captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> lehrer: good evening, i'm jim lehrer. the largest u.s.-russia spy swap since the cold war is a done deal today it. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff, on the newshour tonight, the hand over of ten spy as rested here for four convicted in russia took place in vienna in less than 90 minutes time. we get the latest on how

this spy story played out. >> lehrer: then margaret warner assesses the economic state of the states. with governors ed rendell of pennsylvania. >> woodruff: fred de sam laz ro reports on one man's mission to help the unemployed find work. >> i think about the training and you get papers and if you get papers you can get jobs easily. >> lehrer: mark shields and david brooks offer their weekly analysis. >> woodruff: and we look at the hype and the fallout from basketball star lebron james's decision to leave the cleveland cavaliers . >> it is very tough and i'm going to take pie talent to the beech and join the miami heat. >> lehrer: ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. 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: the justice department formally announced completion today of the largest exchange of spies since the end of the cold war. it unfolded at sites across europe. two planes, one from russia, the other from the u.s. arrived within minutes of each other today in vienna, austria. they lined up on the hot tarmac waiting for the swap. then a procession of convicted sleeper agents flown from new york climbed the steps to the russian plane. some had their children with them. meanwhile on the american charter, four russians convicted of spying for the west awaited their flight to freedom. two were dropped off later at a military base in england before the plane headed back across the atlanticment all had been required to sign confessions. the key to the swap came yesterday at a federal courthouse in new york when nine russians and one

peruvian arrested in the u.s. entered guilty pleas. the judge sentenced them to time already served, 11 days. and then ordered them out of the country. >> the number of people pled guilty to being undisclosed agents of the rush arne federation. it sends a message to that agency that they will likely not be in a position to do this again for a long while and it sends a message to every other intelligence agency in every other country that if you come to america to spy on americans in america you will be exposed and arrested. >> woodruff: but analyst david kramer says the swap undercuts that message, a senior transatlantic fellow with the marshal fund in washington d.c.. >> it's one thing to say that the arrests of russian agents sends a message to future russian agents or other russian agents that are still in the united states or agents from any other country that may be involved in activities that are in violation of u.s. law. i don't see how the swap sends a similar message.

the swap, in fact, sends a message that if you engage in this kind of activity we'll arrest you. we'll put you before a court of law and then we'll send you back to your home country. that doesn't strike me as a serious deterrent for this kind of activity in the future. >> woodruff: the prisoners released by moscow included the former russian colonel alexander zaporozhsky. he may have helped expose robert hanssen and aldrich ames, two of the most damaging spies ever caught in the u.s. another freed russian, arms control researcher igor sutyagin maintained his innocence despite the confession. he had served ten years for espionage in a prison camp near the arctic circle. and former russian colonel sergei skripal was arrested in 2004 and convicted of spying for britain. he is apparently in poor health. white house officials said today they considered a swap even before the ten sleeper agents were arrested.

after the arrests, cia director leon panetta reportedly approached his russian counterpart with the swap proposal. georgetown university professor charles kupchan said today he thinks ultimately the deal was good for the u.s.-russia relationship. >> i think that we have to proceed with eyes wide open. russia may go back to being an aggressor state but at this point the trend lines are still positive ones. the stakes are so high that i think the obama administration is doing the right thing by trying to pov as quickly as possible to contain the spy scandal and prevent it from getting in the way of improving cooperation between the u.s. and russia. >> woodruff: but kramer had a different perspective on how all of this affects u.s.-russia relations. >> shipping them off back to russia so closely, less than two weeks after the aests were made and securing the release of four russians in exchange doesn't seem to me

to be an equitable deal for the united states. and i think it shows an overeagerness on the part of the administration to return to the tract that they saw unfolding with russia, that they see a successful tract. >> woodruff: news accounts today said president obama and russian president medvedev did not discuss the spy issue when they met last month before the scandal went public. it's unclear if they have spoken about it since then. and later today there was a further development, the plane believed to be carrying russians freed in the swap landed at dullest international airport outside washington. there was no immediate word on how many were on board. >> lehrer: still to come on the newshour tonight, governors rendell and douglas, south africa's jobless, shields and brooks, and miami's new heat. but first the other news of this day, here's hari sreenivasan in our newsroom. >> reporter: twin suicide bombings in northwest

