it was almost a decade ago when martha burke staged a protest outside the gates.ese pictures. the club would not budge. the issue faded but never went away. martha burke joins me. big day. i know you see this as a huge win. do you feel vindicated? >> absolutely. i personally feel vindicated. i underwent a lot of death threats ten years ago. people didn't like what i was doing. a will the of people did like it, mostly female people. the women's movement in the united states certainly deserves the credit for this. >> moving along. another brick in the wall but it was back in 2003 that then club chairman responded to your letter asking about women members by saying the club was not going to change its policies. the real question today is why now? you think this invitation to two women would have happened without your efforts so many years ago? >> no i do not think it would have happened without our efforts ten years ago. we've been working behind the scenes. we have facilitated a couple of sex discrimination suits against corporations who's ceos are members and colle

it says, how low can martha burke go?me the least effective activist of all time. it's so bad for burke that hooty johnson's replacement, billy payne, is effectively outright mocking her. when payne received a letter from burke requesting a meeting, he did everything but laugh at her publicly. so that is 2006. and today, two women members at august a. so how are you feeling today? >> well, i feel vindicated, obviously. if we hadn't raised it almost 10 years ago, it wouldn't be happening now. and we know that. i think it's a great victory for the u.s. women's movement. all the women that stood behind and with me, including some members of congress. and people from around the world. the sports journalists were very much a part of this as well, because they helped make it an issue. and it paid off. it paid off for women. and as far as billy payne is concerned, well, you know, too bad, billy, you had to change your mind, didn't you? >> why do you think he changed his mind? because he didn't have to. >> well, i think he did. i

now, shep, in your entry you had mentioned martha burke that woman had ho been challenging the all male policy all of these years. she was more reserve in her reaction telling the associated press today oh my god. we won. shep? >> shepard: does the club say why it took this long? >> no. they haven't given any explanation. this is a private club that can make up its own rules. but it also has a very public presence with that master's tournament a decade ago. agust that national demonstrated it it would not bow to pressure from sponsors and put on a commercial free masters. earlier this year it did not offer membership to the ceo of ibm even though sponsor of the masters and four previous ceos had all been invited to be agust that national members. today's announcement may demonstrate that the club is open to change but clearly on its car started accelerating out of control on saturday. he says it got up to around 100 miles per hour and he called for police to help. >> i went into the right median and left median. everything i could do to get around people without causing any kind of acci

were vivid outside the gates here on washington row where we're standing, protests a decade ago, martha burke and augusta national goes commercial free so sponsors don't get involved in this. back in 2003, while miss burke says she's not taking credit for what augusta national did with this historic move, she did tell cnn it's more about women's equality in general than ininclusion or exclusion in this exclusive club x. >> i always said it's not about playing golf. it's about making deals in corporate america, those halls of power you're talking about. the more women we have, even if it's just a couple to begin with, that cracks open that glass ceiling just a little bit further. >> there are so many things that we don't know and will continue not to know about augusta national, but we do know this, the club's first two female members will receive their coveted green jackets when the club opens the season this fall. >> congratulations to them. at 7:15 eastern, soledad o'brien will talk with former player hollis stacy about the changes. christine romans is here with the headlines. >> still foll

women's rights advocate martha burke led the first major protest against chairman hootie protesn ten years ago. >> i'm delighted. we have prevailed and i knew it was going to take a while but we did it. i'm very happy. >> reporter: rice started playing golf seven years ago and quickly fell in love with the play. she now plays to a very respectable 15 handicap, has two coaches and is a member of five clubs including now, norah, augusta. >> o'donnell: armen, thank you very much. rmfederal appeals court in atlanta up held immigration laws in georgia and alabama giving ue police the power to demand identification papers from people they stop. but the court rejected as unconstitutional a portion of the alabama law requiring public schools to check the immigration status of new students. low water levels had boat traffic backed up on the mississippi river today. an 11-mile stretch of the river near greenville, mississippi, was closed to keep vessels from running aground. rue drought has water levels at atar record lows and that's tied up traffic on one of the nation's key shipping routes.

