before having an abortion. at about 8:40, celinda lake on the history of women voters and how women are trending in 2012. "washington journal" is next. ♪ ♪ host: good morning, congress returns after the president's day recess and president obama is honoring troops who served in iraq and a dinner is taking place on wednesday. another set of primaries is on tuesday, arizona and michigan, states that mitt romney is currently ahead with a double- digit lead in arizona and potential of what will happen in michigan and news overseas -- syrians are voting on a new constitution but opponents of president assad are calling for

a boycott and calling for him to step down. our focus for the first 45 minutes is dealing with afghanistan as the president renewed his call for calm in a televised address to the nation after the burning of korans at a u.s. base. 35 people have been killed including four u.s. soldiers since tuesday and we want to focus on afghanistan, our u.s. presence over there, at the president's apology this past week. our phone lines are on the screen.

you can join us on twitter or facebook. this is from cnn -- the burning prompted protesters calling death to america. american officials said the burning was unintentional. we are joined from blogger on, here force base. -- bagram air force base on the telephone. guest: my pleasure. host: where are you that? where were you coming from?

guest: i came from kabul and landed about 10 minutes ago. i'm on my way to the east. host: point out that the top u.s. commander in afghanistan is recalling all nato personnel working in the afghan ministries. there was also the story of the killing of two u.s. officials by afghan military officers. what are you seeing and what are you hearing? guest: the week started with a flurry of american apologies after a pile of korans were burned. the week ended with a flurry of apologies with two u.s. officials killed in the ministry of the interior in kabul. the scene after five or six days is tense.

karzai gave a press conference today where he urged the population to remain calm. the people are demanding retribution. the general allan decision-day to withdraw, there are concerns about fratricide. no u.s. general has ever withdrawn and his potential could affect several hundred western advisers. it will have consequences. we are hearing reports from the field that there are u.s. commanders that have ordered their troops to keep their distance from afghan tribes. the u.s.-afghan cooperation is critical and over the last week,

there are real concerns. host: looking at the front page of "the washington post" can you and explain why this incident has sparked such outrage in a country where many would argue that the goal of u.s. troops is to give afghan people a sense of independence and rebuild the country? guest: the burning of the holy book here is taken very seriously. this is the first time we have seen this sort of response. last spring, we saw that creature in florida burn of the koran.

no one here is really surprised to see this sort of protest we have seen over the last five or six days. the surprise is that this would happen on a u.s. military base 10 years into the war. even american allies view this as offensive. it is a shock to the relationship. host: we're talking with kevin sieff and he is in afghanistan. final question and i know there is a slight delay -- the president issued his apology and general allen in a video conference with reporters at the pentagon had this apology. the president is getting u.s. criticism including newt

gingrich. was the apology important for the afghan people? guest: that is a really good question. i think it is important to particularly to the afghan leadership in kabul and important for president karzai. well that apology be enough is the question. that remains to be seen at this point. the incident at the interior ministry is a serious blow. certainly, an apology is important, but it does not mean that the unrest is over. there is real concern among american officials as to what

president karzai's response will be over the next few days. they have not seen this public acceptance from president karzai. he publicly said this is accidental and it is time to move on body has not quite gone that far. host: the kabul bureau chief for "the washington post"joining us, what will you be looking at today? guest: we will say. we will write about president karzai and his comments this morning. impacterested in what this will have outside will kabul. the american journalists have done a good job of covering this from the capitol but what counts is in the field.

the relationship between u.s. and afghans are dying alongside each other and if that relationship sours, it could be pretty serious long-term problems. host: a busy weekend for you and thank you for spending a couple of minutes or with us. guest: no problem. host: his work is available online at washingtonpost.com. "the new york times" has the story of the two officials shot inside the interior ministry and all advisers will "-- were pulled out this adds to the drumbeat of

concerns and animosity between civilian and military on both sides that have led coalition forces. joseph ramirez has this point in our twitter page -- james is joining us from atlanta, democrats line, your reaction? caller: hello, thank you for cspan. this situation should not be happening at this point in time. we have been at war for 10 years in iraq and afghanistan and it

boils down to the units in the field, the generals all the way down to the squad leaders and the unit soldiers. this situation has happened in before and the problem is the fact that young troops on details and this was a task assigned to young soldiers. you have team leaders and sergeants and public commanders and you also have a battalion commanders and above that understand the situation. all you have to do is make sure they know exactly what they're looking at. what does it look like? they need to make sure that you identified those -- if you can identify which you have in your hand, you won't make the mistake. host: from alexandria, va., airline for independents. caller: i think it is an

orchestrated attack on this administration coming directly from the republican party and look out they are attacking each other right now. what s exams this administration. it is a means to discredit this administration and to make it seem as f. we are doing something wrong and we have a problem with the koran. we don't. i think it is the republicans. host: from the republican line, scottsdale, ariz. which is a primary state on tuesday. caller: i have already voted for mitt romney. we do early voting period of this amazes me. what that lady said is absolutely ridiculous, ridiculous. where is move on dhaka court and george soros and hollywood screaming?

president obama is the one that tripled the the troops in afghanistan. gas prices is not the president's fall and this is not president obama's fault. where is general petraeus? this is amazing. our president does not have a clue what he is doing. we got osama bin laden but let's remember who worked on that eight years before the president came in, the cia. afghanistan is a bunch of animals and when mitt romney was talking at the economic thing the other day, you could see the union thugs out there screaming. we gave the unions of this car company, our money is there and they are picketing and mad that mitt romney is out there. i would like my money back and now we gave chrysler to a foreign country. you see what is wrong with

detroit. they are like animals. they are running for those nike shoes just a bunch of animals. host: this is from our twitter page -- from the bbc website -- next is kathy from harbor springs, mich., welcome to the program. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. my 12-year-old seventh grade son

was assigned afghanistan as a country to research and presented project for school. it was probably two weeks ago. it was very difficult to find any information on afghanistan online that spoke to the culture. every picture was about war. it was very frustrating for myself and for him because he just doesn't understand. he is only 12. i found a national geographic in the house from 1993 and afghanistan was part of that issue. we used a lot of those pictures. nothing seems to have changed in terms of how the people are treated and how the culture -- it is a respected by many people, it seems. i had him take pictures in an

institution and there was a lot of pain. i can give you an example -- i was substitute teaching in a high-school class and the racial profile really set me back. i had to complain about it and i will do another follow up on that. the teacher and as classroom had a lot of biblical "all over her desk and computer. that is tolerated but we don't tolerate the karan? that is a big problem in this country, i believe. host: the earlier caller referred to this story which includes a photograph of osama bin laden's former home in pakistan.

that story is from inside the "washington post." and there is also a photograph. from our twitter page -- newt gingrich is among those too quickly criticized the president

and the story is available at cbs news.com, saying the president surrendered by his apology. carl is on the phone from memphis, tenn., democrats line, good morning. caller: good morning, are they going to put these people who were part of the operation for burning this book? the president does not need to apologize for somebody else's mistake. he has gone through enough for his administration. it seems to me that somebody has done something by putting their

foot in their mouths and we have to apologize for something else. it is time out for apologies. it is time for trying to work together. host: if you are just joining us, our focus this morning is the developments over the weekend with the killing of two u.s. soldiers in afghanistan, more than 30 killed last five days and we have seen the demonstrations across afghanistan following the confirmation that u.s. officials and inadvertently burned to the koran and the official apology from president obama expressing deep brigade over the qur'an burning, pointed out that the president sent a letter to president karzai. the president said the letter was -- said the incident was unintentional and he said -- " i wish to extend my deep

regret and sincere apologies." from texas, your thoughts on all of this? caller: it is more enemies of the freedom of people. it is like the democrats since the beginning of america, they always gets a much freedom. it is like iraq or afghanistan, you'll always hear people like obama and telling us how terrible it is for people to be murdered by the hundreds of thousands to save 25 million people they have no problem murdering more every year. black babies, white davies, liberal, progressive babies so they can be a bunch of free idiots. these people and afghanistan like the rest of the taliban and al qaeda and all the people that hate other people's freedom and democracy, they are like the unions, 99% morons' we have in america, them running around saying they want everyone to have freedom but they always

tell everyone that speaks against and that they can't have freedom of speech. all they do every day is complain about the corporations and businesses and they are the ones paying for everything. the union people can't even hold down a job without the unions. we get people like this is the who called in this morning blaming republicans. it is like when there were talking about contraceptives. they go out and murder babies anyway. host: thanks very much for the call. later in the program, we will have the editorial page editor of "the detroit news." we will look at michigan politics coming up in about 20 minutes or so. we talked about the referendum going on in syria.

as we said, many opponents of president assad are not supported a constitution saying it is a sham. back to the situation in afghanistan with personal being pulled out of the embassies.

from msnbc, this headline -- david is joining us from dallas, welcome to the program. caller: it has occurred to me that if the military or anyone else when into this city and burned hundreds of bibles, there would be a tremendous blow back, possibly even violence. i think our whole endeavor over there has been completely misconceived. we have not understood anything about the culture. we did not go over there to stabilize the country. we went over there for revenge. i think it is high time we got out. this idea of going into iran to me is misconceived as anything we have come up with. thanks for taking my call. host: next up, chicago, on

airline for democrats. caller: good morning, cspan. i want to know why the american soldiers did not plan this. "-- because they should know that you cannot trust the afghan military. they have always been infiltrated. they should have known better and they don't have the guards posted. if americans are not armed, somebody in afghanistan will come in there and easily infiltrate and no one will suspect they have weapons on them. they should have known better. i believe the president had no choice but to try to calm the situation and karzai should apologize for those two soldiers getting killed and a local soldiers wounded because he is a leader of that country. it should have been mutual respect. that taliban has play in the

plant at of the people to steer those people up because they know they are easy to stir up and you cannot quell them. when you have hated your heart, that is what they will do. they don't care about our religion. it seems like they care about their own religion. if anything happens, they rise up until folks in god says love, not hate. host: from omar aziz--- from our twitter page -- we took the question from the events yesterday and the last five days. we actually came up with the

question and we appreciate your response and comments. springfield, missouri, go ahead caller: i am member of code pink. of like to respond to the woman a little while ago who acted like everyone who is liberal or progressive is for obama. code pink sat in front of the white house resisting arrest in 2009 the day that obama announced that the troops surge was happening. i am calling because i am tired of the left and right and the ones in the middle. the far left and the far right agree on afghanistan and u.s. imperialism and we're wasting our money overseas and need to

bring our troops home. the ones in the middle are saying that obama is the bad guy and the democrats say bush is the bad guy when really they are in on it together. i just beg we need to stop this bickering about which president is better and which side is better because they're both just taking us for a ride. bush started the bail out an obama did more bellsouth than the green party and code and pink both put out statements during that time that we did not agree with the way those bailouts happened. and that people -- the president should have given those bailouts to the people. i want to close with a quote from james dugard that democracy must be something more than tools and sheep voting on what to have for dinner. host: we will talk about the

bailout and the auto industry has returned her attention to the michigan primary coming up in about 15-20 minutes. from randal chase, this story from "the guardian newspaper "--

from our twitter page -- that is the result of this headline from "the washington post" -- atlanta, georgia, good morning. caller: good morning, i am really saddened by this whole process with fighting the war in afghanistan. we lost it years ago and we continue to pretend that the afghans like us. they in fact hate us. they hate us like the polish who

hated the germans. and the russians for that matter. we just have to get out. the trouble is, we will get out and start another war with iran. the israelis want to drop have very heavy bombs which we supplied to them. we tell officially, yes, or no you cannot attack iran but the israelis can i get there without our fuel tankers to deliver the bombs and get back. washington lies to us. the africans -- the afghan center, as i lie to us -- the afghans like to this. all the governments are just lying and the american soldiers are dying and the afghan citizens are dying.

