the 25th. as the midterm election approaches we want to begin today with the key voting block. toican-americans with a plan bring in more black voters and candidates to the republican party. phone lines are open. host: let's begin with a look at the headlines this morning. , freempshire, james foley now, memorial services held yesterday in rochester, new hampshire for that american journalist to is killed by isis. "om "the boston globe," militants free fighter in syria

." "the new york times," this headline, "a day of silence, michael brown's father pleading low -- lull." republicans attempting to woo black voters. the piece points out that the hearts and minds were black voters won't the one or lost in hearts and minds of black voters. republicans are determined to make a difference in those settings. theew years ago his book, " political mind," he said the key is appealing emotionally, not to rational faculties. "i would suspect that the loyalty -- that the

would not be broken by a few simple ideas." nuven join us on social media or send us a tweet. "the republican struggles recruit black voters and candidates" offer is joining us on the line this morning. caller: good morning, how are you. host: baucas to the efforts by rance priebus and the gop to break what has been a byanglehold on black voters the democrats. caller: following the election the republican, party sat down and looked at his voter base. i also covered demographics. american -- america is becoming majority minority

country. the republicans found out that there voter base was lacking minorities. they sat down over the last couple of presidential elections and tried to come up with a plan to make their party more attractive to african-american, hispanic, and asian voters. because historically african-american voters start out in the republican party. republicans want them to come back. they are doing grassroots efforts to bring these voters back. host: let's put this in terms of numbers, courtesy of the census department and the ap, compared to what we saw in 2000 with 13 african-americans casting ballots in a presidential election. it is approaching 18 million and growing. reasonsone of the

behind that was the historic candidacy of barack obama, but we are seeing a growing number of minority voters in non-presidential years. it seems right now that the number of minority voters in america is increasing overall and the republican party wants to get some of those votes on it side. the majority of these votes are going to the democrats, but the gop is making an effort to bring these votes to the republican side. it is still to be seen how effective these efforts are going to be. caller: again according to the associated rest, --host: again according to the associated press, when barack obama was leading, voting for the candidate was still strong.

in that case al gore in 2000 and john kerry in 2004. dixiecrater since the movement in the south, when the went from democrat to republican, ever since then the african-american -- average american vote has been majority democrat. there are still black republicans out there. they are out there and act. but the overwhelming trend that mostve is that african-americans vote democrat and it will be a difficult time for republicans to get that change. especially coming behind president obama's candidacy and winning the white house. now, i went out with some republican candidates in georgia. they are starting at the grassroots level. churches, community

centers, talking to black and hispanic is this people, basically starting from scratch and hoping to build from the bottom, but that be an effort that takes years of. it will not change overnight. it is hard to see their effort being effective immediately in this upcoming midterm election. but one of the things that we did see, especially if you look at the mississippi republican primary, where thad cochran was trying to win the gop nomination, a lot of african-americans did turn out and vote. the question we were not able to answer, do they come out to vote republican or for thad cochran? indid see a high increase the number of african-american voters in the primary. host: in case you are just turning in, -- tuning in, our guest is jesse holland.

are asking this morning -- can the gop who african-american voters and candidates? let me share this with you. this is from a democrat who were for president bill clinton as a speechwriter. "republicans pushing to restrict voting rights nationwide on heading on inattention by the american people, emboldened by the recent supreme court case limiting the reach of the voting rights act, they have worked weekly to cut early voting and same-day registration. that a paradox? often african-american voters are the ones who cast ballots early. >> that is definitely a paradox. you would think that someone trying to recruit voters would want to make it as easy as possible for those people to vote. now, a lot of republican operatives will tell you that

even african-americans are concerned about voter fraud. that is one of the big issues they tried to point that when they look at voter id laws. effects ofpractical voter id laws is that it makes it harder for some people to vote. the things we have been looking at is whether this effort can boomerang. if someone thinks they're trying to take away your power to vote, that might make them more intent to be sure that they vote. some people say that these efforts could boomerang and bring more people to the polls to exercise their rights than they would have otherwise. that is one of the things we will have to keep our eyes on. jesse holland, thank you for getting up early this monday morning and adding your first active. caller: thank you. look at the west

coast headlines. the first from the l.a. times, " earthquake 6.0 rattles bay area." also from "the orange county ."gister," "bay area rattled photographsof the from napa valley, california, which was the epicenter, digging out from their biggest jolt since 1989. the issue we are for on for the first 40 minutes this morning, can republicans who african-american voters and candidates? robert first from henderson, kentucky. good morning. good morning. i would like to echo the sentiments of your last caller. i think the gop is trying to woo black voters. i don't think they will be because they have not

been fair. their efforts are only four votes. they are not making an effort for change in the black community. they say good soundboard -- , but for instance historically black republicans, the party of a blinking, clearly the southern dixiecrat's were opposed to the civil rights bill. it was republicans introduced the civil rights bill. it was the democrats who were opposed to it. blacks have been the hold into the party for so long because it was the party of fdr and the new deal, but the gop, if they are going to make a sincere effort they must make a sincere effort that is seen genuinely and not a

lipservice type of situation where they bring in some figurative negroes, pardon my expression, thinking that this is what the people want to see. larry elder, adam west, these people don't speak for black america. black america is not monolithic. we don't all agree, we don't all eat the same things. some of us are republican, independent, democratic, or a political. to genuinely succeed in winning black voters the gop must absolutely make a genuine effort to connect to the community and it has to be seen as genuine and not just for votes. i don't think that they are doing that. the efforts of senator rand paul in kentucky, everything he says,

mitch mcconnell has said that he wants president obama to be a one term president. is being anone obstructionist, he has not been aod for kentucky, he has been disaster. hopefully, hopefully allison grimes can get him out of office . if the gop is going to be successful in winning a road, they must be sincere through action, not lipservice. host: meanwhile, in a recent pre--- recent piece for "time wrotene," senator paul about this issue. here is part of what he had to say. "when you couple the militarization of law enforcement with the erosion of civil liberties and due process, allowing the police to become judge and jury --

host: those are the comments of senator rand paul from "time magazine." services for michael brown are being held in ferguson, missouri today. this from john in north carolina, saying that the gop seeking black voters is an exercise in futility. ust is kathleen, joining from chicago. good morning, kathleen. kathleen, you with us? we will try one more time. wort,ndy, shreve louisiana. good morning. caller: good morning.

the gop and the democratic party are the same. independent, white, i believe in the tea party. if the black people want to get somewhere, you need to get to the tea party. just asblicans are criminal and this government as the democrats are. of each other. until people realize that, it will be business as usual. they don't care about the american people. thecrats don't care about american people. the only people that really give a flip is the tea party. the gop doesn't want the tea party around. they want this two-party system the way it has always been. as far as i am concerned, lbj threw the black people under the bus with that gray society bs. it is ridiculous, you know?

people need to wake up and smell the dirt, you know? shame, this stuff going on in ferguson, that is all orchestrated. host: my home? caller: -- by whom? police state.a that big man in new york on the streets there, he's trying to start a race war. you for the call. cornell, good morning, where are you calling from? caller: [indiscernible] host: go ahead, please. theer: the problem with republican party is big business. right now the stock market is off the roof. everybody is making money except for the layman or the poor people. and they have wiped out the middle class. the problem with what has gone over the last six or seven years

is how they have disrespected the president of the united way thatd there is no they can bring back african-american voters. host: another one of you saying -- our question this morning -- can the republicans will african-american voters? o african-american voters? the comments from michael steele this morning, "the party cannot engage black voters while voter idously favoring laws the disproportionately affect african-americans." beverly, michigan, good morning. caller: hello? host: turn the volume down on

your set. go ahead, please. my concern is not so much about the democrats and the republicans. jewish vote, the ok? 4 million jews in the united states. there are 30 million blacks in the united states. we can't get anything to vote. but the 4 million jews get exactly what they want? host: which is what? caller: whatever. the congressman. the senators. whatever. 4 million jews, 30 million blacks. ask them a question like this. think about it. , million jews in this country whatever you all say, you all jump. .his is a diversion that's all this is. have a good day. host: are you still with us?

