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>> former maryland governor martin o'malley live in baltimore with his campaign announcement. martin o'malley announcing that he will join the race for the democratic residential nomination in 2016. he joins hillary clinton and bernie sanders on the democratic side, eight so far on the

republican side officially in the race for president in 2016. we would like to get your thoughts today on the o'malley candidacy. the numbers are on your screen. for our c-span radio listeners democrats, the numbers are on your screen. you can join the conversation at facebook and twitter. tweet us @ cspan or go to facebook.com/c-span, and leave your comments. let's go right to the phones. sean is on the line for democrats. what do you think of the o'malley candidacy? caller: i think martin o'malley would be pretty bad candidate for us to have on our party

simply because it was his governorship that maryland -- a very liberal state -- [indiscernible] i am for sanders or hillary clinton simply because martin o'malley is the reason why we lost maryland. if you can't keep maryland, how is he going to win states that are less liberal than maryland? host: martin o'malley, the former governor of maryland for eight years. we go to chicago on the line for republicans. evelyn, you're next. caller: i just want to make a comment. how can the democrats vote for that party when they only are working for the illegal aliens? all they mention they want to get that 11 million out of the shadows. there is more than 11 million. how can they do that?

and chicago, that is all they work for. what about the rest of the american people? open your eyes, people. these candidates only working for the illegal immigrants. host: martin o'malley announcing his candidacy for the democratic nomination today in baltimore. another call from maryland, on the line for democrats. caller: i'm very proud to see governor o'malley announcing his candidacy today for president. i think it is great we are getting more candidates in the pool of democrats. it is unfortunate that a large base of the democratic party is throwing support so early behind hillary. it's very immature to make such

a decision like that. why not see what options we have? i have lived in baltimore all my life. i lived in baltimore when he was the mayor, i lived in maryland since he was the governor. i think he's going to bring some great leadership to the democratic party as well. host: thanks for calling card martin o'malley telephone hillary clinton before making the announcement, some writing about it, the call was brief and corneal. -- cordial. martin o'malley phoned the democratic front-runner and personally informed her of his plans. next caller is jimmy on the line for independents from tennessee. caller: i'm just calling to say

i'm glad we finally got some democrats in the democratic place. i'm a hillary supporter. i think it's really going to boost her candidacy. [inaudible] host: thanks for calling. more thoughts on the entry of former maryland governor martin o'malley to the democratic presidential race. larry in farmington michigan on the line for democrats. larry, go ahead. caller: i think martin o'malley

is an attractive candidate. the big issue with me is the fast track authority. i was a little bit disappointed that he did not specifically bring that up and say he was against it. right now i'm leaning towards bernie sanders. it's no mystery where he stands on that issue. i live in the detroit area and i have seen what nafta has done to this area. i think this tpp will be even worse. we will not have anything but more and larger trade deficits if this thing goes through. and why president obama is pushing it so hard, i will never know. the key to my support will be whoever comes out and has a realistic possibility of becoming the democratic or even

the republican nominee that is against fast-track authority. on the republican side, i am hoping the john kasich from ohio runs and comes out against the tpp. i'm pretty sure that he will. he might be a viable candidate too. martin o'malley, he is an attractive candidate probably more electable than bernie sanders, but he needs to come out against fast-track authority to get the support of people like myself and the democratic party. host: thank you for calling. a couple of tweets we received since the o'malley campaign announcement got underway. a tweet, governor malley has the experience and record of success. hope you can turn it into campaign momentum. steve writes, does the fact that baltimore is today's mess of the day and o'malley was its recent

mayor help hillary a great deal? let's go to baltimore for our next call, on the republican line is bob. bob, are you with us? must not be there. let's go to rick on the line for independents. caller: he did not mention anything about securing the border, a fence reinforcement. host: what would you like to hear him say about that? caller: that we will be securing our borders and if you are in this country illegally, you need to go back and go through the process, whatever nation you come from, and don't be coming to our borders and firing on our police. the military in mexico are

