anything that gives me some breathing room makes a difference. membership helps make the most of your cashflow. i'm nelson gutierrez of strictly bicycles and my money works as hard as i do. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. the deal is holding but for how long? there are two ways at looking at the sudden blitz of activity that played out in the senate this week. one is optimistic. in the span of three days republic-led filibuster against four of president obama's nominees for executive key positions was killed off, then confirmed. the protection bureau created under the dodd/frank act that finally has for the first time

in its history a full-time con confirmed director, richard c d cordray. on wednesday, fred hockberg and on thursday mccarthy overcame filibuster and confirmed as new director of the environmental protection agency. for months, years in some cases, president obama has been pleading with senate republicans to let him put his own executive branch team in place. the republicans have just thumbed their noses at him. that changed this week. and the reason is simple. democrats decided they had enough of the obstruction and told republicans they were ready to use a simple majority vote to change the rules. to stop subjecting nominees for executive branch positions to filibusters, the so-called nuclear option. republicans, enough of them anyway, decided the threat was real and so they cut a deal. they would relent and allow votes on four nominees who went through this week and for three

more nominees for national labor relations board, two this month or one next year. that amounted to promise of three more nominations and the possibility republicans will think twice before resuming filibuster on nominations going forward. a pretty dramatic change from where we've been. the pessimistic take. the deal isn't sustainable. it took the first 24 hours to show that might be a case. a meeting of senate republicans on wednesday grew tense as senate minority leader mitch mcconnell told his people he could have gotten a better deal. bob corker, called, b.s., loud enough for the room to hear except he didn't say b.s. he said the whole word i can't say

here. lindsey graham insisted, quote, senator mcconnell was completely informed about what was going on. it's not hard to see why mcconnell doesn't want republicans identifying him with the deal because the overwhelming reaction to it from conservatives but in the senate, on the air waves across the country, it's been outrage. republicans pledged to provide votes to allow nominees to reach the floor and win confirmation, in exchange republicans got, well, pretty much nothing. there wasn't any deal, richard shelby, conservative republican from alabama said. they got what they wanted, we basically got rolled. that's why vast majority of republicans, 29 in the senate, stopped the filibuster of cordray on tuesday. six filibustered perez for labor secretary. in the era of the tea party, there's immense pressure on republican lawmakers to constantly prove their purity to the base. which means they're still a

strong political insensitive to keep on filibustering and also a political risk to end a filibuster on any of president obama's nominees. for that matter, on any bill that president obama is supporting. but for the deal that was struck to hold, for it to work long term, there are going to have to be republican senators willing to take that risk. if not, we'll be right back where we started. with republicans reverting to unanimous, unyielding obstruction and democrats once again threatening to change the rules with the nuclear option. executive branch nominations are only a small part of the problem. there's still obama's federal court picks and all legislation in general. this week's deal does not touch the de facto 60 vote requirement republicans imposed on that front. what if the roles are reversed in a few years? a republican president and republican senate? any rules democrats make now will apply to future republican majority. even if democrats don't change anything, there would be nothing to stop that future republican

majority from acting on its own to change the rules. in other words, what happened this week probably is just another chapter in the argument about the filibuster and not the end of it. amanda turco from huffington post, michael dougherty, who edits the slurve.com, mo cowen, former democratic senator from massachusetts who served in john kerry's seat until this week, and parliamentary of the senate, only person to serve under both parties. alan, you know the rules of the senate like nobody else on the planet, i would say. i would start with you and what the deal -- we have nominations going through right now so the senate is functioning in a way it hasn't. what do you think long-term implications are this week? >> i think it's wonderful the senate backed down from the brink. i think it was very important

that a critical mass step forward and say, we must find compromise, procedural compromise as well as political koch myself. the quote/unquote, nuclear option is something that i believe should never be emptimented. i advise senators over the years to find every possible way to compromise to avoid a situation where basically the presiding officer just declares black to be white. i was heartened by the fact that g going up to the brink, they backed down from the brink. i heaved a huge sigh of relief when the deal was stuck. >> as i said in the opening, the thing that jumped out at me this week is that vote on perez for labor secretary where he got the bare minimum, 60 votes.

you need 60 votes to call a filibuster. 60 votes. it smoke to me about the reluctance of republicans to cast a vote that in the republican universe can be portrayed as betrayal of the cause. to me if that exists on every confirmation going forward, its going to break down at some point. >> i'm skeptical the senate will be sunshine and lollipops from here on out. some senators have held open the possibility of filibustering the nominee for homeland security. i think we'll see that going forward. coming out of this this looked very bad for mitch mcconnell. i think it's b.s. he could have gotten a better deal since he met with harry reid on monday evening and said, this is my last offer, i will let my nominees go through but you have to promise not to change the rules. hae reed said, i have a better deal with mcconnell. i don't need you.

this looks bad for mitch mcconnell. >> we've said b.s. in the first three minutes. senator, you were down there right until this week, in the senate this year. i wonder if you could give us a sense what the culture of the senate has been like when it comes to the filibuster, what the conversations are like between senators. >> sure. you first i think the republican caucus did get something in this deal. they retain the right to filibuster. the 60 vote majority to bring things on the floor. that's still in play. i agree with amanda, i don't think this conversation is over for the long haul. w we'll see this, maybe when mel watt comes to the floor for fhfa. we'll see how long this hold. in the body you have a number of senators, particularly in the

majority, some in first term, some freshman chafing at the bit -- at this filibuster requirement. and they feel like the democratic has the majority and the republican party is getting in the way of some good business for the country. and so what we saw last week was the majority leader, harry reid, reacting to and responding to the demands of his caucus. i think we also saw the senate actually work fairly well. 98 of 100 senators came together to discuss this issue. it may seem like inside baseball to folks out there but it's important the caucuses came together to discuss the issues, to air their concerns, debate the issue and then that resulted in the deal we saw tuesday morning. if there's anything -- i wonder

if you could address -- it seems to me there's a generational divide within each party's caucus. democrats who are newer. carl levin, veteran democrat from michigan, was still not on board with the nuclear option. reid got every other democrat. at the same time it looked like you had john mccain, a senate institutionalist helping cut the deal, but newer republicans like rand paul, ted cruz who were a little less willing to work that way, did you pick up on the generational divide on either side while you were down there? >> i think it is generational, the newer senators, particularly on the democratic side who have never been in the minority up. heard senator levin speak about that. the debate is often among those senators who have been there for more than one term, who have been in majority and minority and they talk about the difference between the two and the concern for the senate becoming the house where the majority absolutely rules and

minority is absolutely without power. there's a fear among the older, more seasoned senators that the senate could evolve into the same fashion. you have the younger, newer democrats, on both sides, frankly, who say we've been here to get something don done. we're willing to upset the apple cour cart to make things happen. you have some republicans who are new to the situation who say, maybe this isn't a bad idea because we're going to be in the majority and wouldn't it be nice to get things done with 51 votes. >> michael, senator cowen talks about the right to filibuster. i wonder how long they can push that before we're right back here. it doesn't seem to move republicans. >> what you're seeing is derek i think historically what we're looking at is the ideological

