you think this gives -- should democratic rules follow rules -- democratic groups follow rules that are not written? >> i cannot tell groups what to do, what rules to play by, is what ever they believe is in their best interest. there is no communication between me and those groups. my own personal position is that you ought to play by the the rules. if the republicans in the supreme court are defining the rules and a certain way, the people have to make the decision whether they are but a play by those rules. >> a couple of cases making their way to the courts right now. there's a new challenge to the voters right at. with the supreme court the way it is, are you concerned that those cases will teardown this is exist which a margin you only worry about what is in your control and you do not spend time worrying what is out of your control. the supreme court is out of my control. i am focused on message, money, mobilization. i will stay focused on those things. >> what you trying to win some of those seats back the margin in the citizens united case affected many of those races. any of o

democrats could have results? >> florida has six democrats and 19 republicans. how did that happen? it happens because republicans over extended, and they were so abusive that now they have a problem. the only way they could add republican seats to florida without completely overreaching would be to redistrict into bermuda and the cayman islands, which they may do. good florida presents a real challenge to them. to go from six democrats and 19 republicans to 22 or 23 republicans, it is a real problem. florida is an example. when you really analyze it, nobody knows for sure, but if there is a shred of evidence there, it is going to wind upo two democrats and two republicans barrier when you go through a state-by-state analysis, the republicans made a pronouncement we are going to lose dozens of seats. >> i wonder what are you doing is that is changing from how you used to operate? >> i am not really into the style. i like to focus on being operational. i like to focus on children and strategy, the sequential, and t

especially democrats in a conservative age. more than anything else it was his failures on that front that put carter into such a deep hole, one that made an otherwise harmless story about a swamp rabbit seem like a symbol for a presidency. as carter himself recently admitted in this spate of interviews, one of the things i could have done better is i could have been a better leader of the democratic party. i just didn't feel comfortable. thank you. [applause] >> dr. zelizer has agreed to answer a few questions in the remaining time, so will all of those of you who would like to ask questions, please, queue up in the back of the room, and we will take a number of them. julian, i'd like to kick off the questions by asking you about carter's post-presidency. in your book you seem to place special emphasis on his work as an election observer in the sandinista/ortega defeat and his relationship that he developed with jim baker and others in the george h.w. bush white house as kind of a turning point in his march to become sort of a

democratic line.ood morning. caller: i think that the impact between democrats and republicans is a mess. and they are not governing. they are putting on shows. the government is going down. the economy is going down. so, they need to be trying to deal with how they're going to get everything else together and get people to work. instead of worrying about what money not to spend. host: how does this political polarization that that congress? the next call comes from david in wyoming. caller: i am surprised that i got through. listen, i just wonder how much polarization there really is. i think that it is a superficial level. it comes to the fact that large corporations get about $1 trillion in you will lead in subsidies and tax credits. annually inion subsidies and tax credits. one of the things that we need to address are more progressive taxes. one of the proposals is cutting $500 million out of the community clinics. that will be counterproductive. that will wind up costing more in the long run. ho

the democracy under democratic voters says is not to stand against democracy what other. america is stood there to strongly again the democratically elected government in palestine under israel i mean this is really. injustice ok come on i'd like to jump in here and ask israel because you brought up a very good point here i mean is israel's model of democracy worth exporting or are just should israel not comment or not get involved in the internal affairs of another country egypt is trying its best it would seem to get its house in order but then you have netanyahu come out in basic praising mubarak as a great partner and friend etc etc he's not seen in that light in his own country so why should the united states why should israel be so involved and then people could see have you ever seen democracy a lie and through his dictatorship or democracy to support dictatorship have you seen people like that ok i don't see him people. please jump in democracy he's jumping ahead is democracy least jumping ahead are you and i understand the concern i understand the deep concern of

he is the ranking democrats in the house budget committee. -- he is the ranking democrat in the the -- on the house budget committee. >> i want to look at second homes as part of a larger conversation about all the deductions. i do not think we can just focus on that aspect of the deductions that are in the tax code. you have to look at them across the board. >> what about the primary homeowners? the interest deducted for your primary home? >> i am in favor of keeping that for now. would i be open to lowering the amount? president obama has proposed it for people making over $250,000. we should look at everything as a part of comprehensive tax reform. i do not want to pick out one piece and say, i will support that one piece without looking at the interaction of all the pieces. we need to have this competition right now in terms of tax reform as well as the other issues. >> what is your sense of where the president is on all of this? looking back on 1995 and 1996, a lot of democrats at that point decided bill clinton sold them out in terms of not holding the line on a lot of the cuts

the democrats losing 16 states the viewed as solid democratic states.ow introduced there are states that are put in the gallup category. in terms of identification. it's probably a bigger number than i would put. but this is a country that independence has played a huge role in the outcomes. for example, in 2006, independent voters voted by an 18-point margin for democrats in congress. in 2008 independent voters voted in favor of democrats for congress. and senator obama over senator mccain thirned around voted in favor of republicans in 2010. so if this were an austin powers movie is -- they are going to play the key role in everything next year. host: let me take those numbers one step further. for 2010 listed 14 states, nine lean democratic. 18 competitive states. tossup states. five leaning republican and five are solid republican. diane is joining us from washington, d.c. with charlie cook of the cook political report. good morning. >> we're food. how are you? >> fine. >> first of all i'm very sorry that you had to listen to the gentleman's negativ

no nobody believes that that we can have a democratic middle east and or a democratic southern military but in terms of interest the southern mediterranean countries in particular are extremely linked to western europe with there are trade exchange there is of the immigration. culture. many of these countries where all could buy buy buy buy friends or buy the united kingdom and they continue these relations and also these countries have all the political systems and institutions even if they are not democratic but they have a tradition of a modern state within a modern state their spirit is modern so i don't think that there will be a conflict a big conflict of interests and it's much better to have a conflict of interest between two democracies than to have it between a dictatorship and a democracy democracy is don't go to war with one another and this is a very important point and i think in his point regarding israel the relations will be probably cooler but nobody wants to go to war egyptians are not ready to go to war against iran and this is going to have to jump in here we'll see

democrats or republicans? i ask you. >> the republicans. i think you look at the seats that the democrats are working away from, it's going to be very difficult for -- to hold, for example, a virginia, it will be impossible to hold north dakota, where kent conrad is not running again. and the democrats are going to have to hold a number of seats. i think -- it's almost nearing certainty that the republicans will probably get the majority in 2012. >> is there any common denominator to those retirements, pat, ie incumbency is a dirty word? >> well, a lot of them are concerned about that mainly some of the democrats, because they're fearful they'll have -- but in arizona, kile stands down. gabby giffords is okay could walk into that seat for them but i think the democrats have about 22 seats up, john, republicans got about 10, and what the democrats feel they have been in power for a while, they've had the chairmanships and they're looking down the road and seeing we're never going to be chairmen again. if we're going to get out, let's get goi

indianapolis, freddie, democrat. good morning. conservative a democrat. the lady who spoke of shared sacrifice to part of my thunder. they are right. both of them are so right. oh, yeah, i wanted shut down. i want those that voted republican out there to see exactly what is going on. what then't see republican party is attempting to do to this country, then you are just plain stupid. so shut it down. this is the only way those conservative republicans will understand -- invited folks've to write in via twitter. twitter/wj. joel klein talks about mitch daniels. "brutally candid." he is out there is a potential presidential candidate. elsewhere in the states, here is the story from wisconsin. they are in a week of protests over budget matters. wisconsin's walker lawded and lambasted. the new governor sent off a bruising battle with unions. we will have a profile piece on the governor -- a preacher's son, poptimist. he pledged to return to frugality during his inaugural speech. a fiscal and social conservative. you can read about him in the "baltimore sun."

