conversation preview except the premise that she is the democratic nominee, republicans are talking about for who we put up -- what does that mean for who we put up? just lining up democratic states and republican states that are reliable, democrats have an advantage. republicans really need to thread that needle. you talk about what role unions could play, and that can be an important factor. this goes back to hillary clinton. talking about unions or non-unions, or a broader conversation about middle-class anxiety. we are praying that on the

trail, that they have these popular tendency. this is a populist movement against banks, big government, and against elites. what scott walker has been trying to do is say that he's is a guy from a small town in wisconsin, does not have a college degree, he is one of you. he is raging against the elites in washington. a couple of weeks ago, marco rubio said if you have a problem of this dynamic against wall street against main street consider hillary clinton that would probably raise more money from wall street than any other candidate ever. that may be true. if it is just few days, we can have a detailed conversation about ohio, certainly michigan and wisconsin, and iowa, these

midwestern labor rich swing states. when you do have a broader conversation about what is the middle class doing right now then scott walker may be back in the conversation if it is hillary clinton on the other side. host: we're talking the new hampshire primary with james pindell of the austin -- boston globe. caller: during the last several campaign cycles, gas prices were higher, we were in two middle eastern wars. foreign policy and domestic policy were very connected. that was a dominant issue, our energy policy. with regard to your discussion

of foreign policy dominance in the republican primary new hampshire, going forward, do you think with us exiting these wars in the middle east, do you think this will no longer drive the foreign policy conversation? things like iran and russia will take over the conversation? guest: that is a very smart question. i think right now, we have not seen energy play the role it has. this is very early in the process, we are in the first quarter. candidates are just trying to introduce themselves. but to that callers point, energy has not been a very big topic of conversation. i think one of the reasons why is because of this explosion of domestic shale oil, and production that has gone up so dramatically that people are becoming more energy

independent. when the seedtime time we do not have a national energy plan -- but at the same time we do not have a national energy plan. it really has been focused on russia and putin, and iran and nuclear weapons. it has been about israel, and issues around the globe. it has not been specifically about energy policy links to national security. host: we get this question every four years, who gives a dam n about the new hampshire primary selection? they do not speak for the rest of us. how do you respond to that sentiment?

guest: understand that new hampshire is never handed the first of the nation primary. when they first did it back in 1920, it was because other states had backed their primary, and it just happens that way. over time, over the decades, they are not representative of the country as that it is not very diverse. what it does is a stop candidates, which is based in money, and says he is a senator, governor, and you hang out in these elite circles. not a knock on them, that is the way they live their life, but it makes them leave the premises behind.

you actually have to engage with real people before you become the leader of the free world. that is what the activists and voters in new hampshire to start in an extremely serious way. they talk about who should not be in the final swing. new hampshire, and iowa not very representative in terms of where people live, but they can because they are small and have a tradition of this, that the candidates -- vet the candidates in terms of character and who should win. just for a moment, they create a small pause. host: this week we covered senator graham, and tonight we will cover senator cruz.

last week we were governor rick perry, senator paul, and scott walker. steve on our republican line. caller: good morning. i have been watching politics and presidential politics, and it still comes down to me as a likability thing. i go back to when obama was running in the primaries and you had that question, oh, hillary you are likable enough. the think i am wondering about is this -- why these candidates don't devote themselves instead of saying, especially my republican candidates, oh, we got problems

here, here, here. hey, why not go back to the reagan thing of being the happy warrior. i would like to know instead of favorable and unfavorable ratings, how about likability ratings? host: your final point? caller: well, basically the reporters opinions -- does he have an opinion of which of the republican candidates might be or might come out to be the most likable candidate? host: two i. governor -- thank you. governor scott walker made reference to his sweater which you purchase for one dollar in kohl's. he has made that reference in the past as well. you can get some good deals at kohl's. he is trying to address steve's point, i am just like you. i am not some high tooting saluting governor or senator. i am keyed into how the

middle-class lives in their lives and i shop at kohl's. in terms of likability, one thing that really struck me was i was with jeb bush in iowa last weekend and the new hampshire this weekend and he is different in terms of how he comes across. generally, these candidates when they come to these early states, they really fit into dr. different boxes. the over prepared and overeager ambitious type who wants to wow you when they first show up. oh, my goodness. then there is a second type, he wants to charm you learn your kids name, name your dog where'd you vacation? where do you go to church? gain a personal report. third is a candidate who is aloof. going to the paces, maybe john kerry or mitt romney. they are smart but not aware of what is going on.

then there is the fourth, they have no idea what they are doing and they wish someone would tell them what to do. i will not name those names. we will be nice. when i hung out with jeb bush it really did not fit any of the categories where his brother was of the wild type three. his brother and father wanted to charm you. they wanted to create a personal relationship. the best way i can articulate is that jeb bush is very zen and comfortable about what is happening. he understands the issues. he is not in a hurry. he is just the bare. he is jeb bush and he is a fine with that. at a time when he is trying to show that he is not his brother or his father, he is his own man. it is a pretty good part of

winning the argument. we cover that health party in dover, new hampshire, -- host: if you haven't seen it, you will want to get a real sense of intimacy at the home of the former chair of the state republican party. he is also writing a book on new hampshire's role in the primary process. this morning, a piece from "the washington post" with the headline -- joining us from london, england, your take on all of this from across the pond. caller: oh, hi. i think it is quite strange for the republicans. i am sitting here in london i don't see what the policies are and they seem to be obsessed with obama.

