>> business news from the capital region. th is "washington business report" with abc national correspondent, rebecca cooper. >> thank you for joining us for this fresh look business and finance in the washington region. coming up today, what the midterms mean for the busiss counity. into thehould read layoffs at livingsocial, and numbeberslatest jobs tell the wholetory. can following your passion make you a cold -- earnrn you a cul following? man w whotalked to a atnded gw on a basketbal scholarshiand nt on to becomeme one of the biggest nams

in washington business. now he is ying to o pull off something else few people thought could be done. and he is joining us today to talk about it. a is thman who built local startup into a multimillion dollar money-magement firm. he is respected worldwe and now he has been tapped toto brig 2024 olympics to waington. ro ramsey, welcome t to "washingn buness report." i amne of t those who did not think washington had a chanance. now we are o of fofour finalists in t the nation. you have the olympic committee coming t washington to take a look at what we have toffer. whato we h have to offer? >> enqueue for having me today. -- thank you life for having me tod. nothing in my life has been as inspiring as trying to bring the world's l largest sporting event to theation'capital. what inspired you about it?

>> there is a common languag that brings people togher and unites us, and that isis sports. if you look at the history of the olympic games, it is an event that has allowed the world, whether it is divided, good or bad, to co together for 17 days. the world kind of stops and people are able to think bend themselves. >> it is a magical moment, butut people also look at the metrics. so many other cities have los money. biggegest backers of this insists this could be a winner for washington. i amot yet convinced. make the case. >>ondon, 2012, was a transformative event for london. they made money. theyey put 70,000 people to work who had been previously unemoyed. they transformed the east and d creaeated resources they had never had before. and we look at washington's capital, we have amamazing transportation and infrastructure.

have a backdropt is spectacular wh you think of the national mall and all of t e monuments. every -- we will he -- we really belilieve the naon's capital is a amazing place and it has been a generatition since t games have en in erica. it's an importt time. >>ou make the case to t olymc committeand d.c. that we are one of th few cities in the country that already h some of the infrastrture in place. how ? >>e have had an amazing confluence of events. we have the verizon center, coast parart -- nationals park, the comcast center in marand. we have tremendous parkland and the nation park servicice and this amazing thing c called the national mall wihe the whereian wherere key --

we could have the games around the city and take advantage of the transportion a and the tremdousrowt that is already happening in these ighborhoods. london had to bring the community together in a w way tt only the olympics cod do. >> i f feel lilike i am getting olympic f fear. i went fromeing a naysayer to a skeptic to starting to f feel e montum. so, good luck. we would be remiss if f we did t talk to you about your business career because it haseen phenomenal. clearly, you like win at anything you do. three guys working togetheat a brokerage firm the 1980's, you got your start as a salesman for r pitn bow. freeman got his start as a history teacher. billings with the university of maryland, not a harvard business chool kind ofs guys. you're now one of the 10 largest investment banks in the country. what were your rules for success that allowed you to swim in those kinds of waters becaee all know those waters can be

shark infested? is 20 20.ht i think i would be disingenuous if i said we had a plplaybo and knew all the rulules and thought we could actually target out the future ook back, there are a couple okeys to any success. one, you have to have partrtner. each of us on our own would've had note -- had no chance. but there were tee ous which became 33,f us which 53. you have to have gre partners and human capital. at the end of the day, human capital and financial capital create intellectual capipital. >> you hear that mantra that you hahave to have great partners, t what does thatean? were youou better researcherers? were you smarter mathematicians? what gave you insight in doing things like real estate invement trust us. you guys were some of the first to create tse, see the

potential in them. at gave you that kind of insighand foresight? >> well, you have to have a passion and beommitted to your art. two, you have to be flexible. you have to be willing to fail d th pick yourself up and go again. you have to really be passionate abt what it is you believe in and understand that mathematically you're going to take e a lot of nose. and then y have to take advantage of your successes. when you he a chance at the beginning and you know competition is going to come in, u have to work hard and be tenacious about seizing the moment and doing everything you can, getting out there and hustling and doing everythin possible to make it happen.. >> many people thought you would not make it through the recession. you went on to do other things and now you have a large asset management company. helped you survive the

