second-time voters for democrat candidates in 2010. everyone is expecting republicans to gain some seats in november, but democrats have just received some unexpectedly good news about their own prospects for that election. for that, we turn to our memoir bump correspondent, mr. kent jones, hi, kent. the unexpected boost from the candidates coming from a very unexpected place. here we go. sometimes it helps to be lucky, just as democrats face the prospect of heavy losses in the midterm elections, george w. bush has a date to release his memoir, decision points -- november 9. that's just one short week after the midterm elections on november 2. for once, his timing is impeccable. plans aren't final yet. but does this mean president 22% approval rate willing be on a nationwide promotional tour at the exact time voters are deciding whether to put republicans back in power? just when americans are starting

to blot out the 2000s, will george w. "mandate two terms bush" turn up on sean hannity's couch? some of the topics are the 2000 election, iraq, the financial crisis, hurricane katrina, afghanistan, and iran. if you made a list of topics republicans would rather not have to talk about this year, it would be roughly the 2000 election, iraq, the financial crisis, hurricane katrina, afghanistan, and iran. while you're at it, remember this, and this, and this. for democrats the timing of g.w.'s book is perfect, maybe too perfect. i wonder, could this be george w. bush's way of saying, "he's sorry"? at any rate, thank you, president bush, for your timely memoir. any chance you could schedule your next book for, say, november 2012? >> republicans have been trying so hard to make this a referendum on obama. the democrats thought the best thing they could hope for it

would be a choice between obama and the republicans. no democrat dreamed it would be a referendum on obama v bush again. >> who would show up suddenly? >> that does it for us tonight. see you again tomorrow night. >> "hardball" is next. good night. bordering on trouble. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, border wars. call it the battle no one wanted to fight. immigration reform. democrats in swing districts worry about facing a tough vote. republicans worry about facing a future without hispanic support. but two things. the new arizona law and harry reid's need to galvanize hispanic voters in his own re-election bid are forcing the issue. plus the heads i win, tails you lose battle. the democrats are only too slighted to fight is wall street reform. late today the republicans voted to prevent debate on the

democrats' reform bill from coming to the senate floor. the democrats will be happy to portray the gop as doing wall street's bidding. also the man behind the highest grossing film of all time "avatar," writer/director james cameron is sounding an urgent call to take care of this planet. he'll be here tonight. if democrats are going to avoid huge losses in the fall they're going to have to mobilize those surge voters who put barack obama in office. the kind of people who generally stay home for midterm elections. young, minorities, and first-time voters. the effort to capture the magic started today. i'll finish tonight with thoughts on how views of the united states around the world have improved sharply and what we should do about it. let's start with the fight for immigration reform. democrat albert gutierrez is the arizona state leader and republican state senator. i want to bring up senator gutierrez right off the bat. the question i have for senator

gutierrez, the people who put this law into effect which is causing so much alarm argue that they had to do it because the federal government, the feds as we call them, refuse to enforce any kind of border control, refuse to enforce immigration law so somebody at the state level on the border, like arizona, had to do it. your response? >> well, this bill has absolutely nothing to do with the border. it has nothing to do with the border walls, border security, border enforcement. this bill simply is about racial profiling and focusing on hispanics in the state of arizona. it's a civil libertarian nightmare and balconizes

immigration policy in the united states. so their arguments are false at best. they are full of deception. they don't focus on the issue that we have frankly before us. we all support immigration reform. we support border enforcement. we recognize that we have to get control of the borders. we're not blind. we realize what's going on in mexico, but that was exploited, particularly the murder of a rancher, exploited by the proponents. >> there's a half million people in the state of arizona who are there illegally in this country illegally. you deny the connection between that and the immigration issue? >> not at all. look, 1/3 of arizona's hispanic. there's 30 million of us in this country. most of us are u.s. citizens. most of us are residents. this bill puts us all in jeopardy. and that's the issue. it's a deceptive piece of legislation. >> okay. let me go to senator huppenthal. your thought, sir. the question that comes about, which has been raised by your colleague there, is that once you have a law like this in

