as of 40 seconds ago the polls have closed in the great state of wisconsin. the epicenter of american political debate and american conflict since the last elections in 2010. at this hour with polls having just closed, in the recall of governor scott walker, the results that we've got in right now are these. nbc news is declaring the race too close to call. we've got a grand total of 0% in. we're obviously going to be watching this. the important thing is the too close to call declaration from nbc as the precincts come in we'll be on it. also is the state's lieutenant governor. scott walker is only the third governor in american history to face a recall as governor. three in american history. rebecca kleefisch is the first lieutenant governor to ever face

a recall, period. she faces mahlon mitchell. he's a madison wisconsin firefighter. also in this race in the lieutenant governor's recall race in wisconsin, nbc news is calling this too close to call. democrats have put four republican state senate seats up for recall. the highest profile one is the seat of this senate president. it's considered to be the most republican district in the state of wisconsin. very, very conservative district. republican scott fitzgerald is the senate majority leader. he's facts a long shot but spunky democratic challenge for lori compas. we still have 0% in. also, terry molton is facing a

recall. the democratic in that case is kristen dexter. another recall is in district 21. he's the best name in all of this mess. i still have no confidence that i'm saying it correctly. he's facing a democratic challenger. the last senate recall is for a seat where the incup bent republican quit once she found out that her seat was going to be up for recall. this is a very republican district. republicans are hoping to be able to hold on. it's an open seat because the republican incumbent quit. again, the big one here, the one that everybody is watching

tonight is the governor's race. this is the status right now between republican governor scott walker of wisconsin. that the republican party would like to make their poster child and his challenger tom barrett from the democrat party which would also like to make scott walker the poster child. we'll be watching the results closely as they come in over the course of the night. i have no projection for you in terms of when we think we will get a final result. we've got a big 0% in. nbc news is able to characterize this race as too close to call looking not at precincts that are in but exit poll data available to the political unit here. in 2008 in the presidential race in wisconsin, barack obama beat john mccain by 14 points. it was not close. it was a democrat blowout. two years later in 2010, in that

bright red year, voter turnout fell by 20 points. it fell in democrat districts. republicans turned out in 2010 for the next election but democrats didn't turn out. almost a million fewer people voted compared to 2008 and republicans just ran the board that year. they won the state assembly. they won the state senate and scott walker won the governorship as well. scott walker said if he were elected governor he would drive a hard bargain with public workers in wisconsin in terms of trying to achieve savings and balance the state budget. once he got into office, it was a different thing. public workers agreed to every financial demand that scott walker made of them. all the salary cuts, layoffs, furloughs, changes to pensions, health insurance contributions. all of the things that scott walker and the republicans asked for that had a monetary value,

the public workers said yes to. governor walker and the republicans would not take yes for an answer. they were frankly after something bigger. the governor demanded that the public sector unions in the state give up their rights. give up their union rights. they already made every financial concession. they already agreed to give up everything he asked them to give up. the only thing they did not agree to do was effectively commit suicide as an organization. the republicans answer to that was, actually, we need you dead. it doesn't matter what you're offering in terms of concessions. what we want is for you to no longer exist. this is not what scott walker and the republicans ran on. this is what they did swuonce t got into office. because this is not what they proclaimed they were going to do, they blind sided everybody. the result was chaos.

it turns into 70,000 people and then 70,000 people turned into 100,000 people the week after that. these protests kept going on for weeks and then for months. the democrats fled the state. democrats fled across state lines to illinois and stayed there for weeks. with the democrats gone, with no quorum and no apparent legal way to get it done, scott walker and the republicans in wisconsin in march of last year just did it any way.

