in a moment, john nichols helps us analyze those results.s turn to the man from green bay. the winner of the election, democratic senator david hansen. congratulations. great to have you with us tonight. you're from somewhat of a conservative area. are you surprised at tonight's outcome? >> well, it is pretty loud, ed. i want to thank you for what you've done for the movement. i hope the movement continues as we move into the next recall elections. we had tremendous volunteer help in northeastern wisconsin, throughout wisconsin, and throughout this country. people believe in what we're doing, standing up for working men and women of the state, seniors, veterans. we are going to continue to make a difference, ed. you be there with us. we will get the majority back in the state senate with your help. >> we are going to broadcast there august 8 and 9. this is one where many people thought maybe you weren't going to survive this challenge. the outcome tonight, how do you feel about it, how heavy a lift was it? >> we are really, really excited. y

john nichols, where is this? is this taking a political twist in this investigation?, ed. there's two investigations going on. one is being handled by the dane county sheriff's department. this operation has some terrific investigators, highly respected, not just in wisconsin, but nationally. they're on the case, doing the interviews as they should. additionally there's a state judicial commission that has a responsibility to look at issues of this sort. it's not a policing agency, it's more of an internal one, but they're also looking at it, two investigations going-forward. i think the question that's being asked now is, how long is this going to take? it shouldn't take that long to ask these questions. >> how many people would get away with putting their hands where she claims he put them in a choke hold. her quote was a choke hold. what is there to invest gate in a workplace? >> well -- >> go ahead, lisa. >> he should not get away with it, and quite frankly in any other workplace, if someone were accused of putting a co-worker in a choke hold, they would immediate

. >> john nichols is a political writer for "u.s. nation" magazine. he joins me on a video link from wisconsin. thank you very much for joining me. are you surprised to hear about the level, allegedly, of phone hacking that has taken place in the u.k.? >> i am absolutely surprised. i think it would be stunning by any measure. it is especially stunning as you talk about some of the issues -- going into the phone records of family members of servicemen. in the the united states -- in the united states, this would be a huge scandal. >> how does our level of journalism compared to the united states? >> our constitution has as its fourth amendment the right to privacy. every schoolchild knows this. something like this in the united states would be considered an incredible breach. by the same token, i think it's important to understand that many of the tabloid practices seen in britain in the print press have begun to appear in the united states in our broadcast and cable media. we are hardly perfect on this side of the pond. >> what do you think is drawing

incumbent republicans more time to campaign and raise money for the latest from wisconsin is my friend john nichols russian correspondent for the nation magazine john welcome back it's good to be with you tom great to have you here alan grayson pointed out today on my radio show that if democrats are showing up in equal numbers with republicans in the two thousand and ten election he would not have lost his seat in florida are you worried about the same sort of thing happening in wisconsin today. absolutely i think it's a very serious issue the republican party recruited six fake democrats these are republicans active republicans running in democratic primaries that's legal it was constant and what's significant about it is as you suggested they did it but they surely on record to delay the election process they actually were gaining a process but something different happened over the last thirty six hours and that is that the republicans ginned up a last minute stele campaign to get people who cross over that republicans get conservatives to cross over and vote in the democratic primaries with the

story you have the public relations folks the spin doctors if you will driving the news cycle john nichols along with robert mckee has me wrote a book about it the death and life of american journalism in a sense we are becoming one of the most propagandized countries in the world short staffed news stations often use company video news releases or v.n. ours like this one if your ex about chances are the first have been filled up before the age of five p.r. described as news the nutri good as gold mimics press releases also often read on the air or posted on the web before any fact checking is done with the focus often on getting it first rather than getting it right good evening everybody breaking news tonight but we are cutting into our program with some breaking news where corporate and government p.r. departments are filled with former journalists who know how to sell their message they understood how media worked what. reporters thought of as a good story as opposed to hype butch ward worked for nearly twenty years as a journalist with the philadelphia inquirer but after layoffs he le