recession, stay in the game, and keep going? in business cles are an inevitability. if you study history at all, you know we go through cycles. power.one is staying >> lehman brothers thoughtht the had that. warren buffett another's figured out whwhat staying power is. second, you have to put yourself in the position to be opportunistic. great opportunity happens in tis ofistress when it looks like the worldld is ming to an end. that's when silicon valley reerges. that's when wall street has to step up and tatake charge. that is s when you canan reay me a differencece. d that's when you have to come togethther. started out as a brokerage firm where no one knew wh to expect, butow

everybody comes to you, everybodwants something from you. if somebodpicks up t phone and callsou and says s your country needs you to lead d this effort to get the olympics, how doou decide what to say yes to an what to say no to? u must gelots of mpting offers. how does anyone make the decision that this is what it's worth taking on. >> i try to be thoughtful about any opportunies that come abouout. thisis is a big undertaking. itit's a full-time job. and it was something that i i am not afraid to fail. i have failemany timeses in my life. i want to feel like we have a ththeory of the case just like y athlete on theield. i want to feel like we have a chancece to win. the more i d didhe research, the more i talked to bil pay and keith meals and we did our work, we found there was a lot of enthusiasm about the games cocoming to america. i looked at the nation's capipital. we f felt like it was somethinge

had to do. >> russ ramsey, an honor to meet you. when we return, a 34-year-old dcs that was meant -- d.c. establishment of some neighbors didn't even know existed. we

>> welcome back. ask any small business ownerr what role passion plays in success and this ight be thehe only thing every entrepreneur ha in common. today, how living your passion and never faltering on your

philosophy can not only propel your business but give you a cult following. >> oh my god. heartell you how often i that on a daily basis. we will be here forever. 30,000 square feet stretch out among townhouses in the heart of dupont circle. it's a hotel and event locion like you have never seen before. >> you open things about yourself that maybe have not been opened for a while and they get you out of your normal, typical routine. a splitf the items is log cabin room. >> the executive director of miss universe stayed here. she said i have to send you something. she gets this boxed in the mail. were intrigued by this concept of doors. the whole house is about the

on acted and how you react to it. >> -- about the unexpected and how you reacted to it. >> we don't say we make money here. this is never part of the vocabulary. thesehings take care of themselves. people come in here and are intrigued. the big-name corporation have retreats here. they come out changed. it's been w working for 35 year. if you try to figure out how that is happening, i have no idea. >> almost everything in the mansion has been donated, and it is all for sale. >> abe bob dylan guitar that he , if you want to pay a couple months mortgage, we will let it go. other than that, things are pretty reasonably priced. >> rosa parks and cat stevens stayed here. >> they took the whole house for

a week. >> it is a refuge and a place to grow. the philosophy here is find your passion and express yourself. the mansion has treasures that hot it recession proof, re estate, clear concept, and shy reputation. >> we never change our focus even if we are going through rough times. we open our doors always. if we ever change our philosophy, it is time to close. >> ted jones performed with elvis in 1954. becauseget emotional they can see something they relate to. this reminds me of my late wife, of when my son was born, of when i got married. >> this is the first colored s card, uncut, right off

the press. >> especially because these things camame out before the internet. and when yoyou walk through here it is all about privacy. >> that is beyond cool and it is right here in washingt. when we come back, we will talk about what the fallout of tuesday's midterms means for >> time for the roundtable, and

what a week it was. we saw more layoffs from the company that once reigned suprememe as washingtoton's hott startup. and newumbers left analysts divided on what it allll means.

