lot of cornyn supporters in texas cannot figure out what ted cruz is up to.wouldn't have killed ted cruz, they say, to say a few nice words about john cornyn, to endorse him, senatorial courtesy, tradition and all that. he didn't do it. it looks like cornyn, as you said in the setup piece, is going to win without a runoff, will return steve stockman to the private sector and the period of time we witnessed in the last couple months will go down in the history books. it will be fondly remembered but not very relevant to texas right now. >> on the democratic side, kesha rogers. polling in these kinds of situations i think can be a little -- >> very fluid. >> very fluid and a little unsteady. i mean, the ground condition here, right, it does not appear democrats recruited anyone into this race sufficiently big enough to command a lead such that this eventuality was foreclosed upon. >> right. this is a red state, chris. you know that. no democrat has been elected statewide in 20 years. the numbers and the turnout really not there except in the case of some precip

i like jon cornyn. he and i have worked together very closely.ve agreed on the vast majority of things. there are some areas on which we disagreed. >> cornyn's primary kicks off half a dozen right on right senate contests we're tracking this year, but races that were supposed to be heavyweight matches appear to have fizzled. it started with the challenge to senator mike enzi by liz cheney in wyoming. last fall cornyn looked like he would be vulnerable, but then groups stayed on the sidelines. couldn't find a real challenger. cornyn ended up with one but not one that was that serious, congressman steve sockman, who has run a bizarre campaign. disappeared from the campaign trail for weeks, and ended with just over $47 in his house account, racked up campaign debt. still despite the fact, cornyn has several challengers, including stockman. he said my goal is to win the election without a runoff and i think we'll achieve had an goal. he will probably do that and then some. on the tea party front, there are some that have to worry today. pete session

but cornyn spent millions.is main challenger didn't campaign, meaning an anybody-but-john-cornyn vote got 41%. boy, that's a bigger deal than people realize. you needed a sign that the tea party is winning even if their candidates aren't, this picture, by the way, says it all. look at senate republican leader mitch mcconnell brandishing a rifle at cpac, bringing cold steel on stage. it's the latest on mcconnell himself knows he's in danger, needs conservative love. the establishment candidates are not surviving on an establishment message. they're surviving by falling over themselves to apiece the tea party and prove themselves to be true-blue conservatives. >> the president of the united states is treating our constitution worse than a placemat at denny's. >> it didn't take long for mcconnell's democratic rival, by the way, alison grimes, tweeting this, someone tell @teammitch, that's not the way to hold a gun. kentucky women do it better. but if you thought south carolina senator lindsey graham would coast to

they'd jud cornyn, the incumbent u.s. senator, is being challenged by a number of republicans, including congressman steve stockman, who had hoped to be a strong tea party challenger in part of this national effort in many states, missouri, and can a. and elsewhere to challenge incumbent republican candidates, but stockman's challenge doesn't seem to have gone very well. he's been hurt by stories about his own finances, questions about whether he's serious or not in this race. john cornyn is expected to win renation host: is cornyn expected to take the nomination without the possibility of a runoff here? guest: i think so. i do think that's going to happen even though there are a number of candidates. all he needs is 51%. the real question is not necessarily that he -- there won't be a runoff. there probably will not be a runoff. but what if stockman and others get 35% or 40% of the vote, what does that say about an incumbent and strongly conservative senate candidate senator in texas -- host: one of the leaders here on c

cornyn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. cornyn: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be rescinded. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, america's top priority is the same today as it was last year, the year before that, and the year before that. unemployment, jobs, and how do we get this economy growing again. and of course these are concerns that transcend any kind of partisan affiliation. they transcend geographic and demographic boundaries. they're shared of course by republicans, democrats, independents, everyone, people from all parts of our country. but the sad fact is it's been almost five years since america's official economic recovery began, and yet still too many people who want to work can't find a job. there's still 3.8 million people unemployed who have been unemployed for more than six months, and the labor force participation rate remains stuck at 63%. of course those are the people that don't even show up on t

