nd dead. >> this farm, everything that's growing here, everything is being sent to supermarkets, all of it next year another year like this, it's all done. >> yes, and all these people will not be here. we will have a silent spring in the central valley, because there will be no workers working and chattings in the fields. >> we'll bring you that story and much more tomorrow as we continue our special week of all in america water wars right here live in california. that is "all in" this evening. "the rachel maddow show" starts now. one of california's finest products. good evening, rachel. >> chris, can i got to tell you, california water is kind of a bull's eye for the maddow family. this is all maddow family collective watching this week. we're so psyched that you're doing this. >> i'm microprogramming to the family. i'm happy to hear that. >> you have maxed out the demo. thanks to you at home for joining us. happy monday. so my low bloom, you know milo

bloom? my low bloom is 10 years old. he's a 10-year-old newspaper reporter. even though he's only 10 years old, he's sort of world weary, very wise. steve dallas is the amoral super squeezy lawyer who always wears sunglasses and is always smoking a cigarette. opus is a penguin. at one point he got a nose job and didn't look like a penguin anymore but he's a penguin. he's oliver wendell jones, a computer genius. kind of a hacker. in the bloom county comic strip that included all of these characters and that honestly got me through a good portion of my cynical adolescence in the 1980s, oliver wendell jones was a mad genius to me. you see him dressed up like a pirate here? when he was computer hacking, he would dress up as a pirate. here is one where he was trying to hack into nbc news. enter nbc news. beep, password incorrect. entry into the nbc news files

not approved. password again, then he enters dan rather is a turnip. beep, approved. he's like yeah, the dude is hot. gets into nbc news. there was also the time he tried to end the cold war by hacking into the russian newspaper pravda. he hatched this great scheme where he would hack into prove da and change the headline on the front page so it would say this gorbachev urges disarmament, total, unilateral. that was going to be the front page. milo bloom says to his friend, the hacker, are you sure about the translation now that you have that on the front page of prove da? are you sure about the translation? oliver says yeah, sure i'm sure. i'm pretty sure. and then the point of view changes to moscow, where some burly, fur-hatted russians are reading that day's copy of prove da. what attach actually translates

to is gosh chev sends tractors turn yips, buttocks. the word turnip is always funny. even when it is not paired with either tractor or turnips. bloom county was always funny. but bloom county has been gone for 25 years. until today. it just came back. today, the pulitzer prize winner creator of bloom count berkeley posted this picture of himself on facebook showing himself working, see what it says there? bloom county 2015, working on a new bloom county strip. he chose opus the penguin and the news strip shows opus waking up after a 24-year nap and ends with a profane joke i cannot show you on television about the exact physical nature of penguin puberty. in the comments that were put on his facebook post when he announced that he was back, he basically confesses on his facebook page that the reason

he's bringing bloom county back after 25 years is because he can't resist the fact that donald trump is running for president. somebody wrote to him on facebook saying how fitting it was to have bloom county back because donald trump was returning to the political spectrum and berkeley responded to that he couldn't deny that the chap you mentioned had something to do with it. so the character that portrayed donald trump in the heyday of bloom county back in the 1980s was the character bill the cat. bill the cat, his signature phrase was ack or -- the whole schtick about bill the cat he was sort of filthy. i thought maybe bill the cat was dead, buried and dug up. maybe he was part road kill or a hair ball or something. the conventional wisdom is that he was the anti-garfield. bill the cat was wonderful and

inherently repulsive and bill the cat played donald trump in book county in the 1980s, and now presumably he will again now that bloom county is back. donald trump is so good for political satire. he's not only brought us trump your cat, where you brush your cat to create a pile of your cat's own fur and you form that into a trump-like cat toupee and put that on your cat's head and put it on instagram. donald trump is so good for satire. he has not only brought us trump your cat, he's brought back bill the cat as donald trump, he's brought back freaking bloom county. donald trump is so good for american political satire, he's also brought david letterman out of retirement. david letterman just retired. stephen colbert hasn't even taken over for him yet at cbs. david letterman hasn't been seen in public doing stuff since he

