among recent graduates. this is "washington journal." [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] host: house and senate candidates are on their way to spending more than $2 billion for the first time in a midterm. "the washington post" that is the equivalent of $4 million for every congressional seat up for grabs this year. if you heard of predictions that republicans are likely to win the house on november 2. charlie cook, a veteran handicappers, said it is a wave of an unlikely to match the 52- seat gain in 1994 or substantially more. this morning, we want to hear

from conservatives only. if you win, what do you expect? we split up the lines -- we want to hear from both of you this morning. conservatives, if you win, what do you expect? political front page says, can gop leaders keep the peace if i were to take the house and senate -- it and they were to take the house and senate? it could create a headache for john boehner. if the becomes bigger he will be able to enjoy his crowning moment 20 years in the making for about five minutes. the story continues inside politico about what potential speaker john boehner faces.

that is "politico" this morning. it also had a story about what could happen on the senate side. if you look at the senate and how it may play out, charlie

cook says this -- an eight-seat pickup seems about right but it is not written what a great deal of confidence. there are made too many races separated by very few points. not sure what is going to happen in the senate on november 2. "politico" says -- kentucky signals a conservative out of rage. minority leader mitch mcconnell has been campaigning of putting aside differences with rand paul, republican senate candidate in that state. the story and "politico" says -- detroit, on the line for tea party supporters, what do you expect it republicans take

control? remember, you have to turn the phone down. we will come back to you in just a minute. a little bit about the situation between mitch mcconnell and rand paul. it says here in "politico," back in kentucky mcconnell and rand paul put aside their differences in an effort to beat democrat jack conway. most will times a week mcconnell was on the phone with rand paul.

ok, let's go back to the phones. tea party supporter in detroit. caller: how are you? host: doing well. caller: good. i think we need to shrink our federal government and a lot of the wasteful social programs. host: that is what you expect are you voting for tea party candidates? caller: yes, i am. host: what do you like about the message? caller: i like the message about getting back to the constitution. host: emory, let me ask you this, though, do you think any of the tea party candidates you are backing, should they compromise? with the democrats? caller: yes, i am sure that they would. host: are you ok with that? caller: i am ok, as long as they are moving forward in the right direction.

host: portland, oregon, chris on the minds of republicans. what do you expect was a mark caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: we can, go ahead. caller: i expect to win and everyone listened to 101. -- host: bill, tea party supporter. caller: i think the talk of compromise. we had republicans who compromised and it got us the george bush era. if we don't need any more in there. s we need conservative republicans who are interested in -- you will hear it over and over -- shrinking the size of the government. how do you compromise with people will want to expand the government's power and reach? host: let me ask you this, bill. on the issue of tax cuts and increasing taxes in order to -- as well as lawrence spending --

loring spending. some people say you can't cut the deficit by just cutting spending. he can get there. you will have to raise taxes as well. would you compromise? caller: i think that is an excellent question. a you know, i hope that some of them do step up and realize that, yes, there is a segment of the population that is going to have to pay more taxes. so, i would like to see -- i think there is room for dialogue there and i would like to see some of the tea party supporters show some ability to compromise on that issue that you mentioned. host: second question. some have said the true test for tea party candidates, if they win, one of the first test will be whether or not to raise the debt ceiling or shut down the government. there have been stories about that, that in order to keep the government running, which are running up against the debt ceiling. so you have to increase the debt ceiling or the government shuts down.

caller: i don't think they are going to want to shut the government down, but maybe you can for something where -- let's face it. i saw something on c-span that said in michigan, the median income has dropped by, like, 14% or 13% over the past year. and that the federal government, federal government workers have increased by 15% over the past year. i saw this on c-span. maybe they cannot shut down the government by having across-the- board cut in pay for federal workers. host: you are calling from pennsylvania. are you supporting pat to me? caller: i am supporting pat toomey and i am not supporting corbett for governor. host: republican line. james. caller: i have been a republican

for many years, and i believe that the tea party is a wonderful infusion of energy from people who see hope in our party who have gotten disgusted by the corruption of the incumbents of both parties, but particularly in our own party. we have always been disgusted with the democrats. what i expect to see when we wind is an efficacious grid lock. we will see no more 2015 hundred-page bill without anyone reading them. and we was a business, the money that people have been afraid to invest in because they don't know what the rules are going to be paired the rules are made it -- going to be. host: you think gridlock, that congress does nothing, and it brings certain to do business.

caller: that brings an of certainty do business that they will start spending some of the money on medium-sized projects. i don't think we will get really major investment until such time as we can get a hold of congress, we take the presidency. because the president will start doing things on presidential orders based on a nearly infinite authority the congress has already given the executive over the years. people will not want to invest money until they can project over the next year or two, that things like the regulation of a co2 and other -- every breath of air that industry in its well not be shut down. and we are going to have two years of hard political combat after this, but gridlock in the short term. and god willing, we take back the presidency in 2012. host: how closely are you

watching the race between patty murray and dino rossi. caller: i am watching it closely. the question is whether it will be decided by 200, 5000, however many votes show up from people polled are discovered in the central counting facility in the capital in a major city of this state with a register homeless people and just report them on election night. host: james, in the political piece, is as mitch mcconnell on the senate side denies he has plans to effectively shut down the senate, saying, we weren't sent to washington to do nothing. go ahead, what is your reaction. caller: the objective is not for republicans to shut down the

congress or the senate. the objective, if we get control, objtotive, if get control, is to present meaningful bills that are small enough so people can see what they are and forced the president to either sign or veto things that the american people wanted donna. host: pittsburgh, back to pennsylvania. john is a tea party supporter. caller: build on what the last caller was saying about gridlock, that will be a good thing. that will slow down the government. we don't need the government to lead america. companies will then pick up and they will lead america back into prosperity. you know, it depends on which state you are in, whether of the republicans take control -- the tea party takes control. a there you will see the major changes. host: john, turn your television

down so that we are not getting that feedback from you. what you do that, "the washington times" this morning, front-page. education department, rip -- tea party hopefuls renew calls to abolish the carter-era agency. if you tea party peebles said they will get rid of the education department and let the decisions be made in the state and local level. do you expect that, and you agree with that? that these candidates the support that? caller: to totally abolish to the entire federal program, no. but i would make major cuts, not only to that program, but many federal programs and reeling just have it as a a jiging they are there justic -- they are

there just to keep tabs of what the states do. given back to the states. host: would you compromise on the issue of, if the democrats agreed to cut spending, would you compromise, would you like your republican tea party candidates to compromise on the issue of increasing taxes in order to lower the deficit? caller: no. it is obvious that you lower taxes, you will get more revenue. if companies have money out there to spend it, they will spend it. it is all over the news that they have millions and billions and trillions of dollars sitting are around. if you cut the taxes, those companies will spend that money and you will receive double the taxes in return. host: glenn, a republican line in lexington, michigan. caller: originally from

kentucky. my relatives fought in every war in this country. i have two buried in arlington. i just went to one of them this last summer. and obama is destroying this nation. we got paul -- we got, the 24th air force and attend naval force because of this cyber stuff. the chinese have taken over iraqi's oil concessions. host: i will jump in here, are you calling from lexington, kentucky? caller: i am calling from lexington, michigan. i am 69 years old. i have been down and the worst earthquake in chile in the 1960's and involved in the bay of pigs. i've got one of my good friends dying from things from this agent orange. host: what do you expect from republicans if they take control of the house and senate? caller: i expect them to correct

this and do like i was a kid. acquit borrowing money from the chinese, start selling our own u.s. savings bonds, give an interest rate on it. when i was a kid -- i grew up in at the detroit school system. we bought stamps for bonds, a nickel -- and when i was in the military, we had to buy a bond every month to pay off the korean war. host: we will leave it there. "the new york times" frontpage --

now a pleasant, michigan. daniel, a tea party supporter. good morning. caller: good morning to you. i was a member of uaw and afse in michigan and i also conservative american and i support a lot of the tea party. i would like to see the politicians when they get in there, put all the elected officials -- judges, senators, congressmen -- everybody on 401k, and all of the medical should be medicaid and medicare, the same as the people. if you put these people on a 401k and put it into big cd's,

their money would be protected and it would roll over every year and then they can adjust at a higher interest rate if the interest rates go up, but their money would be protected for retirement. but it would also not give people medical for life. the country needs our borders secure. that is congress's job. i am very conservative on the environment, too. we've got over 1000 dams in the state of michigan, that people have their little cottages on that's -- that could have little generators on them and supply the grit and supplied the communities and the grid. it is clean. fish ladders for the environment. it will keep the waterways and the migration of fish. host: minnesota. carol on the line for

republicans. talking to conservatives only. if you win, what do you expect? caller: thank you for c-span. i expect immediately for john boehner or whoever is the speaker to look very hard at shrinking the size of the government in every way possible and try to keep the bush tax cuts. i want to get rid of health care as it now stands and replace it with a more sensible insurance across state lines. and not having the -- i cannot think of the name for it -- host: medical malpractice? caller: medical malpractice. i would like to get rid of many departments in government. i want to go back to the

constitution and i want to go -- i think every tea party, every republican, i think all democrats as well, should have to read the constitution before they sit in their chair. host: you and others might be interested in this "baltimore sun" article this morning, the tribune washington bureau. it talks about modest -- modest bush era ideas may return if the party wins big. loosen state regulation of insurance markets to allow insurers to sell across state lines. limits on medical law practice lawsuit and expand so-called high risk pools to provide insurance to six americans who are otherwise denied coverage. it says. -- when republicans were last the

control they had little success with the proposals that they are advocating now. they look at the facts and figures and a during the six years republicans had control of congress and the white house, health care premiums rose an coverage declined in federal spending surge. that is "the baltimore sun" this morning if you are interested in that. georgia, tea party supporter. caller: we have to remember that the government does not earn money or create jobs. it confiscates money and it grows government larger and larger, which is a burden to the taxpayer. the two-party system has not worked very well. it actually rules against the will of the people. people did not want to bail out the banks and they build up the bags. people did not want obamacare and they got obamacare.