women's rights advocate martha burke led the first major protest against the club and then chairman johnsonn years ago. >> i am delighted. we have prevailed, and i knew it was going to take a while, but we did it. i'm very happy. >> arma ketan, cbs news, new york. >>> and "the princeton review" releases the latest edition of the top schools. top party schools, back at number one, west virginia university, second the university of iowa followed by ohio university. bowdoin college in maine has the best food. washington university in st. louis has the best dorms. and you can find the happiest students at rice university. nvcu! just kidding, i added that part, my school. i'm terrell brown. this is the "cbs morning news." [ radio ] it's a scorcher out there...stay refreshed! [ female announcer ] new lipton tea & honey. sweetened with honey, made from real tea leaves and real fruit flavors. ♪ it's never felt so real ♪ no, it's never felt so right ♪ [ female announcer ] only 5 calories. new lipton tea & honey. [ female announcer ] only 5 calories. if you think occasional irregulathink twice.ig dea

the pressure to admit female members has been mounting since 2002 when martha burke began protesting club over their male-only membership. after hearing augusta was adding female membership she you said, quote, oh my god we won. let's bring in dave zirus. host of the edge of the sports radio. thanks for joining us tonight. >> great to be here. >> is this good news, bad news, too late too little. what is your take? you've been outspoken on this issue. >> the only reason why it's a story, it reveals that in 2012 there is an elitest cloister in georgia who believe that girls still have cooties. now they're letting women speak out as if it's on par with billie jean king and martina navratilova. i only think about darla moore and condoleezza rice who has become the eve perone to the right wing part. don't lisa rice has become like a states person. it is not a day for me to celebrate other than it is what it is. >> eliot: dare i say tokenism. the caboose has been dragged across the line where everybody else on the train got too far ahead. >> let's talk about augusta. the first time that an

. >> bill: martha burke took her ten years but she's the first one.n the street from augusta. i remember seeing the video. down the street with the signs and everything and that movement kept building year after year after year. and victory was finally run. we're talking with jordan schultz, sports columnist for "the huffington post." you can find him the schultz report of course at huffingtonpost.com. i'm curious about the fact that it ends up being condy rice and darla moore. condy hasn't been playing golf that long, i know. so she's a two-fer african-american woman. now, what's membership -- any idea what it costs to join augusta? >> i've been trying to find the exact number. it is very expensive. >> bill: are we talking $100,000? $200,000? >> it is in that vicinity. especially for a course that has been revamped as much as it has. also i think that the women -- i'm not sure -- i'm trying to find this out bill. i'm not sure if they have to pay full or if they have something for the first year. >> bill: i hope they don't have a cut rate for women in

for martha burk and the women's groups that protested outside of augusta national every year, this is a big morning. >> this is a step forward for all women. but particularly women in the business world because they have now been let into an old boys' club, where deals are made, money changes hands, big things go on. and they've been shut out until now. so, it's a crack in that glass ceiling. it's not broken yet, though. >> reporter: not broken through because augusta national is one private golf club that's turned. there are still several others across the country that don't allow women to join, or in some cases, don't allow women anywhere on the property. in a statement, former secretary rice wrote that golf is a wonderful source of enjoyment for me. and i feel fortunate to have this opportunity to grow my love for this great game. >> i think this is a huge cultural event. this is about the 12-year-old girl watching next year's masters on the couch with her mom and dad. and seeing two women in green jackets and saying, anything is possible. >> reporter: what may have made the differ

protest against the club's all-male policy surfaced a decade ago, led by women's rights advocate martha burke. on monday, burke called the decision a milestone for women. >> this is a victory not only for the u.s. women's movement but for women in business, working women who now have access to one more hall of power. >> reporter: and at long last, a masterful moment as well. for "cbs this morning," armen keteyian, new york. >> and on monday, charlie got reaction to this historic announcement from pga champion rory mcilroy. >> the masters announced that they have two, offered invitations to two new female members. it's a good thing. >> it's a great thing. it's a great thing for golf, it's a great thing for augusta. i think it's something that they should have done a while ago, but it's great to see and it's great to see that, you know, they're moving with the times, things move forward and that would be great to see some female members at augusta. >> i assume this is just the beginning of it, too. they wanted to do it on their own time. >> yeah, for sure. and i think people have to respect tha

