the virginia legislature was one of the oldest institutions on the continent. it had a lot more credibility than this new constitution. the constitution says you only have to live in your state if you want to run for congress. there's a number of members live close enough to their districts that it's fine enough with their constituents. madison says he's going to fight in the district that he lives this and the district he's always lived in. so the anti-federalists start shopping around for a candidate to take on james madison, and reluctantly they're able to convince his friend, james monroe, to carry the anti-federalist banner. james monroe was a decorated combat veteran, former member of congress, member of the virginia legislature, extremely experienced and probably would have stood out head and shoulders above any opponent other than his friend madison who also had a long tenure in office. when monroe gets into the race, though, however reluctantly, he gets into it full force. while monroe was in congress, he lost an election in virginia for the legislatur

in some states, enslaved people petitioned their state legislatures for their liberty. sometimes they appropriated the very words of the declaration of independence in asking for their freedom. in many places, enslaved people did not bother with formalities. it's believed that anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000 enslaved people took advantage of the dislocations of war and freed themselves by running away during the american revolution. in fact, both washington and jefferson lost slaves during the revolution, much to their chagrin. surely this was an unintended and to many outrageous consequence of the american revolution. finally, the coming of the american revolution brought home to many white americans the contradiction, not to say hypocrisy, of american colonists who objected to infringements on their freedom but who at the same time systematically deprived black people of their most basic rights and liberties. northern state legislatures put slavery on the road to abolition either immediately or gradually. the federal government prohibited slavery in the northwest terri

legislatures are purposeful in terms of how i.d. laws were crafted. it would be surprising to me there wasn't some analysis of drilling down in terms of what population specifically would be impacted versus others, but i can't speak to what in the hearts and minds necessarily of legislators doing what they do. >> i can say it's understood. there's a very powerful and well-organized machine to turn out the cuban american vote in miami-dade county not based around churches. one could imagine cuban american legislators saying, it's not going to affect us necessarily because that's not where cuban voters are necessarily going to be voting. that said, i think there is a perception that cuban americans are powerful. they're not as conservative if you look at social issues. they vote for republicans because the republican party let them run for office. in new jersey they're, in fact, democrats. they hate fidel castro and foreign policy. it's different than what people think. you get diversification in florida, and they aren't necessarily driving republican p

this was placed by the florida legislature last year. and what this basically does is public funding is -- it will deny public funding for abortion. we don't know, we're still exploring what this really means. but this also could impact public employees' private insurance, because technically it's paid for by public funds. so it could take away abortion care from private insurance people that are employed by the state. and also, there is a little provision written in. the florida privacy and their constitution is actually stronger than the united states constitution. so they will would like to repeal it to the united states standard. now, what does this mean? because honestly, the first time i looked at it, i was like, what? we stop a lot of things because of the strong privacy laws in florida. so we're repe-- repealing it wo open the door for things that might not necessarily get very far because of the protection in their constitution. so this will be happening in november. and another thing that will be happening in november, in monta

and if the virginia legislature that is the first to call for some sort of national convention of the states to look at amending the articles of confederation, james madison gives this off to john tyler, the father of the future president to pass. james madison is a member of congress, former member of congress, was suspected of having gone federal. and john tyler who had never served in congress had more credibility to call for this new national convention. so that's what happened. unfortunately, when the delegates met in annapolis, maryland, the states didn't send the best people that they had. some states didn't send anybody. nobody sent their full delegation and so they meet for a few days and decide, you know, the best we can do is to write-up long letter of all the problems we see with the confederation, distribute it to the states and agree to meet in philadelphia next. that gathering as we all know is the constitutional convention. james madison goes there as a delegate. james monroe does not once again, madison uses someone else to introduce his policies which is something he

what's happening in state legislature's across the country. so we are seeing all around the country not just the horrible legislation, but we're seeing women legislators using the platform that they have to speak out. so i want to read you just a couple of the pieces of -- if you can hand me that for a second? we've got some great legislation that women are putting forward around the country. and it's not that they expect it necessarily to pass. but they want to really show what's going on and use their voice. and this is why we need more women in office. so in virginia, senator janet howell proposed legislation mandating rectal exams and cardiac stress tests for men seeking erectile dysfunction meds. [ applause ] >> in georgia, we saw representative yasmin neil who wrote a bill out lining most vasectomies because they leave thousands of children deprived of birth. [ applause ] >> in ohio, senator nina turner would compel men to get psychological screenings before getting prescriptions for impotence meds. and i'm quoting her now. we must advoc

