we need to keep blanche lincoln working for us in the united states senate. [applause] >> isn't he incredible? [applause] i don't know about you all, but that is the bill clinton that i love. i love him. he is amazing. [applause] did anybody see the arkansas in him coming out? mr. president, thank you very much for being here today. thank you all for being here. a very special thanks to general wesley clark who has just been a fabulous friend and a great supporter and i want to say an unbelievable thanks to these incredible legislators standing behind me who work day in and day out to make this a great. they are wonderful. -- to make this state break. they are wonderful. thank you for your leadership. all of the people that are here, i cannot think them enough for the incredible support and willingness to see beyond what is happening here. i am so grateful because the president brings to this discussion an incredible knowledge, having been in with so many of these individuals. this is not about me. it is not about bill halter. this is about our state. it is a

also, a campaign rally for blanche lincoln of arkansas.morrow's "washington journal," james alan fox on the latest fbi report showing a decline in violent crime. also, a geological survey on predicting earthquakes. we will have phil longman. this holiday weekend, non- fiction books and authors on " book tv." former shell president john hough miser -- hofmeiser on why we hate the oil companies. now, a hearing on the deepwater horizon oil rig explosion. first, remarks from the bp drilling engineer. following that, transocean supervisor and the deep water horizon survivor christopher pleasant thoughts about what happened on the day of the explosion. this is the third day investigators have heard from survivors of the explosion. the hearing takes place in kenner, louisiana. it is a little over three hours. >> before we start the hearings this morning, i would like to make a couple of comments. i respectfully request that the parties not engage in conversation. clear goddess on the rights of the parties and interest are in the government safety

. >> senator blanch lincoln is running for a third term.e end of march her chances for reelection are not looking good. >> ray lot of the national groups decided to a campaign. >> healthcare made her unpopular with conservative ar c arkansas. >> they wanted to nationalize the campaign because they want to tell us who we are. they want to tell us what they think is most important for arkansas. >> thank you for everything you have done. >> i am all about finding common ground. >> there are 8 of them out there and they will have to beat on each other pretty soon they have been beating up on me. >> i trust john bolsman. >> one of her gop opponents is congressman john boozman. we caught him in washington, d.c. where unlike lincoln he was fighting against healthcare. >> for goot my socks. we survived that okay. >> i hope that's all i forgot. >> boozman has been beating lincoln in the polls from the time he announced his candidaca. behind boozman is another republica republican: >> arkansas has a shot to change america. it is do or die. it's more

. >> senator blanch lincoln is running for a third term.of march her chances for reelection are not looking good. >> ray lot of the national groups decided to a campaign. >> healthcare made her unpopular with conservative ar c arkansas. >> they wanted to nationalize the campaign because they want to tell us who we are. they want to tell us what they think is most important for arkansas. >> thank you for everything you have done. >> i am all about finding common ground. >> there are 8 of them out there and they will have to beat on each other pretty soon they have been beating up on me. >> i trust john bolsman. >> one of her gop opponents is congressman john boozman. we caught him in washington, d.c. where unlike lincoln he was fighting against healthcare. >> for goot my socks. we survived that okay. >> i hope that's all i forgot. >> boozman has been beating lincoln in the polls from the time he announced his candidaca. behind boozman is another republica republican: >> arkansas has a shot to change america. it is do or die. it's more votes

. >> incumbent senator blanche lincoln defeated her challenge of bill halter but did not get the 50% needed to win the nomination out right. she now faces a runoff on june 8 against challenger halter who may have the big mo. >> we had a very straightforward message of putting washington back on the side of middle class arkansfami powerful special interest groups. >> question. what is the message of the arkansas democratic senate primary? monica? >> well, blanche lincoln, the incumbent senator who was by all accounts a moderate democrat is now forced into a runoff because she couldn't win 50% of the vote -- >> but she did have a margin of what over this guy? >> two points. >> only two? >> but she didn't score 50% and in three weeks will have to do a runoff. i think that is the direct anti- incumbency tidal wave we're seeing here. a lot of democratic left are very annoyed. >> what did blanche do? >> cleaning up left wing candidates like sestak and halter. >> what did blanche do wrong by their standards? >> played ball with the opposition. anybody that's played ball like bennett, charli

