the wisconsin state house is insured for $200 million. ilt it used 43 types of stone from six countries. they copied what royalty built in europe. this is not unusual, other stated houses are grand. when you spend other people's money, you tend to spend a lot. >> when you looking look around here, this is frugal wisconsin. this is place is a palace. >> that is why we don't add things to on it. >> but they wanted more benefits for everyone. >> the question we have been asking ourselves around wisconsin, why do they have the healthcare benefits and why the retirement benefits. the question we should be asking you, why don't you have access to the same kind of he'll choices that a public employee has. >> john: because if we all, did we would be deeper in the money hole. but there is another approach, one a few places have tried and the results, prosperity. that is next. [ man ] they said i couldn't win a fight. but i did. they said i couldn't fight above my weight class. but i did. they said i couldn't get elected to congress. but i did. ♪ sm

. >>> well, remember those scenes from the wisconsin state house, weeks and weeks of protest over the governor's plan to strip unions of their collective bargaining rights. a bill that ultimately passed the republican controlled senate. well, the fight's not over. exactly five months later wisconsin residents are voting in a series of highly unusual recall elections targeting lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. here's what's at stake. the republicans control the senate holding the majority, 19-14. six of those republicans are facing recall attempts. those are the elections taking place today. if democrats win half of today's elections, they'll be in a position to retake the senate. here's the rub. two dksz face recall elections next tuesday. the final word on who controls the wisconsin state senate may have to wait until that. j.r. ross is editor of "whisk politics.com" all i hear about is the lack of certainty about who is going to actually show up at the polls. >> absolutely. we're talking about an unprecedented number of elections in wisconsin. we don't go to the polls in wiscons

election to recall six republican state senators, hoping to win at least three of those races to regain at least one-vote majority control of the upper house of the wisconsinlature. or to put that in less hyperbolic terms. >> this is ground zero for the middle class. this is ground zero for organized labor. >> major moment for the progressive movement. >> a totally historically unprecedented nature of this election. >> national political history. >> national drive to push back on whether we have more to go to build a move. of resistance, but resist we must. we must and we will must about that be committed. [laughter and applause] [laughter] >> jon: that was either a screwup or some profound yoda [bleeped] yes, do it we must, yes. resist we must. you know, reverend sharpton, when you're at a dramatic call to action, that is an unfortunate time to get caught up in your teleprompter. you were just getting people... i have been to the muffin top. [laughter] i have seen the promise gland. to the recall elections themselves. it was clear early tuesday night that republicans had retained three seats and democrats had picked up two, and thus all eyes focused on th

think back to wisconsin six months ago, wisconsin was compared to pre-nazi germany, walker was compared to hitler and mubarak. the speaker of the wisconsin state house, fitzgerald was threatened with an e-mail. we a plan -- we plan to assault you by right at your house and put a nice little bullet in your head. senator who had nails scattered on his driver and his when she'll broken received an e-mail, we will hunt you down, switch or so, drink your blood. i will have your decapitated head in the town square. this is your last warning. there were thousands of these reports are the wisconsin state government and collected and investigated. so, you know, the notion that somehow it was those pushing to rollback collective bargaining were somehow using vitriol on the warpath, and that their opponents were somehow being measured and responsible is to me at least i think in this reading of the dialogue. >> so, week, i agree with you, rick, that anytime that i am very concerned about the demagoguery. and, in fact, years ago i got into trouble when i said that educators have to be really, educators have the right of freedom of speech. but we also have a res

wisconsin six months ago, it was compared to pre-nazi germany. it was compared to hitler and mubarak. the speaker of the wisconsin state house was threatened with a plan of assault with a bullet. a senator had nails scattered on his driveway and a windshield broken. he received an e-mail that we will hunt you down and drink your blood, and have your decapitated head on a pike. there were thousands of these reported to the wisconsin state government, and collected and investigated. the notion that somehow it was those pushing to roll back collective barining who were using vitriol on the warpath and their opponents were been responsible is, to me at least, a misreading of the dialogue. >> i agree with you that anytime -- i am very concerned about the demagoguery. in fact, years ago, i got in big trouble when i said that educators have a right of freedom of speech but also have a responsibility in terms of how we use it. i got in big trouble for saying that by lots of people who said, you know, you should just protect the freedom of speech. our wisconsin federation also got these kind of death threats. when i have seen people

