. >> joining us now from washington is ken blackwell, former secretary of state from ohio. ken, thanks for joining the program. >> good to be with you. >> so i wonder, having watched that, having watched those excerpts, having watched the speech, how would you grade governor romney's performance and do you think he has convinced anyone in the african-american community to vote for him? anyone who might not have the day before? >> i gave him a b-plus. i think he went into it where he had to be authentic and he had to be cognizant of the fact that he was not only speaking to the folks in the hall, he was speaking to a broader audience. so people would look for inconsistencies if in fact he came across as pandering and inauthentic to the crowd. so i thought he got a b-plus. look, i would have approached the contrast with the president in a little different fashion, and the other point that i would make is that my dad used to tell me, and i have a friend who also says this, tell me who you walk with and i'll tell you who you are, and one of the things that i want to know and fol

. >> former republican presidential candidate herman cain and former ohio secretary of state ken blackwelle a new video arguing that voter id laws are actually on the side of civil rights. let's go to that clip. >> demanding that florida stop removing illegal voters from their roles. >> elections should never be about color. >> unless it is purple. >> purple is a very nice color. >> yes, it is. >> states should not have to sue the federal government to protect their citizens sacred right to vote. >> help us keep america free. >> help us protect your vote. >> tell eric holder to do his job. >> which is to keep politics out of the justice department. >> there you have it, former presidential candidate herman cain and former ohio secretary of state ken blackwell, both of course, african-american. ari berman, your response to their point that passing these voter id laws is actually a civil rights issue? >> it is incredibly it ironic what they're saying. if you look at who is affected by voter id laws, it is disproportionately affecting people of color. 18% of hispanics and 25% of african-ameri

romney supporter and former ohio secretary of state ken blackwell is here to help us assess his performance republicans are making their 33rd attempt to repeal the nation's health care law. theater enthusiast laurence o'donnell is in the bull pen to discuss that most washington of performances, political kabuki. all of that when "now" starts in a mere 180 seconds. medical exp. the rest is up to you. call and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, it could save you thousands in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. i've been with my doctor for 12 years. now i know i'll be able to stick with him. you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and you never need a referral. see why millions of people have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. don't wait. call now. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in moti

joining us now is ken blackwell, the vice chair of the rnc platform committee and former secretary ofte of ohio and you remember at that time he also was a chief elections offer in making sure that fraudulent votes didn't cancel out the others, ken, nice to see thank you morning. >> it's good to be with you. >> clayton: now, you penned a level to these governors, asking what? >> well, former attorney general ed meese and i pen adler to four governors who had vetoed voter i.d. that passed both houses of the the legislatures, we asked them not to stand in the way to this common sense practical approach making sure that none of the legal ballots cast were negated by fraudulent ballots. the representatives or the people had spoke annen their notion that this was a step to protect against voter suppression was not supported by the facts in states where voter i.d. was the law and the practice. >> now, you're referring it states like georgia and we have some information we can throw up here on the screen for you. interestingly in georgia it was voted not to suppress the votes of whites and b