there's nothing more important for the jobs, jobs, jobs, abortion agenda than fake repealing it one more time. it will have no practical effect whatsoever, but it will feel great for the republicans when they do it. they think it's good for them in terms of messaging. in terms of the presidential contest, the obama campaign is ramping up their criticism of mitt romney who would be the only guy in u.s. history with a swiss bank account. mr. romney's father who was also a rich guy when he ran for president in the '60s, he releases 12 years of his tax returns when he was running. his son only released one year under duress in january. what he released showed a swiss bank account and holdings in the cayman islands as well as mysterious companies holding who knows how many romney bucks incorporated in bermuda for some reason. the shadiness or at least mysteriousness of what he does

with all of his giant piles of money and how it is that he figures out a way to pay so little in taxes, that was the subject of a big investigate piece in vanity fair last week, another piece by the associated press later that week, and now democratic attack ads. and this new video from the obama campaign trying to force the romney folks to at least try to come up with an answer to some of these questions about why he's offshored his money. so far, the romney campaign response to this line of criticism is that it is, quote, disgusting. which is a very powerful adjective which deployed in a political context, but just saying the word disgusting does not answer any of the questions. it's probably not a convince dns that the mitt romney swiss bank account cayman islands creepy zl air attack is being pressed by the democrats at the same time the president is rolling out his

policy proposal that we should not renew the bush tax cuts for the smaller sliver of the country. he said this was the policy he supports, but today was the day they chose to formally roll out this as a proposal. >> i'm calling on congress to extend the tax cuts for the 98% of americans who make less than $250,000 for another year. i believe it's time to let the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans, folks like myself, to expire. in many ways, the fate of the tax cut for the wealthiest americans will be decided by the outcome of the next election. my opponent will fight to keep them in place. i will fight to end them. >> just as the house republican vote this week to repeal health reform is going to have no practical effect other than messaging for the republicans.

honestly, president obama proposing that everybody get a tax cut except for rich people, that's not necessarily going to become policy just because he says he favors it. he has long favored it, but it's great messaging for the democrats. this is a popular policy idea. this is a policy idea that is even popular among republicans when you poll on it, but this question puts elected republicans in washington in a really awful spot because republicans are against what president obama proposed today. they're not against it because they don't want people to have tax cuts. they're against it because they want rich people to have tax cuts. and if the rich people don't get tax cuts, they say, then nobody should. everybody's taxes are going to go up unless the rich people get a tax cut. that's their position. that's hard to sustain in political debate. and the democrats know that. the whole idea is to make it look like republicans will do anything for the richest people in the country. it's to make the republicans

look ridiculous when it comes to the way they treat the very rich. and the romney campaign right now is doing every it can to live up to that caicature of republicans. at least i think they are. what happened to the romney campaign this weekend was so bad, and exactly the way they do not need things to be bad for this right now. it was so bad that i almost cannot believe it was self-inflicted. in fact, i think i may believe that this was orchestrated in some way by the other side. maybe. i don't know. do i think the left is this clever? do you remember billionaires for bush? they were my favorite anti-george bush idea. a satire troop that would show up to bush campaign events or fund-raisers or march through the streets profezzing to be billionaires in favor of bush and his policy. four more wars. four more wars.

they would dress up in tuxedos and top hats and evening gowns. they would carry around signs that say things like taxes are not for everyone. thank you for paying our fair share. widen the income gap. four more years. privatize everything. look at the one in the back. does that look frar familiar? corporations are people too. that was preromney saying that. they did survive into the obama era when they became billionaires for wealth care. they dressed up in top hats and tails and occasionally as health care ceos to oppose reform signing liex, if we ain't broke, don't fix it, and let them eat advil. fight socialism, end medicare now usually, these guys announce their presence, whenever they're going to appear, but it is possible this weekend they were in the hamptons protesting mitt romney without announcing their presence? maybe, i dot know, but how else do you explain this. look at this.