when the russians went into afghanistan i think in the 70's and they exited 10 years later, the government they installed last of about two years until the taliban took over. with the karzai government, it could be about one year until it was the way it was in 2000. host: a cup full of other notes this morning -- -- a couple of other notes this morning -- in about an hour, we will have a conversation with governor bob mcdonnell, the governor of virginia.

from "the washington post" website, they say he has one of the worst weeks ever. from "the washington examiner" -- the president will be in south korea for the nuclear security summit. the president of the gridiron saying he is disappointed. another great iron participants said he was a surprise for the

president to blow of journalists in the year he is running. that story is from "inside the washington examiner." bethlehem, pa., welcome to the program. caller: wearing a suit with a pocket hankies on my bucket list. in 2010, there is a pastor in florida that announced he was going to burn the karan i certain day and i remember their writing in afghanistan back then and that was before the facts. this should not come as a surprise. the idea that these people will be just like us -- a gentleman brought up the idea about culture. what about when we introduced these people to western ideals like gay marriage, free condoms and the schools, abortion on demand, medical marijuana come pornography? will there be rioting van?

we might have to send charlie sheen as a special envoy to get these people on track. thank you. host: thank you for the call. you can join the conversation on line on twitter and our facebook page. me go back to the story from cbs news as newt gingrich slammed the president for his apology of the burning of the koran ---

newt gingrich says the president apologize but i have not seen that the present -- that the president demand an apology for the killing of those two americans. that came on thursday. there were new killings over the weekend and nato officials are now pulling out personnel at ministries as a result of the killings of the two americans and afghanistan that took place yesterday by an afghan police officer. detroit, good morning, welcome to the program. caller: i want to say a couple of things. america, stop being stupid. the reason why the president apologized -- he is controlled totally by his advisers. if he is advised to apologize, he will apologize. it is not an independent action. i want to say also that people

wake up. afghanistan is the number one natural occurring uranium mines the entire world and it supplies 90% of the world's heroin. we have to control that area. whether you're republican or democrat or whatever, it does not matter. the president does what he has to do. newt is doing political what ever. it does not matter. people need to wake up and that's all i want to say. host: we will hear from her consent form and just a moment when he was in detroit, michigan. here is an e-mail --

rick santorum is campaigning and head of the primary in michigan and had this to say yesterday. [video clip] >> i understand what it means to have people at the bottom of the economic ladder, folks or struggling to pull it together to be able to get value in the marketplace for their skills. i know it means to have those manufacturing jobs that get you in there and gives you the opportunity to accumulate more skills overtime so you can provide a better standard of living for your family. those opportunities for working men and women, not all folks are gifted in the same way. some people have incredible

gifts with their hands. some people have incredible gets and want to work. making things. president obama once said he wants everybody in america to go to college. what a snob. host: the comments of rick santorum yesterday. he has an eye on the primary tuesday. we will have the results in the speeches from mitt romney and rick santorum tuesday evening in our coverage gets under way at 9:00 eastern time on c-span and live on cspan radio. back to your calls on the issue of afghanistan and the president of policy and the killing of two u.s. officials yesterday by the afghan police others are following the death of other american soldiers last week.

this is from idaho, republican line. caller: good morning. i think we're wasting our time and american lives on people who would attack our positions over burning their koran. i know we need to keep a military presence in the middle east to assist or protect israel. i think we should leave half the people over there for that reason. i think we should bring half of them back to secure our southern borders. we would spend less than half as much money to do so and we would get three times as much done. that is all i have to say. host: we will go next to alexandria, pa., line for democrats. caller: good morning, obama

apologize because it was the right thing to do. america was founded on the principles of tolerance. host: ok, thank you for that call. one of our viewers the says -- as we said at the top of the program, the president of kasten is renewing his call for calm in a televised address to five days after the burning of the koran and a total of 30 people have been killed since the incident came to light last tuesday. international advisers are being recalled and this follows two u.s. military advisers, a lieutenant colonel and a major, were found dead in their offices with shots in the backs of their heads. it is unclear who shot the man inside the heavily secured when inside the interior ministry or if the perpetrator was apprehended. they indicated it was a police

intelligence officer for the u.s. military does not release the names of those two men who were killed yesterday the bodies of those u.s. soldiers killed following the incident last wednesday and thursday returned to dover, delaware this weekend. good morning from canton, conn. caller: i am calling about afghanistan. we should not apologize. was a mistake -- it was a mistake. we are kowtowin to sharia law. they are told to murder people who insults the this book. this religion is extremely violent. bibles were burned because soldiers brought into the country years ago and they burned bibles but that was not in the media because it is perfectly ok to insult and

attacked christians in this country. the government and media in this country are extremely anti- christian. they bowed down to islam. i urge people to contact your legislators because we need to accept laws into legislation into legislationsharia law from going into our courts. it is already going into our courts. it may replace our constitution and bill of rights. host: this is from a victor from a twister -- the front page this morning from "the l.a. times."

cynthia is joining us from jamaica, thank you for being with us. caller: how're you doing? i watch your program and listen to your topics and i think the president has the right to make amends. not everybody will agree with him. the callererstand that called and said in a school there is no koran. how many bibles are in afghanistan and iran? our people leave our island and did not fight quebec -- what was right down here and want to change the culture of america. you want to take what you left your and not help fight for what we've got here and you want to change the whole country of america. i love this place, god bless america. host: based on a comment from an

earlier caller -- ray is joining us from warrenton, va., democrats line -- wa the rightlogy thing to do. the republicans fire at this guy for making an apology but it is that same attitude that kept us isolated from everyone else in the world for eight years straight. we talk about patriotism and being pro-american. right off the bat, republicans made public statement that they would do any thing that would make it possible to refer this to be a one-term presidency. the unwillingness to do everything that obama proposes

makes me angry. they got mad at the guy who bowed down to foreign leaders. this is the old way of thinking. we have to be able to coexist with everybody else. i think we have a misconception that if we are tough that we should be elite and we have to not bowed down and pay our respects to other people. i think that is wrong. i appreciate your time. host: thank you and for all of you with your calls and comments and e-mails and tweets, we will continue in a couple of minutes of noah finley, and a preview of what will happen with the primary on tuesday. this is from the "richmond times dispatch" ---

we'll talk about issues and aspects of the republican race. later, our live coverage of the winter meeting of the nga getting under way at 9:30 eastern time. if you're listening to cspan radio at noon, you are listening to the sunday morning programs we regret crashed. -- wheat rebroadcast. >> read heirs of five network tv talk shows begin at noon eastern time on cspan radio. topics include the race for the white house, state politics and issues and the situation in the middle east. we begin with "meet the press, "with presidential candidate rick santorum and two governors.

at 1:00 p.m., abc's "this week" it wrecks santorum and governor rick snyder and governor of duval patrick of massachusetts. "fox news sunday"began said 2:00 p.m. with mitt romney and mitch daniels. at 3:00 p.m., it is cnn's stay" of the union." democratic governor of colorado and republican governor scott walker will be on. also former shell oil president. finally, at 4:00 p.m., it is "face the nation." republican governor chris christie and democratic governor martin o'malley will be on the program. he is chairman of the democratic governors association. re-airs of the sunday talk

shows begin at 12:00 noon. listen to them all on cspan radio on 90.1 fm in the washington area or nationwide at xm-satellite radio, channel 119. or go to c-span.org. >> bobby jindal is prepared to release his budget. it is a budget of $900 million in the red. it is mostly cloudy and 37 degrees at the airport. shreveportening to news and weather station, news and weather. >> next weekend, we explore the history of literary culture of shreveport, louisiana. that is saturday starting at noon eastern on c-span 2.

we'll talk about the union army's failure in louisiana. and then they look at the over 200,000 books of the john smith nobel collection housed at the el as you shreveport park rides and a walking tour of shreveport and bozier city. on c-span 3 sunday at 5:00 p.m. eastern from barksdale air corps force base, a look at the role of the base on 9/11 and a history of the b-52 bomber. also this of the founding fathers autographed collection at the louisiana state exhibit museum and from the pioneer heritage center, medical treatment and madison during the civil war. shreveport, louisiana next weekend on c-span 2 and 3. >> continues -- we are joined by

noah finley. in your editorial, you say that mitt romney stands alone among the republican primary candidates capable of winning the white house and more importantly, of elimination to a prosperous future. why? guest: if we were hiring a president based on resume, mitt romney would be the clear choice. he has a wealth of experience in running things. if you look at the other candidates, rex santorum has not been in charge of anything. newt gingrich was speaker of the house but in terms of non- political experience and executive experience, mitt romney is the clear choice in that regard. host: you say that wreck santorum is unable based on his past to unite the country. guest: we say that about gingrich, i think, based on his experience when he was in the house.

as for santorum, we don't think he has the broad appeal that a general electorate will be looking for in november. he has a lot of appeal among the more conservative voters. that it's what has given him his boost in michigan. there are many conservative republicans in this state. if you put in the general election against barack obama, i don't think he can bring in the independence or the middle that republicans will need to win this election host: following your endorsement, the mitt romney campaign is sending it out to its rsupporters. one reporter was upset, explain what happened and what the mitt romney campaign did. guest: this is a stretch. i never said i was upset. when they put the editorial on line or when they sent it added

a press release, they used a more favorable exurbs. they did not say there were exurbs but they did use ellipses to indicate things are missing and they provided the full editorial on line. as i said before, that is what was most important to us, that readers could hit the lincoln hear the -- read the full editorial. we would rather they have printed the full editorial. they say they don't do that. we are good. host: in terms of what you have seen of this race, one of the major issues has been the presidential support for a bailout of chrysler and general motors and now the infamous editorial by mitt romney "let the detroit go bankrupt." how is this playing out in the primaries? guest: in fact, detroit did go bankrupt. more than half republicans say the position on the bellsouth

does not matter. all the candidates are on record saying they oppose the way the bailout occurred. of the four candidates, mitt romney is the one whose position is most closely aligned with what actually happens. there was indeed a managed bankruptcy. mitt romney does not agree with a lot of things that occurred after the government took over these companies and we don't agree with a lot of things that occurred after the government took over these companies. there is a lot of uneasiness in the way things progress. we are happy it is working out now and the companies are up and making money. mitt romney but made a biy of a pivot last week. i think that was a smart move. host: let's take a look at the polling from michigan. we should point out that the survey came out before the cnn debate last wednesday. it showed that mitt romney was

ahead 37% and rick santorum at 35%. ron paul areh and r not campaigning in michigan. guest: i think it is still a pretty tight race. mitt romney may have picked up a little bit of support and he may be inching ahead a bit. the polls show anywhere from 3- 4% lead for mitt romney but this is a close race and that is reflected by the fact that the candidates are here today. they will appear here monday and tuesday. they're spending a lot of time in michigan, particularly in mitt romney. he did not intend to spend this time and money in michigan. he probably wishes he did not have to spend but that suggests this race is a row -- still very tight and very much in play. host: let me share a couple of other headlines --

i wanted to show these headlines because if we look at a map of the state,chuck todd the case that outside detroit, it can look like i was to voters. what is the republican electorate like in michigan? guest: there is a strong tea party in michigan. both the press and oftentimes the candidates confuse the tea party with the religious right. they are not one on the same -- they are not one and the same per.