clarify that one point, when you say we all jump. any time congress, especially senators, feinstein, haverat, republicans, something to do with the jewish vote, they jump. with a 30 million blacks, we can't get anything done. mary, pittsburgh, welcome to the conversation. caller: thank you for taking my call. all i got to say is that i think that president obama is the first elected african-american president should help the black people. he has oppressed them so bad that my heart aches to see all that don'tung kids have anything, anything. , he promised them, and now it seems like his

favorite is that hispanics and the muslims. anything with open eyes looking healthmilitary or our care system? how in the world could nancy pelosi say that we had to pass a bill before the american people even knew about the bill and let us vote on the bill? reckless, irresponsible, should be thrown out of office. i say give the young men and women for african-american -- when i was growing up there were all kinds ofts, activities. swimming, tennis, everything. now there is nothing. host: thank you from pittsburgh. the front page of "the washington times," a piece .ooking ahead to rick perry

"the gop hopefuls hit the primary state as he visits new hampshire. for the moment, jeb bush lays low on speculation as to whether -- run inn in 20 been 2016. regina, good morning. caller: i would find this so interesting if it was not upsetting. we had eight years of the worst republican presidency under bush in our countries history, yet they want president obama's presidency -- republicans dedicated themselves to destroying this new black resident. as far as i'm trying to woo black voters? they are against everything the working class is for, and wooding the whites and blacks who are being hurt more economically. they were against president obama's infrastructure job no, which would have created

hundreds of thousands, probably a million jobs. can they woo african-americans? are you kidding me? they can twist themselves into a pretzel trying to look empathetic, but it is not in their dna. cal, new york city, democratic line, good morning. you're a reporter at the inr was very right attributing the rise of african-american voters to the candidacy of obama. that in the decline of the obama administration, that that african-american interest in voting will rapidly declined. that will be the advantage for the republicans, unfortunately. not in their attempt to woo voters from the democratic party, but you know in a couple of years the democratic party who be viewed as somebody

in the end is a president who doesn't have much help for the black people of these country -- this country. viewed as someone who initiates yet another war in iraq, they will just stay home. unfortunately that will be to the advantage of the republicans. eric holder, michael brown, the symbol that black people are waking up to the idea that they in thispolitical power country in spite of the obama administration. i don't know how that could possibly translate into some , intof new energy electing hillary clinton if she decides to run, but i think they will lose interest, stay home, republicans will gain advantage because of lack of participation, not because of attempts to move them over.

thanks for your perspective. this from our twitter page -- host: from "national review," there is this from "rand paul," "a party for all." house republicans beyond hearing minority voters, they wrote about this for "the washington times." of blackl's or suit .oters is splitting the gop senator paul is clearly trying to bridge the gap between the party of abraham lincoln and the minority voter base that massively votes for democrats." we areently wrote " learning and stumbling -- i will be clumsy on this, i already

have been and we will continue to be as we try to raise barriers that have existed for many years." that is from june of this year from rand paul. tyrone, philadelphia. we have to be clear about one thing. what they say, it is the policy. all the policy, all the bills that go up to help the black community fail, they are knocking the policy so hard to help the blacks -- you have no construction bill. no highway bill. a are not putting any kind of economics into the black community or the poor white community. the poor white community is doing is that is the black. this is a wall street issue. we know the top is getting richer and the bottom is getting poorer. people are getting disenfranchised with the vote.

this is not by accident. this is orchestrated. host: what needs to be done? caller: if republicans are serious about how they woo black voters, but the bills on the floor, argued the bill, let the bill go forward. they don't vote anyway to help for whites, poor blacks, the bottom is just shifting around. yes, the black community is hurting. the white community is not even voting for their own interest. you've got to ask yourself -- they want the white community? the first thing they feel is that if they are up there in washington, they will take care of them, not you. this is all orchestrated to kill out the bottom. and they have done that. host: ok, tyrone, thank you for the call.

good morning, thank you for taking my call. i would like to start off by giving honor to our commander-in-chief, mr. barack obama, he is an excellent president, as well as the president the came before him. what you are talking about today, we first have to talk about the gop. african-american men and women are intelligent people. we see what is going on in america. i am very sad for america today. the gop, republicans, you need to step to the rear. you are so ignorant you are willing to take your country and let it go all the way down the doder because you refuse to the things that are necessary to get our country back on board. i am so sick and tired of people just worrying about money,

money, money, capitalism, capitalism, capitalism, they won't even look at the structures they have built that are failing. , theyepublicans speak have no message. they talk about a mess. people, white, black, americans, whoever you are across the country, they are getting sad. this is ridiculous. you are going to have pandemonium in this country. it's already starting with people having little riots and stop. you don't care that people have nothing to eat, have no jobs, you are just sitting on your throne making her money. give back her salary, work from home, and keep doing nothing. this is nothing personally against anyone -- i am someone who has worked for years in america. i was a little girl in seventh grade. i believed in the american dream. you're taking that dream in your hashing it.

and please do something about the immigration law. those people deserve to be able to be over here and respected. this is out of control. is there anything republican party could do to change her mind on all of this? caller: yes. stop saying when they get on their that they don't know how to fix it. your job requirement is to know how to fix it. if you don't know, why in the heck and you ask for the job? there are plenty of smart people out there that know how to fix this tough, they are sitting step up withing -- your lawmaking brains, your intelligent minds, takeover and make the changes necessary to make america start going back up the ladder. much fornk you very the call. inside of "the new york times," the reverend al sharpton in a

profile, "a slimmed-down favor is anand his .xpansive style trade-in medallions he has transformed himself into the white house civil rights leader of choice, and incessantly televised pundit and a poster child for a strict diet of salad in juice. in new york he says you are competing with times square it leads, you have to be 300 pounds and crazy for attention. then you refine yourself. i always knew that under the track suits was a slimmer, more dignified man. he gets the space that he used to take up. his phone conversations with the white house, evolving over the years, the full story is available inside of today's "new york times."

your party woo african-american voters and candidates? we can't? were you doing? is brian lamb still alive? this is become the most racially divisive program in the history of television. yesterday you invite a flawed conservative republican -- there are a thousand black republicans you could have invited, but you invite armstrong williams. you have a race show with 40%, 50% people calling in from acorn hating republicans. you just put up with it. is this you? is this susan? this program has gone to the dogs, steve. i hope it isn't you, thanks. you for your call and observation. we welcome your feedback. roy? what i don't understand

-- i know third-grade students and stuff the configure this out . everyone talking about republicans and obama doing so great and all, common sense, 1/10 of your brain would tell you -- no more jobs being created. they say a hundred thousand jobs created every month, they don't tell you how many have been lost. they don't tell you how many has been lost. 200,000 mexicans come in every year and obama says he is against incorporation? they do that so that they can keep the wages low. common sense. the less people -- more jobs, less people to work them, they pay higher wages. it is reallyerson, sad if you listen to people calling in, they always blame it on republicans and all this, but common sense, if you keep

letting them come in, especially them in legals. all they got to do is go to the welfare office and check it out. they are driving new suvs and everything else. i am a poor white man and that's it. -- iverage person graduated, maybe most evil didn't. anyhow, you would figure out that if you ain't making it, how000 jobs a month, count many you are losing. we got three plants ready to close -- for a right now. anyhow, i just don't understand how they keep saying -- you need to let them in, let them work, all of that. the more you have got of anything, the cheaper it is. they can pretty much pay what they want to pay.

