actions will have the majority support of those entitled to vote? >> well, i know -- i kw there is a strong case being made t in the least by my colleague the mayor of london for this sort of change. i'm very happy to look at the arguments for it because i want to make sure that we have a fair body of union law in this country. i thk the laws put in place in the 1980s a working well. we don't currently have proposals to amend them but i'm very happy to look at this argument 'cause i don't want to see a wave of irresponsible strikes when they are not by people takingpart. >> thank you, mr. speaker. my a vision and remarkable face once said this prime minister is an absolute genius in translating flam l.a. county languages. one such example because it's

some day to be adopted. >> i don't accept that for a moment that they will make sure we rationalize all of the nongovernmental bodies there are. and it will save billions of pods in the process. it's a very sensible process of asking the question what should be part of government and properly accountable for this house and what doesn't need to be done and, therefore, can be team away. and as i say, it will save billions of pounds and a very good thing, too. >> henry smith. >> thank you, very much, mr. spker. will the prime minister join me in congratulating the league of friends on helping secure a new mammogram machine for that hospitals? can the prime minister explain the way we can have better cancer services in this country. >> i'm grateful for my right honorable friend's question. and members right across this house support the league of friends and their constituencies to raise money for their hospitals to do extraordinary things in terms of equipment and services. and it's a good moment to all

those who take part. today we are making an announcement about a new cancer plan that aims to save another 5,000 lives every year by the end of this parliament. this is all about the early diagnosis that we need in the nhs but i have to say to the honorable gentleman we wouldn't be able to do it if we hadn't as a >> each week the house of commons is in session, we care prime minister questions live on2 on and then again on c-span and 9:00 eastern and pacific. you can find an archive at c- span.org. >> tomorrow on "washington

journal," a preview of the house agenda with mike lillis of "the hill." then john shure. after that we what chat with heather peeler about her group's role in the mlk day of service. that is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. tomorrow on c-span, a speech by attorney general eric holder at a prayer breakfast commemorating martin luther king, jr. at shiloh baptist church in washington, d.c. 10:00 eastern here on c-span. >> you're watching c-span. bringing you politics and public affairs. every morning it is open " washington journal," our live program connecting it with policymakers and journalists. weekdays, watch live coverage of the u.s. house.

weeknights, congressional hearings and policy forms. also supreme court oral arguments. you can see our interview programs on the weekends. you then also watch our programming anytime at c- span.org, and it is all searchable at our c-span video library. c-span -- washington your way. a public service created by america's cable companies. jim and wisconsin republican party chairman reince priebus 1 election as the national chairman during several votes at the winter meeting at the gaylord national resort hotel in maryland. some highlights from the meeting. you'll hear from michael leavitt, of former rnc chairman michael steele, and others. was elected president of the

republican national committee. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate it, and thank you, members of the committee, for giving me a few moments to speak with you. i wanted to just briefly touch on some of these sucsses we had in 2010. clearly, witall of the various different politicking that takes place within the committees, sometimes it is difficult to remember how successful we were in november 2010. as you can remember, we had a osi,ular goal of fire pel and thankfully, we did that. one of the programs we are able to offer is targeting for every congressional district around the entire country, which is a first for the rnc.

we are also able to implement over 360 victory offices throughout the country, along with over 360 victory staffers, staff in those offices -- staffing those offices. we had over wrote 40 million contacts. -- over 43 million contacts. since the election, we have done an extensive review for every department at the rnc to be able

to make sure the we are able to learn the lessons to be learned from 2010 so that we can move forward in a more efficient and more productive way, learn some very good things that we did that are n, and learn some lessons that we can carry forward. we have also started preliminary preparations for the 2011 election cycle. i know it is often note to forget that we havoff-year elections. there are numerous gubernatorial elections and state races that we are already starting to prepare for, putting together victory plants, and preparing for that. norm had mentioned, we have dramatically upticked our efforts, led by tom and our legal department. as you know, wmade dramatic gains in the state legislatures, governor seats, so we're going to be in a very good position, but we cannot allow that to slip

away, so we have to increase our efforts there, and we have begun to do so. and four but not last, we have put together an extensive review of our finan efforts going forward. the finance director, mary, and her team have put together things from top to bottom, programs the we have engines the prepared to move forward starting next week. so i appreciate your time. i does want to wrap up this report by saying thank you very much for allowing me, mr. chairman, to serve as your chief of staff and for allowing me to work with all of the members and the wonderful staff at the rnc. they did phenomenal work this cycle, and it was a wonderful thing to be a part of this committee during this historic time. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you very, very much,

michael. all right, at this time, we are very pleased to receive a report from our cochair. like so many of us, but in the vineyards for the past t years, planting seeds and working hard to have those seeds grow, and they did, and we're really grateful for her leadership, and i am particularly grateful for her partnership and the opportunity to serve together over these past two years, so, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to present to you our national co-chairman. >> good morning. the political conversation in this country is driven by numbers. polling numbers, fundraising numbers, voter totals, and who is up and who is down in the

country. you've all seen the copy i sent of the final report, a i want to just give you a synopsis of everything the we accomplished. 18 million a the number of voters reached by our get-out- the-vote campaign. 24, the number of republican women who won seats in 2010. that is a record. 9, the number of new women elected to the u.s. house. that is a record. 17, the number of women who ran for the u.s. senate. reid, the number of new republican women who are