division of the parties -- cantor ma joerty filibusters were made for countries separated by states but you have parties ideological divided, to push it like the filibuster. and i think they really feel that pressure. i mean, there is a kind of national culture to the conservative movement where everyone from rush limbaugh to rand paul gets an equal say in this debate and gets to push it very far. it's not like 40 or 50 years ago where you had liberal republicans or conservative democrats, or you had sectional interests that could check these kind of accesses. i don't see that -- i don't see that pressure letting up any time soon. >> right. i want to pick up that point because, you know, i think the story -- one of the stories of modern politics is we are

legislatively we're becoming more parliamentary, like britain, two national parties and each party will use whatever tool is available legislatively to pursue its own interests, to stymie the other side, and i wonder how that affects the filibuster on everything, if that's a sustainable tool in a culture like that.

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we'll play a clip here. mitch mcconnell saying, hey, luck, the filibuster is still here and we still intend to use it. >> we will still be dealing with controversial nominees in a way controversial nominees produce a great debate and all the options

available to the minority remain intact. but i think if you look at the nominations of this administration, many of them have been noncontroversial, you know, penny prisker, new secretary of transportation, secretary of state, but the ones that generated controversy generated controversy. so, i think our reaction to these nominees will depend on the quality of these nominees and how controversial they are. >> he talks about how uncontroversial the secretary for state was. part of the reason john kerry's nomination was uncontroversial because they made a brig deal about susan rice and said, if you nominate john kerry, it will be easy and that sailed there. there's also this question of the federal courts and this deal does not apply to that. you can have de facto threshold, and the other big story of the obama presidency has been

legislatively, basically everything that's not a reconciliation other than health bill will require 60 vote. isn't it sort of a relic? >> i don't think it's a relic. the senate stands alone as the only institution in the federal government that pays homage to the prerogatives of the party. a vision for the senate. so procedurally i believe that's appropriate. the question is applying that and whether or not that paradigm has gone too far. with respect to nominations, the senate began this congress by distinguishing different types of nominees. i think there's substantial -- i believe there is a sound policy basis for looking at executive branch nominees. and limiting to some extent the

extent to which they can be filibustered. i would take a -- i have a different opinion with respect to life appointees. article 3 judges, their nominations, i believe, are truly significant. they're effect lifz well beyond the appointment and it's critically important to retain some leverage there. >> can you -- amanda, if this is a tool that the republican party is the minority party and this is just a tool they can use, really anywhere they choose to use it, the filibuster, what is the standard a minority party, every member who doesn't use a filibuster is accused of impurity in the republican universe? what is a standard that can be applied short of doing away with the filibuster that makes it functional? that's the part i can't see. >> senator jeff merkley, i recently spoke with him at an event and he said, look, we need

to put in place what we would be comfortable with if we were in the minority. harry reid is not someone who really wants to go out and change the rules. i think he pushed for this narrow reform, sort of like alan was saying, because i think many senators were saying the president should choose his own cabinet. a majority -- the president's party should be able to approve his cabinet nominees. lifetime nominees to judicial spots, i think more people are a little bit hesitant to change the rules. many pro-choice democrats, for example, are worried republicans could therefore get a lot of judges in place who would roll back roe v. wade, abortion rights, and i think for legislation that's where a lot more senators, a lot more people who have been in the senate, but even newer senators look at that and say, if we were in the minority this might not be a good idea. background checks could have

gone through, so could the legislation that was much more expansive to gun advocates. so i think there's just a lot more hesitation there. i think that's where you sort of have these three blocks of ways to change the rule. the executive branch nominees are the ones most people are comfortable with. >> i think there's also an element -- i talked about the ideological pressure to use counter measures. except for time after watergate the majority cedes authority to secretary. in the laws they pass it says, secretary shall determine, secretary shall determine. that cabinet is not just advising but implementing and creating policy. you are, in effect, replacing what you might have done 30, 40

years ago. on the other side, what you might are done with investigation or oversight, another function of the -- >> but it becomes -- i mean, this is -- i think the term new nullification to describe -- what you're getting at, if republicans have philosophical objection, they're going to fill bulser the nominee for that as a way of not letting the agency function because they don't have the votes to pass legislation that would do away with it, they filibuster the nominee. >> and i think we saw that this week. we had my friend from south carolina, senator graham, he came right out and said, look, the republicans were wrong. wrong to filibuster rob cordray, not because there was anything wrong or unqualified but the republican caucus has an issue with this agency. it was the first time in history this has happened. it was remarkable senator graham acknowledged that openly and publicly. we are seeing much more of that

now where the senate, at least certain members of the senate, are expanding the definition of devise and consent. it's not just about the agency. it's about the agency or law or the circumstances that gave rise to the candidacy. i think our founding fathers, i don't think if they thought we were going to employ them in this way, to obstruct, that this is what they had in mind. i think that's what is at the core of all this. you have this frustration perhaps in some of the things in years passed, decades past made their way through the senate in a compromised bipartisan fashion are getting bogged down and even the simplest thing gets filibustered or threat of filibuster so you have a number of senators saying, wait a minute, we can't continue to function this way on we need to exercise this power, the so-called nuclear option, to make sure this body is working in the fashion the founding fathers wanted it to.

>> i want to talk about -- amanda started to get into this a minute ago, but we have election in 2014 and could change the balance in washington. for a medical convention loses his computer, exposing thousands of patient records to identity theft. data breaches can happen that easily. we don't believe you should be a victim of someone else's mistake. we're lifelock. we constantly monitor the web so if any of your personal information is misused, we're on it. ♪ ow. [ male announcer ] call 1-800-lifelock or go to lifelock.com today.