coming across our border and firing on our police. host: the martin o'malley candidacy, what do you think? caller: [inaudible] there won't be no way i can go for him. host: south fulton, tennessee. line for republicans. caller: i would like to make a comment concerning mr. martin o'malley. if we keep on electing leaders that is going against god's

program, the nation will not be blessed. another thing, there is an american [inaudible] and they are running wild, trying to beg people to come across the line to help them. if you all are listening if hillary's president, it's going to be worse than obama. this man is too game for rights -- gay for rights. if people want to be gay, let them be gay and stay in the closet. don't throw it on us. host: the campaign announcement today by martin o'malley democrat, a former governor of maryland, former mayor of baltimore, he joins two other democrats in the race. hillary clinton is the front runner.

bernie sanders is the senator from vermont. there are eight declared republicans in the race so far. your thoughts, dylan, in terre haute, indiana on the line for independents? what do you think? caller: my problem with o'malley is he has no passion. i understand what he is saying and the methods he's trying to convey but there's no heart, no passion, no truth behind what he is saying. if you look at the bernie sanders campaign, you will see right there -- we have a valuable person who can do what we need to help the little people. he's trying to tackle the big businesses. i feel i go malley will be another puppets, along with hillary clinton -- like o'malley will be another puppets, along with hillary clinton. there's no heart or hope behind it or anything. host: a couple of facebook

comments we have received about the o'malley presidency,, the democratic presidential race in general. posting, i can't say i know anything about the guy referring to o'malley. you can join the conversation at facebook.com/c-span or tweet us at cspan. to portland, maine, it is michael. caller: i am registered as a republican. my family owns their own home and life is easier for people who have a certain amount of assets, and that i have been

waiting for martin o'malley to get into this race. i'm very pleased he has decided to run for president worried -- president. both parties are being subservient to the wealthy interests and i don't think that sustains their support, the middle class. i did send money to bernie cap -- bernie sanders' campaign. the majority of americans are middle-class. even the politicians the one in new hampshire, he's a very pro-middle-class republican, and he is being attacked viciously because his family gave him $200,000 to run for congress. this multibillionaire money is flowing into politics. it is really disrespectful and i think we need people more like o'malley to speak to the interests -- it is hard work when you are trying to uplift the country by way of every citizen, and that is what he is doing.

i'm so pleased that he is in the race. i'm looking forward to seeing more about him as the campaign progresses. hillary clinton is on the board of directors of walmart. i think they're all about making the world safe for walmart. they don't even hire people full-time. there are no benefits. they make you sign a piece of paper saying you will not get health care or they will not hire you. we need a person like o'malley working for the middle class. host: a caller on the line for independents. caller: i found it ironic that he got into his speech by denouncing the results of decades of progressive policy as well as the current president's progressive policy. most of our problems are institutional. it is the revolving door between executive agencies like the doj, epa, and fda, and corporate

america. you have a lot of people who go back-and-forth and cash in on both sides and if we fix that issue, we will make many strides towards fixing that country. host: donald in western virginia on the line for democrats. go ahead donald. caller: i want to call to thank c-span for panning the camera during martin o'malley's announcements. i thought it was powerful to see that he thought it was ok to have the cops drag off somebody holding up a sign. you want to run america and you think it's ok to have the cops drag off people who disagree with you politically? that was very strong for me and i wanted to express my appreciation of c-span. i thought o'malley was an ok guy. i'm looking for someone other than clinton to vote for and he will not be o'malley who has the cops drag off protesters. host: martin o'malley announcing

his candidacy for the democratic presidential nomination in 2016. today in baltimore, he's the former governor of maryland. he joins hillary clinton and bernie sanders on the democratic side in the race for president. we will continue our campaign coverage, our road to the white house coverage on c-span when lindsey graham republican senator of south carolina, makes his presidential announcement, a campaign announcement coming up monday morning, 10:30 a.m. eastern time. we will have that live for you on c-span. we expect to hear this coming week from the former governor of rhode island and the former texas governor, rick perry. we will let you know when these announcements are coming up, we believe wednesday and thursday. our road to the white house coverage continues on c-span. now more on the 2016