governors. hyde, the number of new women who are lieutenant governors in theirs -- 5, the number of new women or lieutenant governors in their states. there are over 40 states that i visited as co-chairman, and i logged 300,000 miles. we did 22,568 tweets published since the establishment of the rnc women's program, 86,000 the number of voters connected live to our program from calls. 3946 members are on rnc women. 60,000 is the number of e-mail addresses that we will maintain and visit with each and every week, and sometimes multiple times during the week. and we have passed out of work 80,000 training manuals which

were used in your states to attract new candidates coming new campaigns, and get people elected. i want to recognize three people this morning, because none of this would have happened in my office with of elizabeth -- without elibeth and others. are the three of you in here? you all know them. they have done an incredible job. it has been fun working with them. it has been fun working with all of you. you have seen snapshots of what we did these last few years. you are all winners. the republican party did an amazing job, because you were all in the trenches each and every day, but to and you brought in the kind of totals that two years ago, nobody thought were possible, so thanks for all that you have done. thanks for all that you're about to do for 2012. let's keep on, and let's keep

this train rolling. i am proud to be a member to serve with all of you. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very, very much, jan. i appreciate that. at this time, we will have the chairman's report, and over the last month or so, we have had a ance to digest the opportunities, the successes, the u and downs of the past two years. but most especially, the past year. when i began the chairmanship, i thank you fothe opportunity to serve, and as we come to this particular crossroads and elections that lie ahead for what is next, i want to thank you so much, so much for the time to serve at a time when our party was changing.

struggling note to grow. regain its footing. find its voice. reconnect with people. and to stand proud again. and the one thing that i learned in this role, this job, this responsibility is that it does not get done without you. our state chairman. our national committee men and women. the numbers yet just heard from our co-chair areot just numbers on a piece of paper. they are not. there is a real effort behind those numbers. they are real men and women behind those numbers. and they are everyday struggles that were put into action by you, and so, i am grateful as

chairman to have served with one of the best rnc committees in a long, long time. because you did not shrink from the challenge. you did not walk away from the opportunity, and for the first time in over a generation, we looked at america, and we saw us, and we talked to us, each other, and we drew in moms and dads, teenagers, college students, african-americans, women, hispanics. we drew in america, and they responded to your voice. they responded to your efforts. so those numbers are not just numbers. they do not get tossed around and dissectednd analyzed to

score points, to make a point, and you have to appreciate that behind those numbers of the efforts of your state central committees, the county committees, your activists, of friends in the tea party movement, -- our friends in the tea party movement. do not lose sight of that. the responsibility in this party, not just in this office of chairman, not just in the office of co-chair or treasur, secretary, general counsel, but in the very opposite is that each one of you hold, is to be a leader first. that is what the members of this party expect you to do when you come to the republican national committee. your efforts began in 2009 in a

little place called virginia, new jersey, and you shocked the world. you're not supposed to win in virginia. and damn sure were not supposed to win in new jersey. " but you did. but you know what else you did? it does not get reported. in 2009.ayors' races albuquerque, new mexico, the first time in 20 plus years. we have the mayor'office. county executive races. upstate new york. meanwhile, the party was slowly and steadily building, brick by brick, the success that was borne out there. that is the type of efforts that this party has to be engaged in. every sile day.

some of the numbers i want to share with you, again, are not just numbers on paper, but they are a testament to the work that each one of you did, each one of you, not just what jan and i did traveling thousands of miles per year, randy pouring through books, rallying the troops of the grass roots. it is not just what we did but what you did every single day. millions of voters voted for us in 2010. the highest midterm a turnout for any party in any party in the history of this country. you did that. republican gop efforts smashed multiple voter turnout records. many more went to the polls in 2010 than in the last midterm

election, a stunning over 20% increase. you did that. all of you played a pivotal role, establishing 360 victory offices across the country with a paid staff, who were there on the ground with you, compared to just 154 victory offices in 2008 and 140 in 2006. by virtue of the plan to put together, for the first time in the history of our party, we had a 50 state strategy, but it was just not the contiguous states. we had a strategy where we won the governorship and lieutenant governorship in, -- in guam, and we did this in places we were not expected to win. the rnc website alone was completely revamped, driving page views up.

the email list was also overal and this was an opportunity to become more effective. our eil achieved a 40% open rate, and we had a click through rate that was close to 15%. now, a lot of us do not appreciate that. ul is probably up there clicking right now, right, saul? a click-through rate of 15 % of real people coming to you, coming to our party to lea and become involved, that is what we did. et and on the fund-raising side, we added new efforts in the state party andhat we did with over 1 million new donors,

small, medium, and large. this reversed a precipitous decline of new dollars that we have seen in recent off-year elections, quadrupling the number raised from new donors. you did that. the efforts of our party, a party once tagged as an endangered species, speak for itself. and i hope all of you, regardless of the outcome of the state, appreciate what you have done to establish firmly what we all talked about two years ago, and in those years, lookout we have pulled ourselves forward. now, the task becomes harder pepco because president obama is

waiting for you it. the democratic party is waiting for you, and they're going to engage us on the battlefield of ideas, the battlefield of policy, and i think have and the we have speaker john boehner right there on the front lines for us. [applause] and leador cantor. and the leadership of our party on the hill, but most importantly, the leadership that we have in the states, our new governor, arne statement as creatures. this is the real work that you did. we have picked up over 680 state legislative seats. that is an amazing feat. do you understand what that means when it comes to redistricting? well, let me tell you.