>> at this time i would move to adopt -- >> excuse me, mr. chairman. >> as the conference. >> excuse me. i have a question about open meetings rule being violated. you were not given two hours. >> this is a violation of law. this is not just a rule. it's the law. >>adjourned. >> this is a violation. it requires at least two hours. >> what have you done? >> okay. >> excuse me. >> that's how they did it. by hook or by crook in an atmosphere of utter chaos and lawlessness usually the most civil of states. the republicans did it. they pulled it off. they killed union rights and republicans across the country had a new brass ring to reach

for. this is the chart that gives life meaning. this is at least a chart that gives life meaning to people that will have been engaged in this fight. it's the chart that gives republicans lives meaning in this fight. this chart is that this is the biggest outside spending groups in the last election. the 2010 lelection, these are te top outside spenders. six of the top ten were given to the republican side. they are corporate funded group, business interests. the top four of them, six of the top ten, the majority of the outside money in the 2010 elections going to the republican side. the only three in the top ten that are giving to the other side, the only three giving to the democrats are, what do these three have in common? right. this is the key to everything for the republicans. this is the brass ring, whole

enc enchilada. it's everything for them. the only thing democrats have been able to come up with, the only competition the democrats offer the republicans at all in terms of big money and campaigns is from the unions. what happens if you kill the unions? if republican can use policy at the state level to kill unions, there will no longer be two sides competing when it comes to big money in elections. it will be all republican money no maert wtter who the candidat are, no matter what the office is. republicans will be running unopposed forever all across the country. after the scott walker union stripping law was rammed through this wisconsin in the midst of all that chaos, indeed, in wisconsin, the unions immediately started to wither away. these are the changes in some of the biggest unions in wisconsin

that have taken place over the past year. the law has only been there for a year. look what it's done already. this law is designed to make the unions go away because they strip union rights. it's not just to directly hurt those people, although it does that, but it's to make sure democrats can never compete in elections. the right is ecstatic about this. think about the possibility for long-term takeover. a documented $30 million has flowed to scott walker for his recall campaign. john nichols says it will probably be like $40 million flowing to scott walker. you can just feel the right's excitement about this. go, man, go. grab it. you've got to succeed. we want to do this all around the country. this is how we're going to win permanently. this is what the money ended up looking like in this recall election in wisconsin. this is to scale. the two circles there are to scale. on the left, that's the overall

amount of money that went to scott walker. the red part is the money he raised from out of state. he's a nation wise cause celeb for the right. the little circle, the little mini me, that's the money democrats were able to put up to try to compete. you see the red is a much smaller portion there. that's the out of state money. the orange part of the circle is in state money. the vast majority of money for the democrats came from wisconsin. the overall relationship in the size of those two circumstances is the bottom line. democrats got out spent eight to one. with that spending disadvantage and the democratic side having sustained the damage because of these policies, with the proscott walker side running ads starting at christmastime and thanks to the recall calendar, the democrats not getting a candidate with a name until last month, up this slope, the recall scott walker side has been

trying to roll this very large boulder. again, this is what we know so far about the results. is the turnout in wisconsin going to be like roughly three million people, which is what it was back in barack obama won the state? or is it going to be like two million people when scott walker and the republicans won. we know that the proportion of union households voting in wisconsin is up from what it was in 2010. in 2010 it was 26%. it's now gone up to 33%. that's union households voting today. we know these are the presidential preferences of the people that turned out today in wisconsin. if they were voting for president today, president obama would win by 12 points in wisconsin. it's large margin, but it's a smaller margin than what he won

by in 2008. the exit polls tell us who is tur turning out to vote. they do not tell us how much people are voting. everybody that is watching the race says the determining factor will be turnout, turnout, turnout. we'll be watching the exit polls to see who decided to vote today, but the big important number is going to be how many pm all we can tell you right now is that in the governor's race it's too close to call. these are the latest results that we have right now from wisconsin. just 1% in, but the important thing is that nbc news is declaring this race too close to call. polls just closed in wisconsin at the top of the hour. this is the most important election in the country, in my opinion, until the presidential race in november. stay tuned. we'll be right back. every communications provider is different but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company.