- oh, we know we have a problem here, but cannot address it cannot-- after next tuesday when blanche lincoln's breakers. that is not the way to legislate. it is extremely frustrating. it does not lead to confidence that the bill is going in the right direction. >> senator, have you heard that after tuesday's primary that democrats are open, willing to bring up an amendment to address the issue you're talking about the? >> >> we do not intend to offer one. >> but have you heard the democrats will the? >> neck, but if they do, wouldn't that be ironic -- no, wouldn't that be ironic though the? >> i was going to ask about fannie and freddie. one of the main criticisms is that it does not address the question of what to do about fannie mae and freddie mac. john mccain moved an amendment yesterday to force the issue here. it was defeated. you said you thought the bill would pass next week, presumably without any solution to fannie and freddie. what is that mean for financial reform? >> the old phrase, the elephant in the room -- this is the entire herd. fannie and freddie are at the essence of the p

can senators arlen specter and blanch lincoln survive the wave come tuesday? and the nomination of elena kagan, what it means for the supreme court and what it says about the obama agenda. plus, fannie and freddie have already cost you 145 billion dollars. and the end is nowhere is site as democrats vote to keep the bailouts coming. >> welcome to the journal, editorial report. i'm pall gigot. anyone who needed prove that 2010 would be a tough year for incouple bent sure got it this week when veteran west virginia congressman alan monahan lost a bid and primary defeat on tuesday, the loss days after the republican senator bob bennett of utah was knocked off the november ballot in the convention. and how toxic it is, this tuesday when democratic senators arlen specter of pennsylvania and blanch lincoln of arkansas attempt to fend off primary challenges of their own. joining the panel, wall street columnies, dan ettinger, jason riley, opinion journal.com editor, james. and dan, we've got an incumbent thrown out. a democratic incumbent thrown out. is there a commo

come at -- come up and say, "we know we have a problem but we cannot address this until after blanche lincoln's primary is over." that is not the way you should legislate. if that law will go do harm to our country, which it will, we should correct it. the proposal was offered and voted down party lines. that is extremely frustrating. it does not lead to one having confidence that this bill is going in the right direction. >> senator, have you heard that after tuesday's primary that democrats are open and willing to bring output an amendment to address this is you you are talking about? >> we do not intend to offer one. >> have you heard if democrats intend to do so? >> if they did, that would be ironic. they will vote for it after the election? what does that say about the integrity and purpose of their bill? >> kevin, did you have a follow- up? >> i was going to ask about fannie and freddie. one of the criticisms is that it does not address the question of what to do about fannie mae and freddie mac. john mccain moved an amendment yesterday that would have forced the issue. it was defeated. y

[applause] hello, blanche lincoln fans. [applause] how about that?u know, the crowd is so loud i could not tell the microphone was honor not. it was not bought for a few months ago that the national media wrote my senior senator off. and you know what? they were wrong. [applause] arkansas has been home to more than one comeback kid. [applause] and tonight's we get to be here to welcome and cheer on our comeback lady. [applause] anybody that knows our senior united states senator knows that she is every bit of lady and she is a great mom, and she is a great human being, and she is a great american, and i am proud to be here with my senior senator. anybody that decided they were going to write this off has made a serious mistake, because we've got someone who is leading this ticket and is going to lead us to victory in three short weeks. and when we do -- and when we do, we're going to have the same lady from eastern arkansas who has proven over and over and over again that she is the right people -- the right person to beat the republicans in the fall

if you want to make washington more like it is, vote against blanche lincoln.vote for the poster child strategy. it will send a message to the republicans and the democrats. back off to your corners. stop talking to each other. don't ever make deals. don't worry about how you will solve any of your problems. that is what happens when you go when you are mad. you get the very thing you do not want. this is a job. have you seen the sdi you add on television -- the seiu ad on television? a woman says the plant lincoln voted to not let her child have -- a woman says that blanche lincoln voted to not let her child have health coverage. if that were true, health care would have failed. blanche lincoln had the decisive vote to make sure that we could give health care to our sick children. shame on them. [applause] now, i want you to go out and tell all your friends and neighbors and that if you want to be the instrument of someone else as well, and you want someone to come in here from out of state and make up your vote for you, by all means, do it. say, i voted in ar

