it would not be surprising if there referred that to the sec. he made a point of seeing how -- of saying how citigroup, when addressing for investors -- the bank -- they found out two months before the panel did. so there is credit on the sec matter, but it is less clear on citigroup. >> thank you to both of you. >> on friday, the senate minority leader spoke at a rally for west virginia republican candidates. other speakers included a u.s. senate candidate and a republican rep. this portion of the event from charleston, west virginia, is about 55 minutes. >> now a discussion of some other races in the midterm elections.

>> to be perfectly candid, from a political point of view, i have not looked across the border with optimism in a long time. however, we have begun to sense there might be something changing in the mountain state. in 2000, when you put west rigid in the win column for george w. bush, had you not have done that, al gore would have been president. on the same day, [unintelligible] came to washington and has done a fabulous job presenting you. [applause] thank you for all you have done for west virginia and the nation. the only thing better than one congressman from west virginia

is three republican congressman from west virginia. [applause] this is the year to do it. let me just briefly take you back to november of 2008. even though kentucky and west virginia were not supportive, the president was sitting on a 60% approval rating, a 40-seat majority in the house, on the way to getting 60 votes in the senate, which is the magic number. if you have 60 votes, you can do pretty much what you want to. his chief of staff famously said "a crisis is a terrible thing to waste." so what we have seen over the last two years is every left- wing idea that had been stacking up over the last 20 or 30 years they could not get through it because i was a republican in the white house or a republican

congress, they have been jamming down our throats. we watched it all, we have seen them running banks, insurance companies, car companies, nationalizing the student loan business, taking over health care, passing a really bad financial-services bill that every community banker in kentucky and west virginia opposed, and ironically, some of the big boys on wall street showed up for the signing ceremony. they passed a budget that will double the national debt in five years and triplet in 10. you get the drift. they are trying to turn us into a western european country as rapidly as they can. we did not know for sure to years ago how the american people would feel about all of this. it was not clear. as the leader of a diminished

band of 40 in the senate, one vote short of where you need to be to be relevant in the process, 41 keeps the other guys from getting 60, we decided to have a great national debate about the future of the country. we decided that none of this warranted bipartisan support and the american people needed to have a sense that there was a genuine disagreement about the future of the country. along the way, the american people began to get energized and activated. we have here with us at the head table, someone from freedom works. you have been extremely important in all of this and we appreciate all you have done. [applause] sort of a spontaneous uprising

of concern american citizens. you all know that i'm frequently on those sunday talk shows. the host was talking about all of these extremists in america. i looked at her politely and said what most americans think is extreme is what this administration has been doing to this country for the last two years. [applause] cash and trade in particular. that goes right to the heart of the economies of kentucky and west virginia. talk about a threat. you go need to send to washington anyone you are not totally confident is going to oppose cap and trade, because it's the worst thing that could possibly happen to west virginia. [applause]

in the wake of all this, it has been interesting to watch the other side in this campaign. back when they manage to jam health care through with not a vote to spare on christmas eve, every republican in the house and senate opposing it, the worst piece of legislation passed in my time in the senate, the worst, can't and trade would be the second worst if it were going to get past, but don't worry, it will not get past. [applause] so, they have this dilemma. their consultants tell them you cannot run on any thing you have done. people don't like the stimulus bill. they realize it only provided a stimulus for public employees and not for the private sector.

you cannot run on the health care bill. you cannot run on a financial services bill, you cannot run on cap and trade, what are you going to do? >> they tried for about a week to demonize john boehner. they dropped that after a week or so. they tried running against george bush again. they discovered there is a statute of limitations on running against george bush and that was not going to work. then, they tried foreign money for a while. they tried that for a week or so. just today, over the last couple of days, they are trying another argument. it goes something like this. this is what my sent senator

harry reid said it earlier today. we were so busy with policy that we did not have enough time to brag about our accomplishments. [laughter] in other words, they did not advertise properly. if you go back and take a look at what they were doing, and a president said something quite similar -- maybe their mistake was they just did not talk about enough, did not sell at well. that was not the policies, but all of us ignorant people who did not understand it. maybe it was not our fault, maybe it was their fault because there are not talking about it enough. let me give you a list of some

of the things they're doing back when they claimed they were not talking about enough. this was the headline from a "new york times" -- obama, the omnipresent. cbs, "too much obama obama saturation. the message is it the message. barack obama's messages may turn out to be the most salient features of his presidency. politico, april 2009, it is all obama, all the time. a seattle newspaper -- "all obama, all the time, the

president is getting over exposed. summing it up, they are now saying we did not talk about it enough. maybe if we talked about more, people would have a better feeling about it. in the president's first year, he participated in 42 press conference, 100 interviews, 23 town hall meetings, seven campaign rallies, the guy doing this compilation said there were only 21 days when the president had no public or press events. i rest my case. this is not a sales pitch problem, it is a substance problem. [applause] i think what we can fairly conclude, even before the votes are cast on november 2nd is that

america is not interested in becoming france. [applause] if you look at the spending and debt and the washington takeovers, americans are genuinely frightened about the future of this country. unless you are african-american whose ancestors were brought here against their will or a american who was already here, we are the sons and daughters of ancestors who are risk takers. they had enough gumption to get up from wherever they were and come to america, the land of opportunity. they did not come for security, they came for opportunity. throughout history of our country, these risktakers have

built and developed the nation we have today. nothing irritates me more than our leaders going of boron and apologizing for america. we will never -- going abroad and apologizing for america. we will never apologize for america. [applause] and i will tell you this. i still believe in american exceptional as some. -- american exceptional as some. that is what is on the line. from the beginning of america to the present, americans always believed they were going to leave behind a better country than they inherited from their parents. when polling started with the gallup organization, they began to ask that question on surveys. do you think you will leave behind a better country for your children and your parents love for you? for the first time, americans