people did not what the government and auto industry and it happened. if we get a better car, i doubt it. we will continue to see the government roll away at has been unless power is transition back to the people so that they can run the country. it's called on the line. i want to update you and other view -- host:, hold on the line. i want to update you and other viewers. ford to invest $850 million in michigan, create 1200 jobs. the state also consider tax breaks for private -- private from gm and chrysler. a woman to get your reaction to the front page of "roll call," the capitol hill newspaper. gop once insiders to staff the outsiders. tea party candidates, those who might be new to the senate, the

story says -- what do you think about that, having insiders being advisors to these people who are coming from the outside? caller: the gop better wake up. or they are going to be basically on the outside, they are going to be the outsider like the democrats are. we the people are trying to take their government back, and this is what is going to happen. 1200 jobs by gm, that is not a drop in the bucket. they need to build an automobile -- not a combination of golf cart and atv wrapped around plastic that cost $40,000 and has a range of 40 miles. we need real jobs, a lot of

them. they need to put forth legislation to bring companies back, create jobs in this country where people can send their kids to college, buy houses, automobiles. that is not happening. we can do that only if people take control of the government. host: coming up at 9:15 a.m. until 10:00, we will talk about college debt and what kids are facing when they graduate. on average it is around $24,000, is what kids are graduating with this year. let's go on to bakersfield, california. mike, republican. what do you expect if you win? caller: i hope republicans resist the calls for amnesty from the open borders lobby for the illegal aliens and work to reduce legal immigration. i think we here in california are bankrupting ourselves, as george will put it, importing poverty from the third world and

exporting talents which execs -- excess of regulation and taxes. i've been the only kind of immigration we have an benefit from economically are the h1-b visa-type immigrants, high tech, advanced researchers and those kind of people. that is the current immigration we need. as immigration has increased over the past 30 years, we brought in 40 million mostly low-skilled or mostly unskilled workers from third world and yet our per capita gross domestic product, per capita income for people in this country, has not increased one nickel. so, the argument by the open borders lobby that immigration is good for the economy it simply does not benefit the average person. the only people who benefit are those high-ranking executives of companies to work for corporations to sell to the new customers, such as procter and gamble.

host: we got your point. that was mike and bakersfield, talking about expecting action on immigration. tennessee. ben is a tea party supporter. go ahead. caller: i want them to give social security a raise. bush gave them the biggest raise there ever was. and i think they should do you build the general motors plant in the united states instead of sending it to mexico. host: you want a raise and social security? caller: yes, i think the people deserve it. host: can the country afford it? caller: they are sending money overseas. why can we afford it? host: you would like to see decisions made about our obligation overseas. caller: yes, i think we should quit spending money over there and spend it here at home. host: roger, republican line. what are your expectations?

you've got to turn that television down. i will come back to you. a little bit more from ms. " . "piece about what mitch mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate, faces if tea party candidates win and republicans take control of that chamber. jim demint made it a habit of sparking an internal battles is leadership would otherwise like to avoid.

the joint -- detroit, roger. is it television down? ok, roger, i will move on. louisiana, sherry, tea party member. have to turn your television down. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wanted to talk about social security. you call it an entitlement but the thing is about social

security, it is not like the regular income tax. we forget it was set up as a trust. i haven't heard one person in this country discuss just what the details of that trust is. let's pay back the money we borrow to fund world war ii plus interest from way back when and maybe social security would be a little better off. people keep a borrowing from it. host: what do you want to get done on the issue its tea party candidate republicans win? caller: for somebody to look at the trust set up for social security. also secure the borders. i agree exactly with what a couple of callers before said. basically with social security, everybody borrowed from it. let's pay it back. let's make it solvent. host: talking to conservatives only, with airline for

republican and an 940 party supporters. if you win, what do you expect? front page of "usa today" this story. jeopardy ifda in gop hit its goals. that is the front page of "usa today" that you want to go to the specific races. and a new poll out saying gop voters are far more fired up, enthusiasm gaps in as bad for democrats. that is the front page of "usa today" today. republican from georgia. caller: i can hear you anymore. host: we can hear you. caller: first of all, mitch mcconnell will have some problems because he failed to exercise his responsibilities as a leader, to use his leadership against republicans insisting on staying in after having a

nominate that the old-timers did not like. he is not going to staff our offices with people who are experienced but we will staff have -- his office is with people who are not. this is step one. we will go after in every primary, good, honest, solid americans from both parties. and'll get rid of the rinos work hard to get rid of progressives. there is a moderate democrat anymore. left-wing radical, really left wing radical and left. susan collins and libya's know and several people in the republican party are real progressives and progressives did not believe in the constitution. listen to maxine waters say let's not attention to the constitution and let's socialize and businesses. host: sounds like you are going

after moderate republicans. you want to take them down and primaries in 2012 or 2014. are you hiding of mitch mcconnell? you think he is a moderate republican? the caller: they talk about moderate republicans. there is nothing as a moderate democrat, for sure. there are a lot of progressives, radical left-wing people out to take down the competition and that is part of what the fight is about. getting back to it constitution -- excuse me, i am sorry. host: are you involved in any sort of tea party group in georgia? caller: tea party patriot, we started this thing down there. first of all, there is no party. taxed enough already is what we are about. i went to a town hall meeting last year in 2009 and it was back. they bought in school buses, government buses, filled with seiu people, and when i went up,

i was lucky enough to be drawn to have a question. i said it is nice to have all these people with their t- shirts. i notice the cayman school buses. i would be curious of anywhere from our district. i asked if you are from the district. they told me, no, they were not. we threw them out of there. there was no coverage of that story whatsoever. host: that was bob, tea party supporter and organizer from georgia. the latest polls on the top races. it is from "the washington times." cavallerano send race -- colorado senate race, a dead heat. connecticut senate race, richard blumenthal is leading over linda mcmahon. florida senate race, marco rubio takes the lead with 40%, charlie crist with 33%,

kendrick meet 18%. you can see the rest of the races. we will scroll through them as we go through the next phone call. jeff, tea party supporter, michigan. caller: i am very excited now and i am hoping when we take over, it will be to keep the promises. but the first thing we have to do is cut social security benefits. it is just ridiculous. one way to get rid of national debt, at least cut social security by 50%. it should be the same role for the congress. they should cut a lot of them. host: 4 worth, texas.

gary on the republican line. it your expectations. caller: i expect them to go back to the constitution which they have not been falling for the last 20 or 30 years. it goes all the way back to reagan. they were just making laws in doing whatever they wanted to and not even coming close to falling the constitution. they tripled the size of the government since the 1980's. they say they have not, but they have. just look at the numbers. it has gone completely out of control. host: for myers, florida. patricia, republican line. caller: i expect the public to have some patients with this new congress. it is not likely they will take the senate. just keeping their feet on the ground, learning their jobs, getting committee assignments, perhaps picking four issues that they can really concentrate on and communicate that to the public. that in fact they are not going to be able to do 14,000 or 50,000 things at one time.

it will be and everyone's best interest if the public just keeps their feet on the ground, and the conservatives and republicans communicate that issue to the public in general. that would be in the countries best interest. it also to hold their ground because they are going to be slammed a lot by the left, and the left will pull every dirty trick in the world on them. it would be in the best interest to stay focused. stay on message. host: with everything going on in people's the lives, if republicans and house of follow one option that has been in the papers, that republicans bring of small bills that deal with the spending, every week bring up one small bill, do you think people like yourself will be able to pay attention every week to small bills that don't get a lot of press coverage and don't get a lot of talk?

caller: you know what -- i don't know about that. they will do it anyway. that is part of their daily business. they deal with hundreds of small bills. but i think it would be in the best interest to come up with a plan, for instance, with the health insurance and say, here is what we are going to do for the next two years until we elective new president. this is what we would like to accomplish. we need your help and attention. we need your focus and your being in touch with us as representatives. let's keep an open line of dialogue. pick a couple of these things that they know they can make some impact on, that will engage the public and keep them interested in, and then they can get about the business of governing. host: another new poll in west virginia and "the washington post." jill mansion -- joe manchin, the governor, is opening a lead.

on the spending side of this equation, the federal page of "the washington post" updates every tuesday, who is spending and how much. colorado senate race where michael bennet bestride to keep this seat attracts the most spending -- or where michael bennet is trying to keep his seat attracts the most spending. in a dead heat with ken buck. democratic senator michael bennet is pulling out all the stops and loaning his campaign an extra $500,000.

cleveland, don supports tea party candidates. caller: good morning. excuse me paired -- excuse me. what i would like to see happen if the republican party takes over, i would like to see them start to repeal -- excuse me, of course this would happen as soon as i get through what i would like to see is the abandonment -- abandoning of nafta and gatt treaties. that is what i would like and expect the government to work on because globalism and nationalism does not work together. we either have wrong orbit -- one or the other. the problem that i see is when those treaties were signed, we opened the door for free trade, and that is not necessarily fair

trade. you open our markets, which every world wants to get into, you open those markets to goods that were manufactured by a population that was making pennies. a standard of living like americans, we cannot compete with that because from our beginning, we have worked, our founding fathers and past generations, have worked very hard to increase our standard of living. host: we will leave it there. we got your point. a little more on the colorado senate race. gop gets out of the vote in that race. early voting -- early voting making a difference in colorado.

east prairie, missouri. denise is a tea party supporter. caller: yes. my comment is that i expect that every bill that should come up before congress should be measured by the constitution. host: how do you do that? caller: first, you study the constitution and read what it says. there are a lot of bills that are past that if you study the constitution, you will find they don't measure up at all. host: the front page of "the chicago sun-times" this morning. the final push. crofton, maryland, republican line. if conservatives win, what do you expect? caller: and costs $9 trillion to run capitol hill -- just senators, congressmen, there

were 150 different regulatory agencies with overlapping authority to keep an eye on wall street. now you have obama's regulatory reform. now you have 119 government pure arce's with overlapping authorities. bureaucrats and never get voted in. we don't know their names or faces. these are laws that never go before congress, never go before the senate. that's got to stop. cut half of the government agencies, fire half of those bureaucrats. consolidate the rest of them into one agency that way when they don't do the job, we know who's head it to roll. stop buying bottled -- host: yesterday we talked to independents only, to dave

conservatives, and we will talk to democrats before the election. we have a leader of the tea party express, chief strategist, sal russo. then the executive director of the league of united latino citizens. >> c-span's local content vehicles are travelling the country visiting congressional districts to look at the most closely contested house races in this year's midterm elections. >> bringing michigan to where it once was. i have had a close family lows his business after being in business for six years. >> it is bad. pontiac went down. they have nothing. >> i am concerned about

employment definitely. the auto industry changed. michigan used to be the hub of the wheels that used to run michigan, jobs were plentiful. i think we need to address the issue. >> the current limit rate of around 12% in oakland county. the state averages around 14%. and the foreclosure problem has been horrible. it has been hobbled all over the state but really bad and oakland county. the economy is just really scary right now. people are losing their homes, losing their jobs. there just doesn't seem to be a big gun of recovery quick enough. and there is just a real anxiety out there. especially in michigan but the auto industry. so many people have lost their jobs and we have one of the highest unemployment rates. >> we were one industrial type of state.

