good morning, in two weeks, voters will go to the polls, and early voting already underway. and in louisiana, and georgia, those senate races may not be decided until december or early january. it is sunday morning, and today's headline, the stage is set for election drama. effort to turnout obama supporters, the key to the senate. the president is meeting with his ebola czar, and we'll

talk about the threat, we'll begin, with mid-term election politics and, we want you to complete this sentence, campaign 2014 is about, and fill it in. join us on social media and, send austweet. row public cans preparing for what they hope will be a wave election and taking their most aggressive steps yet, and husband tor rick house majority.

and two prominent conservative groups, and 3 million investment, in 7 house races, and contests in deep blue districts. both stories available online. and from facebook, there are some of these commaints. it is about -- well, ebola, instead of discussing real issues, and john says, getting rid of anti middle class, and another comment, keeping the senate blue. first, nancy, who is keeping track of the other sunday morning programs, and good

morning. good morning. on the talk shows, guests include, government's response to ebola, and politics, and you can hear rebroadcast of the program on c-span. guest's the program doctor, director of the national intake toot of infectious diseases and, he appears on all of the talk shows, and, bob casey, and missouri senator roy blunt. and judge clay jenkins, he's the top add monday straight tor, and timothy dolan, in new york.

face the nation airs at 4 p.m. and the sunday network t.v. talk shows, they're brought to you as a public service. again, rebroadcasts of the shows begin at noon. listen to them all on c-span radio. across the country, on satellite radio, and you can download our free ap or go online.

thank you, and we'll get to your calls, and there is this, nothing, it is about lies and deception,. good more than, i think georgia can go blue, we have a republican governor, and he hasn't done, what he is supposed to do for the state. we still lost 7,000 jobs.

and we need some improvement. thank you. georgia is one of the races, that "a.b.c. news," is writing about. five things, about the mid term elections, and georgia senate race, and all because after outsourcing and he's running against michele nun. now it is likely, and by the way, georgia is one of those states, that there could be a runoff, and looking at two races, kansas, pat roberts, against gregg or man, and the final one, the florida governor's race.

a full week of debates, including the montana senate race. cliff is joining us, from maryland,. complete the sentence. good morning. 2014 campaign is about, what's going on for 13 years, which is fear mongering, they scare the hell out of people. the people, in my opinion, have to be the most cul la belle people. this campaign, is about

insuring that the voice of the majority of american people is heard. we have a congress, right now, that, is a republican congress, a million more people voted democrat. in the 2012 election. we have a minority of republicans, holding up, responsible legislation on immigration, and other policies, and the voice of the majority of americans, needs to be ensure he had and heard. thanks for the call. go to baltimore, where the president will be.

good morning. turn the volume down on your set. are you with us? yes. please turn the volume down on your set. all right. i'm going to put on you hold and, go to mike next. good morning. hello there, listen, i just to make a remark, i'm a senior citizen, and i've been in the second war. are you with me? yes. i sure can. and i feel this way, republicans gave me nothing, took nothing away from me will the democrats gave me nothing, and do you feel now, this is the reason why people, today, are not voting as much as they did years and years ago?

go back to edward. yes. campaigning is -- i'm going to have to move on. and hopefully, you can call in. turn the volume down on your set. an important endorsement, the times, this morning, endorsing mary. it is vital to the state. when she was elected, 18 years ago, louisiana residents needed

her to be a strong representative. there was a debate that we carried. one of more than 100 debates. one of those debates, in the senate race, in iowa, and in sioux city iowa, and one question, asked, your qualifications for the job. i'm a bridge-builder and not a bridge burner. i got to know the people that i served with, and i have them over for den ever dinner, so i get to know where they came from, and the work they did before they came to congress.

and that's why i have had so much success, to pass legislation, that's been beneficial. when the national guard came home, and was denied benefits for gi bill, and hardship pay, i worked with republicans, to get their orders changed. that's what they expect, somebody like senator, who can bring people together. what unique thing is there that sets you apart. i'm a public ser van, i have served in my community, and

state, and my nation, many, many different capacities, and, worked with. different and i still serve as a sunday school and, the church that i grew up. i don't do these things for personal began, i believe in serving the public, whether it is a time of flood, and whether it is during winter storms, and making sure that, iowa is safe, but i also served overseas, during a time war, and combat. i believe that that is important. soundbites do have consequences, and i have a pure heart willing to serve. and congressman, has poked fun

at our senior senator. i don't call that building bridges. thank you. we have a couple of questions here -- she knows, i didn't poke fun, and i talked to him that same day and apologized to him, and farmers, because that's what people expect iowa to do. so, if you are questioning my pure heart, i've been an elder, and taught sunday school and, never seen a corporation sitting next to me, and you believe that their interest outweighing those of women and others,. very misleading, and i have said it, and what you say hin those closed doors, does matter. and must be you did apologize. but my father is a farmer also, without a law degree, and i

think he's done very well. and again, i contribute to my community, andmy state and nation. i'm ready to serve. from the weekly standard there's this. a congressional congress, and both will be in gop hands, and "time" magazine, the most interesting man, the reinvision of land paul.

i hope they can no longer use the irs, and to stop people and, that's my comment. thank you. travis, is joining us, good morning. are you with us? my name is travis. yes. i would like to say, if both sides are going to act like robots, why vote for either side? so i ordered a blank ballot.

the story is available online. we continue with our look at some of the key debates, it took place, in kansas, where pat robs is facing a tough challenge, and on the issue of foreign policy, and ebola. all of that came up. how should we deal with the ebola epidemic? it shows you how we should

secure the border and, not be granting amnesty and i issued a statement, why can't we do now, what we know we're going to have to do and that's have a quarantine of west africa and, stop the air traffic. we should get our best, out of that connery. the if we do not take action, within the next 60 days, we could lose 60,000 people a week. again, this all goes back to ice sis, and ebola and, secure the border, and security.

i believe that we should suspend air travel, with west africa for the time being, until the crisis is contained. but this goes back, to the crisis in leadership. he has come back and bgs made some very strong statements, about ebola and it just came out, when he was in washington, he skipped a hearing, on the ebola virus. and so, i think it's inappropriate to talk tough here. and yet, when you had an opportunity to do something about it, you chose to skip the hearing. that's a real problem. the hearing was held out of session, during sep temper, and, nothing of substance came of it. we have a crisis of leadership, with regards to this whole situation, i think the

administration, has been two steps behind. we should do now, he just said, this was -- he would have a much more aggressive program, we don't know what it is. it is the president, that i think, we have to look to, for this kind of leadership, and looking for his plan. we have to do this, and we have to do it now. again, the crisis, in leadership in washington is on both sides of the aisle. you didn't attend the hearing, and two out of they hearings, in agriculture. that crisis of leadership is one that you share. the latest moments, in the kansas senate race. we're asking to you complete this sentence, campaign 2014 is

about what? there's this from juan, 2014 is about voting as many democrats out of office as possible. arkansas ever arizona, and writes, you can swing a dead cat without hitting one of bill clinton's friends. and he has more friends than a dog has ticks. and they talk that way. arkansas has surrendered to bill clinton. and the.

another moment from another debate. the first and only debate in the kentucky senate race, and asked often, who she voted for in 2008, and 2012. bill, there's no reluctakeny, our constitution, grants, here in kentucky, the right for privacy, for a secret ballot. and you have the right, and everyone does and the chief election official, i'm making sure that we're enforcing all of our election laws. and i worked with our military, to ensure the privacy. it is a matter of principal. i'm not going to compromise, a constitutional right provided

here in order to curry favor on one or the other side. you won't answer the question. you have that right, and everyone has that right. fy don't stand up for that right, who will? hillary clementon campaigning for grimes, in a race, that shows mitch o'connell has a slight lead. and this election is all about the republicans, wanting to destroy america, to use in the 2016 presidential election. now, good morning. good morning. well, i think that this race is all about power, and the

republican party is going to do anything, that they can. i may not be voting for people in our party, because they are not people of teddy raos very well. and i, there's a lot of republicans. some of the liens are open.

good morning. good morning. my view is, it's an election, about the inability to govern. i'm listening. and, they were to vote, and both have shown that they cannot govern, over the last few years and, that's the major thing. christian, from michigan. republican line. good morning. early risers, and so

complete the sentence, campaign 2014 is about. againer war. that's it? get the woman, if they want to fight, sen the women, with old women with minute guns over to iraq. they'd be glad to go. well, this morning, a look at money and politics, and one of the races, that's one of the most competitive. charlie crist, is in a tough battle against rick scott. and the moment, that got a lot of attention, this past week. in case you missed it. what happened? ladies and gentlemen, we have an exextremely peculiar situation right now. we have governor charlie crist.

[cheers] . governor, florida governor, rick scott, the republican candidate for governor is also in the building. governor rick scott, we have been told, that he will not be participating, in this debate. now, let me explain, what this is all about. governor crist has asked to have a fan, a small fan, placed underneath his podium, and the rules of the debate, thattives shown, say, that there should be no fan. somehow, there is a fan there, and for that reason, ladies and gentlemen, i am being told that

governor scott. will not join us for this debate ladies and gentlemen, this is a debate, and what can we say? well. [cheers] . wow! we're not asking you a question. we're not asking a question. i'm asking, rosemary, about the situation, that we fine ourselves in. governor, do the rules of the debate say there should be no fan? not that i'm aware of. so, that the rules, that

they just showed us, no electronics -- are we going to debate about a fan? the first couple of minutes, for the 7 minute delay, and we were live with it. ten stakeses, also carrying that debate. and it is available on our website. this morning, from the washington post, decisions handed down, the supreme court orders texas to use its voter i.d. law.

get back to your phonecalls, the question, campaign 2014 is about. how do you answer that. from washington state. well, i would say, mainly, it's about jobs. we need to get rid of all these, you know, fast-track, administrative policies going on. get rid of some of this republican lunacy, and come back down to earth. jack, has this point, good

morning,. are you with us? yes. the problem that i have, with the republicans, especially, this year, is like, what i just seen something about in texas, how they want you to have a voter knowledgestration im d. and i just think, the republicans are doing that, because this is the sneaky way to get into office. gregg is next. good morning, it's nice to see on you the program. i just had several quick comments. the campaign is actually about trying to ensure again,

that the country is going to move forward. and we've had, some of the actions of the last add mondaystration, and the bush administration, and all turmoil and, i think we should be moving forward, and trying to be more civil, and helping the american people. so, i think that's where we should be going, and hopefully, the people will have the wisdom, to vote democrat. can i ask you about the governor's race? in that moment that we just showed. did anyone come out ahead or behind? how is it playing out? it seems that, governor scott, has lost a little bit of the edge that he may have had,

just by that appearance. certainly, not being the states man, and looking over what would have been something, that he had done. and he didn't show the governor, the kind of respect, which is a put down. they want to see that respect. they want some more civil will aty. thank you, very much. one hour debate, and we want to thank all of the t.v. stations and our cable partners, who allowed us to carry these

debates. bob, from tennessee, and what is this all about? i'm from green back. okay. which is near merryville. maybe i'll meet him some day. the, i'm an old man. and i've been around quite a bit. and i'm from new york. and i spent time, in jackson, and met my sweetie there, and i got out of the service, and i took her back to new york. she tells me, well, you tell my daddy, you would never take me out of texas. i didn't tell you that. we had one son, and he's 48.

i saw jfk, on t.v., and i was really upset, because, i also saw or t.v., that was the nastiest guy. arguing on t.v. about an hour or so layer, i got a phonecall, and i had to get back to texas. and about four hours later i was back. so, your . is what? politics are stupid.

this will drive the day in the black vote. democrats see a lifeline. good morning. good morning. i want to make this comment, i have seen on the t.v., where, the newscaster would add, why in the world would anyone, in america, want to go against i sis. and i saw this, where the some preacher is being asked to turn in his documents, from

somewhere. because he planned something that's supporting face. and then you -- and then there's another posting, where i see, the supreme court, has let texas law in place where, it blocks people from having the same rights, we going over, in another country. they think that, people run looking at this? they must be crazy. robert, next, good morning. good morning. good. i want to talk about the voter i.d. laws, and i'm sitting here, and listening to all the comments, and things that you are getting, about the i.d. laws, and it just, totally astounds me.

the class warfare garbage and, you have to have, a i am d., to get a welfare check and, to open up a bank account. and get a fishing license. how can you not have an id to go do and vote, the most important thing that we do. absolute foolishness. i can't believe it.

long history of being economic cal with the truth. good morning. yes, that's close enough. i wanted to make a quick comment. this campaign is about, what it has been about, and 35 years old, i started, and started, when i was ten or 11, and it's about caughts making promises, and never become fulfilled. and it is just, now that we're starting to notice it. it is just about people,

being promised things that never happens. so, i want to see, are they going to wake up? it's obvious now, it should be, at least, that, at the kennedy, not working for us. it's all this money, that never changes, and corporate systems, and running the show. and money from the middle class being eroded. and people still going to vote. thanks for the call. we have 15-20 minutes, and complete the sentence, campaign 2014 is about -- peg has this point, it's about moving forward or staying stuck. and.

you can read the story online. go to jackie.

democrats line. this campaign is all about what? am i on? oh, i'm from west virginia. we have the wrong state but the right person. i have a couple of comments, there is i.d., and it's signature u.d. i work in the polls as a clerk, and, they come in to vote, and they want to show their license, and i tell them they don't need to and they sign. now, i can look at those signatures. that's what you compare. seems to be, to be a burden on the state, the photo i.d. would have to be in the poll books. okay. thanks for the call.

he and 7 campaign advis -- money and politician, this week, ask we'll go to chuck. good morning. i think, this thing is about stopping this insanity in this country. we have to go out here and, we have to have, a i.d. for everything that would he do, and, i have been around, since 1938, and never found it to be a problem. but, i mean, weave gone to the point, you have to go, and protest to have a job, and you don't have to drug test to get a welfare check. this has gone over board.

david. good morning. yeah, i wanted to call in, before the last election here, had people coming around, and asking who you were going to vote for. and he asked me, and i told him, i think i'm going to vote for a democrat. and anyway, i went to vote, and i have been voting all my life, and then i could not vote because somebody messed -- said i was something. but it was a -- i'm a little nervous. and i registered and, voted. and i'm looking what's going to happen to, find out, is it going to do the same thing and i ain't going to vote. people better look out.

okay. thank you. and carol has this point or that voter i.d.; they want to let the dade vote or vote often, and your thoughts about this campaign, and governor race getting a lot of attention, four-way race in maine. four-way race, and, hoping to unseat him. the story is in the 'new york times'. tries to squeak by. andy is joining us, good morning.

yes. excuse me? we'll go to mark. good morning. good morning. thank you for your program. this election is about, i guess give you five things. number one, it's about lying to the american people, about keeping the doctors, and the insurance and the hospitals, they would like to go to, in order to pass his bill. it's about number two, lying about using the irs, to target his political opponents. next, in jacksonville, florida. i think it's about turning back the clock. i was really, disturbed this week, when i got the sample ballot.

and i'm in florida. and the sample ballot was addressed to the voters at my address. now, i've been voting for 30 years, and i get a sample ballot, with my name on it. and 3 voters, in my household. they are asking that we share the ballot. now, we don't, at the same time, they're saying, take it with you, and which is what we do will. but we don't all agree. just one ballot. one ballot per household. i called the office. i spoke to some assistant, and

she was saying, oh, no, it says specifically, that there's -- trying to save money. and they're not sending the individual sample ballots and asking that the household use one ballot. is it a sample bal all right or official? what it is, here, sample, and it's not the ballot. okay. so, will you be voting on election day? no, we go early. and everybody goes and they cast their ballot and take their sample with them. you think we should make copies, and i'm wondering, if it

is our zip code. thank you. it was the sample ballot. first time in 30 years, that i have voted in jacksonville, florida. sandy has this money. it is all about saving america, from socialism.

elaine is joining us, republican line. good morning. okay. the question is, what is the election about? well, the president said, it wasn't about his agenda, and i want to talk about voting rights. i think, if they want it to be okay for people who don't have any i.d., so they can vote as many times as they like. okay. thank you very much. this is the headline, supreme court allows texas to use the voter i.d. law, came down, before 5 a.m.

and ginsberg, and dissent. quite a senate race. i am just trying to talk about voter i.d. and special i.d. and you have to show an id. it's an id must be shown. why? don't they trust them or don't they want people to vote? it's a big problem. okay. thanks for the call. close governor's race in massachusetts, and we'll have aa

series of debates. tough battle against charlie baker, and on the stump, it is hand to hand combat. bill, campaign 2014 is about what? this campaign, is about money. and i receive e-mails from both the democrats and republicans. all they're doing is putting scare tactics in. and then we see, candidates here, in montana, refusing to debate. there is a debate tomorrow. 8:00 eastern time. right. but there have been some

refusals to debate. they're more interested in what kind of a message can they put out in advertising, and can they make in person? that's on c-span two, and have live coverage also tomorrow. let's go to diane, from north carolina. i just want to say, i appreciate you letting me tweak about the campaign, and in my view, it is about the women, and this state. we have tom, and they are running, and, in my book, is far the most experienced.

and she is really, he's trying to do away with planned parenthood, and which is women and, wellness. and they have done so much to women. she's trying to get jobs and, they're moving our state backwards, and it's not about voter -- stop voters, you know, and early voting. it's early voting. thanks. eleanor, also from north carolina. good morning. my comment is that, the issue, i think it should be, that the candidates should focus, on the issues at hand,

and stop trying to run away from the president of the united states and just relate to the people. the good things, that have come out of this, despite all the obstacles, that faced his way, he still has overcome a lot of those obstacles. nobody in the world agrees ail time. but work together and, stop fighting each other, and all politics are the same. good morning, i think it's the campaign is about the the

coming out of the dark. and id's are keeping them out. thanks for the call. on twitter, you need id's for privilege limbs, and and they dt want everyone to vote. audrey is joining us, republican line. yes. i have always had a voter registration card and, have had it for 40 years, and they don't issue them out here in kentucky. they -- they did make my nephew go get his i.d.

one of the girls that was working the polls, and she looked at him, and told him, she didn't know who he was. she didn't know if he was a democrat or republican or who he was. okay. that was weird. okay. two headlines, the stage is set for election drama, the surprise, is ebola, among the mid-term twist. and effort to turnout obama is key to holding the senate.

janet, good morning. yes, the campaign about money, and voter suppression. and your choice is if you keep republicans, the middle class and, lower class will suffer as far as money goes. and, the voter suppression. it's not about having a voter i.d. it's the requirements needed to get that voter i.d. that is part of the suppression, and prevents people from getting that voter i.d. not everyone has a birth certificate. and some were born at home. elderly will have a hard time getting the requirements, for that voter i.d. they can have a voter i.d. it's just that you have to be careful. okay.

>> thanks very much for the call. this election should be about sending new, fresh people to d.c. enough of the old dogs. >> the debate aired courtesy of louisiana public broadcasting. here is a portion. >> i do believe our climate is changing. we have to be very careful about the policies that we promote. i am a strong supporter of fossil fuel, natural gas particularly, because it is a 50% cleaner burning fuel. we have had 200 years of it. america would do itself a great service and great security by promoting more domestic energy expiration and production.

i have been a strong supporter. opened up 8 million new acres in the gulf. i have secured expedited permits on western lands. i do not agree with president obama on his energy policy. i have now served with three presidents and six governors. i have had disagreements as well as support for some of their policies. we have to be careful about what we do, but we can build a strong energy future with canada, mexico, and be energy independent. climate might be change, but were not receiving that reflected in that temperature. that's related to our levees on , asriver, taking sediment well as other factors that cause the land to sink as much as the water rises. for example, in florida, there is water rising relative to the

beach. i'm not sure climate change is the issue as much as it is getting that sediment out of the mississippi river, putting it out to the marshes where it can rebuild. that is what is important. that her firstt vote is for senator harry reid, he will never allow a pro-oil and gas jobs bill to come to the floor of the senate. that debate is available on our website. you can check it out at www.c-span.org. coming up in just a moment, we will turn our attention to some of the most competitive senate races around the country. , the former surgeon general would be joining us to talk about ebola and how much is media hype and how much is a serious threat we're facing around the country and around the world. first this we can, would we travel to green bay, wisconsin.

americanout on c-span3 history tv and on c-span2's book tv. >> the industry developed in from what was homestead cheese, where each farm family made cheese for their own use. the men of the family were primarily engaged in crop forming, mostly wheat. crops were not profitable anymore and it was recognized that they had an ideal environment for raising dairy cattle. as we was unprofitable, more and more families turn to raising cattle, and cheese was really just a way to take that this wase product,

before refrigeration and it would only last about three days. if you make cheese, cheddar cheese can last for a decade. so it was really a way for them to market a perishable agricultural commodity. this was the late 1880's when the industry got started in wisconsin. it was very much decentralized because it was only economical to transport the milk in cans as far as you could take them in about a half hour or 45 minutes. the history of cheese. our travel to green bay wisconsin, check it out as we continue our c-span city store. it's also available online at localcontent.g/ jennifer duffy, you have been tracking the senate race. thanks very much for being with us.

