texas unemployment hit 8.5% last month, the highest in texas in 24 years. zero jobs created. where is the texas miracle now? how long will it be before mitt rock knee or the obama white house sink their teeth into these numbers? coast to coast, republican state legislatures are searching for ways to restrict going to the voting booth. restricting registration. what do they have in common? they are aimed at preventing democrats and some believe african-americans in particular from getting to the polls. it's a dangerous game and the lead story tonight. plus, why does wall street hate president obama? hate him? it's because the president hates them, even business itself. really? let's get into that one. and the new book on sarah palin, the rogue. will this book hurt her chances? let me finish with the hard test. the republicans are willing to stall the economy in order to defeat him. we start with what texas miracle. we are asking that question, what texas miracle? we have jerry jones and the delightful dana millbanks after a hiatus, we must say. i miss you. let's look at the nu

we start with what texas miracle. and we're asking that question. what texas miracle? david, washington bureau chief, and the delightful diana millbank of "the washington post" joins us after far too long hiatus. i do miss you. let's go to this whole thing, let's take a look at these numbers here. if you look at the numbers this way, the unemployment rate is rising up to 8.5% in texas. texas. but it's coming down nationally, at least it has been down, from something like well over 10% nationwide, in 2009. so in a way the directions are off. a guy who's saying i'm the big job creator is having unemployment rise. the president's got a problem at least going in the other direction. >> rick perry always had a claim with the texas miracle before now. because there's been a tremendous population increase in texas, which has led to jobs going up there. and also, high energy prices have been good for texas. bad for us in the northeast, good for texas down there, and created jobs. but now, with all of that being put to the side, we see unemployment going up, there's a lot of lo

rate in texas in 24 years. more than twice what it was when perry took office, although still lower than the national average of 9.1%. all of which has been seized on by mitt romney, playing off perry's president zero, romney attacks perry as governor sub-zero. texas is suffering along with the rest of the country -- >> the problem is nationally the ship is going down and ultimately it's going to take us down as well. >> reporter: governor perry has lured companies with lower tax incentives and fewer regulations and state figures do show texas added over 1 million jobs during the last decade. but one in four were in the public sector fueled by federal stimulus funds. perry's supporters worry many of those jobs may now be in jeopardy, undercutting his central campaign message. in july, perry signed a budget that slashes $15 billion in state spending that analysts say will trigger more layoffs. the jobs available are often low-paying. that concerns advocates for low-income residents. >> middle class workers basic

in texas. it's known as the church of the cattle kings. there were 12 millionaires that were in the church, and norris was one of the highest paid clergymen in america at the time. one newspaper in the south voted him the best dressed pastor in america. and he began a ministry that was at first pretty sedate, but eventually he decided he would turn into and morph himself into a sort of a composite. and i've done a lot of radio interviews in the last few days, and i've tried to give people a feel for what this person was like. and i want you to think about a personality where you take a little bit of billy sunday, and that may with a name that you know -- be a name that you know or don't know, take a little bit of billy graham. that might be easier for you to grasp. and add to that a little dose of william randolph hearst. he was a very famous newspaper man and also someone who had napoleonic tendencies. add to that a great deal of p.t. barnum, a name that's familiar to you because of the sensat

luz, mi luz, la fuerza dentro... heunivisionalma@ >>> siguen propagándolas >>> missisipi y parte de texasel nivel de las aguas aún crecen y miles continúan amenazados >>> a menos de una semana del 10° aniversario de l1 de septiembre, el gobierno advierte que terroristas podrían utilizar pequeños alma de hierroh@noticil de hiy buenas noches, feliz día univh@noticiero univisionh@alma texas, en la capital ha destruido más de 300 mil viviendas y continua fuera de control miles de personas están evacuadas, es la peor temporada de incendios en la historia de texas, juan noalma de hierroh@n@ el más afectado >>> tenemos más de 400 casas en este momento >>> el gobernad de texas, canceló su agenda de campaña presidencial y llegó a la zona con autoridades locales, para supervisar que la ayuda se ponga a disposición de losalma de hies >>> largos años de esfuerzos y trabajo convertidos en cenizas en solo minutos >>> cuántos años de trabajo? >>> 20 40, toda la vida >>> las evacuaciones siguen siendo todavía una obligación, en las áreas que continúan bajo un denso humo yh@ el tráfico aumentan >>> las ma

