strength of the field but like kasich he tells close friends he wants to see if the existing field stumbles before making a final call. that's it for "inside politics." thanks for sharing your sunday morning. we'll see you soon. "state of the union" starts right now. shocking new details about the doomed germanwings flight's final moments. and the house speaker plots new moves against iran. this is "state of the union." this is cnn breaking news. new terrifying developments in the germanwings plane crash. house speaker john boehner issues a new warning about iran. senator ted cruz on why he wants to be president. and the senate's top democrat's surprise decision to call it quits. good morning from washington. i'm dana bash. we are learning chilling new details about the last moments of germanwings flight 9525 as well as the co-pilot who intentionally crashed the jet

carrying 150 passengers and crew into the french alps. cnn's senior correspondent fredrik pleitgen is reporting. what does the new report tell us about the voice recorder? >> reporter: it's interesting dana. this is "the bild" newspaper and it has excerpts of what it says is the voice recording. at the beginning of the flight it seems as though everything is normal but there might be telltale signs that maybe andreas lubitz the co-pilot was setting the captain up to leave the cockpit so he could steer the plane into the mountain. there are 1.5 hours of recordings that the investigators went into. the flight took off 20 minutes late. at the beginning the captain can be heard apologizing for the delay. at the same time the captain tells lubitz that he didn't manage to go to 9 bathroom while at barcelona. don't worry, you can go at any

time. he used the bathroom break to lock the captain out of the cockpit. at 10:27 a.m. local time the plane reaches its cruising altitude of 38,000 feet. at that point the co-pilot once again tells the captain, well now you can go. don't worry. at that point you hear a seat going backwards, which is of course the way that you leave a cockpit, and then the captain tells the co-pilot you can take over. at that point he leaves the cockpit, dana. >> it is so chilling. and the fact that this also talks about the fact that one of the wings hit a mountain. it's pretty clear from this voice recording. what are we learning about the last few minutes of the flight especially with regard to that wing and the mountain? >> reporter: yeah exactly. that's -- that is -- yeah that's where it gets really chilling. so according to this "bild" new hampshire. at 10:29 -- remember, the captain is outside the cockpit at this point.

at 10:29 air traffic detects that the plane is starting to descend. they try to contact. 10:32, no response from the co-pilot. shortly before that a loud bang on the door. the captain describing for god's sake, open the door. passengers can be heard screaming in the background. at 10:35, another loud metallic bang is heard as though someone is trying to knock the door down. the plane is at 7,000 meters at this point. 90 seconds later there's a warning from the cockpit, an alarm that goes off saying terrain, pull up. at this point the plane is at 5,000 meters. the captain once again is heard screaming, open the door. at 10:38 the plane is descending towards the french alps. the pilot who's in charge now, the co-pilot is in the cockpit. he's breathing normally. then at 10:40 as you said the plane's right wing seems to scrape a mountain top. the investigators apparently believe that they could hear that. at that point you hear the passengers scream one more time and at that point that is the

end of the recording. so it really is a very chilling read of these final moments of that germanwings flight that went down in the alps dana. >> absolutely terrifying. fredrik, thank you for that report. appreciate it. here with us now, charlie pereira, former ntsb investigator who co-wrote the first chapter of the 9/11 commission report. thank you for joining me. first your reaction to what we know detail by detail of the last final minutes? >> well for the families it's another horrible piece of data that indicates what their families went through. that's the worst part of all of this. >> yes. >> for investigators, these are what we call -- establishes boundary conditions for the reconstruction of the flight after the airplane. there will likely be ground scars or witness marks where the wing reportedly hit the mountain. we typically go out to those areas and search along the flight path for trees that have

been selferedvered and impacts on mountains and that establishes definite boundary condition for the flight path of the airplane. those are the primary things that we take from this. this is typical for a cockpit voice recorder transcript and you not only document the sounds but you look out for correlation points such as the strike on the mountain. >> let's talk about the pilot. it's actually so much more abundantly clear and getting this ticktock as fredrik just reported that this was a plan. this was something that he clearly was trying to set up the pilot to leave the cockpit so he could make this happen. what does this tell you about screenings? i was actually very shocked to learn that it's pretty lax when it comes to airline pilots especially compared to other areas where there's public safety involved. police officers firefighters astronauts. why is that? >> it's our society.

our society places emphasis on privacy and in the united states it's placed on self-reporting of medical issues because of that privacy. obviously after this accident there's going to be further looks at that. you know that's part of the last phase of any accident investigation is preventing recurrence. >> but there's -- firefighters have privacy, astronauts have privacy. why is it sort of held out and walled off for someone like a pilot who has 150 people's lives literally in his hands? >> well, the first and foremost portion of that is going to be the airline pilot's association, which is a very strong union that represents airline pilots. there's an international version of that international federation of airline pilots. they're going to continue i'm sure to say that this is a -- and it is statistically, you know so far. i wouldn't call it a one off event because i know of at least one other that has occurred similar to this where one of the

crew members was locked out and the other crew member took the airplane to the ground intentionally. so i think it's going to receive increasing scrutiny and there are certainly some system and automation technology solutions to this that can prevent recurrence of this relatively easily. >> do you think that the rules should be changed? i mean it seems at this point looking at this particular tragedy, it seems ooksbvious but then the flip site this could be overreach. there are a lot of people on antidepressants who aren't homicidal. >> as an accident investigator you are trained in a final section of an investigation to develop measures to prevent recurrence so i don't think that we should limit it to just looking at the human side of it the filter per se of the pilots. we don't want to better filter pilots to keep the bad apples out of the cockpit. we want to accept that this can occur and we want to develop technology solutions that

prevent recurrence. for example, on this transcript you hear the words, terrain, pull up. that is issued by a system called a terrain awareness warning system. the first one was established by honeywell known as enhanced ground proximity warning system. the airplane particularly this airplane has automated functions preventing the pilot from stalling the plane. if this system senses approaching terrain and impending crash, it would be relatively easy to bring in the flight control computer basically the auto pilot, to pull up the nose of the airplane to prevent impact with the terrain. that's a relatively easy solution. another is to have ground people interact with the flight control system on the plane, just like they do with drones very similar to that to monitor the flight path and make sure it conforms to the authorized flight path. if it exceeds that by a certain value, they come in. >> let me ask you one final question. you worked on the 9/11

commission report. one rule on planes something that changed post 9/11 was the lock on the door the fact that they need a special code or a special key to get in. that was to prevent potential terrorists to get into the cockpit, but the reverse happened. this allowed the person who was already in the cockpit to take over. how do you change that or did it go too far? >> we made that recommendation but as with any recommendation for a solution a system solution you have to do a complete system safety analysis. obviously that wasn't done very well in this case. any such what if safety analysis should have identified 9the what if the other pilot or co-pilot locked the other out. they what iffed in case the guy was incapacitated. they didn't what if the guy didn't intentionally want him to come in and operated the button that prevented the key pad solution from allowing the other pilot in. they did a very poor job of

system safety analysis on that and it cost these passengers their lives. >> sure did. thank you. coming up we are going to turn to politics here and the house speaker. he talks to us exclusively about bipartisan bonding, his trip this coming week to israel an action he plans to take if there are no nuclear deals with iran. major: here's our new trainer ensure active heart health. heart: i maximize good stuff like my potassium and phytosterols which may help lower cholesterol. new ensure active heart health supports your heart and body so you stay active and strong. ensure, take life in. most of the products we all buy are transported on container ships. before a truck delivers it to your store, a container ship delivered it to that truck. here in san diego, we're building the first one ever to run on natural gas. ships this big running this clean will be much better for the environment. we're proud to be a part of that.

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we saw a rare break in the constant congressional gridlock this week. when house speaker john boehner and nancy pelosi struck a deal. no you didn't hear that wrong. they struck a bipartisan deal on health care that affects everything from medicare to children in need. the measure passed overwhelmingly. i spoke with house speaker john boehner about that accomplishment and much much more before congress broke for spring recess. >> i get to ask you about bipartisanship which is kind of nice. >> it is nice. >> a health care deal that you worked on for older americans, doctors, programs for children and you cut the deal with nancy pelosi. worked on it with her, called her, met with her.

your aids worked together. >> no, it was an opportunity that presented itself. the door opened and i walked in. it's as simple as that. over the last several months we've been trying to find a way to change the way we pay doctors for medicare patients and when you look at the agreement that we came to it will strengthen medicare make it easier for patients to find doctors and a fairer way of paying doctors for the services that they render. and i was happy that my democratic colleagues and i were able to come to an agreement to strengthen medicare extend children's health plan extend the authorization for community health centers and a bunch of other changes that frankly in the long run will be good for our country. >> mr. speaker, this is how it's supposed to work. you know how to legislate. it is an art and you understand the art. so does nancy pelosi. why doesn't this happen more

often? >> well it's a little unusual because something like this really hasn't happened for some time although you have to understand that 95% of what happens here in congress every day happens on a bipartisan basis. >> but the problem is not a lot happens. >> no no there is a lot that happens and it happens on a bipartisan basis. when it does it really doesn't make news. >> is this a sign that you will do business differently in the future on other big issues that are coming up on the debt ceiling and things like that with regard to your party? you know part of the issue is you've had to as you've said many times, lead your sometimes raucous caucus but are you able to -- >> my goal every day is to try to keep 218 frogs in a wheelbarrow long enough to get something passed. i'm a conservative republican. i'd rather work with my conservative allies but i've always looked for ways to find bipartisan agreements that are in the best interests of the american people and i'm going to continue to do that. >> let's talk about israel.

you are going to be traveling there this coming week. this has been described as a victory lap that you are going to take because of israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's win there, his re-election win. how do you react to that? >> my visit there was planned months ago before the prime minister came here and before his re-election, so it's not quite what i would describe as a victory lap. there are serious issues and activities going on in the middle east and i think it's critically important for members of congress to hear from foreign leaders, other governments, other parts of their government to get a real handle on the challenges we face there. >> you know perception is reality a lot of times in politics, global politics especially. there is some symbolism you going there, whether it was planned months ago or not at this time. >> there's a strong relationship

between america and israel a very strong relationship between the united states congress and israel and i think over the last several months that relationship has been strengthened. frankly, part of my goal in going to israel is to continue to strengthen the relationship that we have between america and israel. >> are you going to -- >> they're an important ally. >> are you going to speak to the kinesset the way you invited the prime minister to speak here? >> no, i don't need all the fanfare. >> the prime minister right before his re-election disavowed a two-state solution. then right afterwards he said never mind he took it back. you know political rhetoric campaign rhetoric. even for a politician wasn't this a little brazen. >> i don't think so. >> why not? >> he doesn't have a partner. >> how do you have a two-state solution when you don't have a partner, when the other state is vowing to wipe you off the face

of the earth? and so until there's a willing partner willing to sit down and have -- and have peace talks, i think it's irrelevant whether we're talking about a two-state solution. >> it's still an aspirational goal. >> i think it's an aspirational goal. i think when the prime minister walked back his comments he realized it's an aspirational goal but we're nowhere close to having anything like it because you've got hamas controlling what goes on on gaza and they don't seem to be interested in peace. >> you still believe in a two-state solution? >> yeah, as long as you have a willing partner to hold up their deal. >> the white house doesn't believe the prime minister. can you blame the white house and the president for not believing what he's saying on where his position is on this? >> i think the animosity

exhibited by our administration toward the prime minister of israel is reprehensible, and i think that the pressure that they've put on him over the last four or five years have frankly, pushed him to the point where he had to speak up. i don't blame him at all for speaking up. >> but a lot of people blame you for the rift being much deeper because you invited the prime minister here to speak. there was already trouble. you fueled that fire. >> i have one goal. i have one goal. that goal is to make sure that the american people heard and the congress heard about the serious threat that iran poses not only to the middle east but for the rest of the world including the united states. there's nobody going to talk more clearly about this. the president doesn't want to talk about it. doesn't want to talk about the threat of radical islam and the fact that he has no strategy to deal with it. and when you begin to see all these leaks that probably came out of the white house in terms

of what the iranian deal was starting to shape up to be there's a lot of concern in congress on a bipartisan basis. i'm glad that he was here and frankly the speech that he gave was the clearest speech i've heard in 25 years about the real threats that face our country. >> ask you a counter intuitive question. do you think you'll have a role to repair the rift? >> i'm the most open transparent guy in this town and i'm going. i'm going to be myself and if there's anything i can do to repair it i'd be happy to do it. >> you're going to be in israel around the time of the deadline for the iran negotiations. the president has made it very clear if there's a deal he doesn't want or need congress's approval. are you going to make sure there is a deal that that is going to happen? >> well let's wait and see if there's an agreement. i've got serious doubts. i've had serious doubts whether there could be an agreement and

i still have serious doubts. we've got a regime that's never quite kept their word about anything. i just don't understand why we would sign an agreement with a group of people who in my opinion have no intention of keeping their word. >> if there is no agreement, how quickly would you move to further sanctions against iran in the house? >> very. >> like days? >> very. >> minutes, hours? >> very quickly. listen the sanctions were working. they would have never come to the table and, frankly, we should have kept the sanctions in place so that we could have gotten to a real agreement. and the sanctions are going to come and they're going to come quick. >> how would you characterize your relationship with president obama right now? >> my relationship with the president is good. >> how often do you talk? >> i talked to him, you know last week. we had the irish prime minister here had a nice chat over lunch. >> what did you talk about? >> but that doesn't mean we agree on a whole host of issues.

but, you know our job is to try to find areas where we do agree, where there is common interest and act on it on behalf of the american people. so we had a nice conversation. i get along with him fine. and i -- and i'm very clear with him about what i think and he's very clear with me about what he thinks. >> let's talk about 2016. as a leader of the republican party, obviously want to see a republican in the white house. >> i do. >> what -- is there a concern that you have that there's going to be such a tough fight with so many candidates running on the republican side just like there was in 2012 and no fight on the democratic side we'd expect that your guys are going to be bloodied and bruised and hillary clinton is just going to not be? >> i think competition is a good thing. you know i used to sell corrugated boxes. they could buy the box from me or 25 other people. it's the same box. it was -- it was tough.

but let me tell you what it made all of us better you know? it caused innovation. people think outside the box. so i'm a big believer in competition. i have 11 brothers and sisters. i know about competition. and -- >> do you think she's at a disadvantage? >> i actually do because when you go through a primary process and you have to compete and if you win, you're ready. i went through a primary my first race for the statehouse. my big primary, first race for congress. you know when your name looks like beaner bonner boner, people aren't going to vote for you if they can't say your name. my first race for congress my opponent was tom kindness. you have a name that looks like boner against a guy named kindness. it's a miracle i won. in addition to that they've tightened up the primary season the republican national committee has, changed the

schedule for debates. i just think it's going to be while a lot of competition, it's going to be handled in a much better way. >> ted cruz told me that he will likely sign up for obamacare now because he lost his wife's insurance. considering how hard he's made your life in pushing so hard that the government ended up shutting down to repeal obamacare, what do you think about that? >> i've got a big job to do here doing real work and i think i'll just keep doing my job. >> okay. i think we called that a punt in official terms. >> good morning. >> how long do you want to be speaker? >> until -- until i've had enough of it. listen it's a big job. somebody has to do this and, you know all the skills i learned growing up are the skills i need to do my job. grew up in a big family 11 brothers and sisters, you have to learn to get along with each other, get things done together. you know today's political environment's a little different than it first was when i got here. the job that i have is far more

challenging than what i think some of my predecessors have had. i enjoy it every day. >> you seem to have avoided a coup. there was certainly talk about that. that didn't happen. >> i don't know where that story started. it was laughable. laughable. >> really? >> i've got great relationships with our members and great relationships with our members across the aisle. i treat them all fairly honestly and i think they appreciate the work that i do for them. >> thank you, mr. speaker. appreciate it. >> thank you. and later, speaker boehner gives us an inside look at his stunning view of the capitol and tells us about a household chore that he's passionate about, but next what would it take cruz presidency to look like? my conversation with the first official candidate for president for 2016.

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senator ted cruz is off and running as the first presidential candidate of 2016.

he spent friday in the first primary state of new hampshire telling voters how he'll create jobs abolish the irs and repeal obamacare, a program he told me he's now likely to use to get his own health insurance. i caught up with the senator earlier this week during his whirlwind announcement tour. senator cruz, thank you very much. congratulations on your announcement. i want to read to you a description, a harvard law graduate 40 something years old, two young daughters, in the senate for only two years who thinks he can be president. i could be describing you, i could be describing barack obama. >> true enough but i think there are a lot more notable differences between us than the similarities. >> that is true but, you know one of the key things that we're already hearing is you don't have a lot of experience when it comes to being in federal office or being in office at all and this you're you know too young and too inexperienced for the job. >> dana i think there are two

sharp distinctions between where i am today and where barack obama was when he launched his campaign. number one, in his time in the senate he had basically been a back bencher. he had not been leading on any issues. in my time in the senate you can accuse me of being a lot of things but a back bencher is not one of them. >> that may be true, but the big criticism of president obama especially as the years went on he didn't have any experience in an executive function he didn't run any organization and the same can be said about you. what experience do you have to be commander in chief of the united states military for example? >> well unlike barack obama, i was not a community organizer before i was elected to the spend nate. i spent 5 1/2 years as the solicitor general of texas, the chief lawyer for texas in front of the u.s. supreme court. i supervised and led every year before the state of texas in a 4,000 agency with over 700 lawyers. over the course of 5 1/2 years over and over again texas led

the nation defending conservative principles and winning. >> you talk about 12iksticking to principles and defending principles. that was your calling card obviously. if you you were to achieve the next level, the presidency of the united states have you to get beyond that and learn how to compromise. give me an example where you have successfully compromised in the united states senate with democrats. >> well if you look at some of the legislation that has passed that i've been able to pass when i was there, for example, if you look to about a year ago when iran named hamadi bouta labi as an ambassador to the u.s. he had participated in holding people hostage, that was a slap in the face to the united states. i introduced legislation barring him from being admitted to this country. it had support as varied as lindsey graham and chuck schumer. it passed 100-0. it passed the house 435-0 and

president obama signed it into law and so we were able to get unanimity, bipartisan agreement and to change the law and keep he and other known terrorists to coming to new york city. >> you made the point, 100-0. it has to be something incredibly noncontroversial. >> that doesn't mean unimportant. i'll give you another example of leading and finding issues that can bring -- >> i believe that might be the only legislation that you have your name on as a co-sponsor that was successful in the legislature. >> i'll give you another example. you'll recall last year when three israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered by hamas. i joined with new jersey senator, democrat bob maine menenendez to have a $5 million reward to leading to the arrest and

capture of the terrorist. bob menendez and i did that together. that likewise passed the senate 100-0. it would have passed the house but thankfully they caught the terrorist before the house passed it. i'll point to another example. i joined with new york democrat kiersten gillibrand in passing legislation con demging hamas's human shields. >> it's fair that there's just one piece of legislation that is now law with your name on it. >> well that's accurate but, look in the harry reid senate we passed next to nothing. harry reid and the democrats basically shut down the senate. i can tell you the two things that i have passed in the senate the two things that have passed in the senate are more than all but a handful of republicans in the last two years and that was despite senate democrats basically shutting the senate down so that almost nothing could pass. >> i want to ask you also about something that you and i have talked about several times over the years, which is likability

with respect. you're not the most popular man in the republican congress. i think you know that. you wear it as a badge of honor. when you're president of the united states you have to have some measure or level of likability in order to reach out and get things done. how will you overcome that? >> i'll point out there's almost an inverse relationship between being liked and appreciated in washington d.c. and reviled back home and being reviled in washington and appreciated back home. i mean you remember because you came to texas after we had the historic fiept to stop obamacare, to defund obamacare. a lot of people -- >> you -- >> i didn't support the shutdown. i did support defunding obamacare. i think it was a mistake when harry reid and the democrats forced a shutdown. my point is you were in texas when i came home to the state convention of the texas federation of republican women

and you saw the reaction of in that case the women back home who enthusiastically appreciated someone who was standing and fighting for them. >> i absolutely did, but the white house isn't in texas, it's in washington. >> that's part of the problem. >> well but you have to work with with -- if you want to be president of the united states you're going to live in the white house and work within the confines of the government. you're asking people about the constitution. you don't want to change the system that much so within those confines as president how do you change that? how do you get to a place where you would be likeable enough and have relationships enough to actually get things done? >> well let me draw a distinction on the likability question that you're raising. there's a distinction between how you treat people and what it is you say and do. in my time in the senate there have been more than a few rocks tossed my direction, from democrats and republicans, and yet in my entire time there, i

haven't reciprocated. you have never heard me speak ill of any senator, republican or democrat, and i don't intend to start. in fact, in the presidential race in 2016 there may be other candidates who choose to throw rocks my direction. i'm not going to engage in the personal mudslinging, in the negative attacks on people's character. i think that's a big part of treating people with civility and respect that i've endeavored to do every day. >> what's your reaction to israeli prime minister netanyahu saying he opposed a two-state solution a palestinian state, and when he won saying never mind and reversing his position? >> i think the united states should stand unshakably with the nation of israel. i think one of the most disgraceful aspects of the obama presidency has been how it has treated prime minister netanyahu. >> that's not the question. the question is a two-state solution. >> i don't think it should be america dictating the solution there.