retired in may. apparently, donald trump is enough to bring david letterman back. this weekend, david letterman popped up as a surprise guest at an event within steve martin and martin short and he explained why he was back. >> you're saying to yourselves, why is he here? i would just say one thing. this is not my way of bragging. and by the way, i am so happy to be out of the house. i retired, and -- [ crowd boos ] this is the first you're hearing of it? i have no regrets, none. [ applause ] i was happy i'll make actual friends. i was complacent, i was satisfied, i was content. then a couple of days ago donald

trump said he was running for president. [ laughter ] [ applause ] i have made the biggest mistake of my life, ladies and gentlemen. >> what is this, dave? [ applause ] >> well, every suit i own comes with a top ten list. [ applause ] >> a lot of people think that we would know everything by now about a man, donald trump. a high profile fellow somebody who doesn't shy away from every aspect of his life. but take a look at the list i have here tonight. interesting facts about donald trump. [ applause ] >> so david letterman has come out of retirement because he could not resist making fun of

donald trump. i have to interrupt here, because this was not a david letterman top ten list that he created for his network television show. this is something he did for a live event. much of it is too blue for me to play on television. but not all of it. >> number five, donald trump weighs 240 pounds, 250 with cologne. number four, trump would like all americans to know that thing on his head is free range. number two, donald trump has pissed off so many mexicans, he's starring in a new movie sbiled "no amigos." >> and the number one interesting fact about donald trump, thanks to donald trump, the republican mascot is also an ass. there you go. [ applause ] >> david letterman, still

retired apparently, but working again, despite himself, because donald trump is, in that one very specific way, very good for our country. he's good for the well-being and mental health of political satirists. just this weekend, mr. trump reportedly told a gathering of hollywood conservatives that the united states shouldn't have invaded iraq when george w. bush was president but not for the reason you're thinking. he says the u.s. should not have invaded iraq because the united states instead should have invaded mexico. the comment was reportedly not intended as a joke and greeted with rousing applause. that was friday night. mr. trump also then head a well attended rally in phoenix, arizona, the following morning on saturday. but at that event, he was again unintentionally funny. >> jeb bush, let's say he's president. aye yi yi. i always want to be loved, you know? like when i went on dates, if a woman dropped me, which happened

often, i would always like to say or at least in my own mind that i dropped her. does that make sense? so what happened -- makes me feel better. i don't even have to worry about obamacare because my people do better. my people got lucky. but i got lucky, too. they're great people. but isis will be in such trouble. [ applause ] isis, believe me, they will be in such trouble. i'm like a really smart person. by the way, just so you understand, even the press will say this crowd today blows away anything that bernie sanders has had. that i can tell you. [ applause ] >> whoo. feel the burn. there is something almost bill the cat level surreal, ack, about seeing donald trump taunting bernie sanders.

over his crowd size. but actually, truth be told, bernie's is bigger. >> the size of his crowds matters to donald trump. >> we have about 10,000 people. >> the republican presidential candidate bragged in las vegas about what awaited him at his next stop in phoenix. >> this crowd today blows anything that bernie sanders has had. that i can tell you. >> democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders was welcomed by 10,000 people in wisconsin. trump topped him with this facebook post from the phoenix convention center. "this is what 15,000 people looks like." it was a great crowd. the hall was packed. there's one problem, 15,000 is more than three times the hall's legal capacity of 4200. >> this is what 15,000 people looks like to me. i could be wrong from kpnx in fex. >> so donald trump continues to be at one level almost too

ridiculous to cover. medians. on the one hand it's in the realm of performance and pop culture and satire. on the other hand, republican voters do seem kind of serious about him. tlfl weren't 15,000 people who turned out in people to to see donald trump. but there were a few thousand people. that was bigger than any of the other republican candidates are getting in terms of crowd size. a new poll has donald trump polling in second place nationwide, only jeb bush ahead of him. that's the second straight national poll which republican voters have put him and jeb bush as number one and number two. and while this is not easy to -- amazing to watch and it is bringing about a new golden age of comedy apparently, it is going to be real interesting to see how the other candidates, the supposedly more serious candidates, have to position themselves against him if he keeps attracting this much attention and sucking up this much media attention and pulling big crowds and trumping them