the automotive industry has shrunk and or downsized. a lot of the jobs have been outsourced. we need to recover from that. >> i have had two businesses close that i owned. i have friends who actually moved to arizona, san diego, all of state. everybody is moving out of state. dallas. it is affecting me primarily because i am working out of state, too, because i can't find full-time work. >> just wanted to come by personally and ask for your support. >> i am a democrat. >> super, well, thank you. we will keep working hard. >> i am a teacher, too. >> it is -- especially here in michigan. >> especially you today realize that everything that washington does somehow impacts us on an everyday life. everything from our health care to the taxes we pay, to how the schools are basically educating

our students. >> there are two candidates. gary peters, incumbent democrat. he is the first democrat to win this seat in more than a century. the republican is answer rocky -- andrew rocky richkowski. gary peters is on the finance committee. he wants to bring money back to michigan to set up a loan program, for money to expand businesses. >> i love this, obamacare, make it hurt. i would not want this. >> richkowski would like to see the health care repealed and he is interested in jobs in michigan and the best ways to go about doing it. the district encompasses all of oakland county, northern suburb of detroit. has always been a republican but

over the last 10 years it has been trending more democratic. the voters have been voting for democrats for president and governor, i would say in the last four or five elections cycles. just this past year, or this past election cycle in 2008, democrats won a lot of seats and a lot of different areas. >> we just have to keep working. we are hearing good things. the key thing is getting the message out but it is important to get them to the polls. that is the challenge. >> they have never been employed -- >> a big republican year. i think if it had stayed even a little bit the same as it was in 2008, peters would have no problem being reelected at all. but just the move -- the mood of the state and county, it makes it a much tougher race.

peters has no plans to ask the president to come in and campaign. the president has come in the past two years a couple of times for fund-raisers but he has not been backed in a while. peters has said, obama is not on the ballot, i of on the ballot running on my record. it is going to be indicative of what kind of year it is going to be as far as whether it is a democrat or republican year. and it could very well throw the majority of congress one way or the other. if gary peters loses here, a fully expect the republicans would definitely take over the majority of congress. >> leading up to know -- to the november 2 midterm elections, we are travelling the country and visiting congressional districts where some of the most closely contested house races are taking place. for more information on what the local content vehicles are c- span.org up to.

/lcv -- are up to, go to c- span.org/lcv. >> "washington journal" continues. host: sal russo is chief strategist of the tea party express group. begin with the tea party express group and your role in it. critics have said that you and others have done donefears what would be done, you tap in a movement to raise money for your own interests. people talk to your long resume, your 10 year but the republican establishment. critics say they feel like you are exploiting it to raise money for your own interests. how do you respond? caller: the tea party movement has a lot -- guest: the tea party movement has a lot of critics, but when you go back when rick santelli at his ranch, there were people who said democrats will win

senate seats and hold their own in the house and they were saying the republican party will go the way of the whigs, and reagan conservatism is over and we have entered a new era of obama liberalism and in 20 months the tea party movement has totally changed everything. it is very much a grass-roots organization, but it has had enough leadership to focus some of that energy into changing the political process in washington. as you see, we have had rather remarkable record of winning not only general elections like we did in the special in massachusetts but a long string of primaries to get people out of office that are not responsive to what i would like to refer to as the zeitgesit of the time, which opposition of the growth and intrusiveness of the government, higher taxes, onerous regulations, higher deficits, and the worst thing probably, skyrocketing national debt. host: can you speak to your background where it -- so people

can understand what you have done in the past? guest: i have been active in conservative politics since i was 19 years old when i have a great fortune of meeting ronald reagan, who was not yet a candidate for governor. i went to work for his campaign in 1966 and when he got elected, went with him to sacramento as a personal aide. that was my start. i have been involved in a concerted activities in politics ever since. i have tried to get fouled a few times but the lore of the campaign to keep things good in our country has been too strong for me to resist. i have my own political consulting firm and we have done campaigns all over the country and every once in a while we were -- would venture overseas and do things like campaign for ukrainian independence and campaigns and other parts of the world as well. guest: according to the latest figures come as of but -- host: according to the latest figures, you have spent $2.2 million so far. putting this on the screen.

the breakdown of where this money has gone. most of the fall into the nevada senate race to oppose harry reid and support sharron angle. before we talk about those numbers, i wanted to look forward to the next several days. how much money do you guys have on hand? where do you plan to spend it? guest: first of all, we are a federal political action committee and have been since the very beginning when we started the pac in 2008. everything we raise and spend has been reported by the federal elections committee. we are prohibited from taking any corporate dollars. we can only receive money from individuals. our maximum contribution has to be $5,000 or less. of the 10,000 -- tens of thousands of donors, the average contribution is $62. we start every day kind of broke. we have no reserves, no major donors who cannot give even if they wanted to because of the

limitations of the federal election law. what we do every day is said e- mails out and say, look, we think it is important that we win this election for the senate in nevada or alaska, or do this bus tour to try to get people enthusiastic and get out so that we are sure to get them to vote on november 2. when we do that, are members respond. we are totally beholden to how they respond. we are probably the most purist democratic organization as the tea party movement because we cannot do anything unless our people support it. it's good you do not have any money to spend going forward the host: you do not have any money to spend going forward? guest: that is true every day. $8 million that we raised and spent on campaigns. our people are very enthusiastic and excited, so when we put a call out every day of what we are going to do they respond so we will continue to spend the right up to election day. host: if you look at how the

numbers breakdown, "the washington post" said 9000 -- opposing harry reid and supporting sharron angle. if you spent 2.2 million and almost half has gone to bat nevada senate race, it plays into the scenario, the critics -- criticism that this is just the republican agenda. you are going after the democratic leader in the senate, by spending half of your supporters money on that one race. guest: that is certainly our priority raised but we spend money not only in direct supporting campaigns -- i did not know on the top of my head -- but probably 3 million or $4 million we spend on the campaigns, but these national bus tours, the whole idea -- and this is our fourth tour as the tea party express -- the idea of the first two tours last year if -- was there were millions of

people who were frustrated with the direction of the country but they did not know what to do. we have the bus tours and rallies and thousands of people came out at each stop. the number one question was, what should we do. 80% have never been involved in the political process before, so they did not know what to do. our goal was to say, stop sitting at home on your couch throw with your slippers at the tv set out of frustration and go out and join the millions of people who share your view. what we have done in our bus tours it is gotten millions engaged in the political process, showed them the means by which they can get involved. as i said earlier, we totally changed the dynamics of politics in this election cycle. not only are we not going to lose seats in the congress, but people who are conservative are looking at it and take control of house of representatives and very likely to take control of the united states senate. it has been a remarkable success and i can't think of another

political movement going back to maybe the reagan revolution that has been as successful at the grass-roots level as this one has been. host: disagreement with you about success in the senate -- christine o'donnell, you put about $250,000 into that race in order to beat back a primary challenge but she is trailing by 20 points. by using that seat, it looks like the democrats could likely hold on to the senate. guest: first of all, i would say the polls are closing. the last poll i saw had a margin down to six in delaware. on a very big issue of the day, opposition of the growth and intrusiveness of the government with higher taxes and more government regulation and a skyrocketing national debt, christine o'donnell is 100% right on that issue. a primary opponent mike castle was maybe 50-50. and her general election

opponent chris koons is 100% wrong on the major issue of the day -- chris coon. number two, our goal is not to let the majority of republicans, our goal is to elect a majority of physical conservatives. host: but if you follow the money, your group has not given her candidacy and supports as the primary. are you conceding defeat? guest: obviously not. we are at a bus tour, and we are heading to wilmin delaware, to have a rally. our strength is, even though we put money into campaigns, our strength is weak and motivate people to get out and get involved in the campaigns and i think we will see it in delaware. she is a very good candidate and certainly right on the major issue of the day. it could teach strategist sal russo -- host: chief strategist sal

russo is our guest. for tea party supporters, we have a special line -- there is an article saying "art tea party years willing to sacrifice -- "are tea partiers willing to sacrifice?" are you willing to compromise on the issue of raising taxes in order to tackle the deficit? guest: no, absolutely not. i think taxes are too high. i think one of the big problems we have with our economy is over regulate it and overtax said. we have over $10 trillion on the sidelines in the business community because they don't

have any confidence on where the government is taking things. i don't think raising taxes is the solution. i think that is a big part of the problem. i don't think we support anybody who wants to raise taxes. host: another story in "roll call" this is gop wants insiders to staff the outsiders. the senate tea party and house candidates, it looks like republican leaders are coming up with a list of potential chief of staff that are former chief of staff, capitol hill staffs, lobbyists, to staff your tea party candidates. do you agree? guest: here is what we have done. not only have we supported candidates who are physically conservative but we look for candidates to have a strong dose of independence. the problem. in washington, d.c., it is a go along and get along culture. i don't know anyone who is democrat, liberal, conservative, who don't think we have a

dangerous situation with these big deficits and national debt. i think these are the kinds of candidates when they get elected, will go to washington, d.c., looking this merry go round of spending and spending has has -- has to come to an end. people with connections to that it takes a blend of old people and new people to make a change, and that is what we will see. if you look at the candidates that we supported, marker rubio in florida. he does have experience. then we have others like christine o'donnell, joe miller, who have never been in the elected office. in it is not all about experience but more about mental attitude, and i would cite my former boss ronald reagan. the day he left the white house, nobody doubted he was an

outsider but he never joined the culture of washington, despite his eight years as president. those are the types of people that we want to represent, that will be a part of the problem, not the solution -- solution, not the problem. host: next phone call. caller: what we should do with health care is open up interstate lines. if i wanted to buy my health care from maine, it would be a lot cheaper because there is less demand in that part of the state. the other thing, buying cars, i could buy a car for cheaper in maine not i colon how to assist a gift and i can in florida.