. >> that's the bill halter versus blanche lincoln race. >> right. in state after state, it's not the mainstream candidate that the voters are interested in. >> is it fair to say that what got him elected to this point -- >> could get him elected to the senate. >> well, the idea that this candor of his, this philosophy, that not out of nowhere. this is how he is. this is what appealed to some people. >> a lot of people. the fact that he is real. he's not a phony. when you find out that somebody is not phony, that what they're real about -- the views are racist. >> which voters? which voters? it can't be all of the voters. the democrats have a lot of people out there. they elected the president. in the race, as pointed out by the democratic chairman, the two candidates running got 60% of the vote. >> in hawaii? >> no, kentucky. >> who is going to win in kentucky? i don't know. don't predict anything. i would be shocked, i will say that now, if rand paul gets most of kentucky's votes and becomes a senator. >> this is a close primary. there's an interna

in arkansas, blanche lincoln carried the urban areas significantly, and her opponent, who was supposed to do that, carried their rural areas. >> there is going to be a runoff. in pennsylvania, voters rejected arlen specter, who used to be a democrat, became a republican, then a democrat again. joe sestak beat him. >> go back to when we first talked about what arlen specter made his switch at the trouble about whether the democratic party would accept him. president, the governor, the mayor of philadelphia -- nonetheless, the rank-and-file of democrats and pennsylvania never accepted him -- >> specter. >> as a democrat. he had a record as a republican to show for it. >> is there truth to the "new york times" story at the white house offered it chose sestak to drop to keep him out of the race? >> true. joe sestak said it happened. is he a liar? he was offered a job to drop out of the race and he refused. >> the white house denies it, or they have not confirmed it -- >> not confirming and denying -- no, it made joe sestak very much the man against machine. arlen specter carried a three co

can senators arlen specter and blanch lincoln survive the wave come tuesday? and the nomination of elena kagan, what it means for the supreme court and what it says about the obama agenda. plus, fannie and freddie have already cost you 145 billion dollars. and the end is nowhere is site as democrats vote to keep the bailouts coming. >> welcome to the journal, editorial report. i'm pall gigot. anyone who needed prove that 2010 would be a tough year for incouple bent sure got it this week when veteran west virginia congressman alan monahan lost a bid and primary defeat on tuesday, the loss days after the republican senator bob bennett of utah was knocked off the november ballot in the convention. and how toxic it is, this tuesday when democratic senators arlen specter of pennsylvania and blanch lincoln of arkansas attempt to fend off primary challenges of their own. joining the panel, wall street columnies, dan ettinger, jason riley, opinion journal.com editor, james. and dan, we've got an incumbent thrown out. a democratic incumbent thrown out. is there a commo

gwen: here's the someone who was truly an insider, blanche lincoln, the senator from arkansas, who isow engaged in a runoff against someone who's running to her left. let's hear from her election night. >> i believe i'm a part of the solution to what's not working in washington. i have not been a part of the problem and i'm going to continue to fight on your behalf. gwen: the interesting thing about her is the health care vote. she was, i believe, against did public option earlier and then in the end voted for the health care bill, which could be described as a flip flop but it didn't help her either watch. >> at the end of the day she voted against did final, final step of health care in the senate. she has been a little bit all over the map on some of these issues. really trying to navigate this middle sort of stretch of politics, which is a pretty familiar place for a democrat to be in arkansas. i mean, it is a democratic seat for like 100 years, i believe. but she has had -- i spent time down there about a month ago with her. democrats seemed disgusted with her. she sort of embodi

>> the curious thing to me is the democrats had -- they got out their vote, and in arkansas, blanche lincoln carried to the urban areas significantly, and her opponent, who was supposed to do that, carry the rural areas. she is the head of the agricultural committee . >> arlen specter, is to be democrat, became republican, democrat again. joe sestak became. -- joe sestak beat him. >> notwithstanding the fact he was -- the problem with democrats, the president, the governor, the mayor of philadelphia -- the rank-and- file democrats never accepted him -- >> specter. >> is there any truth to the "new york times" story that the white house offered joe sestak a big job to keep him out of the race? >> true. joe sestak said it happened is he a liar? he said that he was offered a job to drop out of the race -- >> the white house denies it -- they have not confirmed -- >> difference between not confirming and denying. it made to sestak -- made sestak very much the man against machine. the entire establishment. arlen specter, to three counties out of 67. -- arlen specter carried three counties out of