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i've been living in a fool's paradise! oh boy... there you go... morty just summed it up. the next 44 years we'll be fine. so, part of the context for the discussion about filibuster reform has to do with a map i want to put up here. this is the 2014 u.s. senate race map. republican house seats in red, democratic house seats in blue. 20 democratic seats up, 15 republican. big asterisk in republican. a lot more turf to defend for republicans. there's a real possibility, especially in montana where democrats failed to get their dream candidate the other day, brian schweitzer. in 2016, who knows, it's very

possible republicans could win the nomination. it's a situation after 2016 a republican president, a narrow majority in the house and if you have any changes now to the filibuster, that could come back to bite democrats. senator, is that something they're pushing for is aware? i know carl levin is trying to remind them but are they aware of it? >> i'm aware of it. i listened to mitch mcconnell make the case why there should be no nuclear option and list what they call the parade of horribles the republican caucus would put into play, number one on the list is obama care. certainly, that's part of the discussion. as i said earlier, whether it's carl levin or a few other senior senators say, listen, dial this back a little bit and think about what you're doing here. and if you don't want the senate to become the house where the

majority will decide everything and the minority -- existence in minority is very difficult, unexpired difference, you have to understand, we won't be in majority forever, the tide will turn and all of a sudden you'll understand what it will mean to be in the minority. we must dial this back, figure out how we work within our existing set of rules to make this work better because that parade of horribles is real, and you will experience that. but that's still going up against the frustration of newer members who say, listen, then we must seize this moment, then, if that is the case. we are in the majority. let's make things happen. >> part of the case you hear from democrats is, well, let's say we don't do anything, don't change the rules and republicans get the legislative executive majority in 2016. they wouldn't hesitate for a second to change the rules so we might as well do it now. >> they threatened to go nuclear -- republicans

threatened to go nuclear in 2005, for example, and they didn't. i think this is why democrats feel a lot of urgency so get some of president obama's nominees through right now, especially his judicial nominees, the d.c. circuit. if obama fills the vacancy, democratic appointees will be on that court and right now the d.c. circuit has been hard on obama, saying his recess appointments to the nlrb, national labor relations board, are unconstitutional. there's a lot of urgency for democrats to fill that court whereas republicans, like chuck grassley, for example, are really trying to stall it as much as possible. >> alan, that's sort of maybe one of the next big phases in testing this deal is what happens on the judicial nominations in the immediate future. >> once again, i believe it's legitimate to distinguish between judicial nominees and executive branch nominees. i do think the president has a much greater claim to have his executive branch nominees considered with the filibuster

either limited somehow -- i don't believe in doing away with, it but i think you can quantify executive branch nominations and somehow impose some limits on filibusters there. with respect to the discussion before the break, i believe the policy battle should be fought legislatively. once the battle is done and legislation has been enacted, the administration is entitled to empimplement that. i think from a policy standpoint and administration, a president is on firm grounds to believe that filibustering his cabinet nominees, his administrative nominees is somehow inappropriate. >> i want to thank amanda teshgle with "the huffington post," mo cowen will be back with us later, and alan fruman. if you want to understand the roots of this month's abortion fights in texas, you need to go back to something ronald reagan did 33 years ago this past week. accomplishing even little things can become major victories. i'm phil mickelson, pro golfer.

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see if you can spot a

pattern here. this week in texas a standoff spanning two months, one marathon filibuster from wendy davis culminated when governor perry signed law banning abortions after 20 weeks. perry seems interested in running for republican presidential nomination in 20 16. in ohio governor john kasic also in the mix for the 2016 gop nomination. so is wisconsin's scott walker who used the slowest news day of the year, the friday after the fourth of july, to stage a camera-free signing ceremony for a ban mandating ultrasound for women seeking abortions. marco rubio is being pressured to lead the push in the senate for a ban on abortions after 20 weeks that house republicans recently passed. we've talked a lot since last november's election about fracturing or potential

fracturing in the republican party, but when tmz-t comes to the issue of abortion, that fracturing is nowhere to be seen. if you're an ambitious republican politician, a member of congress who wants to run for governor or senate or a governor or senator who's dreaming of running for the white house, if you're that kind of ambitious republican it's no longer just enough to say you're pro life. there is more pressure with the kind of legislation we've ever seen before, there is more pressure in state capitols and on capitol hill to enact that kind of legislation. there are fewer incentives than ever to stand up to that pressure and to say no. if you want to understand how we reached this moment, when and why the wheels were set in motion, the best place to start is joe louis arena 33 years ago this past week. this is where the basic fault line originated. it's where the gender gap was born. the 1980 republican national

conventions gaveled to order july 30, 1980. there was no suspense over who the presidential nominee was going to be. ronald reagan locked that up in the primaries. but no one knew who the vp was going to be. smart money said he would turn to gerald ford, extremely unconventional move and reflected the very real divisions that defined the republican party of that era. reagan, of course, represented the ascendant right would it, true believers, a full frontal assault on big government. the forerunners to the tea party republicans we know today. but the right wing did not have a monopoly on the gop. at least not yet. there was still a lot of republican moderates and practicing mastics like gerald ford, and even liberals. one of those liberal republicans had just bolted the party to run for president in 1980 as an independent. it was john anderson, a congressman from illinois.

and he was a threat to reagan because he could peel off republicans who didn't want to re-elect jimmy carter but also thought reagan was too far to the right. this is why ford was the smart money choice to be vp as convention opened. it would be a dramatic gesture to republicans who were not part of the new right, or those who didn't trust the new right. a gesture to them to suggest there was still room for them in the party. the need for that gesture became clearer as reagan's delegates assemed the platform. it started to leak where they arrived in detroit for convention and they would call for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. for the first time ever it would endorse a specific litmus test on abortions for appointments. the platform would no longer endorse equal rights amendment, a staple of both party's platforms for four decades. that platform is what prompted

this scene in detroit at the start of the convention, a scene unimaginable today. socially liberal republicans, convention delegates, activists among them, joining with women's groups to protest reagan's platform. gerald ford was one of the many republicans who supported the e.r.a. when he was president he declared august 26, 1975 to be women's equality day. he issued a proclamation calling for enactment of the e.r.a. the reagan/ford negotiations broke down that week in detroit which let reagan to another e.r.a. supporter. >> i support the equal rights amendment. i believe in equal pay for equal opportunity. >> yep, that guy. that was george h.w. bush. he was many things during his political career but 1980 he was the last great hope of moderate and liberal republicans. their final chance to turn back the new right in the tide of reaganism. bush's family personified a dying strain of republicanism.

his father had lost an election because of his support of planned parenthood. not only did the younger bush support the e.r.a. in 1980, he also called himself pro-choice. >> i don't want to change the supreme court decision to outlaw abortion. >> bush gave reagan a scare in his 1980 primaries. he scored an upset in iowa before the caucus was overrun with evangelical conservatives. it was reagan's year. more than ever, it was reagan's party. when the offer came in detroit for the number two slot, bush was happy to take it. and to start distancing himself from his socially liberal past. already he was thinking ahead to 1988 and the next open gop nomination. you could see where the wind was blowing. reagan ended up crushing jimmy carter. there was a quirk in those results. there was a demographic split that had never before been seen. there was a gender gap. look at this, four years earlier

when carter had run against ford, pro-e.r.a. ford, zero difference between men and women. they voted by carter by the same small margin. 1980 was different. among men reagan demolished carter. among women it was a tie. when that platform was ratified in 1980, charles percy of illinois had a warning for his party. he said if moderate republicans go home and feel they've been totally rebuffed i hate to think what's going to happen to the party. the path from then until now and then is long and complicated but 3 3 years later we have our answer. we'll talk about how that 1980 platform and how it more than ever we're feeling its fallout in 2013. looked nice?