clearly doubt that. we are at crossroads, ladies and gentleman. it is up to us to decide which passed we take. which brings me to west virginia. i hear tell the governor is popular and doing a good job and i know you agree with me that he ought to stay there and do the job he was elected to do. [applause] but this election is who is going to go to washington. where you can have a direct impact on what kind of america we're going to have. there is one candidate in this race i guarantee you can be completely confident will go to washington and help us stop the obama administration for the last two years of what i hope is

his only term. [applause] as some of you may have heard, we first met a while back. i was running for the senate from kentucky and he was running for the senator from west virginia. both of us were little known and had little opportunity to be victorious, everyone thought. we met in a television studio in huntington, and i'm sure they were checking the box. sec probably told them they had to have these people on to give them a little free time. so they decided to check the box on the same day so they would take care of the kentucky and west virginia box on the same day. i was immediately impressed with the intelligence and persuasiveness of john. i view this as a long-overdue

teaming up. we hope to god washington and number of years ago, but it's not too late. send me my buddy and will help you change this country in the right direction. [applause] john knows that you don't create jobs by borrowing almost a trillion dollars which will have to be paid off our children and grandchildren to the chinese and japanese who lent it to us. that's not going to be a great way to create jobs. he knows that if we're going to get out of this economic trough we are in, only the private sector is going to do that. he can tell you, all of us can tell you who have been dealing with business people, they are not hiring, they are not expanding because of what this

administration is doing. in fact, there was a recent article about the president bringing in small business people to the white house and asking why there are not hiring. they went down the list and it was his agenda. [laughter] health-care taxes, health-care mandates, aggressive regulators crawling all over us. they brought all of these left- wing activists from nonprofits into the government to regulate all american commercial activity, every aspect of it. at the epa, at the center for medicare and medicare services that will administer the new health care bill, the financial regulatory bill, everybody i run into, small business, medium- size business, big business, everybody is just sitting there, afraid to expand because

they are not sure what is coming at them. they are -- is the certainty and uncertainty that has frozen up the private sector and keeps us from getting out of this economic trough we are in. only the private sector can lead us out of this economic slowdown. [applause] only the private sector. [applause] you have heard politicians over the years say this is the most important election ever or this is a turning point, i've said in the past. and i believe that the time i said it. but, by golly, i'm having a hard time ever thinking of an election in which more was at stake than this one. our basic american understanding, that this is to be a land of opportunity is very

much in doubt. you know we have gone too far when the president gets lectured by european heads of states about spending too much. [laughter] there is no way i can overstate the challenges the bureaucrats are presenting for all of america. some of you have heard this before. it is a story ronald reagan used tell to illustrate concerns about bureaucratic overreach and intrusion into every aspect of our lives. it is the story of the russian who went in during the old soviet union to order a car from government motors, of course. that's when we never thought we would have the government owning a car company. he goes in to government motors to order a car. he fills out forms and asks the bureaucrat, when can i expect my car. he says it will be 10 years from today.

he said will that be in the morning or the afternoon? [applause] the bureaucrat says what difference does it make? he said the plumber is coming in the afternoon. [applause] these people need to be stopped. this is serious business. we can change america and get us back on track and what you can do here in west virginia is do your part. we've got a lot of close senate races around the country. we could have a really good day, a medium-sized good day, or just a good day. i'm going to be the leader of a larger number. the question is how many. [applause]

i want to close by thanking john for stepping up. [applause] a few months ago, people were not sure this was a doable thing. he has made a believer out of you, he has made a believer of us in washington. we are fully committed to this, all the way to the finish line. help us send him to the united states senate. thank you very much, everyone. good to see you. [applause] [applause] >> what wonderful remarks. let me point this out. the senator is a busy guy.

there are a bunch of senate races around the country right now and we have to bring them home. i would like to think this guy here. i want you to give him a round of applause. without him, we would not have senator mcconnell here this evening. thank you very much. it is very important. the senator is going to slide out now. he is going to try to win a few other senate races around the country. thank you very much. [applause] as you know i have been active with a tea party in the past. there are a whole bunch of groups about -- around the country getting active, waking up. there are folks coming to a elections that have never been involved before. i'm excited when i meet the folks who have never voted before and there are a bunch of new groups involved. you need to hear from the sky. he speaks across the country.

he is an inspirational speaker and we thank him for being here. matt kid from freedom works. [applause] >> i have no idea how i a race with this prestigious front table, but i will take a one happens. it is a real honor to be here. let me make a prediction -- when we read gather for your 100th birthday, we will be talking about a robust economy, an american renaissance, energy policies that actually allows to pursue all domestic sources of energy, and talking about a fiscal conservative having just finished up his second term as president of the united states. [applause]

my group, freedom works, gives way to much credit for what the media now talks about as the tea party. as this movement developed and people started showing up at town hall meetings, they started walking precincts, somewhere along the way, the media stopped calling as names and decided to read characterize us as a political party, they started comparing us to republicans, they started comparing this to democrats and trying to measure as by those same standards. i think that was an honest attempt to understand who these good men and women are, but it is a mischaracterization. the tea party is not a political party. the tea party is not running candidates. we are not a third party. the tea party is men and women who believe the government is spending too much money that it

does not have, that washington d.c. is getting too involved in things that our constitution prohibits it from getting involved in, things like taking over car companies, sitting on the boards of banks, taking over health care. things that defy common sense. we know the federal government does not do these things well and our founders never intended for the federal government to do these things all. there has been this rebirth and if you listen to the president of the united states, if you listen to democrats in congress, if you listen to too many folks in the media, you probably think awful things about the two- party. are there any tea party members in the room? anyone who is embarrassed to put up their hands? [laughter]

it's ok. my name is matt and i am 80 partier. -- i am a tea party year. [applause] what has happened, if you look at the names that have been called, the first thing they said is we were not real. we were phony. there is a guy here rights for the utah -- 40 "new york times named -- who writes for the "new york times" name paul krugman. he called us a phony. then reporters started showing up at town hall meetings, and actually started talking to people. they were shocked to discover that these are real people who live in real congressional districts and have real concerns about what our government is up to. so we were not funny anymore. suddenly, we were being manipulated by some shadowy syndicate of international corporations.

