captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: the fight for iraq. a sunni insurgent leader is reportedly killed in the battle against islamic state militants. how the religious divide in the region is helping government forces advance, with thousands of new recruits. good evening, i'm judy woodruff. also ahead: contested waters in asia. china sets out to claim disputed territory, turning small reefs into islands capable of serving as military bases. and it's friday, mark shields and david brooks are here, to analyze a full week of news. plus, the dames of the civil war. a new book on the women in washington when the nation

threatened to split into two. >> they were deeply political. went to the debates in congress all the time, helped their husbands with speeches and letters and that. and had their views and sometimes they weren't exactly the same as the men's. >> woodruff: those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

>> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take charge of your life and become you're own chief life officer. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: president obama hosted italy's prime minister matteo renzi at the white house today, and at a joint news conference, addressed a list of sticky issues, starting with the way g.o.p. leaders on capitol hill are handling one of his main cabinet appointments. >> this is embarrassing, a process like this. >> woodruff: the president

blasted senate republicans for delaying the confirmation of loretta lynch, whose nomination to be attorney general has sat idle since february. >> there are times where the dysfunction in the senate just goes too far. this is an example of it. it's gone too far. enough. enough. call loretta lynch for a vote. get her confirmed. put her in place. let her do her job. , a say oa final nuclear deal with iran, calling it a reasonable compromise. but mr. obama stressed the importance of appearing credible in the remaining negotiations. >> if it is perceived that we

walk away from a fair deal at a givers us assurances that iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon those negotiations will fray, they won't be russia and china but one of our closest allies who question the wisdom of maintaining these. we don't want us >> woodruff: on trade, the president pushed a new agreement with asia, the trans-pacific partnership, but he acknowledged the deal would face some opposition. >> there's going to be a set of democratic senators and house members who traditionally have just on principle opposed trade because the unions on principle regardless of what the provisions are, are opposed to trade. and then there are others who like me, believe that we cannot stop a... a global economy at our shores. we've got to be in there and compete.

>> woodruff: meantime, as europe's economy struggles to rebound, the leaders urged the greek government to make economic reforms, even as they continue to seek financial aid. >> my attitude has been, yes you need structural reforms. the sustainability of structural reforms depends on people feeling some sense of hope and some sense of progress. and if all it is is just getting squeezed, but there's no growth then over time the political consensus breaks down and not only do you not get structural reforms, but you also end up reverting to some of the old patterns that didn't work. >> woodruff: as his country faces rising unemployment and declining g.d.p., italian prime minister renzi praised the u.s. as a model for the wider european economy. just down the road from the white house, financial leaders

from the world's major economies gathered to discuss rising challenges. the leaders posed for a group photo after two days of meetings. and the group of 20 issued a joint communiqueé saying they see modest improvements in the global economy. but there was no official discussion of greece and its financial woes. north african migrants seeking refuge in europe hit more trouble as they came across the mediterranean sea. a boat docked in italy today carrying survivors who'd been badly burned after a gas explosion on their vessel. john ray of independent television news has this report from sicily. >> from the mediterranean this ocean of man made misfortune a ship of horrors. rescue teams have saved so many poor souls this week, say they-3 have seen nothing yet to match this suffering. migrants, mostly women, disfigured by burns from an

accident on shore, then cast out to sea in a sinking dinghy. the smugglers they paid hansomely for the journey abandoned the injured and the dying to their fate. >> the traffickers would not allow them to leave and reach the hospital. so they did not get treatment for a few days. and then they were put on a boat. in fact on a runner dinghy. and when rescuers arrived they had spent two days at sea but they were drifting away because the rubber dinghy was half-deflated already. >> a baby was among the victims caught by an exploding gas slender. that the women gathered rearnd a cooking stove. -- around a cooking cooking stove, leaving lives in the balance. here theafl get the special

medical help they need but despite the best efforts of surgeons, doctors say even if they live they'll bear the scars of their journey forever. the smugglers have not been caught. >> woodruff: the united nations estimates some 13,000 migrants have been rescued from the mediterranean sea in the past week alone. a state ceremony was held in germany today to honor the victims of last month's germanwings plane crash. hundreds of family members and dignitaries attended the memorial service at the cologne cathedral. the steps leading up to the altar were lined with 150 candles, one for each person on board. investigators found the co-pilot deliberately slammed the airliner into the french alps while en route from barcelona to dusseldorf. a court in beijing sentenced chinese journalist gao yu to seven years in prison today on charges she leaked state secrets. gao, a 71-year-old veteran reporter, denied the charges brought against her.