effect, in effect the police will be likely to suspect illegal immigration in that part of the country. people who are darker skinned who have latin american accents or mexican or colombian accents. those are the people they'll be going at. they won't go after heidi klum or someone from europe that came here illegally. they'll go after people from a particular part of our continent. isn't that right? and, therefore, for a particular ethnic profile. >> well, low-income hispanics have been overwhelmingly the victims of crime associated with illegal immigration. crime and violence. it's been a tidal wave in arizona. since we got illegal immigration under control, we saw the murder rate in phoenix drop from 250 down to 125. that effort right there, low-income hispanics have been a huge beneficiary of that. not just murder but automobile theft, rape, crime of all sorts that was visited upon low-income hispanics, by illegal immigrants into this country. we're getting this under control. this is part of it. making sure that local police officers have the power if they

so desire to enforce all laws and not just the laws that they talk about crime but also the federal law that makes it a crime to be in this country illegally. >> are they going to throw people out of the country, local police? >> right here they're going to be able to get under control, help them get under control the crime and violence associated with illegal immigration. i just mentioned, we had 250 murders in phoenix in 2006. since we've begun to work to get this situation under control, that has dropped to 125. low-income hispanics have been overwhelmingly the beneficiaries of that effort. this is another step in that effort. >> how does giving a police officer the right to pick up somebody they think is here illegally reduce crime? how does that work? >> well, what we've seen to an extent not acknowledged by people doing research in this area, we've seen a huge association between violent crime and all manners of crime

with illegal immigration. i mentioned before, we had 250 murders in the city of phoenix in 2006. that's now down to 125. >> how does stopping a person because you think they're here illegally, stop crime? how does it work? >> i'll repeat it again. >> you repeat it but you're not helping me. i don't see how you stop a guy from murdering somebody or stop a guy from robbing a house or robbing somebody on the street by throwing people out of the country here illegally. explain the mechanics to how that works. you pick up people. are you intimidating people? is that what you're doing? >> you arrest somebody for a burglary and you do an immigration check. you find out they're here illegal. you do. you start the deportation process. you get that going. so it's the association between

crime and illegal immigration. that's the nexus. that's what we're trying to tackle with this. what we had is we had law enforcement officers who in the past they had seen law enforcement officers who had been falsely accused of racial profiling have their careers destroyed and we want to make it clear, you as a police officer, you have all the tools. when you arrest someone for burglary and you arrest someone for rape or for some other crime, often committed against low-income hispanics, you have more tools at your disposal now. >> okay. let me ask senator gutierrez, do you believe what you just heard was racist or was it simply about self-protection and security concern? do you believe he's really talking about too many mexican-americans or is he saying i have a real crime problem? what do you hear when he talks? >> it's scandalous nonsense talking about murder and rape and the undocumented in one phrase. it's scandalous nonsense. the fact of the matter is the

federal government has for years, not just recently, indicated that those states and those cities with higher immigration have lower crime rates. let me repeat that for the senator huppenthal because apparently he can't hear that fact. the fact of the matter is, the fact of the matter is this bill is about intimidation and harassment. what is the public purpose of stopping someone and asking everyone in the car for their papers when they're on the way to the synagogue or on the way to church or on the way to their mormon state? is there a public good served by that? >> let him answer the question. what's the advantage of stopping a car? let's take on the same conversation here. if a police officer suspects a car with people in it here illegally, can he stop them under the new law? can he do it? can he say i don't like the looks of this car? they look like they're illegal. can he stop the car and say let's see the papers? can he do that? >> the racial profiling was illegal before this bill.