♪ we link people and fortune 500 companies nationwide and around the world. and we will continue to free you to do more and focus on what matters. [ male announcer ] we began with the rx. ♪ then we turned the page, creating the rx hybrid. ♪ now we've turned the page again with the all-new rx f sport. ♪ this is the next chapter for the rx. this is the next chapter for lexus. this is the pursuit of perfection. oh, we call it the bundler. let's say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online...

[ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. sort of like two in one. how did you guys think of that? it just came to us. what? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today. progressive saved me money on my car insurance for doing the right thing behind the wheel. what a concept. excuse me, sir, do you know how fast you were going? exactly 25 miles per hour. that makes you a safe driver. keep driving safe. -are you serious? -absolutely. i couldn't help but notice, you applied your brakes smoothly and evenly. you know, progressive rewards safe drivers. think of this as a reward forward. thank you! nice -- you stopped at the stop sign. you qualify for a safe driver discount. wow! keep safe and keep saving.

a cup of johan is a 600 horsepower sports coupe that likes to hug curves. ♪ your curves. smooth, rich, never bitter, gevalia.

the polls in wisconsin's recall election have been closed for 18 minutes. in the recall of governor scott walker, the results we have in right now are these. as you can see a very meager 1% of the precincts in right now. nbc is characterizing it as too close to call. we'll be watching the results as they come in in the lieutenant governor race, still 1%. this is also being characterized as too close to call by nbc news. there's four state senate recall elections that we'll be keeping

an eye on. 1% of precincts in. we do not have projections in terms of how late a night it's going to be or how long a night it's going to be before we have something to say about results. joining us is ron allen. it's nice to have you here. >> nice to be here. how are you? >> great. it's an exciting night. what is the walker campaign communicating about the few results we've got tonight. their response to what seems to be very high turnout today in wisconsin. where do they think they stand? >> they're sounding confident. they think they are going to win. this room has been filling up. there are other indications it would be a very long night. they are cheering now just some numbers on the board that 1% number that we've been reporting that shows skots wacott walker lead but that doesn't mean anything at this early stage of

the game. it's a very enthusiastic and excited crowd. they think lit will be the end f this and this election will give him a mandate to continue the reforms he's been trying to carry out. also optimism on the democratic side as well because of the high turnout numbers. traditionally that tends to favor a democratic candidate. this state has been so polarized that it's hard know how it will effect things. i've been struck by how people are talking about how tired they are of this campaigning. there's been seven elections during a 14-month period. they are tired of voting. they feel things are in state of paralysis. there's a lot of anger and disgust and a lot of feeling of frustration that their state has been tarnished by this whole operation. at this point the partisans on both sides want to get down to business. they want to give their vote out

today, and they want to see their guy win and both sides are very confident. rachel. >> absolutely. ron allen at governor walker's headquarters. keep us apprised of what looks to be a very long night wind down tonight. thanks very much. now we're going to go to democratic campaign headquarters for milwaukee mayor tom barrett. he's the challenger to scott walker. his headquarters are in milwaukee. alex, i know this is not your favorite thing in the world to do but we wanted to talk to you. thanks for joining us. >> reporter: thanks for having me. >> what is the barrett campaign telling you about their expectations? ron allen said the republicans are confident they will win. what are you hearing? >> reporter: we're hearing the exact same thing.

they said the momentum has been with them the past few days. the mayor really feels like he has a shot at winning this. he was out all day today across the state campaigning. he voted, meeting with folks. they think the exits they have seen show a close race. they know it's going to be a long night. they think they can take this. they will not speak. mayor barrett will not speak until this race is called. there's no word on a recount. all i can say is from the folks i've been talking to in wisconsin the past couple of days, they are really ready for this race to be over and for them to get back to work and the mayor's staff feels like he has it in the bag. >> it's one one of the partisan things to watch is that the folks on the walker side are not talking about a recount at all. the folks on the democratic side have been raising this prospect that if it's close enough there's going to be a recount, they want people to know they are prepared. they have lawyers available and