the document in question detailed the communist party leadership's plans to target civil society and press freedom as a threat to the party's power. gao plans to appeal the sentencing. she has already served time in prison on state secrets charges more than two decades ago. the parents of the youngest victim in the boston marathon bombing asked federal prosecutors to give up seeking the death penalty for the bomber. bill and denise richard urged the justice department to work toward a deal that would give dzhokhar tsarnaev a life sentence without the opportunity of parole. tsarnaev was convicted last week in the 2013 attack that killed three people, including eight- year old martin richard. the large outbreak of measles that was traced to disneyland in california has come to an official end. officials at california's department of public health said no new infections have been reported in the last 42 days equal to two incubation periods.

the outbreak sickened 147 people in the u.s. and renewed a national debate over vaccinations. the international space station received a much-needed delivery of supplies today. its crew captured the spacex supply ship using a huge, robotic arm. the capsule contained more than 4,000 pounds of cargo including groceries, equipment, science experiments, and an espresso maker for an italian astronaut. it will be sent back to earth next month full of experiment results and discards. on wall street today, stocks reacted to new trading regulations in china and renewed worries over greece and its finances. the dow jones industrial average lost 280 points to close at 17,826. the nasdaq fell 76 points, the s&p 500 dropped 24 points. for the week, the dow and nasdaq both fell 1.3%. the s&p fell one percent. still to come on the newshour: the latest on the fight for

iraq. immigration reform has its day in federal court. china's land grab among disputed islands. mark shields and david brooks on the week's news. and, cokie roberts on the women of washington during the civil war. >> woodruff: it was a deadly day in iraq. a series of bombs ripped through baghdad, targeting public places and killing at least 40 people. further north in erbil, a car bomb exploded outside the u.s. consulate, killing one and wounding five. in ramadi, military forces fought back islamic state militants trying to control the city. local authorities warned the situation was critical. in a striking victory government forces claim they killed izzat ibrahim al-douri, the king of clubs in the deck of playing cards given to u.s. forces to identify key figures

in sadam hussein's regime. he became a leader of sunni extremist groups and recently allied with the islamic state group. said were image of al-douri's body in an effort to confirm that he was dead nor more on who he was and what this means for iraq we are joined by drerk derek harvey. welcome again to the newshour. so let's start out by reminding everyone who al-douri was. what was his role under saddam hussein? >> he was the vice president under saddam hussein and importantly he was responsible for the islamic revival campaign that burnished the image of the regime and established islamic

sunni credentials. and that became the base of opposition to the u.s. presence the islamic opposition. izzat ibrahim al-douri. >> what did he do? >> he immediately set up the resistance, the sunni arab resistance and it was based on a number of different aspects. reestablishing relationships with military intelligence officials on one hand, and then using the mosque, the religious elements in the society to build a network of networks of opposition across multiple provinces. mainly based north of baghdad in the sunni heart land. woodruff: and when did that mean for u.s. forces who were in iraq. >> well, he organized across multiple provinces along with others in the baath party and assistance of those who were in

damascus, a fairly decent network of opposition, in each province at the grass roots level building up to political leadership. and that provided the resilience that allowed them to withstand the u.s. occupation and continue the fight once we left. woodruff: once the u.s. did leave, what happened then? we then know that at some point he started to work with the islamic state group. >> it looks like he gab began to work with the islamic state more in iraq working with al qaeda in iraq from the very beginning. as early as i could tell it was probably august or september of 2003, when izzat ibrahim al-douri's network would provide bombs that the al qaeda network would provide the suicide bombers to and they would have attacks into baghdad. he has been key in the