a woman in a blue chiffon dress poked her head out of a black range rover here in east hampton on sunday afternoon and yelled to an aide to mitt romney, is there a vip entrance? we are vip. the "new york times" describing mr. romney's moder cade passing a gleaming line of bentleys, porsches, and mercedes-benzs waiting to deposit guests who paid up to $25,000 a head to hear him speak. where was it? at the sprawling home of ronald pearlman, the chairman of revlon, widely described as the largest estate in east hampton, 40 rooms, 9 fireplaces and takes up a mile along the georgia bond. it has its own logo that you have to wear on your clothing if you work there. quote, romney campaign aides and

staffers in white polo shirts emblazoned with the logo of the property, the creeks, checked off names under tight security. doesn't your house have a logo? a few of the attendees were nice enough to speak to the members of the media. a few cars back, ted conklin, the owner of the american hotel in sag harbor could barely contain his displeasure with mr. obama. he's a socialist. his idea is to find a problem that doesn't exist and get government to intervene. he said from inside a gold colored mercedes as his wife nodded in agreement. she paused to highlight what she said was her husband's generous spirit, tell them who's on your yacht this weekend. tell them? he disclosed a major executive from miramax was on the 75-foot yacht because she said there were no rooms left at the hotel.

see, it's like the jesus birth story with a twist. he's in swaddling clothes. i think these are protesters. i think those people talking from the gold mercedes, right, they have to be protesters. why else would you go out of your way to make sure you told the reporter who was staying on your 75-foot yacht when you're there to complain about the socialists and the invented problems the country supposedly has. the l.a. times in their reporting on this described the lines of range rovers, bmws, porsches, and one ferrari, one new york city donor who also would not give her name said romney needed to do a better job connecting. she said, quote, i don't think the common person is getting this. she said this from the passenger seat from a range rover. nobody understands why obama is hurting them. we've got the mesnl, she added, but my college kid, the babysitters, the nails ladies,

everything who has the right to photo, they don't understand what is going on. i think if you're lower income, one, you're not as educated, two, they don't understand how it works. they don't understand how the systems work, they don't understand the impact. stupid voters, the nails ladies, college kid. you know, these billionaires for romney protesters must be billionaires for romney protests. they covered all of the news outlets, too. they gave the we are vip quote to the "new york times," and to the associated press, we have a chief who heads his own investment banking firm saying of romney, i think he's a plain talking guy. he made the comment as he chewed a cigar in his black range rover outside a fund-raiser expected to generate $3 million. cigar chomping, seriously?

this has to be satire. look at the photos from this thing. look at the caption. a southampton police officer directs a rolls royce around the protesters outside the estate of david koch before a fund-raiser for mitt romney on sunday. actual rolls royse, actual porsche, and is that a bentley? maybe another rolls royce? either way, definitely behind an actual bmw. all of the photos and coverage was from just outside the three hamptons fund-raisers because there was no press allowed inside. however, two cnn reporters report overhearing what he told his audience. he said, quote, we all care -- by the way, he said, you guys are doing fine. if you're here, by and large, you're doing just fine. see, people paying $25,000 to go to this event by and large, mitt romney thinks they're all doing okay presumably, some of them

are struggling, but by and large, the people at the $25,000 a plate fund-raiser are doing okay. he continued to reported applause, quote, we all care about the poor. but what we want to do is not just help. we want to help people from becoming poor. so you there in the red ferrari under a mitt romney presidency, you will never become poor. i will guarantee you that. you, mr. gold mercedes, have a cigar. you're not going to be poor, either. and you, ms. vip, read my lips, got you covered. becoming poor is not going to be a problem for you as long as i'm in office. so that's how mitt romney and his presidential campaign appears in the press today. and today is the day that president obama dared republicans to die on the political hill of tax cuts for millionaires. and it's the day they're pushing the criticism of mitt romney

that he offshored his millions in the caymans tax havens and swiss bank accounts, and the argument is the lady in the range rover screaming we are vip outside the 40-room house in the hamptons. the day after the fund-raisers, with the ferrari, you want to know where he is tonight? another fund-raiser in aspen. but don't worry, he's turning around the storylike. he's announced he's going to be enlondon soon to kick off his big overseas trip, conveniently, for the kickoff of the olympics just in time to see his wife's million dollar horse compete in the olympic games. there are only two possibilities at this point. either this is brilliant satire and the romney campaign is being punked and i tip my hat to the billionaires for romney or whoever you are who have convinced reporters you're rich people saying those things about romney. or there's somebody inside the

