another surprise, senators pryor and blanche lincoln vote with the republicans. the bottom line is no progress against "don't ask, don't tell." not today. all the political and practical details with msnbc's lawrence o'donnell. and "don't ask, don't tell" expert nathaniel frank. >>> and this jaw-dropping exchange between senator john mccain and a reporter. >> find out if someone -- i don't know if they are. they do not. they do not. they do not. you can say they are. >> that is the case, senator. >> major mike almy joins us live. >>> and the senator standing for reelection by write-in scores a sad own goal against her own campaign. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. >>> today in the united states senate, language in the defense authorization bill that would let the military "don't ask, don't tell" fell to defeat. senate republicans, in fact, took the historic step of filibustering the entire defense authorization bill in order to maintain the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. they would not even allow debate on the defense bill because it included that lang

and two democrats voted no, both from arkansas, including senator blanche lincoln who is at serious risk of losing her seat in november. brian? >> and the whole mess in washington continues for another day. kelly o'donnell with our report. thanks. >>> this has been an awful day for americans in afghanistan. nine u.s. service members killed this morning when their chopper went down in southern afghanistan. the deadliest chopper crash in more than four years for any of the nato forces. question now, of course, were they shot down by the taliban? our own john yang is in kabul and he's with us from there. john, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. military officials say this appears to be an accident, not a shootdown. but still as you say, the worst helicopter crash since may of 2006. today's nine deaths bring the u.s. death toll to at least 351 for this year. still, more than three months to go in 2010 but already, it's the deadliest year for both u.s. and coalition forces. the helicopter that crashed today was a black hawk. the crash is under investigation. officials say there's

a few weeks ago, there was a deal with senator blanche lincoln, where that group of farmers, and disasterpayments, the administration put an administrative deal on the table for $1.50 million, and the black farmers went home for it -- with nothing. i would like to see the administration reach out to was an awful russ and administrative deal, the way they did that corporate farmers and the large scale white farmers before they went to recess. tavis: what is the response as to why they are not doing that? let me ask you first, what are they saying? >> we went to the administration and asked for meetings, to have discussions about this, and i have not had the opportunity to meet with the president, and i have sought that for a very long time, and i hope that after they come back into session, i will be able to sit down with the president and find out what the next steps are to get this for the black farmers. this is one time when black folks actually have done everything right. we have a settlement agreement. we have vindication in the courts, where korea a judgment against the united states

in the arkansas senate race, john boastman continues to lead blanche lincoln, a 17 point cushion. 51% lincoln's 34%. the margin is unchanged since early last summer. a controversial issues that bridges science and ethics, has gone from the courtroom to capitol hill. and shannon bream looks into the research that some say could save a life and others say potentially could end one. >> we will lift the ban on federal funding for promising embryonic stem cell research. >> reporter: when president obama signed that executive order in march of last year, it did little to settle the debate over whether taxpayer money should be used to fund embryonic stem cell research. just weeks ago, a federal judge in washington ordered it to stop. that injunction has been temporarily stayed while the case progresses and now, lawmakers have stepped in. >> the evidence is overwhelming about the importance of embryonic stem cell research, to deal with the maladies of the world. >> democratic senator arlen specter has introduced legislation designed to restart federal funding for the controversial research. a

. >> i think mark pryor and blanche lincoln were at the top of our list of democrats to worry b i thinkth us, had it been palatable to vote with us, they certainly would have been on board. keep in mind, we had the votes lined up, we had them up, we had commit thements, implicit or explicit. >> you are seven short, six short because harry reid would have flipped the other watch. >> harry reid was procedural. we firmly believe susan colins would have voted with us, had it been amount mall, george voinovich would have voted with us and lincoln and pryor voted with us as well. chris, the important thing to keep in mind about the study like you were talking about, it was never intended to inform the legislative process. it was always meant to be and sold us to as a wholly internal study for the dod to identify issues. go. to the politics question again. josh, what i don't understand, the american people overwhelmingly support open service. it is the one thing in our life that has really changed in terms of social issues it is not like abortion issues that take time to change or go back and

you think blanch lincoln is gone in arkansas. you think bob portman is going to win in ohio. you think pat toomey is going win in pennsylvania. you think barbara boxer... >> i rebuke by the san francisco chronicle? >> i think it's going to be a victory for fiorina. >> sean: and patty murray in washington? >> patty murray go go either way. roxy has gotten his act together in the last couple days and is out there answering patty murray's charges. >> sean: why are you so confident? he has a great ad on. a great thing he said. murray criticized him saying he's the tool of wall street. he said you supported tarp. who is the tool? >> why do you -- i'm not confident. i'm concerned about sharon angle a little bit in nevada. >> harry read is dead in the water. >> sean: why? >> he hasn't moved since august 1. nobody likes him to start with. only thing that the second breath when. >> tacking sharon angle over social security and medicare this, group americans for new leadership.com put on a full quote of sharon angle. she said she wanted him not to raise raid the lock box. he had a budg