what has surprised you two weeks before the election? elections are full of surprises. races we did not think would be competitive that were competitive. every week we have gotten a race that has developed late. you look at something like south dakota, which is a three-way race. has beenr governor considered the odds on favorite, but you've got a democrat and an independent candidate who is interesting, former senator larry pressler. in this race he tends to be drawing votes from democrats. so that race is closer than people thought. we still give the edge to rounds. it is easier for him to qualify then for wayland because he has to disqualify pressler before he can disqualify rounds. 15 days out, there's just not a lot of time to do that.

kansas, i think kansas is probably the wildcard of the cycle. you have an independent candidate, gregg orman, who is trying to run as a problem solver, someone who wants to rise above the party, running against three term senator pat roberts. he thought maybe the race was over after a tough primary, but he's gotten a surprise from or man. we've seen roberts ahead by couple, we've seen orman ahead by as many as 10. i'm not sure the polls are terribly reliable right now. hampshire has been sort of sitting out there quietly. the former massachusetts senator who has been running in new hampshire, that race has gotten fairly tight. new hampshire is always an interesting state. the state that tends to really be sensitive to the political

, when the rest of the country sneezes, they get the flu. the first congressional district has flipped three times in four elections, and it could flip again this time. -- if there is a movement toward one party or the other, look at new hampshire first and you will probably see it. georgia, i think the republicans did not think they would have to be fighting georgia right now, and they are. polls actually have them behind in a couple of points. >> there are couple of debates coming up that you can check out our website force meddling information at www.c-span.org. i want to highlight an important point. in georgia and louisiana, very real possibilities there could be runoffs. the louisiana runoff in early

december, the georgia runoff in early january after the new congress is convened. i think the runoff in louisiana is a given. pulledndrieu has not close to 50%, that is what she needs. differentcertainly races. what happens in louisiana, they hold something called the jungle primary. every candidate, regardless of party, runs on the same ballot. are nine there candidates. >> exactly. if the candidate gets 50%, game over. they have won the election. if no candidate gets 50%, the top two finishers, and this is regardless of party, move on to this runoff am a witch as you said is scheduled for saturday, december 6. which means i have to look at things like football schedules and hunting season. those things are important. runoff, which as you

said is scheduled for december 6. the republican in the race is running first. it is interesting, it will be a very different race, and it will senate is.here the is this for control of the senate? if it is, i would like to buy a small tv station in louisiana. and then georgia is a straight up 50%. they candidate gets 50%, moved to a runoff, which will be held on january 6. that is due to a law that was passed in 2009 that leaves enough time to process military ballots. but 45s has 45 days, days per two pretty much at christmas, so they bumped it to after the holidays. 40 five days.s congress will have been sworn in by january 6. been out there sitting on top of it all is gregg orman and kansas. you have to process with the

party if you want a committee assignment. he said he wants to see who is in the majority before he decides. as possible he will wait to make that decision in september. the prospect of at least having a runoff there is greater than it was a month ago. the times picayune this morning endorsing mary landrieu, saying it is vital for the state. the denver post recently endorsing cory gardner. how important are these endorsements? guest: they are important when the endorsement turns into man bites dog. i don't think it's a big surprise the times-picayune endorsed mary landrieu. she is chairman of the energy committee as long as democrats are in the majority. however, you have the denver post, which doesn't endorsed many republicans, endorsed cory

gardner, really did have an impact. that was news. that they have pushed back on. you see groups out there with ads at least on social media, pushing back on it. it's rare to see that kind of reaction to the newspaper endorsement. host: gary hart said he was thinking about canceling his subscription to the denver post because of that endorsement. guest: that's a little extreme, but yes, it's very unusual. but they made some very valid points in their endorsement. that is that senator udall has run essentially a one issue campaign against gardner about his position on personhood, which is essentially choice, when does life begin? in his announcement, gardner walked back that position, but the issue has been entirely that. there is a reporter there who

asked senator udall in the debate, how did he feel that his nickname had become mark uterus, just because of these ads. i know some supporters that have spent some time on the trail with udall. i think they made a point in saying voters deserve more than this one issue campaign. host: and right now polls have cory gardner of between four and six points. guest: we always thought this would be competitive, but gardner has definitely put a marker down there. you saw two democratic polls come out yesterday, so you didn't miss much, that have udall up three. we are seeing a lot of that in day,s, at the end of the all you have told me is what i already believe, which is this

is a margin of error race. ont: the president is back the campaign trail. he was going to go to connecticut but he canceled it because of the ebola situation. later today he is in maryland and then illinois. he's traveling to other deeply states like michigan and his home state of illinois. he is not campaign for any senate candidate. when he's in michigan, i suspect he will campaign for gary peters. by and large, yes, you are right. he is staying off the campaign trail. i think the president believes that if he wants to be truly helpful to these candidates, he's going to raise as much money as possible, and he has done that. 45hink he has done about fundraising events in these cycle for senate, house, and gubernatorial candidates. but i don't think somebody like mary landrieu or mark pryor in

arkansas would welcome the president there. his approval ratings in some of these senate race states are in the 30's, in the low 30's. he is really not popular pv >> tell us what is happening in your state and your senate race. we are talking senate politics with jennifer duffy of the cook political report. .ur lines are open i want to go back to the south dakota senate race. bloomberg politics reporting on this very interesting race where there are four leading candidates on the ballot, including a former senator. here's how it is reported online at bloomberg politics.com. [video clip] republicans are going to take back control of the united states senate. >> here we are less than three weeks from the midterm

elections, and when i turn on my hotel television -- >> you've heard about mike rounds citizenship for sale. ask a million dollar ad buy from the left, then a response from the right. very inexpensive state to advertise, so a couple million dollars makes a huge difference. but his democratic challenger has been campaigning for 17 months. quick we thought around the country that this race was over. fromwrote south dakota off the very beginning. >> only now, after picking up a few points in the polls, democrats believe he can win. >> kind of ironic now, the political punditry, the beltway liberal class are so shocked. not the only names

on the ballot. >> we are honored today to be joined by all four candidates for the u.s. senate seat in byth dakota currently held retiring senator tim johnson. >> larry pressler, formerly a republican, now an independent, is looking to regain the seat he held for 10 years before senator tim johnson. >> i am a moderate conservative. that story from bloomberg politics.com. jennifer duffy? guest: the clips laid out the race well. pressler is appealing to democrats more than republicans. he voted for the president twice. he has been a very vocal supporter of health care reform. these are fairly democratic positions. interesting, when

weiland talks about nobody giving him a chance, that included democrats. that included national democrats that haven't done much, only when they saw numbers new did they put a million dollars on the table that was matched very quickly. $2 million does make a big difference in that state. there hasn't been much else going on since there is no other big statewide race. so it's getting a lot of attention right now. i think fundamentally when you look at what weiland has to do to get a plurality of the vote, it's still a hard road. host: there is a debate this thursday, the only debate with governor rounds anticipating. it comes to us courtesy of south dakota public broadcasting. we will stream it live on our website at www.c-span.org and also on c-span radio. john is joining us from

woodville, kentucky. who is going to win that race down there, john? caller: that's a good question. i play the horses, and i would not give you odds on that race if you held a good -- if you held a gun to my head. i will tell you one thing, i am since 1974.emocrat , threehad for robo calls live phone calls, three door to door canvassers, and they started back in the summer. the same thing with my brother at his house down the street. get ak she's going to pretty good democratic turnout that i think is going to surprise a lot of people. the thing about the obama thing, i like president obama, but i don't think it's going to make that much difference. i hate to say this, but in kentucky, he really is not like. i've been out in public before and people bring up his name. >> what about the larger issue

that she just would not answer the question, did she look weak and indecisive, are you saying it doesn't really matter in the whole grand scheme of things? looked weakink she and indecisive. i would have answered the question myself. all the people i've talked to that were for her are still for her. i think i dislike with lieberman, i don't think it made is like withk it lieberman, i don't think it made any difference. biased,m a little too people i've talked to that -- a lot of people just don't pay that much attention to the races. i do, because i follow it so much, but i would have answered the question. i don't think it was smart.

thanks for the call and thanks for adding some insight as a democrat. are you voting for allison grimes? caller: oh, yes. guest: first of all, thank you for voting. people don't seem to think it is important, so anyone who has voted deserves our appreciation. democratic voters probably were not moved by allison grimes refusal to answer the question, but independent voters were. you are exactly right, it was and whether or not she voted for obama that is at issue here. first of all, i think everybody believes that she voted for him. she is the democrat in the race. she voted for the president, so what? the answerd not have to a fairly basic question is what gay people a lot of pause. not only didn't she have an

answer, she handled it very badly. it kind of gets to what i've always believed was central in this race. democrats like to talk about likability. who is the more likable candidate? i don't think this race is about who voters like. i think the race is fundamentally about whom voters trust. so when you don't answer questions like that and you dance around it, you raise that trust issue. louisville,as from i think that is a place of strength for allison grimes. this is where she has to worry, eastern kentucky, where democrats do pretty well. oalublicans don't win c country generally, but she's got a problem there. she won, but she won by less than she should have against no-name candidates who didn't run real campaigns. there was one county she only -- you, but she got

might have a problem out there. republicans are there too, and i know, has a ground game. they put it to great use in the primary and hope to expand it to the general. host: what better way to balance it then another caller from louisville, republican line this time. rick, your take on the senate race in your state? well, i'm a republican who would not vote for mitch mcconnell again. he has sold us out as kentuckians and as americans. when you look at the money that comes to his campaign, the majority comes from texas and california. i don't feel like he represents us anymore. like he just turned a

blind eye to us, and he makes thingsf the coal, of that really don't concern him. it only concerns him to win and to be deceitful. host: rick, who are you going to vote for? caller: oh, allison grimes. i'm a republican voting for allison grimes. host: thanks very much for the call. he mentioned its mcconnell. this is a piece from the liberal paper, mother jones. well, has pocketed the second-most campaign cash from lobbyists of any congressional candidate in the 2014 cycle. $2.9 million, the number of fromions to o'connell former or current staffer since 1999.