. >>> siguen propagándolas >>> missisipi y parte de texas, el nivel de las aguas aún crecen y miles continúanenazados >>> a menos de una semana del 10° aniversario de l1 de septiembre, el gobierno advierte que terroristas podrían utilizar pequeños aviones para ataques >>> el presidente barack obama viaja a detroit para hablar de trabajos, el mandatario habla de un plan que presentará a la nación esta semana [♪] . >>> muy buenas noches, feliz día del trabajo, los incendios no dan tregua, los bomberos en texas, en la capital ha destruido más de 300 mil viviendas y continua fuera de control miles de personas están evacuadas, es la peor temporada de incendios en la historia de texas, juan nos muestra cómo está el panorama >>> es una de las peores catástrofes en la historia de texas, unas 4 millas de ancho, tienen en vilo a las autoridades. el más afectado >>> tenemos más de 400 casas en este momento >>> el gobernador de texas, canceló su agenda de campaña presidencial y llegó a la zona con autoridades locales, para supervisar que la ayuda se ponga a disposición de los damnificados, como esta fami

. >> he has to live in the state of texas for three all texas residents are treated the same.p3on[h( hóp >> i think this is precisely the problem. i don't think you can treat illegal immigrants the same as u.s. citizens. that is the flaw in rick perry's defense of his very liberal immigration policies. >> there's nothing liberal about securing the border, about cleaning up failure, and about taking care of all the kids in#úwwzÃ7(?74ljçh.ek3r nf)&ù6íwj& 7( every resident of our state is treated the same. we'll get that border secured.ps, predator drones, strategic fencing. we know how to do it. we've done it in texas. >> sean: guys, stay right there. we have ads from both of you that we'll play that you've been running. we'll talk about healthcare social security, some of the other issues. round two of our debate between the eqf tier of the polls, newt gingrich, and has outlined his contract with america. he'll join us. a programming note for next week, the fox news channel's 15th anniversary celebration continues as we hit the a very special audience show in atlanta. you can t

but texas is a great state. and i'll tell you, if you think that the country is like texas going well, then somebody who's done that is just terrific. if you think the country needs a turn around, that's what i do. >> all right, governor perry. you were dealt four aces. >> well, i was going to say mit you were doing good until you got to talking poker. but the fact is the state of texas has led the nation. while the colonel resident of the white house is overseeing the loss of 2.5 million jobs, texas has during my period as governor created over a million jobs. we did that during some pretty tough economic period. >> let me bring speaker gingrich into this conversation. jobs, jobs, jobs. all of us that covered you when you were speaker and worked together with president clinton at the time, you compromised. he compromised. you got things done. there was a budge surplus for as far as the high can see. if you were president, you would work with the democrats assuming they were the majority in the house or the sena

texas has a lot of oil and gas in the ground. those are wonderful things, but governor perry doesn't believe that he created those things. if he tried to say that it would be like al gore saying he invented the internet. >> let's get more on the debate from jessica stone in washington. good morning, jessica. >> good morning, betty. this was the first debate for texas governor rick perry, his debut coming into this debate he was the front-runner according to three polls and in true texas fashion he came out swinging. the race for the republican presidential nomination is looking more like a two-man contest. >> michael dukakis created jobs three times faster than you did, mitt. >> well, as a matter of fact george bush and his predecessor created jobs at a faster rate than you did, governor. >> just minutes into last night's debate in california, texas governor rick perry and former massachusetts governor mitt romney clashed over who had the better job creation record. it was perry's first presidential debate, and the gop front-runn

