editor-in-chief, a great mentor to young reporters like me. i have only worked there a short time so far, but have found him to be a great guy to work with. he has said what i basically said before, just that we're competing on the internet with all kinds of content. we have to write stories that demand to be read. host: are you considered of a logger, or reporter? guest: i am a reporter. most of us call ourselves reporters. we have one guy, mike, who does more blogging than the rest of us. ." . .

what's the difference between the tea partiers and activist whose would have been upset about the democrats holding the white house, house, and senate all statement in and at the same time. i don't know where the line is but if you were to draw a diagram i think you would find that there are people what would have been upset and then there are new people who have been brought in who are upset with both parties. maybe those are the tea partiers. host: and if you're just joining us, dan quayle, the former vice president writes a piece this morning in the "washington post," why the tea party shouldn't go perot. and he's making the case that the tea party movement should not try to start a third party because it would end up hurting republicans like ross perot like he says ended up hurting his party.

springfield, missouri. michael on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. host: what's your question or comment? caller: my biggest question is why exactly do the two parties not want to get along to better the country? a lot of the things that is in the news is that the republicans are sitting there lying about thing that is the democrats are saying and the democrats are over exaggerating things. why won't they just get along? because that's what the people really want. that's my question. host: you want bipartisanship? caller: i would like a little bit more bipartisanship. host: are you going to vote for candidates who talk about that issue? caller: yes. definitely. host: what do you want done on a bipartisan level? caller: well, the thing with health care is there was no republican votes on health

care. and there is a lot of things in the health care bill that republicans traditionally wanted to do but they never did it. and they just seem like they just wanted to say no all the time and not actually add to the bill that would have benefited everyone. host: all right. on the health care issue, republicans as the caller said voting no. and some are saying republicans are going to vote on a run, excuse me, on no, on opposing the democratic agenda. what are you hearing about whether or not that's a winning strategy? the "washington post" this morning is saying as far as fund raising dollars, it doesn't appear to be a winning strategy for the republicans. guest: well, they came out right off the bat when president obama signed the health care bill into law saying that they want d to repeal it and that that was what they were going to run on.

and up to that point, politically, they would been tremendously successful in opposing the health care bill which was ten points under water in the polls when it was signed into law. since then, they seem to have potentially backed off a little bit. mitch mcconnell, the senate minority leader, said that it may not be possible to fully repeal the law while obama is still president. so i think that there's some searching for the right political strategy and also a sense that it may not be entirely applausible to repeal the law like they said they were going to originally. host: the caller asked for bipartisanship. the president last week announced plans to drill offshore for oil off of the united states. and some have said that this was an olive branch to republicans to get them on board with the climate change

bill. is that possible? guest: well, there were early indications that it might help. a couple things on that. for one, some of the liberals who are seeking aggressive action on climate change with a cap and trade bill or something are wondering, asking president obama why did you give this concession before you negotiated for what republicans would provide, which would be votes on a climate bill? on the other side, you have people in the oil and gas industry that i talked to this week who said, yes, it's a good gesture but without the details on sharing of revenues between the federal government and states it wouldn't be as helpful as it was sold as being to the actual gas companies. host: now, on what president obama announced as far as opening up more land leases for

drilling, does congress have to approve that? guest: i'm not sure. i'm not sure. i know that president bush lifted a moratorium and that i think it was congress that needed to act to open those areas up. yeah. host: karen on the republican line in new jersey. good morning. caller: good morning. my comment on all of this, i do support the tea party. i consider president obama the american idol president because of all the hype and dishonesty that went into the campaign. but this is such a complex issue that is part of the reason that there is so much controversy because they're encouraging it. they don't want us to know just how despicable his politics really are. host: ok. are you supporting tea party candidates then? caller: i'm certainly looking at them. yes.

