cantaloupes. now our rapid response panelists. great to have you with us. ej, this is or would have been a perfect opportunity for rand paul to meet someone who is an activist and organizing. this is the exact democratic that the republicans have a hard time with or have to win over. why did the senator walk away? is this an admission he doesn't have an answer? what do you think? >> i looked at that and i said i guess he's not a guy you want in a fight. it was like slip out the back jack as quickly as he possibly could. and i think he is walking this line rand paul is where he wants to be the inclusive guy, he wants to say republicans should bring in african-americans and

latinos and give them credit on the sentencing issue on fixing our crazy sentencing laws. on immigration, he's on the fence and all over the lot. and i think he didn't want to get with congressman king's views. but he doesn't really want to alienate his right wing. i think it will take time for him on figure out exactly what he does want to say about immigration for his coming presidential campaign which after all is why he was in iowa. >> a critical look at this videotape, look at the guy on the far right nod his head saying to the senator let's get out of here. right there. he said let's go. i mean, to me we don't want to mess with this. what do you think? >> he hasn't announced candidacy yet, but it's clear rand paul is

running. this conversation speaks to the essential dilemma the gop faces with our latino brothers and sisters. they can't win elections nationally without gop voters, but they can't win regionally without latino haters. and so this is a fine line they have to walk. you need 60% of the latino vote to get the white house, but to many congressman and senators, helping them doesn't help them win their regional races at all. this is why they forget very easily that ronald reagan is the one who actually gave amnesty to undocumented workers and president obama is considerably to the right of president reagan on this issue. >> ej, is steve king the congressman showing the strategy to attack just who they consider to be the problem? andthe advocates. you droew the line right there and wants to get rid of the

program. this is the republican party you're looking at right here. >> and i was also struck steve king said could barack obama pass the citizen ship test. they cannot let go of this citizenship birther kind of issue. but i think that steve king is way out to the right. and the republican party is following him on the dreamers. and the fact is if you look at what americans think, overwhelmly they are on the side of the dreamers. they say they were brought into the country by the parents. they will be productive citizens. why should we kick them out. so if republicans make steve king their role model and guide, ne they will suffer among all americans. >> what is interesting about this event, rand paul has been pushing the gop to reach out to

minority voters. is it going to be a tough sell? is he not really committed to doing this? sounds good, but when the rubber meets the road, he's not a player. >> you saw what happened to marco rubio here. a year ago, marrow could you be i don't w rue yoe was promoting a pathway to citizen ship. it was actually rather dra cok n draconian fines for people who had been here for decades. and marco rubio was running around talking about abortion and gay marriage now and seems to have republican airborne am meez kra abo am meez kra. so rand paul is in a tough spot. if he's afraid to debate a couple kids who are dreamers, what will he do on a stage against mike huckabee and chris

christ christie. >> it's harder to evade kids' questions. kids ask better questions than people are usually asked in debates. at least in my experience. >> absolutely. >> no doubt about that. they want real answers. she was asking a question about her life, about her situation. and where does this elected official stand on it. i think this really underscores where the republicans are and how they are at a real dilemma on how to deal with this. >> you you played the clip earlier of steve king making a racist remark about the president's citizenship. they're telling a lie about obama and capital liiscapitalis. if you look at the dow, job creation, he seems to understand kra capitalism pretty darn well. i'm tired of the lazy people taking jobs away from americans

and of course i'm talking about congressman steve king. >> tom cotton put out a tv ad attacking senator mark pryor. this border crisis issue is now front and center when these republicans go home. passing the house law and then blaming the president, ej, is that going to work? >> i don't think it will work. it will work in their base. but i think what you're seeing there is tom cotton hasn't caught on. he was supposed to be just knocking senator pryor out of there and pryor has done very well. so i think this is an effort to use immigration effort in a sort of faux populist way to try to get back in the race. and think you'll see the republicans do that a lot, but i'm not sure it's going to be persuasive to swing voters who are going it look at what the republicans did last week and say that sure didn't look very productive to me.