pakistan today killed at least 62 people. more than 110 others were wounded. the bombers targeted a government office where tribal elders were meeting. none of them was hurt but as many as 80 nearby shops were wrecked. >> oil spill workers in the gulf prepared today to install a new tighter containment cap over the weekend. on saturday undersea robot will begin work. the goal is to get the new cap in place by monday. but retired coast guard admiral thad allen warned today oil will gush freely for a time once the old cap comes off. >> we could at the earliest start removing the current capping device that is on the well bore sometime tomorrow. that will be followed by a period where there would be no capping device but there would be a multiday period there while we are putting the new containment cap on where there would be some exposure to hydrocarbons going into the environment. >> reporter: allen also said a new ship, the helix prowler start collecting oil from a different part of the

well. a white policeman charged with killing a black mann in oakland, california, will face a federal civil rights robe. -- probe. the announcement was made today. on thursday officer johannes me several was skroiningted on a state charge of involuntary manslaughter but not murder. the lesser verdict turned violent last night. fires, ransacked stores, police arrested more than 80 people. wall street pushed higher for a fourth straight day. the dow jones industrial average gained 59 points to close at 10,198, the nasdaq rose 21 points to 2196. for the week the dow and nasdaq gained 5%. shares of google rose more than 2% on the news that china renewed google's licence to continue operating its search engine in the country. this temporarily ends an impasse where the search engine began automatically redirecting users in china to its hong kong site in order to circumvent chinese censorship. google dropped that practice last week. it now offers users in china an optional link to its hong

kong service instead. those are some the day's major stories. now back to jim. >> lehrer: the nation's governors are gathering in boston today for their annual conference. and share major agenda item is the bleak budget forecast they face. margaret warner has our story. >> warner: nearly every state in the union began a new fiscal year this month and the picture isn't pretty. with unemployment still hovering just below 10%, most states are being hit with a higher demand for services and lower than expected tax revenues. that's lead to predictions of a combined state's budget shortfall of as much as 140 billion dollars this fiscal year, and state spending cuts that could cost up to 900,000 public and private sector jobs. to make matters worse, congress has stalled action on bills worth about $40 billion to help states pay for medicaid programs and to retain teachers. and the state aid from last

year's 787 billion stimulus package is due to run out at the end of this fiscal year. all that adds up to a very busy agenda at the national governor's meeting this weekend. we're joined now by the group's current president vermont governor jim douglas a republican and his immediate predecessor, pennsylvania governor ed rendell a democrat. welcome to you both. governor douglas, beginning with you, how bleak a picture is it out there? are some state doesing okay and others really in trouble? or is it fairly consistent? >> well there is some variation among the states. we of course are coming out of the great recession. the longest and deepest of our lifetime. and it's going to take some heavy lifting on the part of states and the federal government to get us through back on the path to prosperity. some states like vermont have a balanced budget. we actually reduced taxes this year but other states are facing some real budget shortfalls. governors have been making tough decisions, reducing spending in many areas, in

some case pros posing tax increases, depleting reserves in some states, borrowing more. but there's still going to be some heavy lifting until we get back where we need to be. >> warner: governor rendell, how does it look where you sit. >> well, pennsylvania has done very well compared to most big states and we've seen some real signs of the recovery starting to happen in the last three month, the last quarter. we gained 76,000 new jobs and in june our revenues exceeded estimates for the first time since december of 2007. so those are positive signs. but the big storm cloud for us, margaret, is if the congress does not enact the president's proposal to extend the medicare benefits that were in stimulus for an additional 6 months, that would mean for pennsylvania a loss of almost a billion dollars. we would have to lay off close to 20,000 workers. and that includes teachers, policeman, firemen, state workers. and that makes no sense after we are experiencing this job gain and our economy is just starting to turn the corner.

job gain in every sector, manufacturing, construction, you name it. and then to lose these jobs makes no sense at all. >> warner: governor douglas s that the problem that states have been banking on this additional money from the federal government even though it had not been appropriated yet? >> many states have. vermont is not among them. i did not assume additional medicaid dollars in the budget, all show i would welcome them. but earlier this year 47 governors signed a letter to the congress urging them to approve the six month extension of these medicaid dollars. so we hope they'll do it we understand there are a lot of issues they need to wrestle with. but states really need the help. >> and margaret, understand that the congress has passed this in different bills. the house passed it once. the senate passed it several times or vice versa. they passed it. the president was for it that's why 30 out of the 50 states honored it. and for 47 governors to

agree on anything, i mean i'm not sure we could get 47 governors to agree that today's friday. >> warner: maybe not. well, governor douglas, i read, in fact t say national governor's association report, that states in the aggregate or combined are actually going to grow state spending this area, this coming year for the first time since '08. now given the dicey situation, some might look at that and say well why isn't further, at least holding the line if not belt-tightening in order? >> well, it certainly is in order. and governors and state legislators have been doing a lot of that over the past few years. governors and their colleagues and the general assemblies have cut huge amounts of money. laid off employees as governor rendell noted, we've closed some welcome centres. we've cut hours at historic sites. we made cuts to all kinds of prompts and that's happening across the nation. but the sad irony of a recession is that when revenues are soft the demand