host: are you donating money? caller: no. because i don't have any money. and his comment about how much it does cost i think once they get into washington they feel they can do what they want because it's bought and paid for. so they're not really answering to our needs and wants, the people who put them there. so i'm very, very disgusted with the whole system and i really support going back to -- what was our country founded on? some kind of moral and eetsdz things and i just think it's heart breaking to see where our country has gobe. host: all right. we'll move on to alabama. good morning. caller: good morning. host: i'm here in alabama and we're in the midst of a governor reelection. and washington, we are represented by republicans and we are staunch republicans. however, here in tuscaloosa where they are out here

campaigning, it's the democratic rhetoric that they're using and that's not fair. a lot of people don't seem to understand that we see what you are showing in washington the republicans are saying no. but here in alabama, they're saying what democrats are saying. host: ok. which is? caller: as far as the health care goes they're all for it. when it comes out for the stimulus money they're there for it. there's not a big thing for tea partiers here so i don't know anything about it. i've always voted republican. but this particular time, i voted democrat for barack obama. host: on the health care issue, the "l.a. times" is reporting this morning that most californians support the health care bill that passed and that they are likely to vote for a member of congress that voted for the health care legislation. how are democrats -- have you seen strategywise how they plan to go about selling this legislation?

guest: there are some benefits to the bill that they're really going to single out and point to to voters to say here's what you're getting and hopefully from their perspective get away from the deals that led to the bill and charges that it would lead to a much larger government role in health care. and one of those is that, for instance, a college student can continue under his parents' health insurance until a later age. i think it's 26. so they're going to point to the goodies in the bill and republicans are going to seek to talk about the larninger story and -- larger story. host: jim on the independent line. good morning. caller: i like to say that we're talking about how we're going to all these wars for israel, spending all this money and how this impacts congress

and we're not doing anything -- host: we're talking about congress and politics this morning. move on to jean on the republican line in washington. go ahead. caller: thanks for taking my call. the democrats had an opportunity to get in some campaign finance reforms but they concentrated on corporations and left union donations out of it. they could have done real good for campaign finance reform if they hasn't have done that. i'm just wondering if we're ever going to have an opportunity to make real campaign finances reforms and if you had any ideas on how we could go about doing that. host: what are you hearing about campaign finance reform? guest: the democrats right now are working on a bill to respond to the supreme court's decision in citizen united which that decision said that

corporations spending money on campaigns is a right of theirs under the first amendment guaranteing them free speech. so they're working on a response, the democrats are, which could require more disclosure of who is spending the money and those sorts of things. they're going to try to restrict the level of money that corporations can spend for this election cycle. host: illinois, chris tin, democratic line. good morning. caller: hi. i was wondering what you anticipate is going to happen with the 200 bills that are presently being held up in congress. host: what are you talking about specifically? caller: they just said that there are a lot of them that are stalled. host: where did you get that? caller: national news. host: are there specific bills? guest: no. they were just commenting that there were so many.

they would get so far and then get stuck. host: ok. caller: there are a lot of bills that don't make it through congress, and if you look back the founding fathers sort of intended that. they wanted the system to make it so you needed nearly a consensus for legislation to get through. when people are in power they tend to complain about that, and when they're in the minority they tend to be happy that that's the case. host: jonathan strong writes for the dalely caller reporter with that website co-founded by tucker carlson. he wrote the story about r -- broke the story about michael steele and the spending going anat the rnc. here's the inside section, batting clean-up for steele.

have you heard about this fund raising effort? guest: this is going to be a kind of shadow rnc, and in terms of the way that it works, it will be akin to the labor unions. on the democratic side. and they hope to raise significant funds. there are people that have a track record of raising significant funds and they can play a very significant role, particularly with the rnc being marginalized within the party. host: when you say work like the labor unions, what do you mean? guest: it's providing funds to

campaigns, providing workers and volunteers to campaigns. generally, just being a force for republicans that's outside the actual party structure host: will they be public about who they're going after and that they'll release public statements telling the public how much they're spending to go after certain candidates or support certain candidates? guest: well, certain things are required to be disclosed under federal law. and i think they're just still starting right now. so some of those details will come out in the future. but i imagine they'll be transparent. host: where are they head quartered? guest: i believe it's washington. host: anchorage. troy on the independent line. caller: i've got a question. i keep seeing that the country's in economic peril, that we're going the way of crap. and i'm up in anchorage,