presidential race from today's caller: "washington journal." host: we are talking campaign 2016 now. we are joined by liz chadderdon, a democratic consultant. we're also joined by ford o'connell. thank you for being here. guest: thank you for having us. host: ford, i want to start with you. let's talk about the broad field for the gop nomination. george is the latest to announce. guest: it will be tough. we have nine official candidates. the problem is those that are the highest name id are the ones polling the best and that will be hard for -- and it will be hard for any of these folks to break away until we turn to the debates in august. right now it is name id, therefore the polls are so tight no one can break away. host: and liz chadderdon, we started this week with bernie sanders announcing his candidacy.

is he a viable candidate, what are his plans? is he a viable candidate, what are his plans? guest: let's define viable. i do not think anyone thinks senator bernie sanders will be the democratic nominee in 2016 but there are plenty people that thought that about senator barack obama in 2007 however i think senator sanders is a much greater long shot at this point to be our nominee. i like senator sanders. i think he is left of left, and while that might play well in vermont, i do not know, even among democratic primary voters, how that will play. host: what is the goal of his campaign? guest: have you ever met bernie sanders? this is a guy with something to say, and this is an opportunity for him on a national scale to say some of the things he wants to say. he has definitive opinions about

wash it, corporate america, how he feels the american middle class and the poor are being left hind on our government can't -- by our government. this is his chance to stand up and say what he feels. he will get attention because we only have two official at this point. host: later today we will have three and c-span will be covering it. guest: on what the republicans who have some of between eight and 27, it is harder for them to get their message out, but if you're a democrat, it is a wide-open field and it is a chance to have a bully pulpit and have some cameras. guest: one of the things is hillary clinton has near universal name id. the chance of her not when the nomination is next to impossible. she is going to be the nominee barring something outrageous -- whether she gets sick, whatever. as for my guys, you can throw the names in the air. if i had to say today you will have a combination of any two names on this ticket, edit is likely to be marco rubio, jed

bush or scott walker. there are only about seven states in play and we have to run up about 35% with hispanics in florida, colorado, and nevada, and basically bring every white working-class voter into the tent or hillary clinton is going to walk into the white house. host: what are the states question mark -- states? guest: florida colorado, texas virginia. host: there is bipartisan agreement sometimes. guest: exactly. host: you can join the conversation by calling us on -- host: you can find us on social media as well. host: we are going to go ahead

and get your phone calls, mike from cap florida,: the democratic line. -- tampa some of florida calling on the democratic line. caller: i would like to challenge liz chadderdon. it seems to me you are probably in the camp for hillary clinton and i would like to say i do not make a lot of money, but the money i have given is to bernie sanders and he represents the democratic party much more than hillary clinton who is a demonstrated liar. i am sorry. guest: first off, as a voter, i have not made up my mind and as a democratic strategist, i am not working for any of the candidates, hillary clinton senator sanders, or soon, martin o'malley. the left of the left, actually they have an opportunity to talk

because they have a voice in bernie sanders. if you do not like hillary clinton, support bernie sanders martin o'malley. that is what the process is about. i have to agree with my republican politics -- colic, i think it is tough to see senator sanders be the nominee, but stranger things have happened. host: how much could you shift the conversation and force hillary clinton to move further left than she wants to for the general election? guest: under different circumstances i would tell you that is a real possibility, but the truth is she is such a juggernaut in this, it is so clear that this moment she has most of the money, most of the delegates, most of the democratic voters for the primary. if i am hillary clinton, or i am advising hillary clinton, and i am not, but i would tell her to ignore senator sanders and governor o'malley, because she does not need to acknowledge them. they need to attack her. she does not need to acknowledge