nelines will be drawn but republicans over the next two years. 44 congressional district lines will be drawn by democrats. that is what you did. you made a difference, for planning, hardware, not just our base and our activists but our grass-roots it, folks did not even know the they were grass roots folks that are part of our team. that is what a good party does. you have all proven and shown that the republican party is a good party, and is ready and willing to work on behalf of the american people, and i an honor to serve as your chairman, and i know the work will be difficult and challenging, but i have no fear nordau that you will rise to the occasion, because you are the republican party, in action,

every single day, in states all across this great country, in neighborhoods and communities. it has been such a great pleasure for me to watch you all work out some of your comfort zone. and we hope vote in the upwards that you commit that you are ready to give the democrats held over the next two years and that you're wilng to work and fight on behalf of the american people unlike anything you have done before because the work is too important. the challenges are too gat, and our grandkids and our great grand kids are dependent on us in this hour to get it right. this is what a good republican party does for the people of america, and i thank you for what you have done for us so far. god bless you. >> now, the nominations for the

candidates who ran for rnc chairman. >> hearing none, we will now begin the nomination process. the secretary has confirmed that five candidates for chairman have demonstrated the required support for nomination. the chair recognizes the national committee man for tennessee i believe that we have lost john's voice. >> i am standing in for john. on behalf of all of the three rnc members of the great state of tennessee, i am proud to nominate an wegner as the next chrman of the republican national committee. eta -- nn wagtner. -- wagner.

i believe she alone possesses the comple package of skills needed to make a complete start for the rnc. she has served republican party for 20 years. she has served our party at the local precinct level, as a township committeewoman, at the state level as a state party chairman, and as a co-chairman. i knew she is an able leader, and we all know how critical the next two years will be. these are critical times, et and the current administration would like to change this country in a way that i do not think any of us want to. the republican party is a critical organization to take our country back and put it on the right track. as state chairman, who, like you, raises money on a daily basis, the rnc has lost credibility with donors, both largand small, and in order to

note fix this, we need an rnc chairman that will manage the money that she can. she has demonstrated her ability to raise money. as co-chair, she was part of the team that helped raise $284 million during the election cycle and $392 million during the 2004 election cycle. she of raise money for the missouri party, where she served nearly seven years as chairman, and there is an aggressive fund- raising plant-closing that includes finance chairman to create a new team program for maxed out donors < and that will also include a finance committee that will also report tohe rnc chairman. she also has the political savvy to lead our party in this race.

and she has been a customer of the rnc, and she knows what we need in order to elect republicans in office and to elect a republican in 2012, and she will run a tight ship of the rnc, and she knows what it takes. she will run it like a ceo. she will be a member oriented committee. she is not involved in any special interests. and she will be a co-chairman and a members member. she will be a servant leader. in short, she will bring the foil package still said to the rnc. she has the re and talents and skills to best fit the committee at this crucial time, and encourage you to join me in voting for ann wagner as a

republican committee chair. [applause] >> thank you, chris. >> madam chair, we of the opportunity to elect a woman to the chairman o rnc. i enthusiastically support the endorsement of ann wagner for chairman of the rnc. >> from oklahoma, i also sent the nomination of ann wagner for chairman of the rnc. she is the complete package. >> i would enthusiastically second this nomination for ann wagner for chairman. >> i enthusiasticallyndorse and second. >> i am proud to nominate and

second the nomination of ann wagner. >> west virginia. i join my fellow member zapata -- my fellow members in accepting the nomination of ann wagner. >> please join me in supporting ann wagner for chairman of the rnc. >> the chair recognizes steve king from wisconsin for the purpose of nominating a candidate for rnc chair. >>hank you, madam chairman. on behalf of the governor of the

great state of wisconsin, scott walker, our newly elected senator, ron johnson from wisconsin, our congressional delegation, and on behalf of the republican party of wisconsin, i am proud and happy to stand before you and nominate for our next chairman of the republican national commission, mr. reince priebus. [applause] i have been involved in politics for some time, and i have watched over the last dozen or so years the courier and leadership that reince priebus has brought to our party and our state, culminating several years ago when he became our leader. immediately upon becoming chairman, he retired are dead, he ran the house -- he retired our debt. he raised record amounts of money. he rruited conservative candidates. he represented us wonderfully

to the media. he stayed on message. he wrapped us -- wrapped his arms around the various coalition groups to include the tea party, and the results showed it on november 2. never in history of our state have return of our state around. governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, both houses, and two congressional seats. a state that was totally black and blue became totally red. and now he is offering to bring that kind of leadership to our national party. reince is the leader that we need to unify our committee, bring the resources we so badly need if we are going to succeed and build on the successes that we enjoyed in 2010 in 2012. i urge your support for the next generation of leadership to our party, reince priebus.

