based on the congressional maps that virginia republicans gerrymandered back in 2012. so the same maps they have created to give themselves permanent majority, permanent victories in nonstatewide elections, they would also use those maps now to allocate virginia's electoral votes for president of the united states. essentially, rigging the presidential vote in virginia, using the exact same means that they have already used to rig the state level votes for republicans in virginia. we are hearing talk about republican plans to change the rules and thus rig the presidential in a bunch of states now. these are all states that tend to support democrats for president but where republicans now control the state house and the governorship. and they think they might be able to use that local republican control to change the rules by which those states contribute electoral votes for the presidency. this has very quietly and very quickly become one of the most important political stories in the country. republicans are not in power in washington. they control the house, but that'

virginia republicans had to wait until he was gone because the state senate is equally divided in virginia, 20 republicans and 20 democrats. but with henry marsh gone for the day, it's no longer an even divide, right? it's 20-19. with that advantage, republicans decided to spring on the senate and spring on the entire state a whole new set of redmaps. a whole new set of gerrymandered maps for the state, drafted to put republicans in charge in virginia effectively permanently. because they did it when henry marsh was away, republicans succeeded in this plan by one vote in their stealth attack to change the maps. that one vote was the missing vote of the senator who had gone to the inauguration. that's how they started the week. now virginia republicans are moving on to the next part of it. they're moving on to the electoral college scheme part of it, using the same maps they have gerrymandered for a permanent republican advantage at the state level to also dispute virginia's electoral college votes when it comes to voting for president. today a virginia subcommittee sent a bill to that effe

it was february of last year when virginia republicans got to work on what started out as a forced vaginal probe ultrasound bill. and for whatever reason, that bill in virginia got a lot of national attention. >> i have to ask you about this red-hot story that has gotten so much ink, so many women in particular fired up. >> you backed an abortion bill initially that included a very invasive procedure as part of an ultrasound that the state would have required. and then you backed off of that. were you wrong to support that initially, or did you simply back off because the political heat got turned up the way it did? >> governor, you've gone through this with the person to debate and the ultrasound bill in virginia there is a feisty conversation going on right there. >> this is a bill, an abortion bill that would have mandated that women get what is called a transvaginal ultrasound if they were getting an abortion. >> when you were here last month, you were in favor of the transvaginal ultrasound. >> if you were educating yourself on this bill, did you originally not realize that it might m

about here they want a lot better than a couple of thoughts let's move on to election regain republicans virginia took an outrageous step tuesday to rig that the next state senate elections and actually the entire state elections while the nation was focused on the inauguration republicans passed legislation to redraw draw the state's congressional districts increase many of them are considered safe republican seats currently the virginia state senate is split twenty to twenty between republicans and democrats republicans were only able to sneak this legislation through because one of the democratic state senators was here in washington d.c. attending the president's inauguration thus giving the republicans a one vote advantage so every general public is reached the same conclusions republicans in pennsylvania florida was gods of michigan ohio but if you can't win an election legitimately rig it chris. well you know what gerrymandering the real problem and i don't think it's limited to republicans in this country i think both republicans and democrats there's always an gerrymandering this was onl

some republicans including representative eric cantor of virginia say they can't support it.nd as that unfolds, a lot of californians hold their breaths. cbs 5 reporter ann notarangelo on failure in washington could be very bad news for the state trying to make a comeback. ann. >> reporter: elizabeth, construction sites look this one are popping up throughout contra costa county and they are signs of economic growth. and for the first time in a long time, we are hearing some optimism about california's economy. but for it to continue, we need a deal in washington. >> no doubt that from our perspective the number one thing we want to see is a resolution so that we can just continue with the growth we have been seeing over the past several quarters. >> reporter: he is the director of the governor's office of business and economic development. his job is to make sure california's welcome mat is out for businesses so they want to grow, build and hire. things like regulatory reform, workforce development, innovation. but what's happening in washington or what's not happening in wa

virginia. even though he lost it by 150,000 votes. >> folks, this is the pack of pure bread republicans in the virginia state senate. >> the vote plan and a vote to retool senate districts while a democrat was away at the mlk presidential inauguration have once again made the virginia gop for tv comics. >> in the words of dr. king, i have been to the mountain top and while i was there, they heavily redistricted the promise land. >> now, looks unlikely that the electoral plan will pass. two state senators oppose it and in a senate that is split 20 to 20, that's enough to scuttle it. >> if i lose, i'll come back and try again. >> he owes that to the mitt romney supporters who sent him to richmond. bruce leshan, wusa9. >> the committee vote is likely early next week and the final vote on senate district lines can come on tuesday. >> the white house launched a nationwide campaign trying to build up the public support for more gun control, hoping to put more pressure on congress to actually pass it. now as part of that campaign, vice president joe biden ventured into the heart of gun friendly, virgi

