require presidential candidates to produce a birth certificate in order to get on the arizona ballot. so president obama, if he runs for re-election, will have to show one, a birth certificate for his re-election campaign out in arizona. is this constitutional? that's one the questions. and finally an odd one from nevada, a republican candidate for the senate's proposal to replace health care payments with a barter system, as in you know you bring your doctor a chicken or a sack of potatoes to pay for a treatment. i guess that's what they mean by repeal and replace. let's start with the big news out of florida. there could be a big problem for republicans down there. beth ryan hart is a political reporter for "the great miami herald." and jay, is the "herald's" investigative reporter. i want to start with the fact. i want to be joe friday, so let's start with jay. what is the hard news about the i.r.s. investigation and the justice investigation of mark rubio? what is there? >> well, pure and simple, the

republican party of florida for years has issued credit cards to its senior officials and to its senior politicians. and, of course, they're supposed to use these american express credit cards for political purposes only. it's a nonprofit organization. they collect millions from fat cat donors and they're supposed to use it to advance the party agenda and to advance candidates. well, as it turns out, records obtained by "the miami herald" have shown that they were using a lot of these credit cards for personal good times. you know chic hotels, jet travel, five-star restaurants. so the i.r.s. has basically been. >>ing around and they have opened cases against some of these senior officials, including a former house speaker out of north florida, but they're also opening an inquiry into marco rubio, the former house speaker, and now u.s. senate candidate and the

republican column against governor charlie crist, and they basically want to know whether or not you know he used or personally benefited from this credit card uzage? and he's not the only one in the crosshairs. >> okay. >> there are others, too. and that's where it stands. we're talking about millions of dollars here. >> well, let me go right down to beth, in terms of the impact statement here. politically, does this in any way, shake rubio's position as the clear front-runner that primary fight? >> i think it shakes a little bit, but to his credit, he's really established himself. he's so far ahead of the governor right now. and the governor's credibility with voters is really straightened at this point. they don't necessarily trust him the way they used to and so when he attacks rubio on his credit card spending, these voters that i've talked, to don't look at it the same way. >> are they going to blame -- are the voters on the conservative side of the republican party, which i assume is a big part of the party down there, are they going to blame

him for having dropped the dime on rubio? beth? >> oh absolutely. they -- they, you know, they -- they try to diminish the stories that we've written by saying, you know, they're all leaked by crist. i saw one blogger said something about you know the credit card statement's taken by crist without his permission, which you know, i think is pretty wild speculation. >> let me go over -- let me go over to jay on this whole question now. you and i had -- reporters -- i've been a reporters for years. bank expense as a print guy. they used to always tell us, just keep it clean. the pros who check these cleans will know what is clean. don't worry about the little details, just be clean about it. when you looked through these did you get a smell factor, wait a minute, there's something here. this guy's not using his card right. rubio? >> well, sure, in rubio's case, to be fair, it appears that he wasn't quite as big of a spender as, say, the party chairman of the executive director. >> jim greer.

>> and some these other politicians. >> yes, jim greer is the party chairman who's -- who's under scrutiny. and you know. >> okay, let me get to the quick here. when i was looking -- our producers were all going through this, the ap, looking at one that is particularly weird. if you go to somebody's event and your card gets side swiped or something and the guy who park, the car, this is the one that jumped out of us. do you think that was over the top for rubio or is that a standard kind of expense? if you go to an event, and your car gets side swiped when the guy parks your car, you shouldn't have to pay for that out your personal life. what do you think of that personal expense as a reporter. >> let me use your example, look i wouldn't have build it to "the miami miami herald." "the miami herald" issues credit cards at least in the olden days. and we have to account for it. >> right. >> so obviously if that had happened to my car in front a valet damaged i wouldn't have built it to the republican party or "the miami herald" in this