, state legislature to get the kind of incentives you want. local municipalities don't have the tools to provide the incentives. there are a lot of things they can do, permit, but they can't reduce the property tax on their owns. you can't reduce benefits unless you have a 2/3 vote of the people in the area. i think you need to go to the legislature. i would be remiss to say we keep thinking 22 years ago. we still haven't repaired the bridge yet. the bridge will be ready hopefully next year. so 22, 23 years later. >> i would just like to say it is extremely difficult to get people engaged in advance to do the things that need to be done and then there's a lot of people, as you mentioned, that will be visits or what not -- visiting or what not that would have no clue. so i think probably as a strategy maybe the next level of the certain nert training is to actually think about ways of postdisaster immediate communication and engagement with people so they can be brought up to speed about the fact that this structure does exist and there is a se

not just in the presidential election, but in these local state races and state legislature. i think there, there is absolutely, i think, pretty unequivocal gains, politically, from sort of revealing just the fundamentally reactionary nature of the entire world view that brings you these -- >> and it is making the left, broadly defined, certainly people who are concerned about women reproductive issues and sovereignty issues, as you say, bringing their attention to state legislatures in a way that i think only the right was doing before. >> and also, i think there's a degree to which they can't -- it's harder for them to sneak things past now. i think that's a part of programs like this, but just generally the mobilization has shone a light on places where bills were getting passed, and it's much harder to do that in this environment. >> and these legislatures and governors have no idea how to escape it. >> exactly. >> i spent part of the day looking at mississippi governor phil bryant's facebook page. like, i was stunned into silence for an hour and a half, going through all

. >> jay-z's 99 problems make their way to the floor of the florida state legislature. setting off a debate. we'll show you who won this battle rhyme and get a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back. ♪ >> in los angeles, police tonight are investigating the gangland style murder of gangster rap music star biggy smalls known as notorious b.i.g. he went down in a hail of gunfire on a public street. although dozens of people were nearby, no one else was hit. i want healthy skin for life. [ female announcer ] improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula improves skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] only from aveeno. trouble with a car insurance claim. [ dennis ] switch to allstate. their claim service is so good, now it's guaranteed. [ foreman ] so i can trust 'em. unlike randy. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. if your neighbor could bring his jaw back up, he'd say, "thank you for making every day hallo

folks at the guttmacher institute tell us there are 430 anti-abortion measures pending in state legislaturesround the country and it's only march. republicans in washington may be divided on whether or not abortion and contraception ought to be at the center of what republicans prioritize in governing but republicans in state where they are actually in charge they are pretty unified on this, that this is what they want to do at the top of their agenda and that is having consequences in the states. this was the scene in boise, idaho, today, where more than 200 people in boise gathered to protest that state's forced ultrasound bill which has been introduced in idaho state senate. this was the scene in montgomery, alabama, today, alabama. where demonstrators gathered to protest against that state's forced ultrasound bill. the state senator who introduced the bill under pressure from republican governor bentley announced plans to amend his legislation to give women the choice of which kind of state-mandated ultrasound them have but opponents in alabama are not backing down or calling off their p

we are here to tell these legislatures. and we gone leave and go around this country, three areas, we going in the courts and challenge these voter id laws. we're going into these states and with labor, we're going to challenge all of the legislatures that sponsor and support these laws and we're going into churches and prepare our people so they can have the id's as we continue to fight so that our vote will come out. we're not going to allow you to steal this election in advance. now trying to come with another scheme of id. we are smarter than that. we're wiser than that. we're ready for you. we didn't come this far to get tricked now. whatever scheme you play, we'll be ready to meet you and beat you. our fathers beat jim crow. we gone beat james crow jr. >> it is personal as reverend al sharpton says there in selma, alabama. he's finishing the five-day walk from selma to montgomery. let's go to jeff johnson who is there. as you sit tlp and listen to what the reverend has been saying as well as those that are returning a

