is it might well be that those with the bolder ideas are the ones that will attract people to the polls. >> john nichols and matt bennett, thank you gentlemen both. that is "all in" for this evening. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, chris. thanks, my friend. >> you bet. >> and thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. happy monday. had a great weekend. thanks for asking. it snowed all day long yesterday when i was home in western massachusetts. it never snows this early. my six-month-old puppy has never seen snow before. it terrified him. which was sad for him for a second but mostly it was just adorable. it was really cute. so i'm in a great mood. i'm also in a great mood because i just found out that i'm getting my first ever hillary clinton interview. never, ever, ever have i had a chance to interview hillary clinton. i'm about to. we'll have more on that in just a second. i'm also in a great mood because today's news required us to take a trip to the archive drawer marked herman cain. yeah. you think our presidential race

is weird right now? it is weird right now. but it has been weird before. and it was really weird in 2012 when for a considerable period of time herman cain was the front-runner for the republican presidential nomination. >> want to ask me who the president of ubekibekibeki stanstan i'm going to say i don't know. do you know? >> we have some amazing republican candidates for president this year but herman cain was truly amazing. and it was clear early on at the end of the first republican debate in 2012, so it was august of 2011, it was clear that early on that herman cain was going to be a different kind of guy. at that first debate all the republican candidates were invited to give their closing statements. and mr. cain used his closing statement to quote what he described as some of his favorite poetry. >> a poet once said life can be a challenge, life can seem impossible, but it's never easy when there's so much on the line.

>> a poet once -- the poet herman cain was quoting there at that first republican debate in the 2012 race, the poet he was quoting was the pokemon movie. that poetry he was quoting was part of the theme song to the pokemon movie. >> life can be a challenge. ♪ life can be a challenge >> life can seem impossible. ♪ life can seem impossible >> but it's never easy. ♪ but it's never easy >> when there's so much on the line. ♪ on the line >> by october -- that was august. by october herman cain was actually winning the race for the republican presidential nomination. starting about this time of year in that race, starting mid october and straight through about mid november. for basically a whole month herman cain was either in the lead for the republican presidential nomination or he was trading the lead with mitt

romney. by november 18th herman cain was so firmly ensconced as the front-runner for the republican nomination that he requested and got protection from the united states secret service. >> herman cain has become the first republican candidate to receive secret service protection. it is early in the process for a primary candidate to get a secret service detail. it's usually in response to an increase in verified threats. and in florida today cain talked about his new heavily armed traveling companions. >> we had private security for a while before we asked for secret service protection, but we wanted to move to that next level because of my ranking in the polls and the additional scrutiny that i have been getting. >> cain spoke in orlando, and already just behind the camera he was surrounded by secret service and local police. >> so that was november 18th, 2011.

herman cain in that presidential race, in the last presidential race, he was the first candidate to get protection of the secret service that year. interestingly, though, within two weeks of the secret service starting to protect him herman cain quit the race. he was out in early december. and while he was quitting, he again quoted the pokemon movie. >> let me leave you with this. and i believe these words came from the pokemon movie. the media pointed that out. i'm not sure who the original author is. so don't go writing an article about the poem. but it says a lot about where i am, where i am with my wife and my family, and where we are as a nation. life can be a challenge.

life can seem impossible. it's never easy when there's so much on the line. ♪ so many on the >> herman cain two weeks after becoming the first republican candidate to get secret service protection in the 2012 race, that was him dropping out of the race in early december. well, today news not quite yet confirmed but reported by multiple sources that not one but two republican candidates for president this year are about to get secret service protection. even earlier than herman cain did the last time around. the donald trump campaign and the ben carson campaign today both indicated and the homeland security department later confirmed today that they've been asked, those two campaigns have requested secret service

protection for each of those candidates. now, just asking for secret service protection doesn't mean you automatically get it. but apparently what happens now is that the homeland security secretary and a high-level congressional advisory committee which includes the top leadership of both houses of congress and both parties, apparently they will now make that decision as to whether or not donald trump and herman cain are going to get secret service protection. and as remarkable as that seems, it is not unprecedented for candidates like trump and carson to get this sort of thing. everybody remembers the decision to give barack obama very early secret service protection in 2008. but other leading candidates have had it early in the process as well including mr. 999, mr. pokemon theme song, including herman cain. and one of the ways that the republican establishment has tried to dismiss the profound weirdness of reality tv show star donald trump being their party's front-runner for the republican nomination, is by talking about candidates like 2012 -- like 2012 one-time front-runner herman cain, by talking about that 2012 race and