for the safety net social services is even greater, so for the first couple of years after the end of the recession people aren't back to work. they don't have the resources to pay their families bills. and so we have to help them get through that difficult time. >> margaret a lot of thosecos that you referred to, and he is absolutely right, they are mandated. so for example if people are eligible to sign up for medicaid, we can't turn them away, nor should we. we have to pay for that. if the judges send additional prisoners to our state correctional institutions, we have to pay for that. so these are mandated costs that we really have no discretion over. we can't say no to. >> warner: now governor rendell, we should point out to our viewers that unlike the federal government, states are absolutely required-- well, 49 of the 50, i think vermont is the exception, are required to have balanced budgets. so if congress doesn't pass this additional money and there are a couple of different bills out there, what are you going to do? how big are the cuts going to have to be and where

would they fall? >> well, i would bring the legislator, not bag, but the leaders back. i promised to consult with them. and we would cut $850 million out of our spending. we put things into budgetary reserve. we would laypeople off with the hope that somewhere down the line we could bring them back. and i think are you looking at somewhere between 15 and 22,000 layoffs in pennsylvania. >> warner: alone. >> alone, just layoffs. and it makes no sense at all. and you know, i saw someone, a parent carrying a sign saying i didn't flow that cutting spending meant laying my daughter's teacher off. and you know, that's one of the things we have to grapple with. i will say that david walker of the peterson foundation, a very respected deficit hawk foundation said it right. you can at the same time prepare a long-term plan to cut the deficit and cut our national debt and at the same time make targeted investments to keep people working, to extend unemployment benefit force people who are desperately

looking for jobs, and to stimulate the economy. and that's exactly what we should be doing. and it's what congress has not done. >> warner: well, governor douglas, that's, of course, because here in washington now there is a huge debate or push-pull between the urge to spend more and spend our way out of this recession to a greater degree and this hot breath of the voters of both parties saying oh my god, this deficit, skyrocketing deficits are mortgaging our future. your own party is, in particular, using that as a central argument for the fall elections. so how can you be coming can. what do you say to the republican members of congress when you ask them for more money? >> well, what i say is we've got to find the right balance. i certainly understand the need to address the federal debt, the 13 trillion dollars that we're mass on to our kids and grandkids is not acceptable. and on sunday at our meeting here in boston we're going to hear from the co-chairs

of the president's new fiscal reform commission and we hope it will be a spirited conversation about what to do for the long term but in the short term when states are now realizing revenue performance that's lower than it was four years ago, when the demand for medicaid and other safety net services is greater, we have to help the neediest among us get through this difficult time. so it can't go on forever. we don't expect it to but we are asking for six months more. >> warner: governor rendell, really the same question to you, there are plenty of democrats on the hill who are turning into deficit hawk, who are deficit hawks and within the white house is considerable division with the political advisors to the president reportedly being the ones who are saying we've got to hold the line. what do you say to them? >> just what i said and what david walker of peterson said. you can do both. we can have targeted investments that retain, help people retain jobs, grow some jobs and at the

same time factor in a long-term layer in, long-term deficit reduction plan. and we hope that the bowles-simpson commission will come up with a plan and we hope that everyone in washington shows some juts-- guts and does the things that are necessary to reduce the debt over the long-term. but in the short-term, let's keep americans working and let's get americans back to work. >> warner: but you are both political animals. neither of you are running again in november, but you have been through many campaigns. so my question to you is i understand what are you saying on the merits, but how do you sell that politically? i mean the polls seem to suggest something quite different. governor douglas? >> go ahead. >> well, i think that we have to find that balance. there has got to be some real reform, some real structural change so that the huge debt that we've amassed does not continue to grow. governors have done some heavy lifting. we're going to do some more but we're asking that in a program like medicaid which as governor rendell noted is a federally required one

that the feds have though meet their obligation. now there is another way to go about this. and in the letter that 47 governors signed earlier this year, we said you could alleviate that man date. you could say we don't have to have extensive a program in each state and give us some more flexibility. that's another approach wadz and governor rendell, how do you make the political argument, not the merits, really, but to the public? >> well, i think the public woon understand if it was explained to them the right way. invest in targeted things now. get a long-term plan to reduce the deficit. remember, we talk about the deficit and jim accurately quotes 13 trillion but do you know, margaret what the deficit is today? it's less than 2 trillion today and i'm not saying that that is little. but it's the long-term deficit that's scary. and we have some time to address that long-term deficit. we've got to keep people working and get people back to work. that's the foremost challenge for our country. i think people will understand that. >> governor ed rendell and

