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

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

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

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

a lot of jobs created in texas. government 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

. >>> siguen propagándolas >>> missisipi y parte de texas, el 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 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 damnif

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

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

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

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,

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

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

in the state of texas. what it found was that overall, illegal immigrants provide almost $500 million into the state 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 if it's 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? >> right. and that's the other issue. when you look at the education costs and specifically what they were talking about last night were the number of students that are -- the children of illegal immigrants are getting in-state tuition. this accounts for roughly 1% of the student population in texas universities and community colleges. about 16,500 students in all. if you look at the difference in the a

wildfires continue to burn across texas here. whenever you look at fire weather you look at two variables. that's the humidity and the winds. we had both this weekend. that's what really allowed those wildfires to spread and grow. good news is we've lost the gusty winds. we are stiti in a very dry air mass all across texas. take a look at dew points. dew points is an absolute measurement of moisture in the air. 40s, 30s, 20s, that's a very, very dry air mass. we see that continues here. dallas, dew point in the upper 30s. 40s in houston. nearly unheard of for t ts time of year. a lot of temperatures to fall off. again as we keep it dry, really not helping those fires. d good news is again those winds have dried down. we see gusts at 10 in dallas. 7 in houston. still no rain in the forecast for quite some time. >> not the news texas wanted to hear. >>> now for the rest of today's forecast, most of the gulf coast finally clears up though florida will get a little bit of rain today. heavy rain from what's left now of lee will drench

in the state of texas. what it found was that overall illegal immigrants provide almost $500 million into the state 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 a

state of texas. as a matter of fact, i bet mitt 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. [ male announcer ] heard this one? listen to this. three out of four americans don't

after willingham was killed texas set up a commission to look at cases like his. governor 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

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

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 -- it's the luck of the draw. when you show up in office and when you leave. >> here's his defense. a perry spokesperson weighed in by 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 r

i don't care what county in texas. it's so dry, one spark could get you not being able to get back in the neighborhood. get things in the boxes and take them when you leave in case you cannot get back. it's that serious. >> get the to go bag ready to go. >> any significant relief in the horizon? >> not at all. people were tweeting me and asking, what about seeding the clouds, the experimental seeding? there's nothing to seed. there is no humidity in the sky. the seeding would never be able to make rain drops. there is not enough humidity anywhere. the ground has not given up evap wags, and there are no crops, and texas has lost $5.5 billion in livestock and crop damage from this drought. this is as bad if not worst than the dust bowl. >> chad meyers we will check back with you over the next couple hours. thank you. >>> now to nevada where police hope to find out why a man with an assault rifle open fire in a i-hop. the man killed three people and then turned the gun on himself. and if you can, bring us up-to-date. >> r

luz, mi luz, la fuerza dentro... heunivisionalma@ >>> siguen propagándolas >>> missisipi y parte de texas, el 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 trá

we get it right in texas. a lot of liberals and people opposed to the death penalty are going to take issue with that, but this is a race for the republican nomination. and they're talking about the primaries. >> going to have a lot more on rick perry and debate coming up. thanks for that. >>> more confusion about the republican primary calendar today. south carolina now is threatening to jump ahead of any state that tries to preempt its place as the first southern contest. the warning comes a day after the arizona governor jan brewer announced he's moving her state's primary up to february 28th. the move is in violation of party rules designed to ensure that iowa, new hampshire, nevada, north carolina keep their early spots on the primary calendars. stay tuned. >>> this just coming in. president obama's disapproval ratie ining reaching a new high. check out our poll. more than half surveyed, 55% don't approve of the way the president is doing his job. 43% approve. the public is even more down on the president

. >> he has to live in the state of texas for three years, and all texas residents are treated the same. we make the same offers to some residents of&vx33p3on[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 ver immigration policies. >> there's nothing liberal about securing the border, about cleaning up after the federal 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. troops, 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 romney and perry camps.]"iá$u<,#jj.ug@,8÷p$;mz(kpk eqf tier of the polls, newt gingrich, and has outlined his contract with america. he'll join us. a programming note for next week, th

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. [ male anno

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

you know, texas -- louisiana is like texas. our state employees actually aren't in social security. louisiana is one of those states that many, many years ago, even before i was governor, certainly, opted to run our own retirement program for our state workers. but, look, i think he's making a bigger point about social security. everybody in washington knows -- and the democrats and the republicans, they all know that social security, the way it's currently structured, is not sustainable. financially, it is paying more than it's taking in for the first time since the early 1980s. the trust fund is going to be broke before i retire. by the time i retire, like the rest of the federal government, it is going broke. they all know that. they have not been honest with the american people. >> and the reality is, they also -- other democrats -- politically, every couple years try to scare the american voters. they try to attack paul ryan and rick perry, brave enough to say, let's secure social security, let's make sure it continues to be there for not only the workers that are in retirement

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

. >> he has to live in the state of texas for three all texas residents are treated the same. we make the same offers to some residents of&vx33p3on[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 hi

now the governor of texas. what's going on? >> sure, i mean, part of it is that's how they 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

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.