instance, this hypothetical instance. i obviously would have billed it on my own credit card. it's a personal expense. >> you think it reasons the level -- you know there's an i.r.s. investigation and also a justice investigation, a criminal investigation going on down there, is it fair just for tonight's broadcast to say that marco rubio is not under criminal investigation? as far as we know. >> i think it's fair to say it's not -- i think it's fair to say he's not under criminal investigation but i think what is fair to say is that they're looking to see whether the numbers are bigger than just that minivan, you know, accident that occurred in front of the valet. i think it's a situation where have to find a lot of examples of that to show that he was not reporting income that he should have, or that he was falsely -- falsely putting information on his income tax returns that he support have. and he will have to account for that. if it's in the hundreds of thousands of dollars it might be an issue. if it's in the tens of thousands of dollars and he can explain

it, it maybe more of a civiler. >> strikes me, beth, the political thing. we're not investigative reporters. we do enjoy their work, however. let me ask you, beth, about this question. this is the first time nationally that one the tea party -- well, pin-up boys or pen-up boys or whatever have gotten scrutiny in the press. the heat in the kitchen as harry truman would say if you don't like the heath, stay out kitchen. it's not one of the others. it's this guy. what about the impact? are they ready to take the heat? it looks like he knows what he's door, my firsthand look at the guy. look at what he put out. he put out a statement whacking other guy. regarding the way that charlie crist handpicked chairman spent money in the party. he's going after him. and the best way to deal with that as far as my spending is concerned you know he keeps going here. it was legitimate political purposes i spent the money. i paid for them directly to american express. i've not been contacted. i don't know anything about any potential inquiries but i

welcome the chance to set record straight once and for all. so he's dealing with in frontally but off. time whackings other guy, jim greer, who is charlie crist's guy. can he push in guilt over to crist, not only does crist get hit for dropping the dime on him but it looks like he's tainting himself in the act. >> well, you know, the -- marco rubio's credit card statements, you know we obtained them back in february and we've been writing about his spending through the credit card and also through some political committees he set up. you know for several months and the governor of course seized on that immediately and was running you know attack ads on television. they didn't appear to work. they -- you know he remained as far behind in the polls, if not got a little farther behind. and the governor took down the television ads. so as i was saying before you know the timing is not in the governor's favor, in that he -- his credibility is strained. and rubio has this reservoir of goodwill with, as you say, the tea party crowd.

>> okay. well, thank you very much. we'll be watching this whether or not he changes or not. beth, thank you for the investigative work. coming up, president obama says it is time to get tough on wall street be, but how tough is this guy going to get? is he going to be teddy roosevelt or what. but first who is winning the money race right now for november, democrats or republicans? the answer to that coming up during the commercial in just one minute. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. from new car replacement and guaranteed repairs to accident forgiveness, we do all we can to help you move on. liberty mutual auto insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

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welcome back to "hardball." president obama's gearing up today to press his case for wall

street cleanup. tomorrow he's going up to new york, and today about 1:30 he told cnbc's chief washington correspondent, john harwood that wall street's wild gambles have to come to an end. john harwood joins us now, along with savannah gathry who is a white house correspondent for nbc. john, you asked the president if wall street has done enough to police itself in the wake of the crash. let's listen. you give me your sense of it afterwards. here's the president. >> when you spoke in new york a few months ago to a lot of those wall street executives, you urged them -- even in the absence of a law -- to take to heart the need to change the way they do business. >> right. >> have they done that? >> not as much as i would like. i mean, look, i think that you don't want to paint with too broad a brush. each financial institution is different. i do think that there is a sense of now that the crisis is over, let's go back to business as usual. >> john, do you have a sense that he's more reflective, a little more nuanced in talking

to you than he's been in some these more barn-burning statements that he's made on the air? >> reporter: i do, chris, and i think that's because he senses that a deal is beginning to come together between democrats and republicans. i'd talked to a top staff or the banking committee this afternoon who said we're close to make a deal with the republicans, and i think the president dialled back the rhetoric a little bit. you didn't hear all of the stuff about, you know, fat cats and obscene bonuses and all of that sort of stuff. he was trying to present a rather cool and tempered demeanor i think. >> here's what the president said when you told him doesn't think wall street reform doesn't work as well for them. i love that. let's listen. >> that's not surprising. they've made out very well under a regime in which, when things were going well, they were making huge profits. and when things didn't go well and everything crashed, taxpayers were left footing the bill. i -- and i think the vast majority of americans, think it is unacceptable to have a