jim douglas, thank you both. >> thank you, margaret . >> woodruff: next the soccer world cup ends south africa's massive jobless program remains. fred de sam lazaro reports on one social entrepreneurs efforts to help some of the unemployed. >> reporter: the world cup with south africa's own economic stimulus plan. $6 billion spent building or rebuilding stadiums, more on roads and a fast train. still the official jobless rate is 27%. and that's not counting migrants from neighboring countries and doesn't include the huge number of underemployed day labourers, so-called casual workers. >> we haven't been isolated from the effects of the economic meltdown around the world. i think we lost somewhere around 900,000 permanent full-time job

s, which necessarily creates more stress on the cash i'm work environment because all those people are also gok looking for some way of supporting themselves. >> reporter: peter kraatz heads an organization named after the people it serves, men on the side of the road. every day some 100,000 of them hit the sidewalks in search of daily work. lazare us sealetsa, a veteran of small construction jobs said he is proud that south africa hosted africa's first world cup but he has seen neither gains nor benefit. >> so we are happy but we are starving. >> reporter: this 47-year-old father of five says he works maybe two days a week for about 11 dollars a day. far less than a livable wage, he says. how are you managing without getting much work? >> well, i do manage because my wife is doing part-time job at the city congress. >> what does she do there?

>> she's a cleaner. >> cleaner. >> yes. >> reporter: for people like him finding work is based on luck or being able to outrun others to an employers pickup truck. they are in no position to set terms on wages, vulnerable to being shortchanged. employers in turn have no assurance of quality work, no idea who they are hiring. there is where the nonprofit men on the side of the road comes in. setting up its trademark yellow tent. the group advocates for the rights of workers while also vetting and training them to be reliable employees . >> the first task for fieldworkers like mzoli tembi is to get new client to the tent to register with the group to ming well others who have. it's helpful, he explained for when the pickup trucks called bakkes here come calling. >> when the bakkes come here, you saw the stand here, so when the bakkes come i go

and the the guys stand behind, i come and talk to you. if you are happy with that, then the job is yours. you take the job. we need you to perform the sdutees to the best of your abilities. >> reporter: field sites, 180 of them in 7 cities are in contact with the group's capetown office and tiny call center. >> those two guys are finished with you now. >> through our pr and marketing activities we try and generate a lot of phone calls into fortunately. we try and get, we have one number nationally and one web site so people contact us. >> reporter: the office is funded by charitable grants and a small fee charged employers. it checks on workers job history, education and training, creating a track record for people who typically don't even get to know the names of their previous employers. enrolled workers are issued an i.d. card, key to building or rebuilding a resume. >> would you like to say something. >> reporter: back at the

roadside, fieldworker tembi enlisted old. >> you get training, right, and you get paper approximates. and if you get papers you can get jobs easily, right? so the nice thing about that is instead of getting traffic-- you are now qualified and being qualified means you get more money out of it. right? >> reporter: the ultimate goal is to land permanent employment. men on the side of the road offers training in several construction skills and occasionally to bring out other talents for several months in this tiny capetown factory workers have meticulously hand-painted world cup fan helmets called makarabas. conrad marima and shonn mukungwa were placed here by men on the side of the road and it has fueled dreams of a better future. the soft-spoken 25-year-olds now want to go into business for themselves . >> he would like to be an art businessman

. >> yeah. >> the more urgent need is to keep these jobs and many others that will naturally end with the world cup. every one is racing for tougher times including men on the side of the road which placed 6,000 casual workers last year, a drop in the bucket but one that will be a struggle to maintain. >> well, our goal is actually for 2010 is just to try and maintain that level. >> reporter: because the economy is so bad. >> because things are much tougher, yeah. >> reporter: and even when the economy turns around, he says, suth africa will suffer chronic high unemployment among people who have few skills for today's global economy. many experts blame the schools. they say the education system hasn't improved much from the apartheid era which officially ended in 1994. schools for the 80% black majority trained people for menial jobs, a substandard system by design. and many of those same teachers remain on the job

says columnist and educator sipho seepe. >> people who are teaching now, especially the teachers, these are people who were products of that system. so you would not expect that the people who had been produced by a substandard system will suddenly become excellent. >> reporter: back on the sidewalk ephraim mocheko voiced a hope all south africans shared that after weeks in the global spotlight, this country can show it can run a huge tournament successfully, that it's a good place to do business. >> it would be great, he said p if some of the foreigners can now invest in south africa's economy and create jobs for people like us . >> lehrer: and to the analysis of shields and brooks, syndicated columnist mark shields, "new york times" columnist david brooks. david, was the