romney campaign trying to make mitt romney look as much as possible like thurston howell and fluffy. could be. so, you actually reward people for staying with you? yep. the longer you stay with us, the more you save. and when you switch from another company to us, we even reward you for the time you spent there. genius. yeah, genius. you guys must have your own loyalty program, right? well, we have something. show her, tom. huh? you should see november! oh, yeah? giving you more. now that's progressive. call or click today. somebody didn't book with travelocity,

with 24/7 customer support to help move them to the pool daddy promised! look at me, i'm swimming! somebody, get her a pony! [ female announcer ] the travelocity guarantee. from the price to the room to the trip you'll never roam alone.

richard engle is here tonight after having just been somewhere he really truly was not supposed to be. naturally, that's how he rolls. he's here next.

nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engle is here, here in america, here in new york. he has just returned from syria which is not something many people in the world can say right now. we're lucky to have richard here

because he's almost never here. for the last decade he's reported from iraq and afghanistan and gaza and lebanon. at one point, i e-mailed him to ask if he wanted to get together, and he e-mailed he was on his way back from timbuktu. watching the unfolding of the arab spring was in dispensable. he was in tahrir square the night mubarak relinquished power. he spent 30 months traveling between the rebel strong hold of benghazi and in tripoli, he captured this moment that made me think the libyan rebels-chances of winning against gadhafi was less than zero. >> after an hour and a half, we reached the rebels' front line. there are no trenches or sand bags. just men poorly armed who want to fight. the front line is about five miles outside the town.

smoke can be seen rising from the town in the distance. gadhafi still has tanks and artillery in the town. the rebels watch with binocular but can't advance. outgunned, they said they're killed when they approach the forces. we have light weapons, he has tanked, complains one man. another rebel showed me he isn't actually armed add all. this is a toy gun. this is amazing. i didn't realize until he put it in my hands, it's made of plastic. >> at that point, march of last year, things did not look good for the rebels in libya. but then things turned around. nato's no-fly zone and the air raids paid off. gadhafi fled and went into hiding. gadhafi was captured and killed. the arab spring is now trying to roll through syria, and the t has been incredibly bloody. exsect death tolls are hard to detect because the bashar al

assad regime is not keeping track of the dead, but they put the estimates at 17,000 people, over 16 months of fighting. even after kofi anan offered a cease fire agreement, people are dying every day, and fighting between the government and rebels in the besieged area of homes, for 16 months, it has seemed like nothing in syria would change. but something seems to be happening now. there are increased reports of defections from syria's military. more than a dozen generals, a deputy minister, a syrian air force pilot flying his jet to jordan. the military turning against the regime, defecting. the "new york times" reporting of the 80,000 young men expected to show up for their mandatory military surface, experts say virtually none have responded. amoid those reports and add a

time where it's hard to get reporting out of syria itself, richard went to northwest syria and said he was surprised by what he found there. >> rebels in syria now travel openly in the highways in uniforms carrying weapon. it was not like this just month ago. now the rebels have safe havens, mostly in the rural countryside. >> the army does not dare come out. >> a rebel leader takes us to marara. one of dozens of villages in northwest syria where residents are now celebrating after government troops were driven out. things are changing rapidly in syria where the opposition is taking village after village. and every time they do, they throw a party just like this one. the first time in this conflict, there's a sense that the rebels have momentum. >> the sense that the rebels have the moments 78. that's not the way the press about syria has been in this

country up until now. but richard is just back from there. richard engle joins us now. thanks for being here. >> wow, good to be here with you. how are you? >> i'm good. did you have to do a james bond crazy thing to get into syria? >> you have to go in illegally. we went in through turkey and joined up with some rebels, but the turks are giving a little bit of passive support. if the turks had seen us, yes, they would have arrested us and that would have been about it and they would have sent us back inside, but i think the turks probably did see us because there were a lot of people crossing the border illegally and are just looking the other way, and they're allowing rebels and a few journalists to go in. and to give you an idea, this wasn't the first time i had been into syria, and i didn't know exactly what to expect, and now this conflict zone, so i brought almost nothing, a pair of socks. one extra shirt, i wanted to keep myself light. i thought i would be hiding under kitchen tables.