all, forgive me, in the polls. today, presidential candidate number 15 entered the race, wisconsin governor scott walker. he gave a very good speech. no teleprompter, no notes. he had a little bit of a risk perry. it got a little hot in there but you know what, it's july. also, there was maybe a slightly dicey choice for one of the introductions which came from a fox news channel host. scott has been marrieded to tonette for 24 years. [ applause ] 24? 24 is bill clinton's favorite age. >> kind of a weird way to set up scott walker's presidential announcement today, but he did make his long awaited announcement. and you know what? on paper, if you run the numbers on scott walker, if you want to go money ball on scott walker,

he is a super formidable candidate. he's maybe the best all around package that the republicans have got in this giant field of theirs at least when you look at him on paper. even before announcing he was running today, he's been leading in iowa in 11 of the last 12 iowa polls. polling in first place in 11 of the last 12 iowa polls. he does not have one of those splitting debates that somebody like mike huckabee has or jeb bush has. they can please social conservatives or fiscal conservatives but not both. he pleases both camps. scott walker has shown a proven ability to win in swing state territory. wisconsin voted for president obama twice, but they elected scott walker twice. and they kept him in office when it looked like a recall effort might put him out. he was the first american governor to ever survive a recall effort. scott walker is a huge favorite of the koch brothers, as well. the koch brothers made clear they like a lot of the republican candidates, but it seems like the one they would pick is scott walker. they've supported him for so

long that at one point during the recall campaign somebody prank called the wisconsin state capitol, said that they were david koch to talk to scott walker. he had a long conversation with this guy who he thought was david koch but he really was not. that kind of thing is the other side of scott walker. he does really have all this stuff going for him on paper. he's not lost an election since 1990. he hasn't lost an election since like bloom county days. including that super tough recall. nobody thought he was going to win that recall. it was based on historical precedent. he looks great on paper and when he gets fired up, he can give a speech. he doesn't have some of the awkwardness, forgive me, that ted cruz or rick perry have, where they seem like they're acting out their speech. he seems like he's speaking his speech as himself. he's not rick santorum level. i continue to believe that rick santorum is the most natural communicator of all of them.

but scott walker's a pretty good talker. it seems like he's got it all going on really. but then he does take the crank call from the guy he thinks is david koch and the release of his state e-mails and we get to see hip writing a special han can message and he writes thank you again and mazeltov but what he actually writes is thank you again animal lo tov. there's a whole bunch of stuff like that including miscalculating how to handle a softball question about whether he feels at all daunted by the prospect of becoming commander in chief. >> is do the prospect of being commander in chief daupt you? because the world you require is going to require commitment of men and women abroad at some point. how do you think about that? >> it's an appropriate question.

as a kid i was in scouts. one of the things i was proudest of the being eagle scout is a few things is one of the things you are not in the past. it's something are you. every time i go to an eagle scout ceremony i speak to the young man who's gotten the rank. i'm here on behalf of all the other eagle scouts like me to tell you that because you've attained this rank you are not for the rest of your life responsible for living up to the call of an eagle scout. >> i want a commander in chief who do everything in their power to ensure that the threat from radical islamic terrorists do not wash up on american soil. we have someone who leads and ultimately will send a message not only that american soil but do not take this upon freedom loving people anywhere else in the world. we need a leader with that kind of confidence. if i can take on 100,000 protests are i can take on the rest of the world. >> tradition now to ask visiting

particularly senior republicans that come to london and it's not about cheese and it's not about foreign affairs. it's actually about evolution. are you comfortable with the idea of evolution? do you believe in it? do you accept it. >> i'm going to punt on that one, as well. >> really? >> that's a question a politician shouldn't be involved in one way or other. >> any british politician right or left wing would say yes, of course evolution's true. >> i said it's just one of those where i'm here to talk about trade, not to upon if i have indicate. >> room full of people laughing at him in england. that was the same trip to london that scott walker recently referenced on the campaign trail saying during that trip when he met with prime minister david cameron at ten downing street he says david cameron told him that president obama was a weak leader whose approach to the world wasn't working.

after he said that about david cameron, david cameron put out a response saying the prime minister did not say that and does not think that. can he be president? i am an eagle scout. not that i was an eagle scout, i am an eagle scout. does that answer the question? scott walker on paper makes sense as a presidential front-runner in terms of his political career. when this comes to actually running for president though he does keep doing some dumb stuff. under his leadership as governor, wisconsin has had a really bad time of it when it comes to jobs and the economy. the private sector job growth is his state is one of the worst in the nation. the wisconsin middle class is shrinking at a faster rate than any other state in the country. wisconsin has steadily fall in terms of job creation numbers when ranked against other states. in 2011, they were 35th, the next year, 36th. the next year after that they were 38th. last year i should say they held steady at 38th in the nation in terms of job growth.