alaska, and our economy still seems to be pretty fair and strong. and what's going on with the rest of the country. what states are doing to fudge up so bad that they're going under. and also, you know, like sara palin, she is republican, got rid of the jet that the previous governor bought for no real reason. so why is the rnc trying to get jets? it doesn't seem to make any sense. is the rest of the 48 kind of asleep at the wheel or what? host: two different issues. why don't you take what you found out in your reporting about michael steel and wanting to fly on private jets. guest: michael steele has already been under criticism for chartering private jets, which means a single time you call a company and they get a private jet ready for you and fly you to your destination. he has spent quite a bit of

money on that. what i reported is that at one point there was actually discussion between steele and other top aides at the rnc about whether maybe they should buy a private jet to facilitate michael steele's travels. with the critics already worried about the chartrd jets, that probably would have been very controversial. but he appears to have backed off a bit. host: next phone call from texas. fred on the republican line. caller: good morning. thanks for c-span and happy easter to all. the question i've got is it comes up every now and then, but what is the constitutional basis for making everybody buy health care? nobody seems to give a straight answer to that question. thanks. host: are you following the fight over the health care bill and whether or not it's constitutional? guest: i have been following that. and traditionally, people will

say that under the commerce clause, which allows congress to regulate interstate commerce, that health care is tied enough into the economy that it would suffice constitutional muster under that. what i've actually heard from some constitutional lawyers in d.c. is that the i.r.s. enforcing some of these provisions may allow lawyers to justify this under the taxation and spending clause of the constitution, which has much broader range of authorities than just the commerce clause. host: and so that's what the supreme court could possibly look at if it goes that far. guest: exactly. host: and what is the status about groups filing lawsuits? where are these lawsuits coming about? guest: a number of states have filed them. i'm sure other groups are as well. but those will percolate up the court system and take some time to resolve, i believe.

host: orlando, ron on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. i don't know why people say thank you for c-span so much when you all blatantly cut people off as soon as they have something important to say. and i think that to replace michael steele they ought to get o.j. simpson to run because every -- host: all right. we're going to move on. my apologies for that. this is an open format as as many of you know, and we don't screen our phone calls and we don't have a time delay. but we do ask that the conversation stay civil and appropriate. an when it doesn't, we're just going to move on, cut you off and move on. earnest on the independent line, massachusetts, good morning. caller: i want to say thank you for c-span. it's wonderful that you do the service that you do. i have a question about the mass media, the electronic media in competition with the

press. and what i want to know is, is the press going to start investigating, do some true investigating of the c.e.o.s who are making billions of dollars and see token things like martha stewart getting sent to prison for a small amount of money when you have these c.e.o.s making billions of billions of dollars and they have ruined our economy. and i think that's a thing that really has to be looked at. and you don't hear one itea about that situation from the tea party people. if they really want to know what's going on, they should be looking at something like that. host: about his comments about the agenda going forward. can you address that? guest: from what i've heard, some of the tea partiers are concerned in particular about the bailout that happened and

the influence that some big wall street players had in getting that passed. but in terms of the c.e.o.'s themselves in general, the tea partiers, from the ones that i've talked to, are more concerned about the role of government and tend to view business as a force for good in society more than a force for bad. host: what about the financial regulations bill that is moving through the senate? where does it stand right now? guest: i haven't been following theday to day details on the debate, but i understand it's going to be a huge push for democrats. but something they view as politically a win, that they can take to voters and say we are going to restrain wall street. host: and do they expect they'll get republican support for that legislation? guest: there's some talking within republican ranks over whether they should negotiate with the democrats and potentially join them.

