democrats trampled republicans in the 51st annual congressional baseball game held at nationals park. the final score, a lopsided 18-5. seems like a football score. good day. i'm chris cillizza live in washington in today for andrea mitchell. in ourç daily fix, the supreme court gave the president broad legal and political victory on thursday but how will the health care decision affect vulnerable down ballot democrats and house and senate candidates who are running in red states, and there are lots of them. it didn't take long after the health care decision was handed down for republicans on capitol hill to rally around a single message. >> the court has now spoken. it is a tax. >> the government could decide that we're going to tax you if you don't eat broccoli on tuesday. apparently that's not constitutional. >> if we can see a republican victory in the senate, the congress i am convinced will

overturn the obamacare law through the reconciliation process with the 51 vote margin. >> kelly o'donnell is nbc news capitol hill correspondent. thank you. it's a busy day on the hill. we had yesterday which i think broadly was a win for president obama because the alternative would have been a loss for president obama. today, dawns another political day. republicans clearly focusing that dreaded "t" word in politics, tax. tell us what you can about where the strategy for both sides goes from here. >> well, good to see you, and it seems that what justice roberts did give to conservatives and republicans is a second act here. the day yesterday certainly belonged to the president and he has a powerful argument going forward, but those three letters, t-a-x, give republicans something they can press. part of their argument is they believe the law would not have passed originallyç with democrats, some democrats not voting for it if it had been

more kind of openly discussed as a tax. republicans tried to defi it that way. the president, democrats pushed hard, very hard to say it was not a tax, and now the court has given them that piece. how it will play out down the line, one of the things i think will be interesting is independent and swing voters. do they look to the court as sort of the ultimate arbiter of is this a good law which the court says it's not about the policy, it's about the constitutionality, will that sway some of them or does this open a lane to give kind of a new path for all of that energy the republicans and conservatives say they've had over the last few years for voters who do not like the health care law, who have questions about how it will change their lives and what it will do. so both sides have a way to go with this, that they can probably rally their base with. >> to your point, i thought mitt romney yesterday, it was bad policy before the court ruled, it's bad policy today. that may be the message republicans are sending. i was struck though, i'm always looking at campaigns and what's going on. but i want to read a few things

that democratic candidates running in republican-leaning states had to say. i will start with heidi highcamp from north dakota. she's running for an open seat in north dakota. she said i'll work with both parties to control costs, keep the good pieces intact and fix the bad pieces like the individual mandate. here's bob kerry, who has been in the senate, running again in nebraska. now that the court spectacle is over it's time for republicans and democrats to put partisan politics aside. i for one am confident i can work with republicans to find common sense solutions. these are the seats in smm ways, add missouri in there and florida and a few others, these are the seats that will decide who controls the senate. what does the fact that we've got democrats running if not away from yesterday's health care ruling, certainly not toward it, kelly? >> well, one of the lesser headlines yesterday was the president even acknowledging in his remarks that it can be improved. i sat down and spoke with nancy pelosi, the democratic leader, yesterday. she also said oh, yes, the law could be changed and improved.

so democrats are sort of embracing the idea that the law as people have come to know it over the last couple of years and as it would unfold as different provisions kick in, that there could be changes. for democrats that's a way to try to say it's imperfect, it can be adjusted. maybe there are some things that people don't like that can be retooled a bit. whereas republicans are grabbing on the tax theme, democrats who have wind at their sails are also conceding a bit that it is unpopular with some and there might be ways to change it to improve how it would affect people's lives. >> before i let you go, a vote, eric holder, the attorney general, the first sitting cabinet member to be held in contempt of congress. this in any other week is a massive story. what does this tell us? is there anything beyond the fact that partisans on both sides don't like one another and congress doesn't work? is there a conclusion we can draw from this? where do we go from here? what are the politics of this vote? >> because of the fact that this is a first in the country's