are prepared to fight for this recount. do you get the sense that's just to reassure that barrett would be democrat who fights in case it comes down to that or are they expecting it will be close enough that there will be a recount? >> reporter: i think anything is possible in this case. it's been going on for a very long time. barrett has been fighting very aggressively in this state to win this. it doesn't really sound, the mood is they are not talking about a recount. they are confident they will win tonight. we'll have to see if a recount is necessary. from a supporter's perspective, they are hopeful that tonight will be their night. >> alex, please keep us posted tonight. thanks for being with us. >> reporter: thank you. >> i got to say this wisconsin thing, we all know it's got national implications in terms

policy. we know it's got implications of people projecting ahead to the november race. one thing that's cool about it in a totally non-partisan way is how you see people are excited on both sides. sometimes that looks like discord and sometimes people look frustrated that they have to talk about politics when they have to talk about something else, but there's legitimate investment in this democratic process in a way you cannot deny and you can't deny is really american and really small d democratic. what's happening in wisconsin, they may have voted seven times in 14 months, but they've been voting every time. looks like tonight they may be voting in record numbers. they're into it. we're all supposed to be into it. we'll be right back. tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy.

we need to get the wheels turning. i'm proud of that. making real things... for real. ...that make a real difference. ♪

tdd# 1-800-345-2550 you and your money deserve. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, that means taking a close look at you tdd# 1-800-345-2550 as well as your portfolio. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 we ask the right questions, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 then we actually listen to the answers tdd# 1-800-345-2550 before giving you practical ideas you can act on. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck online, on the phone, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 or come in and pull up a chair.

it's election day. it also means montana and north dakota. a new secret tax that would raise money for cancer research. california already has the second lowest smoking rate in the nation. the last time california raise tax on smokes was by a voter referendum 14 years ago. this year a $50 million campaign by big tobacco has been doing its big dollar magic to change voters mind on this subject. support has dropped 14 points in

california in the last couple of months since the tobacco company advertising onslaught has really geared up. over in montana, you may remember this state attorney general who we had on the show the other day about his fight against citizens united. a fight that's going to the united states supreme court. he, steve bullock is considered likely to win the democratic e primary for governor. polls close there at the top of the hour in montana. it's a read state that's happy with its blue governor. in new jersey, it's democratic congressman versus democratic congressman. they are both democrats. they are both incumbents and the

district they are fighting over is considered to be a safe democratic district. polls closed in new jersey at 8:00 p.m. in terms of the results we got in i can give you precisely nothing. whether or not it was determinative, we'll never know, but one thing very interesting about this race between two democratic incumbent congressman is this was a proxy rematch of the obama versus hillary clinton democratic primary race from 2008. bill clinton came out and actively supported one side in this primary. president obama, on the other hand, supported in a more low key way, the other guy, steve rothman because he supported obama in the '08 primaries. this is a bit of a proxy contest. we'll be watching for the results in new jersey. the overall wackiest and least predictable thing going on in politics today is not happening in that race. it's not happening in any of the

other states that are voting. it's not happening in wisconsin. the wackiest thing going on is in california. if wisconsin was not happening the same day, this would be the politics story everybody was fixated on. she's the senior democratic senator from california. she's the incumbent. she's running for re-election. i want you to look at the ballot that she is running on. california changed its rules, so in a race like this, these scrolling names, this is the ballot. there isn't a democratic primary and a republican primary and the winner of each of those primaries run in the general election in november. the new way california is doing it is that everybody, all of these names you see scrolling by, everybody runs in the same primary. doesn't matter what party you're in or if you're the incumbent, everybody runs all at once. the top two finisher, whoever they are then run against each

other in the general election. you could have two democrats running against each other. presumably she has a good shot of being one of two top finishes, but who will she run against. there are 23 other people on the ballot tonight. it could end up being a general election in the fall between the democratic candidate versus one of the peace and party freedom that is running. none of the 23 other people on the ballot have made any sort of splash at all. none of them have made much on an impression. one of them has to end up on the ballot but none of them have any name recognition at all. the closest thing that any of them have to name recognition is orly taitz. she is a famous person. she's the birther dentist who spent the whole obama presidency leading the charge on the birth