he can't just head into the general election and start running against john cornyn in the fall. first, he has to go through another election where it is him against alarusy. lyndon larouche candidates tend to run against democrats sometimes but there's nothing about them that has to do with the democratic party. they're more like the westboro baptist church fred phelps people than anyone else in electoral politics. you may have seen their obama is hitler posters and all the rest of the stuff that they do. the whole cult lyndon larouche cult and conspiracy theory story is a story for another day. but the fact that the texas democrats could not get their u.s. senate candidate over the hump to avoid a runoff with the beyond the nutball lyndon larush everyone's hitler fringe, that is not a good sign for texas democrats at a time they're trying to convince they're going to be a real force in that state. there are a bunch of states that went all red that had complete republican takeovers in the last few years. republicans won more seats in state legislatures than any time since 1928.

>> look, remember, you've got senators lindsey graham, john mccain, john cornyn, people who have been in congress, in the senate before 2010 when the tea party came in. they are now saying and doing things that we would think were unimaginable ten years ago, and that's why the tea party has come in and has yanked the party to the right, made them all fearful ever since bob bennett lost his senate seat during the primary. >> so they're not stupider than they were five, ten years ago. >> no. >> lindsey graham is just as smart as he has ever been. >> absolutely. >> and yet he is scared to death. >> he is up for reelection. and because they have seen one too many of their colleagues go down to defeat -- >> how about the number to make your point -- i'm sorry to jump on you. to make your point, this week in texas, john cornyn, who had no real opponents had 41% of the primary voters vote against him. that's pretty scary. >> yeah, it's pretty scary. that's why you see, that's why i agree with dana. i think we're all here in agreement that the republican party, it's not that the republican pa

cornyn: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: i will be brief but further reserving the right to object to the majority leader's request, i want to make sure the majority leader understands that no one is talking about slowing this bill down and it's anticipated, i think, even under the majority leader's consent request, we will be finished with this bill no later than thursday. and it is one of those circumstances where given the context of what is in the legislation, there is actually bipartisan support for this because of the importance of sending a unified message to the russian leader about this aggression. but i want to be clear that my position is that sanctions are not enough. we need to go further and to provide a means for the ukrainian people to defend themselves against this sort of aggression, which they do not presently possess. and we need to find a way to relieve the stranglehold that putin has on ukraine and much of the rest of europe that he's going to keep using as long as he feels like we have not acte

have a crazy challenger to cornyn. >> then there's another familiar name on the ballot, george p. president george w.'s nephew is the likely republican nominee for texas land commissioner. other notable races, lieutenant governor, state attorney general, and congressman pete sessions is seeking re-election here. bret. >> casey, thank you. >>> a neighbor of olympic hero oscar pistorius said she still remembers the terrified screams of a woman on the night the south african athlete killed his girlfriend. pistorius is on trial for murder. he claims he mistook reeva steenkamp for an intruder. at one point today, pistorius lowered his head and appeared to cover his ears. his attorney insists the neighbor heard pistorius' cries for help after the shooting. he says because steenkamp was shot in the head, brain damage would have kept her from screaming after the final bullet struck. >> getting blue in the face over green buildings, and why would school officials make a student turn blue standing outside in a wet bathing suit when it's 5 below zero? the grapevine is next. ok, here's the wa

he has the challenger john cornyn calling illegal immigrants wetbacks. are seeing is a party that is having an identity crisis. probably more than that, the fear is tangible on this end, the defense of cultural displacement is so pronounced that i wonder, you know, from your perspective, when you have a texas population that is majority hispanic, what corner of the republican party is left in? >> yeah. what we are seeing right now, the republican party is seek income their yield. they are probably looking at these numbers and doing so because of that. the question is what is the republican party going to do going forward because of these dem gravgs? are they going to change? are they going to moderate? it wasn't too long ago george w. bush in his re-election for governor in the state of texas got 49 sponsors of the elected vote. if the republican party decide to moderate, they can harness the vote. latinos here in texas a idea logically more conservative. let's get the republican party dismisses these number, doesn't want to moderate. they keep on the sa

john cornyn tweeted this picture, happy st.t as many quickly noticed, this is a british beer. as that union jack on the packaging would denote. twitter users assumed the worst, letting him have it. quote, is this a calculated insult or just a horrible gaffe. leaning to insult. a british beer, you know there's a history of tension there between brits and irish, right? are you kidding me, englishale? are you wearing orange, too? we contacted senator cornyn's office for information. we're told he, quote, got to the store late, and they were out of guinness. >>> checking in on our top story at the bottom of the hour. the fbi is assisting the malaysian government in analyzing data deleted last month from the home flight simulator of the pilot, the captain of that missing boeing 777. attorney general eric holder said the fbi will provide any help it can, but, quote, i don't think we have any theories. theories, though, are not in short supply. and mass speculation is threatening to overwhelm an important story. here's fox news media

cornyn will also be favored in the general election. and in the governor's race, a recent university of texas-texas tribune poll gives abbott the lead over davis in november. >> woodruff: we take a closer look at the gubernatorial battle in the lone star state with wayne slater, senior political writer for the dallas morning news. wayne, welcome back to the program. tell us a little bit more about this governor's contest. i guess there's not a lot of attention about tomorrow's primaries. people are already focusing on november. wendy davis introducing herself to the voters. how has she done that? >> well, the campaign -- wendy davis' campaign decided at the very beginning they were going to lead with their compelling personal narrative. the narrative was she was a divorced mother living in a trailer who worked her way up through harvard law school and electoral success now in the texas senate. as you indicated, in the piece, part of that story is not precisely true. so she has stumbled coming out of the gate. by leading that story, part

cornyn is easily the favorite to win his third term in office.he race for top office, wendy davis won the democrat primary, while texas attorney general greg abbott sealed his spot as the gop nominee. >> when i look at you, i know, i know in my heart, that we are going to do this. we are going to do this! i am ready to fight for you and to fight for every hard working texan across this state. [ cheers and applause ] >> it's time that we turn our eyes toward the general election. and the question arises, what direction will be the best direction for the future of the state of texas? >> and joining me now, nbc news senior political editor mark murray. mark, we plan to talk about the politics of texas, our home state, and the impacts nationally, but what happened this morning over the irs and this continued investigation into actions by officials and employees of the irs as it relates to tea party organizations has turned into a life of its own. we have new sound now from chairman issa and congressman cummings following the hearing, which we showed

you're going after republicans who are doing the best they can with the minority in senate, like cornynord about what happened in texas, i want to point out a democrat running in the second largest state in the country came in second, running for senate against cornyn, a democrat who calls obama hitler and who wants to make the country legal. >> coming up next here on "hannity." >> if you will sit down and allow me to ask a question. i am a member of the congress of the united states of america. i am tired of this. >> tempers flare yesterday on capitol hill. and today a civil rights leader is calling chairman darrell issa a racist as a result of the exchange. i'll go one-on-one with a member of the congressional black caucus, and then later on tonight. >> for the first time in my adult lifetime, i'm proud of my country. >> remember when the first lady said that, yesterday, i said on my show for the first time i'm humiliated. liberals losing their minds. when we come back, i'm going to explain why i said that. and first, set your dvr, never miss ann coulter's appearance. we'll continue o

john cornyn, ruth mentioned this -- >> he didn't run a campaign. >> a lot of people -- steve has not been endorsed any major tea party group. he's other. a guy out there, some of his beliefs. >> can you explain motive, why is he running? >> attention. >> i think attention. >> he basically filed the day of the filing deadline and has raised no money or done anything of merit -- >> don't you think it's weird candidates take long vacations? >> he knocks off lieberman in the primary and goes on vacation in maine and mike dukakis had to go the music festival -- >> real politicians don't take vacations. >> but stockman, this was -- i was going to say it's candidacy, i don't i'm not sure it's that. he might have been better off in terms of the amount of the vote if he went on vacation the day he filed and never campaigned. >> there's some people who decide they are tired of being in the house. instead of leaving they go for a bigger office. >> harold ford, i thought he ran a serious campaign. he could have held that seat forever in memphis. he decided i don't want to sit in the house foreve