virginia. he would have had the majority of the electoral votes. >> folk, this week's alpha dogs are the pack of purebred republicans in the virginia state senate. >> the electoral vote plan and a vote to retool senate districts while a democrat was away at the mlk day presidential inauguration, made it for tv comics. >> in the words of dr. king, i have been to the mountain top and while i was there, they heavily redistricted the promise land. >> but it now looks unlikely that the electoral vote plan will pass. two republican state senators have just said that they oppose it and in a senate that is split 20 to 20, that's enough to scuttle it. he owes that to the mitt romney supporters who sent him to richmond. bruce leshan, wusa9. >> and that committee vote is likely to happen early next week. the final vote on senate district lines could come tuesday. >>> can you really get in shape without actually doing very much? one group says yeah, they have a secret plan. we'll find out >>> well, there is something new out there in the search for gain without strain. this one is called goga and instead of exercise, there's th

criticize the film if we hope to learn from the war crimes committed in the past and finally republicans in virginia stuck in election rigging plans for the state senate well everyone has folks focused on the inauguration will tell you what they did and more importantly why they did it and how it speaks to fundamental differences between conservatives and liberals in tonight's daily to. be the best of the rest of the news the same voices well it is sort of a right that i'd say right across the board in today's gun debate have officially exit the stage a week after president obama introduced a series of new gun reforms republican senate leader mitch mcconnell sent e-mail to supporters saying quote you and i are literally surrounded the gun grabbers in the senate are about to launch an all out assault on the second amendment and your rights and your freedom he concluded the email by writing the gun grabbers are in full battle mode and they are serious so so much for trying to have an honest gun debate without with enough fear among the gun constituency but what the nation really needs is an honest deb

all the nation was hypnotized by the second inaugural of barack obama on tuesday republicans of virginia moved america closer to the place of vision and by the seventeenth century dystopic philosopher thomas obvious what they did is jam a new redistricting plan through the state senate that created more safe seats for republicans virtually assuring republican domination of the state senate come the next election in two years it was blatant election and get this the only reason why the measure passed a split state senate with twenty republicans and twenty democrats is because one of those democrats civil rights leader senator henry marsh was in washington d.c. attending the inauguration so with a single vote advantage for a single day republicans pounced just like republicans in pennsylvania pounce last week when they introduced legislation to. ainge how their state allocates electoral college votes rather than winner take all system which granted president obama all of the state's twenty electoral college votes lies to barbara when he won the state republicans want votes handed out based

. >> reporter: even the number two house republican, virginia's eric cantor, said he could not support the bill in its current form-- despite the fact that it passed the senate at 2:00 this morning with huge bipartisan support. >> the yays are 89, the nays are 8. >> reporter: the bill is the product of the intense last-minute negotiation between senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and vice president joe biden. it contains no major cuts partly because the speaker himself pulled out of talks with the president last month over a grand bargain that would have cut nearly a trillion dollars in spenting. we asked louisiana republican john fleming about that. this bill makes a lot of tax cuts that republicans like permanent. why not claim victory and then work on spending cuts in the next two months? >> well, that was discussed. and you're right. it makes some things permanent. particularly in the estate tax area. it's permanent fix to the a.m.t.. so there are some actual things we do like about it. but as a whole we don't like other parts of it that we think are going to be devastating to

the target for all of this electoral college manipulation in virginia and the other republican controlleds considering similar measures, you guessed it, 2016. we are going to have a bit more on that coming up with the very man the virginia republicans couldn't wait to see leave town. ford c-max hybrid. when you're carrying a lot of weight, c-max has a nice little trait, you see, c-max helps you load your freight, with its foot-activated lift gate. but that's not all you'll see, cause c-max also beats prius v, with better mpg. say hi to the all-new 47 combined mpg c-max hybrid. marie callender's gives you a way to make any day a special occasion. new mini cream pies for one. real whip cream and a cookie-crumb crust. marie callender's. it's time to savor. so will bounty select-a-size. it's the smaller powerful sheet. look! one select-a-size sheet of bounty is 50% more absorbent than a full size sheet of the leading ordinary brand. use less, with bounty select-a-size. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of