[applause] >> thank you, steve. the chair recognizes betty hill, national committeewon from montana, for the purpose of seconding. >> i am happy to second the nomination for reince priebus today. he is one of our young, excing state chairmen and he knows all about winning. >> i am extremely proud to second the nomination of my state chairman, as i have learned firsthand his strong work ethic and his commitment to servant leadership. >> i am supporting reince priebus for many reasons. he will be a great fund raiser. on day one he has committed to call keep people, and financial leaders of our party.

>> donna king from oregon. i am happy to support reince priebus. i believe he will provide the oversight we need for the n election. >> i second nomination because i have found in working with reince priebus that he shows uncommon respect for every member of this committee and he will show that as chairman. he is a committed conservative that we need to lead the way in 2012. >> i am excited to second the nomination of reince priebus. he will bring back the fiscal discipline this party needs. >> i am proud to second. i believe he will serve in a way that unifies us and restore trust. he is the most humble person.

>> i am supporting reince priebus for rnc chairman because of the way he works with the tea party organization. >> i am supporting and seconding reince priebus for chairman because i know he will uphold our pro-life platform. >i am the youngest a german from the great state of oklahoma. -- youngest state chairman. he has a pn an the personality to be able to reach the next generation of voters. >> i am supporting reince priebus and seconding the motion because i know he has a laser focus on electing republicans and focusing on bringing the white house back to us. >> i am supporting reince priebus because he is enthusiastic. he is the full package and a great neighbor to the east. >> if yourime is up. if there are any others who

would like to second, please let the secretary know and she will duly put it in the records. the chair recognizes the national committeewoman from hawaii for the purpose of nominating a candidate for rnc chairman. x is my pleasure today to make this nomination. i don't have to remind this group that together we all fired nancy pelosi in 2010, and now we have a majority in the house of representatives. we have taken over -- accumulated another 690 state legislative seats, the most since 1928, and we have a winning chairman.

i would like to ask you at this time to join me in reelecting michael steele so that we can together defeat barack obama in 2012. thank you. [applause] >> the chair recognizes the national committeeman from florida for the purpose of seconding. >> i am proud to second the mination of michael steele and thank him for reaching out and reconnecting us with the american people. the tea party boats and everyone realized that he helped and was listening to we the people for change, and republicans are back in the mainstream with america. thank you. >> i am supporting michael steele for reelection because he is the individual in the best position to lead us objectively in the next election and to promote our common goals.

>> i am honored to second the nominati of michael steele as chairman of the republican national committee, because he put on the path to victory in 2010 and i believe he will see us through victory in 2012. thank you. >> i support and second the nomination of chairman michael steele for reelection because of all the money sent to our state f early victory ochses. our policy was the way to go. -- fire pelosi was the way to go. >> i am supporting michael steele in his reelection because i have always believed

in the ground up, as he does. at both the local, state, and national levels, this is the kind of leadership that we expect from michael and we will see from here through the 2012 elections. >> i am supporting michael steele because two years ago, this party was in dire straits, and i don't know whether you have noticed, but we just had the biggest year that this party has ever had. what corporation changes the head when you have just had the biggest win? it is insane. i urge all of you, let's not changed chairmen. let's keep it going. we want to win in 2012. [applause] >> our success in november paved the winning pass to 2012, and i do not wish to change

course now. join me in suppoing michael steele for chairman of the rnc. he plotted the course, he will bring us home. >> on behalf of the whole delegation, when somebody makes sweet music, one is a good conductor, you do not get rid of the conductor, and he has made sweet music. we sat in the nomination of michael steele. -- we second nomination of michael steele. join us, make sweet music. [applause] michael steele is the prudent leader with the energy and enthusiasm to lead us to victory again in 2012. is my honor to request your support and your vote for michael steele. thank you.

>> the chair recognizes the state chairman for ohio for the purpose of nominating a candidate for rnc chairman. >> ladies and gentlemen, fellow members, i know we have heard all of the speeches and i know no one wants to hear anymore, so let's get right to the point. the challenges that face this committee are incredible and they are daunting. in less than 22 months, we have to dig out of a $20 million hole, put $27 million in to the president of trust, fund a get- out-the-vote effort for our presidential candidatewe have to pay for national convention, identify that presidential candidate, and do so while facing a glut will likely be a billion dollar ground game in an effort to reelect obama. i respect every one of the candidates that has put forth their candidacy of the last several weeks. i respect the heckut of

region eveone of them, and you should too. -- each and every one of them. i don't envy anyone who gets the job, but i know one thing. this committee needs a quiet, effective, experienced chair to tackle these tough challenges. i am confident that maria cino is that person. she is the only candidate in this race who has worked in and around the committee for better than 30 years. the ly one who has managed the rnc not once, but twice. the only one who has run a national political operation for a successful presidential campaign. the only one to help bail out a national committee of millions of dollars worth of debt. the only one who has successfully funded and managed a national convention. the list goes on and on. she has the confidence of our party's highest ranking leader, and i join him in respectfully asking everyone of you decastro for maria cino for chairman.