blanche lincoln is down. the republican, joe boozman. finally, to california. it's a damn good poll. literally dead heat between brown and whitman, both at 41%. we're going to continue to check the scoreboard on all the big races each night leading up to election day, november 2nd. now to bill clinton's advice for president obama. john harris is editor in chief of politico -- let's look at something that happens in our network in morning. let's look at some of the advice the former president gave. here's bill clinton when he said obama should do to nationalize the midterms, the way newt gingrich did in '94. ask the country for patience to get the country moving again. acknowledge voter disappointment and anger, explain how our economy's doing better in the world and show optimism. let's look at the quote from the president. >> i think that the democrats ought to put on one card, no more than five and no fewer than three things that will be their priorities. i know how easy it is to lose control of the debate. happened to me in '93 and '94, but remember the gift

the closest blanche lincoln in arkansas running an ad that basically said, she's saying now, i stoppedent run health care program wasn't right for arkansas and i stopped it. >> bret: getting rid of the public option. >> in the primary she ran ads when challenged from the left ran ads touting the fact she'd stood firm and taken a tough vote in favor of health care reform. >> bret: that's it to are the panel, but stay tuned for the latest awkward local news anchor banter. >> logistics . boss: and now i'll turn it over to the gecko. gecko: ah, thank you, sir. as we all know, geico has been saving people money on rv, camper and trailer insurance... ...as well as motorcycle insurance... gecko: oh...sorry, technical difficulties. boss: uh...what about this? gecko: what's this one do? gecko: um...maybe that one. ♪ dance music boss: ok, let's keep rolling. we're on motorcycle insurance. vo: take fifteen minutes to see how much you can save on motorcycle, rv, and camper insurance. >> bret: finally tonight, sometimes in tv news moments develop that are a bit awkward between anchor and guest and

where she was huddled, we could see through the glass window, huddled off the senate chamber with blanche lincolnher embattled democrat and olympia snowe, talking for 30 minutes and it was pretty clear that they were consoling her. it was very interesting. >> we have to unfortunately end this one here. when we come back, three very, very smart democrats, we'll put them on the hot seat, too, talking about pressures on the left, the civil strive is not just on the right. stay with us. [ lisa ] my name's lisa, and i smoked for 29 years. the one thing about smoking -- is it dominates your life, and it dominated mine. i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. ♪ it was very interesting that you could smoke on the first week. [ male announcer ] chantix is a non-nicotine pill that stays with you all day to help you quit. in studies, 44% of chantix users were quit during weeks 9 to 12 of treatment, compared to 18% on sugar pill. it's proven to reduce the urge to smoke. i did have an unopened pack of cigarettes in my purse... i said, you know, "bye, i don't need you any more,

look, blanche lincoln is a lame duck. she's so far behind in arkansas it's ridiculous.t possibly catch up and yesterday she voted with the republicans to prevent the repeal of don't ask, don't tell. she somehow thinks that she's going to scramble her way back. i don't rely on these democrats to do the right thing after the election. some of the defectors. you have a lot of pseudo democrats who are trying to run a pseudo republicans, who as you pointed out earlier, even running ads against health care in some of their districts and by the way they are the ones who are going to lose. the graysons are going to win >> you think this has anything to do with harry reid fwleeg a really tough race in his state? >> no, i think if he could have done it, he would have brought the bill to the floor. i think that here's got too many defectors. look, nancy pelosi wants to bring this bill to the floor. she's got the same problem in the house. maybe these guys should just go home, get out of the way, and let barack obama go out there and carry the message. it's time for him to step up

saying vote against this candidate or vote for this candidate in the arkansas senate race with blanch lincoln and bill halter. we are just seeing an unprecedented flood of corporate money or corporate, i'm sorry labor union money- corporate money and outside money influencing elections. >> ifill: if you're interested in supporting a candidate or just a voter who is not involved in all of this and is trying to decide who do you believe, how can you find out when this situation is so murky right now? >> it's very difficult particularly to determine who is spending what in a timely fashion. when it comes to the candidate, you can look that up on the f.e.c.reports but when it comes to trying to figure out what a 527 is expending you have to go to the i.r.s. whether it's a c-4 you may not see it at all. if it's just issue advocacy. this is a very tough for any average si glenn not to mention a member of the press to write about it. >> ifill: the name of your organization. tell me, how is it going? the sunlight foundation. >> not as well as we'd like. one of the things we're tryinged to do, we have