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[ male announcer ] that's handy. with an advanced degree inoking education from capellalp them university, full potential. you'll be better equipped to deal with today's issues and make an even greater impact. let's get started at capella.edu. we were talking about the origin and evolution offed gepder gap and what's happening in texas and other states.

susan beavan, pro-choice republicans, and linda lake who has done work for emily's list and kim gandy, former president of n.o.w., and michael is back here with us. kim, i want to start with you. we did a little history there leading up to 1980. i think it's something people who aren't by matly familiar with that history are surprised to find out, wow, there used to be a lot of republicans who identify themselves as pro-choice. also, you know, that 1980 platform, that was seven years after roe verse wade. we think of the republican party as the top to bottom anti-abortion party but it took a long time for that to take hold in the party. what was going on back then that brought that about? >> that's quite true. there was a realignment of the two parties that started in that year, 1980, when the republican party went from being

pro-e.r.a., pro-choice, generally pro-civil rights moving very didn'tly away from those positions, moving away from a pro-labor position that started with patco -- >> the air traffic controllers. >> one of his first acts. but we were all shocked when george h.w. bush changed his position. he had been part of the equal rights amendment, progressive new england republican -- typical new england republican at the time. the republican party still doesn't have new england, you know, that genesis that still holds in that part of the country but it's become very difficult, i think, for republicans to maintain the kinds of positions that were extremely common prior to 1980. >> well, susan, is that sort of the story of what happened in the republican party? was it just sort of a demographic shift? you talk abouted old new england republicans. used to be a strongly republican region in a lot of places and they were sort of culturally

liberal republicans. basically new england is a blue region and they are dominated by the rise of the evangelical south. is that part of the composition, they changed? >> i think it started way before the 19d 80 convention. my parents were precinct committee people in our suburb outside of seattle, that's how we did it. people would come in -- i've talked to my mom about this many times. people would come in with this issue only on their mind. as soon as this issue was off the table, they left, they didn't care about the other issues we were facing in our state or country. they had been working at this for a very long time. i think, you know, after years and years of this, it culminated in 1980 but it didn't start there. >> michael, a big part of this, as i know the story, the rise of evangelical christians because

were typically -- that changed with roe v. wade in '73 and carter carried the evangelical in '76. >> the story of evangelicals in politics is very complicated. you have evangelical theologianses who were pro-choice in '60s and '70s. he thought anti-abortion didn't belong in evangelical circles. he justified that with a lot of bunk -- what we know as bunk science as far as his views were. just kind of made up stuff about biology. but i think where this begins is in the realignment that nixon started. that brought over a lot of working class ethnic whites who were catholic into the republican fold for the first time since, you know, their great, great grandparents immigrated during the first wave of migration. it weakened -- that weakened in turn the pro-life democrat side of things.

you kind of lost that northeastern conservative family oriented working class catholic vote. of course, the evangelicals began pouring in for reagan. they voted for clinton as late as 1992, when you really dig into the numbers. i wonder if this gender gap that opened up after 1980 isn't just about women's issues but is really about -- a lot of women don't see something in conservativism in them for them generally. my mother was a single mother, never would have voted for a republican. republicans offered her nothing. i don't know if it's just about women's issues. i think there's women who are not part of a successful family life, don't feel a part of the republican coalition in a kind of basic way. >> we have a pollster here who could speak to some of that. i want to look at what started in 1980 with the gender gap and how that evolved.

we have interesting numbers and a fascinating clip that's 20 years old. we'll play that coming up next. ♪

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we looked at 1980 a few minutes ago as the origin story for the gender gap as we now know it. i want to show, 1976 carter versus ford, no discernible gender gap. 1980 and this is what it's looked like ever since. we have the stats here for every election since then. there you go. you can just see it got a little tight in 1992, the clinton/bush/perot year. almost consistently a double-digit gender gap in every election since then. celinda, michael makes a point it's not just abortion that drives the issue. it doesn't seem coincidental it's the year the republicans throw the e.r.a. out of their platform, embrace the constitutional amendment to ban abortion, the protests from modern liberal republicans, a lot from the northeast. it does seem, quote/unquote,

women's issues have played a big role in the formation. >> i think women's issues have played a big role. we were at the -- we first found the gender gap and it's in the role of government. it's rooted in the role of government. and women think there should be a more proactive role for government in economics, in protecting women's rights and these rights had just -- we remember when abortion was illegal. the republicans saying, no, no role for government but having this ironic position of no role for governments in economics but a heavy role for government in your bedroom. there was a very big tension around role of government. the other thing in 1980 was the war. women were terrified of ronald reagan around war and thought he could easily nuke russia. there were a lot of factors. the thing i find interesting is the gender gap has persisted and

with you we now have the marriage gap. unmarried women voting totally democratic, marriage gap three times the gender gap and that's accentuated by the -- like you said, your mom a single mom, issues around health care, abortion, preventive health care. when you close two-thirds of the clinics in texas you close places where people get mammograms, birth control, this is basic for women. >> marriage gap, i want to get into that but i teased before the break, a clip from 1982, a key step in the evolution of the gender gap. i'll explain the significance after. this is bill weld, then governor of massachusetts, 1992 national convention. >> there are also issues where we don't agree. i happen to think that individual freedom should extend to a woman's right to choose.

>> so, bill weld was pro-choice. he went to the convention that year to have a platform fight on abortion. he wanted republicans to acknowledge pro-choice republicans in their platform. he needed six states. he got four. the significance of that is, as far as i can tell, that is the last time there was any kind of concerted push at national level in the republican party to open up the question -- the question of abortion. and i wonder, susan, when you look at that history and what was put in the platform in 1980, the futility of what weld did in 198 2, the fact there's been no follow-up since then, what is the place these days for a pro-choice republican in the party? >> of course, i get asked that a lot. the majority of republicans are pro-choice, at least they were. a lot of republicans are leaving the party over issues like this. the party has shrunk so proportion that is pro-choice, gets smaller. and has left the more extreme

ends of the party. to me it's incredibly frustrating. i was watching your first clip. i worked for george h.w. bush when i just graduated from law school and i did advance work for him just before i took the bar exam. he was pro-choice. of course, or i wouldn't have worked for him. it was highly disappointing when he ended up throwing us all under the bus, kind of like mitt romney did, who asked us for his endorsement when he was running for governor. as soon as he decided he had national aspirations, he said, we owe you. you neutralized the issue. that's what we want. we want the issue neutralized. it should not be in politics, regardless of how you feel about viability or life or any of those issues. we're all pro-life. i had three children i wanted. i'm pro-life. i'm anti not making choices for yourself. i believe you should make your own decisions.