situation in which tails you in and, heads i lose. and taxpayers have been put in the position where they had to make a choice a couple of years ago, either we let the entire economy crash because of irresponsibility on wall street or alternatively, we end up having to pony up money. >> speak of ponying up money, savannah, as everybody who covers washington, you especially know that both parties feed at the trough of wall street when it comes to raising campaign money. is this president tiptoeing now, not just against some republicans aboard, but he knows by name a lot of people on wall street and he doesn't want them giving him a hard time when he comes back for money in the next campaign. >> oh, i don't know about that because i think it's where the rubber hits the road, right? he's still going forward with his financial regulate or reform. i think that he dodged the question whether he would give back or whether he was embarrassed about receiving that money from wall street. but what senior aides say here

to that argument, or to that suggestion is, look, the classic situation is, you get money from some corporate interest and then you go and do their bidding in government and here's an example of him doing precisely the opposite. but i thought the tone in john harwood's interview was notable and i think that we'll see something along those lines tomorrow when he makes this speech at cooper union in the shad over wall street. it's not going to be one of these barn burners. he's going to say, can't we all get along in one form or another, saying it's in your interest to get behind reform. don't fight us. join us. >> chris. >> go ahead, john. >> you remember a famous quote where some politicians said if you can't take their money and date their women -- i'm editing the quote. >> you are. >> you aren't worth a darn of a sfliegz yeah that's a california phrase and love it well. the question is, is he tough enough to keep asking for the money? and that's a good question. savannah, he will not stop asking for money, is he? >> oh, i don't know about that. i think that the dnc will continue with its lavish

fund-raising. ip don't think anything in this proposal that would put an end to that so i wouldn't expect that to go away anytime no. both parties feed at that trough as you know. >> i know that they do. take a look at what the president will say. here's what the president told you that there's no connection between his push for financial reform earn the timing of the s.e.c.'s -- no, this is responding to the charge from the republicans' side in the hill especially that he sort of went into cahoots with the s.e.c. and said let's score some political points in going after goldman sachs. let's listen to his response. >> i gave a speech about financial regulatory reform in 2007 before our current crisis, in 2008 before we fully knew what this crisis was going to be. we released financial reform as a package over a year ago. and so we're not johnny come lately to this thing. we've been pushing this hard throughout and the s.e.c. is an entirely independent agency that we have no day-to-day control over.

and they never discussed with us anything with respect to the charge that will be brought. so this notion that somehow there would be any attempt to interfere in an independent agency is completely false. >> okay, john harwood, help me out here. why would it look bad for any politician to say let's get tough with these bad guys to any regulatory agency? >> i guess i don't see where there's a downside to saying hey let's all be dick tracies here. let's all get these guys. >> reporter: well i think that you've got a point, chris. i think the question is was there any interference? and the president was very strong in saying, absolutely there was not. >> i see. >> reporter: and you know he's pushing back against this mistrust in the country, and one of the things that people might point to, we'll see how the s.e.c.'s case turns out but greg craig, is now going to represent goldman. and if you are of a mind, as a lot of people are on the right, the left, to distrust the bonus was government you may say hey, wait a minute, maybe that case was setup. >> yeah, let me ask savannah

about the politics. it seems like during health care we all know this that it was kind a murky situation in terms of the public reaction. it was, at best, a 50/50 proposition in terms of an immediate crowd appeal. it seems like this time the president is dancing on a floor that people want to see him on, which going after the wealthy people that may have misused their power on wall street. does he have a little lighter step right now, is he a happier guy going up to wall street than he was for fighting for health care? >> reporter: yeah, i think that they've recognized the populist feeling that's going on in the country right now is with them, anti-wall street. so they're also happy because they have a good economic story to tell. unemployment, there's not a lot of good news there. something affirmative they can do. they can say look we're crackening down on the banks, we're targeting on some the worst practice, we're shut downing the casino. so the president may use concilatory language but bottom line, they're saying, wall street, the party is over. we really want to tighten up this regulation and they need it

