there. that's "hardball" for now. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. welcome to "politics nation." i'm al sharpton. not ready for prime time. this is simple. the budget plan put forth by governor romney's running mate would kill medicare as we know it. and gulf massive tax cuts to the rich. seems tough to sell, right? that's for sure. just ask these protesters outside of a romney event in ohio today. this comes after protesters went after paul ryan chanting -- are you going to cut medicare? no wonder the romney people are suddenly backing away from the ryan plan. here's one of their top

surrogates today. >> but isn't the ryan plan -- romney plan? >> no, listen. >> let me read you a quote. hang on. >> but it isn't. >> it sounds awfully like the paul ryan medicare plan. >> but it's very different. if all you want to do is keep repeating the garbage that comes out of the white house, then you have a problem. >> coming out of the white house? we are get thing impression from governor romney himself. >> i'm sure there are places my bunt budget is different than his. the items we agree on, i think outweigh any differences there may -- we haven't gone through piece by piece and said heres a place there is a difference. i can't imagine any two people in the same party who have exact there same positions on all issues. >> all it took was two minutes for him to flip-flop on the romney plan. folks, mr. romney might be unwilling to say exactly what he

thinks about the ryan plan but vice president biden certainly isn't. >> i don't get what's gutsy about giving millionaires another tax break. i don't get what's gutsy. i don't get what's gutsy about gutting med care and education to pay important those things. here's not new. that's not new. that's not new. it is not only not new, it is not fair. it is not fair to the middle class. it is not fair to the working poor and it will not grow this economy. >> that's why romney's running from ryan. here's the thing. so is the rest of the gop. there's panic in republican circles. a former bush senior adviser likes the ryan pick but says the particular let probably lose. maybe big. no wonder the campaign is going to get back to us on why romney

really thinks and what he really thinks about the ryan budget. >> mitt romney likes paul ryan's plan. it is a good plan. mitt romney thinks his plan is better. there certainly are differences that are real. the democrats are going to try to pretend there are no differences but there are some in the governor and paul ryan will define those clearly over the next couple of days. >> couple of days? sorry, governor. governor romney chose this ticket. he owns it. and now he's got to run on it. joining me now is former governor of ohio, ted strickland. he's also one of the co-chairs of the obama re-election campaign. and joan walsh, editor-at-large, with salon.com. and an msnbc political analyst. she's also the author of a great new book coming out next week. thank you, both, for being here tonight. >> thank you. >> governor struck land, all over the place for medicare.

what do you make of this chaos going on in the romney camp? >> well, reverend, mitt romney has said that if he were president, he would sign the ryan budget into law. that makes the ryan budget the ryan/romney budget. i don't know how this -- this candidate can distance himself from the man he's just so recently chosen to be his running mate. it is a devastating plan. the catholic bishops said it was immortal and said that -- the -- ryan budget would hurt hungry children, poor families, and vulnerable citizens. so they have to live with the decisions they have made and it is the romney/ryan budget and i see no way that mitt romney can ever separate himself from all of the terrible details that are in that budget. >> joan, let me see if i can help him out. because this very weekend, joan,

romney's campaign and the head of the republican national committee were talking about how he would have signed the ryan budget into law. let me show you this. >> as governor romney's made clear, if the romney -- sorry, if the ryan budget had come to his desk especially -- >> he would have signed it, of course. one of the reasons he chose paul ryan was for congressman ryan's willingness to put forward innovative solutions in the budget. >> first of all, he did -- he did embrace what the -- ryan budget. he embraced it. >> now, you have priebus saying he embraced the budget. gillespie saying he would have signed it. now you've got sununu saying we will get back to youing in a couple of days. i mean -- are they falling under pressure? or do they think that we are less than intelligent? >> i don't know what they think. but they are obviously less than intelligent, rechverend al.