resistance since 2003. woodruff: if it is is confirmed that he is dead, what does that mean for islamic state group and what they're trying to do? >> most recently in the last few months it looks like the izzat ibrahim al-douri groups began to fall away from islamic state group, he made some public statements a couple of weeks ago, criticizing the islamic state, and we saw them fall poorlt from each other and that was because they didn't have the same strategic objectives. woodruff: if it's confirmed that he is dead what does it mean for the u.s. for efforts to stabilize iraq? >> i think this is going to cause a void in the resistance of the sunni arab insurgency for

a while. to take the leadership mantle of the sunni resistance. he was the glue he understood the key players throughout these resistance groups. and because of that i think lack of knowledge and the lack of his expertise and his network is going to create a void and create division and more divisiveness within the sunni arab community. which really does define the leader to engage with baghdad. woodruff: we'll certainly see if it is confirmed. colonel derek harvey. thank you. >> thank you judy. >> woodruff: we turn now to an on-the-ground report from iraq. newshour special correspondent jane arraf brings us this story from tikrit. >> reporter: this courtyard in tikrit has become a place of pilgrimage, and a reason to fight. the plaque commemorates what is believed to be one of the biggest massacres in modern shia history.

shortly after isis took over mosul and tikrit last june, it executed hundreds of young air force cadets and army recruits from nearby camp speicher. at least 200 were believed to have been executed here-- killed because they were military and they were shia. "we have offered the best of our youth to iraq and the iraqi people," says a representative of one of iraq's most revered shia clerics. "we have achieved this liberty thorugh the marytrs of camp speicher." tens of thousands of iraqi shia responded to a fatwa by the grand ayatollah ali al sistani calling on them to work with the iraqi military. this representative says they don't need american help, just more iraqi assistance. >> ( translated ): we need air support from the iraqi government exclusively. iraqi pilots have expertise in the area. iraqi expertise should take precedence. >> reporter: shia leaders have officially condemned revenge

attacks against sunni arabs believed to have cooperated with isis. the massacre of recruits from nearby camp speicher and the isis video documenting it helped further that goal of fragmenting the country. one of the fighters, hashim basheer salim, tells us he wants to die fighting. >> ( translated ): that's where the slaughter happened. those in charge and the cameraman were standing up there. it was a slaughter. they treated them like spoils of war, not like human beings. >> reporter: he says they blame some sunni groups for working with isis. >> ( translated ): we weren't doing the same thing with the sunnis. in 1991 in and we sent them to their homes. >> reporter: but this is a much different iraq than it was in 1991. the graffiti left by shia fighters and posters with the iranian leaders who inspire some of them show where the battle lines are drawn.

almost 200 bodies have been unearthed from near the palace. there are five mass graves found so far. and more expected. isis blew up this bridge to prevent iraqi forces and shia fighters from advancing. tikrit, saddam hussein's hometown and a mostly sunni city, was seen as a test for a coming battle for mosul. this palace is one of the few places in iraq where you can still see a likeness of the executed president. in this one he is cast as the islamic conquerer salahadin. it took weeks for the iraqi military to take back tikrit. with the help of shia fighters and us air strikes they've managed to push isis. tikrit is the first major sunni city retaken from isis and

this was an isis stronghold-- one of the first cities it caputured after mosul. its fighters fought hard for it. fighting was street to street and it shows. now two weeks after isis was driven out, the only people allowed in the city are fighters and policemen. we were brought here by the popular mobilization forces-- shia fighters under nominal iraqi government command. most are backed and in some cases equipped by iran. the iraqi military couldn't have pushed back isis without them. but particularly in sunni areas some have been accused of looting and revenge attacks. on the streets shops believed burned by looters or damaged in the fighting. this is the effect of three weeks of air strikes, bombings.