remembering all the people who cycled through the lead. basically, one of the ways that republicans have tried to dismiss how weird it is that donald trump is their front-runner is by saying listen, four years ago all sorts of people we barely remember were leading the race at one time or another. and it is true. i mean, this time four years ago it was herman cain in the lead. and he held that led for about a month in national polls. before cain it had been rick perry who held the lead for about 5 1/2 weeks in national polls, from mid-august to late september. after perry and cain it was newt gingrich who the lead from mid november to mid december and then gingrich had another flurry at the top of the polls in mid january. in february there was one blissful period of about two weeks when rick santorum was in the lead, when he was winning the republican nomination for president.

it's true. those oddball and also-ran candidates, they did trade the lead like a hot potato during the 2012 race, before the party ultimately settled on their eventual establishment nominee, mitt romney. but that sort of trading the lead among a bunch of different people, that is not what's happening this year in the republican party. donald trump is not herman cain. donald trump is not rick santorum. i mean, this year donald trump has held the lead for the republican nomination longer than all of those 2012 candidates i just mentioned combined. donald trump has held the lead in every national poll, every single one, dating back to almost the 4th of july, more than 30 straight national polls over a period of more than three months have donald trump holding the lead. donald trump has "sustained a lead for longer than there are days left before voting begins in iowa." that quote from msnbc contributor steve schmidt, who of course ran the john mccain-sarah palin campaign in

2008. steve is quoted making this observation in a new front-page freakout in the conservative "national review" magazine that's titled "the establishment thinks the unthinkable: donald trump could win the nomination." this is the lead of that piece. this is amazing. it started as whispers in hushed corners. could it ever happen? "and now just three months from the iowa caucuses members of the republican establishment are starting to give voice to an increasingly common belief that donald trump, once dismissed as a joke, a carnival barker, and a circus freak, might very well win the republican nomination." "long-time gop strategists who were expecting trump's act to wear thin a couple of months ago now worry that he cannot be stopped, or at least that he has a significant chance of winning the nomination." this is a conservative magazine, and they're quoting establishment republican figures. it's the same theme today at mcclatchy news service. "trump still up with just over 100 days to go till iowa." the subtitles on this one is "donald trump better organized than you thought in the battle for establishment votes, presumably non-2k07b8d trump

votes, the battle for establishment votes in iowa is "a mess." whether you think it's a good idea or bad idea the republican party might pick donald trump to be their presidential nominee the republican establishment in iowa and nationwide in general is turning. they are now starting to believe that the republican party is going to pick donald trump to be their presidential nominee. in the latest national poll on the republican race is out just tonight from nbc and the "wall street journal." it confirms the theme donald trump still solidly in the lead with 25% of the vote. the only person close to him is ben carson with 22% of the vote. then the next closest contender is marco rubio down in third place with 13%. jeb bush in tonight's nbc/"wall street journal" poll continues to languish in the single digits, which is mostly where he is confined now in national polling and in the early states. this new nbc/"wall street journal" poll out tonight has jeb bush in sixth place with

only 8% of the vote nationwide. jeb bush is currently spending all his time talking about his brother's decision to invade iraq. and why his brother didn't respond to the bin laden determined to strike in the united states memo that came out before the 9/11 attacks. whether or not you want jeb bush to do well in his presidential campaign, if those are the things jeb bush is talking about right now, you can be sure he is not doing well in his presidential campaign. those are not the sorts of things a jeb bush candidacy wants to dwell on. but donald trump has driven jeb bush absolutely to distraction by criticizing george w. bush's time as president. it's making the republican establishment crazy but donald trump is clearly enjoying it and he has doubled down and tripled down on it since he started that line of attack on friday simply by pointing out that george w. bush was the president when 9/11 happened, so when jeb bush says he kept us safe he must not mean 9/11. >> so the top of the republican