-- to cast your vote for maria cino for chairman. it is my distinct honor to place into nomination for chairman of the name of maria cino. thank you. [applause] >> the chair recognizes the national committeewoman from utah for the purpose of seconding. >> in 1993, republicans were in big trouble. we had a charismatic young president, we had not held a house majority in 40 years, and the nrcc was $5 million in debt. maria cino clear that debt and raised millions more dollars. with the charismatic president whose policies are wrong for our country, i want a candidate for chairman who has raised the most money, elected the most republicans, executed most programs, and demonstrated a lifelong commitment to the republican party and its ideals. that is maria cino.

i am honored to second her nomination. [applause] >> in 1996, she raised $100 million and successfully defended our new majority in the house of representatives. in 2000, she ran a successful operation that elected a republican challenger into the white house. in 2004, she ran the political operations that devised and implemented the most successful victory operation in history of this national party. 2008, she ran a great convention. therefe, it is my great honor to second the nomination of maria cino to the next chairman of our national republican party. thank you. [applause]

>> i am honored to second the nomination of maria cino because it is time to elect a chairman who will restore credibility to t republican national committee from day one. it is time to elect maria cino, who will be able to raise money, millions of dollars from day one. it is time to elect rya cino, a chairman who will be able to elect republicans from day one. it is time to elect korea cino, who will stand tall for republicans across this country from day one. i have had 35 years with the national committee, and believe me, it is time. thank you very much. [applause] >> i rise to second the nomination of maria cino. she will help write the internal ship that we have and helped rectify our deficit. she will help us reach out to

our candidates with money, because when all else fails, we are going to have to have about $700 billion to win in 2012. she is the only candidate out there who has shown that she can raise that money. thank you. [applause] >> the chair recognis the national committee man from virginia for the purpose of non and -- nominating a candidate for rnc chairman. >> it is my honor and pleasure to place a name in nomination for rnc chairman. we are fortunate to have well qualified candates for national chairman. all of them have made their cases with respect to fund raising and their political skills, and later today, one of

our candidates will win a majority of our boat. -- our votes. as you consider the candidates, i ask you to keep in mind for questions. it would be most able to incorporate the tea party activists and other newly active grassroots conservatives into the campaigns of republican candidates in 2012? i know these activist organizations. i have trained many for the tea party groups an analogous organizations and i believe the answer to that question is saul anuzis. second, who is most likely to exploit fully the gh-tech social media for republican candidates? the answer is saul anuzis. who would you be confident could respond most effectively in spontaneous give-and-take with democrats and the news media?

i think the answer is saul anuzis. fourth, hoon do you know would be the chairman most quickly to get back to you when you want to discuss somhing important about your state or the rnc? i think the answer is saul anuzis. two years ago, saw was my send choice. now i am one of many hear who has saul anuzis as my first choice. he is easy to like. i predict we will find on the final ballot that he is the second choice of a great many more of us. is my pleasure to nominate saul anuzis. [applause] >> the chair recognizes the state chairman for south carolina for the purpose of seconding. >> ladies and gentlemen of the committee, it is my distinct privilege and honor to second the nomination of saul anuzis.

this is a gentleman that does not just walk the walk. he talks the talk and he walks the walk. this gentleman is someone who carries the core competencies that we need in this position. he is a fund raiser. he is someone who inherently understands the ability to strategizing and he finally understands most importantly, technology and our reach. within 30 days of my nomination of state party chairman, the rest of the red states receives some tremendous news, our governor -- gornor has foibles and they played out nationwide. for absolutely no money, he sat with us and help the strategize. i can tell you he made historic gains, and i attribute most of those to the foundations laid by this gentleman. it is my privilege and honor and i asked each of you to take the arm-twisting and forget it.

go to your hearts, do what is right, and vote for saul anuzis. >> fellow members of the rnc, it is my pleasure and honor to second the nomination of saul anuzis. he is a proven business manager and party manager. he is a tremendously successful fund-raiser. he is an outstanding manager of the republican message and he has been an effective communicator in all types of media. that is what he is and what he has done. that is what can be and can do for you and me as chairman of the rnc. i strongly urge that you vote for saul anuzi i yield the balance of my time to t committeewoman from massachusetts. >> i fully endorse saul anuzis

for chairman of the rnc and i wish that you would all follow me as one of a handful of female chairman, i would like to say that saul anuzis is someone that the males can go along with. not just because he is cute, but he understands the problems that we face. as a member of the young republicans, he can lead this grand old party into a new day that will take the rnc where it needs to go in 2012. thank you. [applause] >> since there are no other nominations that qualify, the nominations are now closed. >> the voting began with 85 votes needed to be elected chairman.

after four rounds with no winner being declared, rnc chairman michael steel announced he was dropping out of the race. his remarks are six minutes. >> thank you very much. how are you all doing? i just wanted to check. two years, we have had a good time. we have worked hard and build the party. it is very clear, the party wants to do something a little different and hopefully a little bit better.

i appreciate all the hard work that all of you have brought to the table. i said that earlier this morning and met it from a heart. this is tough, because it is what it is. but what is important, and i hope you do not forget that as this process unfolds, unification, moving forward, building, growing, winning. our target, our ground game, our oppornity rests out with the people of america. so i really thank you for the chairmanship of this party for the two years that i have had. at this time i will step aside for others to lead. but in so doing, i hope you all appreciate the legacy we leave. despite the noise, lord knows we have had a lot of noise.

