united states. let's not forget the history as we talk about the news and the scuttlebutt, if you will. and the rumors. anyway, that woman is hillary clinton. her husband former president bill clinton gave the night's big speech, delivering a strong defense of her history of public service. he threw that in on top of their romance which i think he talked about with great embroidering. anyway, hillary came off tonight as the former president put it as the real game changer. the real change maker, challenging certainly donald trump to that fight. here he is. >> if you believe in making change from the bottom up, if you believe the measure of bet hard and some people think it's boring. speeches like this are fun. actually, doing the work is hard. some people say well, we need a change. she's been around a long time. she sure has, and she's sure been worth every single year she's put into making people's lives better. >> and as i said earlier in the night, the democrats made it official, hillary clinton became the first woman ever nominated by a major political party to be our president. in a moment of great political theater, of course it was bernie sanders, senator bernie sanders who motioned to make it official. here he is. >> thank you. madame chair, i move that the convention suspend the procedural rules. i move that all votes, all votes cast by delegates be reflected in the official record, and i move that hillary clinton be selected as the nominee of the democratic party for president of the united states. >> also tonight, hollywood as usual is well represented. the democratic party and here in philadelphia, that's true. we've got some stars in the show tonight. plus my interview with senator amy klobuchar of minnesota we had a couple hours ago which is hot. and i'm going to show you what i think was the line of the night from the convention's second night. by the way, it was not delivered by a politician, which you'll find fascinating. also stay tuned for an historic look at my hometown of philadelphia. you see it right behind me, by the way. that's the real liberty bell. not some hollywood creation. that's the baby. that's the cradle of liberty right there where the declaration came from and the u.s. constitution in that building. with us now, united states senator bob casey, a democrat from the state of pennsylvania. or should i say the commonwealth. also with me for the night, msnbc's chris hayes, host of "all in." we'll talk about that title later. joy reid, host of "a.m. joy." we'll go with that one on msnbc. and howard fineman with the best title ever created for a journalist. global editorial director for the huffington post. and of course his lesser title, msnbc -- but no less important. msnbc political analyst. i've got to go with the senator here because you and i had a great talk today about the importance of this state. before we get any further about the big picture, about bill clinton tonight and all the great speeches, how important is this state we're in right now, the people voting right here? how close will it be? >> i think it would be close, but i think the winner in pennsylvania will be the president. >> the winner will be hillary? >> the winner will be hillary. and the reason i believe that is not just because of the recent history, but because i believe hillary can get the kind of vote here in the city which is about 11.5% of the vote. the four suburbs are another 22% of the vote. that third of the vote will be decisive. i also think she's going to do better in some of the western pennsylvania communities that maybe her opponent has gotten some moment nyum lately. >> that's true. you think the southeastern pennsylvania, this media market, watching locally here is going to dominate the state as it often does? >> i think it will. i think it'll be the dominant television market and region, and i think she'll be able to get the vote she needs. it'll be close because that's the way our races are here. >> let's start with chris hayes. the speech by bill clinton. you're talking about your wife. it's an unusual speech. not many politicians who've been president certainly get to talk about their wife as a presidential candidate. >> someone made this great point, it was kind of incredible gender inversion. because, you know, it's the his lovely wife speech. it's a testimonial to this good man you should elect but here's bill clinton doing it about his wife. >> so he's evolved. >> he put himself in the role as the emotional one. right? he's talking about he's terrified when chelsea clinton goes out and he's the guy who's sort of love sick. and she's the hardheaded one. the whole way through. and she's the one accomplishing stuff. he's not talking about -- he talks about being elected governor but the whole way through he's the sort of emotional beacon of the story and she's the doer. and you never, ever, ever see that. >> is it true? >> i think from his perspective, yes. i mean i think -- look, politicians who are gifted are gifted at faking authenticity. president company -- >> i like that. >> as they say in hollywood, the key is sincerity, and if you can fake that, you got it. >> exactly. >> but i thought -- >> but it read to me as 1,000% authentic. when he talks about his admiration for her you also get to see a little bit like that marriage is the most confounding, mysterious