and also with us, gloria borger and david gergen. so dana, i want to go to you on the scene first in the sense that if you look at an electoral map that we start with president obama at 247 and governor romney at 206. the question has been is this the final map? these yellow states there are toss-ups or are there thinks in anybody's armor? at least for the moment it is possible we have found a ching in the democratic armor there. as we talk to republicans do they think, yes, this puts wisconsin in play. i know republicans want to say that. do they think outside wisconsin it means anything in like minded states along the rust best? >> reporter: you know, the honest answer they will give is they're not sure but they hope so. i think a lot of it is for the reason that david gergen was just talking about when we talk about the issues. they are very much hoping that this is a harbinger of november when it comes to what people really care about and are upset about. very much like we saw in 2010. about the big spending and about the battle

senior political analyst david gergen also with us. dana, you're at walker headquarters, this was a hot fight. they got nervous, the democrats thought they might beat them on the ground. scott walker now projected to be the winner. what's the reaction right there? >> oh, it is absolutely intense. the minute that the local station here called the race for scott walker, this place erupted like i haven't heard or seen any election night. really even during the presidential primaries. the republican primaries that i was covering earlier this year. this is a fired up crowd and it really speaks to the intensity, john, the real intensity that has been going on on the ground here in wisconsin for months and months and months. as it mentioned earlier i think to you, the fact of the matter is that people here -- i'm told by one republican strategist very true, people here would walk across coals for scott walker, but then the same intensity is on the other side. at the end of the day, the people for scott walker won. he had unbelievable money co

i suspect that the mannstein ideal of good government would be president david gergen. is the republican party extreme? i can only answer i certainly hope so. let us recall that the republican party began its life as an extremist party, dedicated to the purpose of abolishing the twin relics of bar barism, plig know and slavery. the supreme court declared the republican party's platform to be unconstitutional. the republican party mannstein says oh well, i guess we should accommodate ourselves to the status quo. there's little reason or purpose for the republican party unless it acts with a new determination to call a decisive halt to the endless ratcheting expansion of centralized government power and reckless spendle. the hypothesis is successful in gaining prominent placements in "the post" and pro curing admiration from daily show audiences. i remind norm of one thing, all glory is fleeting. i timed out, see? >> okay, let me first say for the first minute and a half, steven, i don't disagree with a thing you said. [ laughter ] let me next say that i don't know which

also my problem with compass mate conservativism, and you find this in david gergen is this confusion that the measure of a person's soul is directly correlate bl to their support for bloated, outdated, big government programs. sort of the new deal, great society co-opation of conservativism and that, you know, it's funny, president bush said on labor day of 2003, i think it was, if somebody hurts, the government has to move. barack obama said not too long ago, if one american has a problem, we all have a problem. and these are absolutely ludicrous prop -- propositions to me. but they're very similar. so the cliches that bother me from republicans have to do with sort of -- and that's part of the reason for the book -- is i'm trying to talk to conservatives. i don't have a lot of illusions about how much, how many liberal book buyers i have out there. but one of the things i'm trying to, as i say in the book, is i'm trying to do is inform my own readers, my own side that these cliches, this way of seeing the world infects us all. if you don't know what your history is, you're going to

david gergen called it one of the explosive moments in debate history. we all know the exchange with newt gingrich going after you and cnn with the question about his alleged extramarital affairs. my question to you as a moderator, what were you thinking? what was going through your head? >> i think you take away the word alleged. i think we're being a little too careful here. >> the question was -- >> thank you, chris. >> the question was, one of his ex wives had said he came and asked for something specific, an open marriage. we had a conversation, is that a legitimate question for presidential debate. i said, yes, it is. then we had a conversation about, where do you ask it. i don't think there's any debate it was a fair question, a relevant news question. this is a legitimate debate, is it first in the debate or not. i said, you know what, number one story of the day, if i approach newt gingrich on the street, that's the first question i would ask him. i'm going to ask him this question, he is going to turn at me, he's going to launch at me, launch a

they expect and deserve more. >> jeffrey toobin and gloria borger and david gergen.rom a legal standpoint, the house found him in contempt. they send a criminal citation to the justice department, which is run by the attorney general of the united states, essentially saying investigate this to see if he is not only in contempt but if he has done anything criminally wrong. where does this go? at best, goes to court. this is an embarrassment for eric holder, that's all it is. nothