himself, at this point. and, we saw in new york, the special election, a campaign against the ryan plan worked. so, that is what they are using, and that is what they are rolling out, vis-a-vis michelle bachmann. gregg: do you think someone like michelle bachmann can appeal to mainstream republicans but the key demographic you really need which is the independents? i think you will need three demographics, independents, hispanics and seniors. because, again, comes down to florida, if we don t win florida the game is over. that said, if michelle bachmann becomes more of a refined candidate, she can make a serious run at the nomination. gregg: really? doug, you? i think she is a refined candidate. i m a democrat, i have worked for bill clinton, but, she looked pretty good answering chris wallace s questions, whether he was a player and i think she s a serious candidate and what she is trying to do is preclude others getting in like rick perry and sarah palin by
solidifying her base on the right among social conservatives and tea party backers. gregg: are you surprised that the campaign, obama campaign immediately began to respond to michelle bachmann? i mean, generally, sitting presidents, who are running for re-election, you know, their best strategy is to just ignore the opposition sometimes. sure, you ignore the opposition when you have a good record to run on. the obama administration, by their own acknowledgment do not. and, they are basically trying to take down any opponents who gets in their way, michelle bachmann is a potentially strong candidate, she is on the far right but she s demonstrating that she is trying to cut across party lines, and, you know, she wins iowa, winning is winning and losing is losing, gregg and if she wins iowa she s a force to be reckoned with. gregg: is she too conservative to be elected . no, we are actually in a center-right country, it is not about that, it is about
55,000-gallon drums containing plutonium, nuclear waste. the fires could conceivably rupture, cause the canisters to pop open, in which case plutonium bioxido goes into bioxide goes into the atmosphere. you can t see a microgram in your lungs can cause lung cancer. that s what we have to worry about, the winds whipping up a plutonium plume if it rises above los alamos. gregg: thank you very much for the information, as disconcerting as it is. martha: gregg, michio, thank you very much. for more context for you on nuclear power in the united states, nearly 60 percent of the u.s. population lives within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant. no new nuclear power plants have been ordered in the united states since 19 # eight. nuclear energy provides 20 percent of our country s electricity, and it is our number one source of
up in a number of the surrounding communities. martha: tough summer. let s get a closer look at the los alamos lab. the national laboratory is a national security research institution, last year the lab had and operating cost of about $2 billion. more than half of that went to the nuclear weapons programs, and right now you have emergency crews at the facility, protecting key facilities, and, materials from the fire. protected areas include, all hazardous and radioactive materials and so far they say they ve got that under control. gregg: officially in the race for less than 24 hours, minnesota congresswoman michelle bachmann making her mark. and she s in new hampshire today after kicking off her campaign another white house, in iowa, yesterday. this morning, she appeared on fox and friends, saying the president has every reason to be, quoted, afraid of her candidacy and when asked if there is a bias against conservative women in the u.s.,
backup diesel generator, they also stress they ve had weeks to prepare, unlike fukushima and unlike what happened in japan, we have spoken to people in this area who live around this plant, they say they are not concerned, they say they trust their officials are telling the truth about the level of danger here. martha, back to you. martha: steve, what a sight that is right behind you. thank you very much. let s go over to gregg jarrett with more on this. gregg: my next guest says the situation in nebraska is, quote, like a slow moving fukushima. michio kaku is professor of sizzics at the university of new york and author of physics of the future: how science will shape human destiny in our hives by the year 2100 , which by the way is a book on my night stand and i ve been reading it and enjoy it very much. how serious is the situation in nebraska? at fukushima, the tipping point was reached within a few minutes of the tidal wave. here, it s in slow motion,