officials think it could take more than two months for them to be able to return. local police now secure the city. parts of it are still rigged with explosives. isis fighters blacked out the faces on these shop signs. they believe depicting the human form is blasphemous. the fighters and police have re- locked shops to prevent further looting. when we leave, the police fire in the air in a traditional show of celebration. for the iraqi government, the shia fighters and smaller numbers of sunni tribesmen who joined them, recapturing tirkit was a huge and hard-won victory. but after this battle comes the struggle for reconciliation. >> woodruff: the long-running battle over immigration in the u.s. landed in court today, as three federal judges heard arguments over president' obama's most recent executive actions. hari sreenivasan has the story.

>> sreenivasan: the case before the fifth circuit court of appeals pits the obama administration and its latest waivers of deportation against just over half of states in the country. 26 states have sued the president, arguing that his immigration policy oversteps his constitutional authority. at issue are executive actions the president announced in november. as a reminder, the administration wants to expand who qualifies for the deferred action for childhood arrivals or daca, program. the latest action would include undocumented immigrants over 30 years old who were brought to the u.s. as children. the president's actions also would block deportation for parents of u.s. citizens or permanent residents, provided those undocumented immigrants have lived in the country since 2010 and pass background checks. joining us now to discuss the case is molly hennessy-fiske, houston bureau chief for the "los angeles times." she was in court in new orleans this morning.

are -- tell us first what are the arguments you heard? >> well, we heard both from the federal government, you had the justice department lawyer who was speaking on behalf of the government arguing that daca and dapa as they are referred the are discretionary programs that are decided case-by-case that it's not a broad sweeping policy that's being imposed on the states and the states don't bear any costs absorbed to that. on the other side, you had texas's solicitor general arguing that in texas in particular they have to pay the cost of drivers licenses and health care costs of the folks who would benefit from these deferred action plans. the judge asked a lot of questions. it was active and animated. sreenavasan: is this a discussion about states rights or immigration policy?

>> depends who you would ask. they did in fact afterwards emerge from court and we had a chance to talk to the solicitor general a little bit. he said this is a constitutional issue, an issue of not an immigration question but an issue of the president overreaching his constitutional authority. but on the other side i think you heard the government lawyer ben mizer saying this was an issue of the federal government make policy and if you allow one state or in this case texas joined by 25 other states to intervene they could intervene at any point on any kind of federal policy to stop it. sreenavasan: so backing up just a bit, how did this case get in front of a court in new orleans? is this the matter of somebody shopping for a favorable outcome based on the judges that will be picked or the circuit? >> well some observers have said that that's what happened that there was judge-shopping going on in terms of where the

original case was filed by the states. it was filed before judge hannan down in southern district of texas. judge hannan could be considered a fairly outspoken conservative judge. on the other hand, the panel that was chosen today was assigned at random. they drew these two judges two of whom were appointed by republican judges, one was appointed by obama. at this point the questions they asked were a real mix. i talked from both sides aft after the hearing and they didn't know how it would turn out on the appellate level. sreenavasan: did they think they got their cases heard, that perhaps the judges were supporting one of the sides? >> they said they felt like the judges asked thoughtful

questions, and that they were fairly open-minded. sreenavasan: okay so what's next here? what's the time line how soon can this court decide and if for example it decides not in the favor of the obama administration, is there the i guess final appeal left for the supreme court? >> well, there's a number of different appeals. what they were dealing with what the panel was dealing with today was specifically the state, the injunction that the judge, the federal judge in texas had imposed halting deferred action. so that judge back in texas is still dealing with the underlying case and the injunction. those are two different things. we were just talking about the stay today. it is unclear how soon the panel could rule on the stay. i checked right before we went open. -- on. they weren't expected to rule, you never know and both sides are anticipated to appeal, if it's not in their favor. they could appeal to the entire fifth circuit or also to the u.s. supreme court.