the tea party movement here is very much concerned with deficits, spending, taxation and you are starting to see the candidates realize that social issue message alone will not sway the voters here and they are starting to talk about the economy and started to talk about deficits and spending. host: you endorsed john mccain four years ago. mitt romney was in that race, what changed? guest: we liked mitt romney back then but when we made our enforcement at that time, national security was the major issue in this race. we felt john mccabe was the best candidate -- we felt john mccain was the best candidate to lead us in a troubled world. we saw him in august-september and the race pivoted toward the economy and john mccain said the economy is not his strength and that's why we wish we had mitt romney as a candidate. i don't know what will happen this time.

this race could easily pivot away from the economy to national security. we're fairly confident that mitt romney can run a campaign and stand alone in a national election. we think he has the judgment, maturity, and wisdom to lead the country and stand as a candidate if issues turn away from the economy and toward national security. host: this is from "the washington post" -- this indicates that mitt romney and rick santorum are trying to undermine each other. this is a head of the crucial primary tuesday. their fortunes are shifting until the three days in the primary. if mitt romney wins narrowly in

michigan, what does that mean for his candidacy? guest: that gives him a boost for its super tuesday. he has to win michigan. otherwise it would take a heavy blow to his campaign. this is has some stake and he made clear he is from michigan. -- this is his home state and he made it clear he is from michigan. if you can and making your home state, how could you expect people otherwise to vote for you. that is why he is spending so much time here. if he wins here and arizona, i believe he will get the sample and a boost that santorum got in winning those three meaningless primaries. he would go in as the clear front runner with clear momentum. this is not make or break but this is a pivotal moment in his campaign. host: from "the new york daily news" --

if mitt romney loses his native state, it would be bye-bye. do you agree? guest: i think it makes things tougher and more expensive for him. it might be bye-bye to his candidacy if he had a more viable opposition. i am not sure that rick santorum or newt gingrich meet that test. i think he will continue to have -- i think you will continue to have a model campaign into tuesday and the other primaries and this thing could end in tampa at august at the convention. host: the mitt romney campaign said this primary could go through mid-may and from " the new york times" --

let me share with you this tweet -- people watched the speech at ford >> i love this state. this feels good, being back in michigan. the trees are the right height. the streets are just right. i like the fact that most of the cars i see are detroit-made automobiles. i drive a mustang and a chevy pickup truck. ann drives a couple of cad lax. i used to have a dodge truck so i used to have all three

covered. but i want to tell you how much i appreciate this state, this city, this country, and i can tell you that if i'm lucky enough to be president of the united states, governor snyder will have a friend in the white house. guest: your reaction to his comments on friday. >> we're trying to figure out what is the right height of trees. that's a curious remark he keeps repeating over and over. michigan understands what happened on friday. nobody expected mitt romney to fill a 65,000 seat football stadium. that luncheon was moved to ford field after the other venue, the detroit economic club normally uses, it was sold out in 90 minutes. it overwhelmed those venues. they can hold 500 people and it quickly went past that and so somebody had the idea, let's move it to ford field and sell 1200 tickets and the chairman of

the economic club is bill forward to jr. who owns ford field. but it was never intended to be more than 1200. it was a good crowd, there was a waiting list. democrats have latched on to the idea that he should have filled 65,000 seats. that was absurd. it was a successful speech for him. i sat at the lunch afterwards with a couple of fellows who work in the auto industry. and i asked them about romney's position on the bailout. they were completely opposed to his position on the bailout, disagreed with his depiction of how the bailout was auto industry unfolded and then i asked them, well, who are you going to vote for on tuesday and they said, we're absolutely voting for romney. so i'm not sure that disagreement on that position even in that speech has hurt his chances with republican voters here. host: one michigan voter saying the trees near my house are a

little too tall, saying that with humor. but i have to go back in terms of the theatrics in having a stadium, we understand it was sponsor booed i -- by the detroit economic club, but in hindsight, was it a mistake to put him in a stadium that was essentially empty? >> all 65,000 were empty because they set up 1200 seats on the football field. everybody thought it could be a nice venue. they could have moved it to the opera house and the music hall and the place would have looked jam so in that sense for appearance's sake, yeah, maybe it was a mistake, but it doesn't reflect on his appeal here. that luncheon sold out in 90 minutes. he talked about being a friend to michigan, a friend to rick snyder. this is a state that, in 2010,

elected a person similar to mitt romney as governor and elected him by a large margin, a venture capitalist, very like-minded and michigan has shown an affinity for that sort of candidate. >> host: we're talking with bill finley. the obama campaign quick to jump on the headline in 2008 when mitt romney said, let detroit go bankrupt. this is the latest from the obama campaign on the air from michigan. [video] >> made in america, when a million jobs were on the line, every republican candidate turned their back, even said, "let detroit go bankrupt." not him. now, a retooled, restructured

industry is back because of the grit and sacrifice of michigan workers. >> don't bet against the american worker. >> i'm barack obama and i approve this message. host: nolan finley, let's look ahead to the general election and let's say mitt romney is the republican nominee. is michigan in play for the republicans in the fall or does this issue help the president more than it helps the republicans? >> the issue helps the president more than it helps republicans but michigan will be in play because mitt romney is from here, has a tremendous support network here, a lot of donors, good organization. but he also speaks to michigan values, speaks to michigan a way the president doesn't. the president won by 16% last night. he's going to be tough to beat but you have to tell me where prices are going to be in november before i can answer that question with any authority because if gas prices top $4,

top $4.50 and head towards $5 as some are predicting, that will be a tremendous blow to the auto industry and it's going to cut into the sales of its most profitable vehicles, the pickup trucks, s.u.v.'s, just as it did in the fall of 2008. that could be a world of hurt for the president if that happens. the "let detroit go bankrupt" headline that the "new york times" put over mitt romney's article, he never says those the article, but you have to live with headlines, that will have less impact on this industry long-term than if gas prices kill the most profitable vehicles and if the 54 mile-per-gallon mandates that the administration put in place force the automobile industry to make automobiles the american

public has no appetite for. host: you're a graduate of wayne state university and been at the "detroit news" since 1976. we're going to cliff from the republican line. cliff, are you going to vote or have you voted already? caller: i am going to vote. host: have you made up your mind? caller: i certainly have. i am a proud republican and dave camp is my candidate but in looking at your guest, i am not going to vote for any republican candidate if it's the two choices we're given, the top two. i've lived in this state all my life. i look at the tax base situation. right now, we're on the way back maybe. however, given the fact of how we are coming back, it's not due to the recommendation of these

two top candidates but due to the fact that bailout occurred and the only person that enforced that baseline out was barack obama. in terms of barack obama, i disagree with almost everything he does, however, when i look at the coffers of this state, the base tax we would have in this state without the auto industry given mitt romney's suggestion that we go into bankruptcy, this state would be in destitution. i cannot believe this guest of yours is stating the fact that mitt romney is his recommendation to lead this state when mitt romney would have bankrupt the state in terms of all the programs and necessities, our present governor is underneath a supposed recall petition waiting for the time to elapse based on the fact of what he did with our economy to over-tax senior citizens to make up the difference he had in reduction

of taxes to business. also decimated the school industry. host: cliff, thanks for the call. nolan finley? me correct one thing. there is no recall pending against governor rick snyder. there was an attempt at recall that failed miserably and the truth is, the auto industry did go bankrupt, g.m. and chrysler did go bankrupt as mitt romney suggested it ought to and it out of bankruptcy much stronger. the rule of law was tossed out in terms of secured creditors, the uaw was favored. it was handled in an extraordinaryily extra-legal way. is it working now? yeah. will the industry still be thriving five years from now? that depends a lot on government policies and how they impact this industry going out. we asked the question, did barack obama save the industry

only to kill it five, 10 years down the road? host: our next caller is claudia joining us from farmington, michigan. if our lines are busy, send us an email or join the conversation on our twitter page. caller: good morning. i was wondering, since we have a republican governor out toed as a businessman and romney is also a businessman, why is running a business and running the government the same? isn't business for profit and what is the business of government? isn't it the people? host: thank you, claudia. guest: you should have some executive experience. you should have some experience

making tough decisions in managing an organization. in that way, the skills do transfer. not every businessman has made a successful politician and not every politician has made a successful leader. we believe mitt romney has been both. run a state. he's run a political entity and he's run businesses and he's been successful in both endeavors. host: ina joining us from denver, our line for democrats. >> good morning, and good morning to nolan finley. are you there? host: we sure are. caller: i'm glad he mentioned gasoline prices because my husband -- i outlived four husbands -- my first husband was on the national planning council for standard oil for indiana which became american oil and we went to france in 1965 and other places, all over, because the

oil company was trying to get the price up to what they were paying back at that time, but it was mostly taxes. we used to put the tax right on the gas pumps. you haven't seen tax on the gas pumps in a long time. the federal tax on gasoline is 18.3 cents a gallon. now, in europe, it's almost mostly tax so people do buy the small cars and by the way, i live in denver, and the small cars are selling like hotcakes. i happen to drive a small cadillac but i live in a highrise people of wealthy people and they're driving priuses and small cars. on the 14th day of february, i filled up my car at the valero station on 300 south do you think in denver and paid $2.99.9 cents a gallon. in 2008, and i made a bet with

my husband then, he was unaware of how oil companies operate, and i said they will raise the price of gas because bush and cheney were in, both oil men, it will be $5 all through the summer and then past labor day and then it will go way down because of the election. so i won the bet because the average price, i have right here in front of me, the u.s. energy administration's annual energy review, and i watched it through the 30 years my first husband's been dead. host: ina, thank you for your points. we'll get a response from nolan finley about the impact of the gas prices on the general alex. guest: this is an area where barack obama is particularly vulnerable and you can attach policies to consequences. i think he got a free pass last week as he typically gets a free class from the pundit class when

he says i didn't want gas prices to go up this rapidly which suggests ultimately he sees one of the answers to america's energy issues are much higher gasoline prices and then he made the comment about algae and we'll make our fuel from algae. those aren't answers that americans can -- who are out here paying an extra $10, $20, $30 at the pump can relate to. this will have a huge impact on household budgets and the economy as a whole, particularly on a place like michigan when is transit dependent. host: headlines this morning, "santorum faces a flap in the republican primary for his support of arlen specter." we should point out that arlen specter getting the support of

the bush administration and specter switching to becoming a democrat and losing two years ago. and inside the "new york times," "romney braces for the raising costs." and the idea that there is a growing sense that the primary fight has gone long enough and continued attacks have steered the conversation away from the economy and could damage the party's prospects in the fall. rick santorum addressing these issues yesterday in troy, michigan. here's what the former senator and 2012 candidate had to say. [video clip] >> every time in the primary, all of the experts say, elect a moderate, that's the only way to win. you have to elect a moderate or we'll lose those key constituencies. ladies and gentlemen, we won the 2010 election because our people were excited about our candidates and they came out in droves and they excited an