common sense. the less you got anything, the higher it is. you got more jobs than people? the more they would pay to get people to work. why is people not catching that point? and then people say obama is helping the country out? by letting them in he is not. call onank you for the the republican line. "al qaeda affiliate, freeing an american held in syria." ,"om "the new york times "britain close to identifying the suspect in the journalist beheading. investigators are close to identifying the young militant with a british accent who took the of james foley last week in the video released by the islamic state." in the last half-hour we will be turning our attention to this

issue -- should the u.s. be using a military option to go after isis? meanwhile, donald joins us from tallahassee, florida. caller: good morning. how are you? the question, how can the republicans go after the african-american voters? caller: the answer is no. army you need a message. these people's messaging school kills, blame obama for the earth wake. these people really believe that they are intelligent. that peoplebelieve are stupid and that they are smart. the answer is no.

bigger.he masses much we need to have compassion. these people would throw their own mother under the bus because -- in order for them to live that social life. they want to be something they are not. and they convinced these poor white folks who believe there talking to them. poor white folks, they already told you, you are in there. you go right along with them. that is my answer, steve. are you a regular and consistent voter in national elections? caller: absolutely. host: have you voted republican? life.: never in my and i never will. if you don't have a message, why

should i listen to you? these people's messages? they blame somebody. they havengry and say a message. blame obama? for what? fox news just told to blame people. and that's how they live. for the call.u inside of "the new york times," funeral services held today for michael brown, masking the complex racial picked sure over the weekend conducted in guatemala as senator rand paul was on the missionary trip working with 200 patients. here is a portion of the senator's comments on the situation in ferguson and how it ties into the republican party. [video clip] >> none of this have to -- has to do with race.

the belief is that if you see people in prison and they are black and brown and it is racial . even if the thoughts going on at that time had nothing to do with race. there is a good chance that this had nothing to do with race but it does of the way that people were arrested, everybody perceives it as -- my goodness, the police are out to get us. just this one instance. i don't know what happened during the shooting. but i do know what happened in terms of looking at who is in our prisons. all of the sunday programs can be heard on c-span radio every sunday beginning at noon eastern. 9:00 for those of you on the west coast. "can republicans woo african-american voters? bill, good morning. every time i see you,

steve, i am happy to talk to you. it is not the republicans, it is not the democrats, it is the whole system. it is not working. we have the lobbyist's and they are doing a rotten job on this country. it's five people that control this country, ok? they all meet every month in texas. i am going to tell you what is going to happen here. the police department chase the black people for one reason. if you look to prisons, they have 75% of black people, mexicans, all right? that kills them. every time the black man goes by , it charges him because the prison.n, 75% is in that's where the problem is. al sharpton and jesse jackson don't help the situation.

it's not the republicans who got rid of nafta. that's where started. if i'm a millionaire and i have , how much money am i going to give those people? i will try to make it cheaper. i find this every day in pennsylvania. i tell you one thing, i am 70 years old. my wife is very sick. i will tell you something, i feel sorry for the young generation today. we should all get together and stop playing games. the whole idea is to get rid of politicians and term limits. every four years they get too greedy. are you a lifetime republican? no, my wife was a

democrat for 37 years. she got a disease very bad for her life. i am suffering all my life with her, ok? but she's a very smart cookie. my daughter is a cop, but my daughter don't act that way. the whole idea is we have to change the style of this country. blacks, they got it like white in america the way they like blacks, you can't fight between us. what they did the other day down there, that's no good, making bets on themselves. we do have laws. these prosecutors are the dangerous ones, they create the problem -- i tell you what they stick up for the police in this case. you for the call. from chris alyssa this morning, "image of disconnected obama,

the president returning to washington after a two-week vacation that was neither restful nor productive. detentions in the ukraine, the middle east, the execution of journalists james foley -- it has been a tough week for the country and its leader. karl joins us this morning from chicago. buter: i hate to say this, your question is somewhat ridiculous. when president obama took office , what you heard from the gop about a contradiction to the economic crisis. then their main goal was to make sure he didn't get reelected. they don't care about black voters, they don't care about white voters or working voters.

all of this stuff is just something to distract from the fact that the gop know that their policies don't work. the last time they had power for six years under bush? the policy didn't work. the gop over the last 10 to 20 , they have not put up any bills to help the people of the country. can they woo the black vote? that's just nonsense. you had that caller from north carolina, republican. the gop is only concerned about money. and their desire to -- they just want power. thank you for the call.

there is this from one of our viewers -- some of you have questioned why we are asking this question this morning. we do three hours every morning 365 days per year, the question is really a reflection of some of the debates and issues being talked about around the country. we shared with you a number of articles. ,his from "slate" magazine "between the rnc new investment and minority engagement and his visits to historically black colleges, i have no doubt that rant priebus is sincere about the outreach to black americans, but if you want to win over black voters, don't let the gop spend its time suppressing black vote." this is a discussion, conversation, we welcome all points of view and hope that the questions are open-ended enough

to facilitate a wide variety of responses, what we try to do here every morning and as always we appreciate your feedback. if you like it or don't like it, just let us know. matt, republican line, you have the last word on this. caller: good morning. interestingly enough i am on a republican county committee. we were recently successful in removing some of the establishment gop from the county committee. this is a task that i have been in charge with within my precinct. host: how are you doing it? caller: taking a lot of the commonsense efforts that were successfully executed by the democrats. they have done a remarkable job at outreach to the community. right now we don't have a -- well, we have a former senator, but we have a

former community organizer. they went in, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, precinct by precinct, they found old grievances, addressed those issues -- speed bumps, four-way stop signs, dealing with crack houses, getting more of a police presence. they made sure that this happened and attach their brand to it erie it what have the republicans done? they have no, connection whatsoever with african-americans. black post -- black folks look at the republican party as corny, out of touch, and interested only in rich people. i went to state college. a taught by a former slave turned educator. i have a relationship of black folks. i don't see people is that different from one another. it has certainly

been a challenge getting more support from the community. make do you think it will a difference in 2016? caller: i don't know that that is enough time. we will have to impact the general assembly in the state. county committee seats, we will have to start taking over school boards. showing people that we are not disingenuous, that we are concerned about the disproportionate number of african-american people behind bars, the poverty, the broken families, the drugs, the disenfranchisement from just about every aspect. if you don't think that there is racism in the united states? you are fooling yourself. is it better? of course it's better, it's way better than it was. but the republicans leading the gop today are imposters. franklin walked outside and

yelled to the crowd -- what kind of government did you give us? a republic, if you can keep it. one more story from "the new york times" this morning, profile of the president of nbc she tries to rouse the network. as for "meet the press," she said she worked with david gregory to make changes but "we were not able to build a new vegan -- new vision together in the end." a return to the are original format -- to the original format your code this from paul ryan, who is out with , calling for gop unity. on the sunday morning programs as well, as well -- including "face the nation."