>> molly hennesy-fiske joining us from new orleans, thanks so much. >> woodruff: now to growing tensions in asia, over who controls contested areas in the south china sea. china has recently tried to expand its claim by dumping tons of sand to build up small reefs into islands, capable of holding military equipment. >> china would rather use its bullying force against a small country like the philippines. >> woodruff: tough words in manila today, and protests outside china's embassy, in what's become a big dispute over a small chain of islands in the south china sea. they're called "the spratlys," about 1,000 miles south of china's hainan province, the archipelago is claimed by vietnam, the philippines taiwan, malaysia and brunei.

but in recent satellite images, it is china that appears to have built up one of the islands, known as the "fiery cross reef" constructing an air strip there. the island is reportedly large enough for a 9,500-foot runway which could accomodate military aircraft. today in beijing, a chinese foreign ministry spokesman defended the project. >> ( translated ): the relevant construction is conducted within china's sovereign territory, it is reasonable, understandable and legal, and it is not targeting or affecting any other country. we hope relevant countries and relevant sides can put it into perspective. >> woodruff: the u.s. has weighed in on the dispute. the commander of american forces in the pacific spoke at a congressional hearing wednesday. >> the implications are, if this activity continues at pace, is that it... it would give them de facto control, i think, in peacetime, of the... much of the world's most important waterways. >> woodruff: the u.s. has

expressed concerns about china's land reclamation, which has gotten so tense at points that chinese ships have blocked vessels from other countries. to help fill in the picture we turn to retired navy admiral dennis blair. he was the commander of all u.s. military forces in the pacific from 1999 to 2002. he also served as the director of national intelligence during president obama's first term. admiral blair thank you for being with us. as we perhaps look at a map again of these islands tell the us who claims these lands out in the south china sea? >> virtually all the islands are claimed by multiple countries. the islands here, the spratleys are claimed by four countries. philippines vietnam china taiwan and malaysia. there are about 100 of those islands some of them are just

reefs, some of them are islands. about 45 of them are occupied but this recent action by china is the most aggressive we've seen judy. woodruff: on what basis is china declaring that it has a claim that no one else does? >> it's interesting, isn't it? as you see from that map china is the furthest away from those islands way down in the southern part of the south china sea. they claim it based on a very old map that in fact came from nationalist chinese officials. to put it in context it's like the united states claiming all the land area of the caribbean based on a monroe map. woodruff: their neighbors in the area are not happy. can you tell us more about what exactly they're doing? we have been reading that they're paving over some of them, adding sand and creating

an airstrip capable of holding a military plane. >> correct. they've had residential down there for almost a year. they're dredging up sand and building up land so they can have as you said in your piece earlier, a 10,000 foot runway which can take most any aircraft and also has a little harbor there that has piers that ships can come alongside and then a lot of storage area sheds, could be petroleum sheds what on. this could be a peace time logistic port, about a thousand miles from where they have to support their ships and aircraft now, whether they be military or coast guard,enen civilian. >> what about the neighbors and the united states worried about? >> well the china has a very

expansive view of what the rights of a latoral country are towards the territory off its coast. whether it be the territorial sea, 12 miles or the exclusive economic zones which go out about 200 miles. china believes that it should have the notification, it should be notified if others -- other countries' military ships are going in there or aircraft. there should not be any reconnaissance. there should not be any naval exercises. so if china were to successfully claim the entire south china sea, which is what they do claim, and apply to the rights of the country it would severely affect the actions of the united states and other countries so it's not acceptable to the united states. woodruff: the united states

has raised some objection he, countries in the region clearly have. where is this going? >> well, i think china is being fairly clever in that they are making their advances in the south china sea by not military forces. by coast guard vessels, by administrative declarations, they create a city which encompasses which they say would administer the south china sea. you remember last year they had a drilling rig that went into waters claimed by vietnam and drilled there for several months. they are using civilian residential. they are very careful to keep it below the military level. nevertheless, if they succeed, and they have been the most aggressive in the last couple of years they will strengthen their claim to have de facto control over this country and be able to force their interpretation of it. so that's where china would like it to go. for their part the claimant

countries, the four who are around it and other countries with an interest like the united states, japan, australia have been, frankly pretty weak in their response. if their objective was to stop china and have it negotiate peacefully china insists that all these are bilateral, if you were the 800 pound gorilla in there. pass out the claims to the five countries that are involved in a fair and equitable way. woodruff: well they certainly managed to get everyone's attention. admiral dennis blair we thank you for talking with us. >> you're welcome judy. >> woodruff: and to the analysis of shields and brooks.