the democrats losing 16 states the viewed as solid democratic states. now introduced there are states that are put in the gallup category. in terms of identification. it's probably a bigger number than i would put. but this is a country that independence has played a huge role in the outcomes. for example, in 2006, independent voters voted by an 18-point margin for democrats in congress. in 2008 independent voters voted in favor of democrats for congress. and senator obama over senator mccain thirned around voted in favor of republicans in 2010. so if this were an austin powers movie is -- they are going to play the key role in everything next year. host: let me take those numbers one step further. for 2010 listed 14 states, nine lean democratic. 18 competitive states. tossup states. five leaning republican and five are solid republican. diane is joining us from washington, d.c. with charlie cook of the cook political report. good morning. >> we're food. how are you? >> fine. >> first of all i'm very sorry that you had to listen to the gentleman's negat

dick durbin, democrat of illinois. and republican member of the budget committee, lindsey graham of south carolina. then more on the budget battle and what it says about leadership in washington after the president unveils a budget that fails to address the largest drivers of the country's debt. >> why did you duck? why are you not taking this opportunity to lead? >> this is not a matter of you go first or i go first. >> our roundtable weighs in. former governor of michigan, democrat, jennifer granholm. former congressman from tennessee, democrat harold ford. republican strategist and former white house counselor to bush, ed gillispie and cnbc's rick santelli. the very latest on revolution sweeping the middle east. after egypt protest and violent crackdown have spread to the gulf states. how will the administration balance u.s. interest with interests in supporting democratic reforms? our guests, the president's ambassador to the united nations, susan rice. >>> good morning and we will begin with those anti-government

mary, democratic line. caller: i would like to say about the medicaid -- it is pitiful how they are doing medicate. it needs to be revisit the -- revisited. i know a lot of people who work 50 or 60 hours a week, young people, and they are getting medicaid and i don't understand how they can get it when i know people who need it can't even get it. host: let us look at the department agriculture under the president's 2012 budget proposal. $23.9 billion in discretionary funding for the department. a decrease of $3.2 billion with the biggest cuts coming from direct payments to high-income farmers, rural home loan programs and wetlands conservation programs. now to do, california. robert, independent be up -- now to dew, california. robert, independent. caller: high-speed rail. 90% of all trips are in the same county. i do not think it will do much and congested. i think we need to focus on urban transportation systems that actually make a profit. this is something every public transportation system. i think the

is of the koch brothers could it even be centrist democrats do the unions have any real friends left john tomorrow of course the liars will join me to hash it all out and next we'll tell you about a case in pennsylvania where two judges were locking up juveniles for petty crimes all in exchange for kickbacks from private for profit detention centers so discuss the case with jacob sullum and find out of cases like this could be avoided if we only spoke up instead of blindly following the notion that tough on crime is the only way now we've told you about the wars abroad but today will focus on a war going on right here at home it's the war being waged by the g.o.p. on women's rights legislators continue to coin bills that would take away abortion rights attach organizations like planned parenthood to joel philip of a feminist will join us to discuss all the ways of the g.o.p. is attacking us and switching gears harry reid thinks that it's time to outlaw prostitution in nevada so what's gotten into the senate he's never made comments like this before and why would he want to get rid of

you've been involved in the d.l.c., democratic leadership council, a moderate democratic organization, for a few years. they've recently announced that they are going to be closing their doors. what happened to the d.l.c.? and do you worry at all about the impact of their shuttering on moderation in your party? >> i think the d.l.c -- i think when the democratic party has the presidency, i think it's harder for other groups to sustain themselves. and the d.l.c. had a great run. i think that it brought to our country -- >> what happened? >> well, i think what happened was you saw a very successful administration in bill clinton's administration with security, responsibility, opportunity, all of the things that resonate acrosacross the board in our co. and every organization -- nothing lasts forever. i think they had a very good run i think the d.l.c. contributed a lot to this debate. i think the call of your question is what happens to moderate democrats. this is what i see happening, anyway. and you see this in a lot of the newer elected democratic governors. i think the more recently

