please give a round of applause to a woman that is a leader, my sister, arlene holt baker. [applause] >> this award is presented on behalf of the feminist majority to arlene holt baker afl-cio executive vice president in recognition of her leadership, her workers' rights and pay equity for the women worldwide. [applause] >> thank you so much. [applause] today it is such an honor to be among my sisters and on the 25th anniversary of the majority. i tell you why come with a heavy heart today many of my sisters from the labor movement before we came here we learned that one of our sisters, a pioneer, one whose shoulders many of us stand on passed away today. 88-year-old addie was a pioneer for the women's rights and workers' rights and so really i stand here today to say that my journey has been made possible for women like addie. i also want to thank the feminist majority cough for standing and being there and never being afraid to fight on behalf of women's rights. i will tell you a personal story. about 25 years ago, now 35-year-old daughter, an athlete who plays every sport

arlene holt baker is the organization's executive vice president. welcome inside the war room.glad to have you here. >> thank you so much governor grandholm for inviting us this evening. and we're very glad to be here. >> when i talk to republicans they say what is the big deal about requiring id? you have to have id for everything. why is everybody so excited about this? >> well i tell you we're excited about it and quite concerned about it because voting is the cornerstone of our democracy. and i'll tell you why we are concerned, because the numbers speak for themselves. in this country 11% of americans who would be eligible to vote do not have voter id. we're talking about 25% of african-americans, 15% of people who make under $35,000 annually 18% of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 do not have government-issued id. so it disproportionately impacts, governor people of color, the elderly, and young people. that's a real concern of ours. when you are trying to disproportionately take away if you will or diminish the ability for a group of people not to be able to par

joining me now is arlene holt baker, the executive vice president of the afl-cio, coalition of unions than 12 million workers. she and her union members have been marching with us all week. we're doing this together. civil rights groups, national action network, afl-cio and unions. and tyrese gibson, multigrammy nominated singer and actor who has been in movies like "transformers," one of my own favorites "baby boy." and he's out here in alabama for another reason. like harry belafonte and other entertainers who marched for civil rights, tyrese is also lending his time to the struggle here. thank you both for being here tonight. why has labor groups joined in this fight against immigration and voter i.d. laws this weekend put so much into this effort? >> reverend sharpton, the truth is that we're all connected. and when we look at what's happening across this country, workers, immigrants and those who believe we should have a right to vote. we have a common enemy. workers in this country have been under attack, particularly in the last year. they've tried to take away their right to h

arlene holt baker, the one and only tyrese. thank you both for your time tonight. and thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. we'll be back here in montgomery tomorrow night after the big rally. "hardball" starts right now. >>> mitt the misfit. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews down in washington. leading off tonight, faking it. here's mitt romney's problem. he's not a movement conservative. he just plays one on tv and that's why he can't close the deal with republicans. he has the most votes, snagged the most states and the most delegates, but the enthusiasm gap keeps growing. it may be about to get worse with a string of primaries in unfriendly territory. rising gas prices may be the biggest threat to president obama's re-election. so why are some republicans arguing that the president wants to see the price go up? does that make any sense? plus if republicans won't stop going after contraception, democrats won't stop benefiting from it. eight democrats, all women walked out yesterday when the georgia senate voted to restrict access to contrac