it's illegal after it. the bill, itself, makes it illegal. the good senator, former senator, he's come to the nexus of the question. the association of violence and crime with illegal immigration. what we have said here in arizona is that association is obvious. it's pervasive. and other people, the federal government, have denied it. there's no other theory that can explain the dramatic change in arizona from 250 murders to 125 as we have gotten our illegal immigration problem under control. >> okay. i want to get back to this. can a police officer -- sir, you the lawmaker down there. you passed the law. under the law you passed and was signed by the governor this week, can a police officer spot a car with five or six people in it who he thinks because of instinct, experience, whatever, evidence, whatever, can he stop that car and say i think these people are here illegally, i'm going to stop and check them? can he do that under the law without a crime involved? can he do that? >> no, he cannot. that would be -- that would be just simply racial profiling and

that would not be permitted under the law. now, if he stopped them for speeding or something like that, he can inquire of the driver at that point if they were an illegal immigrant. you're not going to find that kind of activity. that kind of activity is not going to be -- it's not going to be a part of training. what is going do be a part of training, i arrest somebody for burglary, i arrest them for dui, i arrest them after they've maimed somebody in a dui. that is the focus here. violence and crime and illegal immigration. >> what's wrong with that, senator gutierrez? let's stay on the same sentence. if you arrest a guy for -- if you stop a guy for breaking a law and in the process of doing your law enforcement you check to see if they're in the country illegally. why is that offensive? once the person has -- >> that's the current law. obviously the senator hasn't read his own bill. what this bill does is it says that any police officer can stop anyone who appears to them to be reasonably suspicious of being an undocumented person. i'm going tell you something if you and i are walking down the street, you're not going to be

the subject of reasonable suspicion. he is simply wrong about his own bill. i suggest he read it. >> we're going to get the facts out of this. >> i -- the -- i don't -- i don't believe that's correct. i've read through the bill carefully. what it says is racial profiling was illegal before this bill. the bill doubles up on that. >> gentlemen, we're going to keep working on this bill until we get the truth. thanks very much senator gutierrez, huppenthal. coming up, republicans and democrats are voting right now whether to start debate. get 60 votes. that's how it's done. on wall street reform. will republicans succeed in filibustering? during the commercial break, is congress seeking to deny itself a raise? we'll tell you in a minute. national car rental knows i'm picky.

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welcome back to "hardball." breaking news on wall street reform. senate republicans voted late today to prevent debate and keep the preform bill from coming to the senate floor, though the democrats lost on this vote it may be a battle they're happy to lose because they're hoping to win the war. "washington post" columnist eugene robinson, msnbc political analyst and susan page, washington bureau chief for "usa today." gene, i read your column. it seems to me, you're right. the democrats, if this takes a year, if this takes a month, the

longer -- i think it was machiavelli who said if you're going to inflict pleasure do it slowly. >> right. >> pain do it quickly. this is pleasurable for democrats. >> absolutely. the longer they can portray as republicans -- portray republicans being on the side of wall street, on the side of -- >> well, aren't they? it's not a false portrayal. let me go to susan. is that a false portrait? that republicans are more pro-business looking out for these guys? >> they wouldn't say wall street that are four letter words. right? the gallup poll last week when they included the word wall street in regulation, it got higher support than if you called them financial institutions. if you just used the word wall street it made people more supportive of the legislation in the gallup poll. >> income levels that we read about in the papers, billion dollars a year not just to do nothing but making billions of dollars a year by betting against somebody else doing anything. you're betting on failure. >> betting on failure.

i think people understand that. i think people understand, too, that all this betting, people ask the question how is this helping the economy? how does this channel capital in the most efficient way and the economy in the way textbooks told us it was supposed to happen? >> how do you know people that big build things, people like donald trump, even, big developers. or steven spielberg who makes movies at least. people like those people. people who make money like joe kennedy in the old days, remember, they make their money without making anything. they're never the most popular guys. >> people at goldman sachs cheering because they made a killing when the housing market collapsed. you know how many people got hurt by the housing market. it doesn't leave y-- nothing illegal about betting the housing market will go down but it doesn't leave you with a warm political feeling. >> more people own houses than own securities. let's take a look. the new "washington post"/abc poll shows the country supports stricter regulations two to one. they want government on their side against the money boys. the poll also finds the country