certificate thing. because of that said show reputation, she happens to be the only person on the ballot in california with any name recognition at all. in this new everybody all at once primary that they are trying out in california, that means as the san francisco chronicle but it, i'll let them do the talking. it was intended to produce moderates. in california u.s. senate race it could yeield a challenger wh claims president was born in kenya. diane has a wide lead trailed by single digit rivals. in some cases led by orly. dude, it could happen. the republican senate candidate in the most populous state in the country really could be the dentist birther queen. i say this, a, because it's true. also because i want to assure the great state of wisconsin, i

want to assure all my friends in wisconsin that as the intensity in your state reaches it acme today, as crazy as your politics become, wisconsin, i mean it when i tell you, you're not the craziest. you may not be the craziest things in politics today. wisconsin take comfort, nothing as weird as orly is happening in wisconsin. in the rauf tonight, we're watching the results come in. 8% in. nbc is characterizing the race as too close to call. scott walker leading tom barrett. that's just 8% in. this race is too close to call. joining us now is a democratic wisconsin state senator who has joined us many times the over the last year. senator, it's a pleasure to have you again. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> is it any comfort to you that wisconsin could be construed as only the second craziest set of

politics in the country after orly taitz in california. >> that makes me feel a lot better, thanks. >> on the one hand, i have to ask you, the reports of potentially record turnout have to feel like a good sign. on the other hand we have heard that turnout was so high that they may have run out of ballots. they may have run out of voter registration forms for people wanting to register and vote on the same day. are you concerned about any of that having an overall affect on the tally tonight? >> we are concerned. i think people that made the effort to get out and leave work early and get out of the house, i think they will stay in line until the ballot show up. they will cast their ballot for who they vote for. i think if people make the effort to go there, i think that gives them further result until the ballot show up until they can vote. >> as a matter of wisconsin state law, if you're at the end of a line, even a basic long

line when the polls close at 8:00 p.m. in wisconsin, if you were in line when the polls closed rkts they have to let you vote. they can't close the door in your face. do you have an overall sense whether or not we'll see a split decision tonight? whether or not we might see the governor's race and lieutenant governor's race go to two different parties. do you think people are going to vote straight ticket today? >> i think people are going to vote straight ticket because the democrats care deeply about tom barrett and mahlon mitchell. i think the republicans resolve is just as strong. >> in terms of the union household vote, one of the things that we have seen in our exit polls is that the proportion of union households

in the electorate is up. they're overall proportion is up. do you think that will end up being a key issue in this case? could it end up being something that was really determinative for whether or not people turned out? >> i think so. i think in 2010, there were more union households. i can't remember what the number was that did support scott walker at the time. you're seeing the union house o hold up about 6%. that's good news. i think they will be supporting tom barrett. that's really good news. >> thank you for talking with us tonight. i have a feeling it's going to be a very late night. we'll be in touch. >> all right. sounds good. >> thanks very much. there's plenty of other important non-wisconsin story in tonight's news, which we'll bet to. including the one about the

adolph hitler paintings in texas and how that's factoring in the presidential race. that's coming up. have you ever partaken in a car insurance taste test before? by taste? yes, never heard of it. well, that's what we're doing today. car insurance x has been perfected over the past 75 years. it's tasty. our second car insurance... they've not been around very long. mmmm... no good! no good? no good! so you chose geico over the other. whatever this insurance is, it's no good. ok so you...

that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. like in a special ops mission? you'd spot movement, gather intelligence with minimal collateral damage. but rather than neutralizing enemies in their sleep, you'd be targeting stocks to trade. well, that's what trade architect's heat maps do. they make you a trading assassin. trade architect. td ameritrade's empowering, web-based trading platform. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up to $600 when you open an account.