field is not just clear at this point. it's static. it's just dona's jrut donald tr carson, and it has been for quite some time now. this is not 2012. this is a whole different thing. and these guys are winning. here's something to watch, though, at the bottom of the republican field. the next republican debate is next week, right? next wednesday. this is the debate that's going to be hosted by cnbc. there's been all of these kerfuffles about the format and how long it's going to be, blah, blah, blah. the cnbc debate is going to be in boulder, colorado. in order to qualify to make it into that debate the republican candidates have to have a polling average of 2 1/2% in an average of these national polls. abc, nbc, cbs, fox, cnn, and bloomberg. and those polls have to be published between these dates, between september 17th and october 21st. well, the new nbc poll that came out tonight is one of those polls, one of those qualifying polls to get into the next debate. here's the thing, though. we don't know what polls are

going to come out in the next two days. but there really are only two more days. only polls that come out over the next two days from those major polling organizations will factor into the qualifying process. and right now with two days left there are two big name major candidates who really are on the cusp of not making it into the next republican debate, not making it onto the main debate stage. i mean, right now if you average the qualifying polls for the cnbc debate including tonight's new poll from nbc/"wall street journal," both chris christie and rand paul are at 2.86% remember, the cutoff is 2.5%. can again, we don't know how many polls are going to come out in the next two days before the qualifying period ends. any polls that come out from those major organizations will be factored into this average. but if chris christie and rand paul keep getting numbers like the numbers they got today, they keep getting 1% or 2% in the polls, they are both within a hair's breadth of not making it onto the stage for the next debate. so it's one thing to watch.

really, just for the next few days. for national polls that come out tomorrow and wednesday. if rand paul or chris christie come in at 2% or 1% or worse in any polls that come out tomorrow and tuesday, bee-boo, bee-boo, that is an emergency for those campaigns. somebody's also apparently pulling the fire alarm in the bottom tier of the democratic race for president. jim webb's campaign just announced tonight that he's going to be holding a press conference tomorrow. it's going to happen 1:00 eastern at the national press club. and at this press conference jim webb may announce that he is dropping out of the democratic race for president. perhaps in order to mount an independent run for president. the subject line on the press release they e-mailed out today was "jim webb to consider independent run." in the democratic race jim webb is not doing great overall. he's at 1% in two democratic national polls that came out today, one from cnn and one from

monmouth. 1% isn't that bad this year. at 1% nationwide jim webb is beating both lincoln chafee and martin o'malley, both of whom are polling at zero nationwide in those two polls. one new hampshire poll that came out on friday had jim webb at 3% in new hampshire. and that's gangbusters for this year. if jim webb were a republican, 3% would put him ahead of george pataki, bobby jindal, rick santorum, mike huckabee, lindsey graham, and rand paul in that state. unluckily for him, jim webb is not running as a republican. as of today he's running as a democrat. that may be over as of tomorrow. we'll see. again, 1:00 at the national press club. in new hampshire i should tell you that bernie sanders and hillary clinton appear to now be trading the lead in that state. secretary clinton was ahead of bernie sanders in that new hampshire poll that was released on friday.

but in a "boston herald"/franklin pierce poll that came out today bernie sanders is back in the lead in new hampshire. hillary clinton continues to maintain a commanding lead nationwide in every poll. but bernie sanders has been ahead of her in almost every poll recently in new hampshire. that said, this is likely to be a very big week for former secretary of state hillary clinton. on thursday of this week she's going to be -- honestly, she's going to be on tv all day long and probably into the night because thursday's the day she's going to give her sworn testimony to the super controversial benghazi committee led by the house republicans. that committee has felt like it has been imploding over the last couple of weeks, but they have got her for an indefinite period of testimony on thursday. and that's not closed-door testimony. that's going to be on tv. so that's going to be a very big deal on thursday. then on saturday hillary clinton just announced that she's going to be speaking at the jefferson jackson dinner in iowa. the jefferson jackson dinner, a lot of states do this. it's a big deal in iowa in election years.