we did in the state of texas back in the 1980s.i think those types of thoughtful conversations with america rather than trying to scare seniors like you're doing and other people -- >> governor, the term ponzi scheme is what scared seniors. >> you said if people did it in the private sector -- >> did what? >> -- it would be called criminal. that's in your book. >> yeah. what i said was -- >> governor perry, you have to quote me correctly. you said it's criminal. what i said is congress taking money out of the social security trust fund is like criminal and that is and it's wrong. >> social security wasn't the only issue rick perry's opponents used against him. >> does governor perry reserve credit for all the jobs created in texas? >> well, sure. look -- i think governor perry would agree with me that if you're dealt four aces that doesn't make you necessarily a great poker player. >> does your governor deserve all that credit? >> not quite. when 170,000 of the jobs were government jobs. so i would put a little damper on this. i do

state of texas. as a matter of fact, i betemit and jon would both agree. the fact is i erred on the side of life. the fact of the matter is. the fact of the matter is this. the fact of the matter is. as a matter of fact. the fact is. the fact is. the fact is. as a matter of fact. a very clear statement of fact. >> well, as a matter of fact, he lost three straight debates, governor. wow, new analysis took a tab of how many times each candidate used the so-called political cliches. how many did the texas governor rack up? 33 of them, that's more than double the amount for all the other candidates, combined. 33. that's tonight's big numero. up next, rick perry has a texas-sized problem, as we all know. big-time texas republicans can't bear the thought of him as president of the united states. they like him but not president. the latest from the lone star state coming up next. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my medicare card,

burning out of control in central texas. the 16-mile-long blaze has destroyed an area the size of connecticut. sandra hughes reports. >> reporter: texas is a virtual tinder box. the state's largest fire is burning in bastrop county east of austin. it's already destroyed more than 475 homes and shows no sign of stopping. >> it's really very tragic is what it is. when you get a fire established like this, and the weather conditions as they are, it becomes very difficult and challenging situation. >> reporter: tropical storm lee brought high winds to texas over the weekend, and fanned the flames. >> the wind is just horrific out there. low humidity's making these firefighters use indirect attacks. >> reporter: firefighters are working around the clock, but relying mostly on air attacks. at least 5,000 people have been forced from their homes, some are staying in emergency shelters, waiting for word. >> i never did get to go to the house and see anything, get anything. this -- what i have on is all i was able to leave the house

now the governor of texas. what's going on?hey become governor in border states or senator in border states. the fact is that in those states you have large, important parts of the electorate who do have a clear understanding about just how difficult the immigration issue is. if you're living in texas, you understand sort of how ridiculous the notion of the wall is. if you're living in arizona, you have a lot of clarity about sort of what immigration issues are. now, it also, of course, leads to things like sb-1070 in arizona where you have these kind of, you know, aggressive responses over and against it. but it's part of how they become statewide leaders in these border states. >> and there are some business practicalities to this. i mean, it's not just all from the heart. there's a certain amount of corporate and business interest that says to these people, these office holders in those states, come on, let's be reasonable about this, this is the reality of our economic environment here. >> well, look, yeah. in this case, pe

you've got the texas miracle meeting at of the texas chainsaw massacre right now. and the massacre is this nationwide economy. now, it's not rick perry's fault that he has 8.5% unemployment. >> was it his fault -- was it his claim to fame that it was lower? >> it shouldn't have been. and it's not barack obama's fault that there's 9.1% unemployment nationwide. look, the president's going to get blamed for the economy no matter what, so he'll suffer from that regardless. but i think this is another lesson here, that these guys don't actually control anything. the trend in texas has been this way for 20 years, as mitt romney loves to point out, the job growth rate was triple under ann richards and george w. bush. it just happens the iss-- it's k of the draw. when you show up in office and when you leave. >> here's his defense. arrby the jobs numbers today by saying, "texas is not immune to the effects of the national recession. even during this national economic downturn, which the president's misguided policies have only worsened, texas remains the nation's top econo