electorate to win this election. that's why we won, not because we compromised. how are we going to get -- this is really funny, they say, oh, moderates. we need to worry about moderates and the issues. folks, if you're a moderate, issues are obviously not the most important thing to you, otherwise you'd be in one camp or the other. that's why you're a moderate. how many moderates have you talked to who say this -- i don't vote for the party, i don't vote on the issues, i vote for the person. who are you going to vote for? someone who, their own party isn't excited about campaigning for? are you going to vote for someone who says one thing one day and says anything else that's necessary the next day to

win. or are you going to vote for someone you know that they believe what they believe. host: that gives you a sense of what rick santorum was saying yesterday in a speech in troy, michigan, the same venue in which mitt romney also spoke. we'll have more of his comments in a moment. and a related piece from the "new york post" by jeffrey bell, a conservative republican activist, one-time senate candidate -- "why social issues matter." social issues front and center with rick santorum. >> well, and write in today's column that in the most economically devastated state in the nation over the past 10 years, you have candidates coming in here and 2/3 of the conversation has been about social issues. i don't think social issues are going to decide the election in november and i would agree with the "times" piece that all of this preoccupation with who's more conservative on social

issues than the other candidate, all these nasty ads and the money spent is hurting the republican party and will hurt their chances in november. you look at what's happened over the last month as these attacks have intensified, barack obama's position in the polls has improved against republicans. they're hurting each other and helping him and i don't think that's why -- where you want to be going into march before a critical election and republicans are going to have to take a look at electability of these candidates, get behind one of the four and stop lusting after a candidate who's not in the race. you still have republicans lusting after mitch daniels and sarah palin and jeb bush and haley barbour -- those folks had a chance and didn't get in. it's going to be one of these four candidates and the republican party ought to focus on which one can win and build

support for that candidate because they are killing themselves in the primary process. host: in your opinion piece today, you also add, it is the economy. you point out that the candidates have been too eager to take the bait, believing that the only way to secure the nomination is to prove they are pro-life and anti-gay. mary is joining us from pastoria, oregon. good morning to you, independent line. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i wanted to begin with a comment on the ad for obama you played quite a bit earlier and comment also on the -- what he did with motors. was it not true that the shareholders of general motors were just screwed royally and that many dealerships were arbitrarily shut down as part of that deal? and how is that good for america? host: nolan finley?

guest: it's all true. that's what i was talking about earlier, the extra-legal nature of this bankruptcy. mitt romney was right when he said the whole process was structured to benefit -- to the benefit of obama supporters. the u.a.w. came out pretty much scott free in this bankruptcy process. they were elevated above the security bondholders in violation or what would seem to be in violation of bankruptcy law and what do you see happening now? you have bob king, u.a.w. president pledging to organize and train 1,000,000 of -- 100,000 occupy activists to diploy this spring and summer on behalf of barack obama and the act of class warfare. the shareholders were wiped out. you had dealerships shut by the government and a c.e.o. dismissed by the white house. it was extraordinary and the fact that we're sitting here today and the auto industry is

thriving again should not be justification for the trampling of the law that occurred during this process and there should be more scrutiny given to it and i think mitt romney is correct in raising those issues. host: san diego following up on your -- d.j. is following up on your earlier point, nolan finley, about what conservatives ought to be running on. guest: one of the reasons you don't see the tea party as excited this cycle as you saw them in 2010 is that the debate hasn't focused enough on deficits and spending and i just find it unbelievable that the republicans that have allowed be distracted towards social issues and away from the issue where they have the most credibility and the most strength and that is on spending, taxes, the economy. you can credit the fact of the

primary process does give more influence to the further right elements of the party and it does allow the fringe to have a bigger voice than it ought to have but if they don't get this conversation back on the economy, they're going to lose. they don't have much chance in november. host: we're talking with the editorial page editor of the "detroit news," his work available online at detroitnews.com and tweets at nolan finley dm. a caller from livonia, michigan. caller: i have a quick question. i wasn't for the auto bailouts or the bank bailouts. mitt romney wasn't for the auto bailout but he was for the bank bailout. when general motors announced their profit sharing checks to the workers, mitt romney made a comment that that money should go to the american people

because they bailed out the auto industry. now, it seems kind of funny that we bailed out the banks and i never heard him say that the profit that we supposedly made off the banks, that they money should go to the american people. guest: the american people should be repaid first whether it's banks or the auto industry. i've raised that same question about the profit sharing checks, how do they justify giving profit sharing checks out when they still owe such a large debt to the american taxpayer. i don't know how much of the money the banks have paid back. if they haven't paid it back, they ought to be if they have the money to pay. the american people should be made whole. i think a lot of folks didn't want to see the bank bailout but grudgingly agreed that you had to step in and save these banks

from going over, at that point in 2008, and taking the whole economy with it. i think mitt romney takes a very responsible position in that even though it cost him, among conservative republican voters. you couldn't have let the banking industry collapse just as you couldn't have let the auto industry collapse. it doesn't mean you don't hold both industries accountable for mistakes and mismanagement and you don't insist they repay their debt. host:gabriel calling on the republican line. caller: the main thing is, rom me was against what obama was pushing for and obama was for and now you say that the auto in five to 10 years is somehow going to go under but that's just absolutely ridiculous for you to say because the main thing is, it's alive right now and to say, oh, five to 10 years, it may go down

because of the laws that were changed, there weren't laws changed. they structured the bankruptcy and that was it and i'm a registered republican and i think mitt romney's not good for the party. thank you. host: we'll get a response. mr. finley? hitting that 54-mile-per-gallon mandate that the obama administration put in place will take something on the order of $50 billion or more over the next 10, 12 years. that's a lot of money to take out of these companies and it's going to force them to build cars that they make less profit on and that so far the american public hasn't shown an appetite for. the volt, the chevrolet volt, the all electric car, limited run of 10,000 vehicles last year and despite all the hoopla about this being the vehicle that leads america into the future,

they only sold 7500 of them and each one had to come with a $7,000 subsidy from american taxpayers. this is not a way to run an industry and not a good predictor of future success. the market ought to have some role in determine what vehicles these companies make. host: 7.2 million registered voters in michigan, a state that is home to about nearly 10 million residents, 9.8, to be exact, with 79% white, 14% black. explain what the rules are for tuesday's voting in michigan. who the can vote? >> it's an open primary and anybody can go in and vote. you have to declare yourself either a republican or a democrat and there is a democratic primary. barack obama's name is on the ballot and there are local issues on the ballot because this is a regularly scheduled statewide election so there will

be school bond proposals, a couple of special house seat elections, et cetera, so anybody can vote but you have to declare your party affiliation and folks are wondering what role democratic crossover will play. the democratic state party chair last week encouraged democratic voters to go out and vote in the republican primary. you assume they're not going to vote for mitt romney so how much mischief are they going to make? in 2000, a democratic crossover vote gave the nomination to john mccain instead of george w. bush. former governor john engler said michigan would be a fire wall thateorge w. bush and inspired a lot of democrats to come out to embarrass john engler and embarrass bush. we don't know if that's going to happen this time or not but a significant democratic vote in a

tight election could make a difference. host: another headline, "the romney campaign poised to capture the g.o.p. lead." this may come back to those candidates who support somebody else in a previous election cycle only to challenge them in this campaign cycle, and rick santorum who endorsed mitt romney four years ago. [video clip] , i can attest for my conservative credentials by quoting someone who endorsed me in my 2000 campaign. senator santorum said, mitt romney, this is a guy we can trust. he said, he is the clear conservative candidate. he's right. i'm the conservative candidate and what we need in the white house is principled conservative leadership and i'll bring it.

host: your reaction, politics by mitt romney to resurrect the endorsement by rick santorum? guest: it is interesting that john mccain was the candidate and mitt romney was considered the conservative candidate and it's the same dynamic with conservatives worrying about romney's conservative credentials and back then you had conservatives worrying about mccain's conservative and they voted for romney. romney won by a large margin in the 2008 primary. host: guess is ann. good morning. caller: one of the main things i question is that romney is

running on his business experience and the biggest business experience decision, he got that wrong, and i think that says a lot. secondly, i think people really need to look closely at his personality. what makes a man say the trees are the right height in michigan? i think that gives you a lot of insight into maybe some type of personality issues. host: your response, nolan finley? guest: i think it's a curious remark. i don't know that it's a worrisome remark in terms of some sort of psychopath or something. it's a remark he's latched on to. in terms of the big business decision, i assume she's talking about the automotive bankruptcy and i think folks should keep in mind that when mitt romney suggested is exactly what happened. there was, indeed, a structured bankruptcy. when he wrote that article in 2008, it wasn't clear whether the government was going to give

a straight bailout to the auto industry or help the auto industry through bankruptcy. he recommended a structured bankruptcy and that's exactly what happened. he was not wrong on this issue. what he said, what he recommended, is what's happened. he would have done it a different way but both he and barack obama agreed that these companies needed to go through a managed bankruptcy and they did. host: joe has this point, going back to your endorsement of mitt romney from the "detroit news," why not endorse ron paul if you're against the bailouts? guest: for a lot of reasons. we don't think ron paul is a candidate who can stand in a general election and appeal to a broad electorate. he makes good points on some issues. he's completely out of reality, i think, on international affairs and the role of america in the world.

i just don't -- i just don't think ron paul is a candidate who could win either the nomination or the presidency, as passionate as his supporters are and you got to admire their passion. host: our next caller, jerry, is from detroit. morning.ood i have two comments. in the 2008 election, most of the conservative radio broadcasters are all encouraged their voters to vote for hillary clinton to keep the election going. nolan finley had nothing to say about that. but at the same time, i'd like to go back to a speech that mitt romney made when he was running for governor in massachusetts. this man stood on the stage and cried and the reason he cried, he said, is because one of his relative his had a botched abortion and he wanted to make sure that never happened to another woman in this country and then when it becomes

politically expedient, now he's for abortion. how can you be so emotional on one side and change your mind and you've made it personal? host: jerry, thanks for the call. guest: is changing positions is an area where mitt romney was vulnerable in 2008, vulnerable again this time. people question the sincerity of his positions. i could care less where he stands on social issues. that's not for me the issue of this campaign and i would take issue with the caller who doesn't know where i stood in 2008 on the mischief making element of the campaign. i posed it then and now, i think elections should be about allowing the parties to pick the candidates who best represents them and should be free of interference from people who don't have a stake in that process or that question. host: final question, what do you think the turnout will be like on tuesday?

