it was on that day a letter addressed to senate majority leader tom daschle was opened on the fifth floor of the hart senate building, senate office building in washington. the powder came out of the envelope, and it fell on the floor. he was quickly sucked up into the ventilation system and we had an immediate full-blown crisis. it would be difficult now standing here in oklahoma to overstate the fear, the sheer panic there reigned in washington at that moment. hundreds of people who had worked in the hart building were thought to be at serious risk with the potential fatally anthrax infection. on october 26, 2001 the chief investigative correspondent at abc news came on the air to offer apparently an answer, and he asserted in his his elusive report on world news tonight that this material mailed to senator daschle had been chemically treated, had an weaponized with a material called -- which we knew was the signature of saddam hussein's biowarfare program. you can imagine the impact of that story. similar reports persisted throughout the run-up to the iraq war and i just want to make c

then we have, as i said a moment ago, the october 15th, 2001 letter to senator daschle is opened. the fbi rushes that letter to where? the fort because they have the suites to work on this kind of dangerous pathogen. there was immediate wild speculation about iraq in the attacks, perhaps al-qaeda, and bruce was right in the middle of it. in fact, he was handling the evidence. you can read the book for the details on that, but there was a tremendous breach in protocol how this was to be maintained, and he was telling bruce, anyone who listened to him, how frightening and how great this powdered material was. what it amounts to is maximum shock and awe and a tremendous spectacle of fear. that's what the anthrax attacks were all about. certainly for bruce by this point, he was getting so much attention that he couldn't have been more content with the attention. let's go back inside moment -- momentarily into the investigation. each of the letters were postmarked in trenton, new jersey. the fbi and mail service inspected more than 1500 mailboxes. one box tested positive for spores whi

. >> i just talked to leader daschle. his office received a letter, and it had anthrax in it. they will not take this country down. >> narrator: a massive fbi criminal investigation would soon be underway. >> the letter arrived in senator daschle's office on friday, and was opened and handled by an intern this morning. >> as an eager senate intern, the first thing that they needed us to do was open the mail. >> narrator: the envelope was on the top of the stack. >> i remember looking at it, and it looked like children's handwriting, and the return address was the fourth grade class. so i took the scissors and cut into the corner of the letter, just about an inch, and white powder immediately fell out all over me. >> she sees spores, and immediately puts her finger bravely on the ripped bit of the envelope to protect everybody from more spores coming out. >> it looked like baby powder. i was wearing a dark gray skirt and black shoes, and you could see it just vividly on the dark colors. >> narrator: the powder was anthrax, a deadly bacteria. >> it was a crime in progress becaus

star in the gop, south dakota senator john thune who unseated one-time senate majority leader tom daschle. jenna: you know, romney is one of the front runners in the latest real clear politics national average coming in with 21%. that's right behind, though, newt gingrich who's at 23%. herman cain next with 18%, then you have rick perry, ron paul and michele bachmann rounding out the top six. jon: and the candidates all tackling foreign policy and national security issues in their debate last night with gingrich and romney looking like the ones to beat. joe trippi, the former campaign manager for howard dean and a fox news contributor. what about this john thune endorsement? he is considered, as we said, a rising star. he was thought to be a possible presidential contender himself. >> yes, jon. it's significant because romney, romney's sort of a weak front runner who kind of needs to get back, i mean, he needs these kinds of endorsements to keep momentum, particularly in iowa, where he's started to really look like he's going to play there, and i think the thune endorsement will help beca

. >> newt doesn't have a vote and tom daschle sdoedoesn't have a anymore.ink article 1,ç section 1 the -- article 1 of the first amendment gives them the right to petition for redressive grievances. that is a function guaranteed by the constitution. you may not like it. i wish somebody would may me 25 grand a month. i would petition the hell out of it. >> rich, keep your phone open. the calls will come. let's just -- we're not going to come to an agreement on this. when i was in the position, as you know, rich in the senate where if i had wanted to become a lobbyist, i could have become richer at that than anything else i pursued. i think lobbying is corrupt. i think it's a filthy and corrupt business. let's move on to where newt gingrich is tonight, which we have to be a little bit surprised at this. i want to show a tape of one of our discussions earlier in the year about the candidacy of newt gingrich. let's listen to this. >> 18 degrees wrong. >> rich, first of all, my condolences. i know how it must feel to have gone through this. something has gone t