while texas forty seven or so the whole government jobs were created in texas or texas lost one hundred seventy eight thousand private sector jobs in that period and gained one hundred twenty five thousand public sector it had a huge influx of people so now if you let so cricket harry is doing whatever you simply know that there is a any rational state you add people then you and government you don't add government first so it's only natural they had lots of people then they had to add government but if you take since the supposed that obama recovery in two thousand and nine they've actually added almost exactly three hundred thousand two hundred ninety seven thousand and only thirty one of these one thousand of those jobs are federal workers so the state workers so it's a what they've done in fact is you're picking a cherry pick tiny if you're going to lay on road texas texas leads the nation in the creation of low pay or minimum wage jobs is that the kind of thing that we will fix this also is next to mexico which is your right on your border is that your labor is coming in you know i

after willingham was killed texas set up a commission to look at cases like his.ernor perry was criticized for replacing the chairman of that commission in the middle of the investigation of the willingham case. perry's new chairman sidelined the willingham investigation. this week's texas's republican attorney general told the same commission it is not allowed to issue any official conclusion on the evidence in the cameron willingham case. it could investigate the gathering and processing of forensic evidence in other arson cases but not in the cameron willingham case. whatever you think about the death penalty, whatever your position is on the issue and whatever cases like cameron willingham say to you about our ethics and our governance, the broader fact is this issue entered the national discussion because it's an applause line. hypothetically, if the texas forensics commission was about to announce conclusive proof rick perry in texas did execute an actually innocent man, does anyone believe that would hurt him with this year's republican voters? >> stand by

in the state of texas. economy here. however, when you break that down and look at education costs and health care costs, that's where the biggest drain is from illegal immigrants and on the state economy here in texas and, obviously, critics and those who agree with governor perry will point to that and perhaps being on the dole, that's what they're talking about. >> but health care costs going to the emergency room, the state picks up the tab. what's the difference whether you're in college or not, right? >> that's the other issue. when you look at the education costs and what they were talking about last night were the number of students that are -- the children of illegal immigrants are getting instate tuition. this accounts for roughly 1% of the student population in texas universities and community colleges. 16,500 students in all. if you look at the amount of difference in the money they pay instate tuition and on average you extrapolate that out to what they would have paid if they had all enrolled

a lot of jobs created in texas.overnment jobs, same government that he despises, and it's also the number one state that allows chemicals, toxic chemicals that spew into the air and water. e.t.a. and business first, that's actually true. >> do we want to move on to the next question, rebecca? let's move to will first. what do you think about this? >> i think perry pulling out of the event this afternoon is a nonevent. the nation does need to get to know rick perry, need to see him in a one-on-one interview, see him in a debate. and i want to say, i wrote a column once where i said i'm no rick perry fan, but he could win my vote. i'm not a rick perry fan because he prescribed all sixth grade girls have to be vaccinated for hpv, he has this cloud of patronage over my vote. he could win my vote by speeches just aired. >> the buzzer goes off. i didn't know you were from texas, will. what do you think, robert? smart choice to pull out of the forum? >> very smart choice. two people have died because of the wildfires. 70,0

texas has been so hot and so parched that they have teen rescuing texas' fish. wildlife biologists last week evacuated fish from the river, wading out into the salty mess with shiners so they do take them to safety at the state hatchery because there is not enough water in the river to keep them alive anymore. and as you know, texas has been so hot and dry that this little puppy fell into a hole in the yard where the ground had cracked open. it took the animal rescue squad to dig him out. then he went back to his mama with a budge of little puppies. squeals for one that i cannot bear to play a second time. maybe in a minute. >>> while we're on the subject, on tuesday, tens of thousands of bees swarmed a university of texas gofl tournament. they had to kansas tell final round which meant kansas won. people there will stop to dig a puppy out of ground. but if cindy jacobs thinks it has led to the land rejoice bigg chasing often the cannibal spirits, i protest. along with the puppy in the drought crack. who is fine. adorable, tiny and thirsty, but fine. 8gg@ú >>> l