guest: not expecting a large turnout here. i think it will be bigger than some of the primaries we've seen to date simply because of the amount of time and amount of money that's been spent here. there will be a large get-out-the-vote effort on tuesday but i don't think people will overwhelm the polls. that's not the history of primaries here. host: nolan finley with the "detroit news" joining us from detroit on this sunday morning. thank you very much for being with us. you can read the editorial and work of nolan finley online at detroitnews.com. this weekend, c-span's live coverage of the natural n.g.a. r meeting continues in less than an hour on the c-span networks. libby casey is at the marriott hotel in washington, d.c. where the governors are meeting. >> we're here at the national governor's association winter meeting with the chairman of the

republican governor's association, bob mcdonnell. good morning. the headline in the "richmond times dispatch" today says this, "mcdonnell's national spotlight turns harsh amid the abortion debate." will this hurt the republican party with women and independent voters come fall? guest: our focus in richmond is on jobs and economic development and transportation, education reform. that's the agenda i laid out six weeks ago when i gave my state of the commonwealth speech but we believe in protecting innocent human life and providing women more information prior to getting an abortion but overwhelmingly the things we're focusing have to do with fiscal and job and transportation and other issues so any time you debate important issues of life and family and marriage, of course there's controversy and different opinions but republicans believe in standing up for the right to innocent

human life. >> why did you change your position? didn't change my position. i suggested an amendment. it wasn't my bill. during the course of the process we recommended a change. it just made it clear that the state was not going to require any kind of invasive medical procedure. i didn't think that was right. there were legal concerns brought to me by my attorney general and in practice it wasn't necessary because doctors do some of those things anyway if they need to so i thought it an important clarification. it is still a requirement to have an ultrasound so the woman will have full right to know all the information that's available so it was accepted by one house. i think it will be accepted by the other and i intend to sign a strong pro life piece of information. >> you've endorsed mitt romney for president. yesterday you said a lot of americans are seeing him as a c.e.o. and aren't connecting with him on a one-on-one

level.al if he loses on tuesday, what does it mean? guest: he's not going to lose. i think he's turned a corner up there. he's a c.e.o., that's a good thing, but i think maybe stylistically people have gotten that impression and haven't fully connected on an emotional basis but that's what they know they need. we don't have a c.e.o. now. we have somebody playing the blame game, a deficit results with this president, no plans on energy, on jobs, on debt reduction and we don't have leadership so people want to have a c.e.o. so on an academic level they are connecting with him because he has a great record on deficit and spending and turning the olympics around. >> why doesn't he do more to connect with the voters? guest: there's so much passion on the republican base. we want to win badly because we see the left ward lurch

president obama has taken the country with more big taxes, less jobs, we're unhappy about the direction of the country so there's a passion to win and people want to see a candidate with passion and we've had five front-runners in six months. there's obviously a searching going on but this is ok. it may take a little bit longer. obama and clinton were beating each other up until june in 2008. but i think there will be a united republican party around mitt romney. >> you are the head of the governor's association, the chairman. governors are picked sometimes to be v.p. candidates to go along with the party's efforts at presidency. what qualities should he have? >> i am in love of my job and being head of the republican governor's association. it's up to the candidate. sometimes the candidate finds someone who might supplement

things where they feel their resume may need complementing. that's a stylistic thing for the candidate but you want somebody philosophically in tune with you, that's going to be a good messenger for the conservative cause and excite the base. it's not my call and i'll leave that up to the national pundits. >> governor mcdonnell, thank you so much. host: and a reminder, we'll continue our live coverage of the n.g.a. winter meeting today on c-span and tomorrow governor sam brownback will join us, govern of kansas. celinda lake here at the table. thanks for being with us. this is the cover story of a recent newsweek" magazine, the politics of sex on the issue of contraceptive and the

president's healthcare bill. could we have the birth control mom vote in 2012? guest: we really could. she's already shaping up. this whole debate around birth control, around women's healthcare, talking about this instead of the economy, has really galvanized suburban women for the democrats and we're seeing a big pickup among suburban women for the democrats. we're winning blue collar women. one half of it is that people are talking about issues that don't matter to women. women say, why are politicians worried about my birth control, how about worrying about my job? and the second, they're seeming of touch with their lives. 92% of catholic women use birth control. we're not moving back on birth control and not interested in male politicians' view about it.

host: this is a survey among republican women and you can see when the campaign was heating up back in november and december, newt gingrich was at about 52% and mitt romney about 57%. you see this uptick in recent months for rick santorum, again, among g.o.p. women. romney at 61% and rick santorum at 57%. guest: a lot of what that is and it's very interesting, and of course republican women, you have a huge poportion of born again christian women and among born again christians, there are more women than men so you really see the born again christian vote rallying to santorum right now. host: i want to share with you a couple of moments from the last couple of weeks and go back to congressman darrell issa on a hearing by the committee on oversight and government reform. this hearing was supposed to be about and how it developed.

guest: i'm not an export that but i will tell you that i think it was an anita hill moment where you saw the failings of men talking about women's birth control, men and women on the panel. one woman who wanted to speak on the panel turned away and it was that visual that had a huge online presence and helped galvanize that this is a party really out of touch with women. host: we'll let you get a drink of water and show you this clip. [video clip] >> not as first amendment but about the particular issue that comes before us related to the obama healthcare plan. this is not about that. in fact, if it's about that, we should be over the energy and commerce committee or some committee dealing with health or other issues. this committee wants to -- with

the most knowledgeable of both clergy and lay people that we could find, the real questions of where does faith begin and where does it end, where does government's ability to influence decisions made by people of faith and where does it end. host: sounded like the chair of the committee drew the line very differently. guest: the republicans and ica in particular try to make this about religious freedom but the way real people felt, this is about whether your employer will provide you coverage based on his belief, not on yours and it was overwhelmingly rejected. and what's next, first your employer denies you birth control, then what about hiv treatment and people think employers have no rights on imposing their religious beliefs

on you. host: so the democrats held a hearing this week chaired by nancy pelosi. and among those who participated, carolyn maloney, a member of the house government reform and oversight committee, had this to say. >> do not need to remind our colleagues that 100% of those who can have their health damaged by an unplanned pregnancy are women. 100% of those who die from toplications related pregnancy are women. 100% of those who give birth and plan their families are women. but, 100% of those on that first panel talking about the access to family planning, the ability to plan and space your children, and basic preventive healthcare, there was not one single woman on that panel. what is wrong with that picture?

host: celinda lake, your response? have said ituldn't better for most women in america and i think it has that galvanizing perspective, like the anita hill photo did, where the visuals say it all. one picture is worth a thousand words here. host: joe is joining us from georgia. our line for republicans. good morning. caller: i would like to tell this lady no matter how she wants to twist it, this is a religious issue, and also the fact that i think obama care, in itself, one of its many problems is, we have a law, i don't think anybody's caught it, about debt bondage. we made a special law to protect the african-americans from such actions that cause debt bondage and obama care is a form of debt bondage. thank you.

guest: really, obviously knowledgeable speaker and i'm not completely clear about all of the issues that he raised but let me start with the beginning. real people -- certainly a core of conservative republicans felt this was about religious freedom but they have not made that argument successful. having said that, one way or the other, the president came out with what i think is an artful compromise that preserves religious freedom but makes sure people have the healthcare coverage they're guaranteed. i'm not knowledgeable about the debt bondage issue for african-americans. i can't really comment on that. i'm not sure what's referred to. host: let me share with you how jeffrey bell frames the debate, a long-time republican activists. he has this in the "new york post" this morning on why social issues matter and talks about what rick santorum has been saying on the campaign trail --

guest: the issue is not whether we want those debates or not, the issue is whether we want to impose one person's view that's frankly not shared by most of america on everybody else. the second issue, i think, is, do we really care about our politician's views on these issues and do we want our politicians telling us what to do and i think that what people are saying is three things. number one, look at this economy. you want solid, stable families, get the economy back on track. secondly, i'm not really interested in what politicians have to say about this. i am interested in coming up with community solutions, and thirdly, no one person's view should be imposed on everybody else. host: we'll go to james in greer, south carolina. good morning, independent line. caller: good morning. no matter how she tries to spin it, basically what happened,

george stephenopolous, he started this in a false tried to bring this up, because the democrats, they actually have no foot to stand on when it comes to religious freedom. they are the new communist party as far as i'm concerned and every day their actions like this lady right here proves it. guest: actually, this guy sounds like my dad. i used to be a republican, sir, and when i became a democrat, my father said to my mother, i don't mind that she's a democrat but i don't know why she has to be a communist. you sound like my dad. the thing of it is, is that, i don't think either party is communist or fascist here. i don't think those labels are particularly useful. we have two mainstream parties in this country that are debating the real issues that face this country. i would say that, again, if we

step back here, the major thing, over half of voters say, listen, if you are going to focus on anything, focus on this economy and jobs. the best thing you as a politician or elected leader can do right now for families is not impose your particular view about religion or your particular view about sex education or birth control or funding to prevent unintended pregnancies. what you can do is get this economy going so we can send our kids to college so we can have families working less than 2 1/2 jobs to get a decent living and people can hold on to their houses and there's stability and security in this economy and that's one of the overall messages that women in particular are sending and to your point about santorum, i think one of the reasons santorum is surging is not because of his right-winning views on social issues but because he never leaves a speech

without saying something about how he relates to blue collar lives. i thought his speech was brilliant when he said, i'm the candidate who has done at -- i know what it's like. i have a working wife. he has a great rap about how he's in touch with women's lives. host: i want to go back to a question i posed to nolan finley and we should be clear about the event that took place on friday, it was sponsored by the detroit economic club, moved to a larger venue, but the optics that got a lot of attention friday and a number of stories yesterday in leading newspapers. you can see the scene, ford field, some empty seats on the 35-yard line, 1200 tickets sold but empty seats in the back and behind mitt romney. is this fair to go after him because of this event and what it looked like to the c-span viewer or those in the michigan media?

guest: it's probably not fair but until you said it this morning, i had no idea it was sponsored by the economic club instead of romney and i didn't know it was moved there because the others were sold out. i think romney has a serious problem right now because the series of mistakes, really -- my wife has multiple cadillacs, $10,000 debt, $367 in speaking fees isn't very much money, et cetera, has created an image and he's having trouble getting out of that image and people are interpreting other events in light of that image. host: drew is joining us from chicago. guest: good to hear from a democrat. caller: you might not like me after my comment. i'm from the far northwest side of chicago which probably

isn't -- never really fell in love with the hope and change of obama but my question really was two-part. number one, i see the president was trying to create a balancing act with this mandate between religious freedom and access to healthcare. but don't you think that that's sort of a false dichotomy considering that religious freedom is something that is established by first amendment to the constitution? and number two, why is birth control as equated with a need for healthcare reform -- or a health issue, i see a lot of times having a child is treated almost like it's a disease that needs to be cured. guest: well, i think your last point is an important one and should be heard in that light. one of the major things about national healthcare reform was

to have a commitment to preventive healthcare. and if you think about it, for women, a major source of preventive healthcare is that they are involved -- most women are involved for at least 35 to 40 years of active use of birth control. well, that -- the coverage of that is a major, major issue. it's a major expense for women and the men in their lives and so this is basic preventive healthcare and i think it's important that it's getting in terms of basic preventive healthcare. secondly, i think for many women, it was darn irritating that no one ever talked about the fact that viagra was being covered. all of these plans guaranteed coverage of viagra and no one said that was against anybody's religious freedom but all of a sudden birth control is against somebody's religious freedom. i don't think this was -- i think this was a thoughtful compromise, honestly, that preserved religious freedom, which all of us believe in, and