now to arkansas where senator blanche lincoln trails bad low. down to 53% to 39%. the republican, joe boozeman in the new ipsos/reuters poll. finally to california. it's a damn good poll. it shows a dead heat, literally a dead heat between jerry brown and meg whitman both at 40% way lot of undecided out there. we're going to continue to check the hashs scoreboarda and all of the big races each night leading up to election day, november 2nd. now to bill clinton's advice for president obama. hot stuff here. john harris is editor in chief of politico. he interviewed president clinton yesterday. happens in our network in morning. let's look at some of the advice the former president gave. here's bill clinton when he said obama should do to nationalize as he put it the midterms the way that newt gingrich did in '94. ask the country for patience to get country moving in the right direction again. acknowledge voter disappointment and anger, explain how our economy's doing better than the rest of the worlds and show optimism about the future of the country. let's look at t

number two, arkansas, where senator blanche lincoln trails by double digits.kely to switch parties, north dakota. notice delaware's off of that list after christine o'donnell knocked off mike cast thel week. still, all ten seats held by democrats. the republicans have a good shot to win. win. win-win. a what ? a win-win. you should say win-win... use a hyphen. you know what this is ? a win-win ? a home run. ah, that was my next guess. win-win. win-win. drink. man, this trip was great. i mean... i'm just... ah... pumped. we know why you fly. we're american airlines. look at all this stuff for coffee. oh there's tons. french presses, expresso tampers, filters. it can get really complicated. not nearly as complicated as shipping it, though. i mean shipping is a hassle. not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that is easy. best news i've heard all day! i'm soooo amped! i mean not amped. excited. well, sort of amped. really kind of in between. have you ever thought about decaf?

john boozman is holding a lead over blanch lincoln. 51-34. ohio, a new poll shows john kasich with a lead over the incumbent governor ted strikland. what a race. polls show much of strickland's lead is due to support from independence. and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business. we're with you when you're saving for your dreams. [ woman ] when you want a bank that travels with you. with you when you're ready for the next move. [ male announcer ] now that wells fargo and wachovia have come together, what's in it for you? unprecedented strength, the stability of t

john boozman is holding a lead over blanch lincoln. that's 51-34 for boozeman. ohio a new quinnipiac poll shows john kasich with a lead over incumbent governor ted strike land in a race to be the next governor. kasich's lead is due to overwhelming support over independent voters. we'll be right back. like 100% whole grain, the way triscuit does, you always end up with something delicious. ♪ triscuit. weave some goodness. but one patient is my favorite... my mother. last year mom needed additional nutrition so i recommended boost nutritional drink. and she still drinks it every day. [ male announcer ] boost has 26 vitamins & minerals and calcium to help keep bones strong... and 10g of protein to help maintain muscle. making it the perfect compliment to your daily routine. [ amy ] boost drink gives my favorite patient the complete nutrition she needs to keep doing the things she loves. >>> welcome back to "hardball." if the tea party candidates help republicans take control of congress this november, their goal was to force another government shutdown, some say, a

john boozman is holding a lead over blanch lincoln. that's 51-34 for boozeman. ohio a new quinnipiac poll shows john kasich with a lead over incumbent governor ted strike land in a race to be the next governor. kasich's lead is due to overwhelming support over independent voters. we'll be right back. how are you getting to a happier place? running there? dancing there? flying there? how about eating soup to get there? delicious campbell's soups fill you with good nutrition, energy, farm-grown ingredients, and can help you keep a healthy weight. helping you get to a happier place. have a nice trip. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. [ monkey cheeps ] [ male announcer ] a bath becomes even more pleasurable when you know that your water is being heated in an environmentally- conscious way while saving you hundreds of dollars on your water-heating energy bill. the geospring water heater from ge with advanced hybrid technology. heating the water in your home any other way is just going to seem primitive. [ monkey cheeps ] ♪ maryland residents can save up to $

among voters and also "today," vice president biden, he's campaigning too working on behalf of blanch lincoln of arkansas who's one of those democrats considered to be very vulnerable this year. >>> it is 7:05 and here's matt. >> now to a big battle brewing in alaska. incumbent senator lisa murkowski recently lost the republican primary there but she's not going away quietly. she's launched a write-in cam pain and that's infuriated some of her fellow republicans. nbc's lee cowan is in anchorage with the latest. lee good morning to you. >> reporter: yeah, a lot of senator murkowski's colleagues not only in washington but among the party as a whole including those here in alaska are really frustrated by the fact that she's continuing to push this write in campaign. murkowski insists that it was her backer who is wanted her to give this one more shot. it's just before dawn at the local diner in anchorage and just as a fresh pot of coffee is being brewed, embattled senator lisa murkowski is brewing a fresh campaign. alaska's senate race was turned on its head when murkowski lost the gop primaries