-- then i could in florida. host: i am going to jump in. we are talking about the tea party express. talk about his comments on health care. guest: we opposed obamacare, not for the least of reasons, it will bring the costs of health care too exorbitant amounts. we think the federal government should get out of the health- care business. there are issues that we can address, the uninsured, pre- existing conditions, there are a lot of republican solutions to the health care problems we have come without nationalizing health care, which is what obamacare did.

host: houston. alexis. independent line. caller: good morning. i have a comment and a question. we get to call in once a month and i have seen you repeatedly cut people off midsentence. i would like to know from mr. russo why your organization is racist? you put a defense stamp on who you are but you are the racist arm of the republican party. host: let's get a response. guest: that is probably ridiculous. not only do we have to be parties exploding in the u.s., we have hundreds of them growing in europe and asia. it is for the same reason, government is out of control.

greece is the poster child for government getting out of control. it is a grass-roots movement and it has to do with big government crippling our economy. the statistics are each child born in the u.s. is born with a $400,000 debt on their head. the grass roots movement that is called the tea party are people concerned about the growth and of intrusiveness of government. we publicly do not support racism. it is just a phony issue that people are using against us. the tea party movement keeps on going. host: karen, tea party supporter. good morning. caller: first i would like to address the previous caller.

i am a tea party supporter. i am not a racist. i have been called a racist so many times because of my political beliefs. what we need to stress is political dissent is not racism. i am having -- tired of having the race card thrown at me. on one occasion i was called a racist and i said, what do i have to lose, yes, i am a racist, what else do you have to throw at me to discredit my beliefs? it is a spear tactic used by liberals try to hold onto power. it is time to end all of these entitlements. it is time for every american to step up to the plate and get a job if you can. for those people who are not working, they do not want to work. if you cannot find a job in my

area, you are lazy. host: on this issue of stepping up to the plate, would you be willing to compromise, representatives compromise someone in order to address the deficit? caller: i want to lower spending. i want to outlaw lobbying and buying of our house of representatives in congress. i want the federal government out of my home, out of my life. i do not believe we should be fighting wars to protect other countries when we have people suffering in our own country because of the way the government is set up. i believe we need to work as hard as we can, even if it means fast foodburgers at a fat fo

restaurant. host: there is a story about mitch mcconnell, and what the republicans face with the different factions of the republican party. he is known as a pragmatist, has been willing to compromise in the past in order to get things done. he is quoted in the paper as saying people are not sent to washington to do nothing. if you compromise, agree to raising taxes, would your group then go after him in his next primary for reelection? guest: i do not know what we are going to do in 2012, but i can say unequivocally, we are opposed to raising taxes. the tax burden is too high. our deficits are too high. i do not think there is any compromise with the government.

no, we are against growing the government. not only is it physically irresponsible and burdening our children and grandchildren, but we are expanding the government far beyond what the founding fathers intended. many t party members believe that the government exceeds the constitutional authority. i would say we are not compromising and that is why we are opposing michael castle in delaware, please send rakowski. we want people like joe miller or christine o'donnell. -- lisa murkowski. these are people who are determined to bring the cost of the government down. the reality is, you have to give to get in washington, d.c.

that does not mean that you do not have to compromise, but not on the fundamental basis that these people are running on, and that is stopping this runaway government. host: an e-mail from a viewer -- guest: first of all, saying you want to eliminate the federal on something does not mean that you want to get rid of it. i thought it was a terrible mistake to federalize education. i have a lot of teachers in my family. i do not know one teacher that believes the billions of dollars in washington managed by and bureaucrats and thousands of regulations helps education. if we took all that energy and

local schoolo thesthe level, we could get a lot more out of it. it is not the role for washington, d.c. that is how the government is out of control. host: joan emails in -- guest: no, i am not saying that at all. a lot of the health care issues along with the states, not the federal level. if i was to suggest what their role in federal would be in health care, they limit so much when a state health insurance policy would look like, the cost would be unaffordable. allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines would go a long way to provide an affordable insurance program across the country. so there are a lot of things you

can do for reform. paul ryan in wisconsin has a great website. heritage foundation also has a great web site. one of the thing people are unhappy about is that barack obama was elected on this idea that he was going to bring a consensus to washington. but what did he do? he lurched strongly to the left, and that has created this rebellion across the country. hopefully, this election result will send a strong results -- message to the president as well as to the country saying we want these problems addressed, but we do not want to strangle our economies as such. host: tonya on the democratic line. detroit, michigan. caller: a lot of these tea party candidates are just plain crazy.

take a look at harry reid. he was supposed to be dead in the water. now he has new life against sharron angle and he can win the election. there are one in three americans who have not made up their mind about who they are going to vote for. in november, i think the democrats are going to take back the house and senate. guest: i think the tea party candidates are terrific generally across the country. they have stuck to the big issue, the growth and a intrusiveness of the federal government. at our rallies, we did not talk about foreign policy, national issues, we are focused on the personal, economic issues. i think the vast majority of the tea party candidates are as well, and they are perfectly in concert with the american

people, and that is why the polls are showing huge gains for us. far from being crazy, i think they are your average american who is tired of seeing their government become dysfunctional, monopolized by lobby in washington, doing nothing more than raising money to start new programs. we need to put money out there to invest and create prosperity. i think these people are going to get us back in the right direction. host: fairfax, virginia. then, republican line. caller: i am a conservative. i am very thankful for the tea party express, as you mentioned, for your focus on

economic responsibilities. i am definitely against the nationalization of health care, banks, auto dealers, but tbe careful when you talk about getting away from health care. i know some people might think that that means medicare, it may not be what you mean -- host: thank you. mr. russo? guest: thank you. perhaps i should restate it. health care is an issue that should be responded to that the state level, without federalizing every other issue, like we have done. perhaps i was over general in my

statement. host: myersville, pennsylvania. caller: since ronald reagan there has been a big transfer of wealth to the wealthy. then we had president bush, along. big tax cuts for the wealthy. -- bush come along. we had government contractors and then pharmacy companies. all the money went to them. the ordinary people of the country lost our good paying jobs through free trade. all the republicans were for renewing free trade agreements. the only thing that we have left is social security and medicare and now you are going after

that. the rich have all the money. i agree with taxes, but taxes on the lower and middle class are too high. it is time to raise taxes on the well-paid so we can save our country from falling apart. host: mr. russo? guest: you gave me a lot to work on. let me defend my old boss. i think a vast majority of ronaldans would take a minut reagan back in a heartbeat. unemployment was a way in the double digits and then he was able to create this economic boom that lasted 20 years. the private sector creates jobs, not the government. we need to create a good investment environment where people are creating jobs.

when john f. kennedy was president, that is what he did. that is what george bush did. it is a tried and true way to get the economy moving. we have let the government get too big and out of control. our goal is not to make the rich people rich. our goal is to make poor people rich. you can only do that with a growing economy. you will not grow the economy with the government raising taxes, increasing the regulatory burden. that does not give investors the opportunity to invest and create jobs and prosperity. if you look at our tax burden, it is distorted. we have too much reliance on the capital gains tax, high income, and we need to broaden the tax base. we want people who have money to invest that money.

we have several trillion dollars parked on the sidelines today. we want that money invested because that creates jobs. host: a twitter viewer responds -- i want to go back to delaware. you said earlier that christine o'donnell was a strong candidate. does that mean that the tea party express will be giving her more money in the final seven days? guest: like i said, we are going to wilmington, delaware to do a rally. that continues to be a high priority. at this stage of the campaign, we are just contributing money, and at this time, $5,000

maximum. we think her campaign is telling her story, making people aware as we did in the primary, the key issue of the day, the growth of government, christine o'donnell is 100% right, chris coons is 100% wrong. it is pretty simple. we are going to be there before the election to try to give her a pushed to the top. host: marietta. tea party supporter. houston, texas. caller: the tea party movement originally started on the principle -- that which started the american revolution. the british were overpowering

the american colonists. and then they threw the tea overboard in the boston harbor. that is where this got started and it has grown almost into a political party, which is fine, but the current administration has been running over the people in this country who have jobs, trying to control them, just like the british did in the 1700's. this is why this party was started. i just want to ask the supporters of these liberal candidate, who do you think is going to support you? this government will take away everyone's jobs. we will be back to the 1700's. host: memphis, tennessee.

vivian on the democratic line. caller: good morning. i have not heard the tea party talk about those people who have lost their unemployment benefits. how about the people losing their homes? like the lady just said, people are losing their homes, jobs, but they want to make it sound like it happened under obama. this was already happening. this was already in place. everybody is blaming this anon obama. no, it is these rich, white men who are republicans. they want to go back to the time when my grandmother was working for them. guest: there is a reality today

that it is a global economy. republicans and democrats alike -- president clinton, one of his hallmarks was pushing the democratic party away from isolationism, really having their heads in the sand, and that every president has agreed that that is the right way to move in the future. we cannot create jobs in the country and must -- unless we empower the people who will have job creation. we have been saying clearly, when you grow the government side we have done, you increase the regulatory tax burden, like we have done, you do not provide the climate in which investors will invest, create new technologies for our children

and people who need jobs today. that is what the two party stands for. i think you will see the economy get better once we can demonstrate to the business community that we can have a healthy environment. our goal is not to help rich people. our goal is to help poor people become rich. host: next phone call. caller: you must be talking about a different ronald reagan. he raised taxes 36 times while in office. he was also the one that gave all of the illegal aliens amnesty when he was in office. when bush was in office, he had the house, senate, and the supreme court. he gave us nothing but taxes for the rich. they were getting millions.

do not try to blame the problem that obama has on the obama. he could not reverse in two years what bush did in eight years. i do not hear anything from you about president bush. guest: i do not think we would have a two-party movement today if it was not for the fact that millions of americans were disappointed with both. we are unhappy equally about the spending between president bush and president obama. what we saw in 2006 and 2008, a lot of people who were concerned about this dropped out of the political process. now people are saying enough is they were discouraged by both political parties.

the tea party became a place to go, a place to register your feelings. that is why we have seen this remarkable transformation of the political scene. i think people are ready for change and that is what they are doing. your caller was totally wrong about ronald reagan. he reduced the regulatory burden on the government. he innovated the technology industry that the lead us into this tremendous economic boom. everybody was more prosperous thanks to ronald reagan. we want to replicate that in 2012. hopefully, president obama will listen and can change. so far, he and vice president biden are probably the only two politicians in america that want to raise taxes, raise the

deficit. it is up to the president to this election. host: i want to look at this had done from "roll call." the senate race between dino rossi and patty murray. what will be the tea party express strategy in the washington senate race? will he give money, resources, people -- you give money, resources, people? guest: unfortunately, we are limited to where we can go, and even though we wanted to, we could not make it to washington. 3 e-mail, we are encouraging our members -- through e-mail, we

are urging our members to support him out there. and we want a strong caucus in the democratic party as well to understand that we cannot keep growing the government, taxes, the deficit. that has to be stopped, from both parties. we are supporting mostly republicans because they are the ones that understand the message. hopefully, you can see some of the democrats be opposed to obama, pelosi, and the democratic policies that got us into this mess. i think we are going to have some democratic allies that will say we have to get our country in the right direction so that we do not end up like greece. we need both political parties to recognize that.