that is not a new phenomenon, and it is true of just about any member in seniority that has been here a while. former staff does move on and they tend to move on to lobbying. we will see these exact same stories in 2016 written about harry reid. interesting, we have not seen o'connell lose many republican voters after the primaries had coalesced around him fairly quickly. i think the caller is probably in the minority, but i will answer one thing he said about air his money comes from. guess what, that is the reality. ,here are lyrical money centers and they are generally not in kentucky, but they are in new

york, dallas, several places in florida, california. you look at where the president has gone to raise money, he has spent most of his time in california. so i don't think where you raise your money is a particular reflection on where you stand in your state. i think this applies to democrats as well as republicans. it's just the reality. this race is probably going to be a $50 million raise. o'connell has raised about 26 million. both parties have put in a lot of money. you're not going to find that level of money in kentucky alone. host: kentucky is not a big-ticket item in terms of advertising. guest: it really isn't. part of it is in the cincinnati market. but you are right, it's not an expensive state. host: our guest is jennifer -- she israduate of

tracking senate races in this cycle. were talking about senate politics in advance of the election, two weeks and two days. us from joining middletown, new jersey. there's a senate race in new jersey as well. good morning, david. morning, c-span, the best channel on television. good morning steve, it's wonderful to talk to you again. host: it has been a while, david. are you doing ok? caller: i've had a little bit of a problem, but i'm fine now. i would like to say good morning to you, ms. duffy. it is wonderful to talk to you as well. guest: thank you. caller: what i would like to say to both of you, i have voted in every federal, state, and most municipal elections since president harry truman. unfortunately,y,

is a lot of partisanship. 90% of our elected representatives, in my opinion, do not represent the american people. they represent themselves, the special interests, and we the people come in last. so what we have to do, we have to get rid of all the incumbents . there is a campaign am starting grain14, which stands for get rid of all income and in november 2014. we have -- get rid of all incumbents. we have to get people who will look out for our benefit and not for themselves. for the callthanks and sharing your thoughts with us. jennifer duffy? partisanship is a real problem, many voters think so. of course they also think it is

the other parties fall, which really doesn't help get you any solutions. david isn't the only one who would like to see a little bit more -- in the last nbc news wall street journal poll that was released this week, voters were asked if there were a place on the ballot to vote out every single member of congress, including your own, would you? 56% said yes. we are seeing incumbent now in therates 30's. they used to be in the 40's and 50's. unfortunately, these incumbents need real candidates to run against them. going to hold up the house of representatives as an example. i believe right now we have 37 competitive house races out of 435. are a lot of members out

there that are going unchallenged or certainly not candidates. so if you want more -- if you want change, you got to run. turn to one of the competitive senate races and iowa. this ad aimed at democratic congressman bruce braley. >> obamacare cuts medicare by $700 billion. >> it was one of the proudest votes i've ever taken. braley is still proud of his vote for obama care. >> it was one of the proudest votes i've ever taken. >> bruce braley, $700 billion cut from medicare. that aimed at bruce braley. here's a tweet from michael.

guest: maybe mark pryor in arkansas might be running farthest away. the problem for these incumbents voting record. as we just saw in the iowa ad, most all of these democratic candidates voted for health care reform. there is only so far you can actually run. you saw mary landrieu in the debate disagreeing with the president on energy policy. you have seen some democrats talk about the need to do a fix , sort of-care reform around the edges, the problems they see. by and large, you can totally run away.

host: mike is joining us from annapolis, maryland, democrats line. caller: when our founders got together, they were all good men. they had their specific interests that they try to goodsent, but they were men. today we are voting party lines. we are not necessarily voting for good men. but we need to do is vote a good man. i'm basically a democrat, but i would rather have a good republican than i would a bad democrat. until we start voting the man and good man, were never going to really turn things around. i don't want to seem like an alarmist, but that is my point. host: between your democratic lieutenant governor running against mr. hogan on the republican side, give us a sense of the gubernatorial race in maryland. caller: i know mr. hogan is a good man, but some of the

policies i cannot endorse. vote, --f i had to well, i will focus. this is a tough issue, but i will probably vote for him. host: for the republican? caller: yes, because i know he is a good man. the fact is everyone is going to have a different policy, because they represent certain sections and sectors. what we need are good men who are willing to sit down and negotiate and come out with something -- that's the way our country was set up. it was supposed to represent andcally the industrial farming in the beginning. but thanks very much for the call. let me ask about the race hogan versus brown. guest: this was one of the

surprises of the cycle. democratic primary in that race was over, most people assumed that the race was over, that the governor would easily win. about a month ago, i started to sort of here rumblings about close polls, and i did something unusual, i turned on the television, and there was a hogan,tic ad attacking which told me the rumors were true, that this race had gotten close. a lot of people think it has gotten close because brown was in charge of health care reform ,n maryland, and the website which has not been very successful. they have had to sort of switch things around and join forces with connecticut to make it work. that's not really the problem, it turns out.

the problem is that voters want change, they have had eight years of a democratic governor, martin o'malley. anthony brown is a third term for o'malley, because he was lieutenant governor. obviously hogan has a long way to go in such a democratic state , but he has gotten in the single digits. host: and of course maryland has elected democratic governors. the democratsn line with jennifer duffy of political reporter. good morning. caller: the reason i'm calling is about, the previous guy that just called mentioned he would , i guess heood guy was thinking about the democrats, whatever it was. i don't think you vote for good guys. i think you vote for honesty. republicans right now, they just

don't care about anything. everything about them is no. i think it has something to do with the president. i don't think it has anything to do with a good guy. if he's a democrat and he's saying he voted for a good guy, i think he voted for the republican because our president is black. i understand that everybody has their own opinion about things, but when it comes down to policies and a good guy, that's like two different things to me. it just don't make sense. >> jane, will you be voting in the midterm elections? caller: yes, i will. host: thank you for the call. there is a story we've been reading from the front pages of the new york times. pollster who had written a memo to the administration in early october, saying that in order to guarantee success, you need to make sure you get the

african-american vote. it was critical to the president's election and reelection. guest: that's true, and in a lot of the senate races, there is a big effort to reach out to black voters. african-american voters tend to be what we call drop off voters. they vote presidential elections, but they don't vote midterms. younger programmers tend to be drop-off voters. hispanics, single women tend to be drop-off voters. in a number of states, you are seeing some pretty aggressive outreach to african-american

voters to get them to vote. , in somein georgia heavily african-american counties, you will have a sunday early voting day. it might actually be today, and some of these counties. made to be is being sure to register african-americans who have not been registered. i assume a lot of these are younger voters who may not have been eligible in 2008 or 2012. this has been a big focus for democrats since the beginning of the cycle. host: we welcome our listeners on c-span radio. have jennifer duffy of the cook political report. our focus, the competitive senate races in this midterm election. we also welcome our viewers and listeners on that abc channel that carries this program live

every afternoon in great britain. morning.ood i want to talk about -- i do agree with what the caller was saying. something you don't like to talk about, let's face it. the truth of the matter is, [indiscernible] identification. the issue with democrats -- to

sense just doesn't make because it seems like if you are democrat running for a position, or in that position, that you really were not even helping out at all. i understand why the caller thinks that. he is calling from michigan, which is one of the places the president is going to campaign for the gubernatorial candidate. there -- what the caller is missing about some of these democrats running away from the president, and i'm not making a judgment about whether that is good, bad, or indifferent, in many of these states, arkansas, alaska, louisiana, north carolina, georgia -- these are not states the president wants.

some of these states, he lost most of these states by more than 14 points. so it wasn't losing a little, it was losing a lot. the exception was north carolina where he only lost by two points. democratsling with sitting in republican states, trying to survive. distancingt is themselves from the person who is very unpopular there. host: rollcall.com writing about biggest congressional races. one democratic flameout in montana, and a republican, who many thought was going to make it much more competitive with the democrat jeff merkley. >> got caught up in a scandal

and withdrew from the race forcing democrats to get a --didate very late, so that the at-large congressman will be the senator from montana. i think oregon surprised me a little bit. monica webb b, pediatric neurosurgeon, newcomer to politics, a very strong voice. turned out to be a weaker general election candidate. i think that like many first time candidates, this is all harder than it looks. even if you are a pediatric neurosurgeon and have saved countless lives, being a candidate and having every part of your life open to such scrutiny i think was a little more than she bargained for. way, there was one

debate in that oregon senate race and it is available on our website. there's a single debate tomorrow, the montana senate race. you can watch it on c-span2 at 8:00 eastern time. this program is carried on the bbc parliament channel, and various joining from coventry, england. welcome to the conversation, barry. one part of the solution that is required in america is for a third party -- the dominance of the democrats and republicans has got to be broken. in england at the moment, in the rise of -- the big adjustment is required in america. host: we have seen in south dakota and kansas where independence are released polling competitive in the

moment. certainly in kansas, very competitive. caller: that's good, exactly right. thank you, barry. about we have heard talk the need for third-party, is it the centrist party? we saw the rise of the tea party, which was out to the right of most republicans. it's actually a very hard thing to do in this country, to form a viable third party. part of the reason is that laws in the 50 states for ballot access are different. it's a lot easier to get on the ballot in some states than others and a lot easier to be recognized as a party in some states than others. -- let's go back and talk about kansas, i think he's hopes to start a trend. he has tried all

three, and let's see what happens. it's difficult even for independents to run in this country. it's difficult for them to raise money. orman's campaign knows this. where is the mechanism that gets out there vote? typically on the democratic side you have labor unions who volunteer, who work phones, who knock on doors. it's a little harder when you are an independent candidate. i think a lot structurally has to change before we've got a viable third party. writing about the influx of outside money on the left and right. climate change is one of the

issues. >> it's clear, climate issues are on the ballot this november. some the past you express skepticism about whether humans are causing the climate to change. >> it's hard to hide from the reality that they voted to deny the science of climate change. >> i have not seen the proven roof pivot >> when asked the hard questions, they are saying things they inc. you want to hear. make sure we elect leaders that have real answers on how to act on the climate. jennifer duffy, just another example of the outside influence in these races? guest: exactly. they are spinning in some

gubernatorial races. -- spending in some gubernatorial races. both parties have their own outside group. i sort of say that the two candidates on the ballot really are president obama and the cold or others -- and the koch brothers. first foray for tom styron into this kind of outside advertising and being very aggressive. i think he is taking the attitude, let's see what the worked and, see what see what didn't. it wouldn't surprise me to see him change his approach to some things in this cycle. i know he wants to be very active in the presidential race. see if he will change his focus

or stick with the media and see how well it works. invested hugely. start. $100 million to in the end, we don't think it's going to be that much. host: if you want to watch our and an extensive piece about mr. stier and the money he is bringing to the midterm elections. then is joining us on democrats line from blackstone, massachusetts. good morning. caller: good morning. i have just three points to make. the first one is that we've been ruled by the minority, and that's why we are kind of in the situation we are in. in the senate.s every time something comes up, and of course the house is always voting republican and stopping things. voteecond is, we shouldn't everyone out, we should vote out those who refuse to compromise.