getting new details right now on the ethics charges brought against arkansas democratic senator blanche lincoln. they are accusing her of wrongly using taxpayer dollars to cover the costs of campaign material. the complaint addresses a four-page newsletter that was mailed out last month. she is accused of a string of offenses, including using unlawful personal references and mailings. not good news considering this poll showing lincoln trailing her republican opponent with only 28% of the vote ahead of the midterms. look at that 57% for the republican, 28% for blanche. new video today of what happened in florida to a father who stormed a school bus to defend his daughter against brutal bullies. james willie jones is now apologizing for his actions, but he apparently snapped because he thought those students were picking on his 13-year-old daughter who has cerebral palsy. let me tell you what the kids did to her. they called her names, they pulled her hair, they tweaked her ear and they took condoms and tried to put them over her head. he said he reached out to the school which did nothing and t

. >> senators harry reid, blanche lincoln, patry murray, charles grassley, all incumbents under fire for wasteful federal spending. >> special interests have had their turn. now, it's our turn. >> taxpayers are under against the wall and they are absolutely disgruntled and disgusted with the culture in washington that continues to go on as if nothing is going on. >> there are heavy earmarkers, they're in deep trouble with independent voters and even with some conservative democratic voters who are just so frustrated with runaway spending. >> reporter: so in light of our decifits and ballooning debt, as you know, jenna, this is not a list of accomplishments that they want to run on, and it is also not about being a republican or a democrat. it's about being in office when the pig got fat. back to you. jenna: good point, will -- william. william la jeunesse in california for us today, thank you very much. jon: voters are now deciding key primary battles in several states, one of the most closely watched n. delaware. it's between republican senate candidates mile castle and christine o'

but the bigger problem with the bill, it's a blanch/lincoln sponsored bill, is that they're asking forover ten years, but they're taking $2 billion of that from food stamps or from families that essentially they're stealing from dinner to pay for lunch. which is -- makes absolutely no sense to me at all. the bill is a good bill, it's a step in the right direction, we're beginning to address school lunch. it's the first time since 1973 they're actually allocating more dollars to reimbursements for school lunch programs but it doesn't call for enough. the president actually asked for $10 billion over ten years. we have a long way to go on this. >> we talk about the funds and a long way to go and all this legislation but you did a healthy school lunch challenge on "top chef" and you discovered we can do this and it doesn't have to be expensive? >> well, it's to include everybody. there's dollars involved here, but you send kids to school and you give them books and a desk, this is -- this should be part of learning for a children to learn part is nourishing them. we did a challenge on "to

he has worked with blanche lincoln on these issues. he is very much involved in issues affecting people that are disadvantaged. >> i know he is a good guy, but he could not get enough money, right? >> he could not get a federal official to invest in a program that was providing employment for americans. >> he could not get enough money, right? >> i do not understand your point. >> you do not have to understand the point. is it right or wrong? he did not get enough money, and that is why he went out of business, even though he had invested a lot of his money, he was a good guy. >> he did not go out of business. he has a well known, profitable company. he -- >> but a closed the program. >> closed the program. >> why? >> because he could not get members of congress, state and local officials to be interested in the plight of disadvantaged americans. he spends his energies in other places. >> do you really know that? i do not know anybody on this committee or too many in the congress -- >>r. conyers, the black caucus is not representing af

he has worked with blanche lincoln on these issues. he is very much involved in issues affecting people that are disadvantaged. >> i know he is a good guy, but he could not get enough money, right? >> he could not get a federal official to invest in a program that was providing employment for americans. >> he could not get enough money, right? >> i do not understand your point. >> you do not have to understand the point. is it right or wrong? he did not get enough money, and that is why he went out of business, even though he had invested a lot of his money, he was a good guy. >> he did not go out of business. he has a well known, profitable company. he -- >> but a closed the program. >> closed the program. >> why? >> because he could not get members of congress, state and local officials to be interested in the plight of disadvantaged americans. he spends his energies in other places. >> do you really know that? i do not know anybody on this committee or too many in the congress -- >> mr. conyers, the black caucus is not representing

he has worked with blanche lincoln on these issues. he is very much involved in issues affecting people that are disadvantaged. >> i know he is a good guy, but he could not get enough money, right? >> he could not get a federal official to invest in a program that was providing employment for americans. >> he could not get enough money, right? >> i do not understand your point. >> you do not have to understand the point. is it right or wrong? he did not get enough money, and that is why he went out of business, even though he had invested a lot of his money, he was a good guy. >> he did not go out of business. he has a well known, profitable company. he -- >> but a closed the program. >> closed the program. >> why? >> because he could not get members of congress, state and local officials to be interested in the plight of disadvantaged americans. he spends his energies in other places. >> do you really know that? i do not know anybody on this committee or too many in the congress -- >> mr. conyers, the black caucus is not representing