host: richard in florida. independent line. caller: good morning. mr. russo, you just talked about people from both parties being disgusted with it. you are just another wing of the republican party. you have hit every talking point republicans have been using. you are putting all this money into these right wing political candidates, how much money have you given to the democrats? you are just another republican politician. host: care to respond? guest: as i said earlier in the program, we are laser-focused on one issue, opposition to the growth and a intrusiveness of the government. we are opposed to more taxes, regulation, annual deficits,

that annual skyrocketing debt. those are the issues we talk about. yes, you find conservatives at our rallies, but you also find people who are liberal on social or cultural issues. we have a chairman in oklahoma city who is opposed to the war. so this is a very bipartisan movement that includes republicans, democrats, and independents. our goal all along has been to encourage democrats to stand up to obama, pelosi, and read, that liberal triumphant responsible for taking the country in the direction it has. we are seeing democrats running for office against the democratic leadership. the next election there will be

more democrats that we can stand with. and there are some democratic members that have told me they plans, and we are starting to see it. i think you will start to see democrats who are not willing to go down this road of bigger and more expensive government. i think this next congress is going to be literally 100% better than the last one. host: there are some republicans, on energy, that wrotsupport government involvemt in some energy sector businesses, which goes against some of what the tea party has asked for, only free enterprise.

should these candidates, if elected, go against this? i just cannot ahead general and not taking specific -- guest: we have generally not taken specific positions on these types of things. however, what is constant is the principal. the government is expanding and intrude in in the economy to such an extent it is slowing and

stopping any job creation. how you divide the money that you are going to spend, what is the right program, what is the wrong program, that is what the congressional process is all about. the bottom line is, of what i think all two party candidates are supposedly about, we are going to stop the growing of government, higher taxes, higher deficits, the skyrocketing national debt. those are the principles. how you apply them -- some people may want to push an agenda that breaks our dependence on foreign oil. but then they will have to cut somewhere else. but instead, what you see in washington, everybody says i will scratch your back if you scratch mine. we cannot do that. as i said, every child born in

the country has a debt of $400,000 on their head. that is wrong. we see what is happening in greece, portugal, italy, those countries are not far behind. and we could spend money like drunken sailors, and that would be great if we had the money, but we do not. we need to bring some fiscal responsibility to washington. disagreeing on this and that, how you implement that, sure, that is america. but we have to stop the growth of government. host: sal russo, the chief strategist for the tea party express. if you go to their website, you can see where they are traveling around the nation.

he is in little rock, arkansas this morning. thank you for joining us. coming up next, we will talk about the hispanic vote in the campaign of 2010. first, we have chris russo from hot line. we begin with washington state. michelle obama was campaigning for patty murray. she travels to california today. let's begin with washington state, reid wilson. that could decide senate control. >> yes, it will be neck-and-neck until the end. instead of people going to a polling place in washington, everybody gets a ballot a couple of weeks before the election. that helps to boost turnout. it has held both parties in the past. this year, i think it helps

patty murray. i think the democratic base is deflated, is not necessarily going to go out to the voting polls. and there is no early voting, so everything has to happen on one day. but because it is all mail-in, patty murray should see some benefit from that. rossi used to represent a district near seattle. republicans really have to hit about 40% in the king county in order to be competitive. since he is based there, he has a strong chance. he is the best known republican in the state and he will present marie with a big challenge, but the latest polls have shown patty murray leading the polls.

she has a pretty substantial lead. host: there have been other reports that she is only up slightly. >> in this year i should clarify, substantial means two, three points. we have seen some numbers where she is over 50%, and that is key. lately, she has been polling at or near the 50% mark. host: back to california, michelle obama will be there campaigning for barbara boxer. >> carly fiorina, the republican candidate, is running the most conservative campaign that she -- california has seen in a long time. she is a down only by a small margin, so she is within striking distance. what carly fiorina is part counting on by running this more

conservative campaign is a big republican turnout in the central valley, san diego and orange county. barbara boxer is fighting against voter apathy in traditional democratic strongholds like los angeles and san francisco. the national senatorial campaign committee is here adding about $3 million to fiorina's campaign. barbara boxer is adding about $4 million of her own trying to get her base out. this race is neck and neck. if any race will decide whether republicans can get to the 51 seats they need to control the senate, i would say it is california before it is washington. host: what will you be watching for in the next seven days? >> it is critical for democrats

to energize their base in los angeles, san francisco, and cut into the roles in orange county. it is becoming less of a republican stronghold. barbara boxer needs to hold down fiorina's margins there, and over perform in los angeles and san francisco. i still think parker -- barbara boxer is the favorite, but it will be a close race. you cannot call it a bellwether, but it could be the one that we stay up waiting longest for as these counties in this massive state count. move on.'s what is going on in this race in

south carolina? >> democrats believe they have a chance to pull off an upset. the latest polls show niki caylee up by a significant margin. somewhere around double digits. but democrats believe they have the zen road. haley comes from the rick sanford part of the republican party. the interaction between his wing and the old establishment that gathers in the state legislature in colombia has fought virtually nonstop during his two terms. haley will sort of continue that contentious relationship with the legislator, if elected, and that is giving some republicans pause and may have them vote shaheen.or vinscent

haley is still the favorite, but some papers are supporting shaheen, putting pressure on haley to work with the state legislature down there. nikki haley was sort of the first sarah palin momma grizzlies. host: those two candidates will square off later on tonight. reid wilson, thank you. joining me at the table now is brent wilkes, the executive director of the league of latin american citizens coming here to talk about the hispanic vote in campaign 2010. what is your group doing specifically to get hispanic voters out?

guest: we are doing a massive campaign tried to get the hispanic community is to turn out and vote. we are working in local communities making sure that those who have registered are primed to vote on election day. host: the hispanic vote could be crucial for democrats. in 2008, 85% of registered hispanic voters went to the polls. we have seen other polls leading into 2010 that says a latino voters are not enthusiastic. guest: i think there were a lot of hopes with the new administration that there would immigration, for example, and they are not quite as excited, but recently, we have seen a jump in enthusiasm.

over 10% increase in just four weeks. we believe this is just because people are starting to focus on the race. host: your center shows that latinos favored democrats by 62%. guest: we are a nonpartisan group. we just want latinas to go either way. they have shown to be a sort of a swing vote. with the obama-mccain race, hispanics voted in favor of president obama. host: this is "the financial

times" this morning -- 20.3% of colorado's population is hispanic. guest: that is what we are seeing across the nation. states that matter, they have the potential to be the deciding population. and the fact that populations are growing and becoming more engaged, they will play a decisive role in this election. host: does your organization spend money on getting the ground game out? guest: yes, we do that sort of thing, facebook adds, but most of our efforts are on grass roots efforts, making sure there are people on the ground encouraging others to vote. a lot of latino voters are of age but they are not citizens yet, so they are not eligible,

so we try to get them to apply for citizenship. once they register, of course, we want them to vote. it is a three step process, but we have started to see dramatic gains in the latino vote. host: how is your group funded, how much do you spend all that effort? guest: we have member dues. we have thousands of members across the country but we also have support from major corporations, foundations, and even some government support. but the majority of the get-out- the-vote effort is generated by corporate. not a huge amount compared to the other groups that are spending millions of dollars. we are a very grass roots, volunteer-driven effort. it is very different from these

campaigns amassing $150 million. host: latinos for reform ran a tv ad telling latino voters why they should not vote. you ran your own tv spot refuting that. let's talk about that. >> don't vote. >> now that we have your attention, let's address the immigration reform. both parties have failed the latino community. republican rhetoric has been brother responsible, but so has the democratic party's inaction. this november, when you vote, demand respect. do not just give your vote away because it is expected. do not reward irresponsible behavior. demand respect when you vote.

>> it is election time. political operatives are once again trying to suppress us. these self-described patriot to undermine the democratic process by increasing voter identification requirements. running ads telling latinos not to vote. do not be pushed into silence. we are latinos, and we are americans. we are strong and united. we will be heard on election day. vote on november 2 and show the country that the latino community will not be silenced. host: why not stay home if you are a latino voter?

if you have not seen action from the democrats and you do not like what you see from the republican side, if hispanics want action on the issues they care about, why not stay home and send a message? guest: your voice is your vote. if you cannot vote, politicians will not spend time focusing on your community. we think politicians would be much more spots the ball if they had a voter coming to their door asking for something rather than someone on the sidelines just protesting. your vote is your voice. the message that he sent out is exactly the wrong message. actually, he cleaned it up a little bit. it used to say just do not vote. that was the first time and had had been run that encourage any segment of the public not to vote. it is extremely frightening to see that, people try to

undermine the democratic process. people are not going to be fooled by that ad. we have seen recently that the enthusiasm has started to pick up. host: what is the percentage of eligible latino voters? guest: of the total population, you have to look at the fact that you have to be over 18, the fact that the latino population, not as many are registered yet. it is about 50% of those who are ready to vote. host: how do you consult with hispanic voters about the issue of fraud, citizenship? guest: we certainly do not encourage anyone to commit fraud. that has been an example where people had made a lot of nothing. there was not a case where an

undocumented immigrant register to vote in the u.s. and the fact that people would bring that up as an issue -- there are so many other problems, people being intimidated, boats being discounted. the fact that there had never been a case of an undocumented immigrant falsely voting -- there have been cases of legal immigrants voting. often times you have your naturalization ceremony prior to becoming a full citizen, and i registered at a time in between those two. not technically wrong, but something we can imagine. there is really no immigration fraud when it comes to voting issues. immigrants are notoriously the community that does that stand up and makes themselves apparent to the community, unless they have to. it does not make sense that they would try to register to vote.

illegal immigrants, of course, they are here illegally, -- legal immigrants, of course, they are here legally, and sometimes they want to jump the gun in the process. there have been a small number, and it does not influence the results of the election. however, there are a lot of people out there trying to depress the latino vote. not just through these ads, but through intimidation with id systems, trying to challenge folks at the polling place. host: we are with the leader of the league of the united latin american citizens. you can see here the largest hispanic population is in texas, next to that, arizona.

