eric matthews, patricia todd and david rhode.hank you for joining us tonight. >> the united states falls on 36 on the reporters without boarders freedom index. >> an american votes 2014 special report kansas >> in our state, government is broken >> a republican governor has made drastic changes >> the highlight of this is... eventually doing away with income taxes... >> the democratic challenger says, these policies aren't working >> we are trailing the states in our region >> can governor brownback win again? >> i think you spend your money better than the government spends it.. >> america votes 2014 battle for kansas only on al jazeera america >> the plight of three aljazeera journalists sentenced to prison in egypt last june prompted worldwide protests and continued effort to see them free, but journalism isn't under assault only in other countries, but here as well with the birthplace of freedom of the press. last june, the u.s. represented the peal that risen could not appeal to testify because he was a journalist. he had re

this is patricia todd from alabama. you heard me, alabama elected an out lesbian to their state house. but the democratic party actually tried to stop her. the party in the establishment candidate that todd had beaten in the primary, they used a law that hadn't been enforced since 1988 to try to knock her off the general election ballot they felt her lesbian status would be too bad for the party come november. well, the victory fund stepped in and howard dean stepped in helped her mount a challenge, he won the right to be on that ballot and is doing great stuff for alabama ever since. [ cheers and applause ]. well, this is my first time in michigan. what a great state. but you're behind alabama. you don't have any openly lgbt state legislators you're going to change this. these are the four candidates that the victory fund is getting behind that will make history in november in michigan. want to end this talk on a very optimistic note. we have almost 500 openly lgbt americans serving in office today. i think harvey milk

this is patricia todd from alabama. you heard me, alabama elected an out lesbian to their state house. but the democratic party actually tried to stop her. the party in the establishment candidate that todd had beaten in the primary, they used a law that hadn't been enforced since 1988 to try to knock her off the general election ballot they felt her lesbian status would be too bad for the party come november. well, the victory fund stepped in and howard dean stepped in helped her mount a challenge, he won the right to be on that ballot and is doing great stuff for alabama ever since. [ cheers and applause ]. well, this is my first time in michigan. what a great state. but you're behind alabama. you don't have any openly lgbt state legislators you're going to change this. these are the four candidates that the victory fund is getting behind that will make history in november in michigan. want to end this talk on a very optimistic note. we have almost 500 openly lgbt americans serving in office today. i think harvey milk

this is state representative patricia todd from alabama. you heard me, alabama elected an out lesbian to their state house. but the democratic party actually tried to stop her. the party in the establishment candidate that todd had beaten in the primary, they used a law that hadn't been enforced since 1988 to try to knock her off the general election ballot they felt her lesbian status would be too bad for the party come november. well, the victory fund stepped ehrenreich and dnc chairman howard dean stepped in and helped her mount a challenge, she won the right to be on that ballot and is doing great stuff for alabama ever since. well, this is my first time in michigan. what a great state. but you're behind alabama. you don't have any openly lgbt state legislators you're going to change this. these are the four candidates that the victory fund is getting behind that will make history in november in michigan. i want to end this talk on a very optimistic note. we have almost 500 openly lgbt americans serving in office today. i think harvey m