israel is a sovereign nation and i trust the leaders of israel to determine whether they want to adopt a one-state solution or a two-state solution. so what i'm saying is we should trust israel to make that determination. one of the problems and the reason i started with how the obama administration has treated israel because they have demonstrated an arrogance that america's going to dictate the terms of security in israel. it's not our place to do it. if we can facilitate discussions, if we can provide a neutral forum, if we can bring people together great. it shouldn't be america saying here's how you should resolve this in israel. >> president cruz would not support and push for a palestinian state? >> i think that is a decision for the nation of israel. i think israel has far more stake in achieving piece and achieving a long-term solution in israel and the impediment to peace is not the israelis. the impediment to peace -- right

now the palestinians have a unity government with hamas, a terrorist organization who i might note openly celebrated the kidnapping and murder of israeli teenagers. you can't negotiate settlement with terrorists like hamas that are calling for the elimination of the nation of israel. that's the impediment to peace. i would love to see peace in israel and so would israelis and a great many palestineianspalestinians but as long as the palestinian government a lieal government allys itself we shouldn't dictate a solution. >> thank you so much. appreciate it. >> thank you, dana. >> congratulations. >> thank you very much. ted cruz won't be the only official 2016 presidential contender for long. announcements are coming in the next few weeks from republican senators rand paul and marco rubio. coming up harry reid hangs up his boxing gloves political

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with one presidential announcement done and more soon to follow the political world is turning its attention to 2016. and joining me here at the table is ben lebolt press secretary for president obama's 2012 campaign, and kevin madden a republican strategist who worked for mitt romney's campaign. kevin, you also worked a few years ago for john boehner. i want to ask you, actually you know how he thinks but also what he told me with regard to the competition that hillary clinton does not have and how that might hurt her. >> right. >> you worked for mitt romney when he did have a lot of competition. do you think that's wishful thinking? >> if you go by the book ben knows this as well nobody wants to face a primary. you want to be able to harness all your resources and go through a primary process or go through and be able to reach a general election sort of untarred right? i think when i look at hillary clinton, i do feel like right now she could use a sparring partner. it's been a long time since

she's actually gone through the political process. she flourished in a very apolitical role as soektecretary of state. i think the debates, testing ideas, meet people force being able to meet people would be helpful. >> last time she had a sparring partner turned out she was beaten by that person who you were working for at the time, barack obama. certainly it helps with their skills i get that but there's a down side. no one out there looks like they could beat her but still -- >> yeah look i do think -- i do think that process strengthened her. it's not like hillary clinton is untested. she will have a sparring partner every day of the race. their names are jeb bush marco rubio, rand paul ted cruz and the republicans in congress. and what's clear to me is that secretary clinton is not going to take this race for granted. they're sending staff to the early states. it sounds like she'll be in intimate settings with voters

throughout the primary process running a real primary campaign not just jumping to the general election. i think she'll be plenty tested over the course of the next year and a half. >> it does feel right now like she is in a bubble. the way that jeb bush and ted cruz are going out there doing one on one interviews meeting with voters and traveling across the country and it feels like right now she is sort of, you know being kept away from a lot of these folks. that's sort of hurting her profile. >> as long as she can get out there and do that there is a benefit despite what john boehner said to having a sparring partner on the right. >> the big problem is the relatebility eyerelate ability idea. >> ted cruz i asked him that his resume looks a whole lot like your former candidate, barack obama's. there is an experience gap when it comes to not just him but several of these senators who

are really really new. >> well first i'd like to make clear that i'm endorsing ted cruz and supporting him. >> i'm sure you are. >> but secondly the 2008 primary really came down not to experience but to judgment. secretary clinton was running on experience and then senator obama was running on his judgment over the iraq war. so you know cruz may land on a compelling message if he can find something else that voters are concerned about that's not in the experience base. i think the more important impact he'll have on the primary is really dragging some of the more mainstream candidates like jeb bush to the right. that had a significant impact on mitt romney during the primaries last time around. >> well look i think more and more you are seeing voters sort of have a bit of regret after the eight years -- of having eight years of obama, about that ability to offer up, you know, more of an executive experience. we're seeing that in polls. voters are saying they would rather see a governor they want

somebody with executive experience. i think the way obama answered that in 2008 is the same way ted cruz has to answer it in 2016 which is when people begin to meet him, they begin to see him test his ideas, does he look and sound like a future president? and that begins to answer the question of doubt in many voter's minds. >> i want to go out to the state of indiana because there was a big controversy brewing there this week when the governor mike pence who you know used to be in the house, signed be a bill into law that -- it's called the religious freedom bill. there are a lot of groups that are up in arms especially lgbt groups saying that this is a back doorway to discriminate against them. is this a mistake for your party? >> well look. this is not a -- this is a bill that 20 other states i think have. it's modeled after a 1993 law that was signed into law by president clinton. i think the big problem that mike pence here has and the folks in indiana has is they've lost control of the narrative.