thing to so many americans and i thought watching him up there a man who loves his spouse. >> he also has that way he talks. >> he does. >> he has a certain number of accents. he has a tougher one when he's talking about world affairs. but when he's talking about softer, nicer things. "i love hillary" -- he's got that voice. >> good job, chris. >> he drops all the t's, the t's are gone, your thoughts. he got very southern tonight. >> i thought it was charming. >> you fell for this? i went for it. >> it had this sort of harper lee quality, poetic opening, i met a girl, in 1971 i met a girl. and i think he got -- if his goal was to get you to rethink hillary clinton, to take a second look, take a step back and say this caricature of this female simon legree people have paint her as, this hard, cold, cal claith evil woman people are portraying her as. and he said back in 1971 she was a girl that i chased and then she was this young activist who cared about children. he recast her as someone as a mother, as someone warm -- >> not as some hard-nosed hawk. >> and the other thing he did that was important was he didn't set himself up as a competitive president. he didn't come out there as the president of the united states, and he didn't -- that would have hardened her more. what he did was he was the first spouse, which is what he's going to have to be. i thought it was kind of genius in the way he executed it. >> i like the line he said about her in the beginning because it was a nice tag of trump without getting into the dirt with him. he said instead of making fun of kids with challenges, handicapped, she's there to help them. that was a nice elbow against trump. >> i agree with what chris said -- >> that chris. >> yeah, that chris. chris number two. >> tonight, we'll make him number one. >> where he said that, you know, yeah, i was president, but let's forget about all that. >> yeah. >> i was president for two terms but let's forget about all that. >> chris matthews impression is better. >> let's talk about my wife. that was absolutely true and what joy said about the humanization is also true. i think what's fascinating is this convention is not an attack fest so far. >> no. >> it's totally different in tone and purpose from the republican convention which was all about be afraid, be very afraid donald trump is merely a voice of the angry people. forget about who donald trump is. this convention is dedicated to doing one thing, improving the numbers on trust and likability that right now are terrible for hillary clinton and are the main things standing in the way of her getting elected president. i listened to robby mook at great length -- >> he's the campaign chairman. >> the campaign chairman. >> and his purpose, aside from attacking trump, that's the easy part. >> that is the easy part. >> that's the easy part. the hard part is getting those trust and likability numbers to a place where hillary clinton can win. you have michelle obama doing it brilliantly last night. and you had bill clinton who is a witness, the closest witness, not to make a bad pun, a somewhat impeachable witness but a witness nevertheless, the closest guy to testify to her humanity, her caring, her role as a mother, her role as a wife, her role as an idealistic young woman, and that was his aim tonight and i think he did it well. >> i want the senator to get back here, he knows the target audience, look at this, the former president drew a strong contrast with what he heard at the republican convention, as you said. howard, let's watch. >> how does this square? how did this square with the things that you heard at the republican convention? what's the difference in what i told you and what they said? how do you square it? you can't. one is real. the other is made up. [ applause ] you just have to decide -- you just have to decide which is which, my fellow americans. the real one had done more positive change-making before she was 30 than many public officials do in a lifetime in office. the real one has earned the loyalty, the respect, and the fervent support of people who have worked with her in every stage of her life. the real one repeatedly drew praise from prominent republicans when she was a senator and secretary of state. good for you. because earlier today, you nominated the real one. >> senator casey, it looked to me like they came out with a new line today, the change maker. i think -- you're an expert. they're up against a guy who represents radical change, donald trump. and hillary seems like the way things are headed. tonight he said she's not the way things are headed, she is a change maker, she will beat trump at change. who's that aimed at? >> well chris, first of all i think the speech that the president gave tonight, president clinton, is very similar to what he gave on the road in pennsylvania. a lot of small towns in the primary. which was a, a speech which as howard said gives testimony to who hillary is. frankly the hillary that i and others know and people in the senate who knew her even better than i, about who she is. but number two, it did have that added benefit of being a speech not just about validating her service and her compassion, but also her ability to make change. in a year when people want change. and as you said, some want radical change. i think it had that added benefit, but i'll