history and there were such hurt feelings on both sides about this, it did sort of become more of a spectacle. what happens next is hard to say because there are consequences to a contempt of congress vote. republicans say their real intent was éo get documents to help them understand why the justice department had given them false information and then retracted that last year in that fast and furious investigation. so really hurt feelings among democrats who believed that the attorney general deserved more time and that while they say the process of oversight of the executive branch is important, they felt this got too personal against him and took it to a level that they thought was just too extreme. republicans say they felt pushed, that they had been trying for months to resolve this and hadn't been able to. so very hardened positions when it comes to that particular action against the attorney general. it was notable but it did get a little bit overshadowed with all the other events. >> i feel like republicans say we did the right thing. democrats say you abused power.

independents throw their hands up. not a new story. thank you for the reporting. >> good to see you. the health care ruling will likely go down as one of the supreme court's most significant decisions in decades. one that may have changed the way congress and the court co-exist. attorney david rivken filed the original challenge to the law in florida on behalf of 26 states. he also served in the justice department under president reagan and president george h.w. bush. david, you were there at the beginning, you're here at the end. thank you for joining me. >> pleasure. >> tell me what your -- i don't want to get too in the weeds of the legal stuff, but i want to talk about what is your readout, because these things are complicated as we saw yesterday with the confusion over what the actual ruling was. is this a good thing for someone like you who is involved in this case debating, wanting to get this act looked at by the affordable care actç looked aty the supreme court? is this a positive, negative or neutral outcome? >> it's both, as we say in

today's "wall street journal," it's a triumph and tragedy. it's a triumph because the lawsuit to me was not about health care, it was about the vitality of our constitutional architecture, that all government exercises limited powers and not general police powers to protect individual liberty. that view has been powerfully vindicated by the five justices. member, that's the justification for the mandate, not the tax power. the unfortunate stuff here is the court frankly rewrote the statute. remember nancy pelosi said we have to pass the statute to know what's in it. rewriting the law is not a judicial function. i'm also troubled by the willingness of the chief justice to apply a very broad view of taxing power that may potentially in the future lead to similar types of mandates. >> you mentioned john roberts. i feel like he in some ways

became the story yesterday. is he rightly being castigated for looking for ways to justify this law and what's the recourse ultimately? he has a lifetime appointment. i don't expect him to resign any time soon. >> the second question is easier. he's not going to resign. of course, it does not mean that he is not influenced by what people say about the wisdom or lack thereof of his position. as to the first one, it is a troubling result because again, you do not want to have a situation where the judiciary pays no attention, it's called deference. you should strive to save the law. the technical term is constitutional avoidance. if you can construe the law in a

constitutional fashion, even a restrained reading, you should do so. one thing you should not do is rewrite the law. that is not the judicial function. >> a lot of the criticism of john roberts was that he was worried that after citizens united, after president obama calling out the chief justice -- the court over citizens united, that there was a concern on his part that the court was going to be seen if they overturned this as partisan. does that kind of thing influence, the supreme court is famously, they always say, not influenced, they don't care about the comings and goings, the daily politics people like me write about. is that accurate? >> call me constitutional idealist. the framers envisioned the court fully insulated from legal pressures. that's why you get life tenure. the political branches of course are susceptible to legal pressures. the court should not. i can understand at the human level but i frankly think it should not have been a factor. we're not talking about the court of john marshall, the

first great chief justice. the court was very young, didn't have much legitimacy. we're talking about a mature court with tremendous powers. i recl should have been a factor. you're right, it may have been a factor but it should not have been. that's regrettable. that's another example of not performing a proper judicial role. writing versus construing, second being swayed by these political pressures. what's the lesson? the court can be nudged by political pressures, by media pressures? that's not a good thing. how would you feel if this was a decision by guantanamo where habeas corpus rights were denied because the american people felt the worst of the worst should not be entitled to it. would that be a good thing? >> fair point. thank you for joining me. a busy couple days for you. thank you. this hour, president obama