democrat blanche lincoln is seeking a third term. >> the people of arkansas have spoken. we want to control our own destiny, and we will. >> lehrer: lincoln is locked in a tough battle with arkansas lieutenant governor bill halter, who has strong backing from unions and progressives. the night 's over noteworthy race was was a special u.s. house election in pennsylvania. democratic mark critz won the seat of his former boss, the late jack murtha, that win stopping a string of republican victorys in off-year races and today house republican leader carlos buenrostro said it proved his party still has work to do. >> it's-- it's unfortunate that we lost but we did. we're going to work hard and we're going to work with the american people, and earn the trust of the american people. because that's the way we will earn back our majority. >> lehrer: it was equally clear over the next five months, democrats will have to work just as hard to keep their majoritys. more now from amy walter, editor in chief of the "hotline," "national journal's" political daily and dan balz, senior po

blanche lincoln carried the urban areas significantly, and her opponent was supposed to do that carried the rural areas. >> in pennsylvania, voters rejected arlen specter, who used to be a democrat before he became a republican and then a democrat again. joe sestak beat him. >> go back to when we first talked about arlen specter switched, the trouble about whether it the democratic party would accept him. the president, the governor, the mayor of philadelphia -- nonetheless, rank-and-file democrats in pennsylvania never -- accepted never >> specter. >> as a democrat, and he has a record as a republican to show for it. >> is there any truth to the story that the white house offered joe sestak a job to keep him out of the race? >> yes. -- true. joe sestak is the one who said it happened is he a liar? >> the white house denies it, or they have not confirmed it -- >> not confirming and denying -- no, it made joe sestak for much the man against the machine. the mayor of pittsburgh and the mayor of philadelphia and the entire establishment. arlen specter carried three counties out of 67 -- ph

, i have voted in an independent way. >> reporter: in arkansas, meanwhile, democratic senator blanch lincolne the election telling voters she built up power and clout in washington and that's a good thing. lincoln is considered one of the most vulnerable incumbents this year, mostly because of her vote for the health care bill. her challenger, arkansas lieutenant governor bill halter, says lincoln represents the status quo. and in kentucky, it's republicans fighting it out in a race to watch where the split between tea party conservatives and establishment republicans is on display. kentucky's secretary of state grayson is backed by washington republicans like senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, but it's rand paul, the son of ron paul, who leads by double digits right now in most polls there. so it's going to be a big day on tuesday. the races are all unique, but they are pretty good tests of the mood of voters as we head to the november midterm. back to you. >> we'll see what happens on tuesday. >> jamie: of course, fox is also following two special elections taking place this week in p

blanche lincoln who is in arkansas who having a tough time. she is a very conservative democrat from arkansas which can go either way. it turned away from other democrats and she has angered the base democratic party there. so she is having a tough time. then what you see in pennsylvania where you see sestak versus arlen, the problem is that one has switched over parties. the other is saying, you really aren't a democrat. those are two different situations of what is it going to happen, i think, in november. it's about individual circumstances. >> let's elaborate on the pennsylvania situation. it's going to be interesting. as we said, you have arlen specter that use to had be a republican and he switched to democrat. arlen specter has the backing of president obama. congressman, do you think that helps him or hurts him? >> i think it will affect it. i appreciate what loretta said, we'll draw better judgments looking forward. but president obama didn't have a good track record when he went to virginia to campaign or to new jersey or to massachu

weeks we can watch pennsylvania and arlen specter and his race for the democratic nomination or blanch lincoln in arkansas and just as telling would be in kentucky, grant paul. >> neil: to a general point, know whether or not the bailouts are justified or not. and adam, not to argue this as much to see the voter rage is palpable about this. i'm just wondering then, where do we go from here? and ben to your point about whether politicians, you know, revisit this sort of stuff anyway, that they can't cut spending so invariably it's going to mean we're up against a rock and a hard place and more to come. >> higher taxes, but bailouts are not always a bad idea. the stimulus plan. >> neil: they're always a bad idea, ben, always, always, a bad idea, always, always, always. >> and to answer the question or friend charles put about hoof beats pounding in the rain. if we would not have had the bailouts to the banks, we could have had a depression with unemployment at 25%. >> neil: and fact of the matter is, once estarted the process, the voters, who aren't too dumb worldwide, what you do for one, you d