tell you, the most important thing, one of the most important things that happens in a week like this by people that speak about her and also by what she says, is she does get an opportunity to reintroduce herself. one of the best things she did i thought, maybe i'm the only one that believes this, in her announcement speech, and i hope she keeps coming back, she talked about her mother and that story about her mother where she says she said to her mother how did you keep going when your parents abandoned you and you worked in a home and you were struggling to get through high school? she said, very simply, she said what kept her mother going was, was the belief that she had that someone cared about her. someone believed that she mattered. and that's a powerful statement about who she is and what inspires her. and i think the more she tells that, that part, talks about that part of herself and has others validate that, the better because in the end when people make a decision on president, i think it's very personal. it's not a listing of issues and kind of a checking off a list. >> you once said about your dad before he passed away, the great governor of the state, that in the end after you're famous and the newsreels have stopped playing about you and you're sick, like most people are at the end, all you have left is god, your family, and your health insurance. the basics. it is so real, and i imagine up in erie or up in scranton or up in wilkes-barre the family that's living on social security and medicare and sometimes medicaid for long-term care, they know exactly with what your dad was talking about. >> you're sitting there in a hospital room and there's not video reels of all your great achievements and trophies on the wall. >> it's so darkly true. >> it's kind of you and your family. if you have faith, and health care is a big part of it. >> yeah. we'll be right back, but thank you, senator casey. great senator from our state and boy, does he fit this case. thank you, senator bob casey of pennsylvania. when when we come back, hillary clinton made history tonight. of course it's over, it's done. she's the nominee, but the big change tonight reintroducing a candidate whose been on the national stage. think about how long we've all thought-b felt-b had an opinion, had an attitude about hillary clinton. it's astounding. she's been in our brain rent-free for about three decades. anyway, this is "hardball" a special edition, live from independence hall in my hometown of philly. back after this. >> if you were sitting where i'm sitting and you you heard what i have heard at every dinner conversation, every lunch conversation, on every long walk, you would say this woman has never been satisfied with the status quo in anything. she always wants to move the ball forward. that is just who she is. ♪ tonight, tonight on this night, we will shatter that glass ceiling again. >> are we ready to make some history? >> in honor of dorothy and hugh's daughter and my sweet friend, i know you're watching. this one's for you, hill. 98 votes. yes. >> welcome back to this late night edition of "hardball." that was certainly excitement on the convention floor tonight. if you were there, you felt the excitement of it. hillary clinton became after that vote tonight, the first female -- female's kind of an odd word. i like "woman." nominated for president. but having made history, the clinton campaign set about the challenging task of reintroducing one of the most familiar candidates in american politics. we all know and have an attitude about hillary clinton. here's the effort, starting. >> from the first day i met hillary clinton i've known that she is someone who cares just as much and will fight just as hard for children everywhere. poor kids, you've got a champion! kids who live in poverty, you've got a champion! >> as secretary of state, she was a champion for women and girls around the globe. and she will always stand up for the right of every woman to access a full range of reproductive health care including abortion, no matter her economic status. >> i'm back with our panel, joy reid, chris hayes, michael steele right there and howard fineman right here. you know, i guess, i think this is the time for our own testimonies as well as the ones we saw tonight from a various series of origins of people that had personal experience. i particularly liked one i'll talk about later because of my favorite line of the night. but chris hayes, you had a thought, tell me when you first got a fix on the public figure or personal figure of hillary clinton. >> so two things. one, i had a friend who went to work for her. and i had friends when i was in washington, d.c. you had friends that work for politicians and most of the time you go to a bar after work and they tell horror stories frankly. a lost times principals are abusive to their staffs. >> really? i mean that. why isn't your answer back to somebody like that, well, why are you working for them? >> well, sometimes it is and someone thinks this job's going to turn into a good one. >> that's not good values. you should like the boss you work for or find one you do. >> well, but sometimes people like and admire someone and particularly what they're doing publicly but they're tough to work for. there are people who are tough to work for. hillary clinton when my