washington bureau chief darren gersh spoke with former senator bob graham at a commission meeting. graham had just been briefed by government scientists on reports bacteria may have eaten up much of the oil spilled in the gulf. >> they would admit that there's a range of unknown, maybe plus or minus 10%. of the nature of the gulf of mexico, the way in which these modules move, that there has been a significant level of either absorption, evaporation, or disperse al of the materials. >> reporter: does that change much, because some people may say this problem is not as big as we thought? >> that's exactly the question i asked. i said what is the difference in the operational response if your numbers, which are more optimistic, are correct, or numbers from some of the academics which are less so, are correct. >> reporter: in terms of the oil that's been eaten up. >> the answer is we're going to do the same thing, whatever the reality is, which is we're going to, a, continue to monitor, we're going to try to learn more about the effects of this sub surface explosion. >> reporter: but

at this point of light and the floor over to our co-chairman, bob graham and -- bob graham and william reilly. >> thank you very much, chris. last month we began our journey in new orleans where we learned firsthand from the people of the gulf about the impact the spill was taking on their lives. we'reay we're -- today trying to understand the root causes and the critical question of whether our regulatory system and business practices are adequate. adequate. we will be hearing from a distinguished group from past, and present government officials as well as experts from private indust, academia, and nonprofit organizations. deep water drilling is a new frontier for energy exploration. some statistics tell the story. in 1990, wells deeper than 1,000 feet accountedor just 4% of total gulf of mexico oil production. in 2009, that figure was 80%. and we're going deeper. in the past five years, the share of the gold production from altered deep wells, well's deeper than 5,000 feet, climbed from 1% to 32%. but altman played deep water drilling has special risk including that which appears to

agents, the florida league of mayors, aarp florida, the claude pepper center and foundation, the bob graham center for public policy, and nova southeastern university. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> i am not going to be part of this culture of special interests. i will fight only for the people of florida. >> is campaign 2010 and the c- span video library makes it easy to follow the election cycle, debates, rallies, victory and concession speeches, all free on your computer, any time. >> now look at some of the midterm election campaigns from today's "washington journal." the political director for msnbc. thank you for joining us. peter hart quoted a washington journal/nbc news poll as jetblue nation looking for the exit ramp s that a fair comparison to where the country is? >> guest: absolutely. when you look into the actual numbers of our poll, as peter put it very well, i mean, not only are they angry right now, they have actually cussed out somebody on the intercom, grabbed a beer and slid down the emer

at this point man, a light hand this over to our cochairs, bob graham and william reilly. >> thank you very much, chris. last month we began our journey in new orleans. there we learned firsthand from the people of the call about the impact the spill was taking on their lives. this week we are seeking to understand the root causes of the april 20 at deepwater horizon explosion and the critical question of whether our regulatory system and business practices are adequate. we will be hearing from a distinguished group from past, and present government officials as well as experts from private industry, academia, and nonprofit organizations. deep water drilling is a new frontier for energy exploration. some statistics tell the story. in 1990, wells deeper than 1,000 feet accounted for just 4% of total gulf of mexico oil production. in 2009, that figure was 80%. and we're going deeper. in the past five years, the share of the gold production from altered deep wells, well's deeper than 5,000 feet, climbed from 1% to 32%. but altman played deep water drilling has special risk including that

agents, the florida league of mayors, aarp florida, the claude pepper center and foundation, the bob graham center for public policy, and nova southeastern university. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> next, representative maxine waters talks about pending allegations. then, janet napolitano on homeland security. after that, a briefing on the gulf with admiral thad allen. >> tomorrow on "washington journal" -- mackenzie eaglen announces a reaction to the cuts to the budget. miller response to criticism of for-profit colleges. and cynthia kelly marks the 65th anniversary of the end of world war ii and the dropping of the first atomic bombs on hiroshima and nagasaki. we will feature rarely seen archival footage. that is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> this weekend on "booktv," a discussion on the state of education in united states and the effects of stereotypes on learning and testing. on afterwards, -- "afterwords," a discussion of how we perceive war. after that, reza kahlili on how to deal with iran.