he talks a lot of texas. he's going to need to move beyond texas. he's going to have to beef himself up on the international side. i would have to tell you, rick perry walked in here as a front-runner tonight. and i imagine he walked out as beat himself up on the international side. i have to tell you, i think rick perry walked in here as a front-runner tonight and i imagine he walked out as the front-runner. >>> it is 10:00 eastern time. we're live with the special edition of ac 360. the debate wrapped up in tampa, florida. a lot to talk about. jobs, social security, healthcare. some surprising moments as well and pointed an contentious moments. we have an analysis of the key moments of the debate in case you missed it. we'll take a look at the facts thrown out in the heat of the debate. see if there was truth to them. see if -- we're keeping them honest. a look at memorable moments from tonight's debate. take a look. >> it's been called a ponzi scheme by many people long before me. no one has had the courage to stand up and say here is how we're g

. >>> listen to the week the firefighters have had in texas. they responded close to 200 wildfires since sunday. president obama declaring an emergency there as homes continue to burn. >>> and today, nasa is heading to the moon. you are looking at the rocket that will launch in a few hours. i'll tell you what the mission to the moon is all about. >>> it is saturday, september 10th. i'm t.j. holmes. it is a weekend where the country will stop and remember and mourn, but also the government telling you to be vigilant as well. we have increased security, increased scrutiny, one day before the tenth anniversary of 9/11. here is the latest. i mentioned the word credible. credible and specific. it is not yet confirmed. american intelligence networks intercepted communications from pakistan. we are getting a lot of information. a lot of details about the intercept. maybe more than we are used to getting to. they say they are confident in the accuracy of the information. a top u.s. official says the threat likely involves three people. two of them are

now, that may be good temporarily for texas.t -- certainly it's not adding to the pool of jobs. and, you know, as i said, what's happening nationally is catching up with texas. it's going to make it difficult for perry to continue to hit this i'm a job creator theme if jobs are drying up in texas. >> all right. mike isikoff, check in on it. we will look for more from you later today. >>> we've got live pictures here. mitt romney addressing the crowd at the conservative political action conference in orlando, florida. we will check in and see if this is something that isn't just full-fledged some speech talking points that is of interest. we'll bring it to you. >>> top executives for the now defunct solar technology company solyndra are facing tough questions about a government loan, the company's bankruptcy and whether they misled congress about the state of their business, the two company leaders made it clear they plan to plead the fifth when questioned today. congressman fred upton, chairman of the committee, had some tough w

he talks a lot of texas. he's going to need to move beyond texas. he's going to have to beef himself up on the international side. i would have to tell you, rick perry walked in here as a front-runner tonight. and i imagine he walked out as the front-runner. >> it's 10:00 eastern time, we're live with this special edition of ac 360. the tea party republican debate just wrapped up in tampa, florida. a lot to talk about. all the usual suspects, but some surprising moments as well, and a very pointed and contentious moments. we have analysis of all the candidates and key issues. we'll replay some key moments from the debate in case you missed it, and the facts thrown out in the heated it debate, to see whether there was truth to them, or there was stretching going on in tampa tonight. a look at some memorable moments from tonight's debate. take a look. >> it has been called a ponzi scheme by many people long before me. but no one's had the courage to stand up and say, here's how we're going to reform it. >> the term ponzi scheme, i think is over the to

it is not in texas. this fire is near santa clarita. fighting numerous fires as well. once again, this fire going on in california it has been a tough season since november for a lot of states out there in that portion of the country, dealing with drought conditions, dealing with bone dry conditions and strong winds. once again, we wanted to bring that you update. this fire once again going on in california. we are keeping a close eye on some stories developing. the mother of missing indiana university student lauren spierer writing an open letter to whoever is responsible for her disappearance. she describes the pain that her family suffered over the last three months. she promises the family will not rest until they find lauren. >> gregg: dominique strauss-khan back in france for the first time since a new york city hotel maid accused him of attempted rape. prosecutors dropping the charges. he's facing another attempted rape investigation this time from a french novelist. >> heather: court action resumes in the case of the american st