i find it inconsistent in a party that believes in limited government, would then make those decisions for you. we do keep -- or organization keeps trying to put that discussion out there by informing people as much as possible. kind of goes back to what celinda was saying you have to vote in your primaries because that's where this issue is being determined. >> i want to talk about that and connect what we've just been talking about to, you know, texas, to ohio, to north carolina, wisconsin, everything's going on in states across the country right now. that's me... i made you something. ♪ i made you something, too. ♪ see you next summer. ♪ [ male announcer ] get exceptional values on the highest quality cars at the summer of audi sales event. ♪

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wisconsin, the motorcycle abortion, we can talk about that, but michael i want to ask you about the conservative movement and its approach toward the issue of abortion. it seems we set this up talking about how this got into the republican platform with reagans in 1980. i think there was a transition in the last decade or so when reagan was president he gave lip service to the issue of abortion. >> right. >> i don't think there was a lot of aggressive action at national level, state legislative level. they just talked about it. that seemed to be okay with the base. did we reach a point where they say, we're tired of talking about this. we need to see a bill you signed? >> yeah, that's exactly it. pro-lifers have gone to the mat for their candidates in almost every election. they're the ones out there knocking on doors for george w. bush, et cetera. and then their issue seems to disappear off the radar. rick santorum standing up in the senate alone in 2004 and that's

the last they heard from the republican party. there is demand for action. this is also, i mean, part of these pushes for the 20-week bans and for all of these regulations on the clinics themselves, what size the hallway has to be and size sinks, this is them taking advantage of a new cycle out of the kermit gosnell trial in the way gun control advocates try to seize momentum after the school shooting in connecticut. so, that's part of this, is that they've seen this opening to do these limited things, like 20-week bans or these regulations on clinics. normally republicans are loathed to talk about this because a republican politician, this may not be his or her issue, they don't care about it that much and then they end up putting their foot in their mouth, like todd akin and go beyond the issue of abortion and offend women more generally or say

something stupid about rape or whatever. there's been this reluctance to do anything about it, but i think just in this -- in this little season of this year, there's been this concerted push. >> celinda, our numbers expert here, i want to ask you about this. you mentioned the idea of a marriage gap in terms of attitudes towards the party, toward abortion. when you poll, it really depends how you ask the question. first, trimester, 60% will say legal. second trimeser, 60% will say illegal. you ask should you overturn roe, two to one, no, we shouldn't overturn roe. i wonder how stuff we're seeing like in texas right now, you ask the question about like a 20-week ban in texas in the poll and it shows there's more support than opposition. there's other stuff in here about clinics. there's other aspects to the legislation. i wonder how this is all playing with the electorate. how do you filter it through when you look at numbers?

>> texas is a great example. when you talk about details -- first of all, america is not very good at math. my favorite focus group comment was a guy who said, how many trimesers were there in pregnancy. nobody said, tri means three, you idiot. america is not very good at math. what you do see emerging in texas and north carolina is a central premise that these are women's personal decisions. you both mentioned this. and that if you're talking about 20 week year talking about 1% of all abortions. you're talking about crisis pregnancies. these are decisions that should be made by women's and their doctors, not by politicians. one of the strongest statements we tested is, you wouldn't ask your doctor what kind of cancer treatment to get. you wouldn't ask your doctor whether you should get mammogram. these aren't -- i mean, you wouldn't ask a politician, you would ask your doctor. these are not places for politicians to be intervening either. politicians are doing things like -- now they're talking

about six-week bans. they don't know anything about biology. >> texas we had drama over 20 weeks and now proposal to make it six weeks. kim, when you look at the sweep of history on this, it's been 40 years since roe v. wade, where do you think we are when it comes to the question of abortion, politics of abortion? how do you see this moment? >> you know, i think that for the pro-choice movement, i think we're moving in the right direction because i think that the -- that there will be a back lash against these really outrageous regulations. and the fact that the more extreme anti-abortion part of the anti-abortion movement has also made it very clear they're also anti-family planning. and i think that surprised everyone. ten years ago when we were saying, they're also against family planning. oh, no no one's against family planning. here we have 57 family planning clinics closing in texas.

and only, what, 14 of them performed abortions. the rest of them were only doing family planning and they're closed anyway. and these trap laws, are closing clinics all over the country with regulations like hallways wide enough for two gurneys passing side by side, never mind you'll have two gurneys closing side by side in a little abortion clinic. they're making rules so outrageous clinics can't abide by them. >> there seems to be awareness of how danger this is politically. this is just yesterday, a debate in virginia against ken cuccinelli, one of the most conservative republicans in the country, running in virginia, a purplish state. this is how he addressed abortion in the debate yesterday. >> i don't expect to use the

political capital of the governor's office to be moving those pieces of legislation. my focus is on job creation and job growth. >> those pieces of legislation, referring to the sort of thing we've seen in texas and other states. i want to play one more quick clip. we talked about north carolina, republican governor is expected to sign, you know, a bill -- a law that would make it very difficult for a lot of clinics in north carolina to keep functioning. this is the north carolina republican governor who just last fall was running an election like ken cuccinelli asked about possibly doing something like that and this is what he said in the debate. >> if you're elected governor, what further restrictions on abortion would you agree to sign. >> none. >> all right. can't really do a follow-up for that one. >> susan, they get that this is perilous says nothing and then they get into office and signing

the motorcycle bill and ken cuccinelli is uncomfortable having the broad population of virginia see him as the crusading anti-abortion guy. >> well, i mean, it's politics. it's what's get them elected and the group of people that give them money. you say, where are the moderate republicans? well, we're here but we're quiet and we're not giving as much money as extremists are to push their causes. i think it goes back to term limits. i think if we didn't have people continually playing to tightly defined ideological group that has been created for them through redistricting, then pretty soon they'd have to figure out in order to run the government, you have to cooperate. you don't hire somebody to do a job to stand on your tiny little platform and be buffeted by the winds. you have to reach out and work across the aisle to get something done. that doesn't happen. >> you know, steve, that's the big point here. the thing that voters are really stunned about is that we're spending this kind of time on this. 77% of the voters in every

single state said, you can't find another issue to worry about? we had two special sessions. a focus group woman said, they're working on my birth control. thought settled in 1960. >> that's the tension of governing a broad general election audience, if you're a republican it seems one of the chief demands of republican is abortion -- >> of the primary. >> right. people voting in the primary, right. >> there absolutely is. i would say one thing to correct earlier -- there was a report yesterday that almost no clinics in texas were going to close down. they would make these changes. no one announced they would close. >> planned parenthood announced one would be closing. >> it was reported yesterday less than five have made any moves to close. >> that's because it's being challenged. >> right. >> most of them have already announced they're going to comply with regulations. but i would say that the

republican party has been -- there is a lot of pressure to do something on things like this. issues of family planning come up because there was a change in the -- or announced position in hhs regulation that, okay, if you are a catholic school, you have to provide birth control as part of the normal health insurance you provide, which they don't do. that became for some a religious liberty issue. translated to a politician who has no clue about what the church teaches or how they practice or how insurance plans are run at all, it becomes a political grenade in their hands and they pull the pin and blow up. but there will be continue to be pressure on this. when you look at the most anti-abortion activists in the republican party, they give money, they give more -- the more money, they give time and effort in trying to elect you. they show up at primaries.

and half of them are women. when you look at gallup and pew polls, you ask the question, do you want to ban all abortions? you get the exact same number of men as women, sometimes more. it's going to continue to be a part of republican party politics. i think there will be some diffusion of the issue in the future as technology changes, turns the debate but for now republicans will continue to put this pressure on. >> i want to talk about what the future is for pro-choice republicans and what the future is for democrats who oppose abortions, if there is a future as well or a partisan issue going forward.