also preserve the fact that if your insurance company is going to cover something, they should have to cover it. insurance companies don't have religions, they're a commercial entity and many of the people who work for catholic institutions are not catholic. 92% of catholics use birth control at some point during their lives so this is imposing one set of views on everybody else. it's not about religious freedom. many people's religious freedom includes the ability to use birth control. host: our next caller is dan from sarasota, florida, welcome to the program. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. as a republican, i feel that the obama administration and his gang in chicago are very creative and operate with stealth. when this country is overburdened can debt, with the home ownership issues, with the

job issues, with foreign policy issues, what do they do? they create another issue that distracts all of us and i mean all of us regarding this birth control issue and that's how they framed it. sad to say that republicans have fallen into this trap once again. i see it during the debates when the liberal press asks questions to get a republican into a gotcha scheme. guest: i actually think, you know, we're going to agree here. i think this -- and we're going to release a survey tomorrow for the g.w. battleground survey with a republican pollster. and i'll tell you, there will be a warning to republicans in there that they better get back to the economic agent and not be distracted by these issues and i think you're right, it's playing into your hands and i don't

think that the obama administration is creating this but this primary process has been a disaster for republicans and michigan was in play. voters, we thought we were going to have to buy major media in michigan and it now looks like obama is ahead double digits. i don't think romney, if he wins michigan, will recover from this. he had a personalized home base and now has become a national right wing republican in there so this process has been a disaster for republicans and we have a saying in montana where i'm from, if your opponent is digging themselves in a hole, don't get in the way. i don't know if we're creating the opportunities but we're trying to stay out of the way. host: the headline, rick santorum winning support from republican women, the latest poll showing santorum is going better among g.o.p. women than he was a few weeks ago but also this is hurting mitt romney in his pledge to try to get republican women. guest: that's right and the most important data -- that was a terrific article, i thought --

one of the most thoughtful analyses, was the fact that it talked a lot about how the negatives of santorum aren't going up among women nearly as fast as newt gingrich and mitt romney and now their negatives among women are solidly over 50%, in newt's case, almost 2/3. that is a tough position to come back from in a general election and we now have a situation where these nominees or potential nominees are being very marginalized particularly among women. host: a male viewer says, it is a woman's body and life. until men can carry a child, we need to stay out of it. guest: i certainly agree with the first part. host: independent line from miami, florida. good morning. caller: yes, how are you doing? thank god for c-span. this gal was talking about is obama creating these

controversies. these are these guys words. they are the ones saying crazy stuff about black people and mentors and black people in terms of giving entitlements and using other people's money. these are the individuals that are saying these words and you have this panel of men talking about women's issues. these are their words. they are on videotape, ok? and these guys wrap themselves around social issues and the constitution but where were they this past couple of years when this government, under the bush administration, suggested the geneva convention did not apply to us? guest: thoughtful comments, i couldn't agree more. and if i may also add, where are those so-called constitutionists and patriots still allowing tax cuts for jobs to go overseas and allowing optional bank accounts for mitt romney so they can

avoid american taxes. let's not talk about patriotism until you pay your fair share of taxes and stop sending jobs overseas. host: when you look at the electorate, i want to return to the reagan democrats of 1984, the soccer moms we heard about in 2000 and 2004 and now this new moniker, the birth control moms, how do you determine these voting blocks in the electorate? >> guest: it's interesting. you look for the group of voters that will determine the election and are behaving as a cohort, they've adopted a point of view for the election and are swing and these birth control moms who are primarily working suburban moms really look like the group that all of a sudden they weren't paying any attention and usually pay attention very late but these debates and the conversation about the economy, which is really worrying these

women, has gotten their attention very early on and created huge negatives for the republican candidates and these are also the women who love michelle obama, love the commandment of the obamas to -- commitment of the bahamas to -- obamas to theirhost: what are tt concerns that they need to be aware of? guest: you do not want to turn her into the gas-price mom. the economy is starting to come back, but it is still on very shaky ground. many of the suburban women personally feel that there brambly -- families, a blue- collar women particularly, have not benefited from the beginning of the comeback of this economy. the second thing is these women are very committed to social security and medicare. we see, every once in norfolk, the president moving over into

this talk about entitlement -- every once in awhile, the president moving over into this talk about entitlement reform. that's not what they want to hear. we shall never forget, in 2010, we lost these women by one point. we had not lost them in 32 years. we did not lose them in january. we lost in september and october. it's not over yet. we need to be sure we continue to speak to these women, particularly their economic concerns. host: 1980, ronald reagan. 1988 with george herbert walker bush. 2000 with george w. bush. 2008 with john mccain. in all these cases, the republican nominee was able to secure the nomination fairly early. the rules are different in 2012. what else is different, if anything? guest: very, very good question. the biggest difference is we have never had a successful nominee against an incumbent president who had these kinds of

negatives. mitt romney has almost 20 points net personal and favorability. people did not like him. people do not trust him. people think he lies and football -- flip-flops on issues. it's very hard to come back from that. we have never seen it done. it is a very big challenge for the republicans. they need this process over fast. it is not helping them. host: if mitt romney cannot pick an appropriate venue for a rally, how is he going to pick an appropriate venue for nuclear negotiations? you are on with celinda lake, the democrats' line. caller: i think it is appalling the republicans have set the stage and brought in the clergy to debate on women's rights. where were the clergy when these women -- children were being

molested? the clergy hid these guys. they actually took them out of the country. they want to stand there and preach about women's rights? not being able to have abortions, not being able to have birth control? what is next? host: thank you, larry. guest: i think many people are asking the same question. it seemed like an out-of-line response. i think the catholic church has a great deal still to answer for. host: next issue and on the phone from illinois, the republican line, good morning -- next is sharon on the phone from illinois, the republican line. good morning. caller: she alluded to president obama losing the women's vote. that is exactly why he lost the whole -- brought the whole

contraception issue and to play. he was looking into polls. he decided to make insurance pay for contraception. it is a constant issue -- conscious issue. the only people who would not be covered are people who work for a religious organization. as we all know, birth control is available at any county health organization for free. planned parenthood is offered for free. but it was already covered by insurance. there was a very small copiague, $5 to $6 -- copay, $5 to $6 per month. the was looking at the polls, he was losing women. this is very difficult for president obama. it is a conscious issue. she can try and tell us that many women would no longer have the ability to have contraception if republicans had their way. that is an absolute lie.

thank you host:, sharon -- host: thank you, sharon. celinda lake? guest: yes, birth control as the contras issue -- birth control is a conscious issued. it should be made out by individuals. there are many, many non- catholics who work for catholic institutions, including catholic hospitals, etc. and 92% of catholics use birth control. the point of the matter is this is a conscious effort, but it should not be your employer's conscience or your insurance's conscience that decides whether or not you are covered. preventive care is covered with no copiague. it is basic coverage. -- with no copay. birth control and contraception are major, basic preventive

coverage. i think it is about time it was acknowledge. host: this headline from the sunday open zero richmond times -- the sunday "richmond times." the debate -- lawmakers are wading through a stream of contentious measures. the story points are but he is a potential running mate -- the story goes out that he is a potential running mate. guest: this primary process is moving candidates from mainstream positions for the general election to extreme positions. in the case of rape, to force a

sonogram is like medical rate. -- rape. it is unbelievable that this would be mandated. there are other -- this was an attempt to be benjamin -- vengeful and intrusive. the firestorm they got from women illustrates how people felt about this. let's not forget, what women said they want their politicians to be concerned about is not birth control, but the economy. it focused on the economy. it focused on education -- and get focused on the economy. get focused on education. host: this is a national survey. where mitt romney is ahead in michigan, low single-digit, ahead in arizona by 1518 points -- 15 to 18 points -- you can see the breakdown amongst protestant votes.

mitt romney gets the majority. among catholic votes, rick santorum gets 37%. guest: the interesting thing car i think, is two things. most catholics are democrats or independents. when you talk about a republican catholic, you are talking about a pretty conservative group of people. they support what santorum has to say. i think catholics -- republican voters are also more leery of a mormon nominee, as are some of the board bang-again christian -- of the born-again christian votes. this process has not served mitt romney wealth for general election -- well for general election. host: good morning, colleen. caller: i think maybe the line

should have been split between men and women for this. i want to say that i have been a catholic since birth. i am from a large family. my mother followed the laws of religion very closely. she had a choice of birth control. it would have made your life a lot easier. she was a teacher. she worked out of her home. the only thing i would ask people is, how could people be against birth control and abortion, but for war? that means that we raise these children, you don't mind sending them off for someone else's beliefs, to be shot at, killed, maimed. i have two nephews in the military. that's all i really have asked on -- have to ask on that. host: thank you for the call. guest: it's a very powerful statement and one that i

personally agree with. if you are against abortion, you really ought to be funding children's programs. these are the same people who say that across-the-board budget cuts, no more additional money for education or at times kids -- it is just inconsistent. i feel the same hypocrisy that the lady did. host: as you look at the vote, a majority of the mill built one for the president and democrats. that shifted -- a majority of the vote went for the president and the democrats. that shifted in 2008. guest: the economic-security moms, blue-collar women shifted in september, october. hope and change had not delivered. i not seeing anything in my family. now, we have several-digit lead among blue-collar women. it is very revealing.

host: here is another question. "is there any real threat that the pill will be made illegal?" so.st: i do not think you would have a fire storm. you'd have a black market like you have never seen. host: good morning. go ahead, please. gcaller: the republicans are banking on this phrase that has been in talks ou tthere -- out there. "a lie is not a lie if you believe it." that is so fitting today. they are banking on lying to these american women, like the last guest. mitt romney -- he knows that there is not one company that would be willing to put up money to have -- help the car

companies. not one private company was going to help the car companies. they are banking on lies. they know the only one who is going to help the car company is the government. host: thanks for the call. guest: great point. and i think that is absolutely true. the nice thing about president and politics is it does not work very well. you actually get a seat -- about presidential politics is it does not actually work real well. you actually get to see the candidates up close. it has not worked very well for them. host: did the president suffered politically among the catholic church, those who are very critical of the president's health care bill, which initially required those religious institutions to

provide contraceptives as part of the healthcare bill? the president made an acknowledgement, we heard it from the white house. with the pay a price among he pay a voters -- will th price among catholic voters? guest: the vice president joe biden, is a very important asset in speaking to this community. , you havea catholic been hearing sermons a lot of sunday's on birth control ever since you started going to mass. still, 92% of catholics use birth control. over 2/3 of catholics disagree with their churches' position. this is not something radically new. host: to who lives in -- tom, who lives in leeds, sent this e- mail.