they are in the race. as it, democrat of she wants to be kind and say i always welcome everyone's view, that might be the good thing to do, but as a candidate, they are inconsequential. guest: i have to agree, but she is lucky martin o'malley is on the stage because bernie sanders could really challenge with the left of the left. what she wants to do if she gets engaged is to triangulate off of martin o'malley to be considered in the middle of the carrots and answer sanders through o'malley and stay above the fray -- in the middle and answer sanders through o'malley and stay above the fray. host: this article in "the wall street journal" --

host: he repeatedly says the deck is stacked against the middle class. host: how much as he already change the conversation for hillary clinton? guest: i do not know how much already, but i do think governor o'malley will change the conversation a little, and you highlighted some key democratic issues where frankly governor o'malley is better than both secretary clinton and senator sanders. then control is a big one. maryland passed -- gun control is a big one. maryland passed some of the

strictest and control measures, and friendly vermont, the home of bernie sanders, has some of the most liberal and loose gun laws in the country. if i were advising any of these candidates, i know whoever wins the democratic primary is usually the best democrat, and that often times means being the best on key and core democratic issues, on which gun control is a big one and of the three, if i were looking at the three as a voter trying to decide and i would say gun control is my big issue, i would say governor o'malley. guest: how is that going to be hard to break away from hillary clinton and bernie sanders? hillary clinton does not need to take a position. the party is unified under control. what she is trying to reconstruct is the obama coalition of unmarried women minorities, and voters under 35. if she can do that, she does not have to worry about sanders and o'malley.

when they could push her is on free trade, the keep--- the keystone pipeline and energy. there are ways to push away they would have to tag team to bring her into the conversation and have her address questions. host: new york. steve on the independent line. caller: am i on? host: the air. what are your thoughts? caller: i am cares. i hear commentary how people need to ignore people like sanders and o'malley, but it seems the media seems to make the mistake of discounting the economic populism message and you have a case of david pratt winning in virginia over eric cantor. obviously people respond to this. my question is why exactly does the media seem to ignore the fact that people like economic populism and just write off

candidates and speak about that. guest: very simple, it is called the horse race of polling. when you are leaving the democratic polling by 51 points, you will draw the media and the wallets. that is why polling is so important. o'malley is getting less than 1% in national polls. bernie sanders is getting 8.8% according to real clear politics. lies the media going to pay attention? they have not given the media -- why is the media going to pay attention? they have not given the media why until the debates. guest: the issue of economic populism is not just owned by democrats. i've seen several other republican nominees including mike huckabee, ted cruz, talk about economic populism and have a middle class is being left behind. now, is that fair? should they be talking about it? they get to talk about what they want to talk about.

you'll will see economic populism as a message from the far left all the way to the far right which i find interesting. it is going to make this an adjusting election. we all know the secret to winning this is going to be the middle, and in some ways, you are absolutely right. hillary has to put together the obama coalition, the unmarried women who never show up instead of -- except for presidential years, the younger voters, minority-based voters. what we learned in 2014 is if we ignore the middle and only count on that coalition, we lose. economic populism is a message will hear from everyone. guest: let me be more specific on economic populism. you have the economy jobs, economic mobility. can i improve my standing under this economy? you will see both sides talking about how they couch it differently. the democrats might be talking about increasing the minimum wage.

republicans will be talking about how the private sector can get to higher levels. when we get in the general election we might see more of a clash on how they approach the subject. host: fran from jacksonville florida, calling on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. now that you mention the economic populism part, and the primary, i would consider voting for martin o'malley or bernie sanders, of course, but whoever wins the democratic nomination gets my vote because even in my state when i look at how the republicans are in charge and each week i see how the voting goes, and what the issues are if anyone actually read what came up, and how the congressman voted, i just cannot believe the ordinary person would actually vote republican because -- host: i will give you a chance