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we started talking about whether abortion has become or is in the process of becoming really just a partisan issue. if you're a democrat, de facto pro-choice. i want to play a clip here. it's six years old but it's rudy giuliani, really the last pro-choice republican to run for president. this is the idea -- this is what it looks like in this era of a pro-choicer running as a republican. this is how he has to talk. >> on okay to repeal? >> would it be okay to repeal? would it be okay if a judge viewed it as -- >> would it be okay if they didn't repeal it. >> i think the court has to make that decision and the court can deal with it, where a federalist system of dwogovernment and sta can make their own decisions. >> not a ringing endorsement of the philosophy, the pro-choice philosophy. it seems like -- again, he went

nowhere and there's probably a lot of reasons rudy giuliani fizzled as presidential candidate in 2008. it seemed every time he talked about this issue, he seemed apologetic about it. he seemed to get that term in there, strict constructionist judges, always promising to nominate them, as code for someone who will overturn roe v. wade. it made me think, what is the point of running if that's the kind of promises you have to make. can you imagine a pro-choice republican running in 2016? is there any out there? >> running or winning? >> winning a state. let's say that hasn't win since george bush sr. >> it's complicated. as a president it's different than running in congress. in congress you speak to a smaller constituency. you owe your allegiance to them. as a presidential candidate they have to try to cross more boundaries. i think as our demographics continue to change in this

country and republicans are not appealing to a broader demographic, not just being women, but, you know, hispanics and african-americans. they're not putting out the kind of policies they want. do i see a future for a pro-choice republican candidate winning a state? i think it's going to take a few more cycles. >> it's certainly getting harder for pro-life democrats as well. we saw in the 2010 elections, a lot of democrats lost seats but they were disproportionality antihoif choice. >> 23 of the people who voted for stupak pitts were defeated. >> what about that parallel question, we say can a pro-choice republican candidate? is it feasible at all? could a pro-life democrat plausibly compete for presidential nomination or be

picked as vp, or is that offlimits as -- >> i think it's off limits. i think you can be personally pro-life but not politically pro-life, not in terms of public policy. there's a more fundamental question which is, do you think we would elect in the united states an anti-choice president? and i think the answer is no. we will not elect a president who has the positions of rick perry and these other governors because independence resemble democrats. >> we could say like george w. bush ran as pro-life candidate. >> i think a lot of people didn't think he would be proceed active on the issue. until recently, ronald reagan talked like crazy about, it never introduced legislation, never moved any legislation. this is all nice rhetoric but when you're passing these kind of bills, you're alienating men and women. when you talk about vajennal ultrasounds and redefining rape

again and again, you'll have the kind of losses like in 2012. these are not viable positions. >> michael, quickly. >> activists on both sides of the issue see it as a transcend ant moral issue. if the president of the party they're aligned with doesn't agree with that, that's extinction event. pro-lifers can't afford to lose their stranglehold on the republican party. it's the same on the other side. you have to have this otherwise you're going to lose the enthusiasm in the energy and organization of your activists. those are important in major elections. >> i want to thank susan bevan, michael brendan dougherty and, celinda lake and kim gandy. what could keep governor chris christie from running for president in 2016? how about his job title? wait a sec! i found our colors. we've made a decision. great, let's go get you set up...

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christie has a big lead over barbara bono. he was up by 32 point in the latest quinnipiac poll. with a landslide victory, a handful of new laws affecting campaign donations as well as interviews our producers have done with campaign experts suggests if christie wants to run for president in 2016 he may run into significant legal barriers, hampering his ability to pull in wall street cash. raising the question of whether he would step down as governor precisely to avoid those barriers. to understand the challenge governor christie would face, it helps to look back 20 years ago when state and local candidates around the country were routinely flooded with campaign donations from bond dealers eager to win millions of dollars in government business. the way it worked back then is that states and local governments often -- the way it often works is states and governments sell bonds to for big ticket projects like bridges and roads. they pay bond dealers to bring bonds to market.

to win those contracts some bond contractors threw money at incumbents. one of these pay to play scandals involved the governor of new jersey back in 1993, jim florio, his chief of staff also ran, you guess it, a bond business. so a year later in 1994 the s.e.c. issued tough new rules to clamp down on corruption. bond dealers and any of their employees working to secure government bond deals now had a cap. ranging no higher than $250 on how much they could donate in races where the winner could influence bond dealers. bond dealers caught broking the deal were banned from doing business for two years. a penalty that could cost them tens of millions of dollars. in 1986 a morgan stanley executive dough nighted to his college friend's campaign for u.s. senate. that friend was william weld, at the time the governor of massachusetts. that meant he had appointment authority over the issue answer of state bonds.

as a result of that donation, morgan stanley was barred from millions of dollars of business with the state of massachusetts. in 1998 a $200 donation to then-texas governor george w. bush's re-election by ceo of a.g. edwards & sons cost them two years of business with the state of texas. that's business that brought in $37 5 million for the company over the previous three years. ken gross, who is going to join us, leads law practice, we spoke with him about this issue recently and he told us that bond dealers have already run into trouble for donating to previous presidential kan campaigns of governors. he said in 2000 and 2008 respectively george w. bush and sarah palin received donations for national races from bond dealers. because both of those wan dates were governors of their states at the time, those bond dealers were not only hit with those sex penalties, the penalties cost them enough money to drive them out of business.