will land i colorado for his first look at the damage caused by the worst wildfire in that state's history. this comes as the president declared colorado a disaster area, opening the door for federal aid. the epic fire has burned through nearly 17,000 acres and still threatens 20,000 homes. we're in colorado springs with more. miguel? >> reporter: good afternoon. here at the waldo canyon fire, more than 436 homes are believed to be destroyed. that 436 number came from a press briefing a short time ago but authorities now tell us they believe there may be more damage out there. as you mentioned, the president will be here himself later on today to help survey the damage, take a first-hand look at some of the destruction. the area has been deemed a disaster, a major disaster, which should free up some federal funds to help firefighters here on the çgrou. we have seen those heavy air tankers, the c-130s flying overhead today, as well as some 1200 firefighters who are on the ground trying to push back this blaze.

it's consumed more than 18,000 acres. it's roughly 15% contained. the problem is, there is some good weather today, but this fire is still burning through dry forested land. it shows no signs of slowing down and could be burning for weeks, if not months. >> miguel, you said 15% contained. is there any plan, i know in fast-moving situations, there may not be, but is there any plan they set out to try to get it 30% contained, 50% contained, 75% contained, or is it a minute by minute, hour by hour decision making process there? >> reporter: it is an hour by hour process here. the crews are actively digging fire lines. we know today there are soldiers from the air force academy who are out with bulldozers trying to extend that fire break. when we talk about containment, when firefighters say they have full containment, that means they have a fire line around the entire perimeter of the fire so the fire can burn itself out. the fire may continue to burn but it won't threaten any more homes. crews are trying to add those fire breaks and fire lines around this blaze.

it's 15% contained which means 85% of the fire's unchecked. they certainly still have a long way to go. >> thank you for the reporting. coming up, the attorney general of georgia, one of the 26 states that mounted the legal challenge against the president's health care law. what's georgia's next move? ♪ [ male announcer ] you're at the age where you don't get thrown by curveballs. ♪ this is the age of knowing how to get things done. so, why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure.

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georgia was one of 26 states that filed a lawsuit to overturn health care reform but what will those states do now that the supreme court has come down with its decision?ç joining me now is georgia state attorney general sam ollines who was with mitt romney when the decision was announced. i am fascinated by this. number one, where were you and number two, did you guys think

as some of the early reporting suggested that the individual mandate had been in fact struck down? >> look, we were cautiously optimistic but we knew we needed to frankly see the decision of the court. i think it was a surprise to all sides that the court ruled 5-4 on the tax clause. i remain concerned about that because it's a significant broadening of the tax clause. we were certainly pleased to win on the commerce clause and spending clause arguments and we're still frankly sifting through the decision. >> sam, humor me here. i think our listeners would be interested, i know i'm interested, obviously governor romney came out after the decision and made a statement but where were you guys? were you in a holding room? was ann romney there? how many people there? set the scene if you could for us. >> we were at the washington hilton and there were approximately six or seven people in the room. there was the governor, his senior staff and myself in the room and we were immediately

discussing the decision as information came out about it. at that point we then went to the governor's press conference and i thought he did an excellent job of demonstrating the difference between our current president and what i hope to be our next president. >> sam, let me ask you. i just had david rivkin in here, one of the folks who led the lawsuit. you obviously were involved in it, too. you talked about there were good andç bad victories and defeats here but given the fact that the expectation going into yesterday's decision, rightly or wrongly, the conventional wisdom seemed to be it was very likely the mandate would fall, the whole bill might fall. are you disappointed today with the outcome and does it impact what you do going forward? >> you know, keep in mind when we filed the lawsuit, we were told it was frivolous, we were told sanctions should be given to the state attorneys general, and we won 7-2 on the case that we took the most grief, that being the medicaid expansion argument. so there's significant language

on state sovereignty in that opinion that we very much appreciate. yesterday from my perspective was a pyrrhic victory for the president. we need to not only repeal and replace obama care, we need to replace president obama and i think this has engaged and energized both republicans and independents with the need for a new president, at which point you can then do a reconciliation, throw this act out and in fact, adopt appropriate real health care. >> sam, let me ask you one more thing away from the politics and on the policy. in terms of what's next. the president's health care law would add 650,000 georgians to medica medicare. one in five folks in georgia are currently uninsured. the big question coming forward now is about medicaid funding and whether georgia and many of the other states, some of the other states who voiced resistance to taking the federal funds, whether they do so or not.