john cornyn was expected to beat the flawed stockman. had greg abbott who in nominal opposition. i think the one that might be surprised is how easily pete sessions, the congressional primary, was age to beat the tea party candidate, the backing of sarah palin and ted cruz's father. the tea pearce has already won the war. if you look at how the republicans up and down the ballot were running, everyone was running very hard to the right. people were running very hard against president obama, even in races which has nothing to do with federal office and dealing with president obama. so the tea party set the formula, and in some ways, i think they kind of won the larger war, how the republican is using the language in these fights. >> let's look at the one small surprise. congressman ralph hall, 90 years old, now entering a runoff. not necessarily because of the tea party, right in. >> well, it's a situation which if you're an incumbent in this runoff, it's not a good situation. you have 45%, 46% of the vote. if you're looking at how that r

anna cornyn is live in crimea. joins us live on the phone. anna, what's happening on the ground right now where you are. >> reporter: well, christine, we are standing outside of the government building in crimea which is the capitol of the peninsula. i can tell looking at the building right now, it's the russian flag flying. the uckrainian flag has been taken away. the city is staunchly pro-russian. we had a woman in the square how much she despises it. there are strong cultural tice between crimea and russia. obviously, you see ties to the soviet union when it was given to ukraine. and then when the soviet union broke up in 1991, it was mainly ukraine. an autonomous state within ukraine, but now the new prime minister who is also pro-russia, he's now calling a referendum to decide whether crimea breaking away altogether from ukraine, with independence. and if that happens it's a foregone conclusion that crimea will become part of russia. >> and the heart of these tensions between the u.s., europe and russia. anna coren, thank you so much. >>

. >> senator john cornyn meantime, r59% to 19%. pete sessions beat back his tea party challenge. chip, what do those results tell you? >> pretty simple. when you run against an incumbe incumbent, you have have to an issue. at the end of the day, john cornyn and pete sessions have done a great job for the state of texas and their district. >> aisha, was this less about bad news for the tea party and more about the realities of running against an incumbent? >> i think it's both. i think the tea party has to be for something as opposed to against everything and we saw that play out in those primaries. >> one tea party candidate that had a good night, state senator dan patrick, who forced the state's republican lieutenant governor david dewherst into a runoff. what do you think about that? >> yeah, i think that's exactly what that is, ted cruz really hurt his reputation pretty bad and positioned him as a moderate, and i think we see those chickens come home to roost now and that's exactly what that was. >> other campaigns elsewhere acr

cornyn also handily beat out steve stockman, he of the $10 obama barf bags. enthusiasts take note, whoever you are, and rest assured steve stockman is still in the u.s. house of representatives, which brings us to the tea party challenge to stockman's house colleague, pete sessions got 6 #% of his vote in his primary. besting katrina pierso in than. and in the race to replace rick perry who is stepping down so he can extend more time with his glasses, in speet of cite of cag with ted nugent, greg abbott won his primary sounding every bit the ghost of rick perry past. >> we must never forget that the rights that we have, they don't come from government. instead, those rights come from god. >> greg abbott will go on to face the dwmic winner wendy davis in a closely watched contest in the fall. and as long as we're looking forward, a look in to the crystal ball shows a future for texas that bear as striking resemblance to its past. with the state poised to elect its third george bush. george p. bush cruised to victory in the gop race for land commissioner. the s

>> look, remember, you've got senators lindsey graham, john mccain, john cornyn, people who have been in congress, in the senate before 2010 when the tea party came in. they are now saying and doing things that we would think were unimaginable ten years ago, and that's why the tea party has come in and has yanked the party to the right, made them all fearful ever since bob bennett lost his senate seat during the primary. >> so they're not stupider than they were five, ten years ago. >> no. >> lindsey graham is just as smart as he has ever been. >> absolutely. >> and yet he is scared to death. >> he is up for reelection. and because they have seen one too many of their colleagues go down to defeat -- >> how about the number to make your point -- i'm sorry to jump on you. to make your point, this week in texas, john cornyn, who had no real opponents had 41% of the primary voters vote against him. that's pretty scary. >> yeah, it's pretty scary. that's why you see, that's why i agree with dana. i think we're all here in agreement that the republican party, it's not that the republican pa

