in iowa, 6.4 to 9.2%, what does the president have to offer the midwest, let's ask michael barone, senioror the washington examiner and co-author of american politics. great to have you back with us. >> nice to be with you, paul. >> paul: what do you think about the president's bus tour, did he accomplish what he he wanted to. >> he took a bus tour through some of the rural and town counties in one splotch of rural and smalltown county areas that he carried in 2008, but i don't think that he accomplished very much. a run of bad luck is not an alibi that i think that most americans are going to accept and the policy ideas that he he ladled out were pretty thin gruel. i mean, we're going to attract more doctors to rural counties and stuff. this is the sort of thing a congressman runs on, not a president. >> paul: let's step back and look at the big picture. you wrote this week in the journal in 1970 when you started following some of the american politics for a book you wrote, that the economic model in the midwest that was involved, big companies and big unions really seem to be the future

colleague, michael barone. like ruy, he's also a keen student of political history. he believes we are now in what he calls an era of open field politics where neither party will be dominant for very long. let me give you the ground rules for this debate. each debater will present five minute opening argument after which a bell will ring. and you will hear the bell. then we will have a 235-minute question and answer question -- 25-minute question and answer poured, i time i hope you will send questions on paper to the front of the room. pass them up. if you are -- you can also submit your questions on twitter using the slash tag a.e.i. debate, and then after we have the 25-minute question and answer period, we will have five-minute closing statements. let the debate begin. ruy. >> thanks for that excellent introduction. and summary of my book. it was actually completely accurate which is not always the case when people summarize our book and thesis. are we going to get like not only the bell but like intermediate levels? ok. just checking. all right. what is the clai

arguing against is my colleague michael barone. he believes we are in an era of open field politics when either party will be down. let me give you the ground rules. each will present by minute opening arguments after which a bill will bring. -- bell will ring. then you have a question and answer time. it also some that your questions on twitter. after, we have this 25 minutes question and answer period. let the debate began. >> thank you for that introduction. also this summer and my book. army going to get intermediate levels? what is the claim we are discussing today that it is good to get clarity. i will take this on the flyer. they are shifting in a direction that will permanently benefit the democratic party. i do not believe in permanent means -- liens and restructuring. one thing michael has written is that there are no permanent majorities. i do not think this is unrealistic. social structure changes. parties readjusts. nobody secure forever. even in the medium term they will not win them. nor will i embrace the hard a lin

colleague, michael barone. he believes that we are now in what he calls an era of open field politics, where neither party will be dominant for very long. the ground rules for this debate -- each debater will present five-minute opening argument, after which a bell will ring and you will all hear the bell. then we'll have a 25-minute question and answer period, i time when i hope you will send questions on paper to the front of the room to daniel hanson sitting over here. just pass the questions up. you can also submit your questions on twitter using the hashtag a.e.i. debate and after wards we'll have five-minute closing states. let the debate begin, ruy. >> thanks, karlyn, for that excellent introduction and summary of my book. it was actually completely accurate, which is not always the case. are we going to get like not only the bell but like intermediate levels? ok. just checking. so what is the claim then that we're discussing here today? i think it's good to get some clarity on it. i'll take this from th

arguing against is my colleague michael barone. he believes we are in an era of open field politics when either party will be down. let me give you the ground rules. each will present by minute opening arguments after which a bill will bring. -- bell will ring. then you have a question and answer time. it also some that your questions on twitter. after, we have this 25 minutes question and answer period. let the debate began. >> thank you for that introduction. also this summer and my book. army going to get intermediate levels ? what is the claim we are discussing today that it is good to get clarity. i will take this on the flyer. they are shifting in a direction that will permanently benefit the democratic party. i do not believe in permanent means -- liens and restructuring. one thing michael has written is that there are no permanent majorities. i do not think this is unrealistic. social structure changes. parties readjusts. nobody secure forever. even in the medium term they will not win them. nor will i embrace the hard a li