[video clip] i don't know the answer to your question at this time. host: that from paul ryan about whether or not he will run in 2016. we will be taking a look at polling and advertising in our weeklong series. later, a 24 year veteran of the department of justice will be joining us with more on what is next in the investigation and ferguson. then we will begin our weeklong moderngation into mechanics today, fundraising often called "the money -- mother's milk of politics." we are back in two minute. ♪ -- in a minute. ♪

[video clip] >> this week, special primetime programming on the c-span networks. tonight on c-span, from glasgow the debate over scottish independence. tuesday, an issue spotlight on the irs targeting of consumer groups -- conservative groups. and more on educating children from disadvantaged backgrounds. thursday, the house budget committee and federal, state, and private federal property programs. friday night, native american history. week, "booktv" in

primetime. a discussion on school choice. ryanhen writer john hope on how the poor can save capitalism. theesday, interview with biographer of neil armstrong. thursday, a tour of simon & schuster. friday, "in depth those quote with former congressman ron paul . c-span3, tonight, the reconstruction era and civil rights. tuesday, the end of world or two in the atomic bomb. wednesday night, the anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. thursday, look at how the attitudes towards world war i changed towards the end of the war. friday, the apollo 11 moon landing. find our schedule one week in advance at c-span.org and let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. threer, use the #c one to

. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we want to welcome , professor ofns law at american university in washington, d.c. thank you for being with us. guest: my pleasure. host: this headline this morning from "the st. louis post-dispatch." "a day of silence." his father, pleading for a day of silence as his son is laid to rest. behind the scenes, a lot of questions and more on the investigation and federal probe. what is justice department's role in all of this? the justice department

has the authority to enforce the civil rights laws that they backed during reconstruction. relevancy in this case dates back to reconstruction. prohibits is a willful deprivation of civil rights. the way the statute has been interpreted, it requires the government to show that the officer at it with the specific intent to use more force than was reasonably necessary. that is a fairly high bar. it means that a mistake or misjudgment frequently is not enough. the government actually have to show that the officer intended to inflict more force than necessary. what is happening now is of course a federal investigation has begun in parallel with a state investigation. the fbi has interviewed witnesses.

are collecting documents and eventually the government will decide whether it is appropriate to start a federal grand jury. in the federal grand jury you can start introducing evidence and bringing in witnesses and building the evidence to see if there is a case there. finally, at some point they will make a decision as to whether they have accumulated sufficient think they have a reasonable probability of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that officer wilson violated that high standard. host: we will come back to that point, but over the weekend we heard from in, who said that as of now he's up orts the prostate either looking into the case. he supports the prosecutor looking into the case. there have been calls for him to recuse himself. he had some personal background where in his father was a police

officer killed by an african-american man. there was some suggestion that he might be biased in the case. he has insisted that he will do this fairly and thoroughly. the governor supports them on that. so, i think we are not going to see him step aside. i think of the test of his independence will be the investigation that he can. us. and itld not be judged is important to make his evidence public when collected. yout: explain the division are and, what is the responsibility? guest: the civil rights community date -- division dates back to 1957. congress was finally able to pass the first civil rights statute of the modern era.

it was not very significant in many ways. it was significant primarily in it was the first time that in a democratic filibuster statues were broken. one of the things it did do was create the office of the assistant attorney general for civil rights, leading to the creation of the civil rights division. until the 1960's that the civil rights division started to move forward in a way that it needed to to make a difference. in the 1960's we have of course the passage of the iconic civil rights act. reallyr housing act racial castee system that had been established by jim crow. dismantled it as a legal matter. the civil rights division was tasked with enforcing the statute. so, they create basic prohibitions against

discrimination, employment, housing, voting, and they have supplementing -- and supplementing in the national registration act and others. the division consists of over 800 employees. something like 350 lawyers in the division right now. it off rate nationwide and works in conjunction with u.s. attorneys offices around the country to enforce those statutes. host: what is the process to file a complaint? go to their: website, they will tell you how to keep in touch. cases against individual police officers during the bush administration, during the obama , does that tell

you anything? i think it has been a positive thing. measurefficult to success by actual outcomes. these cases are difficult to make, as i suggested before. suggest that the obama administration is working hard. host: from your perspective over the last 20 years, how has this issue involved? it is interesting. on the one hand it is tempting evolvedhat it has not sufficiently, we keep having these incidents.

on the other hand, a number of police departments have made serious efforts to reform their .ractices frequently those reforms have followed a kind of corruption like we are seeing in ferguson now. what we hope will come out of ferguson is further improvement. there are things the justice department can do beyond the criminal investigation into the shooting. it has the authority to pursue canl litigation, if they establish that the ferguson police department has engaged in a pattern or practice of violating people's rights. that litigation can result in an agreement between ferguson and the federal government or an agreement in court that leads to broad reforms in the way they go about their policing.

also a good indication that someone should look at ferguson's hiring is. ferguson -- it is not reaching him broadly in its hiring practices. there may be elements of discrimination built into the process somewhere. the department has the authority to conduct investigations. things like that can make a difference. picture, this is not confined to ferguson. as you suggest, we have seen these eruptions at different places around the country. it suggests that these tensions and divisions remain a national problem. i think we cangs hope will come out of ferguson is increased sensitivity.

sensitivity to the relationship between police departments and the communities they police and the need for the establishment of trust and communication and building institutions that maintain links to tween the police and the community. is the police departments function best when they look more like the community that they police. that will be an important outlet. host: we are talking about the federal investigation into ferguson, missouri. he served 24 years a civil rights division in the justice department. he is currently a professor of law at american it university. let's get to your phone calls on this issue. lenny is on the phone. good morning. caller: good morning.

issues with the governor interjecting before he knew the facts and stating that there should be some kind of justice. saying whatone about justice for the police officer. have issuesues -- with the attorney general coming. 40 federal agents in this case? i don't see any cases where a black top shoots a white kid. why is that? that has occurred. guest: let me respond the first o the importance of emphasized

the nobody should be jumping to conclusions about guilt or innocence at this point. the important thing now is to conduct a thorough and fair investigation. as the attorney general emphasized when he was in ferguson, it may take a while. it is important to do it thoroughly instead of quickly. people need to be patient. attorney general going to ferguson, i thought it was very appropriate. the community was very troubled. whether this was a crime or not, it was a tragedy. that is tragedy important for our national officials to address. when the attorney general was in ferguson, he emphasized the importance of a fair and

thorough investigation. i was not suggesting there had to be prosecution or that officer wilson was guilty. it is important in the situation to distinguish between the fact that there was a tragedy, but we don't know yet if there was a crime. host: should the president go to ferguson? guest: i don't think at this point it is necessary. i think the attorney general's visit was very important and successful. the community listen to his calls for patients. it has been a more peaceful place since he went there. host: this is a tweet. until we know the actual circumstances in which the shots were fired, there is basic conflict about the underlying facts, we don't know if the

amount of force was reasonable or not. six sounds like a lot of shots. once a police officer fears for , he is authorized to use force. with an the police authority to protect us by using force. the question in the investigation will be whether the amount of force that was used was the amount that was reasonably necessary under the circumstances. if it turns out that it was excessive, that is a crime. if he was in legitimate danger and trying to protect himself, it is not a crime. working for the senate judiciary committee. good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me? to ask a couple of

questions. area, i talked to my brother in dallas and he said kid be to cop off in the car and he took off running. where they said there were two cops there. thee somebody would give us correct information. you don't go off spreading incorrect facts. we can't get the true knowledge of what is going on. police stood there and let the looters vandalize the stores.

they did not protect the owners or the property. host: thanks for the call. guest: i think this demonstrates how much we need a thorough investigation. there seems to be a real conflict in statements from the people who were there. we now have three autopsies that have been done on the body. one of the things that has come out is that all the shots hit him from the front. that contradicts one of the initial stories that he was shot in the back while running away. we just don't know. i think people need to be patient. this is going to be a difficult process. this is in a grand jury. it may be in a federal man jerry soon. there is -- federal grand jury.