what is your belief the right course of action here, take the wait until the november try to election, to, to your point, get a new president in place? >> i think the conservative states are going to frankly wait until after the november 6 election. i think there's no question that we view the bad, excuse me, the act just as bad today as it was when it was passed two years ago. i think all the reference is going to be on the november 6 election and we will make a decision on the opt-out or not to opt-out after we see the returns. >> sam ollins who was in the room with mitt romney when the decision came out thursday. thank you for spending time with us today. >> thank you, sir. up next, the political briefing. raising money on the health care ruling. this is "andrea mitchell reports." ♪ ♪

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to get a free quote, call... visit a local office, or go to libertymutual.com today. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? how math and science kind of makes the world work. in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from. so now, as an engineer, i have a career that speaks to that passion. thank you, mr. davies. in today's political briefing, the health care decision is leading to a lot of

campaign cash for republicans. the romney campaign tweeted that they have raised over $4.5 million in the 24 hours since the supreme court health care decision was announced. joining me now toalk about it is politico's ken vogel. ken, last time i checked, andrea saw the romney national spokesperson, she's been tweeting these updates regularly. last time i checked it was $4.6 million they raised. i have been on the air for 25 minutes. i could have missed it but that is a significant chunk of change. what does it tell us, if anything, about reaction on the republican side to this ruling? >> well, it certainly seems to suggest that there's a lot of energy there and it's not just the romney campaign. we've seen groups ranging from the tea party patriots to senate candidate richard murdoch using this to raise money. we have also seen it on the left. president obama, his campaign came out and said oh, yeah, we've raised more than mitt romney since the ruling. i think it shows for romney in particular that he needs -- he has an ability to raise small

dollar@=9q%=9m even though that hasn't been his focus, but he needs help. he needs something to spur the small donor base and this ruling may just be it. >> you know, i think, too, it's worth noting some of this, the regular updates of how much they have been raising, is to push back against the narrative that this was a big loss for republicans, which was driving the day yesterday. another thing, you mentioned small dollars. let's go from small dollars to very big dollars. sheldon adelson, casino magnate, gave $10 million to the koch brothers, americans for prosperity. you guys reported it first. obviously, americans for prosperity is already spending lots of money and spending money on health care, i know on ads. now, you followed the koch brothers and sheldon adelson very closely. is this the beginning of the spigot being turned on? >> it could be. what's interesting, these are two sort of poles of the big

money on the conservative movement. on the one hand, you have adelson who is a neocon, his big issue is the defense of israel. on the other hand, you have the koch brothers who sort of have a more libertarian based conservetism that eschews foreign policy interventionism, they opposed the iraq war. the fact you have them coming together really shows a coalescing of the big money on the right behind republicans, behind mitt romney and against barack obama, perhaps to an unprecedented degree we have never seen. it's something that should worry democrats.ç >> ken, i want to just one very quick thing because i think this is fascinating. we did the math. the spending on ads in the health care debate, $250 million on anti-health care, $76 million pro-health care. it's probably no wonder given that disparity that the bill is

clearly, remains more thought of less favorably than more favorably. do we expect, is there room for any spending to change that basic dynamic which is low 40s approval of the bill, high 40s disapproval? >> certainly on the spending side, i don't think that we're going to see a significant shift in that balance. in other words, even as liberals try to ramp up their spending to defend this, and i would include, incidentally, the obama campaign ads and many democratic campaign ads which are going to have to address that in some way, shape or form, i think there is still going to be more spending on the right. it does, however, i think, because it is going to force some spending defending the law and defending democratic support for the law, is going to put democrats a little more on defense and force them to spend money on a message they would rather not be focusing on. >> good point. ken, i call you the money man. politico's money man. >> i'll take it.