. >> remember, you have senators lindsay gram, john mccain, john cornyn, people who have been in congress, in the senate before 2010 when the tea party came in. they are now saying and doing things we would think are unimaginable ten years ago. that's because the tea party has come in and has yanked the party to the right. made them fearful since bob bennett lost his senate seat. >> they are not stupid. lindsey graham is as smart as ever. >> because they have seen one too many of their colleagues go down. >> to make your point, this week in texas, john cornyn, who had no real opponents had 41% of the primary voters vote against him. it's scary. >> it is scary. that's why i agree with dana. i think we are all here in agreement. the republican party, it's not that the republican party co-opted the tea party, the tea party movement -- it is the future now. >> they must think of the future, a terrible phrase. cpac wasn't ted cruz's only stop. a group further to the right set up their own shadow conference dubbed, the uninvited. steve king, the cantaloupe guy of iowa. he says immigrants have c

cornyn and sessions defeated tea party challenges and george p. bush wot the powerful nomination of post of land commissioner. >>> yesterday's explosion in ewing township killed one woman. her body was discovered later in the day on top of a car. seven others were injured. the complex was still smouldering overnight. investigators believe a contractor may have damaged a gas line. jericka duncan reports. >> reporter: it could be days before some residents of this ewing township, new jersey, neighborhood will be allowed back into their homes. that is those who have them. as many as 12 homes were destroyed. dozens more damaged in a massive gas explosion. >> there was just this very loud explosion and right after that my front door, glass door got shattered. >> it blew all of our windows in as well as our screen door and storm windows. >> reporter: police say utility crew was working on a power problem and was digging in the neighborhood. >> at that point they struck what they believed to be a gas line and from there it just escalated until it explode

>> he was followed by fellow lone star stater john cornyn who said liberals may be a lost cause but there is hope for everyone else. let's take a listen. >> the last five years have taught us anything about our liberal friends, they don't get accountability. while they may be a lost cause, the future of our great country is never a lost cause. >> a little harsh, don't you think. mike huckabee stopped by with ominous words about the state of america as a world power. >> there is no one country on this planet with whom we have a better relationship today than we did five years ago. and for all of the bluster that our president gave when he ran for president telling us how he would play the flut and snakes would be charmed back into the basket and world would be a happy and safe place, the snakes are running all over the world today. >> and former u.s. marine lieutenant colonel oliver north talked mostly about foreign policy but also touched on the domestic. >> i'm here as a representative of obamacare because i've just heard it's your responsibility, your young people to help old people lik

aboutjohn cornyn talks republican on the republican harm, often suggesting it is the tea party and theliberty movement and grassroots activists who call themselves cause additional conservatives and republicans believed what ronald reagan said way back when. that somehow, we are tearing apart the coalition that can .uccessfully beat harry reid let me suggest a few facts. senator,r, republican he lost his primary and refused to support the republican candidate in indiana. maxed outtly, his pac so the democrats running in georgia is a seat we hope to hold. who is a preferred candidate over rand paul. you know what he is doing? democratic super pac and is cochairman with my favorite economist. do know who robert ryke is? charlie crist is run for governor as a democrat. he was endorsed by the sent republican committee. -- senate republican committee and he was held up as the future of the gop. we had to be more like charlie crist to win. my favorite, or my worst nightmare was arlen specter. do you guys remember the first specter?enegade arlen and justick santorum about every body that was