it was defined as a bill that had to do with sexual discrimination versus what it was supposed to -- designed to be which was a compelling interest standard for judicial review. that has become a problem for them politically. >> yeah. he is right that this is not the first state. there are 20 other states. this is becoming a business problem which if you're any governor particularly a republican governor that's dangerous. >> pence disagreed with the chamber of commerce and the largest employer in the state on this eli lily. you can be fired for being gay. this goes a step further. we were promised a more inclusive republican party after the 2012 election and i don't think it's arrived. >> to be fair i think this was modeled after a federal bill that -- >> there have been other states that have this very -- the law very similar to this where you have ministers in pennsylvania for example, they've actually used this in order to protect some of the interests that they had with feeding the homeless in

city parks, for example. so this is designed to guard against government overreach against people and >> okay. i want you to stand by. we can't go without talking about harry reid the democratic leader saying he's not going to run for reelection. i had the good fortune of visiting with him in his hometown of search light, which is a very small town basically a truck stop and listening to him tell me about his hard scramble life. here is a part of that. >> welcome to search light. >> thank you. >> harry reid shaked and scared in search light. >> i'm a pessimist about everything in life that way i have fewer disappointments. >> a mine where his father worked. >> it was hard to make a living and the man that paid my dad gave him checks that would bounce. my parents drank a lot and i was so glad when they were broke because they couldn't afford

stuff then. even though i was raised here my mother always was able to instill in me that i was as good as anybody else. >> ben, i know you worked briefly in the senate but as a democrat there this town it's hard to imagine life without harry reid. what is fascinating is somebody that worked for obama is that he quietly encouraged this young, very green senator to run for president. >> yeah they had an incredibly good relationship and i think their legacies are tied. reid was the master of the inside game and without him we wouldn't have seen the affordable care act or federal bench remade. all democrats were taken aback by the news this week. >> well because he was instrumental a lot of republicans, as great as his life story may be they are happy to see him retire.

there is not a lot of love lost for the republican side. >> i'm sure not. he actually did have not a terrible relationship with some of the republicans. mitch mcconnell not so much but john boehner. do you want to say something about harry reid as john boehner? >> harry, good luck and good-bye. >> that's pretty good. that's pretty impressive. thank you guys very much. >> thank you. >> up next house speaker, the real house speaker john boehner lets us in on his secret passion. stay with us.

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the job of the house speaker comes with a beautiful office and a great scene. the speaker brought us to his balcony and brought us attention to why the setting is very special to him. >> this is probably the best view in washington best real else state in washington. so every once in awhile i'll come out here and actually chill out. >> really? >> yeah not very often because it's usually too hot or too cold. >> do you bring people out here to do business? >> there has been people out here that have done business.

sit there at the table and chair and check everything out, but no usually when i'm out here they are more enjoyable moments. >> oh that's nice. that's nice. >> i'm pretty anal about my grass and so what i love about the spring is when i watch the grass down there begin to green up. >> it's getting there. >> i get pretty excited about it. >> yeah? >> yeah. >> because we know you like to cut your grass. >> i do. i do. matter of fact i had the lawn mower running last weekend. made sure the oil was changed and sharpened the blade and put some new gas in there and got it started. grass isn't ready to be cut yet but the mower is ready. >> amen. >> amen. >> and mr. speaker, if you like yard work that much i got a backyard at my house with your name on it. come over and help me. we'll be right back after these messages. when the moment's spontaneous, why pause to take a pill? or stop to find a bathroom?

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thanks for watching the state of the union, i'm dana bash. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com this is "gps the public square." welcome to the viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm fareed zakaria. we have an important show today starting with yemen collapsing into chaos and becoming a war between iran versus saudi arabia. then the iran nuclear talks. the