there might need to be streamlining and right-sizing. i'm not sure the best way to do that. maybe it has to be considering the frequency of delivery, considering shorter operating at hours a small post offices that serve towns that are smaller than they used to be. it was easy to put these adoptions out there. i am not sure i appreciated the options out there. i am not sure i appreciated -- options out there. i am not sure i appreciated the politics involved. i talk about innovation and talk about outsourcing and the web two point no opportunities for not just having passive information -- 2.0 opportunities for having a dialogue going back and forth, and i talked about a contest for kids to design stamps, and we see that going on in nasa with volunteers designing what goes on craters. i did see quite a bit about maybe a hybrid now, savings accounts.

>> talk about hybrid mail. what do you mean by that? >> by hybrid mail, i mean when the post office of origin scans the envelope from people that participate in this service and e-mails to the designated recipient an image of the front and at the back of the envelope, and let's say i am on vacation, or at home, but i'm a consultant and a road warrior and i open up my laptop and there is an e-mail from the postal service the says he'd have the following mail in your mailbox -- that says you have the following mail in your mailbox, and you can decide if you want us to send it to you in its hard-copy form, or we can scan the contents inside of the envelope if you give us

permission, and we have a high- tech security system, and e- mail you an electronic version of the content, and you will get that immediately wherever you are. or, we can throw it out. so, that is being experimented with he and switzerland. i did not updated -- with in switzerland. i have not updated my knowledge of how that works, and i am not advocating that for the u.s. postal service. in fact, it might be obsolete in the rapid changes of technology, but that is what i had in mind. >> i asked our staff director who has worked on these issues how that might relate to the concept of electronic mailboxes, and my sense is that it does not. is that a concept that you

thought about then, when you were doing your work? >> i certainly did not back then. there is still a great deal more that i would like to learn about electronic mailboxes. i do think there might be opportunities for the postal service to get into the business of identity creation and authentication services, with a number of passwords people suffer with and the opportunities for fraud are becoming serious issues in our society. the office of inspector general has produced a paper on this that i find quite interesting. i know less about t electronic magic about the electronic mailboxes i would like to. -- electronic mailboxes that i would like to. >> you have an opportunity to be an expert. people would say where did he

learn all of that? his wife. after the hearing. what are the provisions -- the me say it is one thing to pass legislation. my hope is the house will pass any bill, calling the postal bill, tested and suspension, a voice vote, and go to conference, and we will hammer something out. hopefully it is a better bill than the senate bill, and better than no bill. it is one thing to pass hopefully thoughtful legislation. give us an idea of how you would work with your colleagues if confirmed to put into action some of the ideas from our bill that you apparently considered three years ago. how would you work with your colleagues to put these ideas into action to further improve the postal service's financial conditions? >> well, it's the legislation

passes, it is then a matter of -- if the legislation passes, it is a matter of complementing it as rapidly as possible, and that is a challenge for a big organization. toseems the board's role is ask tough questions, to try to urge the postal service to get on with the task at hand. if the legislation is considerably changed from what is in s-1789, maybe there will not be a chief innovative officer, maybe there will not be a requirement for a council in that case -- council. in that case, once i got more comfortable with my colleagues, i would say why do we not do this anyway? why do we need legislation to heavy chief innovation officer? can that -- cannot be done on our own the in the postal service, and urge action on some of these things just because they are good ideas?

it is a change, trying out some new service, then it seems to me you need to have careful market testing involved, and the legislation talks about those. it seems to me that you have to be careful about pilots, experimenting, and testing of new ideas whether it is for digital verification services, postal savings accounts, or whatever the item might be. fishing licenses with state governments -- we need to trial and error and learning. one of the challenges for the postal service, to be honest, is to have a culture of innovation and to feel free to occasionally make mistakes because that is what happens as an entrepreneur. you learn by sometimes been

wrong, pulling back, and trying something else. >> this is me an opportunity to inject something richard nixon said, " the only people that do not make mistakes are the people that do not do anything." he said a mouthful with respect to -- you said a mouthful with respect to an atmosphere that invites experimentation, in addition, creativity, in particular with respect to raising revenue, and does not threaten postal employees, managers and others to be innovative and creative. if there is a failure, hopefully not of any large scale or consequence, but there is failure or disappointment, that is not the end of the world, particularly if there are five things that work to grow revenue or reduce the growth of the expenses.