host: pennsylvania, tom on the republican line. good morning. kifrpbltsdz good morning. tom here. thanks for taking my call. you know, i've been following this political issue for a while with regards to the health care debate. and the one thing that sticks out in my mind i think the thing that bothers americans the most is that when the president stands up and blames the republicans for being the party of no, you would think he is talking about 41 people but in fact he is talking about a majority of the americans in this country. and i would like to see a little bit more openness with regard to how many people in the country really feel a certain way about these things. i'll let the panel comment. thank you. guest: the health care legislation was ten points -- it was ten points more

unpopular than it was popular, roughly, when they passed it into law. democrats thought that it would still help them politically. they thought that they would get a bounce from passing the law because voters tend to like success in washington and getting things done. they haven't seen the bounce that they wanted to see in the days after. there have been some good signs but it's fair to say it's not exactly what they were hoping for. host: manhattan, john on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. as a former iraqi soldier i am disgusted to what i listen to my fellow citizens over here debating health care. soldiers are dying every day. dying so you can have the freedom to pick up the telephone and express your views. host: john, let me ask you about the congressional agenda on that issue. what do you want to see congress and president obama do? caller: i want to see congress do what they're paid to do, their job, to have an opinion

and voice of the people that they represent. i want to see the american citizens and the people in government respect the office of the president. you don't have to agree with the president but start respecting the president of the united states of america. look around. the history of america is bad and good at the same time. we have two wars going on. we get all uptight and upset behind a bomber coming on a plane potentially to devastate fellow citizens, to blow up in the air. we get all hype and mighty about it. we've got tea partiers running like they just arrived. host: all right. what about the congressional agenda on the two wars in iraq? will we see anything in the coming months? guest: i don't think there will be any major changes. and i'd like to say in response to the caller on easter morning there are many of our troops who are overseas and in harm's way, and i really appreciate what they're doing over there.

so thank you to the troops that are watching. but in terms of the wars, obama on afghanistan has been a bit of a hawk and he doesn't seem to want to rock the boat. so i don't think that there will be big changes on that front going forward zoofplt honolulu, matt on the independent line. good morning. caller: i have a couple observations. now that the republicans are complaining about medicare being cut, this is the same party about it complaining itance cougs tuitional. wouldn't it also be [inaudible] guest: on the first point, the caller is right. republicans have traditionally been the party that warns about a pending entitlement crisis but they've hit the democrats over the head with the medicare

cuts that are in their bill. what they would come back and say is that the cuts that the democrats are making will be used to pay for new entitlement spending, this new health care reform legislation, where as their plan would have been to use those cuts to shore up the system. on the second point, as the necessary and proper clause is intertwined with the commerce clause in terms of constitutional history but it's not a kind of you can do anything you deem necessarily clause. that's not what it means legally. host: wisconsin, todd on the democratic line. caller: does the health care have to go through the senate? and if it does, if it doesn't pass, does the president get to veto anything on that? if it does go through? host: on the health care bill? it's already gone through the

senate. the president signed it into law. caller: so i thought they had to go through the senate yet with that one. host: no. so what's your perspective on the health care bill? caller: well, i believe that everybody really wants some of this bill to be passed and i think it meeds to be passed because of some of the thing thars in it that the people that really need it. i don't know why we're fighting for not getting something passed, while we had all this time wasted on it. i believe we should come together even if republicans, democrats, whatever. i think we should get together and make everybody in america be able to have health coverage. a couple years ago, i was -- about five years ago, i was in holland and i was surprised on how the medical worked over there. if you were sick and needed to call in work, the doctor would actually see you, have to see you to make sure that you were

sick before you were excused. there's certain things that they came to your house. i think there is a lot of sivings the way they did their health practices over there. i think we waste a lot of money. we put up a lot of buildings that are unnecessary for the clinics and hospitals and stuff. i think we just don't do the general things and waste too much money. host: on the health care bill. briefly, tell the viewers what goes into effect immediately. name a couple items. and what can they expect down the road? guest: some of the cuts go into place and taxes go into place right away. the mainlyor benefits go into place in 2014 and so does the individual mandate that requires that people purchase health care insurance or tace a fine. -- face a fine. in 2014, there will be new benefits and the reason that

it's delayed is to help pay for the benefits. within the ten-year wind oveplt which is how they score the budgeting in congress and it makes a big deal politically but it's kind of a -- it's kind of facetious a little bit. host: jonathan strong, reporter with the daily caller. thank you for being here. we appreciate it. guest: thank you. host: next, we're going to look at credit reports and how they impact you and the economy. with stewart pratted. he testified on the issue last week. we'll be right back. this week we meet laura henry from riverview high school in sarasota, florida.