friend went to work for her, it was a cascade of stories, including one night when she slept over in the office working on a speech and came in the next day and there was a pillow that said "thank you" on it. that's not a thing that a lot of bosses do. like these grace notes. i interviewed the guy who sang the national anthem today, 23-year-old tim kelly from temple, he's got cerebral palsy, he's blind. he just crushed the national anthem. and singing at some event for her and meeting her i'd love to sing for you and her calling a letter and mayor of philadelphia then saying i want him to sing at the dnc. the two days later he gets a note, handwritten saying, with tickets and an invitation -- >> from hillary. >> just these little thoughtful moments of grace with individual people, there are a thousand of those stories. of the people that work in her orbit that can tell those kinds of stories. and it's so far removed from the vision -- it doesn't mean on its merit she should be the president of the united states. all it means is the image of who she is as a person is just so different -- >> do you think the politicians or members of congress particularly that don't have those stories? you think there's such a person who doesn't help people who's in office? >> i think there are people that are more and less gracious. >> yeah, there's some -- >> how do you get re-elected by not caring about people? >> because the way you treat your staff and the way you treat people who are not in your -- who are not a constituent directly is very different than when you're around those constituents who you know have the ultimate power of re-election. >> that's right. >> so that's -- >> but there are also people who are good with constituents, good with the press and terrible with their staff. >> that's true. >> the reason why this is important is again what i said a little earlier. in order for hillary clinton to get elected, she has to get over this trust and likability thing. it sounds almost trivial in a way, it sounds simplistic, but it's true. and that's the key thing. and right now she's known far too much by -- because of the thin side of personal relations which are e-mails. in other words, she's not known for her interpersonal relations. >> that's right. >> she's known for the dry, calculating e-mails. >> i hear you. >> your point is and i've heard the same kinds of stories, and also if you know the people who've been with them forever, yes some of them are loyal to a fault, okay, but many of them adore her -- >> would take a bullet for her. >> and again, if this convention and if much of this fall campaign is about testifying to her graciousness, her drive and her humanity, those stories need to -- actually need to be told. so far you've had michelle and bill clinton doing it. >> and by the way -- >> wait a second, let's watch joe crowley here. we have a lot of tape tonight. congressman joe crowley from queens, who lost a cousin. he talked about that. in 9/11. here he is talking about hillary as a first responder, really. >> hundreds worked on the pile in the days after 9/11. first they came to find survivors. but eventually searched for remains. they didn't worry about their own health. they were told the air was fine. but it wasn't. and when health issues emerged years later, hillary clinton was still by their side. >> i thought joe crowley was one most effective speakers tonight. he was good at reminding you that hillary clinton was actually a very popular and very effective senator in new york. and that her -- >> she was good with constituents. >> she was very good with constituents. she was also good with other senators. she was pretty popular when she came into the senate. and she was also very sort of giving sophomore senator when barack obama came in, she was one of the first people to reach out to him. i wanted to amplify the point that chris was making earlier. the campaign understands that hillary clinton has a big hillary clinton problem but she's better in micro settings. hillary clinton one on one actually works. they sent her out on those small listening tours where she was think and followed her in keene, new hampshire zmeez small towns. she actually does the thing where she sits in a group and she actually listens to the people routine table who are talk. one more quick thing. one of the reasons she was strong in michigan and one of the things that i noted is that the mayor of flint, michigan took a call from her while we were there, took a call from her staff and said hillary clinton once she went in and met the mayor of flint she kept calling her. she actually stayed in touch with her. she actually builds relationships and she does it well. she's just not good in big settings. >> i was going to say very quickly, she's the kind of person who when she neets meets a young child, child of 5 or 6, will kneel down and look the kid straight in the eye and have a level conversation. she did that with our daughter, and i'll never forget it. >> michael, what do you think of this? it seems like it does fit in with a plan. a week or so ago secretary clinton talked about people having a problem with believing her, trusting her. so they have a plan to -- as howard says to fix the problem. >> to fix that, and the big part of the plan started with her admitting that. i know i have a problem being warm