we are joined by ben nelson from the naacp, and they released a report in february that said that alechind any anti-state voter laws. and we are also joined by the editor of the "nation" magazine who has written extensively about this alec law. gentlemen, i want you to listen to something right now, a variation of the stand your ground law in texas after the florida law paved the way. it was a linchpin for the man joe horn and listen to a portion of a scary 911 call from september 2007 in which he, mr. horn, describes two men breaking into a neighbor's home. >> i want you to listen to me carefully. >> yes. >> i have officers coming out there. i don't want you to go outside of that house. i don't want you to have that gun in your hand when those officers are poking around over there. >> i understand that, okay, but i have a right to protect myself, sir. you understand that. >> yes, sir. >> and there are laws that have been changed since september 1st and i know it and you know it, and i have a right to protect myself. he is coming out of the window right now. i have to go, buddy. >> don

and i wanted to take this opportunity to thank senator ben nelson for his service. senator nelson will retire at the end of the congress and during his service he has worked dill gently to better the lives of our troops and strategic offices. those who work at the air force base are well aware of his deep commitment to them. on behalf of your fellow nebraskans at stratcom, senator, we off our thanks. thank you for this opportunity. i look forward to your questions. >> thank you very much, general. thank you for your reference to general ben -- now i call hem a general and you a senator -- to senator ben nelson. we all feel very much the way you do and grateful for your reference to him. thank you. general alexander? >> chairman levin, ranking member mccain and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the community to appear before you today. i'm pleased to appear with general bob kehler, and i echo his comments all across the board, including with senator nelson. i would start up front by echoing some of those comments which is, is it a privilege and ho

ben nelson of nebraska, a democrat on the more moderate side, he's not seeking re-election.talks about the atmosphere of the mood of getting things done. and olympia snowe is one person who likes to try to get things done and her frustration is genuine. >> i agree. a lot of these guys are leaving. thank you kelly o'donnell kelly for the expertise. >>> russ feingold, first your reaction to people like snowe quitting. >> chris, good to be talking to you again. she is one of the finest senatorss, a key to getting mccain-feingold passed. there is a person who always worked across party lines where appropriate. co-sponsor amendments with me that had to do with national security or civil liberties. a terrible sign when a person like that, who is reasonable, not an easy mark, a person hard to persuade, but once you got her on your side it was valuable and frankly my book "while america sleeps" is partly about this. you start driving people like that away, willing to work across party lines on international and security and intelligence issues, we're losing something important for t

retiring ben nelson's seat in nebraska. will the republicans be able to take over the senate? >> it will be hard. maine makes it more difficult. remember maine is not just old, the same old blue state. republicans had a huge victory there in 2010. >> bret: liz? >> uphill climb for republicans now. that i have to win maine and massachusetts. >> i think they are doing better than you think in massachusetts. couple of polls showed scott brown. >> bret: that is it for the panel. stay tuned to find out why you may need to change your saturday night >> bret: finally tonight, another invitation to stay with us saturday for a big day of political coverage here on fox news channel. i will be here in the afternoon and early evenings for updates on the washington state caucuses. i have reports during mike huckabee's ohio candidate forum. that starts at 8:00 eastern. that's going to be very interesting. the candidates talking for the last time really together about the super tuesday before the super tuesday, 10 state wrap up there plus

when they needed support, democratic leaders offered nebraska senator ben nelson and exemption from his for its share of the medicaid expansion of the bill and that dubbed the corn husker kickback became a health reform bunching bag for a while. >> mr. president, they're outraged that a back room deal for our state might have been what puts this bill across the finish line. >> outrage of the so-called co husker kick back for the state of nebraska. >> one deal for one state and another state. >> the corn hus ski kickback has become a political cancer. >> everyone was outraged about ben nelson's sweetheart deal including justice scalia. >> if we struck down nothing in this legislation but what it's called, the cornhusker kickback, we find that to violate the constitutional proscription of venality [ laughter ] >> very funny justice. the main thing about the cornhusker kick back is it did not make it into the final bill. it was removed. it's not part of the law that's before the court. justice scalia seemed blithely unaware of the fact. watching the justices conduct oral argument this week

retiring ben nelson's seat in nebraska.e republicans be able to take over the senate? >> it will be hard. maine makes it more difficult. remember maine is not just old, the same old blue state. republicans had a huge victory there in 2010. >> bret: liz? >> uphill climb for republicans now. that i have to win maine and massachusetts. >> i think they are doing better than you think in massachusetts. couple of polls showed scott brown. >> bret: that is it for the panel. stay tuned to find out why you may need to change your saturday night plans. this at&t 4g network is fast. hey, heard any updates on the game? i think it's final seconds, ohh, down by two, shoots a three, game over. so two seconds ago... hey mr. and mrs. harris, where's kevin? say hi kevin. hi. mom, put me down. put...the phone...down. hey guys. did you hear... the choys had their baby? so 29 seconds ago. well we should get them a gift. [ choys ] thanks for the gift! [ amy and rob ] you're welcome! you're welcome! [ male announcer ] get it fast with at&t. the n