it's particularly a big deal for hillary clinton historically speaking because it was barack obama's blockbuster speech at that same dinner in 2007 that's been repeatedly cited by the iowa press as a turning point and a breakthrough moment for his candidacy that year when he famously went on to win iowa. so hillary clinton's campaign announced today that she's going to be speechifying at that jefferson jackson dinner saturday night and she will also be accompanied by her husband, former president bill clinton, who does not generally do campaign events with her. him being there with her means they are pulling out all the stops. so thursday the benghazi committee. saturday that big deal speech in iowa. and in between those two days, on friday, she's going to be here. my first ever interview with former secretary of state hillary rodham clinton is going to happen right here on this show on friday. and my puppy had his first snowfall. you know, it's a pretty exciting day all around here. there's lots more to come tonight. please stay with us.

so on friday night we had a bit of a cliff-hanger story about one of the most controversial things being done anywhere in the country in a red state by a republican governor. started off as a controversy in that state. it's now starting to become a national controversy. we had a cliff-hanger about what was going to happen there on friday night. now we have a surprising resolution to that story. maybe. that story's next. stay with us.

so now we know what they talked about behind those closed doors. we reported on friday that the republican governor of alabama met in private last week with the democratic congresswoman

from alabama, who he had previously called impulsive and ill-informed. republican governor robert bentley put alabama in the national news three weeks ago when he shut down the place where you get a driver's license in alabama's blackest counties. in alabama you now have to show i.d. at the polls in order to vote. a valid driver's license is the most common form of i.d. after that law went into effect, then recently a few weeks ago in every single alabama county where at least 3/4 of the voters are african-american governor robert bentley closed down the place where you get a driver's license in that county. of the ten counties that went most strongly for barack obama in the last election the governor closed the dmv in eight of those ten counties. and when alabama congresswoman terry sewell called for a federal investigation, governor bentley lashed out and said that his decision had nothing to do with voting rights. he said congresswoman sewell was impulsive and ill-informed.

and that's how we left it as of friday night. but then it was about to get worse for the alabama governor because democratic presidential front-runner hillary clinton had a campaign swing through alabama this weekend. even before she got to alabama secretary clinton had already said governor bentley's decision was a "blast from the jim crow past." now she was coming to town, coming to alabama to deliver that message in person herself. well, here's how hillary clinton spent her saturday night in birmingham, alabama. watch this. >> this is wrong. 50 years after rosa parks sat and dr. martin luther king jr. marched and john lewis bled it is hard to believe that we are back having this same debate about whether or not every american gets a chance to vote and exercise his rights. [ cheers and applause ] this is a blast from the jim

crow past. and you know, we hear the same excuses we've always heard to justify laws that disproportionately affect people of color or for that matter low-income people, women, young people, seniors. whenever i hear somebody trying to justify what is so clearly unjustifiable, claiming that it has nothing to do with denying voting rights, i'm reminded of an old saying that i heard for the first time when i lived in arkansas. "you find a turtle on a fence post, it didn't get there by accident." all of these obstacles to voting didn't happen on their own. but for every republican governor working to roll back voting rights there are americans determined to keep marching forward.

i'm proud of everyone in alabama who leapt into action to confront this misguided decision to close driver's licenses offices. and you've got people all over this nation who are rooting for you and standing with you. and it's time for your governor and the legislature not only to listen to their constituents but listen to their conscience about what it means to be a leader in our country. >> hillary clinton speaking in alabama, birmingham, alabama this weekend. and with that kind of message on the way this weekend, with that kind of message telegraphed ahead of time by a hillary clinton campaign that was already making an issue of this voting rights situation, the closing of these dmvs in black counties in alabama, you could understand why alabama's governor, robert bentley, would like to stop being the guy who closed the dmvs in these majority african-american counties in alabama, right? i mean, if robert bentley put

that turtle on the fence post he's now looking for a way to get that turtle down off the fence. and so late friday night, after meeting privately with congresswoman terry sewell as we reported and on the eve of hillary clinton arriving in his state, governor robert bentley did announce change. and that's next.

