wendy davis alone, sort of. there were thousands of supporters stream iing into the capitol all day long. there were wrong lines to get in to see her. starting at 11:00 a.m., things went smoothly about halfway through her planned filibuster, she was challenged by one of her republican colleagues, he accused her of going off topic. the lieutenant governor 3re siding over the chamber at that time agreed with the republican senator and wendy davis had strike one against her. an hour later they did it again. when a fellow democrat asked for some of her testimony to be repeated. a fellow senator helped her put on a back brace. republicans objected to that. that was strike two, she can only have three of these things go against her before it kills her filibuster. she already had two strikes of the three she's allotted with five more hours still to go. it's basically zero margin for error under a micro scope of a room full of adversaradversarie. even the president of the united states was watching according to twitter.

wendy davis, folk hero. the pro-choice caucus in the united states house of representatives today put out a statement thanking senator davis who is, after all, a state senator, thanking her for her all day, all night filibuster. and on this show last night, cecile richards, national president of planned parenthood and completely and totally of texas politics, cecile richards here last night marveled about what happened with wendy davis this week in texas. >> there were folks obviously there on the senate floor, but thousands of people outside in the rotunda filling the capitol. and it was amazing. it was absolutely amazing. i have never seen anything like it in all my history of organizing or as a texan. >> now the big question in democratic politics is, what's next here? last night our own beloved chris hayes put the question of wendy davis' political future to wendy davis, herself. unlike most politicians, she actually answered the question. >> your state has not elected a statewide democrat for quite some

do you remember wendy davis? wendy davis is a democratic state senator from ft. worth, texas. she is expected next month to announce she is running for governor of texas. and, of course, it is an uphill battle for any democrat to wage a statewide political fight in texas, even now as texas is trending more purple and democrats are making strong efforts there. it's going to be tough for her to win that race. the reason that wendy davis is thought to have a better chance than any other democrat in texas is in part because of her national profile. and wendy davis' national profile was built, largely, on this. these are her awesome pinkish mizuno sneakers, which apparently started selling very, very well in online retail sales after wendy davis wore them for 13 hours, while she held court and filibustered in the texas state legislature. the rules in texas for this kind of thing are really strict. not only can you not sit down and not stop talking, you can't lean on anything. you can't touch your desk which you're standing right next to. nobody else can touch you. you cannot have a

texas state representative wendy davis spoke for 11 hours before being ruled out of

wendy davis was allowed to proceed. this is what it has looked like today in the senate gallery. i think we've got the gallery shot, don't we? every spectator seat has been filled in the gallery. there's been people there wearing orange shirts in solidarity with filibuster. there's been a long line of people waiting to get in all day to watch the state senator talk without stopping, stand without stopping for 13 hours. just like they did on thursday night, and, again, on sunday night, hundreds and hundreds of texans, again, showed up today at the state capitol to protest this republican effort to ram through the country's most sweeping abortion restrictions and to support the democrats who are trying to stop it. also there today, in the senate fwalry, cecile richards of planned parenthood and daughter of former texas governor ann richards. what's going on in texas right now, this is a big deal. there are about 3 1/2 hours maybe, 3 hours left in wendy davis' filibuster and apparently is still going strong. now theoretically governor rick perry could call another special session fo

it's certainly odds against wendy davis. but you know, i've been around long enough, i'm not predicting she'll win. if you have to bet the trailer money, you bet she loses. but overnight's a long time in politics. a week is forever. and we're talking about an election that doesn't happen a year from now. so let her rip. >> it will be interesting to see if she runs a campaign, no matter how close she gets, her chance of win, if she's able to maximize every last democratic voter in the state of texas, what that -- what kind of effect that will have down ticket. that might change politics. >> it could. >> itself, yeah. >> it should be mentioned that this will be a campaign nasty enough to gag a buzzard. they're already trying to paint her as, one, an abortion barbie doll. she also, quote, hates guns. and if they have to go onto the dark side, she's a single woman who's been single for quite a long while. you can bet the negative research people are playing on this. it will be a down and dirty campaign. >> let me ask you if you