the democratic party voted 61% for it and 39% against it.lican party voted 80% for it and 20% against it and in the senate the democratic party voted 69% for it and 31% against it and the republican party voted 82% in favor and 18% against it. >> yeah. >> so it's so much different than it is today as far as the breakup of the party. >> yeah. >> why was the civil rights bill so important to your documentary? >> well, i think it's one of the most important pieces of legislation of the 20th century. besides that, humphrey thought it was his biggest accomplishment and i have to agree. >> in his life? >> in his career, yeah. he would consider his family his biggest accomplishment but in his career it was. it is very much like the health care bill. it was the same kind of struggle. the same kind of maneuvering had to be done to get it done. and he just -- the republican party at that point had had a fairly good record on civil rights. they weren't -- the real problem was aunt the democratic party but the dixie-crats were the problemened a he neede

democrat line. good morning. caller: i would like to say if these republicans don't wake up and stop taking the poor people, we'll ge robin hood. good morning. welcome to c-span. i think it should only be cut in the military budget i read an article that said if we could make enough of a deficit, we would tut it to the poor. there needs to be tax revenue. thank you. dell is joining us from pennsylvania. caller: the problem is not on the side of spending but on the revenue side. we have 50,000 or more multi-millionaires paying very little taxes. they are paid by for tur 500 companies. these are the problems. i disagree with him on the military spending you are making the deficit worse. cuts are not the answer. he's only increased it $2 trillion. ronald reagan born 100 years ago today. a texas perspective. phil joining us from phoenix. >> why don't we have a really big fundraiser? let's discuss the deficit. the only way we can cut defense is to change our focus to peace. a look back at the reagan legacy. two high-p

the headlines up next it's called talk peace love his god what needs to happen in egypt to ensure democratic changes and what role if any will the u.s. play in the country's new military government. hungry for the full story we've gone to. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. and you can. follow and welcome to cross dot com peter lavelle the egyptian revolt has succeeded but what about the revolution the dreaded dictator has now left the scene now the hard work begins to build a new democratic polity what needs to happen in outside of egypt for this to happen . and you can. see. to discuss egypt's path i'm joined by john going to be on the in washington he's a writer an analyst in dubai we have to and i hear him he's a visiting fellow at the dubai school of government and in seattle we crossed the ramsey by route he is the editor in chief of the palestine chronicle and another member of our crosstalk team on the hunger or a gentleman this is cross talk you've all been around before and you know the rules so obama z. in seattle if i can go to you first as we

democrats are saying no. they're saying that the economy is still fragile and we need to be investing as much as we can right now in things like infrastructure. and they point to things like the report that came out by a goldman sachs analyst this week showing that if the $61 billion plan does go through that could result in about two percentage points worth of damage to the gdp growth. over the next -- over the next several quarters. and they point to others that say that 800 jobs will be lost if this plan goes into action. but house republicans counter that ifing has been working so well, why isn't the economy working as well as the white house said it would be. genuine opinion difference on that. host: let me show you this headline from the financial times and get your reaction. guest: why it took so long and why when we spoke, a lot of folks poipt out he never even mentioned gadaffi by name when he did come out and give that statement on wednesday. but i think now there's been this realization after frida

it will not lead to negotiations with the democrats.t making the democrats more fixed in their opposition. >> chris: i know you want to respond to that. we are running out of time. this will come down to a decision on march 3, boehner put a marker wayent to se markl cuts in spending. >> i think there will be real cuts. that is what the voters wanted and i think they will compromise on that. the idea this is draconian budget cuts back to 2008 levels or god forbid, 2007 levels, oh, that is brutal, that's ridiculous. and under paul ryan economied to entitlement reform. they are doing the right thing and not just cuts to the specialty spending. entitlement reform. governor walker in wisconsin is trying to reform the public employee union system. wisconsin is paul ryan and walker -- >> they just have to give up the ten electoral votes. >> wisconsin having a fight. the fight song, on wisconsin, on, wisconsin. it would be great. >> there is a number of -- >> chris: let meza you a specific question. juan says look what happened in '95 with ging