under scott walker, wisconsin's economy has done terrible vis-a-vis the rest of the country, vis-a-vis of the rest of the nation. it's been terrible compared to states of a similar size and economic profile. if he does well, that economic record will be the thing that democrats focus on. his really bad economic record in wisconsin. the question, though, is whether or not we even get to that point. whether or not what we've seen about him campaigning so far is what we should expect whether these embarrassing things that keep happening and that he keeps saying during his campaign are happening because he really isn't ready for primetime national guy or whether these are just kinks that he was working out in the early days and some day soon when we look at scott walker, we'll see what the koch brothers see in him. joining us is dan bice, who has covered scott walker 22 years. was at his announcement today. it's nice to see you again. thanks very much for being here. >> nice to be here. >> do you see a difference

between presidential candidate scott walker and what he's been like as a politician in wisconsin? >> in some ways. but i thought today you very much got scott walker, the real scott walker. he's a friendly, affable, if a little bit sweaty guy, who has limited experience outside of wisconsin, who is selling a polarizing, domestic and foreign policy agenda. so there's some similarities. but at the same time, at his core, is he who he is. he's a little more polished than he used to be, and he's made fewer gaffes in the last two months or so. but he's still the same guy i've known for 22 years. >> you know, the reason i went through some of those gaffes that have happened on the campaign trail is not just for the absolute value of showing scott walker gaffes. i admit there is absolute value to that for any candidate. >> no, no, sure.

>> it's in part just to say, you know, the eagle scout answer to why do you think you're prepared to be president or why aren't you intimidated by the prospect, was an unforced error that could not have been a friendlier audience. similarly, he volunteered the analogy between protesters at the wisconsin state capitol and the islamic state in iraq and syria. because those things have happened in low pressure environments, those are the things that make me wonder what's going to happen in the high pressure environment of like the debates. >> he's been pretty cool under pressure in the past. i think lot of these things were unanticipated. he had never run for office outside of wisconsin. i think he's going to get better and better as you go along. he's been underestimated for the last two decades. to tell you the truth, when i first met him, i was underwhelmed by him. i didn't think he was going anywhere. all i knew is he liked to go in front of tv reporters and get

interviewed. the joke was the easiest way to get injured was to step in front of him and a news camera. he does have an agenda. it's a great deal of distrust of government at all levels, and a great deal of confidence in the private sector. that's what he wants to bring. he also wants to be the anti-obama, which is very clear today. he wants to set himself apart from obama on just about every issue there is. dan bice milwaukee journal sentinel columnist and every day a must read. thanks for being here. really appreciate it. >> sure. >> thank you. wisconsin is blessed with an excellent news corp actually in terms of -- you cover all these states around the country and i have to admit places that have great political analysts of their state politics, get better coverage in part because guys like dan bice help us understand what's going on there. great reporter. we'll be right back. stay with us.

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there's been a fierce debate raging online today about what to call the physical object that's going to be featured next on this show. i'm here tonight to officially end that debate with one word, a word that starts with the letter x and ends with ylophone. that's next. stay with us. ♪ to steady betty. to steady betty. fire it up! ♪ am i the only one with a meeting? i've got two. yeah we've gotta go. i gotta say it man this is a nice set-up. too soon. just kidding. nissan sentra. j.d. power's "highest ranked compact car in initial quality."

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the more you know, or in our knockoff cable version, it's, you know more now. thanks, nick. when news stories that -- i don't know how long we can keep this up. when news stories that previously ended on a cliffhanger, news stories that previously ended on a to be continued, when you finally find out what happened in those news stories then, you know more now. that includes stories like the troubled adventure of shell oil trying and trying and failing and failing to drill the arctic for oil. last week, we reported on the latest banana peel that shell slipped on in the arctic, which had to do with some serious damage to one of their ice breaker ships. literally a giant hole in the side of one of their critical ships. shell had been hoping to start drilling this month but last week, that ice breaker was discovered to have a three-foot long hole ripped into the side of it on its way to the drilling