. >> jimmy: you can see daschle robert's are sloppy. >> yeah, he was a little confused. >> jimmy: werewolvesetter at imprinting in general. >> there you go. >> jimmy: that was something else. >> i was so nervous. i mean nervous just because of what we're doing. i mean -- but for some reason you might laugh at me but i thought that the three of us were just going to go to like a private room and just maybe there would be a slab of wet cement there and we'd just do it privately and then they'd put it out there. i didn't think it was going to be a big deal. >> jimmy: oh, really. no one said there were house of people screaming and shouting. >> i didn't know that until i walked outside. no, they didn't even tell me i was getting my footprints then it was -- the street was shut down. so that made me -- >> jimmy: did you ruin a good pair of shoes. >> these are actually the shoes i wore. >> jimmy: they're pretty -- [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: now that i think of it you didn't get your footprints put into the cement. you got your shoeprints -- >> i was so confused. >> jimmy: should have taken

remember tom daschle, the former democratic senate majority leader was caught up in a similar type oftinction and this is the imaging for newt gingrich because this goes to the very heart of what is one of his big liabilities, he is a creature of washington. it's one reason herman cain has taken off in the polls, people say he's not a politician. ghu whole story is a reminder the last stop on a trip designed to bolster u.s. allies in the face of china's growing strength. chuck is traveling with the president. >> reporter: good morning, chris. i'm still in darwin, australia but right now i'm actually in the air on the way to ba will, indonesia. president obama's already there preparing to overnight. got a couple of more days of economic summits with southeast asian countries. a few bit llaterals the preside will have the next few days. focal point of this troip to australia where the speech to parliament where he outlined security reasons why the united states is going to be placing up to 2,500 u.s. troops stationed right here in darwin, australia where we are right now. now the reason

rouse was tom daschle's long time chief of staff. he was known as the 101st senator. obama's chief of staff, so working with lawmakers, something he's familiar with. brian. >> brian: thank you very much. to talk about this and so much more, let's bring in laura ingraham. the chief of staff that was supposed to bring business savvy to take over for a very hands on rahm emanuel, it seems as though their relations with congress were getting so bad, they needed to bring pete rouse in. what do you hear? >> first of all, i never believed the story about you and marsha. >> gretchen: you have no know that's the third time. there is some sort of a trend going on here. >> i never believe that story and i love the hawaiian vacation story. i think you came into your own on that one. on the rouse issue, he knows how it maneuver in congress. i kind of like his image because he has this crumpled, rumpled, you really know how to read him. he's like this kind of looming presence in the white house. i think this is kind of the revenge of rahm, that's what i call it. because when we had

those who come illegally should not be given daschle accelerated right to become a permanent resident or sit -- not be given an accelerated right to become a permanent resident or citizen. how about 10 years of? 12 years? how many children do you have to have to apply this principle? the gingrich did not dcribe that. are we going tspend our time talking about amnesty? speaker gingrich voted for amnesty in the past and said it was a mistake. i believe he said that was a mistake and the past. i do not know if that is in the case. he voted for it in the past and offered a new door way to end of the lot by. last night i said it with the wrong course for republican debate. we should be talkingbout enforcing the laws in making sure those who come here legally and apply legally are the ones at the front the line. >> did you take the press that out of context with the new hampshire ad? >> if describe what the president had said about john mccain. >> there was no hidden effort on the part of our campaign. it was instead to point out that the goose is now the gander. he spoke about the economy