the walk of august 15th. the white house not announcing where the tour will take him. what specific states. he needs to go to the midwest battleground states, iowa, wisconsin, michigan, ohio, even sneak into the rust belt there, pennsylvania. this is the base swing states for any democrat trying to get to the white house or any democrat trying to hold the white house. at this point his approval ratings upside down in just about every state but one. we'll show you in a few minutes. >>> for weeks leaders have warned the markets would tank if there was no debt ceiling deal. yesterday, the president signed the deal and the markets tankd. expectations for friday's job report are suddenly grim. the stocks posted their worst day in nearly a year, the dow fell 2.2%. closed by low 12,000, the s&p down 2.6% and the seventh straight day of losses, its longest losing streak since october 240u. the nasdaq was down 2.7%. there are warning signs that the fragile economic recovery is simply stalling. consumer spending was down in june, much worse than expected. manufacturing activity is barely above recession levels and the economy grew just an anemic 1.3% in the second q

wisconsin's election, the new republican governor decided although he had not campaigned on the issue of union rights, he would use his new power as governor and the big republican majorities in both houses of the state legislature to strip union rights in wisconsin. wisconsin, in turns out, is pretty attached to his union rights and so huge, no, really, huge crowds took to the streets of madison and to the state capitol building itself this winter and spring protesting governor walker and the republicans' action. the largest demonstrations at the state capitol in history. the state senate's democrats hatched a plan to stop the republicans from passing the union-stripping measure by themselves fleeing the state so the wisconsin senate could not get a quorum, so the senate would not be allowed to vote on or pass anything. ultimately on march 9 of this year by unprecedented and dodgy procedural means, the wisconsin republicans did figure out how to pass the union-stripping bill anyway. every republican in the wisconsin senate except one voted for it. all of them but one. wisconsin who supports union rights were so angry they organized recall elections against six republican state senators who were elig

the house passed a progressive plan that invested more in jobs, and the president collaborated with republicans in the senate to cut it, including billions in aid to the states that set off this wisconsinings that taxed millionaires way more. >> the house also said they did not want to risk the midterm elections. i think there's enough blame to go around all over. i think that we have to be honest about it it if we're going to correct it. >> we have to be honest.

state senators and take money out of the pockets of hundreds of thousands of middle class state workers in the state. less than 24 hours from now, wisconsin voters could send shock waves into every republican house in the country. this is still ground zero for the fight for the middle class in america. these people didn't cause the s&p to downgrade our country. they didn't put wisconsin and america in a deep financial hole. these are people who go to work every day, pay their taxes and try to make a better life for the next generation. this is not -- this is not the face of greed in america. this is the face of everything that is absolutely correct with america [ cheers and applause ] this is ground zero for citizens united. outside groups have poured millions of dollars into the six races and some experts think the dollar total could go as high as $40 million. i guess you could say this is karl rove versus the unions. this is freedom works, head-to-head against grass roots organizations in the state. here is the tale of the tape. democrats need to win at least three of the races to recapture the wisconsin state senate. wisconsin's second senate dis rick, rob cowles versus the democrat. in the 1

discuss what can and should be done to bolter the economy are congressman paul ryan, republican chair of the house budget committee who is in his home state of wisconsin and here in the studio, bill miller, head of legg mason capital management who beat the s&p 500 index for 15 years. start with the downgrade. congressman ryan, what do you think of the decision and if the u.s. is forced to pay more in interest rates to borrow, to go further into debt isn't that going to add tens of billions of dollars to the deficit? >> if we go up another point it adds about a trillion dollars or more over the ten year window so yes, clearly i'm not very surprised that the downgrade. we more or less saw you this coming because we are on the wrong fiscal path. we will find out tomorrow what kind of spike in rates we will get but obviously not only does it hurt the federal government and its ability to close the deficit. it hurts people. car loans, home loans, all these things are going to go up and it is because washington has not gotten its fiscal house in order and to me this is more vindication of our actions. we passed a budget which according to s&p yesterday wou