has alwaysent depended on compromise to get things done. withhird is, the states restrictive id voting regulations should be required free ids before the rule is enforced. otherwise, especially people have to pay for these ids, it should be considered a poll tax. host: susan, thanks for the comment. jennifer duffy? guest: let me try and take them in order. is forgottenwhat by a lot of candidates on both side of the aisle is frankly yes, a legislative body compromises. it's very hard -- i asked candidates about this. ,ou say you want to compromise then why do you want to be in a

legislative toddy, because that is what they do. she seems to think it is mostly a republican problem among which having watched congress for a very long time, it is not a republican problem. it affects both parties. if democrats are in the majority in the house right now, i think peopleld get a lot of saying they are the party that would not compromise. supportthere is some for her view, but i completely agree with her. i'm not opposed to -- i don't have a strong position on voter id, but i think if you're going to have one, then everybody should be entitled to a free piece of identification that suffices in whatever state that is. host: about 10 minutes left. we go to stand next in south carolina. good morning, independent line. caller: my comment is that if the american people want to take back the government and save what's left of the middle class, they are going to have to stop

voting for any politician who accepts money from a lobbyist. a long as you vote for politician that takes money from a lobbyist, whether it is heads, or republican, is the lobbyist wins, tails, we lose. the lobbyists are being sent by the billionaire ceos. those are the ones that got rich by taking over the government. and we're going to have to send our own people, were going to have to vote for people that will not take a dime from a lobbyist. immediately,o that this started 50 years ago. i'm not sure that lobbyist money is the problem. remember that they are did to how much -- restricted to how much they can give one candidate

. just like the caller, regardless of who you are and what you do. i think that frankly a bigger problem is these outside groups that are pouring, in some cases, more money into a senate race then the candidate themselves. about the senate race and the influence of , pointing out that early voting begins on thursday. this is a relatively new phenomenon where we have really early voting in a lot of cities, including in colorado. guest: now you have three states that are doing all mail ballots. on election day you can bring your ballot, but there is no polling place to go to. early voting is a new and growing phenomenon. it's a little bit different than absentee voting.

a lot of states move first to this idea of a no excuse absentee vote. you can simply ask for an absentee ballot and get one. up polling places and you can go cast your ballot. it was done to hopefully get more people out there to vote. not everybody is available on tuesday. i think it has been enormously successful. the parties have used it to great effect. i think the democrats proved in both 2008 and 2012 that they were very good at it. republicans are finally catching up. there is why it is important. election day is now, in some cases, three weeks long. ballots went out in colorado last week we read the people in colorado have voted.

for a lot of these motors, from here to election day, you cannot will your ballot act. it has created a challenge for campaigns. they have to think a lot differently now that they are not working towards one day, towards one election day. they have to take in the early too.g period, speeches in the most competitive senate races that will determine control of the senate. linda is on the republican line in stanley, new york. good morning. caller: i have a couple of things. you want to talk about voter suppression, we really have it here in new york state. there is no early voting. i just want to get that off. next one kind of ties into

your next guest. in sayingis calling we need a surgeon general. we don't have one, because the surgeon general that obama wants , he wants to list firearms as a public health threat, so harry -- you can go to the c-span archives and watch the debate. that is the reason we do not have a surgeon general. host: linda, thanks for the call from upstate new york. guest: it has certainly been a problem that there is no surgeon general. i can see where the gun issue would be a problem for a lot of the democrats to support a nominee. however, it is not an unimportant position in government, that does need to be filled. host: denise in florida,

democrats line. caller: i have a couple of comments. first, voter suppression. i went in to get a new id and to to make three trips home get the items that they needed. on my third trip, i was smart enough to bring my baptism certificate, my confirmation certificate, my drivers license, which is commercial, my military id. i brought like six ids to show who i was. just to get my voter id. this is totally ludicrous. they are trying to suppress the votes of the democrats, suppress .he votes of the people, period another common i wanted to make was the influence of the koch brothers. we had a gubernatorial race lately. in mye a governor who, opinion, should be in prison.

with takingway medicare money from the hospitals. the crooks are getting away with everything. host: let me go back to her earlier point. this is the headline from the washington post, the supreme court issuing its ruling allowing texas to use voter id laws. guest: i'm curious what they demanded for id. if you can register to vote when you get a drivers license, why would the requirements be any different than that, whatever you have to bring to get a drivers license. but yes, that is certainly the democrats argument. i'm not sure that it's such a large issue. as i like to say, there's probably more voter fraud in this country that democrats like to admit and a lot less than

republicans think there is. i think the court's ruling yesterday from texas surprised everybody. at 5 a.m. saturday there is some early voting going on in texas, but you can't change the rules in the middle of the game. but yes, there are a handful of states where this is in effect now and we will see how it works, or doesn't work, as the case may be. i wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of it rolled back. host: our last call is from evanston, illinois, henry. good morning, welcome to the program. henry, are you with us? he must have hung up. we askedhis morning the question, campaign 2014 is about ...

the democrats will keep control of the senate if what happens? guest: the democrats will keep control of the senate if they are able to hold onto one or two of the following races. arkansas, alaska, louisiana. host: republicans will pick up the senate if what happens? their ownthey hold seats and if they win one or two of colorado, iowa, north carolina, new hampshire. host: is there one race, if you're looking at returns on election night, you view as a true bellwether? perhaps north carolina, perhaps another state. think abouthad to this a lot lately as were doing our planning for election night. i think there are states out there that are going to give me hints about where this is going, but i don't know that we have a bellwether this time.

there are too many variables out there. we talk about the louisiana runoff. the one thing i warn you about is, whatever that race looks like, the day before the election, the runoff that starts the day after the elections will be an entirely different race and a lot of it is going to depend on where the senate is. . .

time, the chance to see the debate that's taking place tonight in thega governor's race where governor nathan dill is in a battle with jason carter. of course, the grandson of former governor and former president jimmie carter tomorrow night at 8:00 o'clock eastern time. all of these debates available on our website. scheduling information as well. coming up in just a couple of minutes. former surgeon general joining us from new york to talk about ebola and, of course, a topic that is donating the sunday morning programs and nancy callow is keeping track of that. nancy, good morning. >> you are right. the topics on today's sunday talk shows do include the government's response to the obama viru ebola virus.

and the mid-term elections and hear rebroadcasts on c-span radio at noon eastern time with nbc's "meet the press" the guests include -- anthony fouchi at the nih who, by the way, is making appearances on all of today's talk shows. also on me"meet the press" bob casey and missouri republican senator roy blunt. at 1:00 p.m. eastern, abc's "this week" with dr. fouchi and judge clay jenkins, the top admin straighter for dallas county texas and cardinal timothy dolen at new york. at 2:00 p.m. "fox news sunday" with dr. fouchi" andrance previs. and republican congressman tim murphy of pennsylvania. cnn's state of the union follows at 3:00 p.m. with dr. fouchi and

texas republican senator ted cruz. then it's "face the nation" from cbs at four eastern with dr. fouchi and richard um denystock. president of the american medical association and jean roth, co-president of national nurses' united. the sunday network t.v. talk shows are on c-span radio, and they are brought to you as a public service by the networks and c-span. again, the rebroadcasts begin at noon eastern with "meet the press." 2:00 p.m. f"fox news sunday" 3:00 p.m. state of the union and 4:00 p.m. eastern time. face the nation from cbs. listen to them all on c-span radio on 90.1 fm here in the washington, d.c. area. across country on xm satellite radio, find us on channel 120. you can download our pre-app for you're smart phone or go online to cspan.org. >> our campaign 2014 coverage

continues with a week full of debates on c-span, the georgia governor's debate between nathan deal and jason carter and at 8:00 live on cspan-2, the montana debate with u.s.van steve dein and democrat amanda curtis tuesday night on is c-sp c-span, the governor's debate, nikki haley, vincent shaheen, steve french and morgan bruce reeves. thursday night live at 8 eastern, the iowa fourth district debate between stephen king and democrat jim mower. c-span campaign 2014, more than 100 debates for the control of congress. "washington journal" continues. host: this headline from the washington post: contagion of fear, scientists and citizens in the u.s. are still trying to come to grips with the deadly ebola virus and thet its tolls.

in his weekly address yesterday, the president trying to ease the fears of american. here is a portion of what he had to say: >> this is a serious disease, but we can't get into hysteria or fear because that only makes it hard story get people the accurate information they need. we have to be guided by the science. we have to remember the basic facts. first, what we are seeing now is not an outbreak or an epidemic of ebola in america. we are a nation of more than 300 million people. to date, we have seen three cases of ebola diagnosed here the man who contracted the disease in liberia came here and sadly died. the two courageous nurses who were infected while they were treating him. our thoughts and prayers are with them and we are doing everything we can to give them the best care possible. now, even one infection is too many. at the same time, we have to keep this in perspective. as our public health experts

point out, every year, thousands of americans die from the flu. second, ebola is actually a difficult disease to catch. it's not transmitted through the air like the flu. you cannot get it from just ride okay a plane or a bus. the only way that a person can contract the disease is by coming in to direct contact with the bodily floousdz of somebody who is already showing symptoms. i have met and hugged some of the doctors and nurses who have treated ebola patients. i have met with an ebola patient who recovered right in the oval office and i am fine. third, we know how to fight this disease. we know the protocols. >> the president from his weekly address and dr. richard carmona is an expert necessary area. he served as an expert during the bush administration. he is joining us from new york. he is a distinguished processor.

thank you for being with u.s. >> good morning. happy to be with you. >> let me begin with the president's point and something we have seen from other individuals as well. some call it the media hype over ebola. do you want to address that issue? >> well, the communications around this issue are so important. if we look back historically at aids and saars and avian flu, we had the same type of response. they don't understand. they see one or two people that are iland they think it could happen to them. making sure we have very clear, health literate culturally competent messages that will inform but not inflame the public is very important. >> are the media responsible, or has there been irresponsibility in covering this story? >> i think in most cases, the media is trying to do the best thing. i had a conversation with a galloning of media last weggle we had this discussion offline.