what ever was. we were just a little too simple to understand the blessings of big government and we were being manipulated into doing something we should not be doing. that did not stick. then they started calling us nasty things. you have heard the mall. we have been called domestic terrorists. think about that for a second, how offensive that is. imagine if we had thrown that accusation that the other side. the firestorm there would be. even public radio would be upset with us. [laughter] they keep calling us names and leader mcconnell talked about this. as you get close to the election -- we have a major fire here up front. as you get close to the

election, it seems like the president and the democrats rollout a different accusation every day. it is as if they're casting around, trying to find the one silver bullet, the one named they can call us that will give the democrats to show up and get all the tea party activists to stay home. it is a sign of desperation and it is a genuine misunderstanding of who these folks are. >> i'm sorry to interrupt you, but we have a fire going on down here. we have some birthdays' here, and don't move, you are coming back. we have some birthdays. birthday is today. join me in singing happy birthday. happy birthday to you.

happy birthday to you. ♪ [applause] >> i'm sorry. we had fire going in the front and somebody has to blow this out. before the sprinklers, on. [applause] >> you have to try again. let's move the cake.

it's always a surprise. >> the does anyone have any idea what i was saying? >> is anybody worried about the carbon for a print of that take? -- carbon footprint for that take? the careful, the epa will show up any minute. there have been all of these misunderstandings and most of them have been political. that thing is going to catch on fire. there have been all of these politically motivated accusations and i think most of them, people understood they were not speaking the truth. they're trying to smear was a rising political movement and they have not succeeded. i saw this monday in "politico."

this is the paper you have to read when you are elected to understand what the washington establishment is thinking. different pays story -- the front page story is about over 100 house seats now held by democrats are up for grabs. >> it turns out it was actually 103. three democratic house seats are so undemocratic they don't even count them as pickups. if you look at the senate, and i look at the map, i can get to 12. i can get to 12, and one of those seats is sitting right here. [applause] if you look at traditional measures of voter energy, her a

recent poll suggests that one out of three people that record to show up on election day ourself identified the partyers. that is an amazing number. think about how much these folks can impact elections at the margin. but i understand one thing. these folks are not republicans. they are not democrats. they are not partisans in the traditional sense of the word. they are notified by the idea that the constitutional matters. they are motivated by the idea that the government should not spend money did this not have. the american people cannot heat their homes or drive their cars. that is radical. we are against that.

these are the kind of things that motivate the tea party. there is a genuine misunderstanding. i talk to folks every day and they discover i and part of this wild group of activists known as the tea party. people are genuinely confused. you think about port president obama. this is a guy who cannot conceive of a solution to a problem without appointing a czar to fix it. i suspect if you had to fix out and make a sandwich, he would think that we would need a bread czar to allocate the number of loaves per precinct in america.

this is how these guys think. they think about really smart people in washington d.c. telling all of us what is best for us, telling us what to do. we cannot possibly do it for ourselves. think of the tea party as the polar opposite of that. here you have millions of people all over the country who have come together voluntarily, bringing their own energy, their own personal knowledge, their relationships in their communities. somehow these folks have come together in created something that is bigger than themselves. what is that starlight? that sounds like the market process, does and it -- what is -- what does that sound like? the they think about top-down hierarchy's. what is going to happen on election day? i think there is a seemed --

energy amongst republican activists who did not think we had a chance. there are a lot of independents who have joined us, a lot of democrats with buyers' remorse who have joined together around a set of ideas that matter. you see this in the polls and traditional measures of politics. things that are candidates never had going for them in the past. there is also an unseen thing going on that is going to produce a profound impact on november 2, i believe. that is this local community network that has organized literally in every congressional district across the country. it is what howard dean used to brag about. it is a real 50-state strategy that allows candidates to stand

on principle and be competitive, even in barney frank's district. there are a number of democratic chairman all across america today fighting for their congressional district. they have never had to run the race in their entire careers. it is these folks that are walking precincts that are doing door hangers, putting up yard signs, taking their country back. that is going to be profound on election day. and thank god, not a moment too soon. our country is literally at a tipping point. we have talked about this tonight. if we don't fix all of these problems today, we won't have a country anymore. we have to do this well. to me, november 3 is far more important than november 2. november 3 is the day that this new generation of legislative entrepreneurs starts to think

about how we turned political promises into legislation in bill those coalitions inside washington d.c. think about what 10 or 12 new centers can do to change the conversation on the senate floor. [applause] think about what 50, 60, 70 new republican freshmen house members can do to change the conversation on the house floor. [applause] and think about the grass-roots army that is going to be there for them when they stick their necks out, when they make tough decisions and start pushing his agenda. we have an opportunity to offer a vivid, positive alternative to the policies of barack obama, nancy pelosi, and harry reid. it is these freshmen who will provide that energy.

i would say to all of the two- party and those who were too embarrassed to hold our heads up that they were t party, our job starts on november 3. we have to support our guys when they do the right things. if they start to get cozy in washington, we have to remind them how they got there and what they are there to do. i hope you guys all pick up some yard signs, pick up some door hangers, and let's take back america on november 2. [applause] >> we thank you for all you do out there. and happy birthday. we actually had that plan. we have television cameras back there. we want this to be interesting for television.