trusts president obama more than it trusts republicans. here he is on that unusual high ground. 52%, 35%, susan. if i were him i would dance up there. i'd stay on the high ground. i wouldn't go to immigration. i wouldn't go to energy. i would stay on this front. >> look at the difference with the health care bill which never got majority support even though they managed to pass it. here's a bill that the white house is very happy as you said to go on and on debating on the hill. >> what is it about the two parties that they are fairly predictable, gene? you write in your column, i read it twice, three times a week now. i have to tell you even before you get your pulitzer prize, i read it. this idea that the party -- it's sort of like people don't change. the democrats aren't so great on some issues. they have to defend things like card check nobody believes in, got to defend sometimes illegal immigration, do things they don't like to do, politically they do. it seems like on this issue the republicans are almost cornered. why is -- why is shelby, richard shelby, sticking to his guns on this? why is corker sticking to his

guns? why do all of these members of congress from middle of the road states like indiana defending wall street? >> parties have dna and the dna strands are made of history, of special interest support, of campaign contributions and of course wall street gives to both sides. >> i used a reference on friday to explain they both benefit from taking money from wall street. the mothers milk of politics. all that money. they both take money from wall street. why do the republicans deliver? >> you know, the thing is wall street knows that. wall street knows that the republicans will basically deliver and democrats basically won't. they have to hedge their bets. they hedged their bets on the housing market. they have to hedge their bets on politics. >> did you see the numbers the guys are collecting on the hill? i was watching over the weekend with david gregory. amazing amount of money going into hands of the political parties including ranking members on banking committee like dodd and shelby. they're all taking the money in and only defense is, what, a democrat says of course i'm for

public funding. that's the old dodge. >> they go to these institutions for money because that's where money is. right? that's where you can get a lot of money. republicans can make the argument that and do make the argument that their approach is more -- is better for the free market economy than the increased regulation. >> here's the smoking gun. i'm trying to figure this out. these are the documents which leaked from goldman sachs. here's one internal goldman sachs e-mail that came out of ceo lloyd blankfein, new head of goldman. wrote, "of course we didn't dodge the mortgage mess. we lost money. then made more than we lost because of shorts." here's another. he wrote "anyway, not feeling too guilty about this. the real purpose of my job is to make capital markets more efficient and ultimately provide the u.s. consumer with more efficient and ultimately provide the u.s. consumer with more efficient ways to leverage and finance himself so there is a humble noble and ethical reason for high job."

amazing how good i am at convincing myself. >> this is the word humble. he refers to himself in other e-mails at fabulous fam. >> this guy is now famous as being the guy who concocted, i have to be careful about the law, somebody concocted the idea you make $1 billion by getting somebody to invest $1 billion in a bad deal. >> you can bundle some subprime mortgages and sell to investors but bet against that loan so you make money either way. >> do you realize the i.q. that has gone into these guys, that think up these scams or schemes or plans, had it gone into, like, solving cancer -- >> well, it used to when finance was a much smaller percentage of our gdp. >> isn't that in your column today? said it was once 60% of the american economy, finance. now 40% of the profits made in the american economy are in finance. in other words, money made on money. not money made on things or production or services. susan?

isn't that a problem? kids today say where should i go to make money coming out of business school? they go, let's see where the money is. it's not in steel. it's not in coal. it's in money. >> and he called it noble. it's not what americans think of as noble. as you say, building a hospital. endowing a university. >> what no one is talking about with the possible exception of paul volcker who i think gets this, is really scaling this back to where finance was. >> neither party is willing to let a big company go down, because the economy would collapse probably. here's the question. does barack obama tend to fight this slowly or quickly? would he rather have a summer of war with the republicans on this issue or a quick win in the next two weeks? what would he rather have? >> i think he rather fight this for a while. >> i disagree. quick win. supreme court nomination coming up. they want to do an energy bill. maybe harry reid wants to do immigration bill. >> take it while you can. >> they don't mind a couple days of debate.