spy slop thing with the russians a good deal for america? >> i think so you know, after all the things that have been messed up, we rounded up this group. they might not have been the most competent keystone cops on earth but we rounded them up. we had a little problem with the russian relations but that seems to be smoothed over. we got them back. got some people in exchange. so i thought on the whole it was handled well from start to finish. >> lehrer: handled well from start to finish. >> from everything i do know about t jim, certainly, i think was. i think in a straight player swap we got a better deal than the russians did. we got four significant figures. at least one of whom denies he has ever been a spy. but three major players. and i think everything we were going to find out about these folks we've known, the folks here. they have been watching for ten years. we know who they talk to. we know where they went and i think disrupts any sleeper, spy operation put together. now they know that they are

on alert, on watch and under the glare. >> lehrer: what would you say to the lay folks who said wait a minute, we spent ten years, thousands of dollars following these ten spice and we catch them and turn them loose? >> well, what's the purpose of keeping them. i mean if they have things to sell us, then there is a purpose for national security reasons to keep them. but a decision was made, probably correctly that they had nothing more to tell us. as mark said we have been watching them for ten years and meanwhile to be able to get these four other people back or at least to get them released that does serve our national interest because either they were helping us or they were heroic figures and so you will encourage more people to be like that. >> okay. >> and 60 grande year for each of them. you want them to be on scholarship here, you know, let them live in russia. >> lehrer: under their scholarship . >> mark, president obama in nevada and missouri the last couple of days, big political stuff, reports

today he's turned up the rhetoric a little bit, the political rhetoric, how he is doing? >> well, i think the era the are of the new tone in washington is over. democrats who are frustrated, nervous and scared stiff about november are thrilled with the new president. this is-- . >> lehrer: they want him -- >> they want him to generate enthusiasm, intensity and passion in the ranks. there is no question that i has been faulted in the past. sometimes on this broadcast even for his cool and cerebral approach to things including the b.p. oil spill. no one is accusing him this week of being overly cerebral and cool can. he has heated up. and the problem is, jim, that democrat lack enthusiasm about november 2nd and voting. and if real estate is location, location, location, especially midterm elections, turnout, turnout, turnout. and the enthusiasm seems to

be is by every measurement on the republican conservative side right now throwing the ins out. >> david, would you agree that the lack of enthusiasm among democrats is tied directly to president o 3w578a's popularity right now? >> well, no, i don't think so i think the independence are the big problem. obama won the independence and his ratings among independence dropped by 15 percentage points in the last year and that has been the lift. and if you ask independents do you think the democratic party is too liberal, the number of people who say yes has gone up by roughly 20%age points. i think that has been the shift. it is not the tea partyers, they have always been against him, it is those independents. so obama is coming ot 2350i9ing to try to get democrats. i'm not sure it will help with independents. >> lehrer: why not. >> because i don't think that partisan tone, the tough talk is really what appeals to independences. i think what they liked about about the obama was exactly the promise to change the tone, exactly the sense that he was above some of the politics. and so i think there will be a little uncomfortable with that.

>> but mark, is it still true that as long as the economy remains in a difficult situation, the democrats or whofer is in charge is going to be in a difficult situation s how does that overlay all of this. >> it is, jim, that is obviously the atmosphere, the optics and reality of the campaign but part of it is that democrats really feel that republicans have gotten just a free ride, that they haven't been held accountable for opposing and trying to thwart everything that the obama administration has tried to do whether on the economy, the reform of wall street. that just their approach has been one of an all or out position. and the idea of calling them to task for that. and what president obama has to do, if it is as you describe it just a referendum on the democrats and the party in power, the democrats are going to be punished. >> lehrer: because of the economy. >> because of the economy and the way things are

going. so the attempt is to say look t isn't simply us are you voting on it is the other guise. what they stood for in the past what they stand for now. so we're trying to force voters to make this a choice, not just imp simply i don't like the people who are there, i'm going to throw them out. >> what is your reading of the traction that is possible to have if obama and the democrats can play this right or better on this no-thing it. the republicans all say no. pick up on what mark just said. >> president bush tried it, good luck. i just don't think it will work. i think people are voting on the power-- party in power. and i think they are vote on what happened there has been a fair bit of legislation passed. i have talked to democrats running for office. and one of the things i have heard a couple times is that the health care doesn't come up all that much. whether you like it or not, it's just not a big issue out there. that the big issue is jobs and the economy and the debt and those are the big issues. i think one of the things that happened over the last month is that if you ask people a month ago is the economy recovering they would have said question.