one of the big jobs that i think the board will have is to help create that environment for innovation and creativity, and not just to say we will do things the way we have always done it, and we will get to a sustainability position basically -- simply on the expense side. there is plenty that can and should be done on the expense side, but i think there is real potential of the revenue side and we have to pursue that with a lot of vigor. that is not going to be something we will impose on you, although there is strong language in the senate bill to encourage that, but the board needs to drive that. talk to us about the five-day as opposed to the six-day delivery, please. >> it is sometimes frustrating

when the magazine i subscribe to did not arrive on saturday, and especially if it is a holiday monday and i do not get it until tuesday, and there is a new one on the stand by friday. it is getting dated quickly, so i would hate to see saturday delivery eliminated, yet i have said this in an article that i wrote. i think the auction has to be kept on the table, that -- option has to be left on the table as a last resort to which it we are unable to balance the books and cover costs, then, at least, we should carefully look at whether there are real savings in all -- involved by eliminating saturday delivery. i would hate to see it come to that. i would hate to see the service code down, and there is some risk that revenue and use of the postal service would go down.

those are things they need to have the freedom to experiment with and learn about. it seems the public is ready to accept it if it is necessary. seven-out-of-10 in surveys said they would be ok with cutting out saturday delivery, but personally it is my great hope that through increases in productivity, increased revenue through new services and products, and through other forms of right-sizing, we could avoid that, but i am very happy the bill includes the possibility of getting there. we just have to be realistic if it comes to that. we may need to consider it. >> i have encouraged the letter carriers, in their current leadership and previous their ship, to do what they tried to do a number of years ago --

leadership, to do what they try to do a number of years ago, to see if there's a way to sustained saturday delivery but do it in a different cost- benefit, or wage and compensation structure, in a way that allows us to continue saturday delivery in a way that is more cost effective. my hope is we will see serious efforts out of any legislation that we develop. talk to us about standards of delivery. we have been operating to date on one-to-three-day delivery, overnight delivery, but everything done within three days within the custom -- continental u.s.. talk about the legislation and how it relates to mail

processing centers. we have about 480 of them across the country. there is an interesting going to 325, and also some comments on the 33,000 post offices we have and an emphasis on trying to find a way we save money with the way we run our post offices, but at the same time provide a menu of options for more rural communities for mail service in their communities. >> these are tough issues. i respect the -- >> you know what? they were. i think we've come to a pretty good place. a lot of people who worked on this -- help from folks in the unions, rank-and-file employees, management, customers, democrats, republicans -- at think we have

come to a pretty good place. i think the postal service showed a fair amount of creativity, but your thoughts? >> i am comfortable with 1789's handling of rural post offices and the provisions for the reduced window hours, consolidations of two that are nearby, but maintaining access and service. perhaps the alleged postal offices or some alternative we at -- village postal offices or alternative outlets. it seems there is really there to maintain access for those that it is essential. on the service standards, there is a relationship between how quickly mail has to get over

night. it tested in a certain distance overnight, first-class mail -- if it has to get a certain distance, first-class mail, certain use of equipment is compressed into a smaller time frame and it has to do with the point and time of entry. there are a lot of variables in this one. it seems to me that a compromise is emerging that allows some processing centers to be consolidated, and a number of them reduced, and at the same time to maintain service standards. so, i am not a deep expert on these things, but from what i can gather reading the bill, that looks very positive to me. >> thank you. for somebody that might be watching the hearing from some place across the country, what

we have ended up doing is rather than saying to a community, where there are roughly 33,000 post offices across the country, and some of them, a lot of them have postmasters. they pay $50,000, $60,000 a year, and they might only sell $15,000, $20,000 of stamps per year. that is not a reliable business strategy for long. rather than closing post offices, what we have done it is agreed that if there are 10,000, 12,000 post offices where there is economic challenges, why do we not give a menu to the community? you might not have the post office six days a week. we would like to have services least two hours a day.