senator cornyn came through with very strong numbers. it will be very interesting. be state by state. what i got to tell you, when you look at the senate, you've got these states, for example, that, romney won those states back in 2012. those are going to be competitive seats. i really think republicans have a great shot winning those seats in the midterms this year. jenna: we will all see soon enough, won't we? great to see you both. >> good to be with you jenna. >> thanks. gregg: right now the pentagon is confirming a new report that russia has begun large-scale air defense drills very close to the ukrainian border. this as the united states dispatches a warship and more fighter jets to the region, raising the stakes in an international standoff over the crimean peninsula. national security correspondent jennifer griffin live at the pentagon. jennifer, how seriously is the pentagon taking these reports of russian movements and drills and so forth especially since they missed the tell against signs the first time around? >> reporter: well, first of all, gregg, they

if you look at what happens so are far even in that texas race, john cornyn did pretty good down there in that senate race. no evidence yet that the tea party challengers -- >> mississippi seems to be the one that establishment republicans are worried about. the other one i'm watching is iowa because it is such a crowded republican primary field. if it does go to convention there is a -- >> even there, the new quinnipiac poll this week, the president with a 39% approval rating in iowa, the state that launched him to the presidency. that tells you he an his party have a problem. >> i think you saw that in florida. that's one of the reasons that she was doomed -- >> the president's numbers were down i think in the low 40s in terms of his approval ratings. >> the president is the key. if he can rise, dams may rise with him. at the moment it looks bleaker than pleek for the president's party. >>> a surprise top three in the republican 2016 field. >>> then in this week he's installment of "politicians say the darnedest things," president obama says he's been unfairly maligned for -- wearing

. >>> holds off challenges from the tea party, republican senator jon cornyn easily defeated a host ofhallengers. despite claims the senate minority whip isn't conservative enough. veteran congressman pete sessions was victorious against katrina pierson. pierson had the support of the national tea party groups and sarah palin. the future of the oldest member of congress is up in the air, though. republican congressman ralph hall failed to get a majority in this primary. the 90-year-old lawmaker will face a may runoff against former u.s. attorney john radcliff. and there may be soon a new member of the bush political dynasty. george p. bush won for texas land commissioner, son of former florida governor jeb bush and the nephew of former president george w. bush. president obama's budget on its way to congress. expected to meet option on the right. address income inequality and further reduce the national deficit. the president's sixth budget will also provide more resources and money toward climate change initiatives and regulating wall street. >> our budget is about choices. it's about

i think you have very strong individual conservatives like pete sessions and john cornyn unquestionably conservative with strong support grassroots back home. we also have very conservative candidates winning open statewide seats and also at the state and local level as well. i would say the tea party continues to be very strong in texas. i think texas continues to be very conservative. one of the areas i want to make sure we focus on is our message of opportunity and growth. it needs to be available to our hispanic voters, are african american voters, our asian voters. i want to make sure they understand that we want all of votes to rise. we want them with this as we grow the economy. that is an important lesson. >> there is a lot of talk in your home state of texas about the rising hispanic population. it seems every cycle for the last four or eight years we have been hearing that sooner or later texas will be a purple state. how do you see the demographics shift on the ground there in not only your district or statewide? how did that impact what you were just speaking about? >> there

. >> john cornyn last week, we heard for sometime, mike, that cornyn early on might be in trouble.'t even come out and say that he would support him and, of course cornyn just crushed all of the opponents, starting with steve stockman. another example of how main street republicans are winning and big in these primaries. >> and courageously cruz supported cornyn the next day. >>> tiger woods shakes off a back injury and making a run for a championship. we will see how he did next on "morning joe" sports. salesperson #1: the real deal's the passat tdi clean diesel gets up to 795 highway miles per tank. salesperson #2: actually, we're throwing in a $1,000 fuel reward card. we've never done that. that's why there's never been a better time to buy a passat tdi clean diesel. husband: so it's like two deals in one? avo: during the salesperson #2: first ever exactly. volkswagen tdi clean diesel event, get a great deal on a passat tdi, that gets up to 795 highway miles per tank. and get a $1000 dollar fuel reward card. it's like two deals in one. hurry in and get a $1,000 fuel reward card