you know, they all agreed that, you know, there is competition. they want to get their story out, and i urged them to, you know, exercise some restraint. think about how the average citizen is going to receive the headline and let's not overdo it and scare people. let's work to inform, again, but not inflame the public and add fuel to the fire of fear because people don't understand. and as i said, went through this many times before over the last few decades with emerging infections and it takes time and good messaging to calm the american public to good information so we can build resilience in society. >> you served from 2002 until 2006 during the bush administration as surgeon general. "business insider" is reporting there is no surgeon general yet confirmed by the u.s. senate say that that exposes a clear and critical gap in america's public health system. can you address that issue? >> i would be happy to. having sat in that chair and walked in those shoes for the

four years, it's an extraordinarily important position and one that the american public for over a century has come to understand and see as the doctor of the nation. i think a surgeon general who is appropriately vetted, who has the seniority, who has the knowledge, who has been tested under fire and has earned the right to hold the rank of add miller in the united states public health service and the call surgeon general should be in that position. that will person could be very helpful to coordinate the response and be able to communicate with the american public. >> klain is being called the ebola response coordinator. some are calling him the ebola czar. what are his priorities? >> myself guess is and i can't speak for the president and his team because they are the ones that decided to bring ron in. he is a very seasoned political operator he knows the agencies, and i would guess that it is to

be able to coordinate the conversation with the public, make sure that everybody is on message, work with all of the agencies to pull the information together in a timely fashion because that's really where his expertise is, not in the field of emergency management response or in emerging infections. >> dr. carmona time magazine reporting on this, the new ebola protocol. has anyone asked you about healthcare facilities and hospitals around the country? there was a reported case here in the washington, d.c. area of a potential ebola patient who was taken to one hospital in arlington, virg and later moved to air fact hospital because they didn't feel prepared. it later turned out she did not have ebola but for these hospitals and healthcare facilities, what are the protocols and what's on theirs agenda? >> a little history to begin the answer to your question. back after 9-11, many were meeting at the direction of the

president and congress to figure out the best way to protect the nation. not only emerging infolks but from hazards. in other words, if it was a terrorist event with a bacteria or a virus or if it was just something like an ebola or saars that came to our country we put in to place educational programs. we spent a lot of money equipping, training, and reaching out in to the community to hospitals, clinics, physicians, health providers so that they would learn how to be better first responders in an issue like this, and we made sure that hospitals had the information. in fact, the joint commission and hospital accreditation was involved with us in setting standards and being able to ensure compliance of their hospitals. over time, what we have seen historically is after an incidents like this people ramp up. train, experience grows, we are ready. then there is a lull. it's not uncommon that a littlecosm placeancy comes in. people don't drill as: i am not sure where the equipment is. new waves of people may come in.

they don't have and understanding and we start to see gaps in the system. so what we have to ensure now is that we are rigorous in the training and education of all of our free hospital providers, all of our nurses, all of our health professionals, and the infrastructure needs to contain the appropriate protocols to deal with all hazards including emerging infections such as ebola. >> the public health threat of ebola, our guest is dr. richard carmona. the fred line, front page of the "washington post" contagion of fear. we will get to your phone calls. pat joining us from key poverty, new jersey. caller: not concerned about stopping ebola at its source. i understand the first victim in this country, his body was cremated before it was released to the family. i would like to know if we are looking -- if our public health officials are looking to go to

africa to change burial practices because i understand their burial practices are a factor in the spread of ebola. do you know anything about that? thank you? >> thank you, pat, for make that point. >> guest: this is a very, very good question, pat. in fact, we recognize early on that one of the main ways that the people in africa were being infected was by these burial richards where the families gatherers around and touches a lot of the body fluids that could be infected. so the cdc and others have come together and over 50 bur ial teams in the area training locals and trying to race. how to do culturally effective burial practices, but do it in such a way that we are not going to transmit the disease. >> that's a good question. it's such a big factor in africa. >> our next caller from rochester, network.

carol line for independent. good morning caller: i wonder if the doctor can tell me if ebola is only transferred through bodily fluids, the airplane, how come cher checking six or seven, you know, seats away from her if she didn't throw up on them or something like that? thank you >> guest: the issue is complex on a plane. it's not just where you are sitting but if the patient goes to the bathroom and uses the bathroom and then other people go in, so there is a lot of communetations of permtations but disease detectives, public health officers, they think about these things. so to be safe, we want to make sure that everybody is informed on that plane, that everybody is being observed in their homes mostly, but they are told that if you have a fever, if you are feeling il, then you need to report right away. so these are appropriate ways of trying to control any of the spread here but again, this is

not a disease that's infected very easily. it's not like the common cold, but yet, inadvertently, you could exchange bodily fluids with somebody on a plane using the same sink and so on. >> this is from john dhan. this morning in the weekly standard, he points out six reasons to panic. his he is aavailable at weeklystandard.com and he said there may be reassurance except it might not be true. there are four strains of the ebola virus that have caused outbreaks in human population according to the nining journal of midsin. the current is a sister clad in a sister relationships with evo strains meaning the ebola is related but generally disting from previously known strains of the virus. can you express that concern? >> sure. there are several strains of the ebola virus. and we expect over time that viruses do evolve because they are trying to survive in their their environment just like we try to survive in ours.

they might be what might be termed their own immune system to try to protect them. so identifying the strains of the ebola virus are important because they have different characteristics as how they act and, in some cases, it may dictate a different. treatment. >> can you explain why a blood trans fusion by ebola survivors is key for those who are now battling illness? >> guest: i can't say it's key, but it's certainly among the allumentarian we call immuo therapy. dr. brantly has been known to donate blood. you develop anti-bodies. your body responds and ses this is a foreign substance in my blood. you start to make your own chemicals, your anti-bodies to that antigen, the vitters. the thought is dr. brantlyts blood which has more antibodies, if we give it to them t might help them. >> that's thought behind them. we are not certain that it can

help. it probably won't hurt anybody if done correctly bur we are early into this type of therapy again, because it's so new, yog anybody could make a declarative statement on it now. it's believed to be it can be helpful. to hem somebody who doesn't have those anti-bodies now. >> a long career in arizona, including the chair of the state's southern regional system, just of california medical schools. he is currently acprofessor at the university of arizona and a former u.s. surgeon general during the bush administration. lois is joining us from hampton, georgia. good morning. independent line. go ahead, lois caller: good morning. i would like to thank you all for having dr. carmona on this morning. he has been very clear and concise with what's happening. myself, i am serving as an

instructor, and you could not have plans this last week without the students. these were healthcare professional, healthcare students who want to go into the professional arena. with the media, they were livid. they did not understand i want to thank you for coming in. because i will take this back to my classes and let them hear what you have to say because you are the only one that has made sense. >> thank you for the comment. thank you. i want to thank her for her kind comments. my colleagues in the public health sphere, having walked in those shoes, this is a very, very difficult situation with variables changing minute to minute all over the world. staying staying on top of the conversation is important. we have some of the smartest people at cdc and nih and leaders that i have had the privilege to work with. but sometimes the message isn't

as clear as it should be. sometimes what you think, it's a message that's going to inform, actually inflames. sometimes we forget that these complicated things that are -- we are very comfortable with. the communication is extraordinarily important. we have to make sure that the communication is uniform, answers the questions and that can empower the public to start to feel some sense of comfort that they have an understanding and they know how to protect themselves, their family and their community. >> that's what it's all about. we are not quite there yet. >> did the north texas presbyterian hospital initially make mistakes? >> guest: i haven't studied that but it appears there were gaps in a number of things from the i hope usually intake of the patient where teldz nurses picked up he was a foreign traveler from africa but the doctors did not. them once they saw him with a fever and not feeling well, sent him home.

he comes back and now he's pretty much near critical condition. so when you look through there, there are gaps. then when you look at the infrastructure of the hospital and the preparedness, again, through the media and the nurses' association, and i trust my fellow nurses. i am a registered nurse, also, and i came to know over the years that, you know, they are the barometer of your healthcare system, especially within the hospital. they are there 7/24 next to our patients. it was very concerning to me to hear the concerns expressed by the nurses there about the lack of training, the lack of preparedness and not understanding protocol, being told to do ad lib things like put tape on equipment. >> certainly should have never been done. so there seems to be a string of challenges along the way from a patient coming to the emergency room initially, the assessment and all the way through to the care which, as you see, has placed two wonderful nurses at risk and, you know, my heart goes out to them because, you know, they serve so selflessly every day around our country,

around the world doing great things and we have to do everything we can to make sure we have the infrastructure in place to protect our healthcare workers. >> dr. carmon a is joining us from new york. cheryl is joining us from smith station, alabama. good morning. >> good morning. my concern is i have those who traveled from africa, whether it be on mission or whatever. they have going to be gone for 9 days they are going to come back for nine days and then their husbands are supposed to go and they won't be quarantined or nothing. one of them is a schoolteacher, and some of the people in the town are upset because they are travel to go africa. one said god told them to go.

so what are chances? i mean of them not being quarantined and them coming back as though they flew to florida. >> again, you are saying they show -- they are not showing any symptoms, any signs? correct? >> they haven't come back. >> dr. carmona? >> thank you. well, this is another one of those challenges that the american public comes did -- it tells me they are really not up to speed yet on how this is transmitted and the issues. i have been hearing these over the past week. africa is generally a saint continent for traveling as it relates to infectious disease. there is many places africa you can go and you don't have to worry. the real key is were you in the affected areas in southwestern africa? did you come in contact with, to your knowledge, anybody who may have been infected? in those cases, we start a more in depth evaluation. if you fly down to cape town, if you are in johannes berg and fly

out, in egypt, any place on the continent, really there is no risk to you unless you have been exposed in proximity to somebody who may have ebola. so again, i don't know where these teachers are going, but assuming they are in areas other than those affected, they should not have any problem. and if there is anything that comes up, then they should be referred to a public health professional to ask the appropriate questions and determine if they are at risk. >> dr. carmon a, this morning on cnn's state of the union, texas senator ted cruz again called for a travel ban. if you were in a position to recommend something to the president along those lines, what would you tell him? >> yes. that's a great question. having been in this position we looked at this. my cdc conclusions, nih cleingz, we had a number of discussions about other emerging infections and when and if it would be appropriate to block travel from an area where there was an

infection. and some of the problems that came up, of course, were we know if we shut down one or two airports, people can take a bus to another airport. we know most likely, we force people under ground and that was the concern that are we going to miss a lot of cases manned make more difficult for ourselves to curtail an epidemic like in western africa. but like i said early on when i was asked about this particular incident, i think each and every one of these incidents over the years are very unique, and i think we have to treat them as such and that we should put everything on the table, including considering those travel bans because of the wide geographic area and because of the need to try and keep people from coming to the united states with that disease. and believe me, having been on both sides of the argument, i understand that what we are really trying to do because there is no perfect answer, we want to look at a risk/benefit analysis. if we prevent people from coming here, what are the unintended

consequences? will we lose too many? will we drive people underground? will they try to come in through another country because they want to come to the united states no matter what? those are the issues that have to be discussed within the thought leaders, with the president, to make an informed decision. i think that's what's key. there is no right or wrong answer here it really is a true, in-depth, risk/benefit analysis and finding out where the united states should fall on this to make an informed decision. but make no mistake f i were still in office, i would be recommending strongly to the president and to congress that we should strongly consider this but let's have an informed discussion to ensure that we have looked at every single facet of this complicated issue. >> our next caller is from palatine, illinois. steve, welcome to the conversation. caller: how are you doing this morning host: good morning. caller: my question of curiosity was about you may have touched on this just a little bit earlier about the hospital, making their gaffes initially

and the nurse that had one of those dallas nurses that has gone public and she was talking about how the outfits that they were wearing were leaving the neck open and they actually showed pictures of that. i am assuming we believe what we saw or heard there. can't be for sure. but at the same time, the hospital say they are following dc guidelines, with an open neck like that. is that -- would that have been something the cdc considered acceptable under those circumstances host: we will get a response. thank you, steve. >> guest: steve, thanks for the input. >> that's not the case. in fact, it's very clear in the guidelines that we promulgated over a decade ago and that pushed them out of the hospital's clinics, ems, everybody was that you need to be fully self contained