the person might -- the office might not need a postmaster. they could be encouraged to retire, have benefits, a pension, and come back and work two hours a day, four hours a day, and earned some money. for some that would be attractive, for others that would not. the other option is co-location with supermarkets or convenience stores, and another option is oral delivery -- rural delivery. yen when the stock for lunch, they can buy stamps and they could meet their letter carrier at that location. there are a bunch of different options. the idea is to say there is not one way. one size does not fit all, but to provide the community with some options, then have a conversation and let the community is vote to see what

options they like. but-by-mail is a great idea for states. we have a couple in oregon, washington, that are already doing that. some senators said to me from washington a couple of months ago -- at think it was oregon, or washington, where they had vote by mail and the presentation was in the low- 70's, and they're looking for maybe 80% turnout this time. that is terrific compared to places where it is barely 50%. there is an opportunity to do something more cost- effectively, and encouraging more people to vote, and provide a nice piece of business for the postal service. that might work. those are the kinds of things we need to be thinking about. i have a question on pre- funding retiree health benefits.

i think we have already heard from you on that, and i will gi you a question in writing to explore more on that, -- at least one more. in the congress -- in the coming months, if congress and the administration are not able to come to agreement on postal reform legislation, the postal service will need to make tough decisions on how to preserve operations with a dwindling amount of cash. if you are confirmed, it will be put in your lap and a lot of the other governors. if you are confirmed, how would you direct postal management as the postal service seeks to keep the business running during this crisis that they would face? that we would face? >> well, i think the post master general has made it clear that you have to set priorities, so the first priority is to

deliver the mail. that is important to the nation's commerce, to our economy. it is not imaginable to think of what happened suddenly that stops. to do that, you have to pay peoples' salaries, suppliers, fuel for the vehicles, so those are the first priorities. there has already been a delay in paying the $5.5 billion pre- funding and no payment for the retirees' health benefits, and that could happen again with a $11 billion due in august and the rest by september 30. if those are delayed again, workmen's compensation, i suppose that is further down the list and the payment of

salaries. >> i just ask our staff, especially staff members were not here if they had questions they would like to see me ask, and have a bunch of them. we'll print goes out, then break for dinner. [laughter] now, we're not going to do that. the have anything else she would like to take away, or continue with -- anything else that you would like to add or take away, you nurture position? are you happy with what you have been able to put on the table? do you want to refine anything? >> i am excited about the and opportunity. i am impressed by the seriousness of the challenges before the postal service, and i'm very hopeful that the house

will produce a bill, it will go to conference, and something will happen before september 30 that will create some, you know, refunds, etc. some things will start happening that will give the postal service the flexibility it needs, and then it seems to me the job for the board, management, the whole postal service and the wonderful employees is to implement, and that is a big challenge in itself. it is nice to have flexibility, but you have to use it well. i would not be interested in this position if i were not optimistic that the solutions were within reach, but i look forward to talking with a lot of others in the industry because i know there are no silver bullets and we need to put together a creative package to do this, but i think it can be done, and i am excited about it. thank you for the opportunity. >> we appreciate the president

submitting your name to us and giving us an opportunity to consider that nomination. we appreciate very much your willingness to serve. i like to kid around a little bit, and we've done that some here today, but having said that the situation the postal service faces is dire and serious. we know that. there is hope in a hopeless world, and i think there is reason to be hopeful for the postal service, too, and i will say the legislation we passed this not solve all of the problems. it does not make the postal service viable or profitable forever, but it helps to get back in the right direction, and it is something that can be improved upon and it needs to be. i know you served for a while