next phone call. caller: congratulations to c- span. it is just great to be able to express my opinion. i remember my grandfather saying, black folks need to vote because the white folks do not want you to vote. i want to say to all of the hispanic people. white people do not want you to vote. the only way you can be heard is to go and vote. it does not matter who wins. you need to activate your vote. host: jack in albuquerque. he is hispanic. we have set aside a special line for our hispanic colors. 202-628-0184. -- callers. caller: i am actually a white

american, but i have some hispanic in my blood line. you do not get a pass. i do not care if you are black or white. people fought and died. that is why black people are so adamant. it is your responsibility, as an american. host: robert on the republican line. caller: you explained most of it while i was holding. let me have you explain to me -- you said a lot of people went out to the neighborhoods to canvas, the first step was to get them to register to become a citizen, and then go through those steps to become a citizen, and then register to vote. could you drop us a picture of the people that live here who

are not citizens that are whogible to be citizens, hav they are and how they got here? guest: certainly, there is a strong immigration tradition in this country. people coming here to work hard for the american dream. they want to work hard, create a new opportunity for our children. a lot of immigrants have failed to engage in the political process because they feel in some sense they are guests in the country and they are trying to work hard, not trying to cause trouble. but it is important for everyone to purchase a bit in the process. we tried to reach out to those folks in the community who are eligible to become citizens but have not started the process yet, and so we held them. some cases, they are nervous about taking a test, taking the basic steps to become a citizen. to but once we go through the

process, it is fairly simple. if they pass, of course, they are citizens, and most of them feel it is their most important moment of their life. host: tampa, florida. audrey. go ahead. caller: i hope hispanics understand how imperative is for them to go to the polls. if republicans take control of the house and senate, nothing will be accomplished. they established that by blocking the president successively over the past two years. they need to vote. host: mike, independent line. oklahoma. caller: good morning. my question is, if the latino voters are so disillusioned with

both parties because of a lack of immigration reform, what kind of reform do they want? what do they demand? guest: when we are looking for is to fix the broken immigration system. the u.s. economy, when it is normal, demands about a million workers that we are unable to provide domestically. so we had folks coming into the country legally and undocumented to fill those jobs. we want to fix the system so there is a process for illegal immigrants to come. right now, there are only 40,000 legal immigrants coming a year. if we can fix the process and have people coming legally, enough to meet the needs of our economy, we think we can fix this problem. as well, we have a large

undocumented population in the country. how can we allow those folks to pay their fines, have some sort of punishment, adjust their wages, because we understand they are contributing to the economy, and they are also using the goods and services that americans rely on. and finally, if you have a loved one that you want to bring into the country, you do not have to wait 15, 20 years. we want a reasonable immigration process for people to be able to reunite with their families. if we could do that, i think we could do a good job solving this immigration system. host: john on the democratic line. troy, michigan. caller: i understand you do not but -- support any particular party but i am curious why you

do not support a stance. the tea party person that was on prior to you did not speak about the needs of the hispanic population. i would think that you would be more anti-republican, anti-tea party. most of them believe that there is a rush to the border, but rather it is more of a magnet that is attracting these people to the border. guest: i think you have a point. we focus on issues about candidates. certainly, we are concerned there are candidates who are

misusing the issue of immigration for their political benefit. that is also being borne out, when you look at the polling in the latino community, the enthusiasm factor for conservative latinos have gone way down. more liberal leaning latinos are more enthusiastic and the more conservative-leaning ones are more depressed. the reason for that is they have seen these attack ads. they are vicious. not just immigration, but they make an appeal to a racially tense argument. they show brown faces of the enemy, white faces of the good guy. we find those reprehensible. we hope all candidates, regardless of where they are from, does not attack the latino community for their benefit. host: next phone call.

caller: i am in south texas. we have a big hispanic family, most of the community is hispanic. everyone talks about legalization. conservative hispanics are depressed. i am depressed. i am sad we are not doing more to stop illegal immigration. that is what these people are talking about. i wish texas would do something like arizona did. i think ms. brewer is doing the right thing. host: where were you born originally? guest: yes, my family are descendants of one of the families from the alamo. my family has always been here.

i have family that was born in mexico that says the same thing. host: that they want something done about illegal immigration? caller: yes. guest: we all want to fix the immigration system. in the senate, there was an effort from democrats to pass a comprehensive democrats -- immigration bill. they brought republicans to the table. lindsey graham started to negotiate on the bill, but in the end, they decided to pull away because they thought it would be politically better for them not to support it. the reason we do not have immigration reform is not because of harry reid but because of the republican but walked away from the table. if hispanics want to put pressure on both parties, they need to come to the table. we need a program that will allow people to come in and meet our needs and at the same time,

enforce the rules and time havee country. i think it is not an easier -- an either/or type of thing. we can do it. we just have to get the politicians to stop using politics as a way of dealing with this issue. host: joshua in uniontown, pennsylvania. caller: your current speaker is talking about his disillusionment with both parties right now. that is the same situation as most or all of the people in this nation. there was a democrat that started to do some true comprehensive reform and ron

paul had to measures on the republican side of that were true comprehensive reform. other than that, have not seen any true leaders in either party. i wonder if we should try for a new party, a constitutionalist party, perhaps, or the libertarian party, and maybe that could solve problems everywhere. guest: i think something is broken in washington. the parties are debating issues not based on the merits of whether it succeeds or fails, but the advantage of one party over the other. the idea of additional parties may not be a bad idea. the first thing we need to do is get money out of politics. the first united decision was a horrible decision by the supreme court because it floods our airwaves with more attack at and that really cheapens our discourse. we need to have a sound, rational debate.

in order to do that, we need to get money out of politics. we need to look at perhaps, a multi-party system. host: fe on the democratic line. caller: everyone needs to remember that president reagan gave us the amnesty that open our borders to anybody that could come in. they did not have to have documentation. the republicans did this in order for the big corporations to have workers that they did not have to pay. host: did work in the 1980's? guest: well, you actually had to be in the united states continuously for six years out of status. yes, they were working hard. one thing that people tend to ignore is that these folks were not just producing things that nobody uses, but building our

homes and serving our kids and serving us in restaurants and in hotels. in some sense we have created a system that they cannot come in legally, so they come in any way they can because they want to feed their families. and then we abuse them after that. we want a workable immigration system. at least then they will have some rights and they will be able to demand wages. i agree that they are abused when they are out of status. we need to make sure that there are enough immigrants coming in to meet the needs of our economy. that has been an engine of our economy since its founding. it is not new. that is what has made america is so strong kabir to other nations which highly restrict immigration and end up having -- compared to other nations which highly restrictive aggression ended up having an increase in the gdp. host: charles on the republican

line. caller: he actually mentioned about how we have in this country the whites and minority better coming into this country -- and the minority that are coming into this country, we look at them into a defense -- in a different way. when ronald reagan opened up the the russians ind all of came into the country, the minute they came off the plane they were getting welfare and social security benefits. they were even using the v.a. hospital because in world war ii they were our allies. we just keep abusing people from south america. and the media puts them down as, you know, they are just no good. but really, it is the stuff coming in through plains.

host: mr. wilkes? guest: i think there definitely is a difference between how we treat european immigrants, for example, and how we treat immigrants from latin america or other parts of the world. but in years past, european immigrants were treated very poorly. kiron -- the irish and italians, for example. it is not a new phenomena. it is just that the preferred immigrant has changed and and preferred immigrants have change, and they are. but the truth is, immigration has been part of this country, except for native americans. we just need to open our hearts and have a process that allows folks to come in easily and that just like our ancestors, they want to live the american dream. if we have a balance, that is what we're looking for. right now, we are out of balance

and to many workers coming in out of status. that does not benefit anyone. but we have got to fix the system. we surely -- we certainly should not try to spit of canada, -- pitt communities against each other. host: next call from washington, good morning. caller: i thank you guys for doing this sort early in the morning. i would like to say that hispanic citizens, we are ready to vote. we are not sleeping. we are not thinking about something else. no, we are ready to vote. and we are going to vote for obama. this tea party and the republicans and all of that stuff, it is all the same team. they always vote for notice, know that, notice, know that. -- they always vote for no

this, and know that, and notice, and know that. host: ok. your next, ann day. -- anna. caller: i think most voters are confused with regard to immigration in that and why does the government go after the actually illegal workers instead of going after those who generally rich and fat cats who are hired illegal immigrants? i wonder if that confuses the hispanic voters. and i have always found hispanic voters, from what i know, more consistent -- they're both are more consistent with generally christian or catholic and values. -- their votes are more consistent with generally christian or catholic values. would you say that in terms of

values, those voters generally go to a democrat because those christian values are generally linked, for example, it jesus would want everyone to have health care. guest: i do not know if they are somewhat confused as they are angry. the folks that are hiring undocumented workers, they are the ones to blame. we should really target them. if we want to stop the phenomena of undocumented immigration, the first and only place that we should focus on is that those employers more hiring people have to make sure that they are here with proper authorization. if we did that, then all of these punitive efforts and walls that we are putting up would be unnecessary. we overlook that and allow that to keep happening and try to make life in america so tough on

these immigrants that maybe they will stay home. the truth is, they really want to work and it will put up with all of these issues that we put in their way as long as they can work and they will work as long as these employers keep offering their jobs. host: united latin american citizens have been here since 1977. larry, go ahead. caller: i have a problem. all of the southwest states belong to mexico city. the second point is illegal immigrants voting. he said that he took it

to the court and the court said it would not make a difference, so they threw it out. the problem i have with you is that you have hispanics that have been in the congress for 35 to 40 years and they have no power. but the democratic party thinks it's in control and hispanics are simply the peons that have to vote in their order. why don't you tell the democratic party you want -- since seniority is the primary way of getting power, that you want all of the hispanics that have seniority the chairmanship's?