the region is a very important country a democratic egypt fighting for the democratic rights and civil rights and human dignity of the palestinians actually might be a plus not a make you absolutely. well it's certainly a plus for the palestinian people because i think that a democratically elected egyptian government would be more aligned with palestinian the palestinian struggle for for human rights and for for basic dignity and justice i think that you know mubarak has for the most part he's been a client of the us and israel and has has done their bidding particularly and with. he's made egypt complicit in war crimes which have been perpetrated against the people of gaza including what john just went through and thank you for bringing that up because it is it is really. a terrible terrible humanitarian situation that is that has been. that has been intentionally produced by israel so and i think that having a democratically elected government in egypt would be less willing to tolerate that and more willing to speak up i don't think the egyptian people have any interest in going to

democrats by and large don't they get unions if you look at the shepard smith on fox news a couple and so you look at the top ten funders of the last political campaign seven or more billionaires or big corporations three were unions three unions course once again records to get rid of unions we're toast well exactly i think it's a really smart move on the republicans part but you never know if you heard but some egyptian protesters over last week actually sent people to the wisconsin protesters and i just think it's an example of how around the world we're seeing a thirst for people fighting for their rights and for their democratic right and will and who polices rush over the first ludicrous example of even. compared to compare egypt dictator in power for thirty years to what is going on the public is going very much only having like a dictator actually that's ready to be a dictator in a time when a democratic president some power that really makes a lot of sense but what happened in wisconsin is that they are free to let me know who voted for scott like a true verdict i thought were

now look i don't like finding fault with my democrat friends. i don't like finding fault with the president. i don't even like finding fault with secretary sebelius but to be honest with you what she said is, if you read through the language and you read what she said you're still going to have to meet all the onerous provisions of this bill. you can't do it. that's the problem. >> woodruff: coming through loud and clear, senator orrin hatch, thank you very much. >> brown: and finally tonight, a very unusual window on events in iran. in tehran today, the state prosecutor announced that authorities have cut all outside contact with the country's two senior opposition leaders. houssein mousavi, the former presidential candidate, and mahdi karroubi had been under house arrest after urging supporters to attend rallies several weeks ago. their whereabouts now is unknown. all of these developments are being closely watched by two young men here in washington, who've become stars in iran. >> brown: welcome to the world of a weekly mix of western attitu

the worst current suppression people around the world demonstrate time and again we want freedom democratic institutions east. policies top stories this hour addiction president hosni mubarak refuses to stand down and abbas to stay in office until september but some will be transferred to his vice president are lost in the month the televised address is said he will not bow down to fall down rather to foreign pressure the speech was not well received by virtue of the cairo the rocket into angry trance against. russia's president pays a surprise visit to moscow train station discovering major security lapses following the visit to the country's indoor insoles when agencies do focus dead attention on the transport system of the president to transport security and its pastel control after the last month's terrorist attack at last to my dead of an airport which killed said six people. on german chancellor angela merkel raises questions over another tree as trying which killed dozens of civilians in afghanistan almost two years ago after one hundred forty two people were killed and dozens of the

revolution the dreaded dictator has now left the scene now the hard work begins to build a new democratic polity what needs to happen in outside of egypt for this to happen . and you can. start. to discuss egypt's path i'm joined by john going to be on the in washington he's a writer an analyst in dubai we have to write heem he's a visiting fellow at the dubai school of government and in seattle we cross to ramsey by rude he is the editor in chief of the palestine chronicle and another member of our crosstalk team on the hunger or a gentleman this is cross talk you've all been around before and you know the rules so obama z. in seattle if i can go to you first as we sit down all of us the constitution in egypt has been suspended parliament has been dissolved a referendum will be held we don't know presumably before elections in six months time is egypt its government its military government and its protesters can they do that in six months because the reason why i ask this question is that for all of my life it least we've been told that arab people can't rule themselves they need a dicta