with the national governors' association and head of the opportunity to call any number of governors. i was wondering, did you ever think that someday people would refer to you as governor? >> i did not. >> and you would not have to run for office, raised a dime, it is a baby or do any of that? [laughter] now people can call you governor, if you are confirmed, for the rest of your life. you did not have to setup a super pacs or any of that stuff. >> will you speak to my wife and my 12-year-old about this? >> you know that i will. i think that is it. i think the record will remain open for our colleagues if they have extra statements they would like to submit for the

record or questions they would like to ask of you. the deadline for doing that is at noon tomorrow. so, we expect that you might hear from some. with s to to respond promptly. with that having been said it is a rap, and this hearing is adjourned. thank you so much. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> when you realize these remnants of armies to the west,

when he realized finally that it had come to an end - >> in new look at the second world war from adolf hitler to his dark chaotic final days. >> his men objective was not to be captured alive by the russians. she was afraid of being paraded through moscow -- he was afraid of being paraded through moscow. eva braun was determined to die with them. >> sunday said 8:00 on "q &a." >> several live events today on c-span. the center for strategic and international studies hosts a forum on violence and syria at 10:30 a.m. eastern. at 1:15 p.m. eastern, we will bring of the opening session of the national governors' association and -- annual meeting from williamsburg, virginia.

the governor's education work force committee meets at 3:00 p.m. eastern. president obama is in virginia today and we will have live coverage of his campaign event in roanoke just after 7:00 p.m. eastern. in a few moments, of vice president joe biden speaks at an annual convention of the naacp after a brief message from president obama. in a little bit more than a half-hour, today's headlines and your calls live on "washington journal." from the naacp annual convention in houston, president obama and vice president joe biden. this is half an hour. >> good morning, naacp. i'm sorry i cannot be with you in person. i want to take a moment to think your board and president for the partnership formed with my administration, and everyone at the convention for coming

together not just today, but every day, to bend the dark ford, the moral universe towards justice. i stand on your shoulders. at the naacp, you always believe in the american promise, the idea than a matter who you are, what you look like or where you came from, america is the place where you can make it if you try. that is why you fought so hard for good jobs, a quality education, and a justice system that treats everybody fairly. that is why you helped make health care reform a reality and why you are fighting today because you know the mission is still not recovered from a recession, but reclaim the security some americans have lost. our goal cannot just be to put people back to work, although that is priority number one. we have to build an economy where everyone can have the confidence that their hard work will also pay off. that is what i believe.

that is why as long as i have the honor as serving as your president that i will wake up every day fighting as hard as i can for the big, hopeful, hard- working, optimistic america that we love, where we are looking out for the middle class, creating letters for people the world region willing to work hard to get into the middle class. that is my promise to you. if you keep standing with me, keep persevering like the naacp as always, i know we can arrive there together. thank you so much. i am proud of all that you do. we all send our deepest regards. [applause] ♪

[applause] [applause] ♪ you are a shining star no matter who you are ♪ [applause] >> naacp delegates, it is my great honor to introduce to you a friend of the naacp. [applause] at the age of 29, he became one

of the youngest people ever elected to the united states senate. our speaker commuted from washington to willingham, delaware, by train every day, and he was reelected to the senate six times. [applause] as a senator from delaware for 36 years, he has established himself as a leader of some of our nation's most important domestic and international challenges. now, serving as the 47th vice president biden of the united states, joe biden -- vice president of the united states, joe biden continues to provide leadership on the important issues facing our nation. [applause]

of relevant interest to this audience, joe biden was a standout high school athlete who participated in an anti- segregation sit-in at a wilmington theater. he is married to dr. jill biden, they have three children and five grandchildren. [applause] naacp delegates, do join me in offering a family welcome to the vice president of the united states of america, joseph r. biden. [applause] >> hello. thank you very much. you know what they say,

flattery is ok as long as you do not inhale. you keep this up i will start inhaling. it is good to be home, it is good to be back. ladies and gentlemen, madam chair, as we used to say that in the senate, to excuse a point of personal privilege, where is delaware? hey, delaware! i'm a lifetime member of the naacp. they brung me to the dance. i was educated, and i went to the battle with mouse.