we could spend this entire show going through and finding places mitt romney praised that budget and especially once you are willing to say yes, i would sign it, that's your budget. embrace it and be proud of it. i'm shocked at my capacity to be shocked. i thought that one good thing about the ryan pick when i heard about it was wow, mitt romney did something brave. he's doubling down on this. mitt romney, the man of mystery, man who won't fill in any details on his plans the man who wants us to talk about things in quiet rooms, he pick ad red blooded radical republican that wants to devastate, get rid of medicare, slash the budget for poor people, okay. he's telling us what he wants to be. and it took hours for him to then flip and flop and back away from this man that he embraced. what kind of courage is that? what kind of leadership is that? it is really kind of stunning. >> now, governor strickland, the

romney campaign came out today with a new ad. imagine trying to turn some of the tide that is building against them on the ryan budget. they came out with a new ad that falsely attacks president obama for gutting medicare. congressman ryan was asked about that today on fox. take a listen. >> this ad suggests, i gather it is going to be seen a lot of places, that you and -- governor romney think that med care, which has been a very difficult issue for republicans for a very long time, and polls suggest that people almost automatically think republicans are hostile to medicare can be a winning issue for you how. >> absolutely. because we are the ones that are offering a plan to save medicare to protect medicare, strengthen medicare. we are the ones who are not raiding medicare to pay for obama care. >> we are protecting medicare, governor strickland. now, the gop cares about medicare. under ryan's plan, medicare

would turn into a voucher program. it would raise the age where you -- eligible to 67. and seniors would pay $6400 more. i mean, i don't understand how that demonstrates that they want to save and care about medicare. >> well, it is just -- i think dishonesty for them to say what they are saying. the fact is that the ryan plan would take money from medicare and give it to enable larger, ever larger tax breaks for really wealthy individuals. i think that this country knows who supports medicare and that has house torecally been the democratic party and continues to be this president the s a strong defender of medicare, and i fear that if ryan and romney were to achieve office, that we would see the demise of medicare.

a voucher that provides part of a cost is not -- is not what we need and as you said, ryan/romney plan would probably add nearly or -- perhaps even a little more than $6,000 a year to the average senior citizens' medical costs. we cannot have that. and i understand why they are trying to run away from it because you -- even the tea party folks, reverend al, like medicare. they like -- they like medicare and social security. even the tea party folks. they have a real problem now. >> now, joan, there's been -- articles all over the place today about how some of the republicans are backing up moonwalking away from this selection of paul ryan. let me show you some anonymous republicans quoted in different articles today. one strategist writes -- the good news is that this ticket now has a vision. the bad news is that vision is basically just a chart of

numbers used to justify policies that are extremely unpopular. another says -- very not helpful down ballot. very not. and another says he just doesn't seem like he can step into the job on day one. doesn't seem like the kind of guy that can answer that call at 3:00 in the morning, joan. >> no, i don't think so, reverend al. i like the picture of them moonwalking back and forth. i'm going use that myself. no. i really appreciate governor strickland saying what he said about medicare. let's just get something straight. this is a show we deal with truth and talk about history. if you make medicare a voucher program, if you privatize it, it is not medicare anymore. congress decided against that in 1965. lyndon johnson did something different. so we are going backwards and taking something away from seniors if we throw it out into the private market. that ain't medicare. >> governor ted strickland and joan walsh, thank you for your time tonight. ahead, conservatives say

paul ryan's a man of principle. we are learning it is all smoke and mirrors. wait until you hear what ronald reagan's former budget director is saying today. and they call him a big thinker with big ideas. where are his ideas really coming from? we go inside the big money behind paul ryan. all that flu chris christie didn't get picked for vice president but he got his consolation prize today. where is the gop brand heading? you are watching "politics nation" on msnbc. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal.

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publicly paul ryan railed against a stimulus. but we are learning a lot more about what he actually did.