blow in welcome to cross talk on peter lavelle a part of the globe or democratic rhetoric is beginning to match deeds the north african revolutions are in full swing is this the end of western client ism a neo colonial rule in the early world and can the west live with others in bracing democracy. and you can. start. to discuss new directions for the middle east i'm joined by harold road in washington he's an expert on islam and the middle east also in washington we have one galtung he is rector of the international transcend peace university and author of fall of the us empire and then what and another member of our crosstalk team on a hunger all right gentlemen you have differences of opinion this is crosstalk so you can jump in anytime you want harold if i go to you first we've all been watching the events going on north africa for us that we had it in tunisia egypt and now a very bloody ended appears going on in libya here let's look forward what kind of middle east is coming into being in north africa how do you see it in reflecting upon the events of the revolutions as it were. w

my parents came from haiti and they identified with the democratic party because they were told that'sple do. what's sort of converted me, if you will, after i began working in the inner city as a school counselor and witnessed how a lot of democratic policies purported to help black people to their detriment, that's when i sort of reevaluated my allegiance. >> arm strong, you identify as a conservative but don't identify as a republican. what's the process to make you a black conservative but not a republican? >> there's an inherent problem even in the question you ask. you give the impression the democratic party has since its inception has had all the answers for black people. if that were the case black people would not still be complaining about the problems they complained about 30 years ago, 20 years ago and today. no party has a monopoly on what is best no matter who is in power at the white house black people should be at the table. you should want to be a participant. i'm a republican because my parents are a republican. >> you are ap aren. >> >> third generation. never left

large senate democratic majority. it's the most productive in history. doesn't mean you can't get results. when you that kind of partisan direction, you have a snapback. so voters are moving back and forth but the politicians are staying true to these ideological rails in a way they didn't 10, 15 years ago. >> certainly one of the reasons i think that you're seeing so much of this turmoil in the midwest is that it's also where you saw very big gains. new republican governors, large republican majorities in these legislatures. it's kind of the mirror image of what we saw in washington the last two years. they feel they've just been elected and they want to get some stuff pushed through. >> but how did the middle collapse? what really happened to do that? >> it's so complicated. part of it is the way district lines get drawn. quite frankly it's our media culture. when so much of the -- >> is divide >> and table news. and people don't have to listen to one another. >> the tea party pushing republicans further tore the ri

the more important contest that will come afterwards when the non-democratic and anti-democratic forces begin to organize each other will become much more difficult to contest. right now the radical and extremist and jihadist forces want somebody to create the democratic space so that they can afterwards pursue their objectives, many of which are against our interests and in the process of moving towards a democratic system we should keep in mind that there are two separate efforts going on here. one how to guide the transformation from where we are to the departure of mubarak. this is a great of a qu months one way or the other, the second is how the to create in that process a structure in which a genuine democratic contest can take place and in which we should have no illusions that we can co-opt all the radical and jihadist forces into the governmental structure at the beginning. >> rose: if mubarak was on the phone to you tonight saying henry, you're a wise statesman, you've seen governments come and go a lot of people want me to go now. i can hold out but do you think i should go

democratic officials said that with mr. obama heading into a battle over the federal budget, climbing into the say over public-sector collective bargaining could weaken his position as a dealmaker in washington. host: let's go to charlotte, north carolina, john on our republican line. guest: good morning. unions are very important aspect of american employee rights and relations after the post industrial period, early 1900's to stop child labor and other abuses. now we have a better laws to protect individuals against that. the unions have become more of a political arm of the democratic party to basically mandatory fund-raise. the american electorate is hurting because of the state of the economy. they are starting to look at the fact that 15% of the american people are getting particular coddle treatment compared to what they are getting in the private industry. the american populace is starting to wake up. unfortunately, we are also seeing that mr. obama is siding with the elite 15% bette considers part of his base. that