as wendy davis speaks, still, as we speak, she's doing it right now. out there owning it. the ones getting involved and staying engaged. they're not afraid to question the path they're on. because the one question they never want to ask is "how did i end up here?" i started schwab for those people. people who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm working every day. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm saving all my pay. ♪ small businesses get up earlier and stay later. and to help all that hard work pay off, membership brings out millions of us on small business saturday and every day to make shopping small huge. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. (girl) w(guy) dive shop.y? (girl) diving lessons. (guy) we should totally do that. (girl ) yeah, right. (guy) i wannna catch a falcon! (girl) we should do that. (guy) i caught a falcon. (guy) you could eat a bug. let's do that. (guy) you know you're eating a bug. (girl) because of the legs. (guy vo) we got a s

. ♪ wendy, wendy, wendy that would be wendy as in wendy davis. the texas democratic state senator who last week filibustered an antiabortion bill in texas until the clock ran out on the special session. and even though texas' majority republicans are back again this week as of today trying to pass that same bill, the scene outside the texas state capitol in austin today, at least for opponents of that bill, it was kind of a party today. it was kind of a party. a righteous texas party in the heat. thousands of people on the steps of the state capitol spilling out onto the capitol grounds. inside the capitol, inside the legislature, so everybody could see what they were doing with that bill, the legislature opened a live feed of the house debate. it worked fine. the live feed of the senate did not work fine. you could not really hear what the texas senate was saying. the crazy thing about it was how many people complained about that on youtube because people were online trying to watch the texas state senate. a lot of people were online trying to w

joining us now for the interview is texas state senator wendy davis. senator davis, thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you, rachel. thanks for having me. >> so your filibuster made all the difference to beat the clock in the first special session. what are you planning, you and your fellow democrats planning now for the second special session? >> well obviously we're not going to talk about our strategy ahead of the game, but what we do know, obviously, and you talked about it in the lead-in to the segment, thousands of people showed up to the capitol today to testify and to observe the testimony. i expect that we'll see that same sort of turnout when the bill is heard in senate committee hearing which is going to take place on monday morning. it's my understanding. and we expect or hope that their voices will add in a way that makes a difference in the way some of these lawmakers are considering this bill. if not, and if democratic leaders are not able to stop the passage of the bill, i would be shocked if it weren't immediately followed wi

and wendy davis will join us tonight. live for the interview. that's straight ahead. >>> texas state senator wendy davis is going to join us tonight just ahead for the interview. apparently she's got some news to share. stay with us. >>> we have some strange and dramatic breaking news to bring you right now. it is international intrigue. it's an ongoing story that now involves a head of state and his plane being indefinitely grounded in a foreign country he did not expect to be in. this is about the possible whereabouts of the alleged nsa leaker, edward snowden. for the last nine days as you know mr. snowden's exact location has been a mystery. he was reportedly left hong kong on a flight for russia nine days ago. he was believed to be holed up inside the transit area of one of moscow's airports. he hadn't gone through passport control or anything. he was still just inside the airport. maybe. nobody's been able to independently confirm this story because nobody has seen him in the thresh. while he has been missing, or in limbo or at least in the

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laws in texas, even wendy davis, even state senator and gubernatorial candidate wendy davis had to doubly, even triply prove and swear an affidavit stating today that she is who she is when she tried to cast her vote. >> like many women who are voting in texas today, i was required to sign an affidavit, because the name on my voter registration card is slightly different than the name on my driver's license. my driver's license includes my maiden name. my voter registration card does not. >> early voting has started in texas for next week's elections there. and for this election, texas voters are being forced to show documentation in order to be allowed to vote that they have never had to show before. even wendy davis got held up at the polls today and had to swear an affidavit as to her identity since her actual texas i.d. showing her actual name and her actual picture are no longer enough to just let her vote. this is expected to be a light turnout election in texas this year, but if this is how it's going to go for texas women in particular, next november when wendy davis is on the bal