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we are backing with new questions about just how long the right wing can keep calling paul ryan a man of principle. "the boston globe" reports today that at the same time paul ryan was bashing the president's stimulus plan, claiming it wouldn't create jobs, he was asking for stimulus money in his own state. in 2009, he wrote four letters to the president's energy secretary. asking for stimulus funds for two wisconsin groups. in the end, they wound up with

$20 million. i wonder what this guy would say about that. >> we can do better than this. this bull, this economic stimulus package, is unworthy of our new president's signature. all this temporary booster shot stimulus didn't work in the stimulus package so we don't want to go with ideas that have proven to fail. between geent with ideas that are proven to succeed. typical of washington's destructive economic agenda. it filed create the jobs promised. >> interesting. it turns out paul ryan didn't agree with paul ryan. what he said the stimulus would create jobs in wisconsin. the thing is that this game playing is nothing new for ryan. his claim to right-wing fame is his budget. the path to prosperity. that, too, is all smoke and mirrors. don't take it from me. take it from ronald reagan's

form budget director who calls it a, quote, fairy tale budge the plan in a scathing op-ed piece today. quote, mr. ryan's plan is devoid of credible math or hard policy choices. folks, this is the reality of ryan. the math doesn't add up. and he wants us to pay the price. joining me now is ryan bender, "boston globe's" staff reporter who work order the article about paul ryan's stimulus funds. thank you for joining me tonight. >> great to be here. >> let me go to you first, brian. can you explain this, publicly ryan is against the stimulus, right? >> yes. publicly while the bill was being debated, january, february of 2009, soon after president

obama took office, he basically said that this was wrong-headed and bad policy and would not help the economy and would just put the country further into debt. >> then at the same time now, your paper would -- with an article you helped work on, reveals four letters that he wrote to get stimulus money into people in his own state. >> right. later that year, the fall of 2009, he writes four letters to secretary to the energy secretary. and advocating for at least two energy conservation groups in wisconsin, madison, wisconsin. not only does he advocate for them to get grant money under the stimulus bill but goes a step further in his letters sort of -- the work they are doing, they are going to reduce for greenhouse gasses and also uses the -- phraseiology that in the one case, it will creator retain 7,600 jobs. >> let me put that letter up because it is not only -- people can say well, as soon as we are

through, looking out for his constituency but in the letter he says -- i'm reading from the letter, the funds would, quote, stimulate the local economy by creating new jobs. the jobs he said that would not happen. altogether they would create all retain approximately 7,600 new jobs. that's the exact opposite of what he said the stimulus plan would do. >> right. exactly. you know, i think you can look at that two ways. one, you can say he's hypocritical and says one thing but does another. i think others might look at it and as you were alluding to earlier he's not the purest fiscal conservative that everybody thinks he is. or the way he wants to make it sound. you can argue that in this case he lost the battle over the stimulus but he was pragmatic about it and figured the government money is there. obviously he's got to get re-elected. >> you are right, brian.

looking at it would ways, may abhip cat, may be practical in terms of getting money important a state. in terms of saying the stimulus won't create jobs turn around and say they will create 7,600 jobs, you can look at that two ways, he is a hypocrite or he is a hypocrite. when you look at the fact that now president reagan's former budget director in an op-ed today in the, no times really rips the ryan plan apart. he calls it a fairy tall and empty conservative sermon. he says he has a fetish for cutting tax owes super wealthy. devoid of credible math or hard policy choices. without it do nothing to reverse the economic decline. this is ronald reagan's budget director. david stockman. >> that's right. really a tough editorial out today from "the new york times." in some ways, i mean, i think a

larger question best a larger question republicans are having about paul ryan in general. about the fact that now mitt romney is going to be tied to this budget. the problem with staying in washington so long, he has been in washington since 1998, is that he has a paper trail. and as your previous guest -- talking about the stimulus program, they are going to pick over his record. some of the votes he's taken, t.a.r.p., voting for t.a.r.p., voting for the auto bailout, voting for unfunded war so that this idea that he is such a bold choice, i think, is really going to start to really be examined over these next days. not only by republicans but also democrats. >> now, brian, let me get back to you for a minute. in your article today, you also write about earmarks paul ryan got. in addition to appeals for stimulus funds, ryan also received congressional approval for $5.4 million in earmarks in