i went in with the rebels at night, we cross to the other side, rebel flags, guys walking around in rebel uniforms, on motorcycles, and i spent the next week driving around with the rebel groups from headquarters to headquarters doing interviews openly on the street, surrounded by people, we stopped for lunch on the way in between -- in between villages. and hardly saw any syrian troops at all. >> how much of the country is assad in control of then? >> i think not very much. i think he controls the cities and he controls the places where his troops are. but not necessarily much in between them. we went into towns where there were rebels in control of the town, but there were still syrian forces, the syrian forces were isolated to a small section of the town, don't patrol, don't leave it. i walked by a syrian check point probably 50 yards away, and i

got the same impression. the syrians didn't want to see us there because they didn't want to have to go out and deal with the situation. there are defectors leaving these little outposts every single day. sometimes they are asking for the rebels to attack the outpost to give them an opportunity to escape so that their senior officers don't shoot them for defecting. >> the government side is calling the rebels and saying please attack this outpost so i can flee in response so i can get away from military service and join you. >> this is what some defectors are telling us. they're buying the weapons, by the way, from the defectors and from their own military. so the rebels are buying weapons if they have cash from the syrian army themselves. >> no two countries are exactly alike, but one thing we have all watched as the various uprisings have happens are we're watching the tipping point. it's an important institution and not just for monopoly of

force, when they start going to the anti-government side, you pretty much know that the government is going to fall. >> we saw defections every day. people showing up every day to join the ranks of the rebels. bashar al assad, i think, is fair to say, does not control the people anymore. he's not president of syria anymore. he's president of the army, the army that's still loyal. and that's not sustainable for very long. >> and that's shrinking. >> he's pulled back to the cities, and it's easier to hold certain parts of cities and he's been very brutal upholding them and there's now fighting in damascus. but once you lose the people and all of the countryside, and the villages, it's a matter of time. but it could be a long time. his weapons are still more impressive and the rebels don't have a lot of weapons. it could be a situation where it's slow, slow, slow, slow, very quick, but we're different phase of the moon than we were. >> richard engle, it's good to see you in this time zone.

incredible reporting. i know you'll going to do more on nightly and more on rock center. >> coming up tonight on the interview, we have an exclusive about cheating or what looks like cheating in mitt romney's home state. the republican party doing something really sketchy to try to avoid a big public embarrassment for mr. romney. the wronged party is here tonight for the interview. this should be very interesting.

when you lose an election, you're supposed to do this. >> for me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. for all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die. >> the senator ted kennedy giving up his dream of running for president in 1980 after holding on until the last possible moment. in that speech, using his defeat to begin to create a new legacy. it's a classic example of making lemonade out of political lemons. and one state right now where the republican party has been given a bunch of lemons, they're not only making lemonade, they're refusing to acknowledge their lost and nobody is quite sure how to handle that. it's a weird situation, under the radar thus far, but i think it's about to blossom into a really big deal.

we've got details ahead. i stepped on the machine, and it showed me the pressure points

on my feet and exactly where i needed more support. then, i got my number. my tired, achy feet affected my whole life. until i found my number. i tried the free dr. scholl's foot mapping center. in two minutes, i got my foot map and custom number. i'm a 440. that matched up to the dr. scholl's custom fit orthotic inserts with the right support and cushioning i need. i am a believer. i'm a believer! i'm a believer. go to drscholls.com to find your closest walmart with a foot mapping center.

this year, the democrats are holding their convention in charlotte, north carolina, which is a drag for a lot of democrats because they tebd to support union rights and there's not a single union hotel in all of charlotte. who thought that one up? republicans this year are holding their convention in tampa, florida, which is a drag for a lot of republicans because it's the strip club captain of america -- you know, actually, i don't know. maybe that's a plus for them. tampa, i should note, is also the death metal capital of america. they gave the world bands like morbid angel and dsi and obituary. that's got to be a plus for some republicans going to the convention but probably not all of them. the last time around in 2008, it ended up being really important where the republicans chose to put their convention. they put their convention in st. paul, minnesota. that ended up being really important because st. paul is one of two twin cities. st. paul and minneapolis are two cities that butt right up against each other.