. >> senator ben nelson, a democrat from nebraskska, not a strong supporter of the obama administrationted against the amendment and he is not up for reelection. there are substantive reasons to be concerned couldou do not just dismissed environmental concerns by saying ey art tree huggers. i was paying too much with cable. paying so much you want better quality. it just got more frustrating and frustrating. for the amount of money that i'm ping, my cable company should take care of me. [ male announcer ] stop paying for second best. switch to verizon fios tv, internet and phone with our best deal online... $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years. first time we saw tv on fios was amazing. i was just in a...trance watching it. i'm discovering new channels every day. [ male announcer ] go online for this great price and get $300 back with a two-year contract. don't miss this last chance. fios internet...the speed, you can't compare. i'm able to take care of things much faster now. [ male announcer ] get fios online... $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years... plus, $300 back with a two-y

. >> before you approve it, you have to see where the lines are being confronted senator ben nelson, not a strong supporter of the obama administration -- he is not up for reelection -- he voted against the amendment. there are substantive and reasons to be concerned . >> back to politics. who is going to drop out first, newt or rick? >> do we ask people who are tea party folks to join us? you bet. i want romney supporters, i 1 everybody's support. >> we are staying in this race because they believed it will be impossible for a moderate to win the general -- election -- i believe it will be impossible for a moderate to in the general election. >> gingrich won in georgia, ron paul has not won anything yet. it is not look like either of these seven will make it, especially gingrich. >> newt -- maybe vanity. these campaigns have been taken over totally by super pac's. newt gingrich's super pac in oklahoma, tennessee, and georgia outspent his own campaign 70-1. this is just a fiction. hello, john roberts, sam alito. thank you very much for taking our system and screwing it up completely.

so i have the greatest respect for senator ben nelson did, what bob casey did and what joe mansion did. that's their privilege. we don't demand everyone vote the same way. we did what the american people wanted us tobyverwlming margin of democrats we turned down this ill-fated piece of legislation only standing in the way of jobs for america. thanks.

also looking dicier, nebraska where retiring democrat ben nelson left what looked like an easy openingublicans. now former democratic senator bob kerrey chang his mind and says he'll run for the seat. he's probably not an easy fit in nebraska, more than ten years after he left, so republicans are taking early shots calling him a "tax-and-spend liberal who was involved in back room deal-making," and one of his opponents quickly fired off this ad -- >> kerrey voted for billions in earmarks. bruning says eliminate them and cut spending. the choice, new york liberal or nebraska conservative john bruning. >> at worst nebraska and maine senate seats go to demming in november. at least kerrey's entrance and snowe's exit force republicans to spend more money than planned in states they had counted on to put together a senate majority. >>> all in all, while the political world was watching the presidential campaign in michigan and arizona, senate republicans were having a very bad week. up next, the fight for the senate with cnn's senior congressional correspondent dana bash and cnn contributor

is hoping to hold on to the seat held by democrats by the retiring ben nelson. an apology from the reverend franklin graham to president obama. graham came under fire after he questioned that president obama is a christian. it happened during an appearance on "morning joe." graham now says he's sorry and regrets any comments that may have cast doubt on the president's faith. >>> now to the ohio up to that was the scene of monday's school shooting. we learn more today about the victims and teenager accused of killing three boys. our report from nbc's kevin tibbles. >> reporter: teachers returned to chardon high school today. while students won't be back till friday, freshman casey and her family turned out to greet them. >> they're the sole reason why most of us are okay. >> reporter: as this ohio town struggles to recover from monday's shooting rampage, more news about alleged gunman 17-year-old t.j. lane. parents divorced, his father had numerous run-ins with the law and a brother with a heroin addiction. court documents from 2009 show t.j. lane was charged wit