2008. earmarks, millions of dollars, for a deficit hawk? >> well, you know, earmark game, as you well know, has been in this a long time. what people are looking at and questioning is that the republican congress in recent years has -- earmarks. clearly right before they decided to do that, they were knee-deep in them and i think paul ryan as the budget committee chairman had a lot of clout. he could get some of these things insert flood these appropriations bills. he did that. i think the deeper qstion that you got at, you mentioned, is i think people will question -- reason to question whether or not his arguments now that the stimulus and this government investment in trying to help the economy didn't work, perhaps it did work or, you know, perhaps it is -- really something that we are going to have to look into because he claims it didn't work at all. clearly back in his district people that got some of this money by all accounts say did

work. >> now, before i let you go, the right wing calls him a deficit hawk. let's look at the record. deficit hawk, devoted for bush tax cuts, adding $1.7 trillion to the deficit in the bush years. he voted to extend the cuts and adding another $620 billion to the deficit. he voted for t.a.r.p. $224 billion hit. he authorized military force in iraq, $853 billion. medicare, part d, another $180 billion. altogether, more than $5 trillion added to the deficit because of policies ryan supported and voted for. how's that for a deficit hawk? >>le with, you certainly will see democrats bring this up and frame paul ryan as part of the problem. someone that voted for bills and plans that got news the fiscal mess where we are into right

now. certainly won't set well with the tea party either. when they look at these votes. i think -- again, i think that mostly paul ryan is going to be a boon to this campaign in terms of enthusiasm among conservatives, tea party folks, and i think the real question still has to be whether or not he is a force multiplier in terms of independents and in terms of la teen companies and that's still an open question. >> all right. brian and mia-malika henderson, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> thank you. coming up, romney's vp pick is more than happy to cozy up to the richest right wingers around. plus, olympics champ gabby douglas gets motherly advice from the first lady, michelle obama. >> after the competition, i splurged on egg mcmuffin at mcdonald's. >> egg mcfumuffin. >> yeah, gabby, we don't.

>> it is all ahead in tonight's summer break. you are watching "politics nation" on msnbc. ♪

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wardrobe. cute. then new activia breakfast blend. a great way to help start the day. mmm... creamy lowfat yogurt with grains in yummy breakfast flavors, like apple cinnamon. its hearty, with twice the protein of regular lowfat yogurt and helps regulate your digestive system. our morning routines are important, aren't they? new activia breakfast blend. welcome back to "politics nation." every day we are learning more about the gop's vice presidential pick. people say he's a nice guy. he's a family man. he has nice hair. but he's also known as an intellectual. he's a big thinker with big ideas. take a look. his famous budget makes deep cuts to the social safety net. his tax cuts favor the rich. he wants to limit government.

he's against regulation. he gives subsidies to big oil. he is a den ire of climate signs. where do the big ideas come from? they stem from some of the most powerful and wealthiest right wingers in america. all those big ideas, mr. ryan champions just so happen to be the causes of the billionaire koch brothers, billionaires that bankroll americans for prosperity. and it is no coincidence he's kept very close ties to them. they are loyal to each other. ryan is one of them. he appears at their rallies and their town hall meetings. the truth is, paul ryan's big ideas are backed up by big money. now they have their own guy in the race. what does it mean for the rest of america? joining me now is congressman keith ellison, democrat from minnesota. and patricia murphy, editor.

thank you for joining me tonight. >> thank you, al. >> thank you. >> congressman, let me start with you. we are learning when you -- we are learning when you get paul ryan, you are also getting a financially backed koch brothers agenda. let me put it that way. you have worked with him a while. what can you tell us -- >> yes. >> about his ties to big money? >> well, he's received over -- koch industries pac has given him over $100,000. biggest industry energy pac to him. he attends their biannual little meeting they have which is a closed-door sort of thing. and as a matter of fact, his voting record reflects those sort of priorities. like he's -- leading advocate of the keystone and is -- as you said, he's -- not an advocate of dealing with renewable energy. and at the end of the day, this is why i'm glad that paul ryan's