>> they were the arkansas senator, blanche lincoln, and mark pryor. coln put out a statement that she has a whole series of amendments she would like to offer, and she is unsure she would be able to. >> what happens now? >> in all likelihood, the bill is pushed off into the lame duck session after the election. >> what is next on the agenda? >> the next that majority leader read would like to turn to is a campaign disclosure finance bill that was previously not able to come up on the floor in late july. they would like to take another crack at that bill, probably on thursday. >> you mentioned the lame duck session in november. when our numbers to be released before the run up to the election? >> is still expected to be the eighth of october. however, majority whip richard durbin indicated that they would like to be done by october 1st. >> we appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> of this weekend, american history tv, a look at the rare and personal belongings of george washington. a program on at the music of curtis mayfield and his impact on of the c

. >> and you look at what blanche lincoln is going through now in arkansas. it is staggering her poll numbers. did you see these? she is losing by 27 points right now to retain her seat and she was one of the advocates for the health care bill. that's why people who are running right now in the house and the senate are saying please don't bring it up. they changed the subject when you start talking about it and bill clinton was very honest on sunday. he predicted if you pass it like he wanted to do in the 1990's that america would rally around it. since that time, the numbers have dropped so why is that? he claims it's because most of the good stuff doesn't happen for a couple of years. >> do you think -- i always like the inside story and the mystery. do you think that he talked more favorably about that in the town hall meeting, president clinton said he understood why maybe people across the country were upset and this same thing happened in the past and you have president obama coming out yesterday and saying that he, you know, he disagreed with the tea p

and also today, vice president biden, well, he's campaigning too, working on behalf of senator blanche lincoln of arkansas, who's one of those democrats considered to be very vulnerable this year. matt, meredith? >> kelly o'donnell, thank you very much. it is 7:05 and here matt. >>> now to a big battle brewing in alaska. incumbent senator lisa murkowski recently lost the republican primary there, but she's not going away quietly. instead, she's launched a write-in campaign to save her seat, and that's infuriated some of her fellow republicans. we'll talk to senator murkowski in just a couple of minutes, but first, nbc's lee cowan is in anchorage with the latest. lee, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. yeah, a lot of senator murkowski's colleagues not only in washington, but among the party as a whole, including those here in alaska, are really frustrated by the fact that she's continuing to push this write-in campaign. after all, as you said, she lost the primary. most people at that point would say, it's game over, but murkowski insists it's her backers who wanted her to gi

he has worked with blanche lincoln on these issues. he is very much involved in issues affecting people that are disadvantaged. >> i know he is a good guy, but he could not get enough money, right? >> he could not get a federal official to invest in a program that was providing employment for americans. >> he could not get enough money, right? >> i do not understand your point. >> you do not have to understand the point. is it right or wrong? he did not get enough money, and that is why he went out of business, even though he had invested a lot of his money, he was a good guy. >> he did not go out of business. he has a well known, profitable company. he -- >> but a closed the program. >> closed the program. >> why? >> because he could not get members of congress, state and local officials to be interested in the plight of disadvantaged americans. he spends his energies in other places. >> do you really know that? i do not know anybody on this committee or too many in the congress -- >> mr. conyers, the black caucus is not representing

the closest blanche lincoln in arkansas running an ad that basically said, she's saying now, i stopped a government run health care program wasn't right for arkansas and i stopped it. >> bret: getting rid of the public option. >> in the primary she ran ads when challenged from the left ran ads touting the fact she'd stood firm and taken a tough vote in favor of health care reform. >> bret: that's it to are the >> bret: that's it to are the panel, but stay tuned f@ >> bret: finally tonight, sometimes in tv news moments develop that are a bit awkward between anchor and guest and co-anchors. when co-anchors are supposed to casually chat with each other or ad-lib. >> well, did you get your grandparents something today? did you? >> i don't have any grand parents anymore. >> well, neither do i. i know there are people out there who don't. >> absolutely. >> all of our relatives are dead. >> bret: grandparents' day. oh boy. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. that's it for this "special report." fair, balanced, and