if you asked people today, they do not say yes it there has been a significant erosion of the mood and an em erosion among the business community. the republican business community was always against obama but i would say democratic ceos and democratic donors are now very disillusioned with the president, fairly or not. but the mood in the business community is very hoss hill. and that mood does trickle down. i spoke to one democratic candidate who said we did not have to offend the business community this way even though i'm not running with a bunch of ceos voting for me. but i'm working for-- people work for corporations and that is a negative. >> lehrer: mark, is the deficit issue that the republicans are raising, everybody is raising in some form or another s that beginning to also hurt democrats as well. in other words, are some of the democrats also going to have to go on that, pick up that theme as well? >> some democrats are obviously nervous about the deficit, jim. and the argument is that the economy remain approximates the central dominant

defining problem and issue, human problem in this campaign. and it appears that the government is limited in what it can do about the economy and joblessness. but they can do something about the deficit. and the deficit appears to bother independence more than it bothers democratic voters. are you not going to pick up republicans on the issue. but if is a real dilemma because if you try to do something about jobs, and a jobs program, say infrastructure where i mean we've got thousands it of bridges in this country that are affected that could be repaired, well that will run up the deficit. try and do something about the deficit, does that cut back the spending for example on unemployment benefits which become held hostage to sort of the deficit fever. so they really do play against each other as well. >> you agree with that. >> one of the things that strikes me just on the substance-- not the substance but the politics, "the new york times" cbs

poll asked people do you think the stimulus package 787 billion created jobs, 6% say yesterday. >> lehrer: 6%. >> frankly that's absurd. you say it had to have created jobs. whether you think it is worth it or not, that is different. but that number is a sign that people don't believe in the policies and they have a sense of fatalism that nothing can be done or nothing is being done. and it is the cynicism, frankly. because i'm not a fan of the stimulus package but it created jobs, no question about it. >> lehrer: new subject. the decision to sue the state of arizona about the immigration law, was that a good thing to do? >> i don't think so. especially the way they have done it i understand politically why you want to do it you want to get your voters energized. you also want to prevented-- prevent other states from doing this. but to me to read what the basis of the case t seems to me extremely waechblingt i think the states should have the power to choose how they enforce laws. and to say that the sort of is trampling on federal authority is completely unpersuasive. they would is had a better case if they said this is

racial profile bug that is not the way they decided to do it and there could be technical reasons or political. they didn't want to make it a racial thing. >> how do you read it. >> i readed it this way, jim. that 2010 it will be a very difficult slew for democrats. i mean especially democrats in the west. where the issue is most acute. i think for 2012 and beyond, republicans are playing very much the short end of the field. republican party is in danger. on the cusp of being branded almost permanently as an anti-immigrant party and a party that is unwelcoming. quite contrary to the record that george w. bush proudly proclaimed when he was governor of texas and his years in the white house. and the demographic bubble that is out there , i mean, peter hart has predicted the democratic post to the wage journal that texas will be a blue state within a generation because of the latino vote.

and republicans have to figure out way that i as the electorate becomes less white and more of the mosaic racially and ethically, they have to figure out a way of appealing to these voters. they can't get elected as a white party. >> i completely agree. in ten years if the republican party is the same way will you not be able to run a national campaign as a republican. >> lehrer: quickly, the west virginia, how do you feel west virginia is handling replacing the late senator byrd. >> well, the governor who is really in the driver seat is interesting. jim, the 17th amendment of the constitution allowed direct elections to the united states senate it was ratified in 1913. since that time nine different occasions a governor has had the brilliant idea when a senate vacancy occurred in his state to say all right, to the lt. governor, his successor, i am gaeing to

resign and as soon as i resign, you pick me, 8 times have they lost in the next election. joe was urged do do this by both the west virginia chamber of commerce and west virginia afl-cio. and joe said no thank you . let's have a real election and the zfkd november is when he apparently wants it, which would be the regular date, which puts shelly moore-- republican stalwart in a difficult position because he has to decide does she run for re-election to the house or for the senate. he is in the middle of his term so he doesn't have to give up the governorship to run. >> it makes it hard for the republicans. if you were thinking how does it affect the balances of the senate t makes it better for the republicans. >> lehrer: where do you come down on the lebron james decision. >> i think he betrayed the people 6 cleveland by not going the new york knicks. >> lehrer: mark? >> i really, i thought lebron james had done an exceptional public figure, almost everything he had done.