depending upon the level of threat and that gaps are, in fact, something that we spend a lot of time on, a gap between a glove and a coverall a gap at the neck, a gap around the ears. without eye protection, you have gaps in your eyes. so you have to be completely covered because any of those body fluids could get on your skin, whether it's a glove that is not adherent to the actually coverall that you have on and later on, you forget and you bring your hand to your eyes to scratch your eye or you blow your knows. there is a host of ways that happens. that was a problem when i heard it, too, because the nurses allege that they were told to just put tape on that. toos a big no-no because you really have breached the integrity of the system we have created to protect you. so that should never happen. again, i only know of this from media reports and what the nurses is he but of course, i have every reason to believe what the nurses said because they are there 7/24, and if they are feeling uncomfortable, if they are feeling that they haven't been trained enough, if they are feeling that the equipment isn't quite right,

doesn't fit, those are things we have to look at immediately because when we put this program together years ago after 911, it was so that every hospital could be protected, every provider could be protected and that every point entry for any patient, tleefrt we could start treating them in isolation p whatever happened to be sequester them so that the infection doesn't spread. in fact, we have programs when there is large amounts of patients, we will even have them come to the hospital. we might set up tents in a parking lot so that the hospital doesn't become infected. a lot of these things have been thought out. apparently here, there seals to be some gaps. i know the joint commission on hospital accreditation has been a great partner in this to ensure that hospitals adhere to the -- or are compliant with the rules and recommendations we made and, in fact, the jaco certification involves hospital preparedness, that they have an emergency plan, a communications plan and that they know how to

deal with all hazards. this is something we have to go back and look at all of our organizations that provide compliance oversight and look at the hospitals to ensure that we are at a basic state of ness for any and all hazards. >> our guest is an expert in trauma and critical care. he served as a medical medic during the vietnam war. dr. carmona, what is the job, what's the next state for the surgeon general? >> guest: the surgeon's job is to protect, promote and advance the health and safety and security of the united states. it's a very important job. unfortunately, if you will remember back in '07, congress asked me to come and testify about the politization of the office and surgeon general koop and thatcher came with me. we gave them a boatload of information about the intense politization, a bi-partisan remark, how each struggled to stay on message and give good

advice to our senior leadership but the politics was often, i would call it, the playing of politics, which has its own morbidity and mortality and we see that on and on and on, probably since the '60s mostly it has become a very embattled position. right now, don't have a surgeon general because of politics. earlier somebody commented they thought it was the nra. i don't really believe it's the nra. the nra is one of many organizations that opine on any potential presidential nominee. in fact, they are entitled to in had a democracy but to blame it solely on them is not right. i think you need to look at the issue of core competency. there are many senators, republican and democrat who said they don't think the nominee is qualified. he's very early in his career, he certainly is a very qualified, young doctor. i have spoken to stome of his professors who think very highly of him. but again, when you look at the nominee, and you see that he has

no senior leadership experience, no public health formal education or experience, has not been tested in complicated public health issues at a local, state, national level, and just a couple of years out of training, that hardly rises to the level of a surgeon general. remember, the surge jon general is the chief officer if you will, chief doctor of the united states, but is also the commander of the united states public health service, which is one of the seven uniform services of the united states. so when you become surgeon general, you before a vice add miller, just like the other surgeon generals who are lieutenant generals or vice add millers. so you have to earn the right to be surgeon general and to be an add miller. if you come in without the training, education, and not meritoriously accepting the position, then you have to sit at a table with other real add millers and general did in washington, your credibility is gone, you undermine the very essence of the office of the surgeon general which the public relies on for good information. so, i think we shouldn't make

this an nra argument. it really is about core competence says. in fact, i communicated with this young doctor before i went public because it wasn't personal. it's about me and my obligation to protect the integrity of the office of the surgeon general. there are many senior qualified officers that merit, that have served for decades in uniform and merit consideration but because of politidepolitidesati because of the sense this is looking more like a patronage position now, this hurts public health, and at a time like now when we have the challenges we have, we want the best, most qualified public health professional before the american public. not a young doctor who is just started his career, who has never had any experience in these careers. >> really is incorrect, and it is not what the american public deserves. the american public deserves a well-vetted, professional, senior health professional who has earned the right to be called the surgeon general, has

earned the right to be a vice add miller and the public trust because of having gone through those rights of passage, to get that position. >> that doctor you are referring to is dr. mccarthy who is the president's nominee to be the u.s. surgeon general. his nomination continues to be held up in the u.s. senate blocked by republicans. we should point out dr. richard carmon a is a democrat having served in a republican administration. if you want to follow him on twitter, you can do so at dr. rich carmona. go to ken joining us from holton, indiana. good morning. >> good morning. i was wondering. i don't know who to make the suggestion to or whatever, but while we are not using like the jails and the prisons that are not in use, you know, big complaints a couple of months ago about the jails not being

used and have been built under multi-million dollar items. >> good for what, ken? caller: used for the ebola patients and what have you, to keep them away from the places like hospitals that already have a thousand or 2000 people in them. host: okay. we will get a response. dr. carmon a? >> guest: thanks for your comment. unfortunately, in our country, i don't know any jails that aren't being used or overused. correctional can you recall is one of the fastest growing industries in our country and that's a real sad fact. how far, the buildingses, themselves, really are not made to have people with infectious diseases because they don't have the appropriate air stem cells, air exchanges and where we put people in isolation to prevent spread of infection. there is a host of factors other than just putting people in a building that would prevent us from picking a site like that where we would be able to hold people and care for them in a

safe environment. >> that's why it hasn't even come up. again, i don't know of any spare jails. in fact, jails are being built pretty fast these days and i think it's, you know, an unfortunate, depressing facto in our society. host: lesiona is next from minter, ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. i have three questions for the doctor. >> guest: how about if we take one at a time, lisa? caller: okay. the first question is, as a mom, i can't even send my child to school unless they are fever-free for 24 hours. yet the bench mark for, you know, individuals coming in to the country is 100.4. now, i consider that a fever, and i would not send my child to school to protect the other children. host: okay. stay on the line. we will get a response. dr. carmon a? >> guest: again, i don't know the school district that you are from, and a lot of these rules and reclations are promulgated locally by school districts, school boards.

100.4, as a threshold, is for screening right now is the number that has been chosen. but as you know, this is a degree of fluctuation in any given way depending upon a patient's hydration, activity, heat index outside and all of those things. so, it becomes extraordinarily complex. i think the most important issue there is, as a mom, if you see that your child is ill, they are coughing, they are sneezing, they have diarrhea and they have a low-grade temperature, it's probably best to keep them home just to keep them hydrated, number 1 but to prevent a spread of infection within the school because when you have 30 or 40 kids in the classroom as you know, these things spread like wild fire because kids exchange food and hugs and they play with each other and the toidz they are playing with, and really, they become little vectors spreading these diseases, which usually are self-limited but it really does have a significant burden on society. so, i think the most important thing as an atut mom who sees that her child is ill, with or without

temperature, keep them home and keep them away from others where the infection can spread. >> lisa, you had a full. go ahead, please? >> actually, i had two follow-ups. the second follow-up was, you know, as far as the travel ban -- and i understand that it becomes more difficult, people go underground but what i would like to say is now that individuals come from these countries -- and i do support a travel ban -- nobody knows the airports that are being screened. if they were trying to evade being screened, they could be trying to find a lot only nat routes. wouldn't it go to show the public that, you know, to go ahead with a travel ban to allay some of our fears? people will find alternate routes. they know where we are doing screenings because it's been highly publicized.

>> i am going to stop you there. we will get a response from our guests thank you. >> guest: the screenings at the large airports where most of the international flights come in from, especially from west africa. it really is thought after looking at the flow and the demographics that you are going to capture over 95% of people coming in from these areas that are affected. but again, your question drives to the other bigger question of, let's relook at this. just because a decade or more ago, we thought about it and thought it didn't work with different circumstances. we thought we needed to put it on the table and look at it for two reasons. one, the public has the sense it's going to make a big difference and we should think about what they are saying but, also, we shouldn't be driven by that soul. we should look at the science. 12 strongly we shouldn't do it at this time, the public has a right to know clearly why we are not doing it, what the benefit of not doing it.

host: the news from dr. anthon e fouchi appearing on sunday programs confirming that so far, no new cases of ebola, two nurses currently being treated and the ones who passed away earlier this month. all of the sunday programs, by the way, can be hold on c-span radio at noon eastern time, 9:00 o'clock for those of you on the west coast. we will go to zac in tucson, cars. dr. carmona's home state. good morning, zac. caller: good morning. to mention, it's not just in dr. carmona's home state but his city, in which from which dr. carmona started. my question here about how well vetted a surgeon general must be. however, if i am not mistaken,

were you not swat cop? a professional killer before -- first for the city of tucson and then for puma county host: we will get a response, dr. carmon a? >> guest: well, like many of my colleagues, i am proud of my service. i would not characterize it the way zac has characterized it but many served selfletsly on active duty which i did in the army special forces and i am proud of that and a combat veteran and a disabled veteran because of wounds in combat. and i served within the county sheriff's department as an officer and on the s.w.a.t. team as a team leader and as the lead in medical care for the s.w.a.t. team and the medical director for the department. you know, every day people that i work with and law enforcement and military serve selflessly and put their lives on the line for american public. when buildings are burning, when things are happening in your

community, it community, it's those first responders that run the safety. i respectfully disagree with the characterization of zac. i feel proud of my service to my nation and my community in all capacities being in uniform both for the military and the law enforcement. and i continue to feel very strongly we are fortunate as a nation to have so many people willing to serve their country and protect the rights of others to keep our communities safe. host: one saying dr. carmon a was approved by a 98 to nothing vote. is that correct? >> guest: yes, that's correct. i believe i was the first surgeon general to be confirmed unanimously is what i was told. host: lamar from baltimore, independent line, good morning to you. caller: good morning. here is my question: one, how do you plan on the officials from disseminating this information about ebola and symptoms due to the fact that

many speculate at person has ebola. i guess that's the question. >> thank you, lamar. >> okay. thank you. >> well, i know my colleagues and i both realized that very early on, i know dr. fouchi, one of my heroes and an extraordinary individual all recognize we are in flu. excuse me. there are a lot of people who are going to have fevers and colds and aches and pains, and what we wanted to make sure was that people didn't start thinki thinking, oh, my god, i caught ebola obviously. the real issue there is simple questions up front. have you been out of the country? have you been to africa? have you been near anybody that has ebola? and if the answers are no, you don't have ebola. period. you have the common cold. you have flu, which happens every time around this time of the year. so we are trying to do the best we can to get that word out. i know in numerous press conferences i have had over the last couple of weeks, i do the best i can to get that information out to the public because i have had colleagues call me and say, my gosh, you know, i have a friend of mine