since those new s.e.c. rules in 1994 bond dealers leery of meeting a similar fate have pulled back on donations cost them tens of millions in campaign cash. another twist, restrictions on wall street donations restricted dramatically three years ago today when the dodd/frank wall street reform law added even more individuals like pension fund advisers to the list of financial professionals barred from giving more than minimal contributions to politicians involved in state and local financial deals. we're now at the point where thousands of companies, including almost every hedge fund, private equity firm and investment house are subject to new caps on campaign donations. the impact of these laws is now magnified because presidential candidates now depend entirely on fund raising to finance their campaigns. in 2012 for the first time no one took federal matching funds for the primaries or for the general election. while this new regulatory regiment may limit how much state and local officials can

get from wall street it's uniquely problematic for one politician in particular. chris christie. here's why. for one thing, finance, insurance and real estate, known as fire sector, single largest source of christie's donations in 2009 for governor. made him especially dependent on this sector. complicating things further for christie is the fact that new jersey has the most powerful executive branch of all of the states. that means that christie is involved in a wide range of state financial deals. he picks nine out of the 16 members of the state investment council, for instance. that means more than any other governor, he is directly involved in the kind of government transactions that trigger those bans on campaign donations. on top of all of that, thanks to florio and other scandals, nj now has the strictest state laws on pay to play in the country, doubling federal penalties and affecting more companies. last year, in fact, the romney campaign reportedly considered

christie's exposure on this issue significant enough to address in their process of picking a running mate. according to multiple reports, romney asked christie if he would be willing to resign as governor in order to join the romney ticket. quote, christie refused to resign under any circumstances. it had nothing to do with chris's personality and everything to do with money. the story continues, quote, christie's aides tried to find a way around the rules, like passing off power over state bonds and pensions to another official. but that didn't satisfy romney officials. they feared that if christie ran for vp and didn't resign, it would affect him. this raises the question, if christie's current role may have already cost him a shot at running for vice president, would he consider stepping down as governor next time around in advance of 2016 if that is his best shot as winning presidency? we'll dig into that question after this. it starts with little things. tiny changes in the brain.

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i'm joined by ken gross, now an attorney at law firm where he leads the political law practice and advises candidates in corporate clients. nick, editor and publisher of the newsletter politico facts of new jersey and mo cowen and steve spaulding, attorney for watch dog group common cause. went through a lot of information there a minute ago. ken, i want to whittle this down for people to understand. there are two separate rules here, two separate s.e.c. rules. one passed in 19 94, one enacted in 1994 that covers municipal people -- groups that underwrite municipal bonds. in 2010 a pension fund advisers. the effect of the 2010 one was to basically double the size of the market covered by this. we're talking about $5 trillion of business that's regulated. we're talking about a huge potential source of campaign contributions for anybody but particularly christie. >> that's right.

first law has been with us, as you say, for almost 20 years. the second one was actually 2011. it affects a huge swath of donations. it not only affects corporate contributions, but also affects their pacs and individual executives down to very, very low limits, $250 or $350, sdpen depending on what you're talking about. tremendous impact. we're talking hundreds of companies, really thousands of companies, and tens of thousands, millions of dollars. >> so, i remember when this -- we quoted from the new york post story at the start here that said last summer christie did not get on the romney ticket because of this issue. i remember reading at the time and being skeptical saying, minute romney didn't want christie on the ticket because of hi peshlt and a lot of other

things. a book coming out by dan balz coming out that says after the romney campaign said to christie, an adviser said they never found an adequate solution for pay to play rule as it might affect sitting governors running for president or vice president. they came away convinced that the rule will have a potentially significant effect on sitting governors who decide to seek the presidency in the future. that raises the fact of chris christie in 2016 -- if ee re-elected, could he run for -- >> he would likely want to resign, otherwise, you know, all of these wall street financeiers will not finance if they finance with new jersey. with chris christie, when he was u.s. attorney, he's a big proponent of pay to play laws. hes the reason we have them on the book is so campaign contributions are not exchanged for lucrative contracts where the state is on the hook for contracts they don't even want,

and then given to people totally unqualified because they have deep pockets. is there a way for chris christie to run in 2016 that's if we pass a fix for public financing so people running for president are not having fund-raiser after fund-raiser after fund-raiser. if we had a fix to presidential financing which worked from 1976 up until -- well, citizens united, george w. bush decided not to use public financing, barack obama walked away from public financing. that's a way out of this. otherwise i don't see how chris christie can run -- >> my reaction is, well, you know, expanded public financing. good luck getting them to sign off on it. you know christie well, you know new jersey so well, can you give us a sense, are they aware of this issue? what is the thinking? what is their thinking about this? >> you said -- you said the law

is even more strict than imaginable. those that circulated memos to clients. my favorite thing is somebody who contributes money to a governor, a governor running for something else who has a current contract with the state-run organization has to complete that contract and not get any pay for that. i like that. wall street guys don't like that although all. they're very much aware of it. and my guess is he would resign if he decides to run, he would resign if he had to, but you know me. i made a career saying campaign finance reform doesn't work. there's a way to get out of this. get all of the wall street guys to contribute to a 501c4. if you win at the convention, then you resign. i'm pretty sure they're at least

as smart as i am and they figure that out, too. >> i want to pick up that resignation question. nick, maybe you could explain to people. we talked about new jersey being the most powerful governorship in the country because not every governor running for president would be affected like christie. >> governor of new jersey has power over almost everything. they appoint district attorneys, county prosecutor, all judges, all election commissioners in the counties. i mean, it's an absolutely -- and there's no check on it. no other statewide elected official except lieutenant governor, who is a cipher, it's a meaningless job, it's -- it's an all-powerful position. he appoints 9 out of 16 investment advisers that cover all pensions for the state. that's a big day. there's no way out of it without a 501c4 solution.

>> we had the example of bill weld in 1996. i know this issue came up in the massachusetts governor's race with an independent candidate who had someone from goldman sachs finds out he's running the guy's campaign from his office. it was a huge -- goldman sachs had to pay a $12 million penalty for this. the individual was banned from like five years from working in the industry. imagine these are regulations you've looked at closely. >> obviously in 2010 i was chief legal counsel, we were paying attention to the older and newer law making its way through. i spent a lot of time talking to our staff about the rules and talking to the governor's campaign counsel to make sure he was clear on what the rules were because i didn't want extremes to frost, if you were. we had that situation with the

then sitting treasurer running as an independent and the goldman sachs broker who was working for the campaign out of his goldman sachs office during the day. i mean, that was a fairly egregious example. >> but we've seen this thing -- you don't have to be running the campaign. you could give a $300 donation that's going to -- >> i think that's the bigger challenge. both for candidates and for investment advisers and others. although i think investment advisers wisely, and perhaps the advice they're getting from their counsel, i think the safest thing to do is pull back. obviously, massachusetts has huge financial services industry. for the most part, you don't see those players -- those individuals, those organizations participating in the campaign finance aspect of our elections anymore. i mean, it's just a safe bet. it's a safe bet. and i think for a governor like governor christie or any other governor who's sitting who may run for a national office, this is the biggest challenge. how do you raise the kind of money that one needs to raise with these kind of rules? and i think it's dangerous territory to sort of -- to spend

a whole lot of time and energy figuring out how to work around these rules. these are rules hard to work around. i think if you're caught it's going to be severe punishment for the organization and the individuals. >> and, you know, it raises -- we talk about the idea of chris christie and resignation is the best bet for him in 2016, all this attention on christie, safe bet for re-election, this sort of thing, no one is talking about the lieutenant governor race in new jersey. i want to talk about what chris christie's options are and aren't. hey linda!