the african-american faces that you see in southern legislatures would likely disappear because they're from majority/minority districts in lots of places. nina made a reference to racially polarized voting. one of the differences you do see in noncovered jurisdictions it's more polarized and that will play without section 5 in place to be a guard against that. i guess the sort of fallback that, well, section 2 could take care of it if nina has more strength on earth and can keep fighting the cases. i worry section 5 goes down and i think it applies on to section 2, the next one on the chopping block. it seems very easy to make the claim, you don't have the regional differences, but i can write that brief. it's not an end there. and the school analogy is a fascinating one and one of the things interesting is not just the schools getting out of the desegregation decrees, but the schools that fought dissolution. kansas city, detroit did it. and it's an interesting analogy to bail out. why aren't they pushing that? because they like the supervision and it does certain things that are usefu

so many more are racing to the legislature.terday, democratic women senators in georgia staged a walkout to protest to measures that would limit access to services and contraception. i want to read a couple of headlines. ohio remains on the front lines of the abortion debate. michigan legislature passes a partial birth abortion bans. you talk ok's 72 hour waiting period for abortions. -- utah ok's 72-hour waiting period for abortions. i could spend the entire lunch talking about this. the good news is that women are organizing, and rallies are taking place on a regular basis. a lot of young women are getting involved. we had a caller to date asking, how do i talk to my male students in high school about this? that is the good news. there are a lot of solutions and we are making progress, but it is difficult. i would like to introduce the woman behind to this incredible event. shelly bradford bell -- [applause] she is executive director of global arts and education. please join me in welcoming her. [applause] >> hello, everybody

they left in a script written by the legislature that a doctor has to say to a patient, a script that includes saying that abortion is linked to breast cancer. abortion is not linked to breast cancer. so says the american cancer society and national cancer institute. why would you listen to idiots like that when you can get your cancer information from kansas republican state representatives instead? they say there is a link. they heard that somewhere. and if and when they pass this bill and sam brownback signs it, in kansas, doctors will be violating the law if they don't read to their patients seeking abortions a false medically inaccurate script written by the state legislature. the justification for this? state representative joe patton says, quote, we want women to be fully informed. fully meaning including the false information. oh, but wait, there's more. fully informing kansas women not only means lying to them about cancer, under law you have to lie to them about cancer. but it also means lying to women in order to trick them into doing something the woman doesn't want to do.

group it's really one of the strongest lobbying efforts i seen ever in my fourteen years in the legislature and that's why we're trying to figure out how to expose them more and more because i think people see what they're up to and it's only been corporate profits but it's not about individual citizens in the legislature in a state that it really people will not like their legislator going to alex conferences and introducing alec legislation are they coming after you. well i think what they did it when i was out there i got kicked out of a party you know they make sure you're not invited to many things but in wisconsin you know i actually relish in talking about it because for a decade i've seen this it's just grown and grown and grown and i'm glad that we're at a point where at a critical mass where we're finding other legislators in other states also talking about this willing to introduce something and willing to kind of put the the mark on them about what they're doing and we just want them to register as a lobbyist we just want to have transparency and i think the fact that they're tr

>> in washington state there is a social agenda being driven by the democratic legislature.passed gay marriage that will be on the ballot this fall. i'm here to say, it's all a distraction from the real issues that are facing americans, and we need to get back to the debate over economy, jobs, health care. you know, women make 85% of health care decisions in this country, and they are fearful. the real scary part is that the federal government might step in and start making their health care decisions. >> i think health care really is the question that we're talking about here. and as the congresswoman mentioned, it's women natimakin decisions about health care. >> just to respond to the congresswoman, i want to give you a list over the past decade, the number of states that are hostile to abortion, defined as enacting four or more provisions putting up a hurdle for women seeking one, here is an example, in arizona who has a series of bills in the works right now that would limit abortion access, a republican representative said "i would like to make a law that mandates a wo