>> not bad, right? >> it's not casino magnate. >> we can't all be casino magnates. have a good weekend. coming up, reselling health care. president obama facing a very narrow window of opportunity. can he change the court of public opinion?ç plu with historic decisions and vote against eric holder, was this week a turning point in american politics? ♪ used to rock the microphone ♪ back when our credit score couldn't get us a micro-loan ♪ ♪ so light it up! ♪ even better than we did before ♪ ♪ yeah prep yourself america we're back for more ♪ ♪ our look is slacker chic and our sound is hardcore ♪ ♪ and we're here to drop a rhyme about free-credit-score ♪ ♪ i'm singing free-crediscore-dot-com ♪ ♪ dot-com narrator: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com. an intense burning sensation i woke up with this horrible rash on my right side. like somebody had set it on fire. and the doctor said, cindie, you have shingles. he said, you had chickenpox when you were a little girl...

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in every way, shape, and form. it's my dream vehicle. on a day to day basis, i am not using gas. my round trip is approximately 40 miles to work.

head on home, stop at the grocery store, whatever else that i need to do -- still don't have to use gas. i'm never at the gas station unless i want some coffee. it's the best thing ever. as a matter of fact, i'm taking my savings so that i can go to hawaii. ♪ the president is making it clear that while he's pleased that his health care law was upheld, he'r0already pivoting back to the economy. >> it's time for us to move forward, to implement and where necessary, improve on this law. now's the time to keep our focus on the most urgent challee of our time, putting people back to work, paying down our debt and building an economy where people can have confidence that if they work hard, they can get ahead. >> joining me now, major garret, white house correspondent for "the national journal," ruth

marcus, editorial writer for "washington post" and susan page, washington bureau chief for "usa today" . thank you all for coming in on friday. i'm struck by, we interviewed sam ollins, the georgia state attorney general, a republican, and he called it a pyrrhic victory for president obama, it looks like a victory but ultimately talking about health care, relitigating health care is a loser for them. >> president obama voided calamity by winning in the court. it's a good thing for him. >> sometimes not losing is winning. >> exactly. the court to have gone the other way would have been catastrophic. that doesn't make it a good issue for him. health care is still not popular -- the health care law not popular with the majority of americans and not the issue that will get him re-elected even though it is the signature achievement of his first term. >> do you buy the idea that's

percolated around, chuck todd, you may have heard of him -- >> seemed like a nice guy. >> he has pushed the2idea that there is now a window, it's small, but there is a window to relitigate in some way the politics of the health care law, basically for the last two years you have seen more people view the law unfavorably than favorably. can that be turned around, given the ruling? >> going to be difficult but if there is a window, this is it. my mother, the political strategist not, but pretty smart person, called this american and said what he needs to do now, meaning the president, is go out and sell what's in the law, to explain it to people. >> but hasn't -- i feel like -- i mean, i feel like this is charlie brown and lucy and the football all over again. all we have to do is sell what people like in the law and every time republicans pull the football away, saying they're changing it, this is bad. aren't we just going to go back to the same fight or does it

fundamentally alter it that the supreme court, including a chief justice appointed by george w. bush, change it? >> this is the show for the shameless plug but i will do one. >> all television is shameless plugs. >> i write about a june 15th meeting david plouffe and dan pfeiffer and other top communications and policy people at the white house had with about 16 very top democratic strategists and the topic of health care came up. david plouffe said look, what we've learned in our focus groups is when we ask people about the health care law and supreme court decision, they say do i have to change my plan and if i don't, i don't really care. i'm not obsessed about this. i'm obsessed about my economic future, other issues. the white house has internalized that and you saw it consistent in the president's remarks yesterday. this is a victory. we will continue to quietly implement this law and we will talk about the economy because

