GOP leaders push for extreme laws in Virginia

>>> welcome back to the show. it was a busy day for willard. we told you how he made a big speech at cpac. he started his day across the river stumping in virginia and he was sharing the stage with his good friend and supporter, governor mcdonald.

>> thank you to the governor for bringing me up to date as what's going on in virginia . if i knew how tough it was to compete against virginia , i would probably have given up long ago.

>> but these guys have a history. just last month, mcdonald endorsed him, and romney said mcdonnell would be on any candidate's short list for vice president. willard may want to pay a little attention to what's going on in bob mcdonnell 's virginia because it's gone wild. this year, for only the second time since the civil war , republicans have control of everything. the statehouse, state ? senate and governor. all kinds of extreme bills are hitting or close to hitting mcdonnell 's desk. one that allows adoption agencies to discriminate against gay couples. one requiring doctors to perform ultra sounds on women seeking abortions. another to repeal a law saying you can't buy more than one gun per month. and a voter i.d. bill has passed and is waiting for mcdonnell 's signature. romney may want to think twice before hitching his wagon to such an extreme agenda. joining me now is a lawmaker right in the thick of this extreme agenda, janet howell , democratic state senator from fairfax, virginia . state senator howell, thank you for joining me tonight.

>> thank you so much for having me.

>> now one of the reasons i'm very interested in virginia is when we hear a lot about wisconsin and ohio and indiana, but virginia has an even more extreme thing that's going on there with the total right wing control, and it's a key swing state for president obama and the elections this year. why do you think republicans are pushing such extreme laws in your state given the importance nationally of this state ?

>> you know, virginia has always been a moderate pro-business state . and for the last several years, the democrats in the senate have been able to stop the right wing agenda. but unfortunately less than a month ago, they did a power grab and took over the state ?senate, even though the voters had put 20 democrats and 20 republicans. but they used a questionable tactic and took control of all the committees and the whole agenda. so now everything that had been stopped in the past several years is going forward and it is a steamroller, reverend.

>> now the thing that also enhances the possibility of this steamroll and how it also plays out in national politics is they just passed this voter i.d. law that's sitting on mcdonnell 's desk. and according to information that i have it will have a huge impact in virginia . estimates that more than 600,000 virginia voters may not have photo i.d. that is more than twice the amount of people that president obama won the state by last time. he only won in 2008 by 235,000 votes. 600,000 people may not be able to vote if mcdonnell signs that bill. you know we're having a national march on this next month. this can even tip the scales even more toward your concerns.

>> we're very worried. there's so much voter suppression legislation that's -- it's passing. all of it is passing both the house and the senate. what's really ironic with what's happening is it's going to be harder to vote in virginia than it is now to buy a gun with what they are doing on gun control issues.

>> why is that? ?

>> 20 years ago we had the first african-american governor, doug wilder . and he discovered that virginia was the gun-running state . people were buying guns in virginia and taking them to new york city and boston. so what governor wilder did, he said you can only buy one gun, one handgun a month. that seems sufficient to me. and so for almost 20 years, that's been the rule. but last week, it's getting overturned, and governor mcdonnell is going to sign it. so you can come to virginia and buy as many guns as you want.

>> wow. and we also see that 55% of virginians agree gay couples should be able to legally adopt. they have a bill to stop that. and mcdonnell will probably sign that.

>> that passed yesterday. it will be legal to discriminate in virginia even though you are getting state money.

>> state senator howell, thanks for your time tonight. and we'll be out there fighting with you. have a great weekend.