. >> >> >> wildfires in texas heart still raging on >> tropical storm lee dill texas no-brainer but high winds. >> idles think that's a storm that looks like fire to may >> they evacuated along with five foul sent and others where warned that things will get worse before they will get better. helicopters are fighting where it is too dangerous for firefighters to go >> a mother and her 18 month-old daughter could not they died from the fire . >> keep those folks in your purse and get our state and pray for rain >> the worst fire season in texas has left residents in some maid for goods little to sift through when the fires finally and. >> while texas is praying with brain louisiana was drenched with rang up to 9 in. of rain fell over the weekend. if it seems we have had extreme whether you are right >>, i got up tornado is crossing the front freeway >> these are pictures not from her cane alley they are from upstate n.y. outside of albany no one was hurt but a few homes were damaged >> went water and debris and trees are down all over the place they look like toothpicks >> it has not been

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 d

i don't see how it is that a state like, texas, to go to the university of texas if you are an illegal alien you get an instate tuition discount. $22,000 a year. four years of college. almost $100,000 discount if you are an illegal alien to go to the university of texas. if you are a united states citizen from any one of the other 49 states you have to pay $100,000 more. is that doesn't make sense to me and that kind of magnet -- [ applause ] >> that kind of magnet draws people in to this country to get that education to get the $100,000 break. it makes no sense. we have to have just as speaker gingrich said and has michele bachmann says as well, congress woman bachmann, a fence. e run verify to verify who is here legally and ellegally. a and we to turn off the magnet of extraordinary government benefits like discount for going to the university of texas? that shouldn't be allowed. it makes no sense at all. >> governor perry i'm going ask you u a question to you don't need to respond to him because you will get a full minute to answer the question directly on this point. you are the ca

we've got a big problem tonight in the state of texas. it has destroyed lives and property and has people on the run and it's large enough to be seen from space. problem is wildfires. 33 separate fires burning tonight, all fed by record drought. this fire outbreak has burned 118,000 acres, but look at this stat. so far this fire season, it has rampaged through a record 3.5 million acres of lone star state countryside. most immediately, loss of 1,000 homes and the fire-related deaths of four people. that's where we begin with jay gray. he's just outside austin, texas. jay, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, to you, brian. consider the resources they called in to fight this massive fire in texas. about 400 firefighters, 47 engines, 27 dozers and a handful of helicopters still to this point, that show of force has had little, if any, effect. the fire is still burns out of control. the flames are growing. almost as fast as the concern across texas. >> this one has been the scariest to us. >> reporter: there's to time for fear along the

the texas wildfires. one risking their life is a ireporter. >>> and then mubarak heading back to court. >>> who are the most vulnerable not getting a job. >>> and then the worst fire season on record there. the flames keep spreading. one of our ireporters is a firefighter and sent us this video, and he is with us now from college station, texas, to talk about the danger that he and others of firefighters are facing on the frontlines. andy, tell us what it is like. >> well, with the extreme drought we are in right now and the high winds from tropical storm lee coming in, it just made conditions extreme. the fire was moving faster than we could keep up with it, and we had to go and help all the surrounding counties with the large counties. >> it's moving fast and it's showing no mercy. if you look at the debris, it looks like some of the brick has just disintegrated. >> yeah, the bricks will blow because of the moisture contained in them. they have a tendency to explode out. these fires are very hot, and re

this is south of austin, texas. crews are scrambling to knock down flames as soon as they pop up. 1,000 homes are at risk, in the line of fire. the situation has been getting worse. fire officials can't tell us how many evacuations they have or any damage assessments as of yet. we'll have more ahead on the fires including a live report from the scene and also a man who may lose his home to this fire. first we want to bring you up to date on the enormous amounts of rain tropical storm lee is dumping on louisiana and also mississippi. this was tropical storm lee tearing through the gulf this weekend. this is an oil rig and the workers there, you see them leaning into the wind holding on for dear life just to find out how fast the wind is blowing. they found out fast. on land, lee has been a flood maker. parts of louisiana have gotten a foot of rain or more. the mayor of new orleans warns the city will be dealing with the storm for at least one more day. want to bring in jacqui jeras in the cnn weather center. a lot go

but texas forty seven percent of the whole government jobs were created in texas or texas lost one hundred seventy eight thousand private sector jobs that period it gained one hundred twenty five thousand public sector it had a rich huge influx of people so now if you let so great kerry is doing whatever he's simply you know that there is a any rational state you add people then you add government you don't add government first so it's only natural they are in the bunch of people when they had to add government but if you take since the suppose it obama recovery of two thousand and nine they've actually added almost exactly three hundred thousand two hundred ninety seven thousand and only thirty one of the three 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 any you're going to lay on road signs this texas leads the nation in the creation of low pay or minimum wage jobs is that the kind of thing that we texas also has next to mexico which is right on the border is that your local state and you know i m