one other thing, the virginia republicans have been quite busy this week. on monday during the president's inauguration, civil rights icon in virginia, first african-american mayor of richmond and a state senator decided to attend the president's inauguration. and the republicans in the senate took advantage of his absence on mlk day, as well, to push through a partisan gerrymandered version of the state senate districts. they made all the democratic districts worse and they really targeting deeds the gubernatorial nominee last time ago who represents a rural district and if this new map becomes law, would actually lose his seat because of this. so they're really doing everything they can to sort of game the system in virginia. >> well, you know, i think a couple of things. i think it should be noted that since the beginning of our young nation, democrats have done some things to manipulate the system. >> sure. >> at times, as well. every party, minority, majority, wants to win and they do what they have to to win. not an excuse. just a fact. too, i think so

[growl] this week's alpha dogs are the pack of purebred republicans in the virginia state senate.wl] on monday, they redrew the district lines for the virginia state senate to "make eight electoral districts, six of them presently held by democrats, more heavily republican," and to "concentrate more minority voters in a new southside district." and they did it by pushing "the re-drawn state political map past flabbergasted democrats." frankly, i don't see why these democrats' gasts are so flabbered. [ laughter ] the state senate is split 20 republicans and 20 democrats. why didn't the democrats stop them? i'll tell you why. because these republicans are alpha dogs. >> republicans chose to introduce the legislation on a day when one democrat wasn't there. >> stephen: yes, they waited until democrat senator and long-time civil rights leader henry marsh left town on martin luther king day to attend president obama's inauguration. [audience reacts] how fitting. in the words of dr. king, "i have been to the mountaintop, and while i was there, they heavily redistricted the promised land

are you surprised by the crassness of virginia republicans that they would use dr. king's day a national holiday as an excuse to make it harder for people to vote? >> you know, it's hard to -- virginia has really set a rather high bar to be sort of shocked by their crassness. this is the -- this is the legislature that voted for the transvaginal probe. so i mean, look, this has been the game plan of the republicans since 2010. they've done it on a state by state basis where they are redistricted their districts in a soft unprecedented partisan way. where they're going to make smaller or i should say more concentrated big democratic districts and then basically make it so that they have more districts that are sort of a plus republican on the partisan index. now they're taking it to the next level of they're going to use this in their plans to swing the electoral votes as well. so i'm not terribly surprised they would do this hook or crook. we saw what happened in wisconsin. this is their modus operandi. >> john: joe are you surprised republicans would resort to trick

conservative state, so you all were kind of fine, and you still lost, republicans lost wisconsin, republicans lost virginiaepublicans lost the latino vote. so there is a huge disconnect here, not just for you, but for voters. >> i would like the rest of the panel to say this as well. even in wisconsin, just like every democrat has since 1984, the same year i not only won a recall election by a higher percentage two years ago, we took the state senate back, you see that now about half the states in america have republican majorities, more than half have republican government no, sir. local leaders in our states and local governments, they're being relevant, they're being hospital mystic, they're being a courageous. >> why were you popular in virginia and you couldn't pull mitt romney over the finish line? >> the president won by 7 points back in '09 and i won by 18 the next year. >> you mean mitt romney lost by -- >> 2. that is just listening from 30,000 feet, that's where we're not connecting. we have got to do a lot better job. and i think the key is what governors are doing. we're getting results, we're

this is the latest poster boy for republican vote rigging. virginia state senator bill carricko. now, today carrico advanced his bill in the republican-led senate to change the way electoral votes are counted in the state. virginia democratic state senator john s. edwards told me on my radio show that democrats were completely blindsided by this move. >> it was a complete underhanded sneak attack on not only democrats but also the people of virginia because if people had had no prior warning this would happen there, have been no committee discussions on this, no hearings on this, and it runs contrary to the courtesies and traditions of the senate of virginia. >> they should be no courtesy from the current republican party. they are willing to admit these changes are being made in order to make certain votes count for less. carrico told a virginia nbc affiliate the change is necessary because virginia's populace, urbanized areas can outvote rural regions such as his, rendering their will irrelevant. urbanized areas? this sounds like something we've heard before. >> i think the surp

of a winner take all system or whoever wins the state wins the states vote for president republicans want virginia's electoral college votes to be doled out based on which presidential candidate wins each congressional district with an extra two votes going to the states popular vote winner republicans in wisconsin ohio pennsylvania and michigan are considering similar changes and r. and c. chair reince priebus recently threw his support behind the idea just how big of an advantage will republicans get thanks to these kind of changes consider this president obama swept the six battleground states florida michigan ohio pennsylvania virginia and wisconsin in the last election since the winner take all system president got one hundred sixty electoral college votes and romney got zero . but had this new scheme been in place before the last election then the president would have only gotten forty seven electoral college votes while mitt romney would have won those states with fifty nine votes even though he got trounced in the popular vote in every single one of those states and had all the states in the