the streets tonight. >> woodruff: the british house of commons, called back from summer vacation, will hold a special debate on the violence tomorrow. >> warner: now, the struggle for the state senate in wisconsin. republicans defied a bid to oust them from power on tuesday, in a recall battle waged fiercely by unions for public employees, and anti-tax groups. wisconsin voters lined up to cast ballots in huge numbers for an off-year, summer election. at stake-- the republicans' approach to deficit-reduction. >> this is people saying, "hey we want more of a voice in what's happening in our nation, in our country and in our state." >> it's just like you say when you're a carpenter: you measure twice and cut once. we already put her in office once. what do you want to get rid of her for? >> warner: in the end, two republican state senators lost their jobs, but four kept theirs. that means the g.o.p. will retain control of the state senate, by at least a one-vote margin. after the vote, republican governor scott walker struck a conciliatory note, saying in a statement: "i look forward to working with legislators of all parties to grow jobs for wisconsin and move our state forward." walker's tone wa

wisconsin and learn a little bit about the badger state. so wisconsin voters, if you can look them in the eye and tell them that you would be scott walker's best friend in the white housed of reaction do you think you'd get? i think the folks at the dairy state understand that you are all hat and no cattle. >>> hurricane irene is threatening much of the atlantic coast. there are extraordinary preparations under way from north carolina to new york city. that's next. >>> and if you're among the tens of millions of folks potentially affected by the storm, the house majority leader, well, he has a plan. no disaster relief unless there are spending cuts. the remarkable hypocrisy of eric cantor coming up. [ male announcer ] get ready for the left lane. the volkswagen autobahn for all event is back. right now, get a great deal on new volkswagen models, including the cc. and every volkswagen includes scheduled carefree maintenance. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease the volkswagen cc sport for just $289 a month. ♪ visit vwdealer.com today. is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. new citracal sl

wisconsin and learn a little bit about the badger state. so wisconsin voters, if you can look them in the eye and tell them that you would be scott walker's best friend in the white housedo you think you'd get? i think the folks at the dairy state understand that you are all hat and no cattle. >>> hurricane irene is threatening much of the atlantic coast. there are extraordinary preparations under way from north carolina to new york city. that's next. >>> and if you're among the tens of millions of folks potentially affected by the storm, the house majority leader, well, he has a plan. no disaster relief unless there are spending cuts. the remarkable hypocrisy of eric cantor coming up. ♪ [ country ] [ man ] ♪ gone, like my last paycheck ♪ gone, gone away ♪ gone, like my landlord's smile ♪ ♪ gone, gone away ♪ my baby's gone away with dedicated claims specialists... and around-the-clock service, travelers can help make things better quicker. will your auto and home insurer... be there when you need them most? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage... or visit travelers.com. whether it can be done safely and responsibly. at exxonmobil we know the answer is yes. when

the country when. >> the white house feels this bus tour >> in the national news this morning, one week after democrats try to recall republican state lawmakers in wisconsin, there were two more recall elections that took place. this time democrats are the target. >> intense fighting continues in libya. libyan military used scud missiles, the missiles landed harmlessly in the desert. rebel forces are making advancements. >> people killed execution- style after being pulled from a mosque in the south of iraq. the seven men killed in this incident were members of an anti al-qaeda militia. >> much more ahead on the kron 4 morning news. top stories after this break. which which huan >> coit tower hot spot is in san mateo. 101 south found at highway 92. in addition to closing down the connecting ramp from 92, the san mateo bridge on to 101 southbound, the two right lanes of the bayshore freeway are shut out where this trailer overturned if spilling its load. yoli eceves is on the scene with an update. >> a good morning. it looks like there's going to be a little bit of relief for people commuting on southbound 101 as soon as it removes the trailer. been hawkin

the ed show," tonight from madison, wisconsin. if i was in an arena, i would say it's in front of a packed house. we are just across the street from the state capitol, where all the activity has taken place here for the last six months. it has been a long run to tonight's activity and election. it is way too early to call anything. a lot of the votes that are being counted are in the rural areas of the district. joining me tonight, we have just about everybody who's a player in this whole issue. especially the best fans in america. [ cheers and applause ] john nichols joins us off the top tonight from "the nation" magazine. john, early returns. it looks like a good start for the republicans. >> i'd be cautious about that, ed. our rural communities turn their votes in early. they count fast because they have fewer votes. when i look at these districts, one of the things that's very striking to me is that some of the bigger cities, places like baribu and portage which are democratic, some of their polling places are just closing right now because they had hour-long waits to vote. so we have a lot of votes to come in. what i'm intrigued by, th