congratulations, wendy davis. what is happening here, big picture, is that the democratic party and the democratic president made a huge political effort, a huge and costly and time-consuming political effort in the president's first term to pass health reform. and it was difficult. and it ended up costing them a lot of seats in congress in the midterms. and a lot of the delay in terms of how long it took them to past, that was democrats fighting amongst themselves about how to move forward and whether to move forward. the president's chief of staff wanted to abandon the effort because it was just too hard. and back in 2009, when we were in the middle of that fight, when everybody could see how hard it was on the democrats, and the democrats were fighting for it but nobody knew if they were actually going to get it and how it was actually going to work out, back in the middle of that, back in 2009, republicans were really excited. because, yeah, maybe they were going to lose on this issue, but they could see what

you mentioned the wendy davis situation in texas. wendy davis has put texas in play because there are men and women in that state who cannot vote for this kind of extreme politics. i wish there was a short and simple answer. we work with moderate republicans at planned parenthood every single day and hope that many of them will decide to run for office and take their party back. >> thanks for being with us. >> thanks. >>> breathtaking week of republican outreach to minority voters in north carolina was pretty breathtaking last night. it got like 100 times worse today. amazing, amazing news out of north carolina. next. ready to run your lines? okay, who helps you focus on your recovery? yo, yo, yo. aflac. wow. [ under his breath ] that was horrible. pays you cash when you're sick or hurt? [ japanese accent ] aflac. love it. [ under his breath ] hate it. helps you focus on getting back to normal? [ as a southern belle ] aflac. [ as a cowboy ] aflac. [ sassily ] aflac. uh huh. [ under his breath ] i am so fired. you're on in 5, duck. [

we, the wendy davis of wendy davis fame on "meet the press" on sunday morning. also i will be. i will be on "meet the press" as well this weekend hopefully with hair looking better than that. i'll be there along with nbc's pete williams and michael eric dyson and ralph reed from the christian coalition and my estranged but beloved uncle, jim demint, former republican senator and now the head of the heritage noun dagfoundation. i wonder what we'll talk about. sunday morning "meet the press." tonight on msnbc at 10:00 p.m. eastern, check out our live special we're doing on the george zimmerman trial. if you missed the trial coverage today or the rest of this week on msnbc, tonight this special is your chance to catch up on it. it has been an absolutely riveting trial. we'll be right back. with the spark miles card from capital one, bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day. produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for

even wendy davis got held up at the polls today and had to swear an affidavit as to her identity since her actual texas i.d. showing her actual name and her actual picture are no longer enough to just let her vote. this is expected to be a light turnout election in texas this year, but if this is how it's going to go for texas women in particular, next november when wendy davis is on the ballot trying to get elected governor in the state, and it's going to be a way bigger turnout than it was right now, this is going to be a huge freaking hullabaloo down there unless they get this voter i.d. thing sorted out. this past summer in june, state senator davis first claimed the national spotlight, when she stood for 13 hours to filibuster texas republicans' plans for a draconian, new antiabortion law. that law was designed to shut down abortion clinics across the state of texas. in a state that has already seen dozens of women's health providers close down, this new law was set to close down at least a third of all the clinics in the state in one fell swoop when it went into effect tomorrow,

you mentioned the wendy davis situation in texas. wendy davis has put texas in play because there are men and women in that state who cannot vote for this kind of extreme politics. i wish there was a short and simple answer. we work with moderate republicans at planned parenthood every single day and hope that many of them will decide to run for office and take their party back. >> cecille richards, very much for being with us. >> good to see you, rachel. thanks. >>> breathtaking week of republican outreach to minority voters in north carolina was pretty breathtaking last night. it got like 100 times worse today. amazing, amazing news out of north carolina. next. to be the world's best sport sedan... ♪ ...people noticed. ♪ the cadillac ats -- 2013 north american car of the year. lease this cadillac ats for around $299 per month with premium care maintenance included. [ male announcer ] staying warm and dry has never been our priority. our priority is, was and always will be serving you, the american people. so we improved priorit