because -- a counternarrative that has come up in the last year. a lot of people started to conflate the act. the $70 billion act with the bailouts of wall street. so in a lot of ways the president was getting lumped with that kind of mr. bailout narrative. so this is a way for him to say, i'm fighting back against wall street. i'm trying to crackdown on them. and frank lie, that's why democrats were not freaking out when there were 41 republican senators signing on a letter in opposition last week. they felt like at the end of the day, republicans are going to get cold feet, a few will peel off and we're going to get our bill. >> chris -- >> you couldn't dream up a fight that the white house would want more than this fight right now. >> well, is the president going to -- you're telling me, though, he's going to go up there more carefully than i might have thought of two days ago. >> well, i think the -- the level of the rhetoric may vary according to how much resistance he's getting from the other side. when he gave that radio address over the weekend and really whacked mitch mcconnell and the republicans and the special interest lobbyists, that's when it looked like they were

standing up and saying, solid wall of opposition. now you see, mitch mcconnell saying, well, we're getting more serious about this now. and richard shelby says we're 85% close to a deal. and the democrats are also saying we're close. in that environment, i think the president is more confident and doesn't feel like he needs to hit them quite as hard. >> would he rather have about a handful of republicans with him and be a real teddy roosevelt or have 15, 20 with him and look like he's a little softer? john, your assessment? what do you think they'd like to see more 75 votes or maybe 63 and make it a little tougher? >> i think that the -- it depends on what bill they -- the larger group would sign onto. he knows he's got the whip hand in this debate right now. he's got the strongest position. so he can hold tough on some the controversial elements and they'll come along. he only got five for a tough bill, i think he would take that, but if the whole rest of the crew wants to sign on board and have a consensus bill, i think he'll say, i made them

take it. what republicans are going to say, by the the way, chris. we stood up against bailouts. we protected the fraip that. >> thank you very much, john harwood. thank you savannah guthrie at white house. the late-night comics go after goldman sachs and on "hardball," you'll hear all of the jokes. from the pollen that used to make me sneeze, my eyes water. with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i get allergy relief at liquid speed. that's the fast, powerful relief of zyrtec®, now in a liquid gel. zyrtec® is the fastest 24-hour allergy medicine. it works on my worst symptoms so i'm ready by the time we get to the first hole. new zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air®.

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back to "hardball." now for the side show. first of all it's not a side show when it's your money but let's listen. >> so now, we will attempt to figure out just what exactly is going on at goldman sachs, that the s.e.c. is now charging them with fraud and on our continuing wall street segment -- these [ bleep ] guys. >> so here are the goldman sachs' excuses. number nine --

you're saying "fraud" like it's a bad thing. number eight -- number four --, hey sport, how much to make these questions go away? number three, american needed a villain both republicans and democrats can hate. and the number one goldman sachs' excuse, it's obama's fault? >> why are government employees filing a civil suit against goldman sachs? that's just going to be embarrassing in a few years when they all go back to work at goldman sachs. >> regulate these derivative markets, who can disagree that. >> republicans aren't beating around the bush anymore. they say flat-out they will filibuster new rules for the nation's financial system. gop senators contend the legislation would lead to more bank bailouts. >> these [ bleep ] guys. >> sorry, there's nothing funny about people being out there screwing up the american economy. just ask anyone out dollar right now trying to get a job or trying to get a loan. next, bartering for health care.

that's a proposal being offerd by republicans sue lauden of nevada who is running to replace senator harry reid this selection. you know giving someone a bag of potatoes for getting your arm fixed. >> let's change the system and talk about what the possibilities are. i'm telling you that this works. you know before we all started having health care in the olden days our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor. they would say i will paint your house. they would do eye mean that's the old days of what people would do to get health care with their doctors. doctors are very sympathetic people. i'm not backing down from that system. >> bring a chicken to the doctor, paint their houses, is that what the republicans mean by repeal and replace? time now for the big number and it spells big trouble for senator jon ensign. remember ensign admitted last year to an affair with one of his staffer's wife, well his wife is currently under investigation as to whether he broke lobbying lawing to-that staffer get another job.

anyway, senator ensign hasn't yet said whether he's going to run for re-election in 2012 but his first quarter of fund-raising number this year gives you an idea of just how tough it would be. according to talking points memo, just one person, one, donated to ensign's re-election so poor, giving this senator a grand total of $50 in fund-raising money. the loan donor have actually explained his support, saying, "all men are dogs." that's the donor talking. $50 total donated to senator jon ensign by that guy from one person, who said he's a dog. tonight, not a very big number. up next arizona goes after illegal immigrants, and also after president obama's birth certificate. they still want another birth certificate.