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in a story we have been following for weeks now and about which we have had a ton of

feedback from you guys, from our viewers, alabama governor robert bentley has now announced that he will unclose the offices where you get driver's licenses, where you get the most common form of voter i.d. in alabama. the governor announcing late friday night that he is reopening the dmvs in alabama's most heavily black counties. but he is reopening them one day a month. which is pitiful. but it is progress, i guess. before this change announced late friday night all those dmv offices were all going to be closed all the time. now instead of them all being closed all the time they will all be hardly ever open. problem solved? so governor bentley hopes. we spoke to his office today. his office said that for the time being as far as the governor is concerned this settles the matter. joining us is john archibald of the "birmingham news." one of the first people to write

about the closing of the dmvs in alabama. thank you for being here. >> thank you. appreciate being on. >> in terms of the governor's announcement on friday, is that right, that these offices that were closed will all reopen but all of them will only be open one day a month? >> right. baby steps i suppose. a lot of these offices, particularly in the black belt region were only opened one day a week anyway. it's not quite as bad as it sounds. it's a little best a step and i'm sure he does hope it will go away. that remains to be seen. >> do you think that government bentley saw the backlash and national attention coming on this? he does seem like he was surprised by it. >> i don't think he saw it coming at all. and i don't think his intent -- i've come to believe that his intent was not to deny voter rights but it is a consequence nonetheless. and the fact that he did not see it coming is really sort of a problem i think of not really understanding where you are both

geographically and historically. and as was said already, this is the cradle of the voting rights movement in many ways, and many of the offices that had been shuttered are, you know, really in the shadow of selma. so i think not understanding that is a statement in and of itself. >> looking at this from the outside, one of the things that's obvious to see from the outside but its consequences aren't obvious is the unilateral political control in alabama by the republican party. especially when a governor seems to make a decision and then gets criticized for the decision and then tries to walk it back but there's friction about how to walk it back or whether to. you expect that to be interparty fighting but in this case it's all republicans fighting amongst themselves. are they particularly divided as a party right now?

is this the way they always are? >> they are much more divided than they've been ever before. the governor has not had a good few months, particularly within his own party. and there are many who have been resentful of his attempt to raise taxes in the first place, which would have allowed basic services to continue to function and would have -- none of this would have happened had we been able to do that. but because of that rift they don't see eye to eye and in many ways that's why we're in this situation. >> on this specific issue of the dmv offices and people's ability to get voter i.d.s do you think this matter is sort of done evolving as a policy issue? do you think there will be additional changes? will there still be pressure? >> i think there will still be pressure, yes. and i think it goes back to that fact that it's a general lack of understanding, not necessarily a we want to stop you to vote but a lack of understanding about what we had in one of the poorest regions of the nation. and i think that that -- you know, once that sort of thing gets rolling it is hard to stop. >> john archibald, columnist for

the "birmingham news." thank you for your reporting on this and thank you for writing about it in a way that when that national spotlight turned to alabama your clarity on this issue i think helped a lot of people understand not just what was happening but why it was so important. thanks for being so good at what you do. thanks for being here tonight. >> thank you, rachel. >> much more to come tonight including a best new thing in the world. stay with us. want to survive a crazy busy day? sfx: cell phone chimes start with a positive attitude... and positively radiant skin. aveeno® positively radiant moisturizer... with active naturals® soy. aveeno® naturally beautiful results®.

at roughly 9:05 p.m. on saturday night a 3-year-old boy on chicago's west side was shot and killed in his home. 3 years old. he was shot in the head with a .32-caliber smith & wesson revolver. the shooter was the boy's 6-year-old brother. >> new information about a 3-year-old boy who was shot and killed on the city's northwest side. we have just learned who may have pulled the trigger. >> heartbreaking story and a tragedy in so many ways for the family involved here. nbc 5's regina waldrop live at mount sinai with this new information. >> good morning, ladies. we just learned details, new details a short time ago that police have made an arrest in this case. they say michael santiago is charged with felony child endangerment for the death of that 3-year-old boy who died a short time after he was brought here to mount sinai hospital. police say michael santiago had stored a loaded gun on top of

the refrigerator with access to his young children. they say santiago's 6-year-old son somehow got a hold of that gun and shot his little brother in the head. >> father of these two boys, both the boy who was killed and the boy who was the shooter, the dad has now been charged with felony child endangerment. he had reportedly purchased the handgun on the street in chicago. he kept gun stowed on top of the family's fridge loaded and wrapped up in a pair of pajama pants. he had reportedly showed his 6-year-old son where the gun was, which is how the boy knew how to find it during a game of cops and robbers. in addition to losing his 3-year-old son the boy's father now faces up to ten years in prison if he's convicted. yesterday the judge lowered his bail from a million dollars to $75,000. the judge told the courtroom, "this is the ultimate tragedy. i'm sure the defendant didn't intend for it to happen but it happened. and it's what happens when people who shouldn't have guns have guns." the chicago story is the latest