separated only by the mississippi river, and that was really handy in 2008 because while the official republican convention was going on in st. paul, republicans that year also held a shadow convention at the same time in the other twin, in minneapolis. and it was like a real convention. red, white, and blue ticker tape, a capacity crowd of adoring fans for the politician they were there to see and had the rock song from a rock star, tom petty, who took legal action to try to get conservative politicians from using his music. the convention head across the river from the real teal was a ron paul extravaganza. it was so big, they had to move it from its first venue into a bigger venue. >> i understand there's another meeting in a nearby town going on. let us be respectful.

we have also noticed that those in the establishment aren't very ancienting to welcome us in. what am i doing this for? what is the purpose of all this? and in many ways it is to send a message. >> the ron paul shadow convention across the river from the rnc in 2008 was a huge hull hullabaloo. they made a ton of noise, ron paul said they were there to send a message, but ultimately, what was the message? it was kind of a lot of sound and fury signifying mostly nothing because they did not have anything to do. i mean, ultimately, the real republican deal was across town with john mccain and sarah palin and none of the 10,000 ron paul fans in minneapolis had anything to work on, anything to get done there. no matter how excited they were. this year, the ron paul campaign has not planned a shadow convention. they are doing a preconvention rally ahead of the real convention in tampa, but that's

tt, and maybe there's a reason the campaign has not planned a parallel we don't care you're holding a convention nearby blowout. maybe it's because this year at the real republican convention, ron paul supporters might have something to do. quite a lot of the ron paul folks going to this preconvention rally in tampa, the day before the convention, quite a lot of them are going to be in tampa anyway because they are delegates to the republican national convention. and depending on what happens this upcoming weekend, this saturday, those delegates at the real convention who are ron spall supporters could really, really change what is supposed to happen at the mitt romney convention. if ron paul gets the most delegates at nebraska's state republican convention this weekend, that would make nebraska the fifth state in which ron paul has accomplished that goal, getting the plurality of delegates. republican party riles say that means ron paul would get to put his name forward at the

convention. in terms of whether or not he should be the nominee for president from the republican party. he would be guaranteed a speaking slot of 15 minutes before the first round of balloting at the convention. they don't just get to coronate romney as the uncontested nominee, and did i mention there are a whole bunch of ron paul supporting official delegates going to the convention. how do you think the prospect of that happening is going over with the republican party bigwigs and mitt romney folks? if you guess they're approaching freak out status and are going to extreme lengths to try to stop this, you would be right. we have an exclusive on this next. from mitt romney's home court of massachusetts and it's a very, very weird story. that's next. [ female announcer ] over the last ten years,

your mouth has giggled, snuggled, bubbled ...and yellowed. because if you're not whitening, you're yellowing. crest whitestrips remove over ten years of stains and whiten 25 times better than a leading whitening toothpaste. crest 3d white whitestrips.

my name is evan kenney, i'm a newcomer to the republican party at 18 years old. you know, it's going to be tough to follow up mr. baker's speech. had i been of voting age, i certainly would have supported mr. baker. >> he's a high school senior and newcomer of the republican party when he spoke at his regional republican party caucus in

april. he was trying to get a spot at an allerinate delegate in august. the mr. baker he was speaking of is charles baker, the republican party's most recent nominee for governor in massachusetts. mr. baker ran against democrat devolpatrick in 2010 when he lost. incidentally, he also lost that day in april where you just saw taped at that caucus. charlie baker lost his bid to be an alternate delegate and the man he lost to was the 18-year-old. when massachusetts republicans got together in april to pick delegates to the national convenz, i think the idea was to quickly and quietly and namelessly elect bigwigs to vote for home state mitt romney as

the party's nominee for president, but that's not at all what happened. for starter, there was evan kenney who beat the last nominee for governor for a spot. he and a group of like minding republicans beat out rights like kerry healey. she was also the republican nominee for governor in massachusetts in 2006. she lost to mr. patrick the first time before baker got his chance to lose to patrick the second time. also the longtime sheriff of essex county lost as well. this is mitt romney's home state and all of these big name elected republican officials couldn't win spots to nominate him, and the two people who tried to be massachusetts governor after them, they didn't make the cut.