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i'm brian shactman with your cnbc "market wrap." stocks wobbling to a mix finish a flood of corporate earnings today. the dow jones industrial's up about eight points but s&p 500 slipping 1.34 points. the nasdaq added 4 points to the plus side. starbucks posting better than expected and boosting its full-year outlook. shares moving higher in after-hours trading. but ebay shares selling off on earnings coming in flat to slightly better than expected. and. then there's boeing which finished at the to the dow. with shares soaring nearly 4% but it did lower its outlook. at&t shares dipping slightly despite topping forecast. the telecom giant add nearly 2 million subscribers but investors are worried that the market may be getting a little saturated. energy company transocean sliding nearly 2% after an explosion in one of its oil rigs off of the louisiana coast. that is it from cnbc, first in business world wide. now back to "hardball."

welcome back to "hardball." there's a big fight unfolding in the state of arizona over an immigration bill that would allow local law enforcement officials, police officers, to stop a person, they suspect, is an illegal immigrant. here's illinois congress louis gutierrez. louis gutierrez reacting to the bill yesterday in washington. let's listen. >> the governor of arizona should veto the bill and if she doesn't, the president of the united states, barack obama, should assert federal government's preeminent role in regulating and and in enforcing our immigration laws. the lunacy of rounding up people because they look a certain way are suspected of being in violation of immigration statutes can only lead to one thing -- violations of people's basic fundamental civil rights.

>> democratic congresswoman loretta sanchez from california sits on the homeland security committee. and brian bill bray of california. i want to get to this issue berthing or berthers because there's part of this legislation out there that are basically going to say, future presidential candidates, they've got a birt certificatings but start this general issue. congresswoman sanchez, what's wrong with the state trying to enforce the law, the federal government never seems around to getting around enforcing. they have half a million imlegal immigrants in arizona. the federal government has dropped the ball. why shouldn't the state of arizona pick it up and do the job? >> well, actually the federal government has put more resources. many of the law enforcement agencies in arizona are under 287-g but what we find is they're not very well trained about what the rights are of people. so the problem with the law like this is that, for example, i'm hispanic. so if i go to arizona, does that mean i have to carry a copy of my birth certificate? and an affidavit and 14 signatures of witnesses to say

that i'm an american citizen? how do you suspect someone looks like something? that is the problem with the law like that. >> well, what is the law -- what would be a way that we could avoid all this and stop illegal immigration? do you support the idea of a biometric i.d. card that's actually checkable or not have a checkable i.d. card? do you want a checkable i.d. card? >> well, i actually am one of those people that like the freedoms of being in the united states and one of the things that we have always argued for was that we wouldn't have a national i.d. card, but again i'm also a person who lives under an i.d. card here in the congress, i live under a driver's license that's under the biometric i.d. for the future for california. so i mean i'm already using that if i want to drive, i'm already using that if i want to come into the capitol. so personally i don't have a problem with it but there are a lot of conservatives who do. >> well, that's their problem. the fact is you and i have to get on airplanes and show an honest i.d. card and if it's not an honest i.d. card, it's fraud.

and if we go to the bank and try to get money out and if it's not us, it's fraud. if we fry to check into a hotel and use a phony name it's fraud. go the other congressman. what about arizona? why does states try to get into the business the federal government is into? which is protecting us from illegal immigration. >> well, i think the same reason they're involved in the drug war, too, chris, is that this is a community problem. it's not just a washington, d.c. concern or just a border problem. this is something across border. you can imagine how successful we'd number fighting the -- of drug dealers if we just said well, local government's not going to be involved, we will not allow the counties and cities involved, we'll do this all, just the federal government and you know it has to be a coordinated community effort across the board, and any kind of enforcement effort. this is the basis of community enforcements. >> yeah, okay. a problem, suppose you are a second generation mexican-american, from columbia or somewhere, and you have an hispanic look, you're do, complexion, whatever you, may have something about you that indicates you from that part of