despite the fficulties, we won. [applause] sit down, sidown. sit down, sit down. [cheers and applause] please, please. as probably many of you have figured out, i am a fighter. and i am a little bit obstinate, but i am because i believe in the fit. i am because i believe that the

greatest gift we can give to the people, politically, is our service to them. as i said this morning, that is your charge. you took that are seriously. we went out, we raise money, $192 million of it. we won 63 house seats, 21 state legislators slid from democrat to republican. as i said this morning, it was not because of what i did or what any of the offices, what you did. i will step aside because i think the party is ready for something different. at this time i release my supporters and i asked them to stand with me in supporting maria cino as next chairman of the party. [applause]

all the while, it is up to all of you to decide. we have been through some big storms, some small storms, but this storm, you cannot allow to continue. we must heal ourselves and go forward together and we must win. barack obama's agenda is not good for america. we fired pelosi. let's take the senate. let's take the white house. let's heal america, made her stronger, better, prouder, as we are today as republicans. unified, moving forward. it is important. i thank you for the opportunity to serve and to lead, and now i exit stage right.

[applause] [cheers and applause]

anuzis, 43. >> i make a motion to let their record reflect that the vote was a unanimous selection of reince priebus as the next chairman of the republican national committee.

any discussion? all those in favor, aye? >> aye. have it.es, congratulations. [applause]

>> wow. thank you very much. on going to keep this really short. i just want to thank god and jesus for this moment. i am so blessed. i have said that so many times, just for being of little kid

growing up then in kenosha, my first date with my wife, i have to tell you come up with two great kids in jack and grace, we cannot get -- cannot wait to get to work in this party and rebuild this party and move on to conservative candidates. i will let thank republican leaders from my home state of wisconsin, including steep canyon, scott walker, ron johnson, sean duffy, and paul ryan -- thank you very much. i want to thank all the candidates to step up and offered themselves. i won the think chairman steel

for his leadership over the past few years. thank you. [applause] i want to thank all of the rnc members who believed in my vision, who understood that some significant work that we need to do on the committee has to get done. we have to get on track and to gather we can defeat barack obama in 2012. if together, unified as a committee. with the election over, now was the time for the committee to unite. we must come together for our common interests, for the betterment of our party, and our country. with that in mind, i want you to know that i am here to earn the

trust and support of each and every one of view. i told you i would serve in humility and work hard. i am going to start working right now as your chairman. we all recognize that there is a steep deal ahead of us. the only way we will be able to move forward is if we are all together. we must never forget what we all did this. because as reagan said, "and our nation is a shining city upon a hill, and we must work to keep it that way." we recognize that the democrats have taken this country on the wrong path. and it is not going to be easy or clamorous, but to gather we must lead the way to a better committee and a better america. and spoken to most a few

you see my plan to move this committee forward, and it starts right now on day one. it is now my duty to implement this plan and communicate it to the american people in real, clear terms. you all of the board of directors. while i may be the ceo, we must all remember that each of us, everyone of us, it is still an employee to republican voters. it is our job to fill the mission of the rnc, and we're going to start by putting a solid business plan in place to operate effectively and efficiently, to begin to restore the faith of our donors. we will work to develop a new line of communication with state parties. the new speaker of the house, john boehner, senate republican leader mitch mcconnell, and

newly elected republicans across the nation. with this new focus the leadership, the rnc will move the ford. by restructuring our financial operations, reviewing our current plans of action, and hiring top notch staff. i understand the challenges that lie ahead of us, it goes well past ways in funds -- raising funds. we must know how to spend these funds effectively to aid in our redistricting efforts, to support our 2011 candidates, to hold the world class convention and to be sure that our republican presidential nominee has the organization in place to beat barack obama. [applause] i am completely humbled to have

the opportunity to lead this amazing party. starting today, starting now, there is a committee -- let's come together and get ready to recollect republicans. and, bless the committee. and god bless the united states of america. thank you very much. i appreciate it and i will earn your trust every day. thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> you have been watching this all day. you were there and your reaction. how did mr. paribas come up with the votes? >> he will down support from his rivals. he took some votes away from chairman steel. we saw him withdraw from the rest. isaak and waggoner withdraw in

the seventh round of -- you saw ann wagner withdraw in the seventh round of voting. he was able to get those folks into his camp. he is taking the chairmanship with a little over 90 votes. he came in his speech, promising a hard-working, humble era. >> what is the strength of reince priebus with the republican national committee? picking up house seats, what was it that sold the delegates and the votes at the door and say winter meeting? >> absolutely. i think you hit the nail right on the head in referring to that record of accomplishment. he came in as the chairman of the wisconsin republican party in 2007. he was able the build significant organization out there. they won david of the's house

seat. they won ross fiengold's said a seat. it was up fairly blue state where they made significant gains. he promised to lead the rnc ford. >> what do you looking for as we move into the chairmanship of reince priebus? >> big challenges that the chairman faces, one is fund raising. he is going to need to raise at least $400 million in the next two years to compete with president obama and senate democrats and the dnc. the other challenge he faces is the tea party milk and. this is what we saw all the last couple of years, of movement of the centralization, republican pouwer in to these groups, these

nine or 12 groups. activists and money was flowing away from the rnc and into this grassroots movement. he has to convince those activists and those donors that the rnc is back, it is more viable and stable, and they need to start funding the party. >> john miller of "the hill," we appreciate your work with us and we will talk with you again. >> the new rnc chairman reince priebus also spoke briefly with reporters following his election. this is just over five minutes. >> hi. first of all, my name is reince priebus. if you have trouble with that, you can google it.