who is from africa originally, and he has a fever and i have a fever. does that mean i have ebola? i said absolutely not. your friend has never been to africa. his family is from africa. there start to be myths that develop and they confuse the american public because quite frankly, it is scary. every citizen wants to know: how can i protect myself and my family? and my community. and we have to do a better job of putting out culturally competent information that the american public can act on and feel secure that they know how to protect themselves and their family. a in distinguishing the common cold and flu from ebola is very important but it can be done very easily with just a couple of questions. >> which goes back to the president's point in his weekly address saying that thousands die every year from the flu. so far, only one death as a result of ebola. the president's comments over the weekend, your thoughts on that? >> well, the president is correct. i mean it's something that we all behalf over e-mail

time a new germ involves whether it's saars or avian flu where you scratch your head and say we have 30 or 30,000 deaths a year from flu and yet we have trouble getting people to be immunized. we kind of accept the fact that this is okay. yet many of those deaths can be prevented with appropriate immune ideation and care, hand wat washing, good public health stuff and yet, i think the contrast is stark as the president pointed out. well, we have one death and we have a couple of patients versus 35, 30 or 35,000 a year. i think that we as a nation need to start foeshing using a little bit more on these recurring themes like the flu rather than the next evolving emerging infection which we spend a whole lot of time on and thousands of people still die from other causes that potentially could be prevented. i think they are very good points and i hope if nothing else, ebola tends to raise the awareness of the american public that there is a lot they can do

to stay healthier and, in fact, prevent the flu and if they get the flu to prevent serious complications including death. >> james has this tweet saying why aren't you running the va. i assume he is referring to the va medical facility. >> guest: you would have to ask the president that. the president selected his secretary and, you know all of us, all of us veterans, especially stable veterans stand behind the new secretary. we hope that he is going to make significant progress and fix the system because i am extremely concerned having a son who served two news iraq and myself being a combat veteran that we send our most precious assets down range. we put them in harm's way to protect our nation, to carry out our nation's policies they come

back. we have 7,000 that were killed. we have thousands more with complicated mental and physical injuries and they have trouble getting in to the very system that is obviostensibly there toe for them. suicide rates that exceed the combat death rate every day. this is a tragedy. we must do something because we owe it to every one of these young men and women that we put in harm's way to make sure that they are made whole when they come home and their families because their families suffer as well. i am hoping secretary mcdonald can get something done here because this is a tragedy and an embarrassment in the greatest nation in the world that we can't have the best care in a timely fashion for every single young man and woman who puts their life on the line for this country. and that needs to change. host: let's go to rob in hermitage, pennsylvania joining us from new york. good morning, rob. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span.

thank you, dr. carmona for being there. i just wanted to mention i understand ebola kind of got started in africa as it has because we sort of let it slip. we kind of didn't put forth the effort we could have in the last few years. and i think if we could step back and realize that there are a enough problems in the -- a number of problems in the world that need to have attention before they get out of hand, for global warming for one and as i have been saying, there are a number of things we could do to help people be safe in the united states. we are focused on ebola but there are a number of things, like automobile safety, stairs, ladders. there are a number of things that are rather hazardous to us. host: what about that point? >> guest: those are good points. you know, if you look at morbidity and mortality in the united states and you look at all that's preventable, there is

a significant, significant list of things we can do to reduce the cost of healthcare while improving the quality of life. to the caller's question. we look globally, see malaria, aids, tuberculosis ravaging the earth and see in the caribbean chicken guna. and we see mosquitos live better in these warm, damp environments. there are al of these diseases that are connected with the environment and with arm warming as well as others that are just things that we can prevent when we look at just trauma. you know, being a trauma surgeon originally, myself, before i went into my second career in public health, three out of four parents i admitted every day were coming into the emergency room or the trauma room. they didn't have to be there. they made bad decisions that day, drinking and driving, drugs, domestic violence, various crimes, and that creates a huge disease and economic burden for society at a time that we can't afford it. we are spending over 18% of our gross domestic product on what

we call healthcare. it's actually really sick care. we spend about $0.75 of every dollar on chronic diseases, most of which are preventable. most of which are caused by the poor behaviors of americans who want to smoke, who become saidentary, who eat the wrong foods and all of that as up to some very costly sick care system that is continuing to cost us and the fact of the matter is, if we don't cur tale all of the disease burden that's upon us that we bring on, the legacy we leave our children is unsustainabl unsustainable. we are going to be up to closer to 22 and 25% of our gross national project which would push it up to five and a hal$5 $6 trillion a year. >> that's unsustainal and the bank is breaking now. to the caller's question, there is a lot we can do and we must do in order to be able to sustain ourselves and the world for our children. >> lynn gold matcher saying it's been an awesome delivery of the facts sending thanks to you, dr. carmon a. we go to listening in nyack new

york. good morning. caller: good morning. i am sort of a senior type, in my 70s, but i used to be an avid c-span watcher and the turn-off has been that in the last eight -- i don't think i have called in about eight years. the labeling of the phone lines as a political party, you know, sign, i believe contributes to the discord of this whole, you know, politicized delivery in general has that turned the people off so much. i wanted really to thank the surgeon general carmon a. dr. richard carmon a. we had delivery this morning that's so inspiring. he has lifted the boat. he's kept it factual and my point and actually, my husband and i drove to washington this week, yes, to see the freer but i said, peter, i must go to c-span and i actually got to speak to someone in your office

and said, police, can't we re-evaluate: why shouldn't the call-ins be simply factual. what geographical region are you calling from? >> legitimate. i love we have an international line this morning, but given that the subject is ebola, why couldn't there be a line on coming from the infected countries that are really suffering to further educate us? or is that too, you know, flip, you know, inflammatory. but c-span is the greatest gift to this country. i said how am i going to call in? what line can you use host: the independent line. i want to thank you for stopping by. i'm sorry i didn't have a chance to say hello to you or others here but it was kind of you to do so and thanks for your comment and for watching. i am going to turn back to carmona. do you have a final question, lynn, or just that observation? lynn? caller: should have basic

c-span on it. host: lynn, thank you. dr. carmon a about the politization of all of this? >> guest: well, i understand her concerns, and i think the playing of politics really has its own morbidity and mortality whether call-in lines contribute to that but from my standpoint as a surgeon general, all of united states, surgeon general koop, once we are in the position no matter which party gives us the opportunity to serve but we are not the surgeon general of the democratic or the republican party, but of the nation. we have to truth science, power. we inform on policy. we don't make policy but the public should demand they have a strong surgeon general who, for instance, every year gives a state of the nation's health and a state of global health so that that should be able to start a conversation with congress as to what our priorities should be. and if they are not acting on what those priorities are based

upon the best science, the public should be able to hold those people accountable. i think the surgeon general's position is an immensely important position if utilized appropriately with a surgeon general that merits the position of surgeon general. >> is earn the right and quite frankly one that has risen up through the united states public health service because there are many capable officers who have come up like the early, navy and air force have surgeon generals, they don't reach out into the civilian sector to find the best democratic or republican surgeon general. they promote from people who merit to be promoted to the next rank, vice add miller or lieutenant general and they serve with the combat ant commanders on and give advice on health for our military and does it with the u.s. public health service. why have we departed? why have we almost made this look like a patronage position when this coveted position should be res earned for those people who merit and have earned

the right to rides to this highest level of mueller authority, if you will in the nation and have been called a right to attain the rank of vice add millers. >> a few more weight to go talk to you, jerry from columbia city indiana. good morning. caller: good morning to you. i have got a couple of questions here. i understand that presbyterian hospital is a for-profit hospital. and my question is: is the ceo a medical -- have a medical degree host: can you answer that, dr. carmon a host: you know, i really don't know. i don't know if it's a for-profit or nonprofit status. it's a hospital and system that's had a very good reputation providing quality care. i know personally physicians who have worked there and, you know, i would have no problem going there, myself for any kind of care that i needed.

i spent a lot of time in texas as surgeon generalnd went through a lot of the hospitals, met the leadership in texas, worked with governor perry. they have a really good system. they should not be judged on a lapse in preparedness because we don't have all of the facts yet. >> should not reflect overall on a great organization. what we should do is stop the blame, go in there as the cdc has done with our leadership and send the public health officers in there to assess the problem and fix it because that's what's going to benefit the american public. >> that's what the american public expects. they are tired of all of this blame game and each party taking advantage against the other. they want the system fixed so that they can be -- they can rely on the community health systems for their care and these type of issues, if not remedied and when they become political fodder just further insight and inflame an already hurt american public who is afraid and not sure of what's going on. let's just focus on the problem.

ebola is neither democratic or republican. ebola is a challenge for all americans and we need an american solution. >> john, quick question from you from bellcan maryland. >> dr. mangala, good morning. regarding the american's bad choices and the food they eat, i think you just commented on that, not that long ago. considering that food is basically salt, sugar and fat, i don't know what you have done to change the food industry, but that's poisoning americans. host: a response. dr. carmona? >> guest: some foods certainly are more deliterios to your health than others. the most important thing from the surgeon general's standpoint is to educate the american public so they will make healthy decisions if the public starts

to demand -- i have world with a number of fast food companies and bench companies. if the public says i want less calories, i don't want that much sugar or that much fat, these companies who want to stay in busine business. the farmer's market over the country saying we don't want stuff that has shelf life for weeks. we want healthier foods. the trends i am seeing, i am happy with. i am not come place a event because i would like to get there because of the disease and economic burden we arer curing but i am encouraged i am seeing changes host: last question, an e-mail from a viewer. is there a universe a.m. protocol for the identification and containment of ebola patients? >> guest: yes, but let me back up first. again, we have a term called "all hazards" right now, it's ebola. not too long ago, it was saars

and avian flu. the approach is the same. it is called all hazards. and that's why it's all hazards because we can't predict today what is going to happen in six months or a year. so we build capacitands into our hospitals and providers with an all hazards platform so no matter what the germ is, we have to determine it's lethality. and say, we need personal protective gear. here is how we do it. there has been protocols flu place for some time. in fact, if you go back or a decembering aid ago. when we were first worried about tear richls, ebola was one of the agents we studied t a select agent, an agent that somebody might try and use against us in a terrorist event. there were lots of discussions about ebola, but as we put all of these agents together, that

could be used in a terrorist event and those that might be evolving, even the common flu, we said how do we approach these in a universal manner? we can't have a playbook for each and every one of them but nuance changes on that flat platform not new englandness of any pathogen. that's where we are today. we have to go back and look and make sure our hospitals and health systems and hospital providers remember that and continue to be adequately prepared and equipped. >> we will conclude on that point. ...