the country or that part of the world originally, your parentings were. and a cop stops you and says, well you have a mustache, or something that makes me think that you're mexican-american or something and he starts bothering you. don't you think we'll have a problem here with cops bothering people just because they seem to be hispanic even though they're citizens or they have a green card? he chris, that's why we have -- we have the policies that there are things that you indicate that even go beyond the color of your skin, the hair, the looks of the fact of the way that you dress. my mother is an emigrant. i'm second generation on that. she speaks a little funny. but the fact is that the law enforcement is trained in this law, it specifically says you will have a pattern of activity or a pattern of indications that give you a justification to think there's reasonable doubt. not just the fact of somebody's ethenticity. something that the federal government does with local government right now. we have programs so that they are using these systems right now. the difference is the people of arizona are doing this across

the board rather than piecemeal in their state and that's why it's being implemented and it isn't that big of a leap and it shouldn't be. >> go ahead, congresswoman. >> that's just not true, in fact one of the sheriffs there in arizona is under fbi investigation because he hasn't followed the rules and his deputies have not followed the rules. they haven't gotten the type of training that we get -- give to our i.c.e. or our federal agencies -- agents that do this immigration issue. so there are quite a few, in fact, the border chairwoman for over four years, one of the things that i saw was, you know discussion after discussion from law enforcement officers about how this wasn't followed, about how people were being pulled over without, you know -- and the law, the language that could be signed into law by this arizona government says, you suspect them of being an illegal. what does that mean? you suspect them of being an illegal? >> chris, look, someone born and raised on the border i have seen

this my entire life. indkangzs between legal residents and those who can be identified as highly suspectable. >> like what? give me a nonethic. >> they will look at the kind of dress you wear. are there different types of attire. there are different type -- right down the shoes, right down to the clothes, but mostly by behavior. it's mostly behavior just as the law enforcement people here in washington, d.c. doesn't base on certain criminal activities. prompt are trained across the board. these groups should not be exempt as much as anybody else. >> here's john mccain, a new look. here he is on "bill o'reilly kwp" he has a different look right now. let's listen to john mccain. >> the state of arizona is acting and doing what they feel they need to do in light of the fact that the federal government is not fulfilling its fundamental responsibility to secure our borders. >> blah about the racial

profiling? you know that will happen it has to happen. >> i hope -- i would be very sorry that if some of that happens and i -- i regret it. >> okay, congresswoman, what do you think of john mccain, the new john mccain? >> well, i think -- he's obviously trying to win a primary where he's got a very conservative, you know, person who's very, very -- got some very strange ideas. i know i have served with that person here in the congress. i hope that john does beat him and then john comes back as a senator and gets back to the issue of -- of really being middle of the road here in helping us to push real and good immigration reform because that's what we need. we don't need to be profiling people. we don't need to be going after people. we don't need to have local agencies deciding to take people off of the street for whatever reason because they look like a suspect. we need good immigration reform here from the capitol. >> i love the way you give john mccain a ride. you figure he's just faking it so you don't mind. let's take a look, just so he

beats j.d. hayworth, that's all that you care. bill bill bray first, you're a republican. you have to have a birth certificate to get on the ballot next time. do you think this is adhominum. is this a bill of retainer as we used to say in the constitution classes. aimed at the president himself, barack obama? >> no, chris, actually this is arizona. this is really aimed at mccain, because mccain was -- there's been an issue with the fact that he wasn't born from the united states. now it's interesting the fact that he's qualified to be citizen -- a president. you don't have to be born in the united states but a lot of people look at that but because he was born in panama and the panama canal is not -- was not u.s. territory, it was u.s. area to be treated as if it's territory by treaty with panama, so mccain's actually went through a lot of same thing in arizona -- >> but they're doing it. >> you -- as raised by his presidency. >> but doing it now. john mccain is not running for president.