huge wildfire near austin, texas, is being blamed for two more deaths. the fires destroyed nearly 600 homes and scorched 45 square miles of land. >>> investigators in nevada don't know what prompted a man to open fire with an assault fire, killing four people and wounding seven others with an assault rifle before taking his own life. >>> tomorrow the president will address the nation, the topic how to put americans back to work. high unemployment remains the single biggest drag on the economy. anthony mason reports. >> reporter: even over a rainy labor day weekend in atlanta, hundreds of unemployed showed up when a charity handed out clothing and food. expecting a long line, larry cummings arrived four hours early. >> people going through recession, people losing jobs and things are really tight so this really helps. >> reporter: tough because the job market flatlined in august, the economy's net gain zero. not a single job. >> we're on the cusp of recession. businesses are very nervous. they've not hiring. they're not laying off workers yet, that would

texas gov. rick perry said that more than 100,000 a. have burned because the area is so rains start. here are a few images of what is happening in texas right now. have firefighters have been going at this for many a half-hour a. on their knees with hoses trying to contain the flames. they're standing so close to a wall of flames. this man here is not cheering, here are some of the efforts from above. this airplane was dropping fire retardant on homes corporate reporting in areas of texas. in order to stop hot spots from popping up, one guy is using a chain saw to cut through the wood floor while his friend is pouring water on top of smoldering parts of his house. we will keep you updated on the kron 4 morning news. >> we are following a big story in san francisco, the battle over same-sex marriage goes before the california supreme court. the issue at hand is, did the supporters of proposition 8 have the legal standing to file an appeal. legal experts say it is likely that supporters of proposition 82 have the right to appeal. will it

we get more on the fires now from kate galbraith, a reporter for the "texas tribune" in austin, texas. well, kate, you've been in the area that's burning. give us a sense of what it's like to smell it, to see it, to feel it on your skin. >> that's right. well, i drove down earlier this week and, you know, driving into bastrop was just like driving into a volcano. i mean, huge amounts of billowing smoke. and the governor at a press conference on monday, governor perry, said that it was... he'd seen a lot of wildfires but it was about the meanest looking he'd ever seen. and, indeed, we have been experiencing some smoke here in austin this morning from some of the fires in the area, very smokey air. >> suarez: what are these landscapes like? it's kind of hard to know from television exactly what kind of land we're talking about. 34,000 acres sounds like an awful lot of area. is it heavily woodd? is it farm sfland is it residential areas? what's on fire? >> well, one of the areas that's substantially burnd is bastrop state park, which is an unusual area in central texas. it's a lot of pin

we are building a 300-mile long line from west texas to the northeast part of texas. that's going to involve an investment of $800 million on our part. but the entire proces represents investments of almost really over $5 billion in new transmission, not requiring any state money, no federal money. it will generate -- these assets will be paying hundreds of millions of taxes into the state. but most importantly, it's going to -- the state of texas is determined it's going to lower electricity prices for people who live in texas on average between $150 and $350 less per customer per year. the environment is going to benefit and the state of texas is going to create jobs in the meantime. >> i'm not going to tell you i gave you that lay-up. [laughter] >> not a lay-up for me but for the state of texas. >> go s.m.u. >> broadband. before we open it to q and a, we want to talk about broadband which people would not necessarily define broadband as infrastructure. david cohen is the executive vice president of a corporation and serves as a senior cocil, the acquirer of nbc. hi

kids in our state pay -- they are -- >> texas residents -- >> they are texas residents. they pay texas tuition. that is a decision the legislature has made. there is no subsidy. there's no discount. >> that's the problem. they're not residents. ray, this is the problem. >> eric, they have been -- they have been living -- they have been living in the state -- >> not residents of the united states. >> they have been living in the state for years. it is a federal government failure. >> finish your point and i'll let ray respond. >> my point is this, and i think this is why rick perry has run into trouble with rank-and-file republican voters on this issue, they are not residents of the united states. they have illegally entered this country. one of the reasons they come is because of magnets like in-state tuition where they can get a $100,000 benefit over -- >> eric, what about the fact that they also agree that they are going to pursue legal residency status in exchange for this program as a way to sort of get them legally on the right track? >> ray, i know that rick perry