on the ticket because we have clear choices. we have a person who is koch brothers back and who is -- bad on renewable energy. for fossil fuels. gets tons of money from them. is a devotee of ayn rand. americans will have a good opportunity to make a clear choice. >> now, when we look at the fact that the koch brothers are going to spend $200 million in this campaign, $65,000 already to paul ryan, i mean, he is definitely one that's receiving a lot of support from them and all of his policies, major things that he stood on that i just outlined, are absolutely in line with the plans, policies, and things advocated by the koch brothers. >> yes. paul ryan really has bubbled up from this conservative fabric. he was in washington 15 years ago for a lot of conservative

budget constraining ideas and has come out of that fabric, the koch brothers are in line with that. paul ryan's ideas are so popular with large ticket republican donors. those same donors have been a little bit on the sidelines for mitt romney and have not always felt like mitt romney was intellectually one of them. also not just large donors, when put paul ryan's on the ticket you will get a huge, huge swath of small dollar donors on the -- conservative side and people coming up lou freedom works, tea party organizations, really are not that excited about mitt romney but the ryan budget is something that attracts all of these groups. it is going to be a huge, huge piece of the fund-raising going forward and without paul ryan on that ticket you really weren't going to get that kind of enthusiasm from republicans. >> congressman ellison, you mentioned he is an admirer of ary rand. let me play this for you from

2005, mr. ryan himself. >> the reason i got involved in public service by and large, if i had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be ayn rand. you can't find another thinker or writer who did a better job of describing and laying out the moral skates for capitalism than ayn rand. >> ayn rand, from my reading, was the ultimate, you know -- hardliner person of, you know, do it all yourself charity is not something to deal with. i mean, ayn rand is clearly not the kind of person you would think of as one that talks about helping to lift up a country and lift up those in need. >> ayn rand would probably argue that it was wrong to lift up people in need because people who were innately endowed with greatness will rise to the top and people who are not, they are just going to fall to the bottom and it is sort of an extreme social darwinistic philosophy.

her books, paul ryan reported to have required that his interns read "fountain head" for people who work at his office. he clearly has lined himself with her economic philosophy. essentially is selfishness raised to a political philosophy. greed raised to political philosophy. to justify these tax cuts for the rich and tax increases for the rest of us. >> now, when you also go from his philosophical grounding in terms of ayn rand and that whole philosophy she espouses to follow in the money, patricia, look at the fact that the dodd money groups are outspending super pacs in this race. i'm talking about 501 c-4. so far this year, political parties have spent $22.5 million. super pacs have spent $55.7

million. but 501 c-4 spent even more. over $70 million. karl rove's group, gps crossroads, and koch brothers, americans for prosperity, spent the most. nearly $60 million combined. so we are seeing a whole lot of money that we don't know where -- who the donors are. that are really the majority of where the money is coming from in this election. >> that's right. and really one thing you did mention, michelle ad ellison and paul ryan is scheduled to be meeting with ad ellison tonight in las vegas. this is a huge piece of the republican ticket's strategy going forward and no matter really almost no matter how much money democrats raise they are never going to be able to outraise the republican and the republicans are getting these in 10, 20, $30 million increments. it is a very unlevel playing field but a piece of the republican strategy.

the supreme court opened the flood gates to that kind of money. it is going to dramatically alter the way this race turns out. will it determine it? nobody knows. it is going to give the republicans a gigantic advantage. paul ryan really is a powerful fund-raiser for those very large donors who want to see budgets like the one that paul ryan's put forward. >> i might note just a poychb information, patricia, that paul ryan is attending his first fund-raiser such being vice president at the venetian hotel in vegas where -- mr. adelson, the press is disallowed. they will not be able to get the photo. thanks for your time. >> thank you so much. >> thanks. coming up, governor chris christie of new jersey gets a prime speaking spot at the republican convention. america, meet the friendly face

of the gop. and ohio will be key in this election. voting rights are under assault here. we can't let it happen. [ male announcer ] when a major hospital

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that's right. it is time for the "politics nation" summer break. we start with a trip to summer school. it is just an ordinary lecture when whoo-did you see that? out of nowhere, that cat fell right out of the ceiling. he takes his remaining eight lives and goes for a victory lap around the classroom. from cats to late night. last night on "the tonight show," first lady michelle obama was joined by gabby douglas. the gold medalist might have shared one too many details about her post-game celebration in london. >> you win, how did you celebrate? what did you do? >> after the competition p. i splurged on egg mcmuffin at mcdonald's. >> gabby, we don't -- >> egg mcmuffin. >> i'm sure -- >> salad. >> whole wheat mcmuffin.