site. oops. >> shell apparently has no idea how that hole got there. but shell is still trying to convince everyone that it's okay, they can handle it, they know what they're doing. that's a hard sell because of the disaster upon disaster upon disaster that was the character of the last time shell tried to drill the arctic for oil in 2012. this new incident last week renews those concerns whether or not shell knows what they're doing up there. no idea where that three-foot long hole came from. it's an ice breaker. it's not like it's a fragile little ship. it's not like they had a canoe that they -- any way. now that they've got a mystery three-foot long hole in one of their ships, what happens to their plan to drill the arctic? remember, small window of time to get this drilling started and get it done and they can't do it without their whole fleet of ships. in place and ready to go. the ship with the hole in it, has the giant capping stack on board that they have to use if the drill hole has a blowout up

there. they can't start drilling without that in place. that's been the cliffhanger here. would shell be able to repair so would shell be able to repair that ripped up ship right there on site in alaska? would it be an easy fix to get the whole operation bark on track in a matter of days, keeping open the prospect that shell might be drilling the arctic this month, or did this screw up the whole thing? would shell have to send the busted ship all the way back to the continental u.s. for repairs which, of course would be a much longer process that could potentially throw off all their drilling plans. well, the answer we learned today is, option b. a long trip all the way back to the west coast. shell announced today they are sending their ship with the giant hole in it all the way down to oregon to be repaired in oregon, which is essentially their worst case scenario. that ship will be out of service potentially for weeks. it's eight to ten days just to travel from alaska to oregon. it remains to be even how long

it the actual repairs will take while it's in oregon. by some estimates the ice breaker could be out of commission for three to four weeks. if that's the case, honestly, it's not going to happen. shell is insisting that this is no big deal, i'm sure they hope it's no big deal. but you know, the arctic has never been offshore drilled before. maybe there's a reason why. shell says everything is fine. but having to send their busted ice breaker all the way to the lower 48 in the middle of july is not something that was in the program. not in the program, this star crossed slip and fall apparently good forsaken program. ♪ oh. innovation there. we'll be right back. who taught you that? try alka-seltzer heartburn reliefchews. they work fast and don't taste chalky. mmm...amazing. i have heartburn. alka-seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. next. next.

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>> so scott walker join odd the race for president today and the democratic party welcomed him to the race by having hillary clinton try to stomp on his announcement by giving a major economic policy address on the same day that he got in. the republican party welcomed scott walker by him being overtaken in the polls by the one person republican candidates really don't want overtaking them in the polls right now. come on in, governor, the water is fine. that story is next. please stay with us.

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transgender troops would be fine with him. he said, i don't think anything but their suitability for service should preclude them from serving. that was his first week on the job. defense secretary said that in february. well, tonight, the pentagon has announced that it is moving toward opening the door for transgender troops, the same way the pentagon opened the door in the first term of the obama administration for gay troops. secretary of defense ash carter has ordered a six-month study to review the military's policies on transgender service members and to consider the effect that changing those policies would have. this is really interesting. while this study is going on, openly transgender people still will not be able to sign up for the military. but decisions on whether or not to kick transgender people out of the military will now get made by ash carter's undersecretary for personnel. it means those decisions about kicking somebody out of the military because they're

transgender, those things will not happen at the local command level nip, they will get made right at the top while this study is happening. as for the six-month review, defense secretary ash carter says the study group will part with the presumption that transgender people should be able to serve without adverse impact on military readiness unless and impediments are identified. this is how they got rid of don't ask, don't tell. before the military lifted the ban on gay troops they also collected and surveyed the evidence, and surveyed ranks. they did a very deep review. at the end of the review the country ended don't ask, don't tell and the sky didn't fall. more people who want to serve their country are now allowed to be their country. nobody knows how smoothly this new push from this new defense secretary is going to go on the issue, but is he moving ahead as

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plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. be a morning person again, with aleve pm. let's call it, at least for tonight, the who is allowed to compete cable news derived random number generator. that's the best thing i can come up with so far. this is why they don't give me naming rights for nouns. the fox news channel has set rules for the first republican presidential debate that will only allow ten of the 15, 16, 17, 18, who knows republican candidates to compete for the nomination for president by getting up on the debate stage. only ten. fox news says they will pick their ten on the basis of one criteria. they will average five of the most recent national polls and take the ten candidates who have the highest national poll averages. now, which polls will count? who knows, they're not saying.