and it seems is that with chris christie being invited there and john cornyn and there was some whisperingn the audience like this is too much. i'm go to joe, dr. carson says we need to fight obamacare with the mid-term elections coming up, do you see democrats distancing themselves from this controversial law? >> look, democrats are supported are talking about working to fix it. they know it's less popular. no, no, they may know, they know it's going to be a problem for democrats in november. no denying that. but if that will be one issue, one part of the spectrum, there will be other issues to talk about. i thought ben carson, i thought the doctor actually put himself on the map and i don't think, i think a lot of people at cpac, you know, there is a draft, people talked about drafting them, didn't think he was necessarily interested. i think his speech today said he was. i think he put himself on the map. i think, look, there is tension on the republican party about pragmatism vs. principle. that fight has been going on, it's cost in the senate the last two cycles, their ability to win

cornyn: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. cornyn: madam president, i want to say a few words about the business pending before the united states senate; that is, providing aid and assistance to the citizens of ukraine who have found themselves invaded by the russian federation. but before i get to the ukraine, i want to say a quick word about a story that appeared today in the "new york times." this was a remarkable story, remarkable in its transparency but also in its cynicism in terms of what some of our friends across the aisle have in mind between now and november. to put it in a word, they've given up. they've given up legislating and are going to spend the next several months holding a series of show votes, which are in essence those designed to highlight poll-tested messages. "the new york times" writes this: "the proposals have little chance of passing," little chance of passion. but democrats concede that making new laws is not really the point. rather, they're trying to force republicans to vote against th them. clo

martha: texas senator john cornyn just wrapping up his speech. next is mike huckabee.y governor chris christie walk out to a standing ovation saying republicans need to be more than just the party that wants to repeal obamacare. >> we talk about being a free market society and not the government determining winners and losers which is what this administration has been all about. we need to make sure we say we are for america being a leader in the world and we are for a strong national defense, not one that allows other countries to run us over all over the world. [applause] martha: america loves the comeback kid. is chris christie that comeback kid? mary katharine ham was voted cpac's blogger of the year. and she is there as you can see. steven served as communications director for former governor corgovernorcorzine. i'm curious what the mood was on the floor and what people are saying about what he said. >> he was politely received, if you are looking for people to get a bad reception that doesn't happen. but there was more enthusiasm that i thought there would in the

john cornyn avoiding a runoff with tea party challenger.tic challenger will run off in may. george p. bush, winning republican nomination for state land commissioner. still to come this month, voters go to the polls in illinois and april 1st, d.c. holds its primary. things really get rolling in may where we see primaries in 11 different states. >> fox news alert now. russian defense forces surrounding ukrainian troops in crimea. armed men surrounding the u.n. secretary-general's representative there. john kerry goes head-to-head against russian foreign minister sergey lavrov right now. they are trying to find a peaceful solution to the standoff. kerry and lavrov are meeting alone. here at home defense secretary chuck hagel says they are ramping up a joint training exercise in neighboring poland. he plans to speak with his ukrainian counterpart later today. chief white house correspondent ed henry is live at white house. one of our big stories today, ed. we have critics who say they haven't heard enough from the white house. >> reporter: you

bush taking the republican case for texas land commissioner and john cornyn turning back a tea party challenge. >>> in hillary clinton decides to run in 2016, a new poll finds she may have support from a somewhat unlikely group, republicans. 8% of republicans said there is a good chance they would vote for her. 8%. 17% says there was some chance they would vote for her. 74% says, no chance at all. mrs. clinton will speak to cleej students at an event at ucla today. >>> a woman was killed in a huge gas leak and explosion in new jersey. they were unable to identify the woman found near a car. seven other people were injured in the accident. dozens of homes were damaged. >>> so an asteroid is on the way and it's going to pass closer to earth than the moon. it's going to happen today around 4:00 p.m. eastern. experts say it poses no threat. it will get no closer than some 200,000 miles away. you will not be able to see it probably because the asteroid would be too dark to view correctly. does it make a sound if you do not see it? >> is that the age-old -- >> something like that. i think