hey, mouse, how are you doing, man? mouse and i go back a long way. mouse got my back a bunch of times. it is so good to be with you all. i want to thank you all for your leadership and for your friendship, and, again, personally, for your loyalty. it is not an exaggeration. were it not for the leadership of the naacp, the men and women who educated me when we would sit over in reverend wright's

churches -- remember, mouse, those days? i learned so much and i owe so much. ladies and gentlemen, this is not about me. this is about another office. this is about the presidency. this is about -- [applause] more than any other office in the land, the presidency is about character, the character of your convictions, whether you put country above politics. from the very moment that barack obama took his hand off that bible on that cold january day on the mall, he has done

just that. he has put country first. when the economy was about to go over the cliff, i watched him make some of the toughest decisions any president has had to make since franklin delano roosevelt. he saved the financial system of the nation and prevented a worldwide depression. it was not a popular decision, but it was essential, and he was right to allow credit to flow again. he stepped up to rescue the automobile industry. it was not popular, but it was critical, saving jobs and creating 200,000 new jobs. this is the man who made the call to go after osama bin laden.

it was a bold decision, a bold decision, with profound risks for our warriors as well as his presidency. but he made it and he made that decision on his own. bin laden is dead and america is more secure because of this man's decision. he passed affordable care act, a goal striven for by presidents starting with teddy roosevelt. it required him to use up almost all of his political capital. he prevailed where no president had done before. he was right. he was right. he cut $100 billion from the federal debt over the next 10 years. he provided access to

affordable health care to 30 million americans, 8 million black americans who would never have had insurance. [applause] this is a man, this is a president who has the character of his convictions. almost never since he has taken office, during this entire time, has the republican congress reached across the aisle to help. on the recovery act, which kept us from sliding further into depression, only three republican senators and not one house member voted for it. on the affordable care act, no republican in the senate and none in the house on the final vote.

but it was not just on the big- signature issues, it was on the easy, obvious things where we got no cooperation. extending the payroll tax, only seven republicans initially voted for it. lilly ledbetter equal pay, three republicans voted for it in the house. when we attempted to raise the debt limit to maintain the full faith and credit of the united states, not a single republican met the responsibility of meeting that requirement, resulting in a negotiation that brought us to the brink of disaster, ultimately causing america's credit rating to be lowered for the first time. it was not until later that we learned this was a plan, obstructionism was the plan from the outset. according to a recent book by

robert draper, the author stated in a meeting the night of inauguration, according to draper, republican leaders from paul ryan to eric cantor to kevin mccarthy, mccarthy is reported to have said if you act like you are a minority, you are going to be in the minority. "we have to challenge them on every single bill and challenge them on every single campaign." newt gingrich, who was also there, said, and he was prophetic, "you will remember this as the day the seeds of 2012 were sewn." mitch mcconnell said, "the single most important we want to achieve is for president obama to be a one-term

president" -- not to get us out of this recession, not to promote jobs, not to do the things that needed to be done, but make barack obama a one-term president. and, folks, their discipline is amazing. they have never let up. but neither has my guy, neither has president barack obama. he has not given up. he continues to be driven by the character of his convictions, and, folks, in the end, that is what the presidency is all about, your character, your convictions, and one more