and fuzzy. >> no, it's about being trusted. >> yeah, but that's all a part of that narrative. the trust and the likability, the warm and fuzzy. but here's the rub. to your point, joy. i absolutely agree. i can tell you my own personal stories with mrs. clinton which just are fun stories to tell, but that's the one on one. >> right. >> this presidential campaign is not a one-on-one campaign anymore. it is now in groups of 5,000, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000. and they have to figure out how they make that work for her. >> and bill clinton -- >> they also have -- the thing that i think has been a little lacking frankly in the first two days is there's been a lot of personal testimony of this sort of vision idea. right? so donald trump, say what you will, the vision is man it's scary out there, security, law and order, wall, lock it down, i'm your voice, angry white america. >> that's right. >> the vision for hillary clinton to me still is a little unclear about b. what that vision looks like. >> before we go any further with the soft discussion here, it's fine because i think that is what the evening was about, is softening up her image. the first time i saw hillary clinton, it was very impressive, at the regency hotel, the loews hotel on park avenue. it was an introduction, she came out, bill came out. >> she was first lady at that point. >> no. this is before they did everything. from arkansas. the introduction of hillary clinton to the big new york money crowd is a friend of mine invited me to. sort of one of those warm-up things for the money people. she spoke first. this was a woman, and there's nothing wrong with it, with ambition. this idea that hillary never thought about running for office, she was just this frail flower and -- >> nobody believes that. >> well, bill was trying to get to that tonight. >> i met him and chris, i think i met him even -- >> he pushed it tonight again, she couldn't imagine running for office. >> let's say -- >> come on. >> let's say he was -- >> she ran for student council, at wellesley. >> but that's -- >> he was laying it on a little thick. >> that's what people -- that's what people -- >> every politician was class president. every one. they all start that way. >> his job was to counteract that narrative and to show her as something other than a -- >> just a soft -- absurd -- >> what i kind of appreciate about tonight was bill clinton actually playing the role of the traditional spouse. >> exactly. >> in this whole scenario. which was very interesting to watch. and i'm sure it was very interesting for him to do. because i'm thinking that that's not really something that, to your point, about her ambitions that he ever thought that he would be second tier to. >> the other thing is everybody's got this trope of -- everne who runs for president is ambitious as all get out, right? none of them say that. donald trump says i could be doing other things. it's like, i could be doing other things. >> i just want to do public service. look, mitch mcconnell, you may not like him but he said it beautifully. he said i have a caucus of class presidents. >> but none of them have been women. we haven't had a woman try to -- >> how is it different? >> because i think people react more negatively to a woman seeking power than a man -- >> yes, they do. >> i'm just saying -- >> they react more negatively. so she has to -- and by the way, she -- >> here it goes. you lost the room. >> you lost the room. >> no. >> i'm wrapping up. >> do not victimize hillary clinton. it's not going to work. ambition is common among all politicians. >> but women -- >> joy, you're absolutely right. >> well, that may be true but it's not the point i'm making. >> her pantsuits, it's horrifying, she won't put on a skirt, she won't bake cookies -- >> we'll come back with more of this line of thinking. coming up, bernie comes around to hillary but will his supporters? bernie was good tonight. as i said, he put alfred hitchcock away tonight. he was the master of suspense and handled it brilliantly. that's next in our live coverage of day two of the democratic convention continuing from my hometown of philadelphia. >> the name game? >> yes. >> do it for billy. the name game. >> billy philly, banana, philly. me my moe-milly. philly. >> right. thank you. >> i'm alex trebek. if you're age 50 to 85, i have an important message about security. write down the number on your screen, so you can call when i finish. the lock i want to talk to you about isn't the one on your door. this is a lock for your life insurance, a rate lock, that guarantees your rate can never go up at any time, for any reason. but be careful. many policies you see do not have one, but you can get a lifetime rate lock through the colonial penn program. call this number to learn more. this plan was designed with a rate lock for people on a fixed income who want affordable life insurance that's simple to get. coverage options for just $9.95 a month, less than 35 cents a day. act now and your rate will be locked in for life. it will never increase, guaranteed. this is lifelong coverage that can never be cancelled as long as you pay your premiums, guaranteed. and your acceptance is guaranteed, with no health questions. you cannot be turned down because of your health. call for your information kit and read about this