i think a quick victory then goes on to other things he wants to do. >> i like a good dispute. thank you eugene robinson and susan page. up next -- guess whose new memoir is coming out soon, entitled "decision points." that's in the "sideshow." written by a man known as the decider. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. the question is who wrote it. n e of my engine? one a day men's -- a complete multivitamin for my overall health. plus now it supports my heart health and helps maintain healthy blood pressure. [ engine revs ] whoa. [ man ] kinda makes your heart race, huh? i'm ed whitacre, from general motors. a lot of americans didn't agree with giving gm a second chance. quite frankly, i can respect that. we want to make this a company all americans can be proud of again. that's why i'm here to announce we have repaid our government loan, in full, with interest, five years ahead of the original schedule. but there's still more to do. our goal is to exceed every expectation you've set for us. we're putting people back to work, designing, building,

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back to "hardball." now for the "sideshow." extra, extra, read. regular watchers of this show know i love newspapers. the big broad sheets you page through with a morning appetite. over a bowl of cheerios. that's why i'm happy to see "the wall street journal" launched an additional section for papers sold in the new york city area. metro section dedicated to covering local news, politics and sports. the first time "the journal" has rolled out a local edition. owner rupert murdoch means for it to challenge "the new york times" for readership and city reporting. i say more national media devoted to covering local issues the better. let's get the trend going in cities other than new york and let's hope, this is big-time, the editorial pages of "the wall street journal" stay exactly where they are, apart from the news. i'm getting to like this saturday "journal" not because of peggy noonan. let's keep that part of the paper clear of the poor attitudes that run on editorial pages. next, decider on the record. we got our first look at president bush's memoirs. a book his publisher says centers around 14 key decisions bush made over his lifetime. his publisher says that since leaving office, the former president has spent "almost every day" writing the book.

writing? putting words down? writing paragraphs? organizing chapters? okay. i know he's the decider but let's not overdo this claim. let's just say he approved the book. comes out this november 9th. we invite the president to come on "hardball" and flog the hell out of it. finally, what not to say if you're running for office. this comes from lieutenant governor andre bower during south carolina's first republican gubernatorial debate. who does he blame for illegal immigration issues? what he calls the flat out lazy people of his own state of south carolina. let's watch. >> south carolina passed one of the toughest immigration laws in the united states. however, we aren't addressing the real problem. the real problem is workforce. if you don't have a workforce, people that are peach farmers, hotel business, construction business, they will go somewhere to find people to fill those jobs. why do we have so many vacancies? we have a giveaway system in this country and state that so strong that people would rather sit home and do nothing than do these jobs. there are a lot of people that are flat-out lazy and using up the goods and services we have in this state. >> wow. interesting analysis. let's see how it plays on the home front. now for tonight's sports meets politics "big number." you can see president obama there welcoming the 2009 world

champion new york yankees to the white house this afternoon. it's the first time the yankees have won the title since 2000 when president clinton was in office. catch this little sugar plum. how many times straight now has a democrat been in the white house when the yankees have won the series? nine times in a row. is there a connection here, perhaps? we've had a democratic president the last nine times the yankees of new york have won the world series. tonight's food for thought "big number." up next, "avatar" director james cameron will be here at this desk to tell us how to better take care of our planet and fight the fight for energy. [ speaking native language ]

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i'm krista welker. here's what's happening. senate republicans have blocked efforts to begin debate on financial reform legislation. democrats will be able to try again as early as tomorrow. 18 month senate

investigation finds goldman sachs misled investors in a complex scheme involving toxic mortgages and plans to profit from a meltdown of the housing market. the company's ceo says goldman never bet against its clients. the coast guard says oil gushing from an underwater well in the gulf of mexico will not hit the shoreline for at least three days. right now a remote submarine is trying to shut off that well. a federal appeals court is allowing a massive class action lawsuit against walmart to move forward. the suit alleges gender discrimination and could cost walmart billions of dollars. the senate department confirms that manuel noriega has been extradited to france to face money laundering charges. the former panamanian straw man finished serving a drug sentence here four years ago. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." chances are if you've been to a movie in the past 20 years it was the work of james cameron to name a few. "the terminator" "the abyss," "true lies" "the titanic, "avatar."