know what going to evidence is being presented to the grand jury unless somebody comes out and speaks. everybody else is prohibited by law from talking about it. we need patience and an investigation. there are conflicting stories. host: to the point about the looting that took place. looting is bad. nobody supports looting. i think the police response was tempered by the fact of the seven -- situation had gotten out of control. there was great criticism of the ferguson police department. they showed up in militarized force with heavy arms that seemed inappropriate for crowd control. is up toe looting, it local officials to keep that

under control. i hope they will do that. i hope there will be no more looting. can share your thoughts on our twitter page. guest: i don't think the prosecution would do that. appropriate to act on the basis of race. it does assume -- seem to me that i add -- attitudes are based on race. is probablyion favored more heavily by african-americans. it the defense seems to have more support from whites. i hope those divisions would go

away. get with tom. good morning. caller: great guest. thank you very much. i would like to ask what federal crime might officer wilson have committed? ofhe is found not guilty criminal conduct, does he have a right to sue al sharpton and the launched thise lynch mob mentality against him? the crime that officer wilson could be charged with is the statuteof passed after the civil war. requires is for the

government to show that officer wilson when he shot michael brown acted with the specific force thanse more was reasonably necessary under the circumstances. that would amount to a deprivation of michael brown's constitutional right. it would be an unconstitutional seizure. we will see if the evidence develops. country a very strong respect for freedom of speech. suits against people for what they say are and should be rarely submitted. if you're interested in

getting more information about the civil rights division at the department of justice tom a this is what the link to the website looks like. we go to denise in california. from shakyd morning california. guest, like to ask your does he believe that the policeman is going to get away with murder as they have so many times in the past? i will take my answer off the air. guest: i think it is too early to say what the outcome of this will be. i do think it is important to take this occasion to look at incidents that have occurred in other parts of the country and is not a problem confined to ferguson. there are significant tensions in many places between police departments and minority communities.

i hope the people will take this occasion to help illuminate those tensions and help us to figure out how to address them. a whiteu mentioned police force in a predominantly black community, what is under title vii? onst: it is a prohibition discrimination on the basis of race and gender in hiring. hiring,es to public that includes police forces. there are two standards. one is intentional discrimination. if somebody says i am not going to hire you because you are black. that is also a provision was adopted by congress in 1991 that had been previously read and the law by the supreme

court. it says that hiring practices are unlawful unless they can be justified by businesses. what that means is that in a place like ferguson where there is a clear racial disparity in a workforce, there can be investigation into why parts of the process producing that disparity. if those parts and not related to the job of being a police officer and a not required by business, it violates the law. our guest a spent many years in the civil rights department of the department of justice. harry is joining us from pennsylvania on the republican line. caller: good morning. thank you for your description of the law and what is going to happen. my comment is this is all based on respect.

if you think about this policeman, he does not know if he will get spent on or get things thrown at him. we are not teaching respect for the law. when you are challenged by a policeman, you have every right of recourse if you thought it was unjust. , wey from what i see challenge that placement immediately. it leads to bigger and bigger things. it is very disturbing when i see the divisiveness when we try these people on the media. i welcome your comments. i agree with you that we should not try people in the

media. this is a dangerous thing. it is not fair to anybody. thattainly agree with you respect is important. respect for police officers is important. andntrust them to protect preserve the peace in our communities. do givether hand, we them enormous authority and it is important to establish limits and enforce those limits. police officers are trained and need to be trained of where those limits are. the consequences can be so grave when they cross those limits. the limits have to be clearly established. i would also add in this regard that one of the things that we need to look at much more this is an occasion to go further.

this has been a big issue around the country in our major metropolitan areas from new york to los angeles. there are things that police departments can do to build better relationships with minority communities and to avoid the kind of tragedy that we had an ferguson. they need to have enough communication and understanding in the community that things don't escalate the way that they intodically do and corrupt unfortunate circumstances. a member of a number of tweeters. why we the reason invited our guest to join us. did you want to respond to that? guest: i would hope that i made that point. we need to be patient.

there needs to be an investigation. i hope it is helpful for people to understand the process and what the investigation would have to establish in order for often -- officer wilson to be prosecuted. host: joann is in san diego on the republican line. caller: are you from and with cases of misconduct in the justice department in louisiana? to accusead tested .olice officers attorneys were fired from the defense department. oversight? think thisw why they

officer was a racist. i would love to hear from the law enforcement people. i think it is insulting. oversight about an overzealous department of justice? guest: let me first make a point that from a legal perspective race is not an element that has to be proven in this case. i am generally familiar with the situation you mentioned in new orleans. it is my understand all the people who were involved have left the attorney's office, not necessarily voluntarily. there is strong oversight. there are two separate bodies. there is an office of professional responsibility which investigates attorneys who

are alleged to have behaved unethically. they are very much involved in the new orleans situation. the other is the inspector general's office, which investigates the conduct of employees of the department of justice. us fromacy is joining long beach. a lot of california viewers this morning. caller: a couple of questions. the first is generally in these situations we are reactive instead of proactive. or legislation could be enacted on a federal level that will rein in some of these abuses from law enforcement? we are talking about ferguson. just scan the papers across the country. mentally challenged individual

was stopped and frist on the street and it escalates into an officer involved shooting. he was unarmed. this plays out over and over again and we go through this cycle. the justice department gets involved when policy and real remedies that will impact the police forces should be created. how would you change these policies? what is your solution? , your: racial profiling can't pull me over because i am an african-american man. you leave people shaken. that is if i get out of there

without getting shot or whatever. i agree completely. racial profiling is a serious problem. ofre have been a variety efforts to address it. there have been many efforts in the department of justice to come up with policies on racial profiling. congress has not acted. there have been attempts to get legislation enacted. racial profiling is against the law. establish andd to get a remedy for. i agree. we should be looking for remedies for racial profiling. caller: my second question piggybacks on the previous the gop inroads

into african-american voters. they are not even listening to legislatures that might like the community. administration, how has that helped? the only executive action being taken by that administration does not affect our community. that is what we have to ask ourselves. we can't just say we are going to go vote democratic monolithic leap. -- monolithically. we've got to evolve. that is an area where we have to evolve.

caller: thank you for the call. guest: i feel like i am in the wrong segment. viewers.rom one of our ant: when was the last time officer was convicted under the civil rights act? --st: it happens under the very frequently. there is a distinction between officers who use excessive force someone andling shootings. convictions for shootings are much rarer because it is rare that an officer pulls out his gun when deadly force is unjustified. it does happen, obviously. there are hundreds of police shootings every year.

there are a very small handful that end up successfully prosecuted. beatings by police officers of arrestees or people in custody and are prosecuted much more frequently and they are easier cases to make. is andney king case example that people are familiar with. he was driving while drunk. he led police on a high-speed chase. the police got him out on the street and he started resisting arrest. the officers beat him badly. two of them were finally convicted in federal court. the prosecutors were able to show that a few of the blows were inflicted while he was subdued. the rest of the beating could not be prosecuted, but a few

were excessive. they went beyond what was necessary to make sure that he was compliant. passed away since and did receive a settlement. we have just a couple of minutes less -- left. a professor of law at the american university. he is formally with the justice department. from westining us virginia. caller: good morning. would look for you to look in that camera and tell me why the people in the civil rights division of the justice department did not prosecute those black panthers in philadelphia for standing in front of a polling place with elite clubs threatening white people. holder turned this

irs thing to the civil rights department? the new black panther this was acutions, situation in 2008 in philadelphia. in military garb stood outside a holy place in philadelphia. this was a largely african-american precinct. they reported to be from the new black panther party. the police came and talked to them. one of them left and the other one stayed. the one who left had been carrying a baton. filed a administration civil lawsuit. the criminal prosecution was declined.

when the obama administration came in, lawyers who had worked in the bush administration decided there was not sufficient evidence to proceed. they did proceed against the one person who was out holding the baton. a judgment was entered against him. a would-be voter came up and said that they were intimidated. the outcome was perfectly appropriate. the reason that investigation was assigned to the civil rights division, i don't have any inside knowledge. because the is

civil rights division does a lot of investigations for making false statements to government officials. it is a violation under a statute to make a false statement. that is probably what the focus of the investigation is. it is natural to give it to the civil rights division. those prosecutors know what they're doing. host: our last caller is from eric in new york. caller: i wonder if he might be edited and going further on an earlier comment about how it is important to handle these cases thoroughly rather than quickly. pressureere is great to resolve this. the community was in turmoil. we had civil unrest.