that's syndicated columnist mark shields and "new york times" columnist david brooks. welcome gentlemen its good to have you back together again after a few weeks. so mark let's talk about something not very exciting but it's really important. it's that transpacific partnership. now we know the white house, the administration, a few democrats, a lot of republicans, have come together around apparently. is this a good deal, based on what we know about it? >> well, supporters of trade agreements, with whom the president would argue, with logic, that elevated these trade agreements have raised the standard of living across the globe. they've lifted people out of poverty and led to greater economic activity. they've been a disaster for american workers. a total disaster. beginning with nafta. they have put all the power in the hands of the employer. the employer threatens if you don't go along, if you don't

surrender your bargaining rights, if you don't surrender your health and pension benefits, union membership we'll move your job overseas. consequence of nafta, 22 years ago, documented by our own government, 750,000 jobs lost immediately. 5 million fewer american manufacturing jobs than there were. i just think the pattern, judy has been established in our so it.. so society. the investor class has been protected whether it's copyrights or intellectual property, their investment they just pay lip service to workers rights and i think it's one more example. woodruff: and the president defended it today david that means he is supporting the investor class? >> i don't think so.

the been around the globe as for the domestic workers it's complicated. it has hurt some people in some of the unions. there's no question about it. the unions were dominant in the 1950s, where we had global dominance as the world has unionized, there's no question about that it's hurt. people have fungible skills that ask be replicated in china and india and elsewhere. on the other hand, it has created other jobs, the vast feet of research on this on trade research, economists who are skeptics, i'd say the majority are slightly pro-trade, more pro-trade and think that net net, we've had a growth in jobs and certain industries deaf state -- devastated but other industries grew.

from africa and europe those goods are much, much stronger and our standard of living is much, much better because of these cheap goods we are acutely aware of the losers than there were. there are a ton of winners. >> median household income in the united states was lower in 2012 than it was in 1989. i'm not saying solely because of this but largely because of this. judy if you want to see the dominance of capital, all you can see is the 2008 economic crisis in this country. millions of ordinary americans saw their futures their savings their homes wiped out and they got nothing in the way of relief. those who had caused it who had brought the country to its knees, the big banks and investment companies were made whole. you made a choice. who you going to help who you going to leave to make out for their own?

we have capitalism for rich and high risk for workers. i think this is what it exemplifies. will they defeat the president probably not but the opposition has been weakened over nafta. american workers have lost their clout politically. >> the 2008 crash was not a matter of trade. it was mostly a matter of the interlock financial network and which was not about trading goods and services sort of thing that's involved in this. i don't think that's why the wages have been flat. secondly, on why the wages have been flat have not to do with trade, it has to do with technology. trade is a small, small piece of this. if we were closed in and you were a steel factory in pittsburgh to forge steel with a fraction of the workers it wouldn't matter if we had technology or not.

the technology was there and a lot cheap cheaper. technological advance is why this is. >> i'm saying the template of the trade agreement of 1993 where capital was emphasized and deferred to, and workers were really basically left at the back of the bus. became the dominant model for our economy and it is to this day. it is our politics and it was in 2008 on the bail-out. >> i would just say the president's point that you can't stop the global economy at the water's edge, we're just not going to go there anymore. and the second point which was good one, he acknowledges as i acknowledges the people were hurt by this, if we don't have a level of growth then the whole political economy begins to suffer. when we have no growth the political sector and the political discussion begins to grow embittered. as mark was talking about those

