we will speak with florida congress member ted deutch and a woman who says she was purged of voting after 40 years. in another victory for marriage equality, a federal appeals court has struck down the defense of marriage act following a lawsuit by the state of massachusetts and others. >> it is unconstitutional for the federal government to create a system of first and second class marriages and it does harm to massachusetts and families of massachusetts every day. >> all of that and more coming up. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. a federal appeals court has struck down the defense america act, known as doma, for discriminating against same-sex couples. the unanimous decision down the federal government does not have the authority to deny benefits to same-sex couples in states such as massachusetts, which has approved gay marriage. the ruling is expected to be appealed and ultimately end up before the supreme court. in a statement, the marriage equality group freedom to marry called the decision -- doma latere more on in the broadcas

. >> congressman ted deutch, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> it's easy to sit at the sidelines and say here's what team obama ought to be doing. one emery university messaging expert says it was not blaming president george bush early. people aren't paying close attention to the minutia of the campaign, testing the waters. is it premature for democrats to get nerve us? >> i think it's very premature. we can say it was expected the race wou tighten and be close and it was expected you'd reach a campaign where you have stories about how democrats are getting nervous. that primary season where it looked like mitt romney was the least electable nominee, that was basically a mirage and there's a recognition of what really was inevitable all along, this is going to be a 50/50 election. we can talk about the different strategies, they can pursue the different options but there's no getting around the fact this guy is running for re-election with an unemployment rate probably over 8% and with this pervasive pain and suffering out there, no incumbent president has had to run like this i