governor ted strickland, hogan giddily, always great to have both of you on the show.hank you. >>> and also making news this morning, flooding has closed parts of interstate 10 in north florida this morning because of tropical storm debby. look at that. the storm hasn't even made landfall yet, but it is threatening to dump up to two feet of rain in some areas. it is only moving about 3 miles per hour around the gulf coast and the northern half of the state will continue to get drenched for several more dis. >>> record-setting heat is comp pliccing things for firefighters battling stubborn wild fires in colorado. after nearly a week of 100-plus temperatures combined with low humidity you the flames are threatening homes, business and colorado's $5 billion summer tourism industry. >>> rupert murdoch's news corp confirms that it is considering splitting its publishing and entertainment businesses into two publicly traded companies that would separate its film and tv networks from its newspaper and book publishing businesses. a final decision has been made. >>> about a mon

prior to her position at nrdc, had worked on capitol hill as an aid to ted strickland. she then worked as a senior staff member for current labor secretary told us always. during her time on capitol hill, heather cofounded the democratic caucus team, which continues to help democratic members communicate more effectively with constituents about the environment and energy issues. heather is married with two beautiful children and resides in california. please welcome heather. >> good evening, thank you for joining us this evening to celebrate the nrdc action fund book release. "reckless: the political assault on the american environment", written by stafford bob deans. please join me in giving him a round of applause. [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] bob is always a joy to work with, so it is always good to recognize that kind of dedication. so often we deal with so many fights, that it is nice to be dealing with a gentleman. also come even better, to be dealing with an informed gentleman. i came to the environment on a gymnasium floor. i grew up in ashland, k

joining me now is ted strickland, governor from ohio. and congressman jim mcdermott, democrat from washington. thanks to you both for being here tonight. >> good to be here. >> governor strickland, let's go to you first. romney is telling governors to keep the good economic news under wraps. how big a deal is this in your mind? >> well, i think it's rather shameful if it's true and the reports seem to be true that this is happening. but i can tell you that ohio's economy is coming back. it started coming back in 2010. ohio's economy would not be doing nearly as well as it is doing today if the president had not rescued the american auto industry. that's a huge deal in ohio. thousands and thousands of jobs are connected to auto production and to the supply chain. the president deserves credit for that. i'm so happy that ohio's economy is doing better. and i'm also happy that florida's is doing better even if mitt romney is not happy about that. >> because when you look at the fkt that unemployment has been dropping in key states and it ha

in the meantime we have the former democratic governor of ohio ted strickland.>> good to be with you, chris. >> i want to remind you as an ohio girl you were in congress before you became governor and in some of these races super pacs have spent a hundred, $200,000. we're just talking about a primary race. what kind of influence does that kind of money have on a congressional race? >> chris, i fear for the democracy we've enjoyed for so long in this country because we are coming to a point where a handful of very wealthy individuals can use that great welt to control the public agenda and elect people to public office and that's a concern for me because i think we're moving more and more into a plutocracy where really a handful of powerful interest individuals with great wealth can use that as we have seen in this republican primary and they are buying elections or certainly attempting to buy elections. that's bad for our democracy. >> let's use your state as example. there are key congressional states there tan has already played a role in some of the races dur

former governor ted strickland said the rescue of the auto industry was the biggest contributor to ohio'sabout this industry. >> stephanie: as the president said when he rescued the auto industry, they're also demanding it is the trickle down, the u.s. auto demanding more steel so ohio democrats, you know that's another point against romney. all of the steel plants were doing nothing are working again. that's what the president was making the case when romney was making the case against it, all of the other industries are going to benefit if we save the american auto industry. anyway. yep. energy and automobile production are the two giants of the industrial section in ohio. so yeah. romney campaign must also cope with boasts by republicans and business leaders things are different. midwest has the economy on the right track said an update in the "columbus dispatch." it is leading the economic recovery. because of the president and the auto rescue! [ screaming ] nice try mittens. 58 minutes after the hour. right back on "the stephanie miller show." i'm going to be on with the governor tom

and joining me from two important battleground states, the former ohio governor ted strickland and edendell. and you know on the commercial break, i thought maybe weekends with ed and ted, what do you think? kind of sounds good. we'll try to make a habit of this. beginning with you governor strickland, he paints a dark picture of america's future. does that energize voters more than hope and change like we saw in 2008? >> well, i was just listening to the governor and he said wages are going to stagnate. wages have been stagnating in this country for the last three decades, productivity has gone up, the rich have become richer, but the working folks have basically seen their wages flat. and i think ohio's economy is coming back and we're glad for that. but in large part, alex, because the president made a very difficult decision of when he intervened to save the american auto industry and today in toledo and in cleveland and in youngstown, ohio, cars are being produced, chevy, the chevy cruz in youngstown. so this has helped our state's economy, manufacturing in ohio, it's saved the s