increase in energy cost of but result in more natural gas being used for power generation and and daschle manufacturing. are these rules a factor when considering access for natural gas production? and if not, why? >> i would refer those questions to administrator jackson in terms of the epa. our own view is that there will be a robust demand for natural gas speed is what i'm asking, i apologize for interrupting you, but please answer my question. are you and your department considering the epa rules as any communication between you and epa on the rules that they are trying to enact, regulations they're trying to enact, which is going to reduce production of inexpensive energy, as y'all look at energy production, particularly for natural gas, or oil or anything else, are you having communications with the epa on considering their rules and regulations that they are enacting on energy producers as well as the resource development, are you considering or communicate with epa in any way on this? >> let me say that we've worked passionate look for ways we can work with epa to solve problems.

here is the daschle section of "the new york times."nearly 20 current members have missed a 20% of the vote this year." that is from "the new york times, closed what this morning. "usa today," has this story about 18 different proposals for a balanced budget amendment. if that is something that you support or are interested in, you can read that story today, he goes through all 18 in comparison. also, for the justice department in "the washington times," this morning, saying on monday that he regrets not only deposing the leadership on problems over probes for the bush administration, as he feels that this is a fast and furious story, but the assistant attorney general says that he knew that investigators in the 20 -- 2006 pro but allowed for hundreds of guns to be transferred. more on that fast and furious a story in the papers this morning. this is the front page of "the new york times." the former new jersey governor and senator, john corzine, making the papers this morning. "federal regulators have discovered the hundreds of billion

but tom daschle did this "i am not a lobbyist "also. newt gingrich is a lobbyist.ou can put lipstick on a pig and it is still a pig. host: if newt gingrich would go ahead and get the nomination of the republican party, jan, and be the republican standard bearer, would you vote for newt gingrich or president obama? caller: i would stay home. i did not go along with anything barack obama says, but you watch this, people will stay home. host: we have this tweet. next up is a call from our line on independents, san antonio, texas. the wellhead, debbie. -- go ahead, d w. caller: i like newt gingrich, not just because what he says as a candidate, but he would probably be a vice-president, with another name that has not not -- that has not been mentioned that i am aware of, what is, godfather's pizza guy. host: herman cain. caller: yes, he should be herman cain's vice-president because he is as intelligent as he is. and that would assist mr. cain in his foreign affairs and what not. herman cain is the man, never mind mitt romney, he is a proven flip flopper. host: would y

those who come illegally should not be given daschle, accelerated right to become a permanent resident or sit -- not be given an accelerated right to become a permanent resident or citizen. how about 10 years of? 12 years? how many children do you have to have to apply this principle? the gingrich did not describe that. are we going to spend our time talking about amnesty? speaker gingrich voted for amnesty in the past and said it was a mistake. i believe he said that was a mistake and the past. i do not know if that is in the case. he voted for it in the past and offered a new door way to end of the lot by. last night iaid it with the wrong course for republican debate. should be talking about enforcing the laws in making sure those who come here legally and apply legally are the ones at the front of the line. >> did you take the press that out of context with the new hampshire ad? >> if describe what the president had said about john mccain. >> there was no hidden effort on the part of our campaign. it was instead to point out that the goose is now the gander. he spoke about the econ

gingrich and tom delay or in the oval office with the democrats, dick gephardt and bob dole and tom daschletching the food fight unfold. i did say to dick armey when he was getting very macho with me -- [laughter] i tell them, you have to understand, i don't care if i go to 5% on opposed, you will have to get someone to sit behind that desk before you get this done. all the president's -- all the democrats were thrilled. all of our liberal base always thinks the president is going to cave. just like the conservatives are always afraid the republicans are going to cave. anyway, we had this meeting and then they left and the meeting was adjourned. the democrat's home around afterwards and they were all so happy. al gore looked at me and said, that was really great what you said, but i think you should have told him that you're going to hold out even if you when all the way to 0%. wattages top 5%? -- why did you stop at 5%? [laughter] and i said, how, if we get the 4%, i am going to cave. one lesson is that you have to keep a sense of humor here. i was aided in that because in 1999, at the ver