our friend and west virginia's friend, the congresswoman. >> thank you. [applause] thank you all. thank you for those great words. riding on the bus myself, the crowds that were generated in the parts of the tour i was on, a lot of tea party activism and enthusiasm brought those crowds out to see us on the bus. it is a real phenomenon. i feel like west virginia, this is our time. west virginia republicans, this is our time. [applause] to take our country back, to take it to the values we believe been, to the personal responsibility, to be able to

have a future for our children. charlie and i are brand-new grandparents of a baby girl. i keep talking about her. she is so cute. for me, we would not be here if it were not for a lot of folks in this room. particular, thank you, but, for your dedicated support for me. that is what you are doing here tonight, putting that stamp of approval on all the folks on the ballot. you are saying i believe the news so much that i am willing to put my name with your name and talk to my friends and neighbors and say to them, this is our time, the time to take our country back, to make the statement at the ballot box and to make west virginia so that senator mcconnell, he will want to come over to west virginia to

see how we do it and how we know how to organize and get the message out. this is a wonderful crowd for that. we have a lot of problems and we have heard a lot about them from matt and from senator mcconnell. he is a good luck charm, because i met him probably one. week before my very first election. who else was there that night? he was a good luck charm for me and he will be for you as well. he sees everything across the country. i really pleased that he was here with us tonight. we have a situation that is devastating us here in west virginia and across the country. when your neighbor loses a job, that is recession. when you lose a job, that is depression. when nancy pelosi loses her job, that is a recovery. [applause]

so all the issues, overspending, cap and trade, those are the things i have been a solitary voice most of the time in our delegation saying no, this is not right for west virginia and for the country. we need to work and make it better for what people need, want, and feel is in their best interest. that has not been what we have seen in washington. i need a couple of friends from west virginia in washington d.c. [applause] we need a voice in the u.s. senate. we need a good, solid, conservative vote every time. he has been up front and has been a great champion for us. you want to talk about job creation? that is what john has done his entire professional life. now is the time we need that

kind of energy in the u.s. senate and also to protect our interests in west virginia. let's work hard to make sure regret that voice in the u.s. senate. david mckinley is working hard. i am sorry he is not here with us tonight. he is the energizer bunny. mary is always right there with him. they are running a great race with a lot of energy, but it is going to boil down to election day, just like everybody else's race. i will finally have somebody to sit with from west virginia on my side of the aisle. that will be a great day. [applause] spike maynard, i have gotten to know you so well over the campaign. he has been a wonderful campaigner. he has such talent being a former supreme court justice, and has a great sense of humor at the same time.

it is time to say so long to the entrenched incumbent and sent spike maynard to the house of representatives. [applause] with that, i want to say from the deepest part of my heart, and has been an incredible honor and privilege to serve in congress for 10 years. i have been entrusted with you to go to washington and vote for you and your families and businesses a near future. i want to continue to do that, but this is our time. let's take our country back. thank you. [applause] >> is also a great privilege to bring to the podium the next

united states senator from west virginia. [applause] >> thank you very much. i told a high school class the other day, the louder and longer you applaud, the longer you stay out of glass. i had a standing ovation for five minutes. when you have of the leader of the united states senate, senator mitch mcconnell, come to charleston, west virginia to support the entire cast of west virginians, that is a real kudo. bill phillips, thank you very much. matt, thank you very much. you have absolutely help our campaign immeasurably. i respect what you do and am

very proud to be a small part of the tea party. thank you very much. [applause] had the birthday. how many is it for you? [laughter] you don't know? her birthday and our anniversary of three days apart. we were married 32 years, is that correct? [applause] liz got here late, she was marching in the homecoming parade. how many young people did you have with you? 55 junior walker, a very good. how many of you got to see not a

debate the other not on public television, not a debate but a forum. liz raese was there, and right in front of the governor. he knows where you live, doesn't he? that is just a guess. chellie made a wonderful documentary on what we are going to do if we could give her some friends in congress and the u.s. senate. how many of the recently heard barack obama come out and say that if the republicans take over congress, i am going to have to go head-to-head combat. anybody heard that? wow, can you imagine barack obama going hand-to-hand combat? [laughter] i cannot. let's just look at that. how many of you remember

another leader that we new cult ronald reagan? do you remember ronald reagan? -- that we called ronald reagan? do you think he would make a statement like that? i don't think so, because ronald reagan was a leader. he and tip o'neill got together and said let's start cutting some regulations. let's start cutting some taxes and get this country moving again, and by god, he did it. that is a leader. i want to tell you one story about or reagan. liz and i were in the company of michael reagan. he said when we had a situation when reagan first went into office, it was called grenada. we had 275 of our children trapped in a school system over there.

they were invaded by the communist party. reagan sat there in his office in washington, and caspar weinberger came in and said mr. president, we have 275 of our children locked in a school right now, surrounded by communists. caspar weinberger then said president, what you want me to do? reagan said well, let me go in to my other office and let me think about that for 30 minutes. so he went into his other office and sat there and came back out in 30 minutes and told caspar weinberger, alboin and get them. that quick. the war, if it was called a war, lasted a day and have, and our marines went in and got them. nothing politically correct about any of this, was there?

there were no rules of engagement. already murphy could have been right there. guess what happened, we got them back, didn't we? so caspar weinberger walks in the very next day and said president, i have often wondered, since we were victorious, why did you need those 30 minutes to think about the situation? reagan scratched his head and said well, i just thought to myself, what would john wayne do? [laughter] could we use a little john wayne right now? i think so. [applause] the greatest thing of what reagan did is he showed us you could turn it around. how many of you remember the malaise speech?