"avatar" now on dvd and blu-ray where it has broken all the world records. james cameron concerns about protecting the environment is evidenced if that film and also echoed in his life. yesterday he spoke at the earth day rally in washington at the national mall. i managed to catch up with him and hook him for the show. james cameron. >> reporting for duty, sir. >> i think what struck me about "avatar" which everybody who has watched this probably saw, there is a stake at some point, the piggishness on this planet, the use of our resources just gets to the point where you have to go out and get something else and colonize some other world. maybe it's imagined in your movie. your feelings about that in reality? >> the film is a fantasy. it's about a real reality which

is our relationship with nature and how we have this kind of attitude of entitlement that we can take what we need. historically in the colonial period, north and south america, we took what we needed. we took australia, or took what we needed from africa. speaking of the way the european community spread out. we never really backed off that model. we take resources we need. we take everything. we don't give enough back. we're crossing over a threshold where the earth is not going to be able to sustain us. >> why do you think business fights concerns about climate, about energy depletion, about the need to find renewables? why do they fight it? the people from the oil patch, oklahoma especially, constantly carping and denying. people like glenn beck making a living by not telling the truth. >> if you make your living in oil and the answer is a different answer, a different solution, and renewable energy like wind or solar or something like that, you'll deny that answer exists or probably going to deny that the problem exists. that's what these kind of professional deniers and skeptics are doing. they're swaying the public dialogue away from this major crisis that's looming.

>> the first person i've heard, who has an i.q., like glenn beck, obviously smart enough, i heard him on radio a couple years ago just denying climate -- saying it's not true. >> i think that people are in denial in general. the public are in denial. it's getting worse. in a recession economy makes that denial worse. two years ago according to polls, 50% of people believed in climate change and it being caused by human activity. now we're down to 34%. so we've gone from half to a third. we're going the wrong direction. we should be raising awareness and consciousness on this and really, you know, believing that there's a clear and present danger to our nation, to our children, and we're moving the wrong direction. >> what do you make the decision a couple days ago to dump it, to shelf it, by people in the senate, we're going toward an energy combination climate change bill, saying we'll put it aside, we're going to do something else, immigration? >> there's always something

else. health care. immigration. finance reform. there's always something in front of us that's more important. in reality if we don't solve this problem, all that stuff isn't going to make any difference. health care is not going to help us in a fundamentally unhealthy planet. financial reform won't help us in a planet where we can't afford to live in a healthy way. or even in a non-chaotic way. >> i have to get to something that's fascinating. steven hawkin, smartest person in history talking about alien life. not aliens like we're fighting about with border fights in america but real aliens from another planet. "we only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet. i imagine they would exist in massive shifts using all the resources from their home planet.

if aliens ever visit us i think the outcome would be much as when christopher columbus first land in america which didn't turn out very well for the native americans." what about the notion that aliens come here if we meet them there would be like the ones in your movie? frightening. >> i didn't know steven hawking did science fiction. i think he's right on the money. the history of the human race is that any technologically superior nation when it met a technologically inferior, guns against bows and arrows, they always took over. they took what they needed. it was either genocide or population was displaced or simulated in some kind of paternalistic manner. they were converted to christianity or whatever it was. this is history. why would aliens be different? >> he puts us with the bow and arrows and aliens with machine guns. >> exactly. >> you in your movie in "avatar" put us on the side of the advanced weaponry but we lose the war anyway. >> we were bad aliens in "avatar." i was turning it around. you have seen all these movies

where the super advanced aliens come to earth to try to be like us and take over. "avatar" was just the story turned around. our main character is trying to blend in and be one of the aliens on their planet. same story. >> putting it together, the idea that this country is leading the world in depletion of resources, we use more -- we're the most poor side of any people on the planet. we use up more gas, more everything compared to our numbers. if the world keeps going in this direction heating up the planet, using up resources, will we end up on space ships? >> it's not just us. it's china, india, places where the middle class is exploding. everybody's sucking up more power. population's continuing to grow. we're going to have to do something about it. the planet just can't sustain -- >> do you have faith in -- i will let you leave on this. do you have faith that any political leader that will take the noise and heat and perhaps the political defeat that will come from a person that really stands up and defends this planet? >> lisa jackson at the epa is standing up.