on your side, one of your incumbents, blanche lincoln, is being challenged from the left. you see a senate becoming more and more polarized when, in order to function, it needs to come together. can you address what the institution is facing? is there a way to put hump the dumpy -- humpty-dumpty toget her again? >> that is a pretty rosy picture. we are bound to go through this phase for some period of time, even after the election. the republicans believe their most successful strategy is to make sure we can do little to nothing. we spent an entire week debating the extension of unemployment benefits for four weeks. you think, this is not going to work out well. we spent an entire week debating the nominations of five people who were all approved by the senate without much controversy. we have 97 nominees on the calendar palau been passed out of committee virtually committee-- who have been passed on the committee virtually unanimously. we'll give you an assistant secretary in commerce to deal with oceans, because of the spill in the gulf. let's hold 96 others. let's see w

the democratic senator blanche lincoln is being challenged within her own party. by somebody who is really on the far left. explain in your judgment what is happening and what may happen come tuesday. >> people were upset at congresswoman lincoln, it's because the labor unions are upset because the democrats wouldn't give them, taking the right away for secret ballots for union members. they are running ago challenger using other reasons to run against her. arkansas is a 50% threshold to win. they may have to go to a runoff. >> gregg: i think the runoff is june 8. i don't think she can get the percentage points with the polls i saw today. let's talk about kentucky. on the gop side, the republicans sort of establishment candidate backed by washington insiders is losing by double-digit it's to rand paul who is championed by tea party conservatives. what does this tell you? >> i think it tells me that mitch mcconnell is very effective inside the senate. when it comes to anointing somebody to be a senator in kentucky, people are thinking for themselves. what has happen

up in the arkansas primary race was organized labor's disorganization -- dissatisfaction with blanche lincoln'sosition. what can the dnc do to improve its relationship with organized labor? >> i feel good about the relationship with organized labor that i have in my earlier life as an elected official at the dnc. i can set aside about organized labor as any group that is passionate about the democratic party. because of our ideology and we don't throw people over the size for their views on taxes, we have a breadth there that means our constituents will agree with us a higher percentage of time than others. we want to be a broad party and inclusive. it is the genius of our party. others, there will be candidates they might like better than others, but i think all of us in the democratic family are very content with the notion that we are a good party. if the other guys want to get narrower, we will let them. politics is about addition not subtraction. >> one frequent criticism has been to take aim at the obama administration and call it socialism. how should the white house and congressional de

. >> democratic senator blanch lincoln is in jeopardy. she leads in the polls, but could fall short of the majority she needs to avoid a runoff in june. she says she's a target of extremists on the right and the left. halter argued she represents much -- he represents much needed change and in kentucky, it's republicans fighting it out in a race that splits tea party conservatives with establishment republicans, kentucky secretary of state grayson is backed by washington republicans like senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, but it's rand paul who leads by double digits in the polls there. eventual republican senate nominee in kentucky will face a well funded democrat in the general election. shannon? >> thank you very much for the preview. by the way, fox is your election headquarters. our political team will be live at all three big primaries. i'm heading to arkansas tonight. bret baier hosts a election special, inside campaign 2010. it's a 9:00 o'clock eastern right here on fox. by the way, by way of spoiler, i'll be playing basketba

bennett is the third, and mccain's state is still in doubt, blanche lincoln., when he changed party, there was a framing. he said i'm just doing it to save my own skin. it didn't work. >> there could not be a worse year for that. people are in a mood of hating professional politicians. hating washington. and for him to say, i'm doing this to win, and the end of that ad says he was protecting one job. his. and -- people hate the phoniness of it all. >> there is one aspect to the specter failure to be re-elected. here's president obama on the campaign trail with the four candidates that he is supporting as president. they are deets in virginia, corzine in new jersey, coakley in massachusetts, and arlen specter. do we have the tape? >> we know where mar that coakley stands. arlen knew it was more important to answer to the people that sent him to washington. you're going to be looking at the next governor. your governor, my friend, john corzi corzine. >> he's 0 for 4, donna. >> i wouldn't blame it on the president. arlen specter has been running for office as lon