people wanted a quick result. a quick result would be helpful if you could ensure that it was an accurate result. , ins much more important fairness to offer so wilson and the brown family, it is important that we establish the facts and that we talk to all of the witnesses. it is important that we study the forensics and be able to reconstruct the actual situation in order to determine whether there was terminal liability. you are now at the american university school of law. thank you for adding your perspective to this issue. we will continue our conversation. we will kick off a weeklong

series, looking at politics. we are looking at the mechanics of raising a campaign. up next, we will turn our attention to campaign fundraising with two experts on the issue. but first, a look at the latest news. good morning, nancy. >> some international news. syria says it is ready to work with the international community in the war on terror. the foreign minister is warning the united states against airstrikes inside syria against the islamic state group without damascus is consent. anyone without the approval of assad it would a violation of sovereignty. president hast --

dissolved the government. the sets the stage for prime minister to form a new government. he has until tomorrow to do it. francis under pressure from the european union to get its finances in order. headinance department argued that austerity was not the right way. if income for 2014 is going to be higher than estimated when the person applied for insurance, complex connections between the health law and taxes an reduce or eliminate anticipated tax refund next year. tax preparation companies say most consumers are unaware of the potential refund risk. more about the implementation to date with the state university of new york holds a palace cash in with

alice rivlin and others. you can watch the discussion on c-span. it all begins at 1:30 p.m. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. week, special primetime programming. tonight, a debate over scottish independence. on tuesday, issues on the irs conserving -- focusing on conservative groups. educating disadvantaged children. thursday, anti-poverty programs. friday night, native american history. on c-span2, book tv in prime time. tonight, a discussion about school choice. how the poor can save capitalism.

wednesday, author of the biography about neil armstrong. thursday, a tour of the headquarters of publisher simon & schuster. friday, in depth with former congressman ron paul. tonight on c-span three, the reconstruction era. tuesday, the end of world war ii and the atomic bomb. wednesday night thomas the fall of the berlin wall. how american attitudes about world war i changed through the war. -- friday, aas documentary about nasa. join the c-span conversation. unlike us on facebook and follow

us on twitter. "washington journal" continues. to run foru want office you have to develop a message and do some polling. have to develop some campaign advertising. you can't do that until you raise money. this week we will talk about campaigns. we want to begin with fundraising 101. thank you both very much for being with us. let me put this in perspective. 1982, ran for office in the winner in a house race spent $600,000. a senate where spent $3.4 million. compare that to where we are 20 years later in 2012. if you ran for the house and

one, $1.6 million. the average senate winner spent in excess of $10 million. what does that tell you? guest: things are getting more expensive. that is just part of the issue. money, itook outside could be closer to $10 million for the house race. , tv you count outside money time is expensive. it is just competition. there are a lot more people trying to get more us is out there. host: let's talk about the super pac's and outside money. this is a new component. flooded the market with more people trying to get a message out. it brings in these new groups that are interested in particular niche issues.

we have billionaires that are invested in these races that are interested in particular issues. up. drives the market value it makes it more expensive for campaigns to buy as well. host: where does the money come from? guest: a very small percentage of the population will contribute to a campaign. when we look at the ratio of actual voter turnout, you are looking at maybe a fraction of people who will contribute $10 to a race. activists,arty people who have a vested interest. that is where the bulk of the money cams from. the outside groups can come from anywhere and we don't know where that is. host: this is a striking comparison.

in 1976 when we had matching funds and the fcc was fully in place, jimmy carter and gerald ford each accepted $20 million in federal dollars. in 2012, barack obama admit romney each raised in excess of $1 billion. host: that is true. senate and true of governor's races across the country. there are governors races that will spend $100 million in one state. votersnds on how many and media markets there are in your state. the size of your state and how many people are interested in your race. there are some outside groups that are interested in specific areas. there has to be a republican group that comes in to counter

that. there are some anti-gun billionaires that are out there to spend a lot of money. they have unlimited funds. they have billions and billions of dollars to spend. that creates competition and a demand for someone to counter them. you will see races get worse. host: we are 71 days until he midterm elections. we are focusing on every aspect of a campaign. theremove into the fall, will be a place for those debates and you can check the schedule information on our website. let's go back to the issue of outside money. how will 2014 be different than 2012? guest: it will be bigger. there will be more plain -- evil playing. the environmental groups are

interested along the keystone highpoint. you have a big governors race in iowa. you have a senate race down that area as well. volatile areas. outside groups are going to spend a lot of money. the building down the street from you guys controls a lot of money and influence. dollar tol pay top get influence. host: in 2009, michael bloomberg spent his own fortune. meg whitman was running for governor of california, she spent 140 million dollars of her own money. uc cell funding candidates at all levels. self fundinge candidates at all levels. cell funding candidates still has to do some fundraising.

they have to organize events. it helps to have a few million to help you out. might encourage some outside groups not to come in knowing that you have the ability to compete with them. it doesn't mean that they don't fund raise. topic is money and politics. this is a weeklong series on "washington journal." frederick is calling from indianapolis. caller: i would like to comment. if it surprises me how apathetic millennium will's are -- millennium larp. -- millennial's are. it is a shame that republicans and democrats are just at war

constantly. nothing will get done. it is all about raising money. information voter is andected to the wisecracks people like yourselves that have to generate a secret message to get them out to vote. .t is just money grabbing the system is totally broken. we have to figure out some way to fix it. host: thank you for the call and observation. can voters still trump the power of money and influence? guest: the fund raising is just part of it. things thatay for voters will be a part of. voters can work on a campaign. grassroots aspects are a big

part of the campaign. thousands of volunteers are important. they make calls and knock on doors. they can volunteer in a variety of different ways. it is important to realize that candidates raise money in small dollar increments. the voter is still a big part of the fundraising for a candidate. it is a big part in voluntary. what is on messaging? generale do some consulting and polling.

we work for committees. we do every aspect of the campaign. we raise strategy. we work with them on their theyng to make sure that know what the people in their district or state are feeling. we come up with the right message for tv advertising. what does your group do? messages take our directly to a targeted voter for a particular reason. whether it is through mail or online, we want to know who a swing voter is and take a message to that voter that they

want to hear. into numbers.e we delve into small communities and try to find individuals that need persuasion. this micro-targeting is very interesting. if you are a dish network it can determine the campaign ad that you see that night. guest: this is fascinating technology. this is where tv is headed. , they are losing money to the internet guys. tv wants to get into that game. your behavioral patterns on what you watch on tv will build a model. this is not just political. ford and coca-cola are interested in this. personaldeliver a commercial to you, that is fascinating technology. what you want to see or

what they want you to see. host: let me bring this back to money, as the price any different? guest: it is still expensive. it does not mean you are not going to do your tv advertising that is aimed at your base in your swing votes. you will have the ability to target a more specific audience. this is the kind of stuff that you have been doing in the mail for decades. now we can do it online. we are getting a lot of tweets on this. guest: u.s. citizens only is my merrily the rule now anyway. i do a lot of work in virginia.

they have the same thing. overave to report anything $100, but you can take unlimited money. it makes the candidate more responsible. corporations can give. super pac's can give. the candidate has to respond if there is an attack on one of those donors. host: gladys is on the line. caller: hello. i may be a little naïve. i want to know where all of these billions of dollars come from. i am trying to say this right. for mitt to vote wheny or president obama, they talk about ads or things on

tv, i watch the local news. , the my information newspapers are all biased and hope fully your local news isn't. when you have somebody come on a show like meet the press or something like that, then i am listening. guest: the candidates do need money to hire the people that you are watching on your local news. that is important. i want people to think that candidates are encouraged to raise that much money. because it is so expensive and a major portion of the budget, that does not mean that other parts of the campaign don't matter.

the communications team that talks to your local news station or gives a reporter information, those staffs are growing all the time. differenttotally media than it was a few years ago. between twitter and everything newspapers don't operate all the time. you can see communications staffs for campaigns growing. host: we will focus on how campaigns deal with crisis management and polling. tomorrow we will turn our attention to political messages and campaign ads. david, good morning. turn the volume down on your set. caller: hang on.