. >> kent conrad's going, ben nelson is going. >> the senate and the house, it's a very lonely place to be a moderate. >> adding her to that list there is essentially writing the obituary for moderates. she cited her reasons as the increasing polarization in washington. >> it's very, very difficult to resolve major issues. >> moderation will be tolerated, but not rewarded. >> it's dysfunctional. >> mitt romney survived the night, but it wasn't pretty. >> is he really even popular? >> we didn't win by a lot, but we won by enough, and that's all that counts. >> wow, there's a resounding weste winner's speech. >> he's not going to put this away. he's not going to close the deal through charm. >> have we ever seen a presumptive winner still who is is meh. >> it seems right here. trees are the right height. >> he can't help it. >> i like seeing the lakes. i love the lakes. >> he was born with a silver foot in his mouth. >>> president obama had a great day in michigan yesterday, without even going to michigan. while 59% of the michigan voter who is went to the polls yesterday were voting a

you know, and so hey that seat be as well as ben nelson's democratic seat.ey have bob kerrey in who is a stronger opponent than they thought they'd have. what. >> reporter: chances. >> look, the conventional wisdom and it was based on real math has been that republicans had a very good shot at taking over the senate because of those that are actually up, democrats have 21 seats that they're defending. republicans have only 10. let's just start there. then you had seven democratic retirements, so that's always bad news. and the fact of the matter is it's also the environment. the democrats are having trouble defending a lot of these states. the fact that democrats saw suddenly a burgos of a chance in red, red state of nebraska keeping that. a huge chance in maine. there's no question that they are extremely excited and there's no question that republicans in the senate are going, oh, because they're going to -- >> assess their chances now, republicans about taking over the senate. >> probably no more than 50/50, i think. no more than that. look, the obama sha

it is significant that senator ben nelson, a democrat from nebraska, not a significant supporter of the obama administration, voted against the amendment. he is not up for reelection. you do not dismiss environmental concerns just by saying they are tree huggers. that is too simplistic. >> who is going to drop out first, ninaoewt or rick? >> do we want them to not support newt? yes, we want them to support me. >> we are staying in this race because i believed it will be impossible for a moderate to win the general election. >> santorum wins north dakota, oklahoma, tennessee, gingrich won georgia, ron paul has not won anything yet. it does not seem like either of these gentlemen will make it. why do they keep going? >> newt, it may be ego or vanity. these campaigns had been taken over totally by super pac's. newt gingrich's super pac's in oklahoma, tennessee and georgia that outspent his campaign 70-1. hello, john roberts, sam alito. thank you for taking our system and screwing it up completely. rick santorum has the argument. rick santorum, if he gets gingrich's vote, which he would do,

seven touchdown passes and three to ben nelson. my producer scott moore and he called him grandpa. how many grandpas can do that, scott? 37 years old. i think he is in good shape. the sabercats roll it 69-35. to golf and the second round of the kraft gnaw business scow championship. the third shot and par 59th and tracking and of course that is going in for the eagle. left to right birdie putt. three wins in five tour knees so far. sky seven providing these shots earlier. leg six. clipper around the world yacht race and gold coast australia is entering as the lead boat. they are 10 boats and 40,000 miles and an 11-month journey that began last august. this is quite a rates. quite a race. >> all sorts of people. you have real sailors and you have random people. >> all right. well we want to show you those numbers again. maybe you won the mega millions lottery. 2, 4, 23, 38, 46 and the mega number is 23. >> at least one ticket has all six numbers in maryland. several california locations had five of the six winning numbers including five in the bay area. those are worth $130,000 apie

for the senate seat he used to a few weeks ago he said he would not run to replace the retiring ben nelson. kerry is a former nebraska governor and ran for president in 1992. >>> republican olympia snow wants out. snow known for moderate positions is retiring after three senate terms. she says she's fed up with the increasingly partisan politic. >> i didn't want to have to continue to explain to people well, you know, people just arguing, we can't solve problems. can't get together. i didn't think that was satisfactory. i said time and again, let's cancel recesses, work weekends. let's get it done for the country. i mean, that's what people want and should expect from their elected officials. that wasn't happening. >> potential candidates to replace snow have just two weeks to qualify for the ballot. snow's retirement is a blow to republicans trying to gain control of the senate. democrats hold a slim 51-47 majority in the senate. >>> north korea said today the top nuclear negotiator will visit the u.s. next week. it follows an agreement by the north to suspend nuclear weapons work in exch

, -- nebraska, and said i will be the successor to ben nelson, that does not go over well. host: ken and susan, thank you for being with us. >> tomorrow on "washington journal," the role of social issues on the campaign. the co-founder of no labels talks about reducing polarization in congress. an analyst for the congressional research service reduce the funding for the federal emergency management association. "washington journal," live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. nuclear regulatory commissioners testified thursday on efforts to implement safety rules. u.s. plants would have up to five years to comply with the new rules on the emergency power and natural disaster preparedness. this is just under 02 hours. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> the fukushima and that she nuclear plant was hit hard. it lost power and gas explosions tore apart reactor buildings. three nuclear reactors melted down. radiation poured out into the environment. people's lives were uprooted by evacuations to avoid the