i thought this was a total deviation, not the whole way it was handled. and i feel badly for cleveland. remember this, cleveland had the two picture, sabathia who started in the world series for the phillies and yankees and now cliff lee is about to go the to yankees. everything good in cleveland las left. he was the local boy, hometown pride. >> i would like to apologise to people still living in cleveland. i'm sure they're probably -- >> i feel bad. >> lehrer: i just wish we had more time to talk about it. >> lehrer: . >> how do you feel about lebron. >> lehrer: thank you so much for asking. bye-bye. >> woodruff: and speak of lebron jails, we turn to the krtionss and consequences, athletic, financial and otherwise behind james decision to take flight elsewhere. after all the attention and all the hype, nba superstar lebron james finally answered the question on everyone's mind about halfway through an hour-long

special on espn last night. >> this has been very tough. and i am going to take my talent to south beach and join the miami heat. >> woodruff: before james could utter another word pandemonium broke out in miami where fans gathered if bars and outside the team's arena celebrated the addition of the league's top free agent and reigning mvp. in addition to winning the lebron james sweepstakes the heat also scored commitments this week from two other highly sought after players and free agents chris bosh and miami's own all-star dwayne wade. the mood in northeast ohio where james grew up and played for the cleveland cavaliers for the past seven years was starkly different. a few angry cleveland fans took to the street, lighting james paraphernalia on fire. they also expressed their

heartache with words. >> he's one of our own, that's what makes it so painful. >> i knew it was coming. it's cleveland. we're used to deployment. >> the bitterness was shared by the cavalier's organization. in a letter to cleveland fans, team owner dan gilbert wrote this was announced with a several day narcissistic self-promotional buildup culminating with a national tv special. the letter goes on to describe james' decision as a cowardly betrayal. beyond the emotional anguish james depar ture will also hurt the team's bottom line. and some contend the economy of cleveland. the value of the cavs franchise has grown by more than $200 million since james was drafted in 2003. and some estimates claim that he brought over 100 million in revenue to the city each year. now some of that money could go to miami which immediately looked to

capitalize on the lebron brand printing up t-shirts as soon as the announcement became official. james himself also stands to benefit financially from the move. he could have signed a richer contract if he had stayed in cleveland. but still is expected to earn $15 million a year in miami, plus endorsement money on top of that. for more on what the lebron james move means we turn to two people who followed the story closely. kevin blacki sfoen is professor of sports journalism at the university of maryland. he's a regular commentator on espn and a sports columnist for aol fanhouse and richard deitsch for sports from sports ill stated it thank you both for being with us. kevin blackistone what do you make of the decision? >> well, i was disappoint. i hoped that he would stay in cleveland. i certainly understand his desire and his right to

exercise history agency ability. but i think that this was just handled horribly. here was a guy who had a very fine career in the nba, not only on the court but also off it too. he was one of the most beloved players i think in the league and i think that overnight evil anized his personality in the way in which he departed cleveland. he did it from a distance. he seemed to do it coldly, with calculation. and i think that really turned off a lot of people. >> woodruff: richard deitsch how did you see it. >> i agree with kevin. i think its with a cold and callous thing to go on television in sort of a one-hour information, basically saying good-bye to chief and and thanks for the memory. i certainly don't begrudge lebron to go to a team where he thinks will win multiple championships and the heat certainly gives him that opportunity more than the cavs but i thought cohave handled it in a less narcissistic way where maybe

a quieter announcement that would not have really painfully hurt the cleveland fans. and just like we saw in the opening to your piece, there is really a lot of sadness today in cleveland. >> woodruff: so richard, are you saying that if he had announced it differently it would have gone down a whole lot better than it did? >> i think the cleveland fans still would have been up set. but i think there was a better way to do this. at least in terms of showing a little graciousness to the fans that have supported him for years. there is no reason, again, that lebron should have stayed in cleveland. he wants to cement his legacy in miami with better players. but i think the idea of hosting a national special in which his people set this up with the espn, espn creeded the time to them t just came off a little sort of self-aggrandizing and narcissistic to me. >> woodruff: ken blackistone why do you think he did it. dow take him at his word that he just wants to win? >> well, i think he does want to win. and i think his people may have gotten in his ear and

convinced him that cleveland wasn't a place to do that. >> woodruff: what dow mean, his people. >> well, the people who surround him, who run his marketing campaign who run his business efforts, all of those people. some of whom are long time friends of his. and i think you know, when you compare cleveland to miami, the palm trees to, i don't know what do they have, oaktrees and pe can trees in that part of ohio, i'm sure that that got the better part of him. and there is also another part to this too, he has been in a very close relationship with chris bosh and dwayne wade who obviously are going to be playing in miami. and this, what happened yesterday was kind of set in motion a few years ago when all three of these guys signed new contracts that would allow them to exercise free agency as they did just on thursday. >> woodruff: and speaking of