he doesn't have to be native born anymore. he's an american, obviously. the question is why are they aiming it at the president of the united states now? do you think it's personal? one more try. >> no. i think it's a way to avoid eye think all of us, chris, everyone elected into office should be showing that we are a citizen and that we are -- i thinks problem with in bill is that it should be universal to all elected officials, but i don't know if mccain is running again. remember, he's been running every election since i've -- i've been a child. so i'm not so sure you can say he's not running. >> well, i can't either but i tell you this, barack obama has shown his birth certificate to the world, he has shown documentation of his birth twice now from two different newspaper accounts which were only written with the authorities participating in those announcement. they weren't just somebody putting out christmas cards. announce wants of somebody being born. we have all of the records coming out of the -- he has the record. and the berthers are crazy and they keep raising this crazy

issue and now the assembly of arizona are joining the birther wagon. congresswoman sanchez and congressman bilbray. >> arlen specter's getting a little nasty. joe sestak will talk to us about the latest arlen ad against him. it says he was relieved of duty. we'll see what he thinks about that. but first during the commercial, coming up the district on columbia's never had a voting member of congress it will have one in now? the verdict's in at least for now. fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum ta tum tum tums under pressure. ♪ and pressure can cause anyone's deodorant to fail. ♪ introducing gillette odor shield antiperspirant. unlike regular deodorants, it targets and neutralizes odor at the source.

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we're back the democratic primary up here in philadelphia and pennsylvania pits the incumbent senator arlen specter who was a republican for 30 years and now a democrat and joe sestak who has always been a democrat. this week specter went negative, it wasn't a surprise but it's pretty tough stuff. here's the ad. >> joe sestak relieved of duty in the navy for creating a poor command clim participate joe sestak the worst attendance of any pennsylvania congressman. and here in the bottom of the entire congress. last year alone, sestak missed

127 votes. sestak says the missed votes weren't expert. he went campaigning instead. let's say no to no-show joe. >> i don't know why they find those creepy announcers but that's a pretty creepy ad. i have to congratulations you, sir, for keeping your senatacy during this race. going up against arlen specter and now you've got four weeks. this will come. he's done it to jim hoeffel. he doesn't just run against, he prosecutes you. he makes you the bad guy. you are evil at the end of these races. you must have known this was coming. what's your reaction? >> well, i'm going to find it hard to believe that the leaders of my democratic party aren't already on the phone to arlen specter. i mean remember what joe biden said. i support barack obama because he doesn't try to perfect the politicings of swift voting. he seeks to end them. and i think that everybody's pretty obvious that what arlen

specter has done is reverted to old republican-style politics but now he's in a democratic party. let me give you a quote. i so remember as barack obama as a candidate he said i love this country too much. to let him steal another election phony assertions, swift voting. you know, they did this to max cleland who lost his limbs in vietnam. they did it to john kerry. all veterans aren't going to stand for this. absolute false assertion he has made. you don't get to be a three-star admiral, get to command the aircraft carrier battle group, having a distinguished career. arlen specter, you know, it is time without a question for the change in politics of a republican who's a democrat in name only. i don't think my party leadership is going to -- >> you're optimistic. let me ask you this. do you think the people watching the ad we just watched think you were section 8, you had a problem, you were relieved of duty for some personal reason? that's what he's saying is that you had a problem.

section 8, whatever you want to call it. what's relieved of duty mean to you? to me it means you had a problem, mental, emotional, you couldn't do the job because they took it away from you. that's ha arlen's saying about you. >> the verdict on arlen specter is he's not visit to be the united states senator. that's why he's going to be relieved of command. look, arlen specter's verdict has already been made. you've seen the rasmussen poll. i can respect arlen specter for his service but not outrageous lies. and the things he's saying now. you know pennsylvanians, chris, its time has come to change politics. you saw massachusetts say it. both your houses down there. if you don't change politics, we're in this for principles. there's too many principles in the democrat party to welcome arlen specter's negative tactics. >> let me tell you what i know about politics. if you're in office 45 years like arlen and been a senator 30 years with a good record you