guest: very good point. well said. host: george from fairfax, va., on our republican line. caller: how much do you think the media is affecting the debates? the republicans complained about the liberal media. if i am not mistaken, hitler used free speech to arouse the germans before the second world war. sean hannity, bill reilly, rush limbaugh -- bill o'reilly, rush limbaugh. they head the liberal media. fox news cannot get a broadcast

license in canada because they lie too much. guest: i did not know that. i'm going to repeat that. left-wing media, right-wing media. very thoughtful. nice to have someone's outside perspective on our system. i did not know that about barks. that is fantastic. that is incredible -- that about fox. host: what are you looking at as this election shapes up? guest: one of the things we have to do is make sure that, as a party, we are articulating a clear economic message. the other point i would add is that i do not think it is being talked enough about. i would love to see a c-span show on this. i think, for the first time, we can take back the house with progressives. it is not getting enough

attention on our side. if you look at these candidates who voted first or the budget to do away with medicare, the right and budget, then they voted for tax breaks -- who voted first for the budget to do away with medicare, the ryan budget, then they voted for tax breaks -- host: celinda lake, a graduate of smith college and university of michigan. thank you for being with us. coming up but the bottom of the hour, we will take you live to the winter meeting -- coming up live at the bottom of the hour, we'll take you live to the winter meeting of the governor'' association. we will open the lines and let viewers and listeners say what they think. you have a chance in just a couple of minutes. before that, a look at what is on c-span radio beginning at noon eastern. nancy calo is in the c-span studio real dollars c-span radio

studios -- nancy calo is in the c-span studio. >> it includes the race for the white house domestic politics, and the middle east. at noon, on nbc's "meet the press," two governors and a jan brewer. at 1:00 p.m., on abc's "this week," guests include rick santorum, once again, and governor rick snyder, a michigan republican, governor deval patrick. at 2:00 p.m., on "fox news sunday," chris wallace welcomes mitt romney and governor mitch daniels, a republican of indiana. at 3:00 p.m., on cnn "state of the union," candy crowley talks with republican senators john mccain and lindsay graeme, then john hickenlooper and

republican governor scott walker. also former shell oil president john hofmeister on the price of gasoline. finally, at 4:00 p.m., on cbs "face the nation," bob schieffer talks with republican governor chris christie of new jersey and martin o'malley of maryland. re-airs begin at noon with nbc's "meet the press." finally, at 4:00 p.m., it is "face the nation." listen on your iphone or blackberry. or go online to c-spanradio.org. host: we are back for about 10 more minutes before we take you live to the energy winter meeting. we want to use this opportunity to hear from you. it is open phones. tell us what's on your mind.

send us a tweet, @cspanwj. this is the front page of "the los angeles times." "afghan up or be allies -- that is the front page story of the "l.a. times." we had a reporter for "the washington post." the pittsburgh paper reprinted his story. two u.s. officers were slain yesterday. polls show mitt romney is ahead in the arizona and michigan. the primary for those states is tuesday. results get underway about 9:00 eastern time. we will have live coverage on c-

span. from the "lansing state journal" -- "mitt makes his mitch." we covered rick santorum in michigan yesterday. all of our event coverage is available on our web site -- on our website, c-span.org. karen is on the phone, richmond, virginia. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. my comments were directed to the lake research partner. never mind. i want to correct some the she said about the ultrasound bill, that the battle ultrasound was -- something that she said about the older son bill. the vaginal ultrasound was not intrauterine.

one question i have about contraception is whether or not insurance companies are reimbursing or paying for condoms. why is it always about the birth control pill and not condoms? thank you for taking my call. host: the headline focuses on the political problems facing bob mcdonnell. he joined us earlier in the program. the interview will be posted on our website, c-span.org. this is a preview of the michigan primary. if you go to the detroit news website from interviews with the voters supporting either mitt romney or rick santorum -- website, interviews with the voters supporting either mitt romney or rick santorum. next, a caller from louisville, kentucky, the independent line. caller: good morning, steve sands.

i want to speak to your last guest, somiss lake. [unintelligible] in relation to women being -- to the point of our society that has been oppressed for many many years. they fail to see the road in that oppression. attempt tos an empower women. it's not a religious issue. men should think about having played a central in the oppression of women. women should be greatly involved in decisions involving their body. you have to see how society is destructive to women. host: thanks for the call.

from "the houston chroni cle," another reprint of the story. next to that is a profile of the co-founder of pay about -- paypal. ron paul's eccentric, low- profile ally. this is about people who are writing checks for millions of dollars to help republican candidates. he is a long-time supporter of ron paul. good morning and welcome to the conversation. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. where in the constitution

doesn't say that the democrats have a constitutional right to mandate -- does it say that the democrats have a constitutional right to mandate on us from the public, whether it be birth control, obama care from any of those things? when this country was founded, those principles were founded toward the church, whether it be catholic, jewish, protestant. that was done by and through the church. social welfare, i believe it was called back then. my displeasure with the democrats is we will twist words. the constitution nowhere says that the white house has these powers. thank you. host: thank you for the call. at the top of the program, we talked about the voting taking place in syria. it's the story in "the washington post." there was the killing of two reporters this past week. many reporters are not inside

syria. she pionts out that -- points out that syrians are poised to vote today on the referendum. as many as 5000 people believed killed alas several months. some dispute the number, saying it is as high as 7000. from "theng's story washington post." it is open phones. go ahead. caller: over 150 years the presidents,-- of senates, congresses, to get to

the point we are today. i am totally appalled at the republican party and many others who feel that president obama should, in four years, straighten out his entire 150 years of presidents east -- presidencies. as far as social programs, as far back as i can remember, many of these programs were not concept or ideas for african- americans, but of basically white america, who brought these to the forefront as social programs. many other cultures have benefited from these social programs as well. along with that -- now let's change the rules. with rick santorum's statement about giving taxpayers' money to specific groups of people -- i think it was absolutely absurd. along with that, the birth control issue -- if men would

stay inside their pants, then we would not have the situation of meeting the birth control situation -- of needing the birth-control situation, if there was not this particular, illicit behavior going on. host: i will stop you there. a photograph of the compound. the headline -- "pakistanis razing the house where bin laden lived." the house has been under surveillance for recent months. that store this morning is from inside -- that story this

morning is from inside "the new york times." good morning. caller: i did not know if i am misunderstanding something in the media or not. the birth control issue -- since their employeers give employees any kind of pill? i mean, birth control -- they have to give them birth-control pills? in church, employees do not give me any kind of pills. host: ok. rosemary, thanks for the call. we want to remind our listeners on the pull this general that we are going to break away -- on that we'rehannel going to break away. the ngc winter meeting -- nga

winter meeting, we'll have live coverage. we will hear from the governors of arkansas and tennessee. also a panel on feeding america's children. live coverage is getting under way on the seas and networks in just a couple of minutes. thanks -- getting under way on the c-span network in just a couple of minutes. thanks to our callers. caller: good morning, c-span. all of my listeners who are listening that it suddenly cable, make sure you call and say that you want c-span free. you all do this and help me. we all need c-span 3. my next comment is -- i want to talk about pat buchanan and what obama just did pat buchanan. pat buchanan wrote a book - wrote a book. pat buchanan has written thousands of books, best-seller.

and didn't nobody -- nobody but obama, after 10 years, has pat buchanan fired fro mmsnbc because he wrote a book. they will try to spin it all the other ways they want to. pat buchanan coming in america, got fired for writing a book -- pat buchanan, in america, got fired for writing a book. you have to wake up some independents -- wake up, independents. he is muslim. get your head out of your backside. he got pat i am upset host: we appreciate your comment about cspan.

we will have live coverage tomorrow morning of "washington journal" 7:00 a.m. eastern time and among your our guests will be governor sam brownback and canada gold symbol sagal -- joining us to talk about the latest technologies in terms of advertising and how much growth target is impacting the 2012 race. -- micro-targeting is impacting the 2012 race. we're breaking away half an hour early to provide you with live coverage of the winter meeting of the national governors' association. governor martin o'malley will chair a panel this afternoon on a homeland security and we will hear from the fema administrator. this morning, the focus will be on children.

live coverage is here on c-span and on cspan radio. thank you for being with us on this sunday, enjoy the rest of your day. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [no audio] [no audio] >> good morning, we would like everyone to take their seats. we will get started in a minute.

>> all right, the meeting of the national governors' association education and early childhood development and work force is called to order. we will see some more filter in has the original meetings conclude which has been going on. i am the governor of arkansas and chairman of this committee and honored to be joined by our vice chairman, governor bill has learned from tennessee. together, i think we have enjoyed this committee over the last several months. a bit of housekeeping -- those of you who have yourself owns on, please put them on vibrate or silent or something else. we have one of our own weapons, the secretary of agriculture is a governor, too, or used to be a governor.

he can appreciate what is going on with most of us better perhaps than most folks involved in the federal government and we are grateful that he is here. briefing books for this meeting were sent to governors in advance and can be found and a blue binder in front of you. they have the agenda and background information and updates. you all known for joan wodiska. she makes the members of the nga look good. she is so confident and we will hear from three distinguished panelists and after their formal remarks of our panelists, we will have the opportunity to have a discussion with questions and answers and comments. i am looking forward to today's discussion and i did most of the folks here will be as well. as governors, one of our greatest and most solemn duties i think is to promote education

and the well-being of our nation's children. one of the impediments to that is security. 10% of the children in the united states today are about 8.5 million children are food insecure. that means at times, the quality, variety, and the quantity of children's meals are inadequate. this is a serious threat for every state. this undermines the economic vitality of our states because hungry children have a much tougher time learning. i am personally involved in this topic and have devoted a substantial amount of time and resources to this issue in our on stage. freedom from hunger is a fundamental and basic human needs. as governors, we are uniquely positioned to draw attention to this issue and bring people together to end childhood hunger. we have the bully pulpit and our respective states to be able to call the attention. lack of proper nutrition during school year or seven months

contributed to a cycle of poor performance. numerous studies show that when a child's nutritional needs are met, the child is more attentive in class, as better attendance, demonstrates fewer disciplinary problems, and shows better academic performance. properly nourished children are active her participants and the education experience which benefit to them, their fellow student, and the entire school community. governors across the country are working to eliminate child under through a broad range of innovativet ofhe nga meeting in 2010,"share our strength"talked to me about childhood hunger in my own state which had the highest percentage of children classified as food insecure. that was then and is still unacceptable to me. it undoubtedly is to all other governors. we share our strength approach and we signed on and started: no kid hungry campaign in arkansas,

we have made significant strides to improve access to the programs that provide nutritious food for children and for their parents. that means our kids will perform better in school and have a brighter futures and most importantly, it means kids will have enough to eat and will not go to bed hungry. the campaign has cost arkansas level. they invested private money to develop an infrastructure and we of -- we developed a coalition of business leaders in education professionals and others with strengths to share. the lancers as the lead nonprofit agency and might ad administration is committed to leading this effort with generous support from corporate partners including wal-mart and others, is working to increase participation in federal food and nutrition programs. that includes school breakfasts,

some meals and enrollment in the supplemental nutrition assistance program. it is working. the caseload was increased. we did this by training volunteers and staff of more than 50 local agencies in outrage. in 2010, we served 263,000 more meals at summer feeding sites than we did during the previous year. we did this by courting the efforts of our state agencies and increasing the number of sites where kids could get a meal during the summertime. we have added 71 additional after-school programs and we serve an additional 88,000 meals in the first month. under my watch leadership, who launched an even help the program to support a new breakfast in the classroom program. anecdotally, one of the impediments to breakfast in the classroom was the stigma. more often than not, a lot of

young people who were eligible and needed breakfast in the classroom were reluctant because of peer to peer stickman pressure. by providing it and making it available for all the children, notwithstanding their social or economic status, it removes the stigmata and allows a greater opportunity for greater participation. we have to make it a priority in childhood hunger and it is our responsibility that our kids and their families have those resources by making sure no kid goes hungry. we can elevate not just the basic need but also that educational opportunity and that learning achievement. i would like to ask our vice chairman, governor chairmanhaslam from nine neighboring state of tennessee for any opening remarks that he would have. >> thank you, governor. [inaudible]