host: ok, got your point. guest: two things. the first, we do not in any way support or condone that its portion of the united states and should be returned to mexico. the leader of an american -- united latin american citizens. the reason we have that name is because we are citizens. we have more medal of honor winners as a percentage of the total latinos that have served than any other community in the country. they are very proud of defending the united states. yes, it is true that we marched to mexico city and forced them to surrender half their territory. i do not think it is a good idea that we and exmoor. but when it comes to the issues in -- and acts more. but when it comes to the issues in congress, i think it is true

that the members have not on the assignment that they could have as a whole. although, a latino is the no. 3 position in the congress. if you look at the important german ships, -- the important chairmanships there are some of those as well. but it is the still an important issue. we want to make sure that once latinos are elected to congress that they also get plum assignments as well. host: lester is a democrat. helme with the name of your town. -- help me with the name of your

town. caller: [unintelligible] host: ok, go ahead. i live up here -- and caller: i live up here in nevada and there are whole lot of tea partiers here and i think they do not want to talk about the racism because on within the teagarden and. a lot of them are -- within the tea party. a lot of them are hard-working folks. they come with their kids and they want them there to succeed, but they have been bamboozled by all of this money and those who have secretly met the two-party. -- the tea party. everything that has done to make

it great, they want to take us back to the 1800's. host: there was not a question there, but do you have any reaction? guest: yes, i think there are good people in any party and bad people. but we are very concerned about the use of race in this election or in any election. it has no place in elections. we should not have people making racial appeals. and i have seen, as the gentleman mentioned, an increase of that in this election. i think we need to as americans fight against that and reject that message. you should tell them it is wrong and avoid association with that individual, regardless of what party they are with. host: what brought you to washington d.c.? guest: i came to washington because i wanted to make a difference to help the fastest- growing population in the

country. by the year 2050, 30% of the population will be in latino. host: where did you grow up? i guest: grew up in the albany, new york area. i went to college in new hampshire. that is where i started getting interested in politics and government philosophy. i went to mexico to study spanish where i fell in love with the culture and realized one thing i needed to do to help confront the issues were latinos here in the united states. not only is voting an issue, but if you look at the educational issues, probably 95% of what we do is try to help latinos get a better education and work on health care and housing as well. but the big thing is that we

want to make sure that the latinos are ready to take up the leadership of tomorrow. housing is critical in that effort. host: brand will has been with the united latino's citizen association. and many hispanic voters will be making a difference in some of these races as well. los angeles, maria, go ahead caller: thank you for the work that you are doing. hispanic americans. i was born here and my parents came here in the 1940's. they were legal. my mom to the vantage of the programs that came with the civil rights -- took advantage of the programs that came with

the civil-rights movement. she went from being a factory worker to becoming a schoolteacher with a master's degree. i was also able to learn from her example. she always voted. i became a nurse. i just want to let you know that i am very much pro-immigration reform, but there are also a lot of latinos born and raised here, and some of those that are immigrants who are legal, and we are concerned about other things like higher education, things like jobs. i think it is very important, the work that you are doing, and i appreciate it. i am also concerned about health care, especially being a nurse. i just want to commend you and i thank you for the work you are doing. host: maria, i just want to let you and other viewers know that

our next topic that we are talking about is a college education and the debt that college seniors are facing when they graduate. brent wilkes. guest: when you look at the latino community, typically, immigration is now the main issue -- is not the main issue. they're concerned about the things that all americans are concerned about, getting a good education and that their careers are meaningful and that they can support their families. the health care bill was a big one for latinos because so many latinos are uninsured. about 30% was uninsured until the passage of the bill. and almost half of their children are uninsured. these issues tend to be the bread-and-butter issues with all americans and especially draw the attention of all latino voters.

people use it as a wedge issue when they are using excess to address race. they use it to attack. and you have groups of their running attack ads against the latino community. when you have that, immigration rises to be perhaps one or two on the issue list. host: let's go to rose on the republican line. caller: my father's family came over in the 1800's. we were immigrants, but they had to go through ellis island to pass a physical. that is what concerns me. i'm not talking about just mexicans, asians, middle eastern, europeans -- i do not care where you come from.

that is why i think that doing it legally is the right way. we do not know if you come from africa or from where. we do not know what kind of diseases that they are bringing in that could spread and cause more problems for themselves and for their community. that bothers me. againstwhy i'm so illegals coming across the borders like they are. host: brand wilkes, final thoughts here. guest: we will turn our immigration system to the way it was when your ancestors came in. you are right, all they had to do with step off the boat and take a help desk and they were in. the process now is far more restrictive. it is almost impossible, for example, for a mexican national who wants to come to the u.s. who does not have an immediate relative here ready to sponsor

him, or a job ready to go -- they cannot even get in line to come in. the way we treated immigrants in the past, that process was much more generous than the way immigrants get treated today. we argument -- we are not even asking for that. it is possible to become legal, but you still have to go through a rigorous process and that includes a health test. by being so restrictive and setting the legal immigration levels so low, we are putting ourselves at risk because then folks coming in do not undergo any kind of health screening. i think it is way overblown, this concern about diseases. we have seen radio and tv show hosts blowing that it out of proportion. -- the data out of proportion.

but a few are concerned about it, you should say, i want a legal process and i want people to go through a health check when they come in, which they do. that should allay your concerns. host: rand wilcox, thank you. coming up, and -- host: brent wilkes, thank you. >> independent canada at lincoln chafee is running a tv ad featuring president obama. this after frank caprio made angry statements about the president not endorsing him. the president has not endorsed either candidate. fox news reports that the senate majority leader harry reid, diana asada, lied to authorities to cover up her

marriage. a spokesperson says that she is no longer with the office and calls the report desperation by republicans. harry reid is seeking a fifth term. polls show the race about even. cnn said that allen -- ellen cink violated the rules of the debate last night when she was delivered a text message from that and made during a round. and jerry brown is releasing a new ad today. it opens with his opponent, meg whitman, reminiscing that "30 years ago, anything was possible in this state." the ad then cuts to his green with "-- to a screen with, "who

was governor 30 years ago? jerry brown." >> if your new to it all, what the tutorial on how to clip and shared a ride on a website. search, fine, and a share with the c-span video run library. >> it is time to get your camera rolling with this year's the studentcam documentary competition open to middle and high school students. make a 528 minute video and you can win the grand prize of $5,000 -- make a five-eight minute video and you can win the grand prize of $5,000. for details, go to studentcam.org. >> the c-span networks provide spot -- coverage of politics, public affairs and american history. it is available to you on television, radio come on line

and social networking media sites. and find our content any time through c-span video library. and we take it on the road with the original bus and local content vehicles. it is washington your way. the c-span networks, now are available in more than 100 million homes, created by cable, provided as a public service. "washington journal" continues. host: ben miller is a policy analyst with the education sector here to talk about rising college debt. college seniors who graduated in 2009 carried, on average, $24,000 in student loan debt, up 6% from the previous year. ben miller, what are recent college graduate facing when they come out with that much debt and unemployment that high? guest: i think they are facing the same issues that all workers are facing.

basically, it is very tough to find a job. especially if you are a recent college graduate because you do not have a lot of experience. you will have to show that you can compete in the workforce. that said, they will be in a better position than someone who does not have a college degree. but people who have a lot of debt, it can be very hard. in d.c., the average starting salary is very low. it can be very hard to meet repayments. host: if you are facing $24,000 in debt, and you cannot find a job -- let's deal with that scenario first. do you have to start paying off that debt right away? guest: everybody get six months right off the bat, but there are also protections to help consumers. if you can make your payments, you can call your letter and say, i'm unemployed and they can

push it into a forbearance. from there, you do not have to worry about going into default. there is also something called income-based repayment where borrowers can see there payments reduced. -- can see their payments reduced. we do not want to be in getting students to the point where they go into default or bankruptcy because then they cannot discharge their loan and they will never come out from that debt. host: want to talk to college students and recent graduates. we want to talk to you about what sort of debt you are facing. why are students graduating with more debt these days? what is happening? guest: generally, you just see the cost of college getting astronomical. there are a couple of reasons for that.

in the public sector, it is because government sees college tuition as a way to save money on their end. when budget get tight, one of the first things to get cut is higher education. you cannot make an elementary or secondary education students pay for school, but you can with higher education. there will cut their budget and the first thing schools do is raise tuition right away. the second thing you see is an arms race over things like the dormitories and facilities. you have a situation where a discerning consumer has no way to know what value they are getting. basically, they see a high price tag and think that it is good investment.

those that keep constantly raising their tuition and putting students into debt, there is no way to stop that because no one is walking away and saying it is not worth the money because they do not know. host: let's look at public school versus private school. a public four-year college charges, on average, $7,020 per year in tuition and fees for students who live in their states. what are parents and students getting at that price tag? guest: the private college, usually, smaller glasses and more attention, but that is not always the case. -- smaller classes and more attention, but that is not always the case.

in a lot of cases, what they're doing is subsidizing things, like research for professors to do not teach a lot. they may be subsidizing a very, very nice storm. you may have cost of living, but nobody is making sure that the education is worth the money. host: is there a way to look at public education vs. private? guest: if you were to look at the quality of the the schools that tend to be ranked high, you would see that a very elite college would have more unemployment than one of the letters, or the not-for-profit, but i have not seen a good break down. host: we're talking about rising college dead. let's go back to that number, on

average -- rising college debt. let's go back to the number, on average, $24,000 upon graduation. who is borrowing this money? guest: lower income will be taking hold loans because they cannot afford to pay as much, but at the same time you have a lot of middle-class students who aspire to a more expensive college. they will be willing to take on more debt than lower income students. generally, lower-income students will realize that having more debt could be more burden. host: the report also said that colleges are competing for the wealthy student. why? what does that mean? guest: because there's not any

independent marker that shows that college text is better than college wide -- that college x is better than college y, then if you can get a higher income students it might be worth it to spend your money to get the what your student to come that really happens at the expense of the lower income students. every dollar that you given financial aid to someone who does not really needed is a dollar you could have given to a lower income person. host: theresa, you are on the air. caller: my name is theresa powell and i am really distraught. i'm in my third year of college. i go to a really great school. it is a christian school.

but i'm being on line $1,600 per course. -- paying on line $1,600 per course. i'm looking at a debt of more than $24,000 when i graduate. and go figure this, with a teaching degree. how, what to figure can students, those that have recently graduated and those about to graduate, what can we collectively do in going to congress and say to them, you are charging astronomical amounts of money for us to have a decent standard of living once we graduate? guest: i will start with one thing very quickly. as someone who is getting a teaching degree, there are special debt forgiveness

programs available to you. if you go into a school that serves low-income students and you served as a highly qualified teacher for several years since, you can have $7,500 of debt forgiven. but the onus has to be on more than just congress. in general, the lot with hire education -- the laws with higher occasion and deal with dollars, but congress does not really get into forcing colleges to reduce costs. really, you need to go to states and tell them, one, you cannot reduce budgets when things get tight. also, you have to go to the colleges and say, what are you doing to be more efficient? are you using technology in ways to reduce your costs? are you looking at all of your spending to make sure that it is worth while and necessary? it needs to be a partnership between those readings.