i'm so blessed to have been elected chairman of the republican national committee. i have promised the committee i would work in humility and hard every day to rebuild the community, bring unity to our committee again. we need to raise a whole lot of money, come together as a party, built on the success and the victory is that we have just had in 2010, rebuild our credibility as a party, as the conservative party in american, with the right answers to help prevent our country from falling off that fiscal clip. we're going to do all of that work together. we're going to uphold the principles of this party and get the money into the state, but the barack obama in 2012, save our country, and in the process save our party. if with that, i would take any questions you might have. i do -- i am actually running the meeting behind me, if you have not noticed. i would have to take back -- i would have to go back. >> how big is the deficit in the

party? >> you're talking about the rnc? obviously we're going to be looking at $20 million in debt. we have a lot of work to do. we have to get our financial team together around the country, a finance chairman around the country, i am going to get to work on that in reaching out to major donor, putting this party back so we can have the money in the resources and the people we need to rebuild the rnc. i would be remiss not to say thank you to chairman steel for his leadership. we respect him and we wish him well. i want to thank all the other candidates. michael steele, we appreciate their part in their effort in this race. these races are tough. >> [inaudible]

>> i and the chairman of the republican national committee. i serve 168 members of that committee from every state and the territories and washington, d.c. we are blessed to have speaker boehner, we are blessed to have senator mitch mcconnell as our leaders, and we're willing to work with them. we appreciate them and as chairman of the party, one of my jobs is to support them as well. >> you do not have a ton of experience doing things like this. it is a big deal right now. are you prepared for this position of communications? >> wisconsin is a targeted state. i have talked a lot of you standing right here. we are not on used to having lots of press that we deal with as the state chairman and a state the barack obama visits almost every other month. certainly as chairman, the

mccain-pail in the race, i have talked a lot of you about the things we have done at the rnc. i am prepared for this. with god's help anything is possible. >> [inaudible] >> that is the job of the republican national chairman. we will deal with that tomorrow morning. we have not even -- i just grabbed the gavel to run the next election. we have not made any decisions on that. we're going to bring the team together. we will take the executive committee of the rnc to be the transition to a. we will build unity on this committee. everyone will have a say. we will do this together. we will bring real leadership back into the building and get this train back on the rails. >> [inaudible] >> it is very relevant. we have to raise about $400 million over the next two years. we would do that for regional

finance directors. like a said before, getting the financing chairman are around this country back on board, putting the rnc back on their shoulders, and no illusions about the hard work. >> [inaudible] >> there is a lot at stake in this election. they believe in the republican party and that we need to save our country. they feel that in their hearts in their minds and they want to come on board. i have talked to many who want to roll up their sleeves, rebuilt the finances of this party, and move on to 2012 for a great victory, as well as the present 2011. i have to go back and run this meeting. >> any divisions between the establishment in the grass roots? >> i do not think so at all. certainly not from me. i am part of a grass-roots movement. what i said is that our party is

part of the conservative movement in this country. we are not in competition with it. we're going to do it right, together, and we're going to win in 2012. thank you very much. [unintelligible] >> tomorrow on c-span, a speech by eric holder at a prayer breakfast commemorating martin luther king, a junior at shiloh baptist church in washington, d.c., 10:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. >> i believe that the best way to carry on dr. king's work is to reach out to someone in need and make an ongoing commitment

to community service. >> on the 82nd anniversary of martin luther king jr. as birth, use the c-span video library. there are hundreds of programs on the life and legacy of the civil-rights leader. find a program, while chick, click it, and share it. >> starting tuesday, the house takes up the repeal of the healthcare law. watch the debate and final vote on c-span, and go to c-span.org to read the bill on line and continue the conversation on c- span is twitter and facebook pages. >> it is time the upload your video for the student can competition. -- studentcam competition. it is your chance to win the grand prize of $5,000. this year's topic, "washington, d.c. through my lenses." for details, go to studentcam.org. >> next, a discussion on the

112th congress and the obama administration with republican and democratic strategist. this is about 50 minutes. . host: our sunday round table with john feehery and karen finney. good morning. thanks for being with us. guest: good morning. host: let's move ahead to the speech 10 days from. -- from now. the debt ceiling vote is coming up later in the spring. karen finney -- john feehery, what will the president say? guest: he will reflect on his speech in tucson, which i thought was a very good speech. i thought it it all the right notes. he will talk about what happened to the health care vote. will talk about how we need to

work together. he will talk about how we is going to try to create jobs. those are the notes he is going to hit. guest: i agree with most of that, but i think it is an opportunity for the president to lay out his vision of the next six months to one year. we're entering reelect. you have about six months before you start to get into campaign mode. it is an opportunity, using the framework of the speech in tucson, to talk about how we can, we as in democrats and republicans, work for different common ground -- work to find common ground. host: many of us feel that the debate was hijacked by fox news with the so-called death panels and the unending string of

republican misinformation. i will be the first to say i thought the democrats could have done a better job correcting public misconceptions about health reform that linger to this day. guest: it is a myth to say people did not like the health care bill because of fox news. they thought it would raise their premiums. if your small business owner, you think it will hurt job creation. they did not like the individual mandate. there were so many things that were bad about this health care bill. this is not a myth perpetrated by the republicans and conservatives at fox news. it was a very bad bill. i think that is why republicans, pretty easily in the house, will vote and to repeal -- vote to repeal it. guest: they spend hundreds of millions of dollars. our recent poll shows that the

majority of americans do not believe there would have a choice to keep their current health insurance if they want to. people will be able to keep their current health insurance if that is what they choose to do. the volume of misinformation out there -- if we had a conversation on the merits of the issue, that would have been different. republicans did not come forward with their own plan. they did a disservice to the american people. most statistics show that -- some conservative economists even -- show that any impact on jobs will be minimal. it could help current jobs because this is a growing sector of our economy. host: one of the key players is mitch mcconnell. this piece calls him a "master manipulator."