does blanche lincoln stay in her seat in arkansas? >> i think she does.wo different polls but she has a nine-point lead over the lieutenant governor halter and one with a 12-point lead. it will be testy and he could pick up points because of the voter intensity. he is running to the left of her and could excite the left wing base, but i think she probably wins and goes on to face john boozeman in what will be certainly a widely watched general election contest. >> shannon: mort, you're keeping an eye on kentucky, where the top republican endorsed one and the tea party endorsed somebody else. >> trey grayson is the secretary of state and establishment candidate. mitch mcconnell, dick cheney, rick santorum, it goes that far right that his support is, but it's not good enough for the tea party people. there is a human sacrifice, a purification campaign going on in the republican party. he is a victim. rand paul, son of ron paul is going to win the primary and then he will lose the election in the fall. it serves the tea party people right. it should be a les

in arkansas, blanche lincoln faces challenger of lieutenant governor.e coverage on the cspan networks. "washington journal" is next on cspan where we take your calls. the white house sent the senate a new nuclear arms reduction treaty with russia. secretary of state clinton and defense secretary gates will testify about the agreement this morning before the foreign relations committee. the treaty needs to be ratified by the full senate. the u.s. house is in at two o'clock 34 members pages. legislative work starts at 2:00 p.m. eastern. coming up this hour, we will get a preview of some of today's state primary races. after that, an economist will talk about the stimulus programs and the effect

people to vote and in arkansas, another key state to watch on tuesday, incumbent democrat senator blanch lincoln faces anger from the left and right about the vote for the health care bill and lincoln needs to get more than 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff, she may not be able to do that tuesday and in pennsylvania, five term senator arlen specter faces a challenge from congressman and retired admiral sestak who is essentially calling specter a fake democrat for switching parties and sestak has momentum, but specter says today he's still confident he can win and specter is endorsed by president obama, the democratic party and the afl-cio, but given the mood of voters that kind of backing is no guarantee at all. juliet. >> definitely a lot to watch on tuesday. thank you, julie. new developments now in the child sex scandal rocking the catholic church. according to reports, the vatican is planning to make a detailed argument tomorrow that it was not behind a coverup to protect ped fire priests much the current currently fight ago u.s. lawsuit charging it was negligent for allegedly failing to dea

you saw the interview with republican senator judd gregg who said the derivative proposal by blanche lincolnoo far. it would -- he also says that the t.a.r.p. money has been paid back, despite the fact that t.a.r.p. special inspector saying it is unrealistic for any of us to get dollar for dollar back and that doesn't even integrate in the federal reserve. but apparently some of our politicians are in denial about that. joining us now is eric denallo, a former new york state superintendant of insurance and a current candidate for new york's attorney general and an expert in the area of credit derivatives. has the money been paid back? >> well some of the money has been paid back. certainly what it took to bail out aig, the investment banking side of aig, not the insurance side, has not been paid back. and that's because congress permitted these institutions to sell psuedo insurance, psuedo securities, psuedo banking products. at a completely unregulated rate. right before the abrogation of glass-stegall. before putting in a law that permitted to us sell derivatives, not just for hedging purp

because a bunch of people, whether you like arlen specter or not he was sort of in the middle, blanche lincoln sort of in the middle. last week we talked about bennett, sort of in the middle and they are either out or endangered and replaced by somebody further on the edge. so the country is furious at all the cooperation and civility i see in washington and will not have any of it. >> lehrer: there is an unusual -- >> it is, that is provocative . mark russell, i think, had an even better take. he said the voters are so angry in 2010 that if gandhi came back, he would be bran brandishing a pitchfork. st. francis of asissi would be in a duck blind with ak-47 shooting ducks. there is an anger out there, i think we saw it. peter hart put it to me very well. he said there is an-- . >> lehrer: democratic -- >> there is an i before e election, i said what do you mean, you want to be an insurgent rather than establishment. and there was no better example than pennsylvania. okay. here is joe ses tack -- sestak, two term, three star general, taking on arlen specter endorsed by the governor of pennsylva

that bill is being sponsored by blanche lincoln of arkansas who may not win reelection. she is all kinds of problems down there. that she is a democrat, you know. and she wants to give farms permanent exemption from liability. and once they have that exemption, what motivation is there to keep it in shape. so these are very, very sirs problems. again, as much as you want to rein in the case for you really want to make playing field more level for the small producer. you want to encourage them to get in the market. that's what i said why not have 4% farmers produce our food? talk about an economic stimulus. give me 40 acres and a mule and it will give these young families a start to become farmers. that would be a wonderful full employment plan. so three concrete things, you know, i think shocked conscientiously, keep yourself informed of what's going on in washington on foreign policy, and we live in new york's we don't have that day-to-day interaction with county officials and farmers. but if you know people who live in rural areas, they need to organize and they need t