that, richard deitsch, was this a serious search or was this something that you think could have been in his mind all along? >> i should just let kevin know that the rock 'n' roll hall of fame is in cleveland so they do have some things there. no, i think the plan was kached -- hatched, as kevin said, maybe as early as 2008. these guys played together at the olympics. and i think they wanted to play together all along. i think there is a part of cleveland that tugged at lebron but i'm not sure i believe that he woke up yesterday and made the decision. i do believe these guys have been talking about this for a while. i think they certainly had a right to talk about this. and i think they set in motion a long time ago that if they have the opportunity, they were going to create some kind of dream team. and obviously miami it is a major market it is a beautiful place to live and play. it really sets these guys up for something unique that we have not ceiling-- seen in sports, certainly not in the nba for a while. >> and kevin blackstone, what does it is a that the players were calling the

shots here and not the owners which is usually the case. >> right, the game changed when they opted out of signing long-term deals with their respective clubs just a few years ago. and all of a sudden it became the players and 3409 the owners and general managers who were going to go out and organize the type of team that they wanted to play for. so this has been a pretty significant shift, i think, in the foundation of professional sports. certainly when it comes to professional basketball. we talked a lot about what would happen if professional athletes ever realized that the power that they had collectively if they would coalesce. and this time three guys actually did. now i think that-- i don't flow that this going to impact the membership of the players association, but obviously for elite players, thiss with a big deal. >> woodruff: richard, do you

think this is a permanent shift in the balance of power and help us just quickly understand the economics for these teams. this team, miami, is paying these three players a huge amount of money. what do they get out of it? is it more fans, what is it? >> well, it's a good question, judy. you know, some would estimate that one play-off game would produce ten million more dollars in revenue for the miami heat. so think about this. if this team ends up going to the finals, that's 14, 15 extra dates, so you could do the math there. there is increase when it comes to in stadium sponsorship there is an increase when it comes to ticket sales. the heat have already sold out their season tickets. at least the tickets when held back to single games they are going to be able to price that differently if they want to charge more for a better o point, they are going to be able to do that. the media deals that they cut with south florida cable markets will eventualityly get better ad rates there.

so someone in miami in one of the newspapers today called it a walking free-throw shooting stimulus package, lebron james. and that's a pretty good line. he really will add millions and millions of dollars to the bottom line of the miami heat and the businesses outside of that a ren-- arena. >> and not just lebron james but bosh and wade, one team, what does that mean for the game of professional basketball? >> well, in one sense i think it's a great thing. because all of a sudden nba is being talked about in the off season. right now traditionally in sports we would be talking about the baseball all-star game coming up on tuesday. we would be talking about the start of nfl training camp in a few weeks but instead we're talking about the nba. david stern must be loving this. and clearly the interest will continue on into the season. i think there would be a lot of fans who will all of a sudden have a tremendous dislike for the miami heat

because they seem to be taking over all of the interest in the nba and set up this dream team has been pointed out. i think it generated a whole lot of interest for the nba that they couldn't have dreamed up a year ago. >> and richard, where do you see it going from here, do you see this ill-will toward lebron continuing? >> i do. and kevin makes a great point you know one of the great things about sports is when you have a villain. i think the miami heat have probably set themselves up to be the most loved or most hated team, not just in professional basketball but i any in sports. and if there is one person happier today than lebron james, i think it is nba commissioner david stern because you cannot buy this kind of publicity. >> well, richard, kevin, we heard it here. thank you both. >> thank you. >> thank you . >> lehrer: again the major developments of this day,

the u.s. and russia formally completed the largest exchange of spies since the end of the cold war. twin suicide bombings in northwest pakistan killed at least 62 people. more than 110 others were wounded. oil spill workers in the gulf of mexico prepared to install a new tighter containment cap over the weekend. officials said it could stop any leaking entirely. the newshour's always on-line, of course. hari sreenivasan in our news room previews what's there. >> reporter: there is more from mark shields and david brooks on the rundown. ahead of the world cup final between the netherlands and spain on sunday we look at the matches by the numbers. and on newshour extra watch video reports are filed by south african institutes. on artbeat jeffrey brown talks to amir bar-lev of a new documentary about pat tillman the nfl player whot whops death in afghanistan

gi prendly fire led his family to look for further investigation. >> you can check out our live video feed on b.p.'s well in the gulf. >> lehrer: and again too our honor roll of american service personnel killed in the iraq and afghanistan conflicts. we add them as their deaths are made official and photographs become available. here in silence are ten more.

>> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. >> lehrer: and i'm jim lehrer, washington week can be seen later this evening on most pbs stations. we'll see you on-line and again here monday evening. have a nice weekend, thank you and good night .

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