who were hurt by trade, if you don't have growth, we're in a very bitter country. woodruff: all right we're going to go to another place where i know you two will be in complete agreement. iran this is very quick how big a concession this week mark for the president to come around to saying i'll do what the congress wants me to do? i'll let them have a say over this iran nuclear deal? >> important concession. but an example of the political process working the leverage process working, large credit goes to bob corker, a republican of tennessee bob cardon, nontelegenic noninterest seeking, a handful of others say they made it happen. i think it's important. >> it's a big win for the non-telegenic of which there should be more. i would say both sides really

compromised. the president's side really had to compromise so there would be a vote. the republicans exrom he, it is unlikely they are going to win the thing, they're probably going to lose, the timing of the relief and stuff like that, this is something we haven't seen and it's impressive. woodruff: also, what happened this week cans is hillary clinton announced she would be running for president. she went out in a van trying to meet the small group of iowans. >> it was fine unpretentious, unassuming, she went to chip chipotle. she knew what to order. 2008 campaign which she'll put to rest in a hurry to me it came down to it was a bad campaign, better candidate. she retained a very good candidate. remember this, she lost --

woodruff: in '08. >> in '08. she lost 11 contests in a row. barack obama was inevitable. she was defeated in texas, in the battle ground states of ohio and pennsylvania, outspent vastly. i think you know, i think anybody, the biggest opponent she has right now is the political press who cannot stand the coronation in spied of the fact that seven of the last nine winning tickets have had either a clinton or a bush on them in this country. we don't know much about religion or the bible but we do know the david-goliath story. she is goliath and the press is looking for david. she is not going to go absolutely triumphantly to the

ticket. >> i agree she is quite a good candidate. what is striking the last time around, to use ron browrnstein's, she had more the working class letters and the place of that guy that's a natural winner there, not a lot of chablis there. the second thing i would say is i like the unpretentious roll-around, i think it's necessary to have policy. from the get go it's necessary to say i don't only want to be president, this is what i want to do as president. that's a blank open canvas right now. woodruff: do you think she is should have made a big speech? >> it wasn't about her but her policies. she'll unveil that in the future. >> the campaigns are about the voters and i thought that came through. but she hasn't given the raison

detre of her campaign yet. >> marco rubio didn't get quite as much attention as she did but we should say tonight as we have been sitting here, former arkansas governor mike huckabee has announced that he will announce in early may in his home town of hope, arkansas. >> that's right. woodruff: let's talk about marco rubio, where does he fit in this? >> i think marco rubio's entry was quite impressive. he's charismatic. maybe old wine in new bottles, but it's a very good new bottle. he's somebody obviously good about the business which let's be honest is getting elected to office. he has been consistently underweighted, he was an underdog he drove charlie crist, thought only out of the primary out of his party. i think marco rubio has charisma

as well as youth on his side and has to be paid attention to. >> i agree, i think he's the best communicator on hi side by far. two elements to his campaign, two is working class story, dad was bar tender, mom worked at kmart. he has normal roots in america. and what's successful so far is the generational theme. he's young he might as well take advantage of it, he's 43 i guess. he's going to be running against older men on the republican side and presumably hillary clinton. his generation is still undone but i do think he's one of the top three likely to get the nomination. >> who are the other two? >> walker anu bush. iowa does not favor him. south carolina does not favor him. new hampshire he has to do

extremely well in new hampshire. then he has to beat bush in florida. >> nevada? >> he last to win in nevada. >> we had time to talk about this. mark shields and david brooks thank you all so much. >> woodruff: finally tonight, the newest addition to the newshour bookshelf. it's a different take on the civil war era. abc news and npr political commentator cokie roberts' latest book is "capital dames: the civil war and the women of washington, 1848 through 1868." earlier this week, gwen talked with her at busboys and poets here in the d.c. area. >> akiko, thank you for joining cokie. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> this book while we've been talking about the civil war and the heroes of the civil war we know these names but we never hear these names. you have gone back and found