rate lock for yourself. you'll also get a free gift with great information both are free, with no obligation, so don't miss out. call for information, then decide. read about the 30 day, 100 percent money back guarantee. don't wait, call this number now. ♪ ♪ brimming over with pride. so i cast my vote for bernie sand xwrerpz. >> welcome back. a big moment for bernie sanders. an amazing moment. it's his brother larry, emotionally cast a vote for him. you saw that. he was crying. in the end senator sanders moved to suspend the rules and nominate hillary clinton by voice vote. here he goes. this is the big moment. >> thank you. madame chair, i move that the convention suspend the procedural rules, i move that all votes, all votes cast by delegates be reflected in the official record and i move that hillary clinton be selected as the nominee of the democratic party for president of the united states. [ applause ] >> well, i was moved. i was moved. that was powerful stuff. in the interest of party unity, but not everyone was as willing to accept the results. there's always somebody that doesn't agree. anyway, a group of bernie supporters walked out tonight and held a sit-in in a media tent. there it is. police waited on the other side but no one was arrested. it's been very nonviolent here. if you can say very nonviolent. it was nonviolent. joy reid, chris hayes, and michael steele. also with us the governor of connecticut, danell milloy of connecticut. governor, thank you. let's talk politics because i was talking with amy klobuchar, the senator from minnesota. and you people, you people, that's it, you politicians know what goes on in the back room. and i've been there myself as a staffer. it's fascinating to watch because it's really direct talk. how did hillary clinton, her people, podesta, robbie mook, a young guy, and jeff weaver who's not exactly a sweetheart, how did they all get together and somehow make this smooth as it's been? >> okay. so here's part of the story. the platform committee meeting down in orlando had a lot to do with showing that the two sides could work together. i'm sorry i lost some of my voice, but showing that the two sides could get to a document that they could mutually support. bernie got a lot of what he wanted. he didn't get everything that he wanted. he got more than he thought -- >> he got a lot. >> i was co-chair of the committee, and we were shirley franklin and i were up there holding the meeting. people were in the back room negotiates. shirley and i yelled at both sides and said hey, listen -- >> he was trying to break your head off. >> yeah, and you know what, at the end, we kind of liked each other. i don't know if bernie likes me, but his people did. and sometimes good faith produces good things. and that's what happened. listen, i know a lot of work went into it before the meeting in orlando. but i am telling you as a guy who was on the ground with a lot of the players, that's when some additional trust got established. >> when you wrote things like eventual $15 an hour, that adds up to, what, 15 times 40, 600 bucks a week gross. that's not a lot. but it's better than this. twice as much. when you look at things like debt-free college, public college, public university education, when you look at an expanded social security package which will only come about if we're taxing the wealthy a lot more, making it more redistributive, you were folks on that platform thinking real life or just verbal compromise? were you saying now we can get through a senate with 60 votes, we can get this past a tough constitutional system to make change? could you? >> sure. i think part of it's experience, right? so no one thought we could get to $10.10 in a single year. or actually in my state get to it in six months. we did it. we raised the minimum wage very substantially in six months. the president made a clarion call in a state of the union address. and guess what? states lined up to get it done. so people are now accepting that nobody can live in this country on $7.25. they accept it. they know it. they know it's wrong to -- that no one should work 38 or 37 or 40 hours a week and live in poverty. and so we've got to change that and people are accepting of it. and you know what, even republicans, you and i had a fight about this, about a year ago. >> he did. >> i won. but we had a fight about this. we'll get the guns -- >> yeah. >> but i just to want get things straight for the people who are bernie people. bernie or bust people. is this going to really happen once you get in the platform, will it happen? >> well, listen, i don't think anyone's talking about paying for the education of millionaires' children. all right? nor should we. there should be some means test. but should you come out of college with $200,000 in debt or $100,000 in debt or on average even $30,000 in debt at 6% or 7%? that's what's happening. >> i paid three -- >> i had student loans at 2, 2 1/2, and 3. when i graduated from boston college law school, my yearly tuition was $4,100 the year i graduated. it's entirely different. >> and you're an eagle. >> i'm a double eagle. >> are you double eagle? >> yeah. and my wife who's here, out there somewhere, we graduated together. and her twin sister graduated -- >> boston college. boston college law school. >> yeah. >> can't do better than that. thank