and then there was the misery index. and then jimmy carter would say let's turn down the thermostat and everybody can freeze to death. ronald came in and did something very unique. senator mcconnell talked about american exception lissome. he said the same thing that i say. we are exceptional people in this country, are we? we are exceptional people. [applause] senator mcconnell said something else. he said that our forefathers and foremothers came to this country yester day because they were exceptional people. they were not satisfied with where they lived, whether that was too much taxation or too

much regulation. they said we want to be exceptional. and they came here and they made the most exceptional country in the world. that is what role reagan believed. he believed in american exceptional listen. let's contrast that right now with what barack obama thinks about that. when he was asked early in his presidency what he thought of american exception listen, this is what he said. he jetted his chin up at the ceiling. he had to teleprompter right here. he said yes, i believe in american exception listen, but i also believe in german exception listen and french exception lissome. what does this tell us? he does not know what it is. he doesn't believe in american

exception lissome. ronald reagan did. what did he do? he took interest rates that were almost 19%. he took the situation with inflation that was almost 20%, and what did he do? he turned around, because he believed in america. everything that senator mcconnell said is very true. but we have in this country are all self-inflicted wounds from people that are in congress and the u.s. senate that looked after their own best interest and not yours. not yours. [applause] we have a wonderful opportunity in the state of west virginia to really get on the map. it is like when bob huggins to gust the final four. it is like when we had a wonderful golf tournament this year. held out november 2? how about spike maynard, david

mckinley? [applause] if barack obama can go hand-to-hand combat and west virginia gives him a little message. i think that would register all across the united states from here in a coal producing state that is going to stand up and tell him what to do with cap and trade real quick. that can happen real quick. [applause] when congress is taken by the republican party, which it will be, we are going to have a new leader in congress, aren't we? his name is probably going to be john maynard -- john boehner. what happens when he is the leader of congress? who sets the plate?

that means obamacare will be a lot of trouble. cap and trade, in a lot of trouble. stimulus money, going back to the treasury. card check, in a lot of trouble. that is what we want. that is what america wants. that is what the tea party once. that is what our children want. we are in the position in west virginia right now to go to the final four. this time, not fourth place, this term first place. we win, you lose. thank you very much. [applause] >> now, discussion of some of the races in the midterm elections. this is about 35 minutes.

host: we want to welcome back patricia murphy. good morning. thank you for being with us this morning. good to have you both back. let me begin with the front page of the "washington post." looking at the tea party movement. if you go inside canvasing the party, the "washington post" talking the disparate groups at make up the tea party. what they believe in. 99% say the economy is their number one concern. opposition to the democratic agenda, 92%. then you go further down other issues. control of congress, health care policy become minimal. then you look at the top five words by the tea party movement. patriotism, constitutionalism, freedom, liberty and grassroots. guest: it's fascinating and displays the challenge that republican leaders have going into the elections and the

times they're going to have coming out of e elections. the tea party movement has listed the republican party up to a point where they could take back the house and senate and much stronger position for the presidential elections. but the question is what happens afterwards. what we know about the tea party movement is strong fiscal conservatives. some of them are strong social conservatives. they are not seff identified republicans but they are voting republicans. and i interviewed dick armie and he said the goal is hostile takeover of the republican party. they're not interested in keeping the leaders they've got in there. so it's good for the republican party maybe on the whole for the energy but the republican leaders in therere going to have a real hard time rustling this to be the energy that they want instead of the energy that they get. host: as this map shows the location of tea party groups around the country can see in every state, and then the high lighted areas are congressional driction with groups saying

they are campaigning for candidates or elsewhere self-identified as tea partiers. guest: this is a movement that sprung out of nowhere. this is organically growing in the country. it's not -- nobody controls this. republican leaders don't control it, dick armie doesn't control it. they barelyan control themselves. one of the biggest things, in terms of organizational, one of the biggest things to watch is whether they can organize effectively in a lot of these races. if they're going to go out and vote or are they going to get people out to vote. are they organizing in that manner. and can they hold this together going forward. i don't think it's a coincidence that most of them say that it's the economy that is doing -- driving them at this point. i think a lot of these tea party people are these activists are republicans who are, frankly, dissatisfied with the way their party has acted tover past ten years or so. >> host: and who is the face of

the tea party? no one, sara palin, glenn beck, jim demint, ron paul, and minnesota republican michelle balkman. guest: unbelievable that the leaders are not elected officials. and the only elected official is jim demint who doesn't have a whole lot of seniority in the senate. he will have a lot more influnes after this but it does go to show that there is no leader of this movement. and to the extent that it is, they're peop speaking out in the media and sort of whipping people into a frey. guest: if you look at the impact this movement has had, it has been in the senate contest primarily where they have been able to field candidates who are not part of the establishment, who have gone on to be the establishment candidates in places like nevada, colorado, delaware. they've already had this impact. and they're saying we don't want the usual faces. we want people who are going to

stick to our principles. host: one of those familiar faces is mitch mcconnell. he was campaigning over the weekend for the west virginia senate candidate john racy. here are some of the comments of the kentucky republican. >> these people need to be stopped. this is seers business. we can change america and get us back on track. and what you can do here in west virginia is do your part. we've got a lot of close senate races around the country. we could have a really, really good day, a medium-sized good day, or just a good day. i am going to be the leader of a larger number. the question is how many. host: h manylet republicans take back control of the senate? the "new york times" saying the republicans psed to win the house. the senate is the still up in the air. guest: historically speaking, if a party has a big enough wave, especially when they're this far in the minority, to

take back the house, the senate usually follows. if you look at it race by race, it gets aittle harder to believe that republicans can actually do that. they had a great opportunity in delaware which it looks like they've let slip away with the nomination of chris teen o'donnell. there are some opportunities they have but they're going to have to run the inside straight. i think this is a question of is this going to be a big enough wave that you're going to see people like bar bro boxer and patty murray swept underneath. but i think it's a much more open question. guest: if you talked to republicans, they never dreamed that this woul be the year that they would take back the senate because they have more opportunities in 2012. the plibs that i've talked to are looking at this as a way to get a foot in the door and maybe a foot in the house through the door, and then 2012 they think they're going to kick the door down. so if not this year, certainly the 2012 that these trends hold up.