he uses tactics that are head- obvious.ing ly some describe him as having "the natural charisma of an oyster." guest: he is one of the most gifted strategists i have ever seen. he is always smiling. he knows how to work strategy. knows how to make the news he wants to make without making news he does not want to make. i have a lot of friends who work in that office. i marvel at his ability to keep that caucus together.

guest: anytime somebody can stay on message -- it's incredibly impressive. he gets on a message like, " the most important thing we can do is make sure this president is reelected," says it over and over, then moves on to the next message. "it did not" -- it is not because of a lack of stability that caused this tragedy. a p it did a precen -- it did not set a precedent. bill crystal said the words "it did not" were not in the prepared text. they were apparently added on delivery by president obama.

. guest: he had all the right notes and did not get into who did what the hon. the most important message is what happens next is the only thing that we can control and that is what matters the most. i hope that is a framework, if we have a conversation about repealing obamacare -- the affordable health care act -- then that's too that on and on this basis, on the issues, and talk about what the impact will be an nine given to hyperbole we

seem like death panels, which just is not true. guest: i think crystals points are well taken. there's a huge difference of opinion between conservatives and liberals. a huge difference of opinion between republicans and democrats. i do think that we're going have this clash of wills between the differing sides in this congress. i do think that for a better compromise to get done, it has to be conducted on the basis of civility. i think that is what the president was saying in a speech. n't cause this necessarily. it didn't cause it at all. but let's take this as an excuse to act more civilly towards one another. >> more from the president last wednesday evening in tucson, arizona. >> let each of us do so with a good dose of humility.

rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame. let's use this occasion to expand a moral imagination, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instinct for empa thy and remind ourselves of all the ways that our hopse and dreams are bound together. >> we've been talking about what happened in tuscon over the last eight days. but where does the political dialogue and debate go from here? >> it goes to the debate we've started on health care and the differences of opinion on whether this is a good law or whether it's a terrible law. and then really it goes to some serious substantive discussions about how do we extend the debt ceiling, how do we cut spending, how do we fund our troops in afghanistan and iraq.

how do we make the critical decisions that are going to get this economy moving again. how do we deal with the different state gots that are going bankrupt? all of these things are huge decisions and require sophisticated arguments and sophisticated solutions. and so i think that this is not easy. none of these decisions are going to be easy and i think that you're going to have passionate debate on both sides. hopefully, it will be civil and passionate. >> i hope it's civil and passionate but also pragmatic and truthful and based on the facts. and when we talk about budget cuts, we had a discuss last year about additional funds for the states. mr. boehner referred to special interest groups which was teachers, firefighters, well, you know what? on that horrible day last saturday thank god there were police officers and first

responders there on the scene able to help. so when we talk about some of these budget cuts we have to understand and i think let's be honest that those are some of the things that get cut. we may still decide that's the right cut to make but let's acknowledge, let's not try to sort of hide the, do a shell game here and try to suggest that when we make a cut over here it doesn't have an impact over there. that would be the kind of straightforward discussion we can have. no doubt we're going to have to make cuts. the other thing i hope we have in terms of a civil debate, it's disturbing to me so far when we talk about the discussion over the debt ceiling, it's who is going to get what, i'm going to get this from you rather than you're going to get that from me rather than the right decisions for the country. rather than if we give up this you'd better give up that. come on. >> i think what republicans are saying is we need a real plan to be fiscally responsible. anddom gogry really comes from

the democratic side of the stuff. if you talk about the fact that these states and local governments are drowning in pension costs, you know, montgomery county for example, 60% of their budget is paid for pensions and that is all because of labor unions. and these are government employee labor unions. and yes, i think that the teachers and police officers play an extraordinarily important role. but those who are retired at age 55 and getting pensions for the rest of their life, that all sounds good in a growing economy. but when you have these state and federal budgets going bankrupt, we have to make some real changes. and the -- i saw what happened with michelle rhee and the district of columbia and the teachers unions going after her. these are adult discussion that is have to take place. and the deem gogry is

extraordinary. >> good morning. caller: the problems we're having in the united states, the reason we're divided so much is because we lie. we lie. >> host: who is lying? caller: everybody lies. republicans lie, democrats lie. everybody is lying. and i've been watching you for years. see, i'm from kentucky. i know mitch mcconnell, see. i've been watching him for about 30 years. that man will say anything to get his agenda passed. anything. now, i'm from kentucky. been there all my life. i'm over 50. o what we have to do is quit lying and telling the truth. there isn't such thing as obama there isn't such thing as obama care.