you, dan malloy. what a good guy. i always liked this guy. he handles crises. shootings. like he makes you feel really good about leadership. thank you so much for coming on. and the guys on the right hate you. which also makes me like you. you've got smen mome enemies ou there. coming up, you, not just bernie sanders from the left, because he's probably on right now. you gave him what you wanted. my interview with amy klobuchar, who did speak at the convention tonight. we all watched that. we'll get the inner look at her about the back room stuff. i love the back room, tell me what really happened back room. the governor just did. our coverage continues live from the democratic national convention in philly. >> okay. my favorite, att, itude. >> attitude. >> bullseye. atty-tude. ♪ we are the champions, my friend ♪ ♪ and we'll keep on fighting -- ♪ >> welcome back. that was actress elizabeth banks tonight. reenacting donald trump's appearance at last week's republican convention. i love sarcasm, and joy reid does too. chris hayes does too. we love sarcasm. i'm also joined by allison anne dean marshall, real live hollywood actors. you may recognize allison from a television show which everybody i know out of nowhere says i wish "newsroom" was still on. everybody loves "newsroom." it's going to be like "honeymooners" or something, "star trek." it's going to be replayed forever. they'll say it only ran three years. and dean norris. >> yeah. >> they didn't even put your surname up there -- >> because everyone knows. >> everybody knows everything. >> the one man guy. >> just like cher. right? >> right. just like cher. >> nonprofit, nonpartisan liberal organization. thank you. >> hey, hey. >> arts advocacy. so what do you make of -- you know one thing i notice. there's a few conservatives out west. in your community. in the industry. >> yes. >> tom sellec who else? oh, yeah. jon voigt. >> yeah. >> that's right. but they're a splinter group, small splinter group. most are passionate progressives. isn't anybody middle of the road in hollywood? sort of has, you know, for this i'm conservative -- >> i'm middle of the road. >> are you all alone out there? >> no, i'm not alone out there at all. i grew up south in indiana. so i kind of find the middle of the road if you will. i grew up -- when we were an industrialized city, i had john bradamus was my representative. >> oh, yeah. reagan knocked him out. >> he did. and i saw -- i know the reagan democrats because i grew up with them. so i understand both sides of the aisle really, really well, i think. i have guys that i grew up with and i know why they went to the other party, and i understand them. >> so the reagan democrats are sort of the people that donald trump's going after. >> yeah. >> and i think he's kind of exploiting them, but i understand their fears. i understand their concerns, and i think the democratic party needs to also understand their fears and their concerns. and it's, you know, it's an economic thing. >> i'm with you. these tend to be guys, they didn't go to college, they work hard, they feel like they've been screwed because they think that everybody else is getting ahead of them and they did all the right things growing up. >> i have to say, we had a discussion about unions at lunch yesterday. just because i feel like -- >> your side, yeah. >> i have a great union. >> screen actors guild. >> i'm part of equity, which is theater. and we make less -- you know, a little less money than a lot of film actors. but having a strong union, having collective bargaining is something that i feel needs to be part of the discussion, and i think that's a way to bring in the votes from these reagan democrats because those factory jobs that have gone -- >> when's the last time obama or the democratic party's talked about unions? >> they had a bunch of union folks on last night. one after the other very early in the night. and when i sat -- you know, when you think about the trump coalition that he's building, you know, you look at tonight who's on stage. right? and you've got different celebrities. you have the mothers of the movement. you had a whole variety of things. channeling some sort of identity for this kind of blue-collar worker that isn't trumpism -- >> yes. >> like what is that identity? you can say okay we're going to give you obamacare and all of that stuff. politics isn't about policy. politics is who stands with you, who's on your side, who are you in with. and the more that's been broken up, the more that unions are been decimated and destroyed intentionally in this country, the harder it is to craft some identity that isn't essentially backlash identity. it's gotten harder for the democrats to do. it really has. >> a lot of working guys and women don't like the hollywood elite. >> of course not. i don't like us either. >> they don't like the wine and cheese liberals that are all so sophisticated and read "the new york times" every morning. they don't like them. >> i am curious about that because it does feel like there's a certain cultural alienation that people on the right feel. they feel that hollywood is against them, the musicians won't license their music for the trump convention and all of that. and that sort of feeds into their feeling of being isolated. >> is that true? >> it seems like -- >> they believe in private property