host: and there's a front page story showing ken buck and michael bennett both at 47%. guest: that is one of more than a half a dozen contests at least that are within two points of each other. and you see that happening in nevada, in washington state, and wisconsin. and these are states that democrats should not be losing. and the fact that they are this close to each other, this close to the election, is keeping democrats very, very worried and up late at nigh er night. so that's what's making the direction of the senate so unclear, is that a lot of these races are very close and they could go either way just depending on who turns out, any events that happen before the election. host: the headline the denver post, deadlock in the final stretch. guest: that's a race that we've seen more outside spending than any other senate race in the country. this is a place where these outside groups like cross roods and others in the democratic

senatorial committee have put money in there. i like to think of colorado where it's not exactly a bell weather but it's sort of out in front of the times. it's gone democratic, republican, democratic republican. of course, president obama held his conventionhere. one colorado making it more of a purple state. the shared republicans are very energized there and they have a good shot. i think one of the things that might hurt ken buck there is the governor's race isn't quite probably as competitive as it should be in the environment. there's a three-way re. there's an independent candidate that is outdrawing the republican. that may end up hurting the senate candidate a little bit. but that's going to go down to the wire. we may not know for a couple days. >> and john is holding a lead in the governor's race. guest: micha bennett has never been elected in colorado. he was appointed by president obama. president obama is under water in colorado right now. and we're seeing this in a lot

of states. and i was in west virginia yesterday. people even who are not -- people who are democrats do not like the president right now or they don't like his policies. and it's not all democrats. it's conservative democrats, independents. and that's dragging down democrats who were appointed or campaigned for the president, endorsed the president. host: your former colleague chuck todd going into this mid term election saying florid is the race to watch. but the moim herald again saying rubio back in command and now this does not look like a close race. guest: it's certainly a race to watch. it is florida. but it does appear as though rubio has the edge there. this is an interesting race. it's had a lot of great levels and been wonderful story to watch. but this is not a seat the republicans need to win. this is a republican held seat. if they hold on to it, you know, they're not losing anything. marco rubio, however, is going to be, if he is elected, a

major figure in the republican party. he has energied people and he sort of occupies this weird area where he is sort of identified with the tea party but even some tea party activists don't sort of see him in that way. sharon angle in nevada was asked about what, she was caught on tape talking about some tea party figures. and she said well, we could count marco rio but i don't. guest: he has about three quarters of the latino vote in florida, and that is a huge, huge defining factor down there. and it's something that is very important for the republican party i think to start to expand their base. they cannot just count on wealthy white men to continue to reelect them. they need to expand into the minority. marco rubio is an incredible opportunity to comes from the latino community, is cuban, but is very socially conservative, very fiscally conservative. so he's a great standard bearer for them and that's why they're so excited about him as well.

host: joining us with nine days to go before the election. patricia and von, we'll show you om soft ads in the most closely watched races in just a moment. but first, doris from garden city, south carolina. good morning. caller: i am not a member of the tea party. i believ in what they stand for. all of us are sick and tired of the government wasting money. my uncle, 70 years ago, died in office as a congressman. so i do know a little bit about what goes on if you're a young man, gets in there, a new candidate, elected to office, and the old ones come up and say i am not voting for you, anything you do, unless you vote for what i am doing. this has got to stop. it is old school politics.

all they care about is themselves and their future. they do not care about the citizens of the united states. social security is not getting an increase. they say that gasoline last year did not raise that much. we don't live on gasoline. food has ge up over 6% since september. a for instance, wal-mart us to sell their bagels four for $2. they raised it to $2.50. that's a 25% increase. their fabric has jumped 30 cents. and this is fabric that they have had in stock because they're deleting their fabric and craft departments. host: so based on all of this, how are you going to vote in this mid-term election and how old you vote in -- how would

you vote in 2012? caller: i will vote republican. but i vote for the person who i think is best for their job. host: thank you for the call. guest: well, i think that sums up a lot of sentiment in the country today. there is a real frustration with what happens in this town in washington, d.c. there is a sense that the government is ineffective, that they don't care. they're disconnected with the needs of everyday americans. and i think this is part of the demoats' problems. this is fundamentally a debate going on in the country about the role of government. what should the role of government be? the obama administration democratic congress has put forth a lot of program spent a lot of money. the only argument they can make is we're on the right track. it's going to get better. people aren't seeing that in their everyday lives so we have this real tension. host: and tax cuts. one of our viewers saying that the tea party rallies led by the establishment never mentioned the u.s. money roads

and $13 trillion deficit. how to cut back. they love the military war and god. but let me take up his point about reducing the deficits. are there specifics? will the republicans come in with a plan? guest: the republicans have talked a lot about reducing the deficit. they have been a little light on specifics but they have said that they wa to put a freeze on nondefee discretionary spending. they haven't talked a lot about entitlement reform. although you're starting to hearhat i think is interesting, a lot of republican candidates just sort of dip a toe into social security reform and saying we know that social security is a train wreck waiting to happen. we know that we need to make some changes. and that used to be political kryptonite. you did not go there. so even if you do cut some programs, scale back government spending, none is going to get to the heart of the problem is that our population is getting older and the entitlements are very expensive and we don't have a younger populion able

to support that. so something needs to change. the republicans, if they win back control of the house and or senate and or presidency are going to wrestle with these problems. and the demrats in some ways think that if they don't win the house, and i've heard people say, if they don't win the house, at least they can stt to blame the republicans for some of these problems. it's a very cynical view but it's out there. guest: i think that's the challenge going forward, regardless of what the outcome of the election ends up being, we knw that it's going to be a much tighter town in washington, d.c. democrats have enjoyed large majority in the house. really large majority in the senate at some points. 06 votes. they've been able to get a lot of that stuff through that they wanted to. they've been able to further their agenda when they start a new session of congress, neither party is going to really be abl to push anything that they want through. it's going to be a good chance to compromise with the administration, the republicans.