to respond. guest: [laughter] guest: they -- and let him do that one. what is really interesting is are they really going to push hillary clinton to the left in the primary and the answer is maybe. doubtful, because, again, as we both said, as strategist, we would advise secretary clinton to frankly, not engage with either one of them because they are not polling and she is at 51. she can run her own agenda and she does not necessarily have to engage. however, it is may of 2015. we have 19, 20 months of this left, god help us all. it might be that if they start pushing the more economic populism, the more liberal side of the argument, which is great they may for secretary clinton to start addressing that. wouldn't that be fascinating? guest: they will force her to

address her vote on the iraq war, even though she said it is a mistake. what about maryland am --martin o'malley's record? marylanders think he is not presidential material. every clinton said look at his -- and likely will say you you look at my record, look at her record. i cannot believe i am defending hillary clinton. [laughter] host: the baltimore poverty rate is at 23.3%. an appointed rate is at 8.1%. the u.s. unemployed rate is 5.1%. it also shows baltimore is in the middle of the pack when it comes to other measures of urban revitalization. guest: let me say one more thing. since 1969, there have only been to republican governors -- two

republican governors, and he was so bad that we neither republican governor. do you know how much you have to mess up to make that happen? host: i want to ask you again about the crowded gop field. in "the u.s. news & world report " there was an article about how new debate rules could alter the campaign. it could limit the number of persistent and markedly change the . host: brandon relentlessly campaigning in the state settled early contests -- rather than relentlessly campaigning in the states that hold early contests. guest: in the first debate, they will cap it at 10 candidates.

the cnn debate will have 10 candidates, but they will have a lower tier debate. you cannot have even 10 candidates on a debate staging and 90-minute debate. what will wind up happening is it will become a political version of wwe smack down. you have to remember what the overarching goal of the debates is and you have to protect the nominee from democrats especially hit jobs from american bridges from running gaffes from the average voter that is not follow politics as close as we do. guest: one of things that famously came out was the rick perry "oops" moment. what i find interesting is how they will put 10 people on the stage, what happens to everyone else? i think it will be difficult for everyone involved in the republican primary to make that

cut off. whoever is 1, 2, 3, 4, it will be easy, but who is five to 10 will be interesting, and most important, who is 11. i would love to know your opinion, is carly fiorina going to be on the stage? right now, she is not a contender, i think you would agree, but she is a woman, and it really is going to be smart for the republican party to have at least one woman onstage. right now, mostly white men, and they're the party, or at least accused of being the party of white men. if i'm working for the republicans, i would advise them to have carly fiorina the stage for several reasons, however if she is on the stage, everyone is on. guest: if you were not having a coronation, you would have the same problem. [laughter] it is not just diversity of gender. it is thought. we have the social conservatives, the tea party the libertarians.

people do not understand while we might be considered the party of old, white men, which i do not really like, the problem is we have a lot more diversity of opinion that the democratic field as a whole. i agree it would be great if carly fiorina could get up there as well as ben carson, but we also have a spandex like ted cruz and marco rubio. given that -- hispanics like ted cruz and marco rubio. given that hillary clinton will be the nominee, it would be good to have carly fiorina to go on media programs and be an attack dog so the mainstream media cannot focus on her. -- play the women time. host: speaking of wwe -- a super pac released this ad. [video clip]

>> sunday, sunday, sunday. the defender of freedom, senator rand paul versus barack obama and his so-called conservative accomplices, the capitulating canadian, ted cruz. kids, we have not forgotten about you. senator lindsey graham tries to read your e-mails while doing doughnuts in a 1997 geo metro, while it is on fire. watch them battle it out on the floor of the united states senate. the brawl -- sunday. sunday. host: and that was an ad from america's liberty super pac supporting rand paul that talks about the usa freedom act.