when it comes to a republican playing their song. i'll tell you that. >> but i'm wondering why there weren't more of the conservative celebrities, the people who we know are republican conservative, the kelsey grammers, the jon voigts. why didn't they go to cleveland? >> i think jon voigt literally did -- he voiced -- >> but there weren't very many. >> that was a good job, by the way. i'm not a pro but i thought his reading of that -- >> here's an incredible actor. >> he's a great actor. i think there is -- >> by the way, i think he's a little intellectually uneven. he's a little bit wild, that guy. >> wow. >> his theories are a little over in. >> i think in terms of, i think in terms of -- i think it was in general i think it's what i -- my father's a conservative. my father showed -- we were just looking at the video upstairs of ted cruz doing all the scenes from princess bride, and he's amazing at it, and there was a guy that i was -- i disagree with on every level, but i understand where he's coming from and he has walked the walk, through his entire life. he's very smart. he's a great debater. people in washington hated him and i'm like, well, must be doing something right. >> what was mandy pat inc.'s great line in that movie? >> in my opinion, that word, i do not think it means what you think it means. >> i thought it was my name is inigo montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die. >> yes. >> can i ask you this, i always wonder what, when folks that are actors in front of the camera, right, they're going to sell a product that you want a lot of people to buy. there's that famous michael jordan line about republicans buy shoes too when people were getting on him for not being more political. you saw jesse williams get up at the b.e.t. awards and gave that incredible -- >> that was electrifying. >> yeah. sort of like a militant speech. like nothing violent but a militant speech. >> yes. >> and i thought to myself, man, like i wonder, is his agent getting calls? that guy's a network television star. right? there's going to be tens of millions of people that will watch him and think that's the guy with those politics. do you guys feel like there's pressure on that end? >> depends on who your boss is. shonda rhimes. >> exactly. she got his back on twitter immediately. >> yeah. she said shut up essentially. >> let me try this one. we only have one more minute. i want you each to take 30 seconds. why you care enough to come to this convention. >> we're hear for the creative coalition. so we're here for arts funding. and we're here for arts in education. we're talking about trying to have a more educated workforce, to have a more competitive economic outlook in the future. one of the ways to get people to stay in school is to have arts programming. music is math. visual arts. you can be an engineer. these are ways to connect different sides of the brain, different talents, different -- all of those ways to keep people coming back to class. >> did you get good education in public high school or public school? >> i went to school in toronto, canada. and yes, i went to public school. and it was great. >> that's nice you that talked aboat that. >> sorry. >> why are you here? >> i'm here for the creative coalition. we believe in funding the arts. you know, cultural exports are the number one exports of the united states. you take music, tv and music. they always get short slift. it's the first thing cut out of public high schools. they build football stadiums the size of unbelievable things and the things we need to compete in the world where we have no competition is cultural exports. we win. so let's make sure we continue to fund that and bring people in from our public high schools who can continue to do it. >> alison, dean, thank you so much. "breaking bad" and alison pill, who got my heart in "paris at midnight" playing zelda fitzgerald. we're staying up late tonight with our live convention coverage. getting exciting. coming up in my next hour my interview with senator amy klobuchar who spoke to the convention tonight but she told me the inside. plus much more on the performance tonight from former senator -- performance. that's an interesting word. this special edition of "hardball" continues from philadelphia after this. >> trump's dark vision of america, one that's isolated in the world, alienated from our allies, would be a disaster. we would -- must make sure that this never happens. we must elect hillary clinton as our next president. so much ahead to talk about tonight. especially the russian connection. we talked to a number of people tonight who really believe the russians rifld are involved in to tilt this election to donald trump. the obama card. we're going to talk about that tonight. we saw it last night. we're going to see it tomorrow night. it's the one card hillary clinton has that may well trump trump. we're going to talk about that tonight. plus the line-up tonight. i've got one going. i'm going to tell you the best single line tonight. it doesn't come from a politician but from an actual person which you'll find interesting. the democratic convention continues tonight live from my hometown of philadelphia. and here we are in front of the independence hall. it's right behind us. there it is. the real thing. 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