that is the centralssue for the voting public in the re-election campaign and also, we sort of sometimes gloss over this, it is actual government responsibility to implement that which has been passed. that's hard grinding work at times and the republicans will argue over the implementation, they will continue to fight with it. the administration will implement, talk about it a little bit, in a sense of it's been -- the supreme court aspect of this has been resolved. we will talk about the economy and continue to implement. >> another reason why they won't talk about it, i don't think, really, is that you saw -- the "washington post" basically had majorities of people neither like the current health care system, nor like the changes in the law which when you have something like that -- >> but everybody likes most of the individual provisions. i do think that, i'm sure if i knew more about football i could do something with the football analogy. in any event, i think the fact

that this has the imprimatur of the chief justice on it takes away a piece of the football and also, it changes i think in some ways the calculus, not necessarily for the election because i think there is a risk for the president in an energized republican base but sort of thinking about the obama presidency, even if he is defeated, this was a legacy. >> the chief justice didç not y it was good policy. he said it was not unconstitutional. >> that's right. >> so what this does, this does some good things. >> to your point, romney said this is bad policy yesterday, it's bad policy -- >> that's right. republicans who want to repeal it have to elect mitt romney. they don't have the option of thinking the court's going to overturn it so the presidential stakes are a little lower than they would otherwise be. >> what do you make of, this was a big talking point from democrats, at least to me, yesterday, was focus on the fact that people don't want to repeal this law.

even if they don't like it, they don't want to repeal it. going down the repeal road is a loser for republicans. do you buy that? >> the voters as they always do will decide this. two points. the white house yesterday was saying look, if republicans want to present to the public a refighting of this issue, both in november and in january, have at it. because we're confident, the white house is, that the public isn't interested in another prolonged 18 months of fighting over health care. now, republicans quite evidently are. we'll find out if independents are. the other point, david axelrod often tells strategists in the white house look, if the president is successful in the supreme court and nominally to largely he was, the change message comes back a little bit for the president by implication, because he fought for change, he achieved change and it's now been sanctioned by the supreme court. that big sort of echo chamber for the campaign i think is going to be more resident, more visible going forward. >> i keep coming back to susan's point, which is in the absence

of losing, it's winning. if he had lost, barack obama can doç big things and solve intractable problems is gone. >> there's no appetite to -- americans hardly wanted to fight about it the first time around. i think most americans, especially independents, don't want to do so again. >> thank you all for coming in. good to see your faces. >> thanks. have a good weekend. up next, the story of medora.

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...which helped students and teachers get better results in ap courses. together, they raised ap test scores 138%. just imagine our potential... ...if the other states joined them. let's raise our scores. let's invest in our teachers and inspire our students. let's solve this. coming up in 15 minutes on "news nation" president obama is about to touch down in colorado to get the first-hand look at those massive wildfires that have turned deadly. we'll take you there. plus, i'll talk to the cancer survivor who president obama mentioned in his speech after the supreme court's health care ruling. the president said she inspired him to fight every day for reform. and he calls it the hell walk. i'm going to talk to the guy who was walking 100 miles in 24

hours around los angeles. we will explain all about it, why. in the headlines, a florida judge says george zimmerman will have to stay in jail while he determines whether to grant bond. zimmerman's bail was revoked weeks ago after prosecutors said he misled the court about his legal defense fund. defense attorneys used today's hearing to try and convince the judge it was an honest mistake. military officials at fort bragg are investigating why a u.s. soldier opened fire during a safety briefing, killing a battalion commander and wounding another soldier. the alleged gunman then shot and wounded himself. he's now in custody. triple digit temperatures have set more than a thousand new records around the country this week and the heat wave's not over yet. it's expected to be well over 100 across the midwest and the south. about 85 miles south of indianapolis is a rural town called medora, indiana, which grabbed national attention for its basketball record, but not