in a series of almost unbelievably terrible shootings involving children this year. this summer another toddler in washington, d.c. was accidentally shot and killed by her 7-year-old brother during a game. earlier this month an 11-year-old was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of his 8-year-old neighbor, capital murder charge. the "washington post" reporting that this year alone there have been 43 instances in the united states in which a toddler, a 1-year-old, 2-year-old, or 3-year-old has found a gun and then used it to injury or kill either themselves or someone else. the toddler as the shooter. the nra of course likes to say the only thing that can stop gun violence is more guns. it's a good guy with a gun. it is very hard to see how that prescription would solve the problem of toddlers, 3-year-olds as shooters. but i'm sure the nra would find a way to make more guns the solution here too.

the gallup organization made waves a couple of weeks ago when they said they're going to stay out of horse race polling for the presidential race this year. at the same time gallup said while they're not going to do that kind of polling they are going to continue to do polling on issues and policies. and today gallup released a new poll on guns specifically. this was the top-line result. americans' desire for stricter gun laws up sharply. this new poll finds that since last year the percentage of americans in favor of stricter gun laws has risen eight points. 55% of americans now say they want stricter gun laws. 55% want stricter gun laws, and the proportion of americans who want less strict gun laws is only 11%. and that number is dropping. it was 13% a year ago. the last time support for stricter gun laws was above 50% was in 2013, right after the sandy hook shooting in newtown, connecticut. despite all that support then of

course congress wasn't able to pass any new federal gun restrictions. some states did begin to take it on at that time. after the sandy hook elementary school massacre connecticut and the state of new york both passed laws banning some large-capacity ammunition magazines and banning some kinds of semi-automatic assault rifles including the type of gun that was used at sandy hook. gun rights groups of course challenged those laws in court. but today a u.s. appeals court just one level below the supreme court, the second circuit u.s. court of appeals, today upheld the new york and connecticut post-sandy hook gun laws. gun groups are furious. they say they're going to take this all the way to the supreme court. but for now at least with this appeals court ruling it's a win for governor dan milloy and governor andrew cuomo and for the very idea that any gun reforms can ever be passed in this country even in the wake of something as shocking and

terrifying as sandy hook. now that idea's about to get another huge test from the other side of the country, from a state that has decided to go super aggressive on this issue because they think they may have finally figured out a way to get around the nra, to circumvent the nra and thereby get some real reform into law even though it will undoubtedly drive the nra nuts. it's a new strategy. it's a super aggressive one. if it works it will set a new gold standard for the rest of the country on this issue. and that story is the subject of "the interview," which is next.

you don't need no gun control. you know what you need? we need some bullet control. we need to control the bullets. that's right. i think all bullets should cost $5,000. $5,000 for a bullet. you know why? because if a bullet costs $5,000 there would be no more innocent bystanders. [ cheers and applause ] >> the great chris rock with his $5,000 bullet solution to gun violence. and no one has yet run for statewide office on that platform.

but the only nationally known lieutenant governor in the country, the former mayor of san francisco, california lieutenant governor gavin newsom, is running to succeed jerry brown as governor of california in 2018. and he has just proposed that california become the first state in the country to require a background check if you want to buy ammunition. i mean, right now there is of course the loophole-ridden law that says you need a background check to buy a gun, but there isn't one that says you need a background check to buy the bullets that the gun shoots. could california be the first to change that? the answer may be in how gavin newsom wants to try to approach passing this new law, which is that he wants it to be on the ballot directly. he wants to basically bypass the legislature and instead have california voters decide on the ammunition background checks issue and a raft of other gun reforms directly. by direct democracy. by a vote next november.

when the public wants gun reforms and the nra stops them at almost every legislature across the country and of course in congress, is a direct vote by the people the only way to get reforms passed? has gavin newsom figured it out? joining us now for "the interview" is gavin newsom, lieutenant governor of california and a democratic candidate for governor in 2018. nice to see you. >> great to be here. thank you. >> is it bad for me to say you're the only nationally recognizable lieutenant governor in the country? is that a good thing or a bad thing to -- >> i know. we were talking. we are the butt of our own jokes. lieutenant governors. what do they do exactly, we ask. >> well, you're making noise with this. and i don't think it's just about your candidacy for governor a few years down the road. what would your law do if it passes? >> you made the point. we have direct democracy in california. sometimes it runs amok, but sometimes it's empowering. right now we know the nra, their home court is legislative bodies. certainly in congress but legislative branches even in democratic states like california. there are a series of things we've tried to do legislatively that have either been watered down or rejected because of intimidation and the tactics the nra are specialists at.

the opportunity now is to go direct to the voters, that overwhelmingly support common sense backgrounds and empower the voters. they won't be intimidated as politicians are intimidated by the nra. that's what we're counting on next year. >> this won't be an easy fight. as you say, california has direct democracy, which sometimes has insane results. >> yes. >> but it does mean we know what the process looks like. you have to get hundreds of thousands of signatures. you've got to raise millions of dollars. it's hard to do on even anodyne issues. in case you're going to have the nra and every gun activist group in the country against you. why do you think it will work? >> because people support background checks. it makes no sense, does it? you have background checks on guns. and california actually has a very comprehensive background check system that's been in place close to a quarter of a century, but not on ammunition. the most deadly part of a gun is the ammunition. and the reality is you can buy ammunition at the laundromat. you can buy it at the grocery

store. there's no licensing requirements. so all we'll do is submit the ammunition to the same background check that currently exists for guns. we think it's common sense. of course the nra thinks it's confiscatory. they think it's an salt on the second amendment. that's nonsense. i think the voters are going to subscribe to our point of view and no longer their point of view. >> one thing i think is interesting as a matter of political science but also as a person who i feel deeply affected by the continuing problem with mass gun violence in this country. i'm a journalist but i'm also a citizen who -- it's very upsetting the way that we can't do anything about it. but because we can't do anything about it we have very little data about what works because there are very few states that have been able to get stuff done so we can see whether or not it has an impact on gun violence down the road. how did you decide what to put on this list? >> first of all, nothing offended me more than a presidential candidate, jeb bush, who said, well, stuff happens. so this whole idea we can't do anything, i reject that completely. we have agency. we're not bystanders. we can manifest the future.

we've got to step up and step in. so i'm not going to play the defeatist frame any longer. i'm frustrated with everybody else. but i'm not going to sit back and send out a press release with some pabulum with condolences to family members. that's not good enough. we have to do something. what you just teased before we sat down was so remarkable, so extraordinary. think about this. a year and a half ago i read that more preschoolers were gunned down than police officers in the line of duty. the numbers you just bore out were even more devastating than that. enough. and so we can do something about it. people have the ability to step in in a big way. we've got to give them the tools to do that and empower them by going directly to voters i'm confident we'll do that. the message is clear. submit the same requirements we do for guns for ammunition. lost and stolen guns should be reported.

magazines of 11 bullets or more should no longer be in individuals' possession. coordinate and collaborate more effectively with the federal data bases and deal with relinquishment of guns that are already in the hands of people that are convicted felons. there's tens of thousands of guns in california right now that are illegally in the hands of convicted felons, and we have no relinquishment procedure. there are very few states that have been able to get stuff done so we can see whether or not it has an impact on gun violence down the road. how did you decide what to put on this list? >> nothing offended me more than the presidential candidate jeb bush who says, well, stuff happens. the whole idea that we can't do anything, i reject that completely. we can manifest the future. we've got to step up and step in. i'm frustrated with everybody else but i'm not going to sit back and send out a press release condolences to family members. that's not good enough. we've got the do something. what you just teased before we sat down was so remarkable, so extraordinary. think about this, a year and a half ago i read that more preschoolers were gunned down than police officers in the line of duty. the numbers you just bore out were more devastating than that. enough. so we can do something about it. people have the ability to step in in a big way.