. >> bill would never do what blanche lincoln did, vote to cut social security and medicare. >> or otherwisee will be hearing from me. >> breaking news, the united states said it has just passed the wall street reform bill. >> wall street, they hate this so much, they are livid. >> all the big guns are aiming at her. >> but blanche lincoln is standing firm for arkansas, for historic change. host: and joining us with some perspective it is andrew. we will have coverage of that tonight on the c-span network. give us an assessment of the race and what you are looking at. >> this is going to be a tight race, based on turnout. as you said, president clinton will be here today campaigning with senator lincoln at an historically black college near downtown little rock. this is really aimed at turning up the base in the democratic primary. it also shows just how much both sides are focused on turning out the african-american vote. she had won pulaski county, an urban area. bringing president clinton to this school, and i think they're hoping to turn out that though even more. >host: is it safe to sa

blanche lincoln. the arkansas primary approaches. this has become the kiss of death.guest: i would advise senator lincoln not to be touting that. i think there was some pew research. whichever one did. they did this poll, and there are a lot of institutions that are being questioned by the public at large. the news media is being questioned. they are unhappy with wall street. they are unhappy with banks, both political parties, congress, the administration, so it seems that right now, as far away from washington you can run, the closer to mainstream is the best sort of package you can have four running in this particular environment. guest: i think what you need to do, as kevin points out, is to demonstrate to your constituents exactly what you have brought home and what you have accomplished, and in these two years, congress has accomplished a lot. it could be bringing us back from the recession which was the fault of the republicans. all of these things are things to a think been -- i think they need to run on. senator bennett in utah was an appropriate year. bringi

there's one other thing that senator blanche lincoln's proposal has brought up, which is one thing that didn't exist in the 1920's that does exis now is banks for the last 30 years or so have engaged in but are called derivatives activities, financial and credit derivatives and one could in the shorthand way say that financial derivatives are in essentially become essentially synthetic.. to could use a financial derivative to create a copy ofe whatever securityli you like and wedit derivatives are in many ways synthetic. to create a credit derivatives like a credit swap that look somewhat like insurance on a bond or other insurance, so itw would certainly not in my view be workable to say let'slet' separate banks and securities firms and not look at the derivatives being done within. banks because one reason that glass-steagall broke down and that we eventually ended up with the gramm-leach-bliley of 90 negative the derivatives activities of banks allowed than in many ways to copy what bothre securities firms were doing and what the insurance companies eree doing even though theyre dw n

senator blanche lincoln faces a june 8 runoff against bill coulter. you have to remembe[unintelligi] establishment and efforts by the national democratic party to nominate former republican arlen specter to this fall senate race. for the democrats that are [unintelligible] these are interesting times. governor tim kaine took charge of the dnc on january 21, 2009 after serving as co-chair of president obama's campaign and after four years of governor of virginia. during his time of governor, virginia was recognized as the best state for business in america. the state where a child is most likely to have a successful life. his mission is to promote the success of president obama and democratic officeholders and candidates throughout america while building a strong infrastructure to produce change in the nation's policies and politics. he leaveleads the party that may believe is headed for massive november losses. as voters are our rest of the deficit, bailouts, two wars in the bush's agenda being pursued by president obama. we're interested today in hea

that is not the way that you should legislate -- after next tuesday when blanche lincoln's primary occurs. host: kevin hall, mcclatchy newspapers national economics correspondent, joins us. thanks for being with us. caller: thanks for having me. host: explain the number of amendments, which is something that senator chris dodd and went on the floor frustrated, saying that there have been more than 60 a minute -- amendments which is slowing down the final vote. guest: that is happening in the house as well. there are a lot of amendments they are throwing out there to gum it out. there may be 200 more in the queue. there is really only one more that is a serious amendment that has a lot of bipartisan discussion in terms of what people are serious about addressing, versus the lack of nuisanceses n amendments. host: this bill passing the house by a vote of 223-202. no republican support. in the senate, we have been talking about senator rules. senator harry reid it needs at least one republican to support the bill. who on the gop side is with the democrats and the independence on this? guest:

it is suggested there has been a re-interpretation of blanche lincoln's amendment.an you bring us up-to-date? guest: yes, chairman lincoln had the intent to require the derivatives activities currently conducted go to an affiliate. that is an important step in the right direction. it came up at the last minute. we have been strong supporters all along of giving the fdic and cftc across the board, no matter who is doing the derivatives. the suggestion was that banks and bank holding company should not do any type of derivatives activities. we think that needs to be thought through. not all derivatives are bad. interest rate derivatives -- we want them to manage their interest rate risk. some of that needs to be customized. so, this is an important step. at least we would know the derivatives activity would remain in a more regulated than you, a bank holding company. the banks do need capability to hedge their own exposures. this is an example that we need to make sure we think through what we're doing. many people are angry, and so my, but we need to lead with our he

both sides of the i/o that some point* they will bear some if through to in saxby chambliss and blanche lincolnumer protection piece. i want to see consumer protection take place. i know the senator from connecticut knows i was serious about trying to resolve the issue in march. it is my hope of that we can come to terms of that. it is my hope we can create an appropriate balance so it is in balance with a regulation for people who do not do that on a regular basis to make sure the banking system is safe and sound and the institutions are not at this for those kinds of things but hopefully we can get that in balance i don't know the senator from connecticut wants to speak to this but it has a lot of people concerned as an agency is written today they don't have appropriate checks and balances with the wrong type of leadership over time them possibly i hope over the course of the debate we have the ability to achieve that balance where people across the country wake up on a daily basis not directly involved in the financial industry have no fears to reach out becoming an necessarily involved but

challenged by [unintelligible] ran paul is running against [unintelligible] in arkansas, senator blanche lincolnnee elena kagan is meeting with senators in advance of her confirmation hearing. learn more about the process in c-span abroad this book. -- c-span's new book. >> a senate hearing on the gulf coast oil spill. you hear janet napolitano. then the president and chairman of bp america. senator joe lieberman chairs the committee. >> good afternoon. the hearing will come to order. we convened today to assess the private and public sector response. to what is rapidly and ominously becoming the worst oil spill in america's history. we do so as part of the responsibility to oversee the operations of government and in this case, specifically, the incident management operations of the department of homeland security and the united states coast guard. we're not here to determine how the explosion of the oil will happened -- elwell happen. those are critically important questions. other congressional committees and private groups have began to explore those questions. . . our focus today is o prepa

comments in a moment but says here in "the washington post" robert benett -- liberals have targeted blanch lincoln in a may 18, primary. others hope to punish politicians they view as insufficiently devoted to party creed. scientists might say there's nothing wrong with this but some ought to stand for something. those who used to be called rockefeller republicans, believes in activist government, may feel more at home as democrats. there's value to clarity in such things, but there are dangers, too. the world is complicated. and the electorate so diverse cannot be shoehorned into two, fixed templates. there's no reason why gun ownership should be favored. the great ter number of voters who will find themselves politically homeless. so do you want your representative to to you the party line? caller: good morning c-span. thank you for the opportunity speak. i wanted to andersen, yes. i think it's -- i wanted to answer, yes. i think it's important for our represent if6s to do what we want them to do and the battle in washington, d.c. is a natural thing. if it gets heated, it's just the way it has t

trying to win the democratic nomination, senator blanche lincoln in arkansas is struggling against the democratic primary. kentucky, cray grace in had the endorsement of mitch mcconnell, the senate minority leader. trailing pretty badly in the polls right now. what you saw last night in an early way was the establishment candidates ultimately winning but having a harder time of it than many folks expected. later this month there is a chance for a much greater up said. -- of said -- upset. host: thank you for that coverage, alexander burns. we will be covering those elections in prime time as much as we can. we wear -- we are continuing to ask you this question, terrorists or criminal. which label should be applied to the times square car bombing suspect. "the washington times" has this headline, "bomb suspect trained in pakistan." here is that line from "the new york times." "on reignite debate -- terrorist or criminal"? jackson, good morning. caller: i hope that i am allowed to finish my thought. pay attention, please. remember richard reid? the shoe bomber? his device started to smok