our cloud is made of bedrock. concrete. and steel. our cloud is the smartest brains combating the latest security threats. it spans oceans, stretches continents. and is scalable as far as the mind can see. our cloud is the cloud other clouds look up to. welcome to the uppernet.

on a day like this in politics, the one giant story in politics tends to suck all the oxygen out of the room. that does not mean there's other news going on. today, in particular, even the other politics news outside wisconsin has been amazing. like for example, the project of orly taiz end up as the possible republican nominee in california and mitt romney doing a high dollar fund-raiser in the mansion in texas that displays paintings by adolph hitler. we'll have details on that in a second. after a day worth of very tentative speculation that it might have happened but there was no confirmation, finally today the white house did confirm the death of one of the last people in al qaeda who is a big enough deal to have major press profile in the west. american officials are

confirming that this death came as a result of this week's american drone strike in pakistan. here is the new york times profiling him as al qaeda's rising leader in 2008. here is foreign policy magazine profiling him as the next bin laden in 2009. when bin laden was killed a year ago, the guy who was number two under bin laden rose to take bin laden's place as al qaeda's top guy. after he moved up from number two to be the top guy in the organization, who moved up to be number two? it was this guy. the guy the white house says today that the united states has just killed. >> i can tell you that our intelligence community has intelligence that leads them together that al qaeda's number two leader is dead.

i can't get into details about how his death was brought about, but i can tell you that he served as al qaeda's general manager responsible for overseeing the groups day-to-day operations in the tribal areas of pakistan and he managed outreach to al qaeda's regional affiliates. there's no clear successor to take on the bredth of his responsibilities. >> this is not the first time he's been reported dead. if they did kill the second in command, the operational chief of the whole operation, then it's not overstating the case to call this announcement today a major blow against al qaeda. this one is a big deal. also in washington, a majority of u.s. senators, 52 u.s. senators recorded yes votes concerning the paycheck fairness act. this would extend protections to women who will are paid less

than men for performing the same work. 52 senators voted yes. in a normal world, 52 equals a majority, which means you win but in minority filibustered everything. the republicans still blocked it with a filibuster. president obama released a statement on it this afternoon calling today's vote incredibly disappointing that in this make or break moment for the middle class, senate republicans put partisan politics ahead of american women and their families despite the progress that's been made over the years women continue to earn less than men for performing the same work. it's been interesting the see republicans try to not have the fight be about, not have the fight about how we can remedy the pay disparity. republicans have just started denying there's any pay disparity. the president bluntly stating

that women earn substantially less than men for performing the same work. calling the factual question that republicans have moved into denying but also in pretty strong language, calling this a make or break moment, partisan politics, the president taking a very clear advocacy stand on this paycheck fairness bill. mr. obama's republican opponent, mitt romney is refusing to take a stand either way on this bill. every republican in the senate voted against it today. every republican in the state voted against it including scott brown of massachusetts. scott brown voted against paycheck fairness for women which should go over great in massachusetts. we're waiting to here on the voter suppression in the state of florida as we roeported on this show. they demanded that they stop purging voters off the state's

voter roll. the justice department said they have not asked for federal clearance under the voting rights act to go ahead with the purge and they said the state might be violating the national voter registration act by purging voters off the list too close to an election. that letter gave florida until tomorrow to respond. the justice department wants them to stop the purge, but so far republican officials from florida including the state's governor, rick scott, have not made any public noises to the effect that they will stop their purge in response to the justice departments demand. demanding on what the state does in the next 24 hours, this whole issue about florida's voter purge and this confrontation with the justice department will become a very big deal. set your google news alert on that. lastly, what's never likely to become a big deal because for some reasons republicans never get in trouble for something like this even though democrats do. what's likely to never become a

big deal but you should know what's going on in american politics is this. this is where mitt romney is holding a super dollar did you understand fund-raiser. you can't go until you give the. if you're the kind of person that can dine tonight at this mansion in texas with mitt romney under two paints by adolph hitler. the city scenes apparently and an original signed copy of a book signed by hitler. they are among the items on display from harlan crow. they are on display at his mansion. the great wayne wrote about this today. nobody is saying that harlan

crow or mitt romney are celebrating hitler. they are just eati ining dinner raising money under the watchful eye of the hitler paintings alongside the other items in the collection from other famous people. imagine what the right would do with that if it was president obama making that decision instead of a republican. imagine. [ male announcer ] imagine facing the day with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide.

antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or serious allergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbaa.lt dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. do you have any idea where you're going ? wherever the wind takes me.

this is so off course. nature can surprise you sometimes... next time, you drive. next time, signal your turn. ...that's why we got a subaru. love wherever the road takes you. the polls in wisconsin and the governor's recall race and nbc news is characterizing the race as too close to call. nbc news is prepared to change its projection. nbc news is projecting that governor scott walker of wisconsin has survived the recall challenge from his democratic challenger, mayor tom barrett of milwaukee. this is the nbc news characterization in this race. governor scott walker, the projegted winner. the survivor of the recall effort against him.

the projection, this characterization is made with 21% of the vote in. of course, nbc comes up to these characterizations from information more than just the precincts that are reporting. they are looking at exit poll data and other means open making their projections. but scott walker, according to nbc news, is holding on tonight in wisconsin after this epic, epic recall fight. we'll be joined in a moment by my friend, ed schultz who has been covering this race. ed, we've been able to characterize this race as a win for scott walker. governor walker surviving this recall challenge in wisconsin. i got to ask your reaction to somebody that's covered this more closely than anybody else in the national media? >> in many respects it's to be expected, considering how much money was thrown at this race.

you know, nbc is calling it for walker. okay, i think it's awful close. there's a lot of absentee ballots that are still out and it's going to be very, very close down to the wire. so it's disappointing, i know, if this is going to be the result to a lot of workers in this state. but certainly, it is not the end and it's going to be an opportunity for the progressive movement to regroup nationally and understand exactly what they are up against. no question about it. it was a gal lant efforts and canvassing was intense. they felt like tom barrett had a good final week but scott walker, according to nbc news has prevailed with 22% of the vote in. that's the call right now. i know milwaukee will have a big turnout and so is madison. a fabulous turnout in both of those areas and there you see

it. i don't think you know, it's damaging to the labor movement. no question about that. but it also sets a real clear message to what democrats are going to be up against coming up in november and i think it sends a message to what kind of ground game is going to be needed to fight off the special-interest money that's coming into a lot of races around the country where they are going to be outgunned financially. so it's going to be a tough question. no question. a lot of disappointed people. there were a lot of high hopes that this was going to turn around for the people of wisconsin, the workers. the question now is how aggressive is walker going to get. he's going to get a lot of national attention because of this. it would seem to me that the republican party is going to have to find a spot for him at the national convention and prop him up. the rom knee campaign is the agenda they'll want to follow and this will give a lot of talking points and momentum to the ryan budget. and that's going to make the hill a little bit higher for the democrats to climb. i don't think this proverbial

fight is over yet by any stretch. >> and obviously, we're still waiting on results in the lieutenant governor's race. we're waiting on the results in the four republican state senate recalls. the pod -- the possibility at this point of -- showing the board for lieutenant governor's race. nbc characterizing that one as too close to call. the possibility that the democrats, if they win one state senate seat will win control of the state senate tonight in which case we would be like looking at divided government in wisconsin, scott walker holding on to the governorship and the republicans holding on. do you think that will make a material difference in terms of policy in the state? >> well, i know one thing. if the zrats democrats over the senate, winning one of those senate recall races, it will slow down the agenda and make scott walker talk a little bit.