why pick national polls and not say standing in the early voting states? who knows? they're not saying. what is the sound statistical difference between somebody polling at 3% and somebody polling at 4% which will likely be the kind of difference in this system that will determine who is alloweded to compete for the presidential nomination and who is not? there is precisely no statistically significant difference between 3% and 4%. in this kind of a lineup. but under the fox news rules, 3% probably means you're dead. and 4% probably means the fox news channel will allow you to compete for president of the united states of america. it's insane that they are doing it this way. but it's what they're doing. and so we've been trying to guess at what fox news might decide. we've been keeping a running tally of what we think fox news might count as a national poll. on friday, as we were trying to figure it out, by our

calculation, we looked to us like jeb bush was in first place in that average of the last five national polls. scott walker was in second place. now today on the day that scott walker has announced he's running for president, he's moved down in our rankings, he's no in third place because today a new national poll came out from monmouth university. it has jeb bush in first, but in second place it now has donald trump, which is nice for mr. trump, i'm sure. it also has the effect of vaulting donald trump ahead of scott walker in the five-poll average national standings which really is what fox news is using to determine who's allowed onto the debate stage in the republican presidential primary debate. now, as of today, with that new poll, these first seven seats basically look to me to be comfortably safe right now in terms of these getting into the debate. ben carson rand paul mike huckabee. those seven look like they've got a podium. they're in. everybody else all ten of these

other candidates have to battle it out for the three remaining spots on stage. ted cruz, chris christie, rick santorum, bobby jindal, george pataki and jim gilmore. ten candidates competing for three spots an every single one of those candidates is within the margin of error in national polling. at this point, it is an absolute crap shoot as to which one will get to compete for the presidential nomination by appearing in the debate. and there's really not much that these candidates can do to adjust their position. lindsey graham spent some e-mails like this to rally support. brad pitt would have a better shot of being on the debate is taken han candidates for president. brad pitt. he's also making sure to mention brad pitt when anybody talks to him in tern about the campaign. maybe the strategy will work, i don't know. >> the polling would suggest you're not cracking the top ten,

which means you would not be on the main stage for the fox debate on august 6th. >> right. >> if that stays the way it is, sir, will you participate in the forum that afternoon? >> well, i've got to make my mind up about that. but brad pitt would be in the debate in august. anybody with any celebrity would be in the debate. i think this is a dumb way to weed out the field. >> brad pitt would never weed out the field this way. brad a brad pitt. rick santorum has also been vocal for weeks about his dissatisfaction with the fox news plan. senator santorum was asked about it again today. he was asked about his strategy to try to get himself onto the debate an stage. >> i've been very, very vocal about this. i think to have the national media play such an important role early in a primary to determine who the top tier are and who they're not is

undermining the -- if i was an rnc chairman, it's undermining the process that was established by the rnc to let the state and voters actually make that call as opposed to the national media. and when they're particularly using a yardstick that historically has had no relationship to who the actual winner of any of these praerps are going are -- primaries are going to be to me it's a miscarriage of -- by the rnc to agree to something like that. >> rick santorum says it is a miscarriage. lindsey graham talking about brad pitt. ted cruz has his own new strategy. he e-mailed supporters asking them to sign something called a debate poll pledge. it's hard to tell exactly what he's asking for. but there's a picture of the podium. make sure had the liberal media

elite cannot deny our campaign a spot in the first presidential primary debate. sign your personalized debate poll pledge to help us show just how much momentum we truly have. the liberal media elite. fox news. [ laughter ] that's ted cruz's strategy there. pledge something. george pataki today told luke russert his plan to try to get into the debate. >> under the current rules of the debate, you do not qualify, donald trump does. is there a problem with that? >> i don't worry about the rules, luke. when i ran for governor of new york, there were 3 million more democrats. was that fair? >> the george pataki plan, don't worry about the rules. lindsey graham's plan brad pitt. how is this going to play out? how is this debate, this bizarre fight over who is going to make it into the debate and who doesn't, how is it changing the way the field looks right now and how they're interacting with each other. and with people who might conceivably tell a pollster that they like one of these guys in joining us now from the site of the scott walker campaign