want to defend, you think it's a good roshd, yet you have to run ads of your opponent saying he's relieved of duty, and he's a skunk basically. there must be something showing up in your polling telling you you have to do this. you have the rasmussen poll. that's the poll -- all the other poll have you 15 points out. do you think you're going to win this one. >> you saw, there was another poll, after the rasmussen where i closed 14 points from three weeks before. you know as well as i do he said he wasn't going to go to tv until i did. those two polls came up, he started a week ago. he ran from pat toomey. the only thing he can do, because he has no accomplishments other than supporting george bush four out of five times. don't get me wrong, he's done nah funding. what's he going to say, i'm a democrat and argue with me on policy? no way. look, arlen specter, let's thank him for his service, but this negativity, and chris, we know

it's tough in politics. think about the seven of eight people who thought they would get in to run against him and never did. for various reason, including they knew this is what arlen did. i got in this race, though, despite all that because i honestly do believe it's time for a change where people can trust somebody. here he is giving rick santorum his vote saying i'll support george bush's nominees for the supreme court justice if rick san tur tor rum will give me his endorsement. >> do you think pennsylvanians would rather have a nasty customer like that ad shows arlen debate or have somebody like you that's st. francis, a nice guy? arlen's been called snarlin' arlen because he's tough. the fact is there he is. you're saying nice things about him. if you say nice things about him he won't say anything nice about you. do you know the uneven nature of the battle? >> when i was on the ground in

afghanistan for a short period, with command, doing strikes, afghanistan. there's no one who's not going to call me tough. are my results oriented? have i increased small business contracts in my district three yn fold in three years? do we take care of people? absolutely. the results of arlen specter is pennsylvania's job creation has been half national average of 30 years. toughness, no, yes, but results also, chris. results. >> senator specter, i have to offer you -- if you want to come on and defend the charge this fellow was relieved of command, the words he used, 23 you want to back them up on the air, i think it implies a problem. i don't think the evidence is worth it. if you want to make the case, come blast the guy personally, not a paid ad. congressman, there's a freudian slip. when we return -- that was an accident. when we return -- it must be the rasmussen poll in my head. we'll have now back. we're going to talk in a minute about teddy roosevelt the

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let fe finish tonight with a word about the party of teddy roosevelt. roosevelt became vice president in 1901, president mckinley was shot in buffalo and we found ourselves with a real reformer as president. teddy roosevelt turned out to be the most popular republican of

all time, up there with george, abe and tom jefferson. here's what teddy said about the big business of his day. "we demand that big business give the people a square deal and in return we must insist when anyone engaged in difference, endeavors to do right, he shall himself be given a deal." in an article in "washington post," roosevelt had his version of goldman sachs to deal with. a railroad monopoly owned by financier jp morgan. morgan tried to slip out of a mess he got himself into. "if we had done anything wrong" he said in a note to president roosevelt "send your man to my man and they fix it up." teddy roosevelt told j.p. to forget the your man and my man business. "we don't want to fix it up." he sent word back to morgan. "we want to stop the dirtdy deals period." there would be a loud cheering section. maybe he can get republicans behind him if he does. maybe there are a few out there who have a picture of teddy roosevelt up on their wall.

that's "hardball" for now. right now it's time for "the ed show" with ed schultz. good evening, americans. and back to "the ed show" from new york tonight. these stories are hitting "my hot buttons" tonight. the arizona legislature wants president obama to show his birth certificate if he wants to be on the state ballot in 2012. well, that's on the heels of a harsh anti-immigration bill, but it's not about race. it's much more than that. and that's coming up in just a moment. fox news is proving to be one of the republicans' most potent fund-raising forces. shocking new details on how much fox contributors have raised. and where they're going to do it to get the money. plus michael steele's in hot water, again, after the rnc's latest spending report. they spent more than $700,000 on office supplies? who's got that account?

here's the story that's got me "fired up" tonight. arizona is on the verge of an immigration meltdown. the governor at this hour holds all the cards. what she does could have national impact. the latino community feels like they're being targeted. the back community is saying it's been happening to us for years. law enforcement is concerned about resources and how this is all going to play out on the streets of arizona. now congressional members are calling on the administration to get it in gear and get it done. is this a racist law that's on the verge of being signed into law in arizona? what do you think? >> absolutely. i think once you single out a group of people, and this law is based on appearance, it's based on accent of your language, it's based on those parameters. you can only single out a certain group of people for that criteria, that the people of color, it's latinos and son