they're not going to go back like speaker wright did or like wendy davis did. they're going to say that -- they're going to think that the state of texas doesn't want them to vote and they're going to sit out, and the residents knew exactly what they were doing when they sought to disenfranchise these very voters that you're talking about right now. >> congressman mark veasey, democrat of texas. thanks for helping us understand this tonight, sir. nice to have you here. >> thank you, rachel. >> thank you. all right, so, senator rand paul has a message for anybody who has accurately reported his habit of lifting other people's work in his speeches. >> if dueling were legal in kentucky, if they keep it up, you know, it would be a duel challenge. >> i'm going to have to check the msnbc handbook, but i am almost sure i would have to turn down that offer anyway. i think it's must always wear blazer, must never have duel with sitting senator, plagiarism or not. i'm going to have to check. it's something about that and also you can't reheat fish in the microwave. i don

filibustering senator, wendy davis on this show, saying the texas senate democrats will not tip their hand publicly about their strategy. if you just go on the numbers in the state assembly and the state senate. it looks like texas republicans should be able to pass their abortion ban and send it to rick perry to sign it, just in time for his expected announcement that he is running for president. >>> the ultimate fate of the surprise abortion bill that was unveiled there last night with no warning. the fate of that bill is less certain. in north carolina, republicans have a majority of both houses in the legislature, they easily advance these new regulations today in the face of all these protesters. in north carolina, there's the little matter of governor. the governor is a republican, and he is an anti-abortion republican. last year when he was running to become governor of north carolina, pat mccrory pledged that he would not sign new restrictions on abortion in his state. >> if you're elected governor, what further restrictions on abortion would you agree to sign. let's start wit

and now state senator wendy davis of texas says she personally will filibuster the antiabortion bill and just stand on the floor and personally keep talking until the midnight deadline to stop it from being voted on in the senate. that, of course, would stop everything in the special session from passing. stop a huge transportation spending bill, stop a big juvenile justice bill. but also this ban that would shut down 37 clinics in the state, it would ban abortion everywhere in texas at 20 weeks, it would effectively ban all legal abortion in all of west texas. wendy davis and the democrats say they will hold the floor all night, again, and as long as it takes to stop it. republicans, meanwhile, say they will do anything it takes to get it passed. and the protesters, the citizens' filibuster, has raised a real question as to who is actually going to win this fight. texas, who knew. we'll keep you posted. >>> this is what a heavily redacted document looks like. somebody sat at a desk all day and cloaked the heck out of about 80% of these documents with a sharpie marker. there's enough

and that is the lady i met 16 years ago in my life wendy schultz. she is a great wife, a great mother, great grandmother and i'm a granddad, holy smokes we've got nine grandkids and two more on the way. i've got to get a third job because when they come to the lake, they eat everything, if you know what i mean. wendy is fantastic, when i met her 16 years ago, she was the director of the fargo homeless clinic, she gave up her career to help me on a talk show that everybody said wasn't going to make it. so we start on another journey that we both want and we are going to build these weekend hours. and just remember one thing, liberals, 5:00 on sunday afternoon, the biggest brand in liberal talk gets the first whack at the sunday shows on what is happening in america and you're going to tune in and i'm looking forward to it. and i also want all of you folks loyal to this program and my brand to stay right here, don't go anywhere. stay here at 8:00 monday through friday because chris hayes is going to do a fantastic job. he's a great, brilliant young ta

and all of a sudden out of nowhere, wendy davis, she became a household name. that was almost two weeks ago. it was a big win for them. but governor perry then almost immediately called for a second special session with the abortion bill first up on the docket. the state senate held its second committee hearing today and again just like last week and the week before, thousands of people from all over the state showed up today to testify. they wanted to speak in person to their legislature about the bill. there were so many of them that the committee cut off the line at 11:00 a.m. everyone in line before that got to speak. everyone after that had to submit their testimony in writing. each person was allowed to speak for a couple of minutes. tonight, they are still speaking. they'll be testifying until about midnight local time. and republicans control the texas legislature and so it is highly unlikely they mess this up again. they will not let democrats filibuster and win this time. they are not taking any more chances. they will pass this bill closing down 37 o