announcement today in waukesha wisconsin is kasie hunt political correspondent. is the adrenaline still coursing through the room? >> the adrenaline is being quickly evaporated from the room before midnight when a lot of 4-h kids are going to show up and look for some space here. >> kasie, i am thinking broad picture about the field. my take on scott walker is that he is a perfect candidate on paper, much the way that rick perry was in 2012 and 2011. but when he talks, i feel like he's a black hole of charisma and he makes a lot of very funny gaffes. i have a feeling it doesn't feel that way in person, though. >> i think this speech, he showed a significant development over the course of the last six months. he's work the a lot on his delivery in front of a crowd. he's improved a lot. he had merprized this entire

speech. in fact one was his aides was telling me he's wearing a fit bit and taking thousands more steps per day for the last week or so as he's paced around trying to memorize this spech. that part of it was good. but he does have a hurdle to cross. the biggest question is whether or not scott walker can take the stage in wisconsin and actually step it up and fill those enormous shoes that are the commander in chief. and i think he took a solid step toward doing that today, but i think that there are a lot of republicans who i think that he has a lot to prove in that regard. >> one of the things we were speaking about with dan bice is the prospect of scott walker under pressure. obviously the way he made his bones as a national presence is by fighting democrats, by fighting unions by fighting liberal interest groups and the liberal media of all kinds. we've never really seen him duke it out with fellow republicans. is it at all clear to you what sort of role he's going to have, what kind of dynamic he'll be part of in terms of these

candidates having to kill each other just trying to get onto the debate is taken less than a month from now? >> that's the key question. if you look at that debate stage, which is probably going to be walker's first chance to do this in an aggressive way, if trends continue and we end up with donald trump on that debate stage there's going to be a lot of interaction of how candidates are interacting with him. and the opportunities to stand out might cop in those interactions. and i'm not sure for somebody like scott walker that's a great place to be, because obviously, trump has tapped in to this base republican voter anger. generally, and a lot of those voters are people that scott walker, for example, is going to need. the question is who in the field would be well positioned to take that argument on. to stand out in that kind of environment. now whether or not chris christie is even going to earn a spot on that stage, we don't know. but right now the dynamics of this race are such that it is so completely unpredictable and

really being pressured by forces i don't think any of us expected to be seeing. >> nbc political reporter kasie hunt. and i worry about you and all those forklifts. stay safe in there. >> thank you, rachel. much more news ahead tonight, stay with us.

okay. just one more thing about the scott walker presidential campaign launch. lots of attention to the scott walker campaign logo. that's not the scott walker campaign logo.

that's the logo for america's best contacts and eye glasses. come on you guys, put up the right one. ah, now that's scott walker's running for president logo. see, totally different. i would point out that once upon a time there was an all liberal talk radio network called air america radio. the flagship station when it launched are headquarters in the biggest station nationwide was wlrb in new york city and this was our logo which i know had nothing to do with america's best contacts and eye glasses. but if scott walker took it as an inspiration, well, you're welcome, governor, no charge. also. ready for walker.com? redirects to the website for planned parenthood right now. just saying, seriously, try it at home. ready for walker.com. try it. i am totally blind. and sometimes i struggle to sleep at night, and stay awake during the day. this is called non-24.

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it's just my impression, but when ted cruz announced his candidacy this year, it seemed to me like he was running for vice president. he's running for the chance to be somebody else's running mate. i still think that ted cruz is running to be the republican vice presidential nominee. he's not really running for president, but i also think jim webb might also be running to be the republican vice presidential presidential nominee. >> i believe we can bring a different tone to the democratic party. you're right. the party has moved way far to the left. and that's not my democratic party. >> like ted cruz, it's possible that jim webb might also be running to be the republican vice presidential nominee. >> think what a coup it would be. on fox news but rubio/web,

can't you see it? tomorrow we'll have martin o'malley, current democratic contender for president. we'd love to have all the presidential contenders on this show >> i think i followed that. so you say, you know, jim webb may be running for vice president, and others may be running for vice president. and then you say we have martin o'malley tomorrow. is the rachel maddow show saying that martin o'malley is running for vice president? >> more than that, i think jim webb wants to be a lieberman cross over, but i'm making it up entirely. >> that is the best who's running for vice president theory of the year. >> thank you very much. >> thanks, rachel. the man who ran mitt romney's presidential campaign four years ago is here with us tonight.