i would like both of you to comment on the ad itself and the broader issue of whether the nsa surveillance program has legs to the 2016 election. guest: i have to tell you i have not seen the ad. it is my first time. i am a little stunned, both as a message strategist, a democrat, and as an american, actually. i think that is the definition of over-the-top. what is interesting is what is its job? it's job is to break through to a specific audience using a specific medium in a very crowded republican field, as we talked about. now, is that the right ad? maybe. it is not an audience i know a lot about. i will not kid you. i'm still a little stunned because that ad was obviously very contrasted. it literally called out, by name some of the other republicans in the race. it referred to senator ted cruz

as a canadian, which is true, but kind of funny. i do not know if rand paul -- and he did not do this ad, i want to make that clear, but i do not know if senator paul would have agreed to do this if he had anything to say about it. will distinguish him? maybe. i think it will do more harm than good, which is part of the problem. with so much independent money so much of this will be done at the candidates have no control over. if it were me and i were senator paul, i would see the ad, call american liberty and take it down. he is not allowed to talk to them, so he is stuck. he gets to live with that. is that the right thing to do? i do not think so. guest: i think the job the ad is trying to copy just something he would agree with, but i agree it is over the top. he is trying to solidify his libertarian base who think he has gone to mainstream.

he is at 9%. since he announced, he is not gone anywhere. ted cruz and others are creeping up behind him. now, the risk of this is the high-end part. for the public and primary voter, national security and foreign policy are the top two issues and then on not ready to hand over the keys to the republican nomination to someone they see as a libertarian-leaning ideologue. that is the risk. what rand paul should be doing is using his time wisely to pay himself as a reluctant warrior that says when push comes to shove i will do what is in the best interest of america in foreign policy. host: how does the meeting to discuss the nsa play into this? guest: this is the backdrop for the grandstand to be able to talk about this. what will wind up is the patriot act provisions will expire and

we will adopt the usa freedom act and rand paul will say look, i did that. the problem is right now, right or wrong, americans are concerned about national security and foreign policy, and in some ways they're almost willing to trade civil liberties for stronger national security. he is running at the wrong time. if this were 2008, that would be a brilliant move. guest: what i find interesting about ad and what you said, and i agree, actually, the definition of the best republican which all of these nominees are trying to figure out -- how do they win the nomination by being the best republican? the definition of the best republican is really skewed. is it someone strong on national defense? is it someone that is more evangelical and catering more to the socially conservative base? is it someone that is more tea party libertarian? is it someone that is more business conservative? that is ashley, for me, as a

democrat, and as a strategist -- actually, for me, as a democrat and as a strategist, the more fascinating to watch in the next year with republican field -- their positioning themselves in those buckets, and anyone crossing over those buckets. is anyone going to emerge as the person that is going to be able to pick up more than one bucket. that will be interesting. guest: you make a commission point. you cannot win with any one of the bucket. one bucket is worth more than the others, and that is the establishment bucket, 40%. you can convince voters. the two best hybrids right now are marco will be on scott walker. host: david from virginia. david, what are your thoughts? david, are you there? surely comment from new castle

pennsylvania, on the republican line. go ahead -- shirley, from new castle pennsylvania, on the republican line. are you there? moving on to cary. go ahead. caller: bernie sanders is the only one out there telling what is really going on in this country and people to wake up and realize that. he is telling it like it is, and the other ones -- what do they got? what do they got? bernie does not run negative ads against people. i mean, you guys are just way too sure to early. guest: i think that hillary clinton, obviously, is such a known name. what's fascinating about her is she isn't 99% total name idea.

who are the 1% who have never heard of hillary clinton which i thought was an interesting and funny article. bit more importantly, the hard thing for hillary and the color and other colors have struck on this is to know hillary is to have an opinion on hillary. you either love her or you don't. there isn't a lot of waffling on hillary. so, those people out there including democrats who are not huge fans of hillary is that room for them to really start to make some noise and really start to take some vote? i don't think so. but this is america and anything can happen. host: let's play a clip of bernie sanders' clip of his announcement for candidacy. >> this campaign starting today is going to send a message to the billionaire class. and that is you can't have it all.