everything he says and does is opposite to what they say. they just say no, they have no policies at all. what is the republican policy and their vision? what are their policies? they don't seem to come up with anything at all. what is their vision for america in the next war years? guest: this is something that jeb bush, the former florida governor and rand paul, have talked a lot about on the trail. they say, look, we cannot be the party of no, we have to be a party of ideas. marco rubio laid out his visions in a book. they say the same thing. as peter points out, the biggest thing they talk about is how they are not obama and they do different things than obama. this is an open seat and they are trying to appeal to

republicans. we have not heard the vision thing yet, largely because it is very, very early. for the most part, it is solid republican principles. lower government, strong national security. this collection comes at a time that is actually really fascinating to watch the republican party. they have lost twice in the rope for the presidential race and they are trying to redefine themselves in a different way. they think in the reagan three leg it still that the republican party stood for. strong and conservative fiscal policy. strong national security. right now, all three of those legs are being questioned. in terms of the social policy, a lot of people are becoming more libertarian. when it comes to gay marriage or abortion, they do not want to talk about it. that is the case for rand paul. when it comes to economic policy, there is a definite split between wall street and main street. something we talked a little bit about earlier. and when it comes to strong national security, look, rand

paul is forcing the situation about how integration -- how interventional should we be as republican party. these core questions will be sorted out in the course of the next year. host: let's do this pretty quickly. the piece this morning and "washington post", yes, no, or maybe question mark does he get in the race? guest: why not is the answer. i don't know a lot how long he will last. mike huckabee, why not? he is making steps. he is been more serious. the dynamic for him is that they are iowa caucus winners in the past so they will have to figure out how that will work in iowa. it could be pretty epic. host: what about governor chris christie? guest: yes. all indications are that he is running. if you were a stock, i would buy him. i do not know how you would go up, but i would buy him right now. host: senator lindsey graham who

was in your state sunday and monday? guest: i don't know. he has been a crowd favorite though. he has to be really happy with some of the responses he received in the earlier states. if he doesn't, that may mean that the south carolina presidential primary is written -- is irrelevant. host: what about rand paul ? is he in the race or not? guest: i think he is in the race. host: let's get back to cause. jeffrey from michigan, good morning on the democrats line. caller: good morning. the way the republicans want this last election was not about issues. you got the republican party that has come about the last 20 years and they are --

[indiscernible] it is all about race. i am not a day fan of obama. i voted for him the first time but you got chris christie, this clown down in new orleans -- who wants to vote for them? these people have no politics at all. all of their policies are about lies. [indiscernible] host: let me jump in as a democrat, do you like hillary

clinton or do you want to see someone challenger? guest: yeah, elizabeth ward has repeatedly said no and no. that may not be something she wants to do at this time. maybe she wants to stay in the senate and continue in that path. right now, it is hillary clinton's race to lose. look, president obama was very popular last fall and he is going up in approval ratings. that is a major factor in swing states. host: james from long beach, california, good morning. caller: i am so excited to be a caller on c-span. i have two serious questions and stay with me on this. first of all, i don't think isis

-- i heard scott walker talking about prices -- he basically assumed -- about isis and he assumes that america needs to be there. this is not our monkey or our circus. but the people over their fight if they do not come over here. how come the chinese and russians can get after them? why does it have to be our children and our treasury? second question, the elephant in the room. a serious question. scott walker has a bald spot. you guys might overlook it, but the ranking voters are going to look at every little thing in the republican party is going to wonder how does a guy with a bald spot and up being high on the ticket? they should clean that up now. either he goes all door he gets that taking care of. host: thank you for the call. want to take both points? guest: first off, on the bald spot. we may have the first president who wears glasses. if we are going to get into characteristics.

jeb bush wearing glasses all the time, ben carson, elizabeth warren. if we are going to go off looks, -- i'm just joking. in terms of isis, one of the reasons in has been so important is the decision on whether or not we put boots on the ground. isis has been taking over areas of countries in the middle east. scott walker yesterday in concord said he would not rule out putting boots on the ground. that will be one of the key questions asked of these presidential candidates are your. how far will you go to take out isis and how closely will you work with iranians and working through that channel on how to coordinate and how to take out isis. host: governor walker did change his opinion on immigration saying, yes, and some are calling him a flip flopper. guest: yes, and he said he was on immigration.