i would just like to comment on the campaigns and the ads. i realize they have to get their message out there in my only problem is all the negatives, the slam campaigns. they are ridiculous. it would be much more respectable if the elected officials would just put his ideals out and his policies. their voters could take a cast aible -- responsible ballot. it is just ridiculous. also, as far as resident obama goes, he is constantly on the fundraising trail.

that is the main focus of his administration. that is all i have to say. thank you. host: thank you for the call. i am guilty of creating negative ads. they are important to explain to voters what someone's record is. i think what you will see more lotmore are people having a more positive ads in their races. i think voters are becoming more cynical. i think they are becoming more pessimistic. a lot of candidates are realizing that. they are changing their advertising and modifying the message. host: let me get your response to what barack obama told current in 2008 when she sat

down with all the presidential candidates and asked senator obama about money in politics. we will get that in just a moment. let's go to this tweet. the supreme court does disagree with that. they do believe that money is speech. there are regulations on money. there are contribution limits. costsressional race the $1 million, the maximum that $2600.y people give is airtime costs money. it costs money to do printing. things cost money. these things all cost money. they have been raising the price of campaigns. as technology has developed and allows us to find and target

individuals that need to be spoken to, the price has gone up. it is important. in the end, the campaign is about contrast. they want to represent you. they want to make a difference. they have to outline to you why they are different than the other person. they have to tell you why they are a better choice. they have to advertise just like coca-cola or mercedes-benz. they have to explain why they are different. this is barack courtesy of cbs news. i think you start to get a sense of the less attractive , particularlyning fundraising. asking a stranger for money. that is the least attractive aspect of it.

this is the thing i would like to change the most. i have to spend quite a bit of time going to fund risers -- -- fundraisersng and eating chicken dinners. i would rather steady policy ideas. ups andw about the downs and what you have to do. host: that was from 2008. guest: candidates hate fundraising. i think that is the one thing they really don't like it. they will lie to you and tell you that they do. there is not a single candidate that really loves fundraising. this is what the breakdown is. there are a lot of chicken dinners and phone calls. the average to donation being around $200. they only have some he hours in

a day to make calls and make money. almost. media market is $500 a gross rating points. this is the way the math works. that means they have to have the blood in the campaign, which is the money. they have to be able to fund these things. the president is right. anybody who has run for a high-level office has spent days locked in a room raising money. spending house candidates one in 93% of the races and in the senate 83%. good morning. caller: good morning. my issue is regardless of how much money you spent on a campaign, it doesn't change the views that you might have.

exposure that people may get from hearing your message over and over again. that is what a strategist might use. research andr own you can go back to win some of these candidates were local leaders and moved up through the ranks, you will know where they stand on certain issues. fellowi love that a person from georgia would make that comment. i would love it if every voter did research. takee have families to care of. it going online and doing the research is tough. it is hard.

this is what makes the world of political advertising exist. there is a void in the market and that is where we come in. most families in november have calendarmarked on the and that is thanksgiving. we need engagement on all levels. when barack obama spent $1 billion thomas we had some of the highest turnout in the nation as a whole. it is the ability to draw a contrast between president obama and mitt romney. these are very important distinguished -- distinctions that need to be made. i am glad that georgia color had the wherewithal to do the due diligence. we are expected to exceed

that amount in 2014. patty is joining us from virginia. caller: good morning. i am calling as a former candidate twice in virginia. i have a very personal view of what these people do. i don't want to disrespect them. they are trying to wake up voters. to it as theer political industrial complex. the way that my media people dealt with me was to try and the most inflammatory thing. that is warping the reality. i had a very conservative opponent.

all i wanted to do was make my case that i was a moderate and he was altra conservative. let's be clear on how we would vote. that theye points have already made is most voters don't pay attention. they have to be woken up. billions of dollars are raised so that these people can try to wake them up. they have to wake them up with messages that are not constructive. it is actually the responsibility of the american found them to be very disappointing. day calling hours a strangers to ask for money. was knockingay i on doors and getting to know my constituents.

if i was ever to run again, i would only accept money from people that could vote for me. contemplating writing a piece of legislation that would put that in front of the congress. if you could only contribute to ,eople that you voted for things would be a lot more fair. i had massive amounts of outside money against me.

[captioning performed by the national captioning institut host: let me get your response to all of this. guest: there's a lot of people that see the deterrents and know it's hard work, but it's important that people take that step and run anyways, right? and the story from her is like a lot of former members. house members have it worse. they don't get any time off. finish an election and then have to go back and start making calls again. they have an election every two years. but it's the same way for a lot of people. but at the end of the day, i think they run for a lot of people. and i think if you try try hard enough, and can do it, it is

importance once you get there. host: and the national journal obtained that members spend an average of about four hours a day campaigning. caller: good morning. i'm very disappointed in the democrats and i will not vote for anybody. i live in a mobile home where -- everybody is not going to vote for nobody because we work for our living, government automatic deduct from our paycheck, our social. we try to be good citizens, but we are dead. government forgot us. yes, we do have our medicare to

care for us being sick and stuff like that, but why ask us for their vote if they don't care for us. guest: i'm sorry that you're disengaged and feel like you're left out. this is why it's important that they reach out to a voter like you and talk about your concerns. in the end, as patty said, she went door to door. and to me, that's the counter to money. there's money and time in campaigns and in the middle, you can put in some sweat equity. this is an example where i hope democrats will reach out to you to talk to you about medicare, social security, issues facing

seniors. unfortunately, finding you and getti getting to you costs money. and it's not likely that voters like you will be at ferverent -- say i want to be engaged and have input and see what they say. we are looking at fundraising in american politics. caller: thank you for taking my call. from what i understand, people say they get information from the news. but the last couple of

elections, they have not had news in their -- that covers both parties exactly. i know that even with -- when bush jr. was running, they could tell how many -- they told how many beers he had at college, but when obama was running, you never heard a thing negative about obama. because the news now is controlled. but like the woman that was on there running for an office, i know exactly what she's saying because when they call me up to donate towards the party, the platform, i say i'm not giving

my money unless -- to anyone except that i know who is running. guest: yeah, i mean, i come from a communications background. so i got started in republican politics being a press secretary. at lot of people say that is true. it trains us better and forces us to kind of tell reporters both sides of the story. i think it is important to watch the news. i think it is important to watch the least biased news of course. and use both facts to use an opinion. however, there are still a lot of people who watch the news who are still not persuaded one way or the other and we news television, mail, digital, everything else to try to get to that undecided voter who may be

reading the news but still may need a little push. and hopefully our advertising will get them there. >> and we'll delving behind that strategy. host: okay. jim. caller: thank you very much. i want to follow up on a statement on the lady that ran for office. she made a comment who acted very strongly about and the panelists didn't really address it after she went off the air. and that was the fact --

host: that is the issue of freedom of speech which the supreme court put forth. caller: shouldn't i have the right to vote for that person? if elected representatives are

supposed to represent me and my views and my district, then i think those are the only individuals that should be able to contribute money to them. host: so you're saying if you're not in the district or the state, you should be able to give to the candidate? caller: that's correct. host: thanks for the call. caller: guest: there's only about 70,000 that live in that district and to run to try to get the small percentage of those people that live there to donate to your campaign would be very, very hard. most voters wouldn't have the opportunity to meet her. but i will say this: i mean, i grew up in athens, georgia where i had republican congressman and two republican u.s. senators. i had the ability to donate to other democrats who i felt

shared my ideals. so i think that an individual should be able to donate to a candidate outside. for example, my mother, she lived in ohio. if she wanted to donate to me, i would be able to accept that donation. again, we're looking and voters are looking for people that share their ideology with. they want to make it friendly to whatever they do and they're trying to elect people that share their ideology. whether it's support unions, fair trade, those types of agreement. that's why those outside influences come into a different state. >> tomorrow we'll look at ad making and wednesday, voter targeting. bob is joining us from tampa, florida. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to ask two