you have a high school senior in front of you. they had chosen a nice slate of officials who they thought would get a rubber stamp and they would support them at the convention, but the caucuses turned out to be not a rubber stamp approval kind of deal. after the caucuses in april, they reported less than half of the delegates that the romney campaign had chosen actually won their spots on the delegation. the people who won instead were in large part ron paul supports, enthusiastic high school kids and all. the party declared out of the blue in a way they never had before and a way that is never mentioned in their rules that all of the officially selected delegates from massachusetts this year would have to sign this affidavit. they would have to swear under the pain and penalty of purgy they would vote for mitt romney at the republican convention in august. some of the ron paul fans among the newly elected delegates

balked. what happened if something happens, romney gets his name pulled that no one can foresee. massachusetts would have these guys legally bound to vote for him no matter what? they offered an alternate plan to follow party rules. the affidavit was not good enough and the state party threw these guys out. even the one whose did turn in the state party affidavit were told they were out, they didn't sign it quickly enough. 18-year-old evan kenney and 16 other delegates were disqualified even though they won fair and square. they were disqualified for failing to deliver the i pledge myself to mitt romney affidavit or for filing it too late. the republican party has come up with a new rule after the fact

to keep the ron paul supporting rebel out. and when they kicked out evan kenney the enthusiastic high school kid, they wanted to give his spot to the guy who ran for governor, who evan kenney beat fair and square. joining us now is evan kenney. great to meet you. >> an honor to be here. >> you wrote an excellent e-mail explaining you were the guy at the center of it all. how did it feel when you won, when you beat out some of these really bold faced name republicans in your state at that caucus? >> let me say first of all is charlie baker, the speech you just showed, when i said i'm an 18-year-old newcomer to the party, the first hands to clap belonged to charlie baker, and luke noble were two people excited to see the enthusiasm in the party, and they tried to send baker to the party and he said, absolutely not.

i lost. >> so even though they're trying to give him your spot, he's saying no. >> he's being righteous, saying no. >> what was your thought to the affidavit of saying you would vote for romney under the pain of perjury? >> i didn't know the rules and i didn't know the affidavit had never been done before. i was like, well, i plan to do that anyway, and i pledge to do that at the caucus. i pledged to do that at the caucus. i was ready to send it in until someone pointed it out to me, my mom, who is no legal expert, she said, you can't swear to do something in the future. i said, maybe i should be careful. after consulting with the mass liberty caucus, we send in a affidavit that said we're going to follow your rules. >> but that was not enough. >> even if i got it in on time. >> what was their explanation after you turned in the affidavit you turned in? what was the splengz for why you couldn't go?

>> two weeks later at the state committee meeting on june 12th, i had signed the original state affidavit, the third pledge, i gave it to the chairman of the committee who kicked me out and he sent me a letter signed with his name in ink three days later that said romney for president ink had just cause and irrefutable evidence i wouldn't vote for romney in the first ballot. but i had two notarized affidavits and a legal pledge, and i will say, i would be happy to represent the voters of massachusetts and elect mitt romney. >> why do you they think they're doing that? i mean, they're giving these legalistic explanations. what's your sense about why they're doing this? you told the globe you felt you'd be rudely awakened to the realities of politics. are they doing this for a reason other than what they are saying? >> maybe. i don't know. but i will say that, you know, this is the republican

leadership in the massachusetts gop. they don't represent richard or charlie baker. they said, thank you. bring the youth movement the to the republican party. these are a few corrupt power brokers in the leadership who want to keep the party to themselves. they don't care it's 11% voter registration and shrinking in massachusetts in the republican party. they want to keep the power to themselves. >> forever in terms of the ron paul movement -- ron paul has been around and has had a lot of different aspects to his career, some of which i find repellent and some exciting. since 2008 in particular, 2007 until now, he has spoken to young people in a way other republicans haven't. >> he's 76 years old. >> he said all of these young people are interested in the message. they treat me like a rock star because of what i'm talking about. if the republican party wants to capitalize on my young voters, why don't you look into my message?