you know? she's using clean air act to go after polluters. the reality is that leadership in the house and senate doesn't have a strong public mandate right now because the public isn't aware enough of the problem. they have to start critically thinking, denying the deniers, doing their own research and not going with the rhetoric or talk radio but actually learning issues and believing what the science community is trying to warn us about. then there will be a public mandate for our leaders to do something. you know on the hill they don't do anything unless we tell them. >> i'm worried about the media. we have a right wing media available. that if you feel like you're a business guy, for example, or businesswoman and want to have a good excuse, a good dodge not to do anything, you listen to somebody on the right like beck who comes in saying you don't have to do anything, these guys are a bunch of tree huggers. forget about it. what do you think of beck's power in that direction to give people a big excuse slip not to do anything? >> guys like beck and the others --

>> are they dangerous? >> i think they're very dangerous to this country. i think some day we'll have to answer to my children and to your children and their children for the world that they're helping to create right now. >> okay. thank you very much, james cameron. congratulations. never seen anything like this in the movies. i've never seen anything like it. you are winning the awards and thank you for coming on. james cameron. the maker of "avatar" which has broken all records. again in dvd. up next president obama is trying to rally the troops ahead of the 2010 midterms. we're talking the political troops. young people. can he stir up excitement? first during the commercials we may be closer to the truth about john edwards and his relationship with his mistress. isn't that the right word? rielle hunter. that's in one minute. rachel. ( door slams )

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fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum ta tum tum tums it will be up to each of you to make sure the young people, african-americans, latino, and women who powered our victory in 2008 stand together once again. if you help us make sure first-time voters in 2008 make sure their voices are heard again in november. we'll deliver on the hope of change and prosperity for generations to come. >> we're back. it's going to be exciting.

that was president obama in a web video message for the democrat national committee that they hope will rally supporters to bring in $50 million in the plan they will spend to get out the vote in november. how are they going to do it, spend $50 million to get the young people to vote? former virginia governor tim kaine is chairman of the democratic national committee and "time" magazine mark halprin, co-author of "game change." his latest column is about president obama and the 2010 election. gentlemen, thank you for joining us. governor, it's important to have you. i want you to respond to this statement made by rush limbaugh today. what rush was doing was responding to what we just saw. president obama calling for the young people and minorities and women especially to get out and vote this year. here is rush. let's listen. >> we have to reconnect young people, african-americans, latinos, women for 2010 in a video put out by the dnc over the weekend. this is the regime at its racist best. what's the regime doing? it's asking blacks and latinos

to join him in a fight. what is a campaign if not a fight? he's asking young people, african-americans, latinos and women to reconnect to fight who? who's this fight against? >> there you have it. the tribalism has been encouraged there by rush and what do you make of it, governor? he says the president is a racist basically for getting young people and minorities to vote. >> i think, first he didn't listen to the video. i don't think anybody takes rush limbaugh serious on stuff like this. he's an entertainer trying to get a headline. here's what the video said. >> keep dreaming, governor. he's the leader of the republican party. he's your opposite number. you ought to get used to. i hate to be disrespectful. but if your guys in the democratic party think rush limbaugh isn't calling the shots you're deaf and blind. just go on. >> leader/entertainer. you have to give him both. that kind of comment about the president is not to be taken