[unintelligible] a promise to share back. what i was trying to say is this is my third nga meeting and we primarily bragg and we still. we brag about how well we are doing and we still good ideas from other folks. i think the governor beebe gave us a taste of that. we plan to do vote today. this session comes at an important time for us. congress in 2010, passed the healthy under free kids act to which we authorized our nation's child feeding program. we have the honor today of being joined by our secretary and

former iowa governor pierre tom vilsack who will offer his unique perspective on the role that governors would peg in addressing childhood hunger as well as opportunities for state and the federal government to parker as a look at the new child nutrition laws. we'll hear from representatives from two major companies who are leading efforts to partner with governors to solve childhood under issues. one of the opportunities we have today is to understand better how we can create and leverage public's-private partnerships or maybe it is as simple as part 9 with wal-mart or dominion to address child under issues. with that, i will introduce our very first honored guest. he seems to be on a downward trending career path. he is now the secretary of agriculture but at one time he was a governor and before that he was a mayor. you're definitely heading the wrong way career-wise. he is the 30 as secretary of agriculture and was appointed by the president in january of

2009. one of the things he is working on as revitalizing our rural communities. i am fairly certain your states like tennessee in that our biggest economic challenges tend to be in the rural areas. the former governor understands that well and i think it is one of his well-placed praise and serving our natural resources and providing a safe and nutritious food supply. he is targeting child under and obesity, things we know are both a larger issues to our country prior to this, he served two terms as the governor of ohio and before that was a state senator and mayor of mt. pleasant, iowa. mr. secretary, on behalf of the nation's governors, welcome back. >> thanks very much. it is an honor to be here today. i know how important these meetings are and certainly appreciate the opportunity to be

back as the -- at the nga which is a great organization and a great opportunity to talk about common goals. we share with governors a deep concern about the future of our children. nutrition is an extraordinarily important aspect of a child's first years. it is important that children receive interest as food and we are doing our best at the usda to make that happen. when i was first asked to take this job a president obama, the first set of instructions and directions he gave to me after he offered me this opportunity was to make sure that children were well fed her that was his first direction. lewe notice statistics and they are startling. we have youngsters who are food insecure and living in food insecure house but we have nearly one/story of our children being obese or near obese. we have been very aggressive at usda.

we have been spending the last year since the passage of an acting the rules and regulations that will govern. this is the first update in milstead is that has taken place within the last 15 years. is the first non-inflationary increase in 30 years in schools and we estimate that over the course of the tenures of the act, roughly $3.2 billion will be provided to schools to provide better access to meals and more nutritious meals. we also recognize the important role that states play in the administration and oversight of these programs which is why the bill provided for nearly $100 million to state to defray administrative expenses. it is designed in part to better correlate the standards for these mills that youngsters are receiving at school with the dietary guidelines based on recommendations from the institute of medicine. you will see more fruits,

vegetables, whole grains, more low-fat dairy. you will see less sodium, less sugar, and less fat. it has also expanded efforts to try to make the program more streamlined. the use of direct certification is making it easier for schools to administer the program hopefully saving resources. we have also provided for expansion of the program to include foster care children which addresses some of the concerns we had about youngsters who are in transition and whether this program would be available to them. the foster care child expansion allows that to happen. we have been working on a pilot basis with a number of states to see whether there are ways in which areas that have significant high levels of low income families might be able to get by with not even have an application process because 80%- 90% of the students will qualify saving resources for schools.

part of this act encourages more physical activity and i would be remiss if i did not acknowledge the first lady's efforts with her let's move the effort. it is not just calories in, it is calorie out. this provides transition time for schools to comply with these requirements. the extra reimbursement this year will kick in beginning next school year for those school districts that are now living up to the standards. we have some encouragement for schools to participate in the u.s. and healthier school challenge. there's a small monetary reward for schools that comply with the standards of this challenge. requires better nutrition and more physical activity and would encourage the governor's ear to encourage their school districts across the country to apply for participation in this program. it is a very good program and will encourage expansion of food programs for children. this bill also takes into

consideration the caloric content for the first time and measures that caloric content based on the age of children we are very much involved in this and we are involved in making these mills a bit more delicious. sometimes good food has been not necessarily presented in the right way. that is why we enlisted chefs from all over the country to come up with innovative and creative recipes to make good food delicious. usda.gov is where you can find recipes and i would encourage schools in your states to take advantage of those new recipes. in addition to the healthy younger free kids act, the budget also includes $35 million to create a competitive opportunity for the purchase of cafeteria equipment. in order to encourage and improve meals that some schools will need to take a look at the possibility of preparing meals

at school but don't have the equipment and we are hopeful this grant program could help over 10,000 schools provide equipment. let me say a couple of things about the times when school is not in session. this is one of the critical periods of time where we all face and that is one of the reasons we have begun to partner with a theme-based organizations to see if we can expand the number of summer feeding sites. schools -- students are in school for 180 days per year but not in the weekends or during summer vacation. we have expanded significantly the number of participants in our summer feeding programs. we will continue to do that and continue to provide resources for that. it is fairly clear that we have to reach out to the non-profit private sector to assist us. we have to figure out ways in which we go to where the youngsters are as opposed to having youngsters come to where the food is. in my small town of mount pleasant or my children were

raised, during the summer, i could found most of the kids in one of two places -- at the ballpark at a little league game or at the swimming pool. we need to figure out ways where we can potentially have mobile food opportunities that would provide nutritious snacks to youngsters. we are heavily engaged in trying to improve the messages we sent through our vending machines in schools. we will be forthcoming in the near future with the standards for competitive foods in schools. despite the concerns about bake sales, we will not limit itself. we understand that is important. if you have a vending machine, we want to make nutritious choices easy choice and we found that indeed, youngsters will react favorably to nutritious snacks and they will continue to buy from those attending machines. -- of those vending machines.

we will continue to work with schools on continuing education. schools have been facing difficult budgets and are looking into ways in which they can streamlines course selections. sometimes that selection involved nutrition education. we are encouraging folks to find creative ways during the lunch hour to provide educational opportunities to youngsters. there is no reason why the cafeteria work force cannot provide some degree of assistance in this area. we know there are a number of schools actively looking at this type of concept. we are also working with schools to make it easier for them to link up with producers in their area giving schools greater capacity to use geographic preference in the selection of foods so that if farmers and ranchers are producing food in the local area that that could create a new market opportunity for them. it could still keep the wealth by them in the community and provide safe and nutritious food for youngsters.

let me just finish by saying that we are very committed to working with the states as best we can within the confines and restrictions that congress has provided in the healthy younger free kids act. the snap program is one where we're working with states and have seen a significant increase in the enrollment and part of that is because states are doing a better job of out -- i want to commend the governors for their efforts. we have seen the result of people learning about these programs that they are beginning to sign up for. i am proud of the fact that the error rate in this program working with governors across the country is at its lowest level in the history of the program. the fraud rate is at its lowest rate in the history of the program. we continue to try to maintain the integrity of this program but also make sure it gets to

the folks who are in need. the snap program is remarkable, roughly 46 million people receiving benefits, and the interesting thing about those benefits, only 8% of the people receiving benefits are on cash welfare 92% are not. that means that you are providing resources to senior citizens, to working men and women, and two children and to people with disabilities. those four groups make up the 92%. a lot of these recipients are children. in addition, for every dollar that is invested in this program, $1.90 of economic activity is generated. it makes sense that more food is being purchased, more food has to be stocked, shelled, package, processed, so it affects all down the line for it is one the reasons why nsap is

used -- snap because 90% of benefits are spent within 90 days of being received. it is an important -- is a program that is important to maintain and ensure the to integrity and we are conscious of that. we have enjoyed working with the governors and we appreciate the state's efforts and better out reach and look forward to the opportunity to answer questions you may have. >> thank you, mr. secretariat i am gratified about your sensitivity and emphasis to the summer feeding program. it is an area that all us need to expend as much help in the private and public sector as is possible. i recall an article or at least a chapter from the books"the outlyers," that had a chart demonstrating the three economic groups and their relative test

scores. they tested these grade school children at the end of may and divided the class with high income, median income, and blue -- and low income children and the scores in those three groups were relatively the same. there was very little difference between the test scores and all three groups at the end of the school year. they tested the same kids in august after the summer had been completed and it was a marked difference between the test scores in the low income students and the medium and upper income students. part a that can be attributed to a number of reasons separate and apart from nutrition to the extent that we all believed that the kid that as congress does not learn or a kid that is hungry does not progress or a kid that some great might regress, there has to be some

element of nutrition and food insecurity in those -- during the summer months that contribute to some of those statistics. your attention, the department's attention, to the summer program is greatly appreciated. i think all the governors recognize there is more we can do and more the private sector can do and we will hear from them in a little bit. they have been wonderful in terms of trying to augment the summer issue. i have a question and then i'm sure everybody else has questions -- i am concerned about what is in the built with the minimum price for school lunches that are paid for by children who don't qualify for the program. i and understand the bill calls for $2.46 but you gradually get there with incremental increases. i am worried about whether or not this can have a chilling affect on some the families that

might just be above the borderline and whether or not we will see a drop in the participation in the school lunch programs. i also worried little about the relative difference in the cost of living. if someone has an $80,000 per your job in manhattan that has a inevitably less buying power than the same in kentucky or in arkansas or other places. a static figure that does not take those considerations -- goes into considerations is a discrepancy. will there be any consideration given to the relative differences in terms of the effect on families? >> that is a great question. the reason why congress included this was based on experiences in schools, we were finding that

the school districts were basically using the free and reduced reimbursement to subsidize fully paid males. that was a concern that congress needed to address. they tended to do this and a gradual way by -- to the extent that milk prices had to increase forkful paid students and it would do so over a period of time and not increase dramatically in one year. the theory is that perhaps by doing this, you will actually have the reek -- be adequate resources in that program combined with the reimbursement level increase to provide more nutritious food for all youngsters. we will monitor this. we don't want to discourage participation in the program. at the same time, we want to make sure that folks who need the help get that help and folks who may not necessarily need as much help don't get as much help.

want school districts basically using the money from the federal government that is supposed to subsidize the free and reduced lunch folks from basically shortchanging them and providing a lower cost mail for those who can afford to pay. levels testedent based on the geographic areas and i will look into that issue that you have raised. we will keep an eye on it but rest assured, the goal here is not to discourage participation. is to make sure the resources are used in the way they were intended. >> i think it is incumbent to provide information to you from all of us so if we see decrease participation that we don't expect you to find it all out and we should do our part to communicate that information to you we will instruct our people in our state to give us that data and see if there are any trends in that regard. >> i think you are uniquely positioned to understand the

push-pull between federal government and governors about us wanting more flexibility with 10 different federal programs. one of the concerns we have had with the help the hungry kids act is maybe the flexibility that may not be built and. i think the act requires an evaluation or inspection every three years and i think the governors had written a letter saying that would help us in terms of cost and our own control to have it every five years if the program merited it. if it was shown that the schools and needed a level of attention, we would do it every three years but to have that flexibility between three and five on performance, we think that makes sense. there is a cost