texas says that oh yes you have to have this this this future dangerousness is this typical of texas justice. well i don't know how typical it is of all of texas justice it's certainly again you've just put your finger on really an outrageous flaw in the death penalty process that governor perry was so proud of in at the big i mean the idea. that somebody can determine how dangerous you will be in the future with such a certainty that it can be used as a reason to kill somebody rather than simply imprison somebody is on the face of it simply outrageous and. but there are other examples i mean the lack of adequate legal defense you have cases in texas where people have been put to death after the defense lawyer given to a defendant fell asleep during the trial so incompetent and yet the person went on to be convicted of the death penalty you know other cases where people have been actually denied and are suing to get d.n.a. evidence that might exonerate them because their counsel didn't insist on looking at d.n.a. evidence until it was too late and all of this means and i don't mean t

now, that may be good temporarily for texas. but nationally, it's not -- 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 com

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 >>>

. >> con la complicidad de los vientos arrasan con vidas y viviendas incendios forestales en texas. >> conquista el miedo habitantes de ciudad mier, habÍan huido por la narco guerra. >> y las conclusiones del experimento en que estados unidos utilizÓ a guatemaltecos. >> (♪). >> "noticiero telemundo" con josÉ dÍaz-balart. >> (♪). >> muy buenas noches les saluda vanessa h, josÉ dÍaz la bar tiene el dÍa libre. >> es un dÍa de descanso pero para 14 millones de desempleados es un dÍa de angustia y de incertidumbre, is solda p. >> (en inglÉs). >> alto parlante en mano gritan que el nivel de desempleo estÁ en estado de emergencia. >> (gritos). >> aunque tiene la fortuna de tener trabajo, se uniÓ al coro de voces que pedÍan justicia laboral para los que no encuentran con quÉ ganarse el pan. >> no es justo que tenemos millones de personas en la calle mientras estamos dando trillones de dÓlares a los banqueros y qÉe hacen con eso? estÁn ahorrando este dinero en vez de utsar para crear mÁs trabajo. >> en la fecha en que este paÍs celebra el dÍa de trabajo 14 millones de e

texas and texas is bankrupt. the first federal bailout in american history is texas. i wish somebody would teach governor rick perry of texas now has he talked about secession and running for president. i wonder what country he would run for president as. taylor would deal with these one at a time. in the senate however, henry clay, grand old man of american politics has a different idea. he hates taylor. he hates taylor because he thought he should be the with the nominee in 1848. he doesn't understand how this upstart politicians who never did anything should be president rather than henry clay who earned it and his plan is to run congress and force what he calls an omnibus bill putting these issues together in 1 bill and drive it like a bus through congress and make taylor sign it. what he wants to do is to run the country and taylor will be the figure head. fillmore of the vice president aligns himself with clay and tells zachary taylor the omnibus bill is up for a vote that is a tie vote. even though taylor

texas has been so hot and so parched that they have taken 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 40 minutes to dig the little guy 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 golf 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,

, east texas, central texas, south texas is suffering terribly. you drive out in the country and you see brown land that's been burned up by the sun or black land that's been burned up by fire. >> ifill: how do you measure in agricultural terms. there's a beef industry, there's a cotton industry, there's even winter wheat planting. >> $5.2 billion and counting, that's how we measure it so far. if you go out at the cattle auctions, they're having five and ten times the number of cows for sale because the state is emptying itself of its cattle. a cattle auction which would have between 500 and 1,000 will see seven or 8,000 cows. the auction will start at 10:00 in the morning and go to 1:00 in the morning. luckily cattle prices are high or we'd really be in trouble. the international demand for meat is pushing the price of cattle higher so at least these ranchers aren't selling in a down market. >> ifill: but they're auctioning the cattle because they can't support it? >> that's right. i mean, a bale of hay is going for $65 to $85 for a bale of hay.

it is a lot different in texas. ironically here, rick perry saved himself a lot of trouble and a lot of money by entering this process late. he got in. he vaulted immediately to the top. he didn't to have spend a dime. that's what benefiting mitt romney. i talked to a top strategy heist said, the longer that romney romney doesn't get hit on his glass jar, the longer he can spend his political war chest. so he is staying back. has all this money that he will drop on a huge barrage of advertisements as soon as it gets critical. that will be a huge challenge. >> weirdest moments of the debate. last round of questions. who on this stage would you choose as your vice president? romney, of course, was smart enough to avoid it. as was perry. he gave a strange answer. but newt gingrich won, chris. the vice presidential sweepstakes. at least two of them chose newt gingrich. huntsman, it, threw his political career away choosing herman cain right out there on the stage. >> on the basis of yellow ties. >> there's a presidentia

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