seriously. what the president said in the video is our plan, chris, in the midterm. we have to energize voters across the spectrum but we're focused heavily on the first-time voters from 2008. and we just know who they are. there was about 15 million people that registered and we were part of registering them for the first time in 2008 and it's an electorate in that group of 15 million that are heavily young, heavily new americans and minority voters and women. that's just who they are. this is a group that would normally participate pretty heavily in a presidential year but then the turnout would fall off in a non-presidential year. so our goal is to make sure that their participation in midterm election does not fall off so dramatically and stays high in support of candidates who are supporting the president's agenda. >> mark, you are an expert on this. can this happen? can they win at this cause of getting people who normally -- you know how hard it is i don't know if you have young kids. it's hard to get young people to focus on a presidential campaign

normally. this last time was an exception. this coming november won't be an exception. how do you get young people to vote? >> this plan as it is designed and as they plan to execute it including employing the president is no crazier than the notion you could bring out new voters in the iowa caucuses in 2008. a lot of people were skeptical of that. you have to give the operation a benefit of the doubt that they now how to energize these people in an off year employing most importantly the president. he has a personal connection. >> you believe he can replicate what happened in 2008? mark halprin? >> i'm not instantly skeptical of it. these are smart people. they understand how to target. and that intimate communication that they do through the web video we saw today, there will be e-mails from the president i'm sure, there will be voicemail messages. they know how to use this group's connection to the president. they don't care much about politics. they let them rest somewhat in the intervening months but they starting before labor day to

begin that conversation. again, it's uphill but they did it once before and they're uses the same techniques and again that same centerpiece of barack obama himself. >> governor, i want you to -- governor i have something to show you that should scare the daylights at out of you. this is a new republican ad put out by the republican governor's association, reminds me of something about the checkoslovakian invasion. it starts with mood music in classical form and shows this horrific picture of the arrival of president obama and his administration. i'll give you some of the pictures that you're missing. but the words will help you guide it. here it is, let's listen. >> yes we can. >> the bill is passed. >> yes, we can. >> there ain't no rude around here. we make them up as we go along. we have to pass the bill to find out what is in it. >> the american public

overwhelmingly voted for socialism when they elected governor obama. >> certainly our government can't spend the money we doan have. >> yes. we can. >> it comes off of a hostile army. the voices are l.c. hastings and reverend sharpton or admitting or bragging this is a socialist victory. al c. hastings saying there's no rules to the obama administration. it's pretty electric stuff. what do you make of it, governor? >> these guys are scared out of their wits. here's what they see happening. you look at the stock market or jobs or gdp growth of the last 18 months of the bush administration when they were running things, it was in a free fall and they weren't able to pull the cord on the parachute. if you look at it since election day, it's declining. they see the trends, the sharp v with the economy turning around by the time the president comes in. we have a lot more work to do,

but arresting of key taliban, they're running out of arguments they can win seats in november. they're going to come up with every bogeyman they can think of. i think people know what's science fiction and what's fact with all due respect to james cameron. >> two interesting things. one is the republicans do have an argument. the government knowles it. one argument is big government. that's going to be an effective argument for them. john mccain stayed away from using race. some republicans are open to the idea of not doing what mccain did which is bend over backwards to charges of using race to damage the president. >> i think it is tribal. i think rush limbaugh is the leader of the republican party. my proof is, you're a smart guy, you're an elected official. can you name a single person in this country that stood up to the leadership of rush limbaugh.

if they make a faux pas, they aid poll jazz to their knees in the next 24 hours. he's the leader of the party. he's tribal. >> they're trying to stoke that up. anybody who stood up to rush, 15 names. and they caved within five minutes. he's trying to whip up that kind of feeling. mark is right. mark assessed this pretty correctly. >> using race? >> are they using race? >> they're using a lot of emotions and a lot of motions out there. here's the good news. the republicans are not negative angry people. in the time of concerns, they want can-do people. if it's health care, arresting taliban leadership, they're going to reward the rules team. >> up against a ferocious team. thank you. when we return, we'll have

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let me finish tonight with the good news. there's a new poll floating around that asked 30,000 people around the world what they think of our country. the good news is we won. after a bad spell and based on this pretty good sample, we're riding much higher of late. the bottom line? for the first time this poll, which has been taken for the past five years, has people saying america's influence in