the republicans in wisconsin say anything about national politics next year? >> i think it does. i think it's a message not only in wisconsin, but state houses people want leaders who think more about the next generation than they do about the next election. and when people think that way, when they think about their kids and grandkids and not just about their own political futures, voters will stand with them and affirm them and they want -- i think what happens or is not happening in washington was a great contrast to what we've done in wisconsin where we found a way to move forward. now if we can bring -- a lot of issues we can bring democrats and republicans together on and show the country that wisconsin really is putting people back to work and is not facing the same kind of mess that washington is. after the downgrade a week ago, it was a nice contrast with wisconsin, because we balanced our budget. we saw moody's, one of the credit rating agencies, call us. >> gretchen: unfortunately because of at that satellite hit, we're out of time with you today. i'm sure you'll be back sometime soon. thanks so much for your time. >> i will indee

the of the united states welcomes the super bowl champ green bay packers to the white house. i'm sure a lot of folks in wisconsin will be happy to see that. thanks very much, ted, for that report. in rhode island, a bitter dispute that led to the firing of almost 2,000 teacher and big protests has been resolved. the teachers union approved a collective bargaining agreement. union members overwhelmingly agreed to concessions in exchange for job security. dr. sanjay gupta is standing by live in kenya. he'll be joining pus ining us. and new backlash as the raid that kills bin laden goes hollywood. ♪ ♪ when you're resonsible for this much of the team, you need a car you can count on. ♪ i. >>> a nationwide man hunt for three siblings ends in a dramatic gun showdown for police. phone lines snipped and cable boxes sabotaged. ing and revenge, nato takes down the alleged taliban insurgents behind the deaths of 30 u.s. troops killed in afghanistan. you're in "the situation room." >> a soaring death toll in somalia. starvation stealing thousands upon thousands of lives. many of them children and babies. and this alarming s

would be huge, not only here in the state of wisconsin, but it would send a message to all the republican governors all throughout the country and the republican housesout the country that you'd better not mess with the middle class anymore because they will stand up and fight. >> do you agree with that, that this would be absolutely -- if you won three that would be a political earthquake in wisconsin? >> even winning two would be absolutely enormous because ed, as you've said, these are all republican districts and it is remarkable how well we have done in so many of these seats tonight. >> i think there's a real air of apprehension here tonight, john nichols, that if the democrats were to get just one seat it would be short of expectations and it would also be a rough night at the office and a rough message sent and it is something that republicans would take and republican with in every state, saying that they are on the right side of the issues. >> yeah. although i think you have to be careful with that. let's start with the fact that these are districts that voted for scott walker for governor in 2010. all of them. already one of them has said

would be huge, not only here in the state of wisconsin, but it would send a message to all the republican governors all throughout the country and the republican houses throughout the country that you'd better not mess with the middle class anymore because they will stand up and fight. >> do you agree with that, that this would be absolutely -- if you won three that would be a political earthquake in wisconsin? >> even winning two would be absolutely enormous because ed, as you've said, these are all republican districts and it is remarkable how well we have done in so many of these seats tonight. >> i think there's a real air of apprehension here tonight, john nichols, that if the democrats were to get just one seat it would be short of expectations and it would also be a rough night at the office and a rough message sent and it is something that republicans would take and republican with in every state, saying that they are on the right side of the issues. >> yeah. although i think you have to be careful with that. let's start with the fact that these are districts that voted for scott walker for governor in 2010. all of them. already one of them h

least three of the races to take control of the wisconsin state senate, which they have now failed to do. >> it appears that the fight for the people's houseople. got to feel bad for the people. look, everyone fought a good fight fight. it was a real democracy-strengthening exercise. let's pack it up and everyone will be civil to each other again and be ready for 2012. >> there are two more recall elections in the state. two democrats are on the hot seat. >> next week, two democrats face recalls. >> wisconsin. >> tomorrow on "morning joe," wisconsin governor scott walker will be our guest. also, david axelrod joins us from iowa. more "morning joe" in a moment. introducing the schwab mobile app. it's schwab at your fingertips wherever, whenever you want. one log in lets you monitor all of your balances and transfer between accounts, so your money can move as fast as you do. check out your portfolio, track the market with live updates. and execute trades anywhere and anytime the inspiration hits you. even deposit checks right from your phone. just take a picture, hit deposit and you're done. open an account today and put schwab mobile to wor