in a good way. in ç2009, the medora high scho boys basketball team went 0-22 in the hoosier state, in the midst of that losing streak, the wn was also hit hard by the economic downturn and that's what drew two film makers to move to the town and tell the story of medora. i'm thrilled to have andrew coen and davy rothbar with me. the first thing i thought in seeing this as a kid who grew up wanting to be an nba player and wound up being a decent pickup basketball player is how did you find these guys and how did you latch on this story about basketball and it's about a lot more. how did you find it, how did you decide this is what you wanted to do? >> sure. we read a great article in the "new york times" about the town and this basketball team. most sports documentaries are trying to win the championship. this story, a team trying to win one single game. every game had the drama and

intensity of a championship game, could this be the one game medora wins. also, andrew and i are from ann arbor, michigan. all the small towns outside of ann arbor, you see this happening. the manufacturing jobs go away, farming is hit hard and you have towns just kind of fade away. so we wanted to tell the story of the town. we moved there for a year and captured, you know, the life of the people in the town who we really came to love and also, their efforts to overcome the struggles. >> now, before i come to you, andrew, we have a part from th film of one of the stories that you guys told, one of the boys' stories you told.ç let's listen to a little of that. >> this is dylan mcsorley. you might not know me but i'm your son with shannon arnold. just would like to see you sometime and stuff but i'll be

in orleans friday, if you would like to come, i'm playing basketball with medora high school. >> this is about a lot more than basketball. that's just heartwrenching stuff. this town i mentioned in the beginning, this is a town that just struggled economically, it's struggling overall, it's struggling to stay up with the times. it's struggling to keep its kids there, struggling obvisly on a much liger note, struggling to win basketball games. tell me what's happening nationally in the economy, how that influenced these kids, how these kids' lives are different than they might be if they didn't grow up in a town like medora. >> right. well, the trend has been peop leaving these small towns. that's no secret. what's happened to medora, it didn't happen overnight. there used to be a plastics factory there. it was sort of a booming sort of farm town a long time ago. what's happened is that where we're from outside of detroit,

if a factory leaves, yes, it hurts the economy, but it doesn't mean it's the end of doe tro detroit. we have seen detroit start to come back. in a town of 500 or 600 people, when you lose manufacturingç le that and people leave to go to bigger cities for opportunities, what's left behind. medora, what we tried to explore in the movie is what it used to be, what it's like now and sort of what's led up to that. it's a complicated issue. it's not something where there's this boogeyman who you can point the finger and say that's it. they are also struggling to hold on to their school so in a lot of rural towns because of school consolidation, that's really hurt the towns as well. it's the identity of the town and the threat, one of the story lines we followed besides the kids and the basketball season was the threat of their school being taken away. and that's very serious to these people. they don't want to consolidate. they want to hold on to their school, to their identity.

there's this real push and pull between do we hold on to our heritage or do we sort of move forward. i think that's what the movie is about. it really explores sort of where we are as a country and are we, if we are going to move forward, what does that mean and what are we leaving behind. these small towns, i think, are important. i want people to think about what these small towns mean to the country. yeah. >> i want to -- we got about a minute left. this is important. the kids obviously are the centerpiece in both heartwrenching and kind of an inspiring way. what do these kids want? do they want what any kid from any town in america wants, what i wanted growing up which is to star on my basketball team? what is it that you guys -- you weren't there for two weeks. you were there for a year. you know these families in some do these kids really w out of their high school life and their life more broadly?