important thing -- it is about your vision for the future of america. and here, the candidates for president have fundamentally different visions for the future of this country. by the way, i think mitt romney is a fine family man. at least he is driven by what he believes. but the differences are so basic about how we view that america. let me give you a few examples. on education, we see education as central to the vision of how do we assure america's ascendancy throughout the 21st century. we see it as the most important criteria for minority children. we see education, a future where once again america has the highest percentage of

college graduates in the world, a future where high school graduation rates are not a matter of what neighborhood you come from, what your economic circumstances are, but a future where everyone has access to education beyond high school because six out of 10 jobs the coming decade are going to require more than a high-school diploma. a future where everyone can find a decent job, where quality, early education is available to our children, increasing exponentially the chances to succeed in school, where class sizes are small so kids can get personalized attention they need, where we demand more of our teachers and we treat them like they are professionals -- high standards, and pay equal to other professions.

look, education does not play a central role in the romney republican vision of the future of america. it is on the back burner. it is not a priority. you doubt me? just look at the budget for the future. massive cuts in early education, the one thing all educators agree on is the important initiative to deal right upfront with the achievement gap. elimination of the tuition tax credit for families, cuts in pell grant scholarships for children of low-income families, cuts in title one funding for lowest-performing schools, cuts of $2.7 billion, cuts in special education funding. in my view, backing away from

the proposition we have held for years and years, that children should be educated to the degree to which they are educable. cuts by $2.2 billion, cuts in job training. listen to what they say, when he says. he says the effort to reduce classroom size may actually hurt education more than it helps. tell that all those private schools. tell that all those parents. energy -- we envision a future where clean, energy represents an increasingly large share of energy consumed in america. we see a nation that breathes clear air, where cities are not polluted, where asthma does not claim the lives of african- american children four times greater than it does of other children because of the

environment in which they live. romney sees a different energy future, where renewable energy is not a priority, where romney's allies in the congress oppose any incentives to invest in clean energy, but insist on retaining a $4 billion tax cut for the oil industry, a tax cut even they acknowledge they do not need. women's rights -- we see an america where no woman pays more for health care than any man in america, where women have access to quality childcare, where women receive equal pay for equal work. we see a future where the barriers are removed for women and girls who want to participate in science, technology, engineering, and the math fields, where the

violence against women act is not just a law, but a part of american culture, where the government does not make choices for women, where every woman has unfettered access to contraception and family planning if she desires it. in short, we see an america where our daughters have every opportunity our sons have. governor romney and his allies in the congress envision a different future for women in america. the governor is not sure what his position is on the violence against women act. he is not sure whether or not lilly ledbetter law that we passed is good. planned parenthood -- get rid of it.

innovation and medical research, we see an america where hiv is a thing of the past, where infant mortality is drastically reduced. that is why we continue to invest in basic research, the national science foundation, the research universities. romney sees a very different future, where he cuts funding for nih and the national science foundation. health care, we see a future where everyone has access to affordable health care, where seniors have access to prescription drugs at a lower cost, they have access to preventive care, making their

lives more livable and reducing costs, where insurance companies cannot deny coverage because of a pre-existing condition, where there are no limits on insurance policies, where children can stay with their parents on their policy until they are 26, where medicare is guaranteed and medicaid is expanded, were no americans face the possibility of bankruptcy because they get sick. romney's allies see health care a different way -- controlled by the insurance companies, where pregnancy is a pre-existing condition, where coverage can be taken away if you sick or hit your limit, where medicare is voucherized,