we'll see if that happens. host: peter baker writes about that this morning. patricia murphy in the "new york times." he joined us last week. today he writes sounds a lock like 1994. guest: democrats think that knut gingrich was the best thing that ever happened to bill clinton. and there a reach within the republican house and the american people said it was a reach to go after the president. it helped bill clinton move his agenda forward in small ways and he could triangle it a

little bit. and he could be seen he was able to compromise withhe republicans and he would get a nice pat on the bac and the republicans to their credit pushed him to do things he probably wouldn't have done in terms of welfare reform. so it ended up being a good dynamic for both of them. guest: and i think people would be better off not looking at this as needing a foil and more as an opportunity to compromise to get something done that has broad support. the president's debt commission is going to be coming in in december. they're going to be making some recommendations about how we get out of this financial hole we're in. that seems to me a good area where the president and new republan leaders could work together. we'll see if that happens. that's not been the pattern in washington. but i think if the president were able to cooperate to get some things done with republicans, it would help take the edge afe of what a lot of people criticizeim for, which is being a big spending liberal

and he wants to do this. that's going to help him far more than just having somebody to beat up against. guest: and americans especially independent voters want a divided government. they want checks and balances. they don't like to see either party with full control of the house, senate, and white house. guest: and yet they want to see things get done between those two. host: dan from massachusetts. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for takingy call this morning. something i've been a little baffled about and i've heard people talk about is the tea party seems to start immediately after obama got elected and the big issues that they're talking about really were in our face during the bush administration. you know, i'm independent. i really don't care who is in

charge as long as who is in charge is trying to operate things with a little integrity and honsty. and when i see what happens to our country under the bush administration, equate it to for the government is a really nice fine car. bush got the nice fine car left to him by the previous administration. that was in real good shape. and not only did he like take the corner too fast and hit the tree and smashed the entire vehicle up and leave it in pieces, you know, leaking oil and doors falling off when obama stepped into office, you know, now all of a sudden dick armey, the ex he had of the republican party is -- starts

this tea party movement and jumps all over obama apparently because they don't like the way he's fixing the car. host: thank you, dan. we'll get a response. guest: well, i have attend add lot of tea party rallies and had a chance to interview dick armie and a consistent theme is these people were not happy with president bush and felt president bush gave away the political mantle. and at the end of the bush years there was a group in congress led by mike pence and jeff flake, fiscal conservatives who would express their disgust with president bush. and the vote that seems to have most activists upset was tarp. that was setting the government on a course o towards socialism. so if you talk to tea partiers, i think they're upset at both president bush and president obama and president obama i think their biggest complaint, this is a group in particular that we saw does not trust the governmen and president obama has put the federal government in charge of large areas of the

american economy. not in charge but certainly there's a larger federal presence in health care, maybe in energy reform. and the banks certainly. so as the car companies. it's been kind of an assertion of federal authority that tea partiers are not comfortable with. host: which is one of our viewers wring this. let's take a look at some of the ads beginning with nevada. senator harry reid is now down in a number of polls. it is a race that is being viewed today as too close to call by charlie cook who keeps track of these things. >> still 11 days before election, but over 3 million americans have already cast their ballots. they already voted. early voting has been strong in this election with registered democrats surprisingly leading the way. more democrats than republicans

have already voted in iowa, maryland, north carolina, louisiana, and nevada. republicans have the edge in two states, florida and colorado. and the two parties are running even in the other two states, ohio and maine. it m not be enough to stop the republican surge. the democrats may be closing the enthusiasm gap. >> our troubled economy isn't news. 600,000 americans have lost their jobs since january. paychecks are flat and home values are falling. it's hard to pay for gas and groceries. and if you put it on a credit card they probably raised your rates. you're paying more for health insurance that cors less and less. while you've been lig up to your responsibilities, washington has not. >> this was a moment when the

rise of the ocean began to slow and our planet began to heal. this w a moment when we ended the war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last best hope on earth. host: and we should point out both fb the web sites of the senate candidates in nevada. let me begin with the harry reid post it with chris matthews on hard ball. guest: it looks like democrats are doing ok there. and they're actually doing pretty well in other spots around the country in early voting, too. something like 30% of the vote isupposed to come from early

voting in this election. that's what is being forecast. that's a pretty big chunk. these parties are putting a lot of emphasis into that anything they can do to get an edge is important. i think in nevada it's not going to matter so much as getting every single last vote they can out to vote any way that they can. that is going to be a race that is just going down to the wire. and i think it's important for people to understand that in nevada they have a ballot line called none of the abo. so you can actually go in and vote for harry reid, sharon a ankle or none of the bio. it will be interesting when we've sow much anything tivity and the choices, there's unpopular choices on both sides to see how the none of the other does. host: tom from arlington, virginia. democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning.