he said he listened to people and changed his mind, but he said it is not a pattern. i think jeb is people are trying to show it is a pattern for him. that will be one of the key questions with scott walker. he has never really had the national spotlight like this before, suddenly he has won three elections in the last four years and has been in the spotlight, but not like this in a national sphere. everything he said in the past will be put through this test on whether or not he is a flip flopper. we had a conversation with him when it came to if he change his position in 2006 when he ran for governor and he had a radio ad against ethanol subsidies and it now and i what he is for them. so, he will be put through a lot of scrutiny and it will be interesting to see how will he answers that. host: governor walker in that one dollar kohl's sweater to a white tie and text last night. among the speakers at the annual gridiron club dinner at the

renaissance hotel. this is so rival at the main lobby. it -- the dinner is close to cameras. alex is joining us from new hampshire. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. host: it all begins in your state. caller: yes, sir. i wanted to thank you quickly for using democrat as opposed to democratic. scott walker has a line of winning. to my friend across the pond small government, lower taxes, free mark and i wanted to clarify something. i thought i heard you say that elizabeth warren was for small government? if you said that, are you kidding me? host: no, i don't think i said that. caller: oh, thank you.

guest: i did not say that, i don't want to believe that. [laughter] host: another caller, good morning. caller: this is to another caller from south carolina about electability of scott walker. he fails to recall that i am a union member calling on an independent line and typically vote republican, i will clear that up. i say independent because republican is not always the case for me. there is a lot of disgruntled doing members over obamacare. we pay $10,000 a year for insurance and no republican ever, ever contemplated loving a 40% tax on your -- union members . that is the ahead that he took out of our budget. the caller from south carolina has to remember there are a lot of union members who are unhappy

that they have to pay $4000 in cash for insurance costs. as soon as the costs go up and percentage goes up as well. host: thank you. guest: the taxes very controversial -- the so-called cadillac tax for premium health care. it is very controversial and some unions do not like it at all. it is something we have not heard a lot about on the trail. maybe that is something that the change in the future. host: harold, you get the last word from virginia. democrats line, good morning. caller: good morning, how are you. host: find, thank you. caller: i appreciate you taking my question. i have been an attorney for 30 years. i believe that problems can be solved in america and i think that is why people live here. i think that the biggest problem with politics currently is money. i understand the difficulty. here is the question --

is we have a system in which according to citizens united and unlimited funds committee provided to some of these campaigns, at what point because campaigns are so constant, do we find a hole in that in order to fix the problem? host: money and politics, james? caller: i don't know where it is going, but this is where we are at. you have a few candidates who would have these super pac's, right? you would have the campaign apparatus which does have limits on how much you can raise. i do not know how much you can spend, but how much you can raise. and then you have the super pac. an outside organization and technically these organizations cannot talk. right now, candidates have super pacs and they do not have campaigns. potential candidates anyway of

jeb bush, rand paul, chris christie started one. eight candidates i believe have a super pac up and running. they are no longer this novelty or how is this going to work. it is a must have if you are running for president. the super pacs can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money and that will be one of the key factors that will be different this time. what that means is that while this process is starting a little bit later and republicans , in particular, the republican national committee tries to shrink the process to and faster. if you are a candidate that has a super pac like rick santorum was last time with one guy who wants to spend a lot of money to continue to keep you in the race, you are in the race. you can lose iowa, you can lose new hampshire, you can lose south carolina, and you do not have to worry about what that means for confidence and donors and for you to be able to put tv ads up in later stages. if you have one person with the ability to do a super pac and run ads on your behalf, even if you cannot control what the ad

says, that is going to be a game changer and may elongate the process. where we go in 2020 and 2024 and if there will be someone to eliminate, i do not know. daily, at some point there are diminishing returns. at some point, you have so many ads that it does not mean anything. host: we will be checking with james over the next 11 months and joining us from boston. his latest work to win the new hampshire primary first, you need to win over the activist. his pieces online at "boston globe.com" and we appreciate you being with us. guest: thank you for having me. >> on the next washington journal, william kristol. health care reporter kimberly

leonard has the latest on health care cost enrollment. the agriculture undersecretary talks but changes to the school lunch program. you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] tomorrow, a discussion on lgbt workplace discrimination. that is life at 9:00 on c-span2. later, a senate of homeland security hearing on social security inaccuracies. and the withholding of money from people who are listed as deceased.

>> monday night sec commissioner on the recent net neutrality ruling, municipal broadband, and the subsidized broadband program. >> i propose that we overhaul the program and make it concurrent with the information age. tell providers to give more to the consumers. the prices have gone down. it should be the same for consumers. get providers out of the certification business. that is the number one problem we have seen. it is a vulnerability that we need to plug.

>> newsmakers his next with ben cardin of maryland. then barry sanders talks about economic policy and the possibility of him running for president. that is followed by ashton carter speaking at the u.s. cyber command. at 8:00, a susan: our guest is senator ben cardin. he is in the middle of discussions over foreign policy and the environment. senator cardin: great to be with you. susan: both of our reporters cover congress for their publications. neil: i wanted to start with

politics in your home state. you are a long time senator and your colleague has said she is not seeking another term. there is a large field democratic primary, for that seat, and also some competitive house races with people running for the senate. do you have any clans to endorse anyone in the senate race? do you have any sort of advice or guidance for the people who might be thinking that seat about how to avoid a situation where the democratic party fractures? senator cardin: first of all, i'm using senator mikulski's words. we will make sure that we maintain a democratic seat. we will ha