republicans in michigan, ohio, pennsylvania and virginia want to award electoral college votes based on congressional districts. these are all gop controlled states that president obama won in the last two election cycles and our first read team writes, the republicans pushing the idea are all but acknowledging that their problems heading in to 2016 so significant they have to change the rules in order to win. in other words, they are throwing in the towel and trying to rig the system. let's talk more about this and bring in our political panel politico's anna palmer, strategist chris kofinis and msnbc contributor michael smerkonish. there's a lot to dive in this afternoon, big news this afternoon that priebus will stay as the head of rnc as they soul search what they want to be as a party moving forward, how to expand the tent doors there. take a listen to how haley barbour responded to the comments of governor jindal of the republicans being the party of stupid. >> point he made is xlakt exactly right. when you consider what two candidates, indiana and iowa, the comments they made w

virginia, brian s a particular swing state, although most of the house members in virginia are republican and they won solidly in the most recent two senate races, voters in virginia chose two democrats, tim kaine joins mark warner in the senate. brian? >> john henrehan tonight. >>> out with the old, in with the new congress. the 113th congress as a whole sworn in at 91 today. the republicans still -- at noon today. republicans control the house and john boehner was re-elected house speaker, nancy pelosi, minority leader. >> for the 113 congress, it's a time to rise. >> to represent the highest hopes and aspirations of the american people. >> as is the most diverse -- this is the most diverse congress in history, including a record number of women, more african-american women, latino, and asian lawmakers than ever before. house speaker boehner narrowly win a second support, several republicans withheld their vote for him. criticizing his tax hikes on the wealthy. mark plotkin is here to talk about this. i think a lot of people are surprised that boehner held on. >> who wants the job? >> e

state senator henry marsh attended the inauguration, virginia republicans realized they outnumber democrats by one vote. they ambushed the dems with a massive redistricting bill. republican governor bob mcdonnell says he doesn't like the dirty tricks, but he won't promise to veto it. >> obviously, the tactics that were used yesterday was a surprise, and i don't think that that's the way business should be done. but i haven't looked at the bill. >> oh, i bet you haven't. michigan's republican governor rick snyder might support a similar election scheme in his state. snyder thinks real locating electoral votes could be done in a thoughtful way. nothing about this is thoughtful. it's strategic. this isn't about fixing a broken system. it's about republicans giving their party an edge in 2016. i'm joined tonight for the conversation by joan walsh, editor at large for the salon and also bob shrum. great to have you both with us tonight. joan, what do you make of this? is this a policy surrender by republicans, they have to do this to win? >> yeah that. >> know t

republicans lost virginia. republicans lost the latino vote. a huge disconnect here.ut for voters, right? >> i would like to point out like the rest of the panel. wisconsin, a good example. the president carried wisconsin just like every democrat did since 1984. the same year i won a recall election, same time we took the state senate back, and added to the numbers of state assembly. half of the states have republican majorities and more than half have republican governors. republicans who are conservatives are relevant, courageous. that's what we need more in washington. >> why are you popular in virginia, and couldn't have pulled mitt romney over the finish line? >> the president won by seven points in '09. and i won by 18 the next year. >> mitt romney lost by -- >> by two. in the larger turnout elections, the casual voter who only tunes in every two or four years, listening from 30,000 feet, taking care of their family and business, that's where we're not connecting. i think they don't understand the conservative message. we're not -- and they don't like us. we hav

republicans. and that's the key thing. still, we're talking abouted bien is going to richmond, virginia, where eric cantor's district is and that's the move today. the white house, the democrats are really trying to find any kind of republican support. and right now what they are doing is trying to do that through the public, pushing the republicans on the issue. you look at the house republicans. 2 of the 234 house republicans have said they are supportive of some kind of gun control. that's a very small number. you can't pass a bill with such a small number of republicans on board. >> let's take a look at what gallup is putting out, what the appetite is across the country. regular everyday americans are saying about what they support. universal background checks, 91%. mental health programs at 82%. assault weapons ban, 60%. and then banning high capacity magazines, 54%. just take a listen, though, because chris murphy appeared with dianne feinstein yesterday and just about how personal this tragedy is for his state. >> republicans have to decide whether they are going to pay a political price for standing with the gun ma