what do they hope for? what can they hope for? >> it's something i talked a lot with kids like dylan and rusty rogers and robbie armstrong. i think what they want is opportunity. these are great kids who are just passionate kids. they fight so hard to overcome some really great odds that are stacked against them and they want the chances that people have anywhere. they're hard workers. they want a chance to work a job and you know, raise a family. they're not trying to be in the nba. they're just trying to, you know, raise a family and support themselves and support the people around them. and the odds are stacked against them but we saw amazing them, but we saw amazing resilience and kids that have overcome a lot already and will continue to overcome things but they want their town to survive. the town of medora wants to survive. go to the website. there are other clips people can see and learn more about the

town and players we followed. >> thank you both. medorafilm.com. co-directors. thank you, guys, a great and important story told through a fascinating window. thank you. >> thank you. what political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? that's next on "andrea mitchell reports." have been out of work. you can tell it wears on them. narrator: he's fought to pull us out of economic crisis for three years. and he still is. president obama's plan keeps taxes down for the middle class, invests in education and asks the wealthy to pay their fair share. mitt romney and his billionaire allies can spend milions to distort the president's words. but they're not interested in rebuilding the middle class. he is. i'm barack obama and i

moments ago the house voted 373-52 to approve a massive highway bill which saves nearly 3 million jobs by extending more than $100 billion in federal funding for infrastructure projects over the next two years. the bill also prevents interest rates on student loans from doubling. it's expected to pass the senate this afternoon. so -- which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? i can't think ofç anyone i'd rather have tell me the answer to that question than msnbc contributor jonathan cakacapeha and my friend.

jonathan, what's in it? >> talking about president obama winging his way to colorado as we speak. actually moments away from landing. he's going to visit the damp and the first responders there to the wildfires happening there in colorado springs. we've had 32,000 people who have been ordered evacuated from the area. 15,000 acres of land on fire. or at least then on fire. only 5% of that fire is contained. so the president is going out there. he's spoken to the governor in colorado about what's been happening assuring them that fema, the federal emergency management administration, will bring all resources to bear to make sure the wildfires get contained. >> amazing week. shows you the breadth of what it takes to the president of the united states. two major supreme court rulings. contempt vote and now this to end the president's week.

thank you. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." andrea is back on monday, and she is live from the ideas festival. my colleague thomas roberts has a look ot what's next on "nightly news." >> than >> -- "news nation." out to the colorado, a live report from the fire lines where president obama is about to tour the devastation. massive wildfires that have now turned deadly. we'll bring you up to speed. plus a chance to talk to theç cancer survivor president obama mentioned after the supreme court ruling about health care. the president said she inspired him to fight every day for reform. and the guy who calls it the hell war. walking 100 miles in 24 hours around los angeles. we'll tell you what his inspiration is. ♪ [ male announcer ] you're at the age where you don't get thrown by curveballs. ♪

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hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts filling in for tamron hall today. the "news nation" following breaking news out of colorado. president obama is about to arrive there in colorado springs to tour it introductithe destru by the worst wildfires in history. the waldo canyon fire has taken one life and destroyed 336 homes. 35,000 people evacuated from that area. nbc news correspondent miguel almaguer is in colorado springs with the latest on the damage as well as the president's visit. bring us up to speed. local firefighters are coordinating with agencies such as fema. correct? >> reporter: correct. fema has been involved the last couple of days offering not just support here on the ground but also federal funds and as you mentioned, with the president arriving here today he'll tour the devastation and take a firsthand look and by declaring this area a disaster that opens up the door for more federal funds. the fire has already cost

multimillion dollars just to fight, not even discuss the damage. you mentioned, well over 340 homes destroyed here. that number could go up later on today as fire officials get a better look at the ground and the damp. some 18,000 acres have been destroyed. this fire is only 15% contained. it's a blaze that has more than 1,200 firefighters on the ground fighting. air attacks going on all day. the big concern has aays)been the weather here. it's bone dry. the conditions out here. we have gusting winds which have not been an issue today and likely in the through the weekend but could kick back up. the reason that's a concern, this fire won't take days to put out, potentially weeks even months. this fire is actively burning, still threatening homes. some 20,000 people at this hour are still evacuated. >> miguel, as the fire is labeled a deadly fire, because of the one death, there are reports that two other people are missing. what is the status on that search and rescue investigation for them? >> reporter: yeah. we do know at least one person