questions. one question is do both of these people depend on contributions, depend on money from big organizations for their livelihood? host: bob, stay on the line and we'll follow up with your second point. guest: i personally don't -- i work for a firm of republican candidates and a couple of committees are our clients. host: joe. guest: several groups do outside work with us. in the past, --

guest: first off, in virginia, if you donate, you get to write some of that off on your taxes. as the democrats disagree with the supreme court rule that corporations are people, we'll get into this later, but if you do participate, you receive a tax break for that. that is a fair assessment. and when you file your taxes, you can contribute to the presidential campaign fund though i believe days of that are coming to an end. but, i fully support states and hopefully someday the federal government giving a tax break to

someone who wants to spread their voice. host: carol says "i think most voters don't realize how important their vote is." they would quote if they knew their vote can be a tie breaker in my swing votes. it's the state-by-state total that determines the presidency. i'd like to think why people think off-year votering is unimportant when their votes really do count. caller: we had a couple of citizens who were unhappy with the economy and, therefore, just didn't vote. campaigns have noticeded that.

they -- noticed that. they have been using language very similar to that email saying in your district we lost this race by single or double-digit numbers and your vote is important to us. using mail, we're able to engage some of those voters who unfortunately, because of the economy, the state of the country in the past election have not voted. host: and joe says who did the winning politicians literally represent? there is absolutely a quid pro quo for the amount of money involved. guest: that's a bold statement to make right now. quid pro quo is on the far side of this. most investors are investing in a candidate because they share

the same beliefs. it's important for everyone to remember, the voters put them there. donors just help them talk to those voters. that gets lost. i'm using that money to talk to voters because i want to make a difference. my first loss in my business, we called him landslide jim. he one by one vote. he never took a vote for granted. he received donations from organizations in the state of virginia. so it's important that voters remember that their vote is what happened puts the person there and they should never take that for granted. host: and jim is who? guest: jim scott.

he's now retired host: and now a look at how much money has been spent since 1993 to now. caller: good morning. i wonder how many people are like i am. i don't watch commercials for politicians. i don't have a computer. i don't answer the door if i don't recognize the person. and i don't answer the phone if i don't recognize who's on there. thank you. hos guest: you are in my realm. you are where i operate because you're the toughest voter to get. in general, the one voter that is going to win this race for you is the voter that's running away from you. they don't want to talk about you. they don't care about you. they want to live their life and

don't want you involved but they know it's their civic duty to vote so they do. so we will look for you. my specialtity which is mail, eventually, you're going to have to check your mailbox. so my hope is in the five seconds between your front door and your trash can, i can get a message to you from my candidate. host: who have are bundlers? guest: they're donors who know other donors. sometimes they go to a -- who is one of their recurring voters. they will say let me introduce you to my friends who would like to donate to you.

host: lets go to jules in atlanta, georgia. one more time for jules in atlanta. we're going to have to go on. cathy in new castle, delaware. caller: i had a quick question. i've been wondering. i'm really disappointed in the elections which i think is part of the problem and i was just wondering if there was a way that we could put in none of the above like in the movie brewster's millions. guest: i love that movie. but that's all the more reason for you to engage at whatever

level you are because we can't do that. here's the beauty, a lot of these individuals on capital hill are elected by a primary process. so get involveded in the primary process. show your influence that way. look at eric cantor, he's feeling the bruises from that hit and that was a primary. host: incumbents pass all campaign laws so why would they pass any law disadvantaging themselves. guest: the current -- a lot of them did not pass their laws. but i think it was probably at the time the way that they thought was the fairest way of doing this. unfortunately, with time, we've seen as early as two cycles away, things are changing because those laws were passed and different people were trying

to get through the donation process and get their message out in a different way. trying to be creative. that's why we came up with things like super pacs and all these different outside organizations came to be. all of these things actually were created because of campaign financing. host: our topic is money and politics and we welcome our listeners on c-span radio. jim is joining us from hamilton, virginia. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to talk about something slightly different. when i was growing up, i was told to vote in the primaries because you miss half the election if you don't. as a result, i changed

affiliations affiliation more than once so i can vote in a primary. but things are changing because now you can vote in a primary even if there's a different party. i was wondering what your guests thought about that. it seems dishonest to me. host: thank you. we certainly saw that in mississippi. guest: in mississippi, was a classic example of where ted cochran reached out to african american communities and tried to get them engaged in the party. in a state like mississippi, you have a primary process and a runoff process and in the only disqualification in the runoff process is that you did not vote in the other party's regular

primary. so when you look at the fight going on down there, that's locked up, he's fine, but he engaged voters he knew were eligible to vote in that runoff. and here's a good example of how when you engage a community, you can get them active even if they're not in their party. their voice can be heard in that primary process. all elections should be open. it's dishonest to say i'm a member of that party but in the end, that individual is going to represent you in the u.s. congress or senate. your voice should be heard, so you should participate in that's the case. host: in the north carolina

senate race. c-span, of course, will be why you are place for all of these debates. you can check out our scheduling information at cspan.org. follow us on twitter and like us on facebook so you can follow the entire process online. barbara from new york city. caller: good morning. i would like to know from the

viewers of c-span, how many representatives have held town hall meetings. they've been on vacation for five years. i called my representative's office and asked when a town hall meeting was going to be and i was told there were no meetings scheduled. yet, i got an email to go to a fund raising event. all i see is people -- considering all the time off they have the rest of the year, i don't think they should be paid for the five weeks they've been off. i just want to add my support to the idea of people only being able to donate who live in the district and can vote for a representative. i heard them say maybe there would only be 70,000 people in a district. so what. i mean, that limits both candidates or however many

candidates to the 70,000 people in that district. senators would be limited in the states that were donating and everybody in the country could donate to the president. guest: that's a good point. imagine if you're running for dog catcher or something even smaller than that. the problem isn't that i'm competing against my opponent necessarily. but it's competing against coca-cola. your time and attention as a voter is divided in numerous way. when you open up the paper, there's advertisements all over the page and i'm still competing with those. that is important to take note. it's not just the opponent you're competing against. it's every other advertiser out there which is why money is so important to break through that clutter. host: let's go to may in canton, ohio. caller: good morning. i just wanted to ask both

candidates a question. why should i support either party when i have no interest on who the candidate is going to be. i give an example. in ohio, john casik is running for governor. he complains about ed fitzgerald not having a driver's license. i don't even know if he's running. the same with the democrats and hillary clinton. nobody is going to run but her and we're supposed to support you? i just want to know why. guest: there was a primary process in pennsylvania. the democratic governor's race had -- i'm sorry, the ohio governor's race had a lot of candidates on there. but i think this just leads to more of the importance of volunteers, engagement.

encourage some of your friends to run who you think could make it to the ballot. help someone else get involved in the primary process because that helps you who is your nominee. host: what one thing would you leave our viewers and listeners with? guest: i think it is to remember that you are still a process. you are still part of that process. do not think that the big money groups are really the only thing that the candidate is thinking about. they want to reach you in the mail, email, they will call you, and there is a local office that you can attend and your $5, $10 and ultimately your vote counts. but always remember but that small donation and that average voter still means a whole lot to the candidates. guest: i get to be on the bad side of supporting politicians, i guess. in the end, this is a process that costs money. we are competing against every

other advertiser out there for your attention. and if there's anything that can make you feel good, please just know that my whole entire job is to find you and talk to you about what you want to talk about. sometimes that's hard and sometimes that is expensive. but you have three ways you can engage. obviously you can donate to your local candidates. the ones that you support and the ideals you believe in. you can volunteer and volunteering is sometimes worth its weight in gold because it's so hard sometimes to find people who can take off of work especially during the day and