i love texas. i love west texas. there are a hell of a lot of people in texas that would be great leaders nationwide. rick perry doesn't even represent west texas very well when he says some of these things, willie, that are disqualifying him. he's the front-runner right now. what's fascinating, the front-runner from three weeks ago, michele bachmann, almost invisible. >> we are less than one month out of her victory with all that momentum. back to perry for a second. mike murphy tweeted something that makes the points a lot of you made. perry very good in the gop primary. went on offense, stumble bomb on defense. how does he win a general election? >> he does not win a general election. this may offend a lot of people, i'm sorry. i said the same thing about michele bachmann a few weeks ago. rick perry does not win the general election. >> i understand it's his first debate. fine. i get that. you almost have a subliminal line across the bottom of the screen to republican delegates. the line says do you want to scratc

there's a big assembly plant in arlington, texas. i have a positive working relationship with the management and the union at that plant. i would generally say that the republican position on regulation is that we do not want to eliminate it. we want to make sure any new regulations have more benefits than they have cost. we want to see if they are necessary. an example would be an attempt to regulate carbon dioxide. co-2 is benign. it is not a pollutant. it is usually expensive if you try to regulate it. most republicans and a lot of democrats would say, let's do more research on that particular compound before we decide to go in and tried to restrict it and reduce it. host: this is from "usa today." county workers were offered a better retirement alternative to social security. our plan put together was a banking model rather than an investment model to limit the risks that workers' contributions were put into fixed-rate annuities. our results have been impressive. so they opted out and created their own plan and galveston county.

texas is a great state. texas has zero income tax. texas has a right to work state, a republican legislature, a republican supreme court. texas has a lot of oil and gas in the ground, those are wonderful things. but governor perry doesn't believe that he created those things, if he tried to say that, it would be like al gore saying he invented the internet. the reality is, there are differences. there are differences between states. i came into a state that was in real trouble, a huge budget gap, losing jobs every month, we turned it around three out of four years, we had un employment rate below the national average. i'm proud of what we were able to do in a tough situation. >> no back and forth, but michael dukakis created jobs three times faster than you did. >> and george bush created jobs at a faster rate than you did, governor. >> that's not correct. >> that is correct. >> nice to see everybody came prepared for tonight's conversation. >> reporter: and that was just the start of the debate. a lot more underway as we speak. a lot

look at the state of texas from lower the tax burden, regulatory climate in the state of texas. we've taken those types of regulation off the throat of small business operators. people understand the state of texas during the last decade something special happened there. i was the number one state for relocation. for five years in a row. we plan on keeping it that way, rick. >> bret: governor romney, you have a specific plan. in recent days the top rising search of your name on google dealt with people searching for specifics of that plan. a wall street journal editorial called your 59 point economic plan surprisingly timid and tackle considering our economic predictment. the editorial board had a problem with you picking the $200,000 income fresh hold for eliminating interest capital gains taxes you were afraid of president obama's class warfare rhetoric. how do you spoken? >> let's talk -- microphone on? there we go. let's go back and talk about the question that dave asked. which is how to get small business a break? president obama has didn't everything wrong. i happen to be

texas has zero income tax. texas has ha right to work state.but governor perry doesn't believe he created those things. if he try to say that, it would be like al gore saying he invented the internet. >> michael ducaucus created jobs three times faster tl eer than . >> reporter: jumping into the mix was a newly aggressive john huntsman. >> i hate to rain on the parade of the lonestar governor, but as governor utah, we were the murm one creator. >> reporter: the debate soon switched to the romney health care plan in massachusetts. what some republicans now call obomney care. >> the massachusetts example was a great opportunity for the rest of the country. no? >> no. >> it was a great opportunity for us as a people to see what will not work. that is an individual mandate in this country. >> reporter: ron paul later noted perry was once a democrat who showed some of his own support for government health care. >> the governor of texas criticized the governor of massachusetts for romney care, but he wrote a really fancy letter supporting hillary car