yesterday, the judge in the case issued another order that ordered john husted to come back to court personally and explain why he thinks a federal court ruling should not apply to him. that got mr. husted's attention. he rescinded his original order and he filed a new brief with the court in which he apologized to the court for any misimpressions. he also asked for a stay of the court's order that ohio restore the early voting rights. while john husted is very, very sorry and would like very much not to be held in contempt of court in ohio, he would also like to not restore the three days of early voting right before the elect where last time around, 93,000 people voted in ohio, including a large number of african-american voters who were voting for barack obama. in terms of voters knowing the basics of what to expect in ohio, knowing when they can stroet, it's a mess right now and ohio is going to be really important this year, and it's getting late in the game. then there's virginia. virginia has been weird all year. for quite different reasons. virginia essentially did not have a

especially in the economic downturn that this country is facing and that is why secretary of state john husted is our villain of the day. now a major point of contention in the middle east has been the expansion of israeli settlements in violation of international law and palestine's gaza strip and the west bank now israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is intending to enact a report issued earlier this month to legalize settlements in the occupied west bank under israeli law this recent settle the vellum and the palestine israel situation brings us to another recent tragedy. and israeli judge ruled last week that the state would accept no responsibility for the death of rachel corrie the twenty three year old american activist who was run over by a military bulldozer in two thousand and three protests at the demolition of palestinian homes in the gaza strip in effect cory's become an international symbol of palestinian resistance with her parents now actively championing the cause to end the israeli occupation on their daughter's behalf so is the end of the fight for justice or is there s

this year, john husted decided to shut down the polls on those specific days. taking husted to federal court. at first, he ignored the judge and told every county in the state to keep the polls closed. no early voting no matter what. but today, husted apologized, maybe he realized he can't ignore a federal court directive. the judge ordered him to personally come to the next hearing and this afternoon, husted assured the court he will comply with its findings. at this point, we still don't know if 93,000 people will get to vote the weekend before the election. the court will have to decide. he's also confusing voters in the city of toledo. he refuses to decide where they're going to put the voting sights in lucas county. the county is deadlocked and husted won't break the tie. democrats want the polling site downtown. republicans oppose that because they think it will make it just too easy for democrats to vote. we are 60 days away from this election, and the republicans can't even agree on a polling site in one of ohio's biggest cities. go figure. let's be joi

this comes after ohio's republican secretary of state john husted says he would defy the judge's rulingl officials from setting up more early voting. which the judge said they should do. it's amazing. but it's just the latest move he's taken to suppress the vote. last week he fired to board members. here's what they told me about why they were willing to lose their jobs for voting rights. >> it's as i explained to my children. i can get another job, but i can't get another conscience. and the right thing to do here is to have early voting. >> in 2008 we had 28,732 people participate in early vote here in montgomery county. all we were attempting to do was give the voters the right to vote. >> meantime in north carolina, the board of elections voted this week to expand early voting in seven different counties. the three democrats voted to expand hours and surprise, surprise. the two republicans voted to restrict them. in florida and georgia they've already cut down early voting hours. we have to work every day from here on out to make sure that every citizen that wants to vote gets the c

you may remember that republican secretary of state john husted supported a plan for extended votingties that lean republican, even as he supported cutting those hours in counties that lean democratic. and then secretary of state cut on nights and weekends for everyone in the state of ohio. when two democrats tried to offer weekend voting, he fired them. we hosted them as guests on this show. today those two democratic officialed sued him for wrongful termination. they said he fired us and dared other board members to try to stand up for the voters in their community. mr. husted is failing a court decision to make those days available in ohio. since they were available without incident in 2008 and without incident in 2010, they were available without incident in this year's republican primary, but he wants to get rid of them now that barack obama will be on the ballot. his appeal of that decision means that voters are 57 days out from the election with no clear idea of when exactly they will be allowed to vote. he's getting help from an outside lawyer from washington, d.c. a liberal

republican secretary of state john husted initially blocked local officials from complying with the court and even issued an apology. he still plans to appeal. but this is a big victory for ohio voters. but it makes you wonder. what happened to the republican party? the party of abraham lincoln? the party of frederick douglas? today i was struck by a powerful column about doug lasts in the new york times. written by david blight. blight described how douglass fled back in the 1830s. his name then was frederick bailey. he says quote, this fugitive slave was effectively an illegal immigrant in massachusetts. susceptible under federal fugitive slave law. to capture and return to slavery at any time. despite this, frederick bailey was determined to vote as a free man. he knew he couldn't use his own name. so instead he took a big risk. changing his last name in douglass so he could exercise his right to vote. frederick douglass could have stayed in the shadows. he could have kept a low profile. but instead douglass risked his own freedom and went to the polls. he would eventually become the g

husted ran john mccain's campaign in '08. he's a partisan guy.st laid out by dennis and in the county where 40% were african-american. all you're doing is what was always done since these early voting days were put there and which maximizes people's right to vote, whoever they vote for thrk is what democracy is supposedly about. am i right? >> absolutely. >> do you think that you, then, tom, are being targeted because you are not going along with a scheme that in effect would undermine what may be a partisan desire by the secretary of state since he has such a partisan background? >> absolutely. if he's able to squauch us, and he's coming with the election in the state. >> now, tom, when you file the lawsuit, your hopes are to do what? i know that it n's just not abo money. you really want to expose what here in this lawsuit? >> we want to make sure that the people of this state can vote out, making sure that all people have access, and certainly it's not about the money with dennis and i. it's about doing the right thing. from the very beginning