you can't get huge tax breaks while children in this country go hungry. [applause] you can't continue sending our jobs abroad while millions are looking for work. [applause] you can't hide your profits in the cayman islands and other tax havens while that are massive unmet needs of every corner of this nation. [applause] to the billionaire class i say that your greed has got to end. you cannot take advantage of all of the benefits of america if you refuse to accept your responsibilities. host: and that was bernie sanders announcing his bid for president in 2016. ford o'connell, your thoughts. guest: as the republican i want bernie sanders to keep singing, any way that he can discredit

hillary clinton is fantastic for my guys. at the same time though, there's one thing that he did say that we're going to be able to play over and over and he said that hillary clinton has been outhustling for money and she's disconnected from the reality of the everyday american which she's trying to represent. so therefore bernie sanders is the best person so far of who we think is going to be on that deal who can really drive hillary clinton. the question is whether or not she's going to take the bait. i hope she does. guest: the most interesting about watching that is as an absolute self-identified liberal, i'm listening to him and necessary striking chords with me. i love the term "billionaire class." instead of eight the wealthy, which is such a difficult at some points, to determine definition. what is wealthy? $100,a year? -- 100,000 a year? $500,000 a year?

is i am a pragmatist and i know that pretty much what just came out of bernie sanders' mouth is not going to play to the middle class, the swing voter in a general election in iowa. it's not going to play in ohio. it's not going to play across this country to the more moderate middle part of america. now, that dun mean that i don't agree with him. i'm glad he's out there saying it. but do i think he's going to be our nominee and do i want him to be our nominee? that's a whole different question. host: bill from holden, nebraska, is calling out from the democrat line. bill, go ahead. caller: yes, good morning. i think if hillary clinton is the nominee on the democratic class, i really think we're going to hand the candidacy to the republicans. i think she's got too much baggage. i'm half wondering is if she's

running because people expect her to run. i worry about bernie sanders' age. he's almost 80. it would be interesting to know what he would have had as vice president. and i think hillary clinton will not be elected. i think secretly, the republicans want her to be the nominee because i can only imagine how much money they've already spent in ads they haven't shown attacking her. and i just don't want to go through a whole year of negative politics and that's probably what's going to happen. the caller a little bit ago talked about bernie sanders and how he had doesn't run that negative time of campaign. but i do worry about his age. host: bernie sanders is 73.

guest: the first important point is the optics around why she's running. is she running because she is so ambitious that she just can't help herself or is she running because she wants to do good things for this nation? you're going to get a different answer from just about everybody you talk to. and one thing that drives me a little nuts about hillary clinton and the advisors around her is that they don't know they have that problem. "sportscenter" they do know they have that problem, they're not doing much to address that problem. so that's number one. but number, two let's talk about the age factor what's really interesting is that hillary clinton is 68. so it's not like with all due respect to 68-year-olds, she's a

spring chicken. joe biden 72. part of the reason he is choosing not to run for president. we're 44 -- the last president offense the united states were 44. is america ready for grandma and chief? i don't know. and that's going to be a really big question in this election. guest: and my guys are going to say because of ambition and she's been doing this since 2005 and that's why she's wanting to be secretary of state. she wants to buy her time while she's waiting to run in 2016.

guest: we need to keep strong despite the progressive will to bring us back. and he can use the military to control the drug trafficking that comes back from the caribbean. guest: let me say this about marco rubio if he wins the republican nomination. it would be largely on the backs of national security and foreign policy. that is his strength over a lot of other candidates the military is a strength for marco rubio, not a negative. guest: you know what i'm finding really interesting is two months ago, which feels like a lifetime ago. i think we only had two official people running for republican nomination two months ago. but if you had asked me if marco rubio was really going to be in the top tier of candidates for the republican nomination, i might have said no. i've totally changed my opinion. not that i have a vote in the republican nominating process but i am really actually