we got to give them the tools to do that and empower them by going directly to voters i'm confident we will do that. submit the same requirements for gun, ammunition. lost and stolen guns should be reported. magazines of 11 bullets or more should no longer be in individual's possession. and deal with relinquishment of guns that are already in the hands of people that are convicted felons. there are tense of thousands of guns in cal california right now legally in the hands of convicted felons. we want to establish that. so five key provisions. we put them on the ballot in november 2016. the voters i believe will step up and step in in a big way. hopefully that will be resonate and we will see a dozen plus similar states begin to do this same things and we will turn this around where we feel empowered and we have the ability, i think, with the example to enliven people's senses in other states to say, we can take these guys on, we can win. we don't have to be victims in this debate any longer. people try all sorts of ways to get rid of them. [ driver panting ] if you're sick of paying more than your fair share... [ screams ] get snapshot from progressive, and see just how much your good driving could save you.

breaking news to report the canadian national elections. the canadian broadcaster corporation is projecting the liberal party will win tonight's elections in canada.

that means the liberal party will have officially unseeded canada's three-term conservative prime minister steven harper, for nearly a decade. polls are now closed throughout most of the country. they do still remain open in the western part of the country. according to the cbc the liberal party has won 30 seats. they are sweeping elections in the eastern part of the country. 170 seats total are needed to form a majority government. based on what's happened so far the cbc is projecting a liberal party win tonight in the canadian elections. if that is borne out the new prime minister of canada will the son of former prime minister pierre trudeau. it will be justin trudeau of the liberal party. best new thing in the world, you are going to love this one and you have not seen it anywhere else. this is amazing. all right. last month you might remember i sort of awkwardly fell in love with criagslist in des moines, iowa. right now on criagslist in des

best new thing in the world, you are going to love this one and you have not seen it anywhere else. this is amazing. all right. last month you might remember i sort of awkwardly fell in love with criagslist in des moines, iowa. right now on criagslist in des moines, iowa, you can find a family of baby bunnies, two boys and two girls. also a set of real armor complete with sword just in time for halloween. or october 20th, or whatever. also you can get this camouflaged recliner for when you want to take a nap but you want to take a nap in secret. i have fallen in love with criagslist in des moines, iowa if it all started with this beauty. with this big blue donald trump for president bus for sale on criagslist in des moines, iowa. underneath the big trump wrapping is a 17-year-old greyhound bus with literally a million miles on it. plus the big donald trump logo. and it went for sale, went up

for sale on criagslist des moines and somebody bought it and now we know about its new home. this is almost too good to be true, but it's true. the bus was bought by an artist. an artist who goes by the name tt.rutt. they plan on turning this thing into a rolling installation kind of. they're painting over the trump name and replacing it on one side with t. rutt, and on the other side they turned it into t. rump. they are also rae placing make america great again with a few different slogans, women trump trump and make fruit punch great again. let's just sigh their not great fans of donald trump or particularly that thing he said about fox news host megyn kelly after the first debate. this is how one of the artists helping with this project explained it to the des moines register.

>> everybody -- if they want, they have a little shot glass full of fruit punch. tag line is make fruit punch again rather than make america great again. a moment of this political bewilderment is throw red fruit punch on the letters and it will slowly start to stain them into different ways. >> t. rutt and his merry band, they plan to drive the former trump bus. now the t. rump/t. rutt bus, they plan to drive it to iowa to the art bassle show in miami in december. every night they plan to stand on top of the bus and drive a trump branded golf ball into the sunset. t. rutt's golf ball smashing, fruit punch smashing, prankster art road trip in a converted donald trump campaign bus they bought on criagslist in des moines? obviously today's best new thing

in the world by a million miles. that does it for us tonight. good evening, lawrence. hillary clinton prepares for the benghazi hearings while bond trump and ben carson jockey for the lead in the latest nbc news polls. new images from the daily mail of lamar odom at the brothel before he was rushed to a las vegas hospital. but this morning, he is back in california. fresh details on just how a high school kid hacked the e-mail of america's top spy master at the cia. and find out what would of the planet's biggest and most lucrative entities are up to this morning to reach even greater heights of success. "first look" starts right now. good morning, everybody, and thanks so much for waking up with us today. i'm betty nguyen. the drama of the 2016