them. >> that is pretty much through our history. one of the reasons i have been writing about women in history, others haven't been. talking about the human race and it may be an inaccurate way of telling the story. ifill: some of the women we basicallily know who clara barton was. some we've never herd of. >> one that totally cracked me up was abigail adams it was the term when he then went to be the union ambassador to england and kept england from fighting with the south. she in the tradition of her grandgrandmother in law and mother-in-law, wrote letters that had never been said before,

that he was ad to a toad or a pig, and then she has one wonderful letter where she says if any young woman wants to have a nice, quiet life i advise her not to marry an adams. ifill: this is true! a lot of women their surnames are the wives of famous women except one interesting woman, the niece of a famous man. president buchanan's niece was a first lady. >> harriet lane, she had lived with him since she was a little girl, her parents had died and she got to know the ways of washington when he was in the cabinet and then went with him to england when he was ambassador to the court of st. james and became a great favorite of queen victoria.

and she had a visit from prince of wales. when he went to mt. vernon he was actually more interested in looking at ms. lane. >> corinne davis. >> she is jefferson davis's wife. she was always widely skeptical of the confet confederacy as a concept. she was always very skeptical. from washington, adele kuts, who was dolly madison's grand niece. it's horrible he thinks he smells bad! ifill: and steven douglas was of the douglas lincoln debate.

>> he ran against lincoln. and after the war was over she and jefferson davis had a somewhat flat relationship and she had a fraught relationship with the south, among other things her grandfather was the governor of new jersey and she was somewhat olive complected. she wasn't appeal pale enough for a southern belle. she wrote i'm free blond and 64 i can go wherever i want. when she got to new york, that was one thing i thought was very interesting. the women affected reconciliation in a variety of ways. >> even though they were another size of the battle. >> the symbolics of the nation.

knew that would be written about. ifill: a lot of these women you described them and they described themselves as belles. that's my point, they were also political, in the way the naked common eye wouldn't have noticed. >> they were deeply political deeply involved in theirs husbands' careers cpped and held their views and sometimes they weren't exactly the same as the men. ifill: and how did you discover all of this? it is one thing to know it or to see the one line in the history book. or another to hear in these women's own words or the ones of female reporters a lot of the time. >> you go searching for letters among the letters, a few of them have letters that have been published in books thank god because that means they were

actually transcribed. historic societies university libraries which are actually quite cooperative right now, and with modern technology, they would scan these handwritten letters and send them to you. and then the challenge is being able to read them. and i had some help with that. >> well, i want to talk with you some more online about another woman you put on this book, elizabeth keckley who i thought was really important. >> very importantly. >> from a different point of view. cokie roberts, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: again, the major developments of the day: president obama held a news conference at the white house and called the senate's delay of a vote on his nominee for attorney general "crazy" and "embarrassing." he also defended his plan to sign a bill that would give congress a say on a final nuclear deal with iran. and, iraqi officials announced

government forces believe they've killed the last member of saddam hussein's inner circle, issat ibrahim al-douri. he was killed near tikrit, where he was helping islamic state militants. on the newshour online right now, is the gender gap for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics as wide as we're always told? on our "making sen$e" page, a research psychologist offers a different look at efforts to attract girls and young women into "stem." all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and a reminder about some upcoming programs from our pbs colleagues. "washington week" airs later this evening. and on pbs newshour weekend saturday, will a series of lawsuits force the government to do more to fight climate change? a crowd paraded recently outside the courthouse in eugene, oregon.

kids, teachers, parents there were even singing grandmas. all hoping to draw attention to what this young woman was doing inside. >> your honor, i have the counsel with me,. >> kelsey juliana is only 19 years old but she's suing the state of oregon claiming it's not doing near enough to stop climate change and the effects it will have on her generation and those to come. >> if the state does not act now we are facing irreversible catastrophic crises. >> woodruff: that's tomorrow night on pbs newshour weekend. and we'll be back, right here, on monday, with a look at the hunger crisis in south sudan. we talk with the head of the united nations world food program. that's the newshour for tonight, i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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