why don't you think the republican party will do that? i feel like the republican party is hostile to ron paul supporters. >> the real republican party is us, the real republican party is me and the 16 other delegates removed from the elected positions. charlie baker and they come out to represent the republican oath. they don't represent george bush and rush limbaugh. they have principles of liberty and sound money policy, which is a ron paul slogan, which is a free enterprise and equal rights. >> i've heard of those. >> nose are real republican values and that's why i'm still a republican. i'm not the republican that george bush represents. i'm what the oath represents. >> you are having to fight tooth and nail to be recognized by main line republicans in terms of what you just said, but they ought to be happy to have you. i'm happy to have you here. thanks a lot. good luck to you. >> 18 years old, elected as an alternate delegate for the republican party and obviously a ron paul supporter.

republicans, it's safe to come here. we can have very constructive discussions. we'll be right back.

republicans won everything in wisconsin in 2010. they won the governorship with scott walker and the legislature, they won this republican majority in the wisconsin state senate. they used their political wins in 2010 to strip union rights in wisconsin. democrats responded by trying to recall the governor, which did not work. the democrats did recall the state senate. it took two rounds. in the first round they rrled two republican state senators who voted to strip union rights. it left the democrats one vote shy of a majority. there was a republican resignation in march that gave them an even split. democrats recalled another

republican state senator, that gives the democrats an outright majority of the senate. so wisconsin republicans still have the governorship and the state assembly, but they have lost the senate. for a party that spent more than a year fumbling away their unilateral control of the state, state republicans sounded okay with losing the senate. the old republican boss of the senate said whatever they want to do is within their purview of the majority. another republicans in the senate now said, quote, it's not a big hit. we'll have the majority back in november. it is true, come november and the general election, half of the seats in the senate are going to be up for grabs in districts that the republicans drew to their own liking back when they had totals control of the state, so it's going to be tough. it's true that the wisconsin legislature is not scheduled to meet again until january, which is after those november elections. so yeah, sure, let the democrats have the senate for summer vacation.

they can throw some beach balls around and play ping-pong with the gavel. it's cool and we don't care. do you want to see which republican did not get that memo? this guy who lost. this state senator of ra sign is who the senator who lost his seat to a democrat in his recall election last month. mr. wanggaard is not letting this go. first he called for a recount which he got. it showed him losing by 800 votes. still not conceding though. he said the recount raised questions about suspicious activity at the polls. as all of this is going on, republicans in wisconsin who have lost control of the state senate are not giving up control of the state senate. today he said he might sue over the results of the recount. state law would allow him to raise unlimited money while his lawsuit drags on, which would make him the new wide end of the funnel for right wing cash

pouring into republican coffers. is that why he won't let this go, the money? is it because it's embarrassing for wisconsin republicans if democrats have the majority, even in the summer when wisconsin republicans say they're fine with that and nothing happens anyway? is it embarrassing for the senator to lose and then why it drag it out longer and why keep flailing and then going on vacation somewhere without internet. is it because democrats might use their majority even out of session to look into how republicans drew these new districts in wisconsin which republicans have tried to keep secret? is it because republicans might not win back control in november like they say they will and then what? blame former senator wineggaard for their predicament. the deadline for this senator to make up his mind is tomorrow. if he chooses to sue, his race stays undecided officially for now. we do not know why republicans in wisconsin have not yet conceded control of the senate.

it is more than a month since the election that says the democrats now should be in control of the senate, but the republicans just aren't giving it up. it does suggest, however, that controlling that chamber for however brief a span of time, might be worth something to somebody. the republicans keep saying, it's not worth anything. we don't care. why aren't you giving it up? watch this space tomorrow. power play? a bold move by president obama sets the stage for another bitter battle over tax cuts on capitol hill. river of ruin. the worst wildfire in colorado's history turns a whitewater river jet-black. and, gush hour. a water main break in china makes for a messy morning commute. good morning, i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc.

and we're going to begin this morning with familiar ground. battle lines being drawn on capitol hill after president obama proposed to extend expiring bush-era tax cuts. but not for everyone. this as the republican-led house prepares to revisit the nation's health care reform law. nbc's brian moore joins us from washington with the latest on all of this. brian, good morning. >> reporter: the house is heading forward with what looks like a show vote. for the republicans it's an important show in this election year. >> the gentle lady field yields back her time -- >> reporter: house republicans head back into battle today against president obama's health care reform law. >> it would make you believe it was all free. but it's not. it's going to cost somebody, and that's going to be the american citizens. >> reporter: the house i