. >> martha burke who protested for years to get women in.s is not about golf, the club is not about the game of golf, it's about the game of networking and having women rise to an equal level as men. do you think she's right? >> i do. you know, i am very happy, but i'm not at the top of the mountain. there's a lot of work to be done. women comprise 51% of the population, yeah, we are represented by 6% in congress. so there's still a lot of work to do. and i'm really happy that the day has finally happened but there still is a lot of heavy lifting of boxes we have to do. >> we appreciate your time this morning. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> still ahead on "starting point," espn analyst getting in trouble talking about the washington redskins quarterback competition and he says this, it's quote, human nature for white fans to root for white players. we'll start with our "starting point" team, margaret hoover and ron brownsteen and celeste hedli. someone happy.♪ good morning ♪it's so y. ♪make just one heart to heart you - you si

of the women's organization, a coalition of women's organizations from around the country when martha burke was the chair of the national council. she proposed that augusta national golf club should come into the 21st century and start telling women. it has been well over a decade but it has finally happened. i am very happy for condoleezza rice and marla moore, the two women who have been admitted. i look forward to the time when half the members are women. i think that is appropriate. host: do you think a private club like that should be able to maintain its own policies whether or not hutu had met? guest: absolutely not. augusta is not a private club. that is not a book club. is a place where business gets done. it is a place where the ceo's of the top corporations in the country do deals, talk business, and that needs to be open up completely to wittman. if the augusta national golf club wants to change its position in the country, if they want to become a small little book club or a small little golf club, fine, but they are not. these are clubs where people of color and women need to

led in part by martha burke of the national council of women's organizations, miss burke spoke to cnn congratulated augusta national by making history and didn't take credit for it. but she told cnn it's more about women's equality than it is inclusion into this special club. >> how will this impact the masters next year? >> the tournament itself has continued inside these gates uninhibited through the years, no matter what comes at this club. we don't know a lot that goes on inside the gates of augusta national. we assume there's somewhere around 300 members. and that membership supposedly costs maybe $10,000 a year. we do know it will impact the golf chairman, billy payne. he won't have to answer those questions in that press conference as to when his club will finally include female members. and we do know that both members will receive their green jackets in october when the club opens its new season. >> it's about time. took 80 years or so but it's about time it happened. thanks very, very much. >>> the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in afghanistan as kerns grow over an es

of the women's organization, a coalition of women's organizations from around the country when martha burkehe chair of the national council. she proposed that augusta national golf club should come into the 21st century and start telling women. it has been well over a decade but it has finally happened. i am very happy for condoleezza rice and marla moore, the two women who have been admitted. i look forward to the time when half the members are women. i think that is appropriate. host: do you think a private club like that should be able to maintain its own policies whether or not hutu had met? guest: absolutely not. augusta is not a private club. that is not a book club. is a place where business gets done. it is a place where the ceo's of the top corporations in the country do deals, talk business, and that needs to be open up completely to wittman. if the augusta national golf club wants to change its position in the country, if they want to become a small little book club or a small little golf club, fine, but they are not. these are clubs where people of color and women need to be ope

martha: so the theme for day three, which is today is, we can change it. on tap to speak tonight former presidential candidate and arizona senator john mccain. former florida governor jeb burkss the only representative of the bush family at this convention. he says the election comes down to a fundamental choice to mitt romney and job growth and the president's record of take officer. vice-presidental nominee paul ryan is sure to be one of the big moments of the evening. two veteran republican speech writers are working on his convention address we are told. we'll have complete coverage of tonight's speeches on the floor. bill and i will be there on fox news channel, of course where else stphaot othe. bill: isaac is still a category 1 hurricane as would he track the storm moving over new or loans and basically at a standstill. more than half a million without power, that number will rise throughout the day because of the conditions we find with john a than that serrie on the ground right there in the heart of new orleans, what is the latest this hour where you are, jonathan? >> right now standing in front of the convention center. during hurricane katrina the convention cent