quorum call: cornyn. mr. president, sometimes it takes a sudden telescope dispel a president's knee ofty about a foreign adversary. in 1979 if soviet invasion of afghanistan had that effect on president carter and one can only hope that russia's annexation of the crimea will have a similar impact on president obama. mr. cornyn: only recently the president was describing his russian reset -- those were his words -- as a success. in other words, he was skill calling the reset a success after moscow had done the following things and i think it's worth recalling the litany of things that vladimir putin and russia have done notwithstanding president obama's hopeful intention to reset that relationship. so here's what moscow has done. they've brutalized domestic human rights activists, they've tortured and murdered anticorruption whistle-blowerrer is jay man it i ask. they unreeshed -- maintenance i ask. they threatened to target u.s. missile defense sites with offensive weapons. they vetoed numerous united nations

we will hear from texas governor rick perry and texas senator john cornyn.k santorum and senator rand paul of kentucky. >> tomorrow on "washington aboutl," ralph reed talks the role of religion in politics in 2014 and the future of the republican party. paul singer speaks at 8:30 a.m.. the author of dragnet nation discussions intelligence gathering and the right to privacy. we will take your calls and you can join the conversation. >> suffice it to say, most of health policy really is not health policy at all. it is essentially budget policy. so the congress just docs on so many of the big issues and ends up putting together something ,hat might be called a patch maybe an extension, they be is called a stopgap, but the fact itit docs the big issues -- ducks the big issues. when you have 10,000 people eligible for medicare every day, there is a very real cost attached with that. now, the challenge is to try to find a way to move beyond this fixation on budgeting. it would be one thing if it was sound budget policy, but so often we, as i have indicated, don't

into louisiana and south carolina where people used to be the main crop in the united states was cornyn squash and peace. >> growing rice requires a hydraulic system of canals and gates something maroons would not have been in a position to construct. >> the maroons communities were rather small. so again with rice that has to be more extended. >> host: the final question. >> i am looking forward to reading your work. in relationship to maroons looking at the b.c. and i want to focus on that before the louisiana purchase being that france and haiti there is a lot of transfer of slaves with that french connection also leading to the first refugee crisis of america when they fled to louisiana with that interconnection between the two and there is a large aggregation so could that have led to the spread of the maroons? >> i am not sure. i am not sure in louisiana within the encouragement. [laughter] i don't think there would have had an influence. >> host: sylviane diouf. [applause] we can reconvene in the alcove where the book is available. [inaudible conversations] >> at the ftc a dual m

cornyn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i thank the senator from alaska for her wise words. i wasn't here for all of her remarks but i was able to hear the percentage of her state that is owned by the federal government, which is extraordinary, and i think she cited roughly 2% in texas. that was a deal we cut in the 1845, it turned out a as a pretty good deal because texas lands are overwhelmingly private lands rather than government lands and i think part of the point that she was making as well is while we've seen a resurgence of activity on private land, particularly when it comes to the shale gas and oil plays on public lands we haven't seen that same sort of productivity and if the federal government would simply take some of the same approach that the private sector is taking when it comes to developing these god-given natural resources, it could really boost our economy further and lower unemployment. so i thank her for her wise words this morning. mr. president, i'd like to ask unanimous consent that i be

also, the two members of congress who were facing tea party challengers in their primaries, john cornynete sessions, those veteran

- michael neal from the indiana republican party same the edge it is reckless, unacceptable. ,ohn cornyn senator from texas says the new budget never balances. and charlie rangel, democrat from new york, says president obama's ajit shows how we can grow our economy and expand opportunity. your comments at facebook banned footer. the budget arrived this morning on capitol hill, and delivered to members. in an expression of dissatisfaction with the statutory spending level for the next year, the administration is proposing an additional $56 billion in discretionary spending that will be split between defense and non-defense programs. he says it is unclear what mechanism will add spending while adhering to spending caps. covering budget release events throughout the day and throughout the week here on c-span and across the c-span networks. 12:45, the director of the office of management and budget, and several top economic advisers, including gene sperling, who heads the national economic council, and the council of economic advisers chairman, will review the budget with reporters, coming u