>> whole wheat bun. >> yes. >> even gold medalists should remember the first lady's a tough judge when it comes to junk food. that's today's summer break. [ er lzs d n. u te get two times the points on dining in restaurants with chase sapphire preferred.

♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal.

and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go. we are back on "politics nation" with new jersey governor chris christie going prime time. today we learned christy will give the keynote speech at the republican convention later this month. his brash, tough talking take no prisoner style will be featured for the world to see. and despite being one of the first major republican figures to publicly endorse romney, he wasn't picked to be romney's vice president. "the new york times" reported weeks ago his brashness blundered hope to run with romney but get ready for some bluntness in primae time.

>> first off, it is none of your business. i don't ask you where you send your kids to school. don't bother me where i send mine. did i stay on topic? are you stupid? on topic. next question. thank you all very much. i'm sorry for the idiot over there. let me tell you something. after you graduate from wall street, you should talk to yourself like that in the courtroom, your rear end will get thrown in jail, idiot. i'm governor. just shut up for a second. you know. >> so mr. romney went for paul ryan instead of chris christie. but was it the right decision? joining me now is steve kornaki, co-host of the cycle on nbc. and he's also writing today for salon.com about the choice mitt romney didn't make. steve, thanks for being here tonight. >> thanks for having me. >> chris christie gets the consolation prize. what do you make for the key for key know speaker? >> i wasn't taking him too seriously as a areal prospect all along because of the

brashness and sort of a sense that the romney campaign didn't necessarily see him as a team player. he is guy that's made comments while campaigning for romney about how, you know, maybe he wouldn't mind running for president himself in 2016. you know, comment that congress suggestion he thinks the 2016 nomination will be open. therefore, president will not abpresident romney. i didn't think he was really on the radar but the ryan talk really caught me off guard because, you know, he wasn't on radar for many i'm million the end of the process. i think by picking ryan, you know, romney really made the statement he was looking for something bold and i would say if you are looking for something bold, you know, politics for the ryan pick are very problem at wrik and certain sly a bold pick but we are seeing now all of the problems that come with it, how this entire sort of campaign is all about medicare and cuts to the budget and about things republicans don't want to be talking about if you stay want to go to the bold route go with christy and you wouldn't be talking about medicare cuts necessarily. you wouldn't be talking about a really radical federal budget plan.

you would have a whole other set of complications to deal with. i think in terms of the general election, chris christie would be less problematic for rom new than ryan. >> he also has 37% favorability as opposed to ryan's 27%. something you wrote that caught my eye was not only his brashness and bluntness but the fact that they didn't know if he was a real team player when he even once won't the air saying that romney should release his taxes. maybe some of this hurt him more than even his brashness with the romney crowd. >> the taxes was huge. this is the second tax drama we are going through for mitt romney. one back in january when he was saying he wasn't going to release anything. the pressure started building. christy went on the "today" show and said he should release something. romney had no choice at that point but to come out with a year and an estimate. you run the risk of that repeating itself or something like that repeating itself if he is your vp candidate.

there's also -- story a few weeks -- months ago the romney people let it be known to the press they didn't appreciate that when they did joint event was christy, christy kind of took his time showing up and showing up late. sort of, you know, implication felt he was conducting himself in like a -- a regal manner. when you see -- >> he is a busy man. busy man. give him a break. he is busy. let me ask you this. what's the politics of behind the christie key moat? -- keynote? sit they are helping promote him for the future or he came out early for romney they want to give him something since they didn't put him on the ticket? >> i think it is simple. giving him the party base and what they want. chris christie , got to do it. >> steve, thanks for your time tonight. catch steve on "the cycle," 3:00

p.m. weekdays on msnbc. we will be right back. ♪ spread a little love today ♪ ♪ spread a little love my way ♪ ♪ spread a little something to remember ♪ [ female announcer ] fresh milk and real cream makes philadelphia and the moment a little richer.