but topping the headlines, tuesd's midterms. wewelcome back to both of you. , , we have tvey time to break it all down. ththe analysts talk and talk all week. let's talk about the biggpset in the maryland governor's race. what happened? was it the mesge on taxes that won today? h he pounded th a and he was very clear aboutut that, but i think also the taxes were a surrogate for general concern about the economy. he kept saying reduced taxes, yes, but also he was saying that the economy is what matters, slow economic groh, slow job growth. that is what resonatedith voters. i also think anthony brown and ae ge democrats ran

singularly inept campaign. they were talking about abortion notg control a that is what voters were conceed about. >> african-american voters said afafterward they had no reason o vote for him. they didn't know who he was on paper. a fascinating, respectable guy inin person, a nice guy, but he nevedefined himself. he focused on larry hogan and he lost on th. >> he was negative and cautious. he did not make himself availableuch the voter or to the media. i think t this was a clclassic example of message overcomin money. he had the party machinery and everything else. he had mucmore mony, out margigin,n by a huge and still lost. >> jennir connor, we saw gillespie e concede on friday in his race against mark warner.

that's not going to change the balance of power. we know the answer. voters went into the booths saying jobs in the economy are their number o one issue, but on frid, numbers came out that allowed the president to say look what a great job i have been doing. months s the ninth straig in a row that we have had job growth over 200,00000 jobs per nth. that's a pretty good number. employment is down to 5.8%. it is progress. numbers are one thing. people being out of work is another. it takeses time to translate frm wall streeto how people actually feel about the ecomy. >> when you have a democratic resident a and the rich are getting richer and wages are stagnating for the middlclass and lower incomes, ev if the numbers are good, they are not feeling it in tir pocketbook. we talk about this so much it has become a cliche.

do you think the white house doesn't get where the problems are? >> i think ty geit. i think it's hard to do anything about it. when theytill claim victory and say it's t us, it's them. is that messaging ois that what they really believe? frustratede house is by what it sees as its complete inability to get things done because of what they see as obstruionismn the part of the republican-controlled house ofepresentatives. they boast about creating all the jobs,ut i think the wage stagnation, the fact tt wages and income have not gone up that much, i think thahat is what is really hurting their message and their reputation overall with the public. >> i worked in the senate in the days of bob dole and bob michael and lld benson. andosses were democrats repuicanss and did work

together. the president would call, talk to, me behind the scenes with leaders in both parties. i am going to ca the big winnerer in this race, kentucky bourbon. that is what obama and mitch mcconnell need to do and they need to keep drinking until the bottle i is empty. you cannot just lk the talk. you have to get in there and roll up your sleeves and i think presidt obama has failed to do that. you have to work with congress and d he hasas showed so much disdain for congress. looenthusiastic. his style so far has not worked very well. >> he has to roll up his sleeves. >> i would he pa money to be a fly on the wall today. how does it start? >> they don'know e each other. they don't lilike eh other. theyirst need to get to know each other but it may too late. jobs nationwide with you some troubling layayoffs here in the district and it is not the

first round. after seven rounds at leveling -- at livingsocial, we have seen more. what is happening to the darling of washington? th were right therwith groupon is the daily deal site in the country a and now they ae just trying g to survive. 20% of theird off current workforce. are they just gasping for a final breath of life or do they have life left in them? a brand-new ceo w who replaced the original ceo back in august. he is a former ebay ceo it t is with advertising experieience. anhe is looking to restructure. they want to r realign the c coy in the direction they want to go. >> they y were visiori when they created the c company. they knew they could get in on thee daily deal movem and they did. >> so did a lot of people.

>> and it has kind of fizzled out. do you think they know where theyant go? i am told th want to focus on continuing deals, the ones that don't expire in 24 hours. >> one of my colleagues sat down with the ceo and talked to her. from the to get away e-mail thing, focus on apps, cus on mobile, focus on data. data is a big industry and they want to align theifocus and shifift in that direction. that w a big part of their plan. >> my wife has bought some groupon's i haveenefited from, but that is about it. >> are you a daily deal shopper? >> heck yeah. >> i am losising intere

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>> this week on "government matters" -- >> i'm eager to work with thehe congress to make the next two years as productive as possible. >> we will review their new agenda. >> technology is not the solution, but we see it as part of the solution. >> usaid uses tech as a tool in the fight against ebola. the rockhas settled on disaster. what is next for orbital sciees? "gernment matters" starts now. [caponing performed by the national captioning instititute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> thanks for joining us. government is the enge that runsns this city. that is why governmenent matter.