could we get more people to call in? i mean, i know your opinion's important and what your readings are important. but we need to get some input from the people. i mean, this is a nice forum for everybody to have something to say. host: you're doing that right now. so please go ahead with your call or comment or question. caller: if people, memories are so short, they can't remember what republicans left us and they want to vote for them and put them back in office, fine, let them do it. but they put us in such a bad position. we seem to be coming out of this. but if people want to go back to where we were before, then so be it. this is what the american people want, god bless them. have a nice day. host: thank you, tom. guest: this is the democrat's problem right there. they feel like they've accomplished things that they have staved country from getting in worse shape than it would have. they will make that argument alday long. but it's just very difficult to sell that out on the campaign trail when unemployment remains very high, when people still

remain very anxious what's gog on. it's a hard thing to say. we did the right things. things are going to get better. just trust us. tough one. host: rublican line, good morning. caller: thank you for c-span and your guests. i just wanted to kind of explain who a tea party member is. i'm not a person that is signed up with any organization, but i am a person who attended one of the first tea partys in the country in late winter of 2009. i found out about it through michelle malkin's website and it just kind of sprung from there. now, it was born because of dissatisfaction with an john slogget of things that happened -- on slauth of thing that is happened all at one time. tarp, then stimulus, then cap and trade, then health care, then the economy kept getting worse and joblessness kept getting worse. and it's like we needo put

the brakes on things. and if you want to know -- and i am a republican. i've been a registered republican but i'm an unhappy republican. but what we want is somebody like chris christy who will take definitive action to try to rein in this out-of-control spending. and get some moderation back in this -- it's like a train speeding tauf cliff. host: patricia. guest: well, it's interesting that you talk about chris christy. his profile is rising quickly in the republican party. he's starting to be talked about as a presidential nominee even though he's been there about a year in office but he is very popular in republican circles. but what else they think is interesting there is that you talked about all of the issues that had you concerned. that's exactly what we're seeing in this polling. this is what is giving this huge enthusiasm edge to the

republicans. this is people who maybe have not been involved. maybe they're registered republicans but not involved in the republican party before. social networking has been a huge factor. to see something with michelle malkin that you can log on to a facebook page, it's been something that the democrats haven't quite known ho get their arm around. and with chris christy is so indick ti of what could be happening. we saw a big spiken republic turnout, a decline in democratic turnout and actually a little kind of an uptick in independent turnout. and that's the wave or the spike that republicans are having to see in 2010. host: pop culture already meeting politics. two storiesn the "washington post" this morni. for liberal groups, it's not just for laughs. a preview of the daily show, john stewart, steven col better rally. the truth is that nobody is quite sure what to expect

it will take place this saturday and c-span will be covering it live beginning at noon eastern time. guest: john says this is not about politics. this ostly has something to do with politics. when again beck had his rally on the mall in august he said that was not about politics either. clearly these are both political phenomenon. it's going to be interesting. whether this has any impact, it will certainly get a lot of attention. i find it interesting that the president is going on stewart's show this week. he's going t be appearing there, the first sitting president to appearn the daily show. that's not unique in itself. but combined with this rally and the fact that the president

spent an entire week going across the country to college campuses, usc in california. he's been making all these stops on campuses clearly trying to energize these folks. host: and the interview will be taped wednesday and airing wednesday evening. c-span will be covering this event. it's supposed to last about two or three hours. james from illinois. good morning. independent line. caller: good morning. i have two questions. first, and basically both pertaining to campaigns. in regard to campaign financing, considering the citizen united decision, was that so far from what we've seen pretty much whoever spends the most money generally gets the most bang for their buck, which basically means a voter doesn't have the right information or gets a lot of misinformation. so you can consider that a negative or positive issue? and my second question i hope

you don't mind me asking two. my second question is, considering journalists are in charge of basically disseminating informati to the viewers and the voters, shouldn't you be giving a little bit more information about what's being said that's not true? host: we should point out we've hosted in the past bill adair who does review the adds. guest: plit fact is a fantastic site. and i think in terms of the media's role is that a lot of republican candidates aren't doing a lot of interviews. these don't need the media to get their message out to the voters. so i've talked to a lot of reporters who have a hard time tracking down the candidates. they're not having pubc events. there's certainly some democrats as well trying to lay low. if they're in a good position they just want to keep their numbers going. they don't want to talk to reporters. so there's a challenge out there this cycle. because if a candidate is able

to get their o message out, especially if there's a lot of money in that race, they're able to blanket the ware waves, have a twitter page, have a facebook page. they no longer need to go to the "new york times" or washington times to do a sit-down interview and voters don't trust the media as much as they used to, either. so even spending time on those kinds of activities may or may not help people in these races. i know i've talked to a lot of reporters who have a hard time covering these races. host: one viewer saying, did steve say the post is seriously calling on stewart to cancel the event? krl joining us, democrat's line buffalo, nok. good morning. guest: the money in the political system asoth of your guests know, you've been

around enough to know, it's not the five and the 10 and the $25 contributors that is generating these literal billions of dollars. it's the fat cats. for example, president obama himself is either just has been or will be attending a $30,000 a plate fund raising dinner. $30,000 a plate. now, we know the media is not going to be overly critical of the money in the political system because the system has thrown them a life line. roughly half of the billions of dollars, according to the political pundits, goes to buying television time. now, my question to your panel is really this. these people aren't dumb. they know by spending billions of dollars blanketting the television air waves with 15 and 30 second commercials they

can manipulate and buy votes from the american people. host: thank you, carl. guest: well, money and politics, it's not oil and water but they do -- guest: peanut butter and jelly. guest: mix of opinion. i find it interesting that the labor union, they've said this week it was reported this week that they've spent some $87 million in this election. the chamber of commerce is speppeding $75 million in this election. it sort of always depends on which side you're on when you're complaining of money and politics. the call ser absolutely right. there is a lot of money being spent. a lot of it is coming in in donations that we don't know where it's coming from. it's coming from third party groups. this is something that comes up every two years. we deal with it every two years. i think there's been a lot of good reporting done on this topic this year.

there's just some thing that is we don't know. the supreme court has ruled that it's freedom of speech. that campaign spending in some instances is freedom of speech. >> tomorrow, the chairman of the american conservative union discusses what -- conservatives are looking for from those running for office and incumbents. mary kay henry talks about the union's money role in the elections and efforts to get voters to the polls. richard barrett, coordinator of the u.n., al qaeda monitoring commission talks about whether the taliban is in talks about ending the war in afghanistan. that is live on "washington journal." journal."