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i want to make sure to put that out there. you know, and i want to pick up on a point nick was making about, so a potential solution for chris christie short of resigning. he right eye resigned, none of these rules apply. can you make all the money you want. short of a resignation would be to rely on a super pac then all the donors could pour money into this. the super pacs are supposed to be independent. seems like an awfully big risk for a presidential candidate if you go that way. >> you lose control of your campaign that way. presumably people you trust are running it. but you're not directing it, you're not supposed to have direction of it. they could take a very negative road because most of the super pacs go negative on tv and it could end up backfiring. it's not a comfortable position for a candidate to be in. it could be helpful at the margins but it's not a way to run a campaign. >> i would just say that this goes back to a flaw, i think, in citizens united. justice kennedy essentially said, well, we can't prohibit

independent expenditure. independent spending doesn't corrupt, doesn't even lead to corruption. that doesn't pass the smell test. i'm a wall street financier and i'll give $300 to the campaign, i'm off scot-free. that shows the corrosive nature which has no basis in reality. walk out on the street on rockefeller plaza, no one will say, no super pacs, no corruption, no problem. >> that also raises the point we were saying the specific reasons why this affects christie more than anyone else. i think more than any other republican candidate, chris christie's financial base is wall street. when he was toying with the idea of getting in the 2012 race, it was raul street -- >> new jersey is a big wall street player. he's very much tied to that

world. yeah, a lot of his money would come from there. i disagree, though. i think you can get away with that because the average guy out of rockefeller plaza has no idea, has no idea what these things are. and if i were --fy were advising the christie campaign, they don't ask me for my advice, but i would say f you're going to do this, it's a possibility. your personality is so strong that you could have it financed one way and use your personality to overcome the objections to it. i think you could get away with it. >> i wonder what point -- the question then is, you take one shot at the presidency, get one shot in your life, so maybe resignation, you don't have to worry about these issues then. >> that's possible, too. i'm sure they're weighing all these things. they're not stupid. they understand the risks on both end. >> you look at rules, look at sitting governors anywhere in the country, how severely does it affect any sitting governor thinking about running for presidency? >> i presume it affects anyone

in that office thinking about that highest office tremendously. think about the amount of money that it takes now to run a winning presidential campaign. well, think about the amount of money it takes to run a losing presidential campaign. a significant amount of money. the issue of whether or not we should have public funding and dealing with citizens united, those are certainly major issues. if you're sitting in the corner office in the executive suite of any state right now and thinking about national office, this is an issue because where do you get the money from? >> that's exactly -- that's exactly the problem. we have these elections where to run for office you're either independently wealthy or only talking to wealthy folks. talking to one-third, 1% of the population. we have elections where all we're talking about is mroen. this conversation is what is driving americans crazy about the system. we're talking about money, talking about politicians talking to a specific subset of the population with an agenda. we have to get off the treadmill. we have to get folks off the fund-raising treadmill. >> didn't rick perry say he's

not going to run again? >> in fact, there's more reporting on this, about the perry campaign being frustrated raising money from wall street as a sitting governor. we're talking about -- the extent we talk about the new jersey's governor's race saying chris christie is in good shape to run it, but his running mate, is kim guadagno. there she is. that could be the real winner of this year's governor's race in new jersey. >> and lieutenant governors run under the radar in nj nmg. they're not nominated -- >> they're on the ticket. >> so, what should we know today? my answers after this. and to keep our commitments. and we've made a big commitment to america. bp supports nearly 250,000 jobs here. through all of our energy operations, we invest more in the u.s. than any other place in the world. in fact, we've invested over $55 billion here

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congress before giving up his seat to become mayor last year apologized and propered to seek help. he's also insisted his behavior stopped short of actual sexual harassment and has vowed not to resign. the allegations remain anonymous and no charges or claims have been filed leaving the administration politically frozen. filner getting help from colleagues in the house. when asked about the colleague she replied, don't identify him as my former colleague. they have set up a hot line to report sexual misconduct so hard to see how he will survive this. comic convention comic-con taking place in san diego is featuring a member of congress. not just any member of congress, john lewis, an authentic civil rights hero. he was beaten by police leading a march across the bridge in selma in 1965, represented georgia in the house since 1986 and has his own booth at

comic-con. why? lewis and his former aide andrew aiden wrote a graphic novel called "march" that dramatizes his personal story at the convention in march. he will probably sound himself with costumes fwu will stand out. centuries old custom social media following vatican's twitter during world youth day in rio, catholics will be eligible for indulgences, meaning less time in purgatory. there's a catch according to vatican social media director, only online activity that bears authentic spiritual fruit will get rewarded. working on rewards for viewers that skip church for this, too. maybe next week. new york governor cuomo and new york city mayor michael bloomberg will be facing off tomorrow in a whitewater rafting race. the two will be paddling through

the state's indian river for tourism in the adirondack region. smart money on cuomo, with more rafting experience than bloomberg. if cuomo gets close to the finish line, bloomberg could extend it at the last minute. i want to start what my guests know. start with you, ken. >> we've been talking about pay to pay. while the new jersey governor's isn't close but one is, that's virginia. that has been clouded by pay to play with the sitting governor of him and his wife getting gifts of $140,000 allegedly from various groups seeking business and having their own problems investigating. last week the latest revelation under investigation is the governor's wife getting free dental work. looks to me like the prosecution is finally putting some teeth into this. we'll see where it goes.

i guess my prediction is this is not going away. there will be more guests to come. nick. >> story about old news to print, "new york times," ignores new jersey even though a large number of its readers live there will predict, i never make predicti predictions, send a reporter across the hudson to write about cory booker again this week. the om time the assignment lady sends them across the hudson is for a scandal or celebrity and he's a celebrity. >> i think what we need to know if john lewis writes his grocery list on a napkin, you should get it. if he's got a book out, you should read it. i'll certainly get it for my 9-year-old. as i talked about the filibuster in the first segment, keep an eye on the senate. mentioned the nomination. as we know there will be a homeland security secretary nomination at some point. we'll see how well that compromise holds.

we're not out of the woods yet. we have seen both with this compromise and with the immigration bill and farm bill, perhaps we are returning to some fashion of the days where compromise is the currency of the realm in the senate but we shall see. >> we should also know by the end of the week if the third in line to the throne is a boy or girl. beyond that i'll be watching the federal election commission in d.c. there are three republican commissioner pretty much idea logically opposed to campaign finance regulations, that's been their bail wick since they have been on. the three republicans are trying to push through, ram through change while they have the majority. it's going to make it a lot harder for the staff to cooperate, conduct investigations, pick up the newspaper and start an investigation. big power play before the fec, watching that. >> i want to thank ken and nick and former massachusetts senator and stephen spaulding of common cause. thanks for getting up and thank you for joining us. we'll be back next week at 8:00 a.m. eastern time.

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