you have ben nelson, the democrat from nebraska getting out, joe lieberman. there are several others. and what you're seeing is this continuation of a growing partisanship, and it's particularly a problem in the senate, ballgames the senate is set up really to solve problems in the middle. and you have the filibuster power that gives the minority party a tremendous amount of power. but what you have is a partisanship that's almost like a parliamentary system like in the house, where the parties do not work together on hardly anything. gwen: so as a result of that, the republicans, their chances of taking over -- of taking over the senate fade add lot this week. >> did fade a lot. i can only imagine the conversations that she might have had with the senate leader -- republican leader, who would have wanted her to stay, because she was going to get re-elected, and that this turns her seat into a clear tossup, maybe even lean democrat. >> doesn't give them much time to find a replacement. >> it doesn't give them much time. but i think the sense of frustration th

ben nelson of nebraska who is retiring at the end of this year and a note about the senator olympia snowe who announced she'sal retire and she was the only republican to vote in favor of table ling the amendment. here's more of the floor debate. senator patty murray is a democrat from washington state. >> it is terrible policy. it will allow any employer in america to cut off any preventive care for any religious or moral reason. it would simply give every boss in america the right to make the health care decisions for their workers and their families. it is a radical assault on the comprehensive preventive health care coverage that we have fought so hard to make sure that women and men and families across this country have. if this amendment were to pass, employers could cut off coverage for children's immunizations if they on the to that. they could cut off prenatal care for children born to unmarried parents if they object to that. mr. president, the american people are watching today. young women are watching today. is the united states a senate a place where their voice will be heard

going to seat the democratic nomination for the nebraska seat that is being vacated by senator ben nelson, democrat, as well. kerry was also a presidential candidate back in 1992. and he was also a former nebraska governor. and, finally, the smithsonian institution plans a four-day festival with nasa to offer the space shuttle discovery. national space museum announcing plans for more than 25 special exhibits, programs and activities to highlight the history of the space shuttle program and the future of space exploration. discovery is scheduled to leave kennedy space center in florida on the back of a jet on april 17th, fly over parts of the washington area. the smithsonian is planning spot the shuttle gathering at various locations. the formal ceremony planned for april 19th at the museum's center next to dulles airport where it's going to be displayed. back in a minute with more washington today. >> get regular updates about what's on c-span radio with twitter. quick information about hearings, speeches and debates from capitol hill, the administration and the campaign trail, including

and i wanted to take this opportunity to thank senator ben nelson for his service. senator nelson will retire at the end of the congress and during his service he has worked dill gently to better the lives of our troops and strategic offices. those who work at the air force base are well aware of his deep commitment to them. on behalf of your fellow nebraskans at stratcom, senator, we off our thanks. thank you for this opportunity. i look forward to your questions. >> thank you very much, general. thank you for your reference to general ben -- now i call hem a general and you a senator -- to senator ben nelson. we all feel very much the way you do and grateful for your reference to him. thank you. general alexander? >> chairman levin, ranking member mccain and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the community to appear before you today. i'm pleased to appear with general bob kehler, and i echo his comments all across the board, including with senator nelson. i would start up front by echoing some of those comments which is, is it a privilege and ho

i have ben nelson from nebraska.o my caucus has these extremes on both sides, but it has also the mixture that gets us to where we are. and that's why we're able to stick together and do things that we believe are right for this country. we want to work together. we understand legislation is the art of compromise, consensus building. nothing wrong with that. and republicans throughout the country also believe that. but they don't have republican leaders that are leading them down the path that we used to have to bring about good things in our country. >> harry reid, thank you very much. >> you bet. >>> still to come, my evening with ann. it is impossible to prepare for a debate with ann coulter, as i discovered last night here in washington. there is just no way of knowing what she's going to say next. we'll get the reaction from some people who were there. >>> and later in "the rewrite," if mitt romney becomes the republican nominee for president, president obama will trap him with the lie he has been getting away w

democrats bob casey of pennsylvania, joe manchin of west virginia, and ben nelson of nebraska voted with the republicans. kris cillizza is an nbc contributor and managing editor of postpolitics.com. hey, chris. this was a key test already of the gender wars. it was pretty clear that it was going to be defeated. and susan collins voted with her fellow republicans, against some of the other women in the senate, saying that she thought that this was an amendment that was defective, but they could be fixed later on, but that the democrat were playing election year politics. >> well, you know, i would say both sides are probably playing a little bit of election year politics here, andrea. this was, you heard barbara boxer, the california democrat, in your opening say, you know, this was amended to a highway bill. and it was. this was a highway funding bill, where they put, roy blunt, the freshman senator from missouri, republican, put this on to it in hopes of trying to get it passed. this is not an uncommon practice. lots of things get added to unrelated bills, but it does have the feel of e