the battle for the white house. welcome, everyone, i'm megyn kelly. polls are open for another eight hours in wisconsin. the voters there today deciding whether to recall a group of republican stateenators who supported wisconsin governor scott walk or's -- walker's controversial legislation, a battle that took the national stage by storm as republicans successfully stripped unions of most of their collective bargaining powers. now this vote can serve as a symbolic decision ahead of the 2012 presidential race. matt kibble is my guest now. exactly how does this become some sort of a proxy for what we may see in november. >> hi, megyn. well, i can tell you from what i heard from the tea party yesterday all the way to university of wisconsin madison political science professor who's been tracking this, they both said the same thing: america is watching. and america is watching what has been a conservative revolution here in wisconsin through the gop and through governor scott walker's policies and his changes, his budget reforms and certainly the changes in collective bargaining. on the other side, the unions, labor leaders, community organize oars, many on the progressive or libera

of the midwest, probably hitting states like iowa, wisconsin, ohio, michigan, places where his approval rating has really gone down. >> chuck todd, thank you for your reporting from the white house this morning. jim cramer is the host of cnbc's "mad money." good morning. >> good morning. >> the markets are rattled for not having a deal, a long wait, but on the day the deal was signed, the markets still plunged 2%. >> yes. >> why is wall street not happy with this deal? >> recession. all people can talk about is the whole slowdown that washington triggered, manufacturing crisis that the president mentioned has made it so that all business has slowed down. jobless, probably not going to be so great. sales, bad. we're hearing company after company saying washington created a huge mess. not going away. >> to what degree did the spending cuts call for in this bill have an influence in this recession? >> a trillion dollars lost in the stock market. much of the loss is associated with companies that were doing well because of government -- some people call it handouts, i would call it spending. i think that is a huge part of the decline. suddenly realize big sugar daddy is gone away. >

the house, they chose jeb of texas, and upton of michigan. republicans are complaining that murray shouldn't get a seat because she is too political. >>> republicans keep control of the wisconsin stateis bitter recall election. democrats only took two of six republican seats. they needed three to take charge of the senate. the recall was a referendum on the recall. >>> nato says an air strike has killed the taliban insurgents who shot down the helicopter last weekend. it went down and killed 30 americans and eight afghans. cnn just learned the pentagon will make the names of the dead american service members public, and that is unusual because 22 of those killed were u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s, and they operate in secret sea. >>> british prime minister david cameron said they will do everything they need to restore order, and he says the rioters are nothing but thugs. >> we need a fight back, and a fight back is under way. we have seen the worst of britain and i also believe we have seen some of the best of britain. >>> syria's beautiful crackdown is expected to draw a tough new response from the united states this week. government sources tell cnn the obama administration is ready to dema

the house and the senate -- they managed through some devious methods. they had testimony. it locked the doors of the state us and did not allow us to come in, and now, wisconsin has done a lot of work and has really thought and has shown what the people are speaking about. he is now getting scared, recognizing that the referendum we have on the ballot in september is probably going to go down. no on issued two is going to win in ohio because 1.3 million people signed a petition to get it on the ballot, and these were not just union folks. these are all people in ohio who are outraged at this draconian methods of speeding up workers in ohio. >> i tell you, i was out in columbus and just happened to be there on the day that those petitions were delivered. that was some scene. it seemed like a holiday in columbus, ohio. people were pumped up. >> we had 8000 people. we even at one of our teachers run the miles from cincinnati up there with petitions on his back and then met up with the crew as a whole parade came into the state house. it was really awesome to see the ohio is up and fighting, coming together, a grass-roots, coordinated effort, and behind that, we

wisconsin. six state senate seats in jeopardy for the gop. the results and race down to the wire and whether it tells us anything about the rest of the country oh, yeah in 2012. >>> the white house poised to take the next step in an effort to end syria's bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters. 16 minutes past the hour. coffee doesn't have vitamins... unless you want it to. new splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart new ways to sweeten. same great taste. new splenda® essentials™. at exxon and mobil, we engineer smart gasoline that works at the molecular level to help your engine run more smoothly by helping remove deposits and cleaning up intake valves. so when you fill up at an exxon or mobil station, you can rest assured we help your engine run more smoothly while leaving behind cleaner emissions. it's how we make gasoline work harder for you. exxon and mobil. setting that goal to become a principal. but, i have to support my family, so how do i go back to school? university of phoenix made it doable. a lot of my instructors were principals in my district. i wouldn't be where i