impressed with the way senator rubio has handled himself in the last couple of months and what i'm finding interesting when i talk to republican friends and i have a few. when i talk to my republican strategic friends but when i talk to my republican friends from texas, i've got a few back home his name is coming up all the time. i'm going to start to pay a lot more attention to rubio. guest: i'm newt industrial on this. i just want us to beat hillary clinton. i'm not picking any favorites here. marco rubio was the frontrunners for a very long time. where he tripped and fell was the immigration reform. there's a story who you feared the most and they said we fear marco rubio because he can win

florida. he's fluent in spanish and he has a very compelling personal merit. when you go into marketing which is what we do here, that's a very big product statement going forward. host: going back to rand paul a little bit how much of a chance do you think he has of making any inroads here? guest: i have to be tough. i have to be a little -- rand paul is probably not going to win the republican nomination and the reason is is because national policy plays such heavy roles. you have to understand something -- well, substantial amount to majority in the first 14 nominating contests were republican voters over 50. they tend to be more hawkish. because he's been unable to actually differentiate himself on foreign policy and make a cogent argument particularly after those isis morning he had at morning joey, he's had to find a way to paint himself as a

reluctant lawyer and people that can accept. host: sort of going to social media and also going to sort of a variety shows. any place but the political media in order to make their case. do you still think that's true? guest: well, first of all, i'm glad someone read my book. therien lice the -- lies the problem. folks say i care about the issue. what i'm trying to say is in general, hillary clinton's biggest strength right now is the fact that she's going to be in women's magazines. they're going to develop 53 million readers. a great democratic pollster said unmarried women which is hillary clinton's primary target voters,

basically 71% of them pay little to no politics. being able to go out there and talk about anything other than politics and making yourself look like a likable hard-working person may be more valuable than any perfectly stated policy person. guest: i couldn't agree more. and one of the things that's really interesting and i really actually say this with respect is that the democrats have at least since 2008 but the idea of being authentic, the idea of being real, the idea of talking about things about yourself beyond your political position, that's not just key. that's the baseball game. that's crucial. if you cannot present yourself to those voters, the ones who are not watching "washington journal" this morning they're still asleep right? when you're talking to voters, what they want to know is their elected officials are motivated by something that is political ambition.

that is their most desperate desire. and if you can't tell them that in an authentic and geniune way you're not going to win their vote. so reaching out to those voters through non-political traditional mediums and more women's magazines on social media or on late night television is key. it doesn't matter if you're a >> on the next "washington journal" -- damian paletta talks about the parts of the patriot act that are set to expire. the discussion on immigration policy. live every day at 7:00 eastern on c-span.

>> this sunday night at 8:00 eastern on "first ladies influence and image," we will look into the personal lives of three first ladies, sarah paul, margaret taylor, and abigail fillmore. sarah polk had a strong belief in politics and often helped her husband make political decisions. margaret taylor was opposed to her husband's nomination. and zachary taylor telling people she was praying for his opponent to win. as a teacher, abigail fillmore was the first presidential wife to have a profession and began efforts to establish the first white house library. the sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's original series "first ladies, influence and image." examining the public and private lives of the women who filled the position of first lady, from martha washington to michelle obama, sundays at 8:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span3.

as a koppelman to the series, "first ladies," it is available as a hardcover or e-book. >> next, a look at some of this year's commencement speeches from colleges around the country. first, former president george w. bush at southern methodist university. then pfizer judge susan webber wright speaking to graduates of the university of arkansas law school. that is followed by mellody hobson's speech at the university of southern california. mitt romney delivering commencement remarks to the graduating class at >> george w. bush addressed the graduating class at the other methodist diversity in dallas.

it it was his first commencement speech since leading -- leaving office. this is 15 minutes. [applause] george bush: thank you all. thank you. thank you very much. ipresident turner thanks. members of the board of trustees , faculty, staff parents, most importantly the class of 2015. i thank you for your warm welcome and i appreciate the invitation to be with you.