19 million people are cut off from medicaid, where millions of people will have to wait another generation before they can get a decent chance at health care. on the tax system, we see a system where everybody pays their fair share, where the middle class tax cut is maintained and where no one making a million dollars a year or more pays a lower percentage than middle-class or lower-lass families, where the college tuition tax credit is made permanent, where the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit are preserved, where everybody, and i mean everyone, has skin in the game and no one gets played for a sucker. the tax code that governor

romney and his allies envision continue to be skewed to help the very wealthy -- $530 billion of that tax cut over the next 10 years going to just 120,000 households in america, while we cut and put into disarray all these other programs, while the debt continues to climb. he proposes a $1.6 trillion tax cut and the people who can qualify are the people who make only $1 million or more. he eliminates college tuition tax credits, the lower income tax credit, and the child tax credit are cut. the result? 2.2 million african-american

working families will see a tax increase if he succeeds. that is a fact. on foreign policy, we see a future where we, the president and i and the democratic party, see a future where american leads by the power of example as well as the example of its power, where the democracies of the world join to share the burden of maintaining world peace, where we continue to reduce nuclear arms around the world, where responsibility is turned over to the afghans and american troops can start to come home. governor romney and his allies see a different future for america's involvement in the world, one that still has combat troops in iraq. remember, he criticized us for

bringing them home? where we set no date for leaving afghanistan, we stay, and he does not say how long, where the new start treaty with russia, endorsed by every former secretary of state, secretary of defense, national security advisers, where he said he would have voted against it, and i suspect means where he would abandon it, where russia is viewed in his mind as the greatest geopolitical threat america faces. we are in the future, where we once decided to go it alone. this guy's vision of american foreign policy is mired in the cold war, and the cold war is over.

on civil rights, your r'aison d'etre, your reason for existence, remember what this organization is all about. it was about the franchise, the right to vote, because when you have the right to vote, you have the right to change things. [cheers] and we, the president and i, and all of us, we see a future where those rights are expanded, not diminished, where racial profiling is a thing of the

past, where access to the ballot is expanded and unencumbered, where there are no distinctions made on the basis of race or gender in access to housing and lending. did you think we would be fighting these battles again? i was chairman of the judiciary committee for 17 years. we went through these battles. i did not think we would be back. i remember working with republicans, republicans, and by the way, this ain't your father's republican party. remember?

remember working with republicans on motor voter, on expanding the franchise on early voting, on voting by mail? some of these were republican ideas. but this is not the republican party view today, nor romney's. they see a different future, where voting is not easier, where the justice department is prohibited from challenging those efforts to suppress the vote. but i know you know, but i am not sure -- the house of representatives voted affirmatively to prevent the justice department from even investigating whether or not there was voter suppression? folks, there is a lot more to say, but this is preaching to

the choir. let me close, my friends, by saying i want you -- i mean this sincerely -- to close your eyes and imagine, imagine what the romney justice department will look like. imagine when his senior adviser on constitutional issues is robert bork, imagine the recommendations for who is likely to be picked as head of the civil rights division or those other incredibly important positions at justice, imagine, and i mean this to me is one of the most critical

issues in this election -- imagine what the supreme court will look like after four years of a romney presidency. folks, this election in my view is a fight for the heart and soul of america. [applause] these guys just have a fundamentally different view. the best way to sum up the president's view, my view, and i think your view, is we see an america where, in the words of the scripture, what you do unto the least of my brethren you do unto me. as president barack obama says, we are our brothers' keeper, we are our sisters' keeper, we have an obligation that at the

outset, as i said, i believe this election will come down to character, conviction, and vision, and it will not surprise you, and i do not think it is even a close call. so it is time for the naacp to do what has always done, what it did for me in delaware -- to inspire a generation, stand our ground, and make a vision for america. god bless you all, and may god bless our troops. thank you. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [signed, sealed, delivered]

in a few moments, two days of headlines and your calls on "washington journal." the center for strategic and international studies focuses on violence in syria at 10:30 eastern and at 1:15 eastern, we will bring in the opening sessions of the national governors' association meeting from williamsburg, virginia and that is followed by the governor's education and work force committee and president obama is in virginia today. live coverage of his campaign event in roanoke is just after 7:00 p.m. eastern. in 45 minutes, we're joined by a democratic strategist to talk about their new book. after that, the lead attorney in a case on constitutionality of the dodd-frankul