because the democrats are bound and determined to make sure that there's not going to be any more radical legislation coming through. they'll be able to probably fence off the "right to work" legislation that the democrats think walker is going to show up with and the effort there. it is also going to slow down any kind of radical voting suppression laws that the democrats have said that they are committed to stopping. so this is definitely going to slow down government in wisconsin. no question about that. but this is also an opportunity for the republicans to gain a great deal of confidence. when they outfund the opponent, it can make a difference. we're looking at almost a $27 million advantage that walker had over tom barrett. and this sets the template for the republicans and tells the right wing in this country that if they can outfund their opponent they have a real good shot as winning.

scott walker could well be indicted in the coming days. he's definitely a challenged candidate. and this state does not have a surplus. they were able to get that message across to a lot of people to the point where you had national media figures saying that the state has a surplus. so a lot of fudging going on, so to speak and it's really surprising but when you've got the money and you can buy the message you can convince a lot of people you're on the right side of the issues. so it's going to be really a fight for the democrats here in november. no question. >> live from wisconsin, ed, i know you have a live hour ahead and a lot to prep for. thanks for joining us with your initial thoughts. >> there's no embarrassment in the loss. great night for democracy and the turnout was terrific and americans should celebrate that. >> joining us on the phone is state senator, a democratic wisconsin state senator who

western speaking with earlier this hour. you've heard that nbc news has projected that the winner of the gubernatorial recall the rupp governor scott walker. mayor barrett has fallen short. i got to get your first reaction. >> my first reaction is i listened to ed. money makes a huge difference. it was a sprint. it wasn't your traditional race. when you come in and you've got $50 million in a race that lasts four weeks. and keep in mind. scott walker was running ads against tom barrett before barrett was in the primary race so the money made a difference. i'll be curious to see what the final spread is on and what kind of message we should take away from that. >> in terms of the ground game, as they call it, one of the races i've been talking about this race and its importance, was the interweaving of the labor movement and its organizational capacity, in terms of getting out the vote, funding external big-dollar

donations in campaigns. whether they're presidential-year campaigns or mid-term year campaigns. is there reason to worry about the democratic side to have the capacity to get out the vote in? >> i tried to make a point to a lot of people in wisconsin that governor walker can get all the $500,000 checks that he wants. they come from people that don't live here and can't vote here. one vote for tom barrett or president obama in november cancelled out that $500,000 contribution so the voting matters. the ground game in wisconsin was real and grassroots. i spent the past weekends driving all over wisconsin putting 1400 miles on my car visiting these offices and these are real wwisconsinites. >> thank you for joining us. i imagine this will still be a

long night as we wait for the state senate races to come in. appreciate your time. joining us from governor scott walker's headquarters in wisconsin is nbc news correspondent, ron allen. i have to imagine 245 with nbc news projecting governor walker has won the race, people are absolutely over the moon there? >> that's putting it mildly. there was a huge roar that went up a couple of minutes ago when the big winner box was checked. and people are just really sort sav savoring the moment. >> what are you thinking about? >> we were wondering if maybe it was a mistake. >> it's not a mistake. >> well, it was very -- it came up on the screen really fast and everyone kind of went crazy but i don't know, a lot of us have worked really hard for this so it's really exciting. >> thank you very much and congratulations. >> how about you, sir? what are you thinking and feeling right now? >> i'm very surprised that it happened so early?

>> there were predictions it would be a great, long night. a lot of turnout? >> we expected to take longer but we're happy it's done now, so, yeah. >> thank you very much. >> all right, rachel, a little bit of sampling. you hear the chanting that will go on for a while and they'll celebrate for a long time nightth into the night. happening a lot quicker than most people thought. but the celebration is under way. >> ron allen at scott walker headquarters. thank you very much, i really appreciate your time tonight, plan. >> we'll be back at midnight. recapping the news from this hour. nbc news has projected that the winner in the gubernatorial recall in wisconsin is the incumbent republican governor scott walker. now time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. see you at midnight. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. i was worried it would be hard to install. but it's really easy. the better i drive, the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool.