we have a unique situation in north dakota. the bank of north dakota was created by the state 1919. the bamping of north dakota has administered the lending and loan guarantee functions to assist families, schools in providing reliable student loans. only bank in the country to perform the guarantee lending for the student loan program. it is an important institution and served 150,000 borrowers at post-secondary institutions in my state. the bank has provided counseling, work shops, providing techniques when counseling. the result has been an extremely low default rate under the pell loans administered by the bank of north dakota. for all of these reasons, i have been a huge supporter of this program. i commend the work that the state employees have done to make college accessible. i have received concerns about altering its role in the student lending programs and i would like to address that issue. mr. miller: i thank the gentleman for his attention to this issue and i recognize that the bank of north dakota is an important institution in north dakota and different from any other

democratic senator conrad of north dakota, a member of the so-called gang of six, will be here on "hardball" tonight. >>> and the right wing and its allies on talk radio and on fox tv have claimed another victim. perhaps a deserving one. the house today voted to cut off all government funding to a.c.o.r.n. who and what is next? that's in the "politics fix." >>> and an old-style washington, d.c. good ole boy reunion the other day. newt, trent and bill clinton. is this a joke? that's in the "hardball" sideshow. >>> we start with the role or what role race might be playing in the backlash to president obama these days. former u.s. congressman quasi mfume of baltimore, with the president of the naacp. and drew westin, professor of emory university and the author of "the political mind." congressman, when you look at this and you try to analyze it, you try to do a post mortem on some of this stuff, the birther movement, the questions about the legitimacy of the president being born in america, the comment about joe wilson of south carolina the other day about "you lie." the signs you're seeing a

if you had to go back home to north dakota tonight and sell this to enough people that would make youod job as a representative to the state of north dakota, which you have been all of these years, what would be the bill? in other words, if it was just a kent conrad bill, would you be done? >> no. if it was just a kent conrad bill, i would want to do something that in a very serious way reduces our long-term deficit and debt load because that's critically important for the country. i'd also want to expand coverage, which the finance bill does. it goes up to 94% of the american people. it doesn't cover everyone because, first of all, if you're not going to cover those who are here illegally, you're not going to cover everyone. third, i would want a bill that has major incentives to move in the direction of the systems that we know that work. mayo clinic, cleveland clinic, geisinger up in pennsylvania, where you're from, chris, inner mountain out in utah. we've got to have major incentives to move in the direction of those systems that are high quality and low cost, and we're doing that

he went to what is now north dakota, what was then north dakota, and began to ranch in th badlands of north dakota, what is now the theater roosevelt national park. i would love to encourage foreign tieforts to come to the heartland of america, the northern great plains, and see what restored the spirit of theodore roosevelt. what a great way to understand and see the history and the culture and the values of this country. but isn't it interesting -- and alarming, i might say -- that 48 million more people are traveling around the worlds foreign tourists and 600,000 fewer are traveling in the united states of aca? the united states of ameca, which shod in my judgment be "the"remier dtination for travel of ywhere on this earth. and yete're losing -- we have 633,000 fewer foreign travelers than we had nine years ago. and there's something not connected here. so we proposed to connect it with something that is bipartisan, something that doesn't cost money but something that in fact reduces the federal budget deficit, something that creates jobs when we've lost so many jo@s, and so to be

places like north dakota sat that out. the busts as badly. >> seems like all states are not created equal. thank you very much for the update. >>> a horrible display here of humanity at a new jersey town hall. audience members heckled and jeered a woman in a wheelchair as she tried to tell her story of her own struggle with the health care system. wait until you hear this. >> i live in fear every day that i will lose my home, not because i took on some irresponsible mortgage. no, i worked hard my whole life to pay for one of my medications. it is $389 every two weeks. >> what's your question? >> and i'm afraid i might not be able to afford my property taxes and i will lose my home. >> the woman speaking says she has two incurable diseases when asked why he heckled her, one man says i didn't come here to listen to people's opinions, my rights are no less important than a woman in a wheelchair. well, thanks for clarifying that. >> pretty harsh, huh? >>> president obama is set to address congress. is any hope of a health care

well, that started a firestorm of conversation on the prairie in our backyard in north dakota. we found out blue cross blue shield yanking the rates on us. here's what we've been paying for. a 101-page report released today by the insurance commissioner's office. how about $15 million in bonuses? over $1 million of trips to swanky rezorts including a $200,000 trip to the carribean. now, how did blue cross blue shield pay for that? by raising premiums in a time of recession, i think it's disgraceful. check your own backyard. that's what's happening. that's what the republicans are defending. chuck grassley says, oh, we can't give them competition. that would be government-run. you would see a federal agency, have you ever seen a federal agency deal out about $15 million in bonuses? how about if the story in your local stations had, gosh, congressman so-and-so just got a $2 million bonus. how would that go over? this is what's happening in the insurance industry. the republicans are protecting it. a public plan would have real oversight. the republicans ought to be liking that. t

we have a unique situation in north dakota. the bank of north dakota was created by the state 1919. the bamping of north dakota has administered the lending and loan guarantee functions to assist families, schools in providing reliable student loans. only bank in the country to perform the guarantee lending for the student loan program. it is an important institution and served 150,000 borrowers at post-secondary institutions in my state. the bank has provided counseling, work shops, providing techniques when counseling. the result has been an extremely low default rate under the pell loans administered by the bank of north dakota. for all of these reasons, i have been a huge supporter of this program. i commend the work that the state employees have done to make college accessible. i have received concerns about altering its role in the student lending programs and i would like to address that issue. mr. miller: i thank the gentleman for his attention to this issue and i recognize that the bank of north dakota is an important institution in north dakota and different from any other

of michigan along with spots back across north dakota and minnesota and the typical dry areas in the desert southwest into california and nevada and into washington and oregon in some cases as well. here is the jet stream by monday. strange situation basically. a lost cutoff places in the middle of the country that allowed systems to move westward. we have a trough in the northwest. a trough in the far northeast and the cutoff right there in the middle of the country. as we head through this week, you can see how the first cutoff tries to link up with the main trough then gets cut off again. so, again a-strange situation under the cutoff highs you can sometimes have systems spinning their wheels and producerring -- producing afternoon thunderstorms. you can see the ridge build back into the west and will start to build the heelt heat back in again. monday, we're look at a pretty good trom into -- tropical moisture in southern parts of the country, southern mississippi valley good showers and thunderstorms there. cold front across the northeast. high pressure still from the great lake

. >> i bet there aren't a lot of divorces in north dakota in january and february. >> the temperatures outside are still in the 70s. it's still time for a little outdoor dining, why not? the temperature 77 after being in the mid-80s. the one thing we are missing, not the warm air, the rainfall. more than five inches below average since the middle part of june. i think we're going to make up for that for the weekend. 86 degrees the high. 91 degrees down in miami. here is where the chilly air is coming. 48 degrees now. we still have a touch of humidity. you can see the drier air to the north. it continues to come in as we go through the next 12 hours. overall, we're going to see, i think, a lot of moisture come our way as we get into late tomorrow and saturday. a few sprinkles, rain drops around us. not that much being picked up by radar. a few showers down around charlottesville. the other area of rain is to the west. you can see a few sprinkles for folks in fredericks county. west virginia around covington and cincinnati, a lot of rain. the good news is, while there are flood warnings

the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. dorgan: mr.consent the quorum call be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. dorgan: mr. president, my understanding is there's some time divided on the issue of # # -- of the travel promotion act. let me take such time which is available to u mr. president, senator kyl and i earlier today had a discussion on the floor about some statistics and numbers about tourism and travel,nd i don't want to try to win a debate that we're not having, because there ought not be a difference with respect to a set of facts, so let me just recite the facts. i said this morning that on this big old planet of ours, people are traveling more. that's a fac tens of millions of people are traveling around the world for international tourism purposes, and that is very beneficial to the areas where they arrive and doheir touring. on average, an overseas traveler that comes to the united states spends $4,500. it's a very, very lucrative market to try to attract tourists from overseas to come to

i didn't see my friend from north dakota. i would withdraw that and ask the senate to announce that we're in a period of morning business. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to a period of morning business for one hour with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each, with the majority controlling the first half and the republicans controlling the second half. mr. dorgan: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. dorgan: mr. president, let me ask consent to speak for as long as i may consume -- for as much time as i may consume in our allotted 30 minutes. the presiding officer: wo*ubgz. mr. dorgan: mr. president -- the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. dorgan: mr. president, most of us spend all of our day having a better day because of energy and think very little about it. get up in the morning perhaps and use an electric razor or perhaps an electric toothbrus

sharon in north dakota. sharon. >> caller: hi, jim. a big north dakota. >> i misspoke. remember it was your basketball team that got into march madness. i'm too focused because of all the espn college zone stuff on the air right now. go ahead, sharon. >> caller: i'd like to know about wab. >> the railroad company. this is the old westinghouse air brake. a.b. the rail industry is starting to get its mojo back but it hasn't -- the capital equipment company like rail car or trinity or lab tech. i'd much rather see you in csx. wouldn't do a component company. i need to go to teddy in missouri. oh, man, big 12. teddy. >> caller: can i give you a big mississippi river, missouri ba-ba-ba-boo-yah. >> yes, you can mr. gateway to the rest of the country. what's snum. >> caller: i'd like to hear about dana corporation. >> we missed it. it's a component company. it's already moved too much. i feel like this stock has some pullback. it's up to 7. there's a lot of stocks that look a lot like davna. not yet. >> don't buy. >> i'm taking another. i'm take one more because i feel like ta

how about we go to mike in north dakota?a big boo-yah from booming north dakota, jim, from our family to yours. i'm wondering what your long-term outlook on brigham exploration, bexp. >> you know what? i think that stock had too much of a run. i have a very strong feeling -- now, yesterday's show we had bob simpson on from xto. remember, that company has made 1800% for you the last ten years. and he talked about the majors doing well. i don't want to own the minors when it comes to natural gas drilling and finding and exploration. it's too risky. i think that stock is a -- >> sell sell sell. >> and you should stick with the majors like xtl. how about don in pennsylvania? >> caller: big boo-yah here from the best baltimore raven fans in the world. >> you're from pennsylvania. you have a problem with -- are you like that guy russell maryland? >> caller: well, you never know. >> remember london fletcher thought london was a great country. go ahead. >> caller: i've been buying this for 35 years, highs and lows. should i hold it

you have guys like conrad in north dakota saying i don't think my people are going to like this. >> paul: one of the themes of this presidency so far particularly the liberal committee chairman, are we going to see a strategy different is president obama going to start to try to mold these legislative priorities more himself? >> we used to say on foreign policy you cannot have 535 commanders in chief that's why the president is in charge of foreign policy. he's proving you cannot have 535 policymakers on something as large as reforming 17% of the economy. >> paul: if you think the president's numbers are bad have you looked at congress'? 2 had year -- 24 year low. that may be thanks to folks like congressman rangel. chairman of the tack writering ways and means committee has tax problems of his own. he amended his 2007 financial disclosure form to the tune of more than half a millions. in previously unreported assets and income. the "new york post" reported this week that rangel's committee has quietly slipped into the health care bill, new provisions cracking down on taxpayers in their

. >> we want to look good, so stop throwing the moomoos north dakota the dusters and the big shirts at us. >> reporter: being plus size and looking stylish often ds not go hand in hand. >> when you're curvy, you encounter problems in the marketplace. things don't fit so right. things don't look as good as you want them to look. if i'm having this problems, other women must also be having these problems. >> reporter: so frasier rodriguez set out to make a change in the plus-size world. the former journalist with a passion for fashion launched kingly and posh, a clothing line she designed for women sizes 14 to 22. >> don't use the theory just add fabric and your clothing, a larger -- larger size. i don't believe in that. we believe in quality clothing that's tailored to fit and to flow. no matter what size. how does it feel? >> it feels nice. i really like it. >> reporter: rodriguez spent months talking to fuller-figure women and doing extensive market research before starting her alexandria business last year. it's now in 20 bouties and is doing a healthy business online. not surprising

. >>> and final lishgs a store manager in north dakota found out sometimes you get more than you pay more. when a customer pulled out a $20 bill from 1934 the old note caught her eye. she ended up buying it. turns out that same bill goes for as much $134 in online auctions. now, everyone is going to be checking out the dates on their bills today. >>> pennant race updates, the latest from nascar, and the dallas cowboys open their football pal ras. >>> plus, a rookie quarterback and head coach shock tom brady, bill belichick and the new england patriots. >>> on this last full day of summer, flash flooding is the big story in the midwest and the atlanta area. your regional forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." >>> good morning to you. i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm barbara harrison. straight ahead on "news 4 today," construction is getting under way aimed at easing the come matt in the district. but traffic congestion is only going to get worse before it gets better. >> plus, the washington redskins win their home opener so why is the victory a bit unsettling for a lot of fan

senator conrad of north dakota has put that forward as an alternative to a strict public option. another way to bring competition into the health insurance marketplace. i think that depending on how it is implemented, it could be quite effective in bringing competition. as i say, my preference would be to do that type of public adopt rigid public option that we adopted in the help committee. but if we cannot get the votes to do that, at this idea of co- ops is certainly something to explore. it then serve the same purpose to a large extent. >> one more question. dollars over the course of these months when you have been having these meetings with the gang of six, you have been a quiet one. senator baucus is chairman and he talks to the chairman -- to the press. senator grassley and others are much more vocal about what he sees as supports and problems. they have been much more in the next politically. what is your thinking behind that is? i wonder if you could talk about that? >> i thought that i could be most effective in the discussions that we are having among our group if i a

. >> i saw that, and the proposal on cooperatives of course ken conrad from north dakota has put thatorward as an alternative to a strict public option. but as another way to bring competition into the health insurance marketplace, and i think depending upon how it's implemented it could be quite effective in bringing competition. as i say, my preference, i've always said this. my preference would be to do the kind of public option we've adopted in the health committee. but if that's not something we can get the votes to do, then this idea of co-ops is certainly something to explore and it could serve the same purpose to a large extent. >> jeff young, one more question. >> over the course of these months when you've been having these meetings in the gang of six and finance committee, you've been sort of the quiet one. senator baucus is chairman. he talks to the press and he is on television. senator grassley, senator ensly, they're much more vocal about the problems they have and they've been much more in the mix politically. i just wanted to ask you what your thinking behind that is.

a member of the gang of six, democrat, north dakota, a member of the senate finance committee. thank you, senator. still ahead on "morning meeting," reaction from capitol hill including sharod brown. why does ellen degeneres want paula abdul's old job? you've only got so many hours in a day to get your five servings of vegetables. consider this... the express route. v8. what's your number? tylenol pm quiets the pain that keeps you awake. and helps you sleep, in a non-habit forming way. i had a heart attack at 57. my doctor told me i should've been... doing more for my high cholesterol. what was i thinking? but now i trust my heart to lipitor. when diet and exercise are not enough, adding lipitor may help. unlike some other cholesterol lowering medications, lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk... of heart attack, stroke, and certain kinds of heart surgeries... if you have several common risk factors... or heart disease. lipitor has been extensively studied... with over 16 years of research. lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems... and women who

big thunderstorms are out there across north dakota. denver. doing traveling here, a warm one. 85 to 90 today. pure blue skies. a couple of thunderstorms mainly west denver, higher elevations but really that is it. what a gorgeous shot that is. good morning to you, denver. more in a half hour. >> all right, thank you. >>> so wall street went into the holiday weekend with a rally and it looks like we could pick up right where we left off. now we have susan lisovicz. >> reporter: not bad at all and especially because september is supposed tiblousy months. not so bad, so far early on. let's keep our fingers crossed. investors today encouraged by some m & a from overseas. kraft says it will continue to pursue a bid and reports say nestle and hershey could also get into the act. the increased interest and mergers an encouraging sign that companies are becoming more confident. still some worry signs though. the u.s. dollar falling to a new year for the year for the euro and when the dollar falls investors turn to safe haven like gold. topping

one of them, kent conrad of north dakota, a principal player in the gang of six is terribly worried about the cost of the public option. it is more than $1 trillion. david axelrod didn't raise that at a time when the country is trying to kick start the economy and people across america are being told to save more money and cut back on their expectations. then they look at the price tag, which goes with t.a.r.p. and stimulus and the bailout of automobiles and it gives them pause about what's achievable. there's no question the american health care system does need to be reformed at several different levels. i think the white house overstepped at the beginning in not having a clear, simple plan about what we want to achieve and when we want to achieve it. >> harold ford, the question of cost, tom raises a huge issue. the democrats i talked to said, look, you are not forgetting about republicans. you are not going to get moderate republicans unless the price comes down. one of the ways to do that, get off the idea of universal health care. cover fewer people. do you think that's what's going

stormy across the ohio and tennessee valleys as well as north dakota and the rockies. >> 83 in colorado springs, 85 in albuquerque and 75 in boise. 75 in chicago. 70s from boston to baltimore. it's 89 in new orleans and 95 in dallas. >> today is a holiday. a lot of people not working. >> must be nice for them. >> we're not among them. >> going to be tough to roll out of bed later today. if you can't roll out of bed this holiday, how about just rolling along with your bed? >> that's just what they did in miami's coconut grove over the weekend. teams of five went head to head in the great grove bed race. they sped to the finish line in their creative and oddly shaped contraptions. >> this year's grand marshal, helio catroneves. three-time indy 500 champ and winner of "dancing with the stars." i've heard of putting mileage on the mattress but never thought of it like that. >> they say this race was on hiatus for six years. >> they had to raise like ten grand apiece just to bring this back. clearly it's a popular attraction and they take it serious. >> i'd like to be in the bed, not running

in the state of alabama, in the state of north dakota, your state, in the state of california, one provider does more than 90% of the customers that are there. how is this going to provide competition if it's administered by the insurance industry? >> well, it's not administered by the insurance industry. the exchanges function much like the federal employee health benefits plan which all members of congress are part of. here's how it works. at the beginning of the year, you're given a series of choices. you can pick blue cross & blue shield, aetna, wellpoint, you can pick under my proposal a cooperative plan not run by the insurance industry at all, not for profit competitor, not run by the government either. people would be presented with a series of choices. >> senator, wouldn't we see insurance companies pey ies com against one another? they've been known not to compete in each other's backyard. how can you be honest to the american people that they with wail be honest brokers? >> i don't think you can count of them being honest brokers. that's why i think it's critically important you

@ @ @ @ @ @ indian tribes in each place, we have a dear friend of ours who was an indian from north dakotawho grew up on the reservation who is now, in the greatest of all ironies, the superintendent of mutt -- of mount rushmore national memorial. interpreting not just the recent history of the carving into the sacred black hills, sacred for so many different native peoples, the bust of four american presidents, but also met to launder and complicated native american history of that place and the more complicated intersected -- intersection of the white appropriation of the black hills from the native peoples. that is part of the glory of our national parks services. we have been able -- we have been willing to expand the idea from saving natural scenery, archeologists -- archeological sites, natural habitat, sites that show political and military history, to the symbols of our country like the statue of liberty, the lincoln memorial and not rushmore. but also places like a slave cabins, people may be comfortable life of a slave owner possible. we saved central high school, still a central

this is going to be a real tough vote for senator conrad of north dakota. >> hosure. conrad in an interview yesterday with "washington post" said he was not in favor of a public option. it's twofold. who's going to blink first? you have poll numbers. democrats in congress are enjoying better numbers than republicans resoundly. president obama received a boost in how he's handling health care. the question is, which conservative democrat iic senat is going to blink and say, wow, the public is on the side of the democratic party. why am i entertaining this idea? the other question, there's a new campaign to get every democrat committed to voting to end a republican filibuster. ben nelson's office reached out to be personally and said the senator is not committing through ending the filibuster. it's up to the leadership to corral the votes and say, be with us. >> ben said he's not going to vote for anything unless there's some republicans on. >> yeah. >> i'm still struggling with some of the democrats because the american people are with guaranteed competition for the pr

. $1 million buys a lot of primetime ads in montana and north dakota and these senators don't want to be targeted. when the industry wants to take you down, they will line the pockets of your opponent. on this end, it is easier to make sure they are an ally than defeat them. this has been coming on for a long time. they've known the industry, who the players are and they worked them over. senator conrad gave an interesting comment during the senate finance committee conversation when he said, look, the medicare reimbursement rates, the disparity there is killing our hospitals in our state. i buy that. i do. i have talked to those administrators. then go fix it. then go fix it. but max baucus is something i have a hard time explaining. >> on baucus a year ago he sort of laid out this blueprint of what he would do for health care reform and said there was a public option. he has been backing away at the same time the industry has been flooding him with money and meetings. can you draw that connection? >> why did he take single payer off the table? there are lefties across the country th

as a result, we've had very low default rates in north dakota. i'm pleased with the service they have provided to their students. delighted of theamed, unlike the underlying bill, would allow that to continue. i know the chairman has approved this amendment. thank you. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from north carolina. mr. etheridge: madam chair, i thank the chairman and ranking member for their work on this bill and the other members of the committee and encourage my colleagues to vote for the eam and for the underlying bill. and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from north carolina. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 10 printed in house report 111-256. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? mr. driehaus: i thank you, madam chair. i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will desig

ield a reception at a little restrant close by with friends and family from north dakota. i'll never forget. it was packed. you couldn't move. so many people had come from north dakota to be with me, family mbers from all over the family mbers from all over the to -- cousin of mine coming up to me so excited and he said to me: senator kennedy's here. i hadn't known he was coming. that w so typical of ted, reaching out tohe most junior of us, because he would know what his presence would mean. my family had been longtime supporters of the kennedys and it meant so much to my family for him to be there that day. and that was so typical of him. tang time to do things that he knew would mean a lot to others even when it was inconvenient for him. the thing i remember and will remember the most abo ted is his humanity. that smile, that twingle in his eye, that -- twingle in his eye, that mischievous grin that would come over his face when he would comment what was going on here late at night, sometimes this place, you know, defies that sense of description. he maintained that sen

a senator: the senator from north dakota. mr. dorgan: perhaps while my colleague is on the floor, i think it would be useful to at least discuss a couple of things that are apparently in disagreement. the issue of a $10 fee that could be used in at private and public sector partnership is being supported by the chamber of commerce and all of the organizations that want to promote this country as a destination for intnational tourism, let me just put on the board here a chart that shows the fees that -- that our travelers to the visa waiver countries now pay. they charge us fees. we're talking about a $10 fee to people from these countries. $10. here's what we are charged if you go to france, a $51 fee. americans going to france, i think in most cases, collected actually by the airline in that case. we don't propose that here. you can see that spain, $14. the czech republic, $27. they're going -- they're going to retaliate. they already charge the american traveler a fee when we come and go. and we're talking about a $10 fee that

. >> but then, if you are going with the two-year series, and the senator from north dakota says, "this will put all of my hospitals out of business, " he knows i have that feeling -- it is nonsense. medich year for two years is just a way to get this started, -- medicare it is for two years and is just a way to get started. you have to make a case to m&a that all of the hospital's debt shutdown in two years -- you have to make a case to me. all of the hospitals get shut down. >> my preference would be not to have it tied to medicare. my preference would be to do more of what we try to do in the health committee, more of what i believe senator schumer is going to propose later, which is to leave the setting of rates that are provided for negotiation from the beginning of the program on, and i think that it be preferable, and then i think the public interest option is what senator conrad looked about, the co-op idea or insurance, senator nelson refer to as that. i think that also has promised. like i said, i think the most direct way to do it would be to set up a non-profit and tell them

ken conrad a democrat of north dakota sided with republicans on this.eally a case of orrin hatch saying he doesn't want to discriminate and did not mean to offend but he believes the language needs to be improved to protect the concerns of those who do oppose abortion and the women democrats and it goes beyond the women but notably they spoke out saying they felt this was unprecedented and they raised a lot of concerns about it, so it's another interesting chapter in the debate about abortion services. >> kelly, thank you very much. >>> at stake the way forward in afghanistan. this afternoon president obama and his senior advisers will gather in the white house situation room and debating strategy and discussing america's goals for the now eight-year-long war in afghanistan. joining us live is has helena cooper and retired u.s. army general barry mccaffrey. my thanks to both of you. general, i start with you. talking about 18 people and very high ranking folks in this meeting today. i'm sure, general, you've been in similar meetings. how will the presid

i'd like to go to steve in north dakota. how are you doing, steve? >> caller: how are you doing? >> not bad, how are you doing? >> caller: a great big boo-yah you betcha from fargo. >> fargo, man, great movie, great town. fabulous. what's up? >> caller: i've been hearing a lot of chatter about cloud computing. don't know much about it and just wondering if akamai is a good -- >> no. no. no. here's what i want you to do. i want you to go to the salesforce.com website and read about cloud computing. it's the most comprehensive way to learn about it. mark benioff, the unbelievably good ceo, has really taken cloud computing to another level. that's the stock and that's the handbook to learn about it. let's go all the way south now. let's go to robert in gator country. although he could be a noel. >> caller: big 90 degree beach weather with the palm trees blowing in the wind ba, ba, boo-yah. >> holy cow, that's it. we saved the best boo-yah of the week till friday. memo to staff. i want a complete tape of all the boo-yahs made for me and delivered to me sunday morning so i can decide

and yet, two conservative democratic senators, kent conrad of north dakota and max baucus of montana said after congressman wilson's scream heard around the world that they want to reconsider language in the bill that concerns illegal immigrants. according to reporting today in "time" magazine, senator conrad said after a thursday morning meeting, "we really thought we'd resolved this question of people who are here illegally, but as we reflected on the president's speech last night, we wanted to go back and drill down again." we thought it was resolved by the language that says, and i quote, "no illegal immigrants will benefit from the health care tax credits," that's on page four. but after that guy screamed at the president, we thought we should do more to make sure he was getting everything he wanted. yeah, senators conrad and baucus are not only rewarding the tactic that joe wilson used, they're also implying that joe wilson was right, and joe wilson was not right. what congress -- what senator baucus and senator conrad are doing here has a name. it's called caving, caving to a

think about it, we have markets like north dakota and alabama where one insurer can controls 90% of the market. think about it. if you were in a town and there was only one gas station, would you assume that you were getting the best price on gas? he wants to make sure those kinds of options are available because it will also make sure we're keeping costs low. that's a priority for him. >> all right. miss barnes, thank you very much. we appreciate it. melanie barnes from the white house joining us. and a programming note, president obama will be addressing congress tomorrow night on health care at 8:00 eastern. we'll have special coverage beginning at 7:00 p.m. with larry kudlow. >>> with us this hour the man you heard talking about the public option or whether we need it or not, our guest host in the thick of the health care debate, the ceo of schering-plough. also talk about his $46 billion merger with merck which is imminently about to conclude. we also have with us howard dean, author of "howard dean's prescription for real health care reform." good to have both of you with us. howa

say, but we say there are kind of no medieval knights clanky around in rusty suits of armor in north dakota. we call those harley-davidson riders actually. one of the cleverest things on one and one of the most misleading things he ever said was to describe to the united states and the united states with amnesia. the impression that history doesn't matter to the american people, is to arrive at the mind numbing phenomenon called the social studies textbook. in fact, folks, can we, philadelphia famous for fire brand causes, tonight in this room, at this moment, launch the campaign to abolish the dreaded word social studies. yes. take back the discipline, we are going to call it history. because history is about flesh and blood, it's not memory and of course, all you know that beach blockbusters are another door stopper in the life of ben i can't minimum franklin. -- benjamin franklin. americans live and breathe history in a way in which europeans understand, because it's the remit of the supreme court in the first place to interpret the wish of the founding fathers every single day and woke

consider conservative democratic senator kent conrad of north dakota.enator conrad has been an unbending opponent of the public option specifically. and yesterday he offered this thumb in the eye to the huge majority of democrats, people of his own party who support a public option. >> let me just conclude for my progressive friends who believe that the only answer to getting costs under control and having universal coverage is by a government-run program. they're not government-run systems. in germany, in japan, in switzerland, in france, in belgium, all of them contain costs, have universal coverage, have very high quality care, and yet are not government-run systems. >> not government run systems? senator conrad, this is one of those times where it's like you sort of regret that americans don't speak more foreign languages. three more credits of french might have cleared this whole thing right up. in fact the indisall of the country's rattled off by senator conrad that he listed as the gold standard, all have a level of government intrusion that thei

you've got alabama, north dakota, in your state of california, it just seems like there's one provider getting the massive amounts of business. is this a problem in your opinion? is the gouging going on because of this? >> well, in part it certainly is. also, there's literally no control on the cost of health care, the premiums can be whatever the insurance companies want to charge you. this is where the mandate comes in and really concerns me, because as i said, you're tossing 30 million people to the sharks. the sharks being the insurance companies out there that are literally able to charge whatever they want to charge now, and particularly the senate legislation will be able to continue to charge, because there is no market. that's what the public option is all about. it gives market discipline. it's a public option. lit be a price that hopefully we can afford, and it's one that the insurance companies will be forced to match. if that public option isn't there, we're in deep trouble. >> what about the state of california? the seventh largest economy on the face of the earth. is it

movon.org is asking north dakota democrats to call senator kent conrad's office.change committee and democracy for america have just launched this ad targeting finance committee chairman max baucus. >> my name is ben, i live in billings, montana, with my beautiful wife and baby boy. last june i collapsed because of congenital heart problem. i need open heart surgery but have no insurance and no company will insure me. my wife and i still owe over $100,000 in medical bills. none of this would have piled up if i had the option of buying into a public health insurance plan. insurance companies need competition. they profit by knee nighing care to people like me. >> senator baucus, will you take millions of dollars from health and insurance interests that oppose reform and give families like mine choice of a public option. i have to ask, whose side are you on? >> joining me, adam green, co-founder of the progressive campaign change committee. mr. green, good to have you with us tonight. get your cell phones out. mr. green, what's the mission here? to get rid of max ba

followed by madison, wisconsin, and fargo, north dakota. >>> we're following developments out of upstateudents. there you see the live picture there. the president is expected to speak at any minute. live coverage right here coming up on msnbc. ( conversation ) garth, you're up. hold on, i'm at capitalone.com picking a photo... for my credit card. here's one from my prom. oh, what memories. how 'bout one from our golf outing? ( shouting ) i know, maybe one of my first-born son. dad, mom says the boys gotta go. personalize your card by uploading... your own photo at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? ♪ who switched from geico to allstate... saved an average of $473 a year? no way! way. ♪ boy: is that your new car? uh...yeah. boy: cool. thanks. i knew i wanted the new subaru legacy. i went back and forth on the hood scoop. but i'm glad i went for it. the all-new subaru legacy. >>> president obama is focusing on the economy today in a speech in troy, new york. you see the live pictures there. the president is about to address community college students one day after a report that new yo

happen north dakota. >> in june i was down by 6 points when won the primary and then went up to 10 to i wasn't down by a lot and i wasn't up by a lot. this is the state, chris, where barack obama won by 7. mark warner won the senate last year by over 20 points. it is a competitive state. we have known that for awhile. it is a purple state. for me to be up on the average of five points right now with 37 days to go, we think that is a good position and the more people look at who is endorsing me, all the business groups and pro free enterprise groups and job creators supporting me and all the national labor unions supporting my opponent, people are going to realize i'm the guy that is going to build jobs. >> the new jersey and virginia governor's races which are always held the year after the presidential election are always seen because we are political junks as something of a referendum on the president whether he is new or has been reelected. barack obama was the first democrat to win, virginia, since 1964. where do you think he stands now and do you think president obama helps you o

i like it, bring the heat, especially in montana, north dakota, arkansas, democrats, get to the end zone on this one by doing the due diligence on those who you put in office an send them to washington. this is all we have to do. stay engaged, get after it. to the text poll tonight. here's the deal. i want to know how you're feeling right now about the future of a public option. more confident? less confident? or about the same? text "a," "b" or "c" to 622639. >>> a man who has -- i've never met this guy. i've seen him do a lot of interviews, seen all of his films. i still -- my wife and i watch "fahrenheit 911" twice a year and made sure the kids watch as well. joining me now, michael moore, legendary filmmaker, a new one out "capitalism: a love story." it opens nationwide this friday. ed schultz. great to have you with us. i've never had the pleasure. if there's one thing that jumps out at me about your work, it's almost as if you constantly ask americans, what do we stand for? am i on base on that? >> no. and to take that further, actually, my films pose the question, who are we? who

but i think the kicker, anderson, was that another democratic senator from a border state, north dakota'syron dorg dorgan, sent the homeland security secretary a note saying you're spending money like a bottomless pit. that got her attention. and i think that pressures what led to it. >> all right, drew, thanks for the report. >>> next, doctors and dollars. one m.d. takes on health care costs saying greety physicians are to blame for the problems. everything changed. i didn't know what to do. right about then, our doctor mentioned the exelon patch. he said it releases medicine continuously for 24 hours. he said it could help with her cognition which includes things like memory, reasoning, communicating and understanding. (announcer) the most common side effects of exelon patch are nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. the likelihood and severity of these side effects may increase as the dose increases. patients may experience loss of appetite or weight. patients who weigh less than 110 pounds may experience more side effects. people at risk for stomach ulcers or who take certain other medicine s

we railroaded know that if you live in a state like alabama or north dakota, you may have one insurerkind of competition. that isn't a choice. and if you're in an individual trying to purchase insurance or if you're in a small group, a small business and you're trying to purchase insurance, that's leaving you at a deficit. so what he's going to say, what he's going to continue to talk about, are the kinds of tools that are necessary to drive competition and drive costs to the benefit of the american people. >> how does the president's school speech become so controversial? and i should point out that back when george herbert walker bush made a similar kind of appeal back in 1991, democrats got so exercised, they it actually had a general accounting office investigation, they called lamar alexander the education secretary up to the hill and held hearings on this had terrible thing of a president going into the schools. it does sound insane to even be saying that the president of the united states cannot give a speech trying forget kids to believe in themselves and to believe that they

montana are going to ask max baucus, why in the world do some states and options and montana and north dakotas? >> refreshing view. you say the co-op isn't going to happen. we're down to the public option and trigger option. is that when the president is going to engage when we go to conference? >> we have the democratic party in one room, top leaders. i think it's showtime for them about where they stand with the american people. >> what if the president doesn't engage as far as -- and start demanding public option? what would your response be to that? >> what we're doing now. we're going out. this not a spectator sport making change. you have to go out and rally the people. that's what we're doing tomorrow with the insurance companies. that's what we're doing tomorrow bringing smocks signed by nurses and health care workers to democratic congressmen. we're saying america wants change. we're tired of 50 years of the insurance company rule. we want a change and want it now. >> do you think the doctor -- or the president should, i say, was strong enough yesterday? do you think that, i mean, we'

>> i have a very strong contention, ed, with the fact, as i said to you, the congressman from north dakotadment in the ways and means committee that would have ensured the holds in medicare and medicaid would be made absolutely certain we wouldn't have illegal aliens receiving benefits under the bill. >> the consensus claimed the house bill would use the house bill to provide insurance to illegal immigrants, that is false. factcheck.org, false. >> i read factcheck.org. >> the associated press said he's wrong. you know they're not going to get it, ron. the president flat-out said it's not going to happen. you're saying the president doesn't have any credibility. >> i'm saying the president absolutely has zero credibility, ed. you know i love you, buddy, but i tell you i read factcheck.org and encourage your viewers to do the same. congressman heller had his amendment defeated on -- >> it is not in the bill, ron. >> that's exactly right. it's not in the bill. >> it's not in the bill -- the republicans right now are making the argument -- it's kind of like the prevent defense. how i started t