nobody wants the federal government to be coming down and saying, you cannot spend money on this verses that. that will be a blunt tool. you want to get colleges to be more efficient. you want them to be innovative and they're the ones with the expertise, so they know what needs to be done. host: does it depend on the degree that you get? on whether or not you have a lot of debt? guest: in terms of the debt forgiveness, there are special programs for teachers in particular. there's also this new public- service loan forgiveness that go into -- that goes to people that go into hospitals, some types of nonprofits, police departments, things like that. people who really serve their country, they will get their debt forgiven after 10 years. granted, it is a long time, but

it is better than nothing. you see an understanding with the students with what is going to produce a good job. if you have a nursing degree, medical assisting or clinical nursing, something like that that has an entry level trebek 3 and does not have a lot -- the entry level trajectory and does of advancementd oa lot opportunity. what people see in these ads is a personal appeal. it is a chance to be valued in

your job. that is important, but it may not necessarily be as great as it seems. host: we are on the air in that stafford, virginia. go ahead, brenda. caller: i have a college-bound child coming up for university. that is not so much that i cannot afford it. my husband and i will be able to afford a decent university for our son. what i'm concerned with is that at the end of the day, is it really about what university went to as much as a this that you have -- as much as it is that you have a degree? if i am an employer and it comes down to two candidates for acquisition, if they both have a bachelor's or master's degree, i will hire someone who does well in their interview if everything

else is equal. what is your opinion? guest: i think that is true. the issue is, who gets the interview? every employer is different. i would think that every employer would go out through the resume carefully and see everything on it. but if there is a school they do not hold in as high a regard, they won't take the interview. and that is difficult for this tooten because they do not know -- for the students because they do not know. from an employment standpoint, the people are hiring form -- for the jobs do tend to care a lot about the school. once it gets to the interview stage, your right, there will -- they will be more discerning.

host: let's go back to the average loan debt that college seniors are facing. is that money owed to the education department for a loan? or is it owed to for-profit billone institution? that will be money that the student are from the government. all of those payments will go to the u.s. department of education or to a private lender. there are a few of those. students who have been in college for a few years will have a few of those. host: we will go to lansing, mich., donnie on the independent line. i think we lost him. let's go on to greensboro, n.c., willie.

caller: congratulations on your child. it's been awhile since i called in. host: thanks. caller: really, what hurt the economy was -- i graduated in 2010. in the last few years the ball dropped. i kept up with the stock market and everything and opportunities shrank for everybody. with the housing crisis, it made it impossible. the main point, which is that we cannot move to our next step. when i do start making money i was out to spend more on my college debt rather than getting a house. it does not matter, your degree. we need more opportunity right now. what about the people who just graduated?

like the caller that just called in, she is the next big opportunity. host: ben miller? guest: i think you are right. you want to be giving students as many opportunities as you can. that is where the debt issue comes into play. if you owe more money coming out of college, you may now be able to take the international at the prestigious company or the publishing house or a place like that -- the internship at the prestigious company or the publishing house or a place like that. tauruses are constrained because they feel that there -- choices are constrained because they feel that their debt is in the way.

guest: i think you have more money to work with, but the items you are talking about there is elementary and secondary education. the federal government does not pay for higher education. you would be depriving students at a lower level there. students need a way to get to class. a student at the lower levels need nutrition. you do not want to take those things away. the question is, can colleges use their money more efficiently, incorporate technology in a way that serves the students better? you do things like that and not necessarily shifting money away from the k-while system.

-- the k-12 system. host: here is a tweet -- guest: congress did increase pell grants. but you cannot rely on programs and student loans to keep up with tuition. if you do that, you are not withholding colleges accountable -- you are not really holding colleges accountable. in terms of the actual funding, it will vary. at private or not-for-profit, it will be mostly endowment dollars plus the state and any research dollars that they get. for-profit colleges, the biggest source of revenue will be from

federal student loans and grants. there is a role that private for-profit colleges cannot take more than a certain percentage of that money. host: next caller, go ahead. caller: as colleges get more money, they increase their budgets. and as they increase their budgets, they increased tuition. even if you cannot afford college, $40,000 per year, the students that cannot afford that, they're having to get loans because of the high tuition. it is a cycle that keeps growing and growing. it is too broad a disparity. host: are there any effort on capitol hill to address that issue? the rising costs of college

tuition and trying to force colleges and universities to keep it down. guest: well, they try. in the spring there were reforms passed to provide federal programs. when they did that, at their work incentives to get colleges to be more iefficient. at the moment, federally, there's nothing in place. host: charlotte, n.c., bob on the independent line, go ahead. caller: a one to comment on the school situation. i graduate from high school nine years ago. i went straight into the workforce and started working. granted, it was a low paying labor jobs. however, i've had a lot of experience and my work history shows i've been working ever since. i am continuing my education.

i'm going to college. available for a pell grant for a two-year community college in criminal justice. i get callbacks. i get interviews. i get a lot of jobs because of my work history. because i had started working rather than just going straight to college. i'm not saying that is the best thing to do, but i'm able to get interviews and jobs because i have a lot of work history. like i said, now i'm going back to school to try to further my education and get a degree. that has helped me a lot, that i do have a lot of work history. and i have 44 credits toward my social security retirement. guest: it is good to hear that

you are having good opportunities and getting callbacks. i think work history is valuable to a lot of employers and i would hope that a community college degree would give you opportunity to find better callbacks and job openings because you can use that to supplement the work experience that you have. a lot of students seek college as the opportunity to go out of high school because the harder you delay your education, the harder it will be to get a bachelor's or something like that because the older you get, the more life intervenes. if you have a family, or a job, you have to take care of those things at the same time. a lot of people think they need to go right away and get the degree first and then get the work experience. host: will go on to nancy in california on the republican line. caller: i'm curious about the figures that you " for a college education because you are just talking tuition. in fact, when you pay for

college you have to pay for room and board. out here in california to go to talkinghe uc's, you're $26,000 per year. my daughter is going to the university of pennsylvania, which the tuition and board is only $24,000 per year, but they are only charging her $15,000 to $17,000 per year because we are middle-income people. guest: to your point about the stafford loans, this is an issue that comes up a lot. back in the day, stafford loans did have a variable interest rates. you could have seen something and potentially a bit lower. but if you think about it, it is a large loan given to someone with no credit history. i imagine if you and your local bank and said, i have an 18-

year-old person who wants $5,000 and no credit, no loan history, you will not get a good interest rates. having a fixed interest-rate is very valuable. the other thing is that for a lot of students now, they have opportunity to reduce their debt payments based on income. at that point, the interest rate does not matter as much. it is your income. host: here is a tweet here. guest: it depends on what you mean by trade school. if you're talking community colleges, the date rate is of much lower. i believe that community college students borrow about 23% compared to a little over 50% at not-for-profit four-years.

host: this is a "new york times" editorial this morning. 48 is not a good place. they say that the national academy of advisory groups leading group on science and technology warns -- it calls for the country to quickly double the number of minority students who hold science degrees.

that is a "new york times" editorial on the issue today. the we are talking with ben miller, a policy analyst with the education sector. carey in oregon, your next. caller: good morning. my question is -- i graduated from paralegal school and after i graduated i ended up having seizures and was in the hospital for a year. then i get all of these calls from collectors. is there any way that a person can just consolidate loans into one? guest: yes, there are things

called consolidation loans that are offered a better allow you to join all of these payments into a single one. you would want to call your lender will creditor to see what they offer you. host: an e-mail from a viewer that says -- guest: that is absolutely true. and one of the problems that you have is that it can be very difficult to tell whether or not jobs statistics are real. it can be very difficult to get in touch with all of your for graduates. it can be difficult to track them down and see what they are doing.

there are a lot of mistakes that you see in job placement rate. at the same time, a lot of schools have things like courier and they have recruiters come. but the same time, it can be difficult to see if they're providing the opportunities that they say they are. but that is difficult to do because that is a trade secret. the company will not want to disclose that information to everyone because than competitors will know that. host: here is a tweet from a frequent viewer --

what costs so much that they have to get money from the alumni population? guest: lot of the alumni donations that you see are at the very least, very expensive colleges. you are not seen the lower tier colleges soliciting donors to the extent that they do. it is a couple of things. it is a lot of expensive building projects. if you want to build something like an athletic center, it is something like a couple million dollar donation because they may not have the cash on hand to start something like that. especially with the more expensive schools, the cost of the education can be higher than the tuition. they may be subsidizing the tuition with things like endowment grants, gifts from donors, a different financial aid budgets, things like that. it doesn't make sense that the schools go after the alumni -- it doesn't make sense that the schools go after the alumni.

-- it does make sense that the schools go after the alumni. host: here is another tweet. leesburg, va., terrence on the independent line. go ahead. caller: i just have one, that i want to say about commodities problems. it kind of started with newt gingrich and bill clinton. it made students have to rely more on stafford loans. i graduated from school in baltimore, maryland. at the time i got a small marijuana possession, which forced me to lose my telegram. what can be done for people like that -- lose my pell grants. what can be done for people like that?

i managed to make it because i had strong family support. host: ben miller? guest: ever since the pope grants did get cut in the early 1990's, they have since gone -- the pell grants did get cut in the early 1990's, they have since gone up will be on that. that is normally on congress. it is more on states and schools and colleges. second, on the drug possession and pell grant eligibility, that has been discussed in congress as an issue many times. host: next caller, go ahead. caller: good morning, you were talking about professors and the way they are teaching in the classrooms. i went to state before going to

austin p. in clarksville and i think it varies so much that a better system is needed to report on the actions of these professors and get the ones that should not be teaching out of our schools. guest: i think you're absolutely right, and part of the problem is the entire with the professors are compensated does not relieve take into account the way they are teaching. what a school cares about is does the professor published? does the professor bring in research dollars and get noticed? they do not look at whether the professor does a good job graduating students. there are schools that have experimented with remedial courses, which is a big issue for a lot of incoming students. basically, they are not ready for college. they need to take additional get

up to speed courses in things like math and writing and reading. austin p. has done a lot of interesting things with eliminating those courses, but providing additional support for students so that they can pass them and get help doing it. a lot of students in remedial courses, they fail out that first year and then they are stop. they never even get to take a college course that counts toward a degree. anything to make that process easier will do a lot to help students through. and then when you want to talk about science and math education, if you have a lot of students coming in who are not ready for college math, it will be difficult to get them to major in that subject. anything you can do to get them up to speed and ready to increase the pool of students that you've got to go into math and science. host: ben miller is with the education sector. if people go to the