you left it to bob kerrey to explain to senator levin was a thong is.t as weird as it could get on the senate floor, the impeachment trial. >> bob kerrey was the obvious choice. as you know, you were on the floor of the senate with me many times. the senate is not a real wild and crazy kind of place. this was an unusual conversation because we were spending seven weeks worrying about some kind of a thing with regard to president clinton in an impeachment trial. one year after our embassies were bombed in africa by al qaeda, just before the "u.s.s. cole" was attacked, not long before 9/11, we were asleep, we weren't paying the attention. the theme of my book, i think we've gone back to that, especially with the help of our friends on the other side of the aisle in the tea party. we're not thinking about the rest of the world. that story was my way to kind of point out maybe we could have been spending our time on critical issues involving international terrorism and that type of thing instead of worrying about the question that the very lawyerly carl lev

i think we heard from bob kerrey this morning. that the reason that the secretaries of state or the states are liable is because that is what the federal law says, the federal law says that the states are liable for the voters ensuring that the ballots go out on type. every state has a different set of rules, as you are aware of as a former secretary of state, and in many cases we are being held accountable for something that we don't actually have control over, and the idea that the, that federal officials, the members of congress that work on these issues -- because it sounds -- we've all worked at different levels of government and we know how the sounds were put to control the states, but the states don't do it all the same. in ohio, we have many counties and i never handle a ballot. not one. never. they are all done locally. so to be held liable for something that we have no control over seems to be a disconnect between how the law is perceived in terms of its implementation at the local level, the state level, and how the fe

>> we're following another political breaking news story, this one involving form other senator bob kerrey nebraska seat he once held weeks after he rejected a run to replace retiring senator ben nelson, this comes a day after the big announcement from senator olympia snow of main. you can bet a lot of democrats excited about this news, as well. two big days of big news regarding the u.s. senate. and moving on, very sad news. a loss for fans of the american pop group the monkees. target pulls an offensive whitney houston greeting card, and lindsay lohan says she's turned over a new leaf. joining me to talk about it brian balthazar of pop goes the week. the news of davy jones. everyone in the room just kind of was like that's so sad. 66. >> incredibly popular group. davy jones talented man passed away this morning of a heart attack. he's 66 years old. he had just performed february 19th. this was kind of a shock to a lot of people. we got a statement from his band mate peter torque. it reads "it is with great sadness that i reflect on the sudden passing of my long time friend and adventurer

sep or the bob kerrey will reportedly announce that he wants the job back. ago kerry said he would not run citing the family concerns, but he has changed his mind. democratic senator ben nelson has decided to retire. >>> and there could be a cat fight in virginia, because hank the cat is running against two former governors tim kaine and george allen, and his platform is that he is a former street cat who makes sure that america stays the greatest land of all. >> we need a politician who embodies these ideals and will work to make sure that america stays the greatest land of all. vote hank for u.s. senate. >> hank the cat with the common seps sense approach. mitt romney is within striking distance of barack obama in new jersey, but only if chris christie is on the ticket. according to a new quinnipiac poll, an obama/biden poll would beat out romney with anybody except for christie on the ticket. >>> and the nfl is moving the opening night to thursday, but that is the night of the vice president's big speech in front of the national convention, but that is no

. >> and we're just hearing former senator bob kerrey has decided not to run for u.s.o hold on to the seat of retiring senator ben knenels. february is black history month and on this day in 1926 negro history week began and later, of course, turned into black history month. the man responsible, this man, carter g. woodson, the son of freed slaves. the woodson dedicated his career to the field of african-american history and earned a ph.d. from harvard in in 1912. nong his famous quotes, if the knee grow in the ghetto must eternally be fed by the hand that pushes him into the ghetto, he will never become strong neve in you have to get out of the ghetto. ♪ ♪ spread a little e today ♪ ♪ spread a little love my way ♪ ♪ spread a little something to remember ♪ ♪ ♪ spread a little joy... [ female announcer ] fresh milk and real cream. that's what makes philadelphia. ♪ so spread a little... [ female announcer ] and that's what makes the moment we enjoy it, a little richer. ♪ real belgian chocolate whipped with philadelphia cream cheese. new indulgence. the moment just got a l

guest: i was over at the new school, and one of the funniest stories in the whole book relates to bob kerrey, and i walked in and said, is he going to punch me in the face? he asked me if he could tell the story in the introduction. >> host: next call from kentucky. dwight, independent. hello, dwight, you there? >> caller: yes, yes, i'm here. everyone's talking about the middle east, which i think our real enemy's china here. corporations don't want to make any responsibility anymore, so they move jobs overseas while they get tax breaks. and it's, and all these wars is bankrupting america. it just don't make any sense. i'd like to say on a couple of calls a while back, the segment a while back, a caller in florida he was a republican, they want to raise minimum wage, sir. my republican redneck friends here would say everything will go up. so that's all aye got to add. >> host: okay, thanks very much. your comments on minimum wage and what effect it has on the overall economy. >> guest: well, if i could, first, let me just respond to the first part where i sabin go. here's a caller who's sayi

i remember when bob kerrey was governor of nebraska, lower taxes.mmediately, he raised the state income tax, which was based upon a percentage -- it was 17% of the federal liability. immediately, he raised it to 19%. the city's started raising property taxes. they went and got a sales tax. we ended up actually having smaller paychecks and paying more taxes than we did before the federal government lower taxes. the states have to pick up the slack one way or the other with the federal government cuts taxes. in reality, there is no such thing as a true tax cut. guest: there are tax cuts in federal income taxes, and some would argue that helped to spur the boom of the '60s -- the 1960's, but i think the caller has a point. many states have to balance their budget, and it is a longstanding fact that americans want the governments at all levels to do more than they are happy paying, and that has gone back to the battle between andrew jackson who wanted to spend a lot of money on these canals and then railroads. americans loved their canals and railroads,

after saying that he would not run earlier this month, bob kerrey has said that he will enter the raceo replace the retiring senator of nebraska, ben nelson. harry reid has been informed of the plan. the filing deadline in nebraska is this week. the u.s. house comes back at 2:00 eastern today. we will have live coverage when they began. remarks from sam brownback. he stopped by our studio this morning to talk about the national governors' association winter meeting, which wrapped up here in washington today. host: gov. sam brownback joins us. thank you for being here this morning. guest: happy to be here this morning. you always have an interesting show. nice to be here. >> here for the national governors' association meeting. what are you hearing from other governors compared to past times when you have met with colleagues when it comes to the feelings about how local economies are doing? guest: mixed. a lot of it depends on the manufacturing you have in your state. agriculture has done well the past several years. oil and gas we of a nice start of a lateral do and where the drilling