>> gentlemen, great to have you with us. appreciate your time tonight. coming up, republicans say americans face a new problem. not ebola or cry climate change, but the war on white people. what would happen... if energy could come from anything? or if power could go anywhere? or if light could seek out the dark? what would happen if that happens? anything.

in pretenders, mo brooks ducking cover. the alabama congressman says white people are under attack. brooks took issue with a diagnosis of the gop on fox news sunday. >> fastest growing voting bloc in the country thinks the republican party hates them. your party cannot be the party

of the future i don't understand november if you're seen as the part difference white people. >> mo brooks says the comments are evidence of president obama leading a race war. >> this is a part of the war on whites that's being launched by the democratic party. the way in which they are launching the war is by claiming that whites hate everybody else. it's part of the strategy that barack obama implemented in 2008, continued in 2012 where he divides us on race, sex, greed, envy, class warfare, those things. >> the republican party doesn't need to fight a war on whites. the republican party needs to fight to stay alive. mo brooks is living example, the living example of why the gop is doomed to fail advocating inclusion isn't a war on any race. it's allegedly the republicans' action plan. >> >> the rnc cannot and will not write off any demographic,

community, or region of this country. for too long our demographic inclusion efforts have been separate from our on the ground political activities. well, that's coming to an end. >> if mo brooks believes he can pass off ignorance as a battle cry, he can keep on pretending. and a third simply doesn't want to be here. ♪ until now... until right booking now. ♪ planet earth's number one accomodation site booking.com booking.yeah!

welcome back to "the ed show." finally tonight, republican governors have been doing everything in their power to restrict access to the polls.

now with three months to election day the obama administration isn't pulling punches. last wednesday the justice department sided with challengers of a republican-backed voting law in both wisconsin and ohio. attorney general eric holder said the two states' voting laws represent the latest misguided atestimonies to fix a system that isn't broken. holder claims it violates section two of the voting rights act by unfairly affecting the ability of thormt voters to cast a ball rot. in wisconsin, the justice department filed an amicus brief siding with the federal judge who struck down a wisconsin law that requires voters to show photo i.d. at the polls. in the state of ohio, just as officials filed a statement of interest and a challenge to an ohio law which eliminates the opportunity for same day registration and issues directives that limit early voting hours during evenings and weekends.

last week's supreme court decision to strike down a key section of the voting rights act basically, folks, opened up your right to vote. this isn't a partisan issue. this is about the state of our democracy which we have talked about a lot on "the ed show." this is an american issue. it's one we all need to pay attention to. the focus tonight on ohio. joining me is ohio state senator nina turner who is running for ohio secretary of state. it was one year ago today she announced she was going to get into this race. senator, good to have you with us. >> thank you. >> these moves that have been made by the justice department now to clarify won't have impact on ohio this november. but the timing of it certainly put it on the radar screen with a will the of voters. will it be effective in your opinion? >> i think so. we must continue to be vigilant. attorney general eric holder is dead on the money. the very strong letter he sent to governor scott walker, there

was one portion of the letter i think bears repeating when he said we will not hesitate to use all tools and legal authorities at our disposal to fight against d disenfranchisement and safe guard the rights of every eligible american to cast a ballot. in your opening, ed, you talked about this is an american crisis. whether it happened in ohio, wisconsin, mississippi or pennsylvania, it is happening to all of america. so the attorney general is dead on. this is a campaign issue. this will force the hand of john husted. what's the reaction. what is the opinion between you and your opponent. >> he filed with the attorney general mike dejuan that defending the legislature's pass in ohio where they have taken

away days which is why the lawsuit has been filed. he's already in court to fight to uphold the law that's very flawed, un-connell that will have an impact on people of color and elderly folks, people with disabilities, people who work two, three, four jobs. our democracy isn't good if people don't have access to the ballot box. ohioans deserve a chief elections officer that wants to expand and protect access to the ballot box, not limit it. >> do the citizens of ohio, the residents know what's going on here? do you hear a lot of this? is the media covering it locally? >> they are, ed. i have traveled every quadrant of the state. if people bring it up, i was talking to an elderly gentleman in jackson county this weekend. the most important race is the secretary of state race because of access to the ballot box. this is an elderly white

gentleman from jackson county. black, hispanic, asian. young and old. gay, straight. people are paying attention. they know there is a firm correlation between the bread box and the ballot box. >> how do republicans make the case that this is not discrimination? what have you heard? >> they claim they are trying to protect the the integrity of elections. they continue to fall back on the nonexistent voter fraud. a person has a greater chance of being struck by lightning than they do to impersonate somebody at the polling place. they need to focus more on the access expanding the right to vote and compete openly for the votes instead of what they are doing now, trying to cheat the syst system. >> state senator nina turner, i appreciate your time. all the best. we'll follow the story.

i'm ed schultz. "politics nation" with reverend al sharpton starts right now. good evening. thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, the gop's failure to relaunch. today republican congressman mo brooks is standing by his explosive claim that democrats and president obama are waging, quote, a war on whites. this morning despite outrage from the right and left and ridiculed on social media, congressman brooks refused to bow down. >> you have made a lot of news on the war on whites comment. >> yes. what i'm saying is the democrats have a political strategy where they try to appeal to the public based on skin color. >> the congressman didn't stop th