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finally tonight, i'm here in ohio where voting rights are under assault. it is a critical swing state and the stakes are high. voter suppression is a way to rig the system and the right knows it. they are acting on it here in ohio. and in 2004, long lines kept nearly 130,000 ohioans from casting a ballot on election day. clearly it was a broken system. the state added 35 days of early voting before the 2008 election. sounds like a good idea, right? you about since 2008, republicans have passed laws restricted early voting all over again. and now thanks in part to the republican secretary of state, democratic leading counties are

shrinking early voting hours while republican leaning counties are extending them. it is brazen and unfair and it is wrong. it is time to educate all voters so that they know we won't stand for it. joining me now is former governor ted strickland, democrat from ohio. he'ses one of the co-chairs of the obama re-election campaign. governor strickland, first of all, thanks for being here tonight. >> reverend al, it is always good to be with you. >> now, i must say there's blateblat e blatant suppression going on throughout the states. tell our viewers what is happening in the important state of ohio. >> couple of things. first of all, they are trying to restrict voting during the last three days, leading up to the election day. that's a critical weekend period of time when a lot of votes are

cast. four years ago over 100,000 votes were cast during that weekend period. so the obama campaign joining with the ohio democratic party is bringing suit to try to make sure that there's consistency will because the federal law says that the military and their families can vote during that period of time. we just want everyone to be able to vote during that period of time. certainly including our military but we want all voters to be able to vote during that week d weekend. the other issue you meant is an inconsistency. some of the democratic counties will have fewer hours for early voting than some of the counties that typically vote for the republicans. and the secretary of state can correct that problem by making sure that there is uniformity across ohio so that all voters will have equal access in terms of voting hours and voting times to cast their votes. >> now let me explain to people

around the country each election district has four commissioners, four on the election commission twosh , two democrats. secretary of state breaks the tie. if the secretary of state is voting with the republicans and voting -- republicans districts and not democratic zrikts, republicans get the extra time and democrats don't. when challenged about it, the secretary of state spoke out yesterday saying that well, i may, emphasize is on may, establish through directive uniform hours of operation. throughout the state. what do you mean you may practice democracy? >> well, it is going to take public pressure, reverend al to solve this problem. i think that as more and more ohioans and people across the country as far as that's concerned, become aware of this inconsistency and this lack of uniformity, and the fact that it is putting democrat voting counties like our large

counties, cuyahoga county, where cleveland is locate d, lucas, large counties that typically vote for democrats, under the current situation will have fewer hours to cast the votes than the counties that typically vote for the republicans. the secretary of state and -- called upon john houston tonight to make this a uniform system across all of ohio's 88 counties so that we have fairness in this election. >> this is blatant. when you look at the fact -- on august 2, letter to franklin county officials, i'm quoting the letter, local boards are operating under tight budget constraints on a day-to-day basis under their normal business hours. if their budget constraints are the budget constraints in democratic districts, governor? >> well, reverend al, ed fits

jirald has said very publicly, in fact, i think at a press conference, even today, that cuyahoga county has budgeted for these extra hours, that that is not a problem in his county, so i don't think that that's an argument that holds water. i think it is more of an excuse and what we need is uniformity and the secretary of state has a responsibility under the law, i believe, to make sure that all voters in ohio are treated equally. regardless of what county they come from. >> absolutely. governor ted strickland, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you, reverend. >> i'm in ohio tonight as they are -- cutting back on early voting days. as they are using other measures that will make it difficult for people to vote. voter i.d. we have been defrauded. we have been to georgia, we have been to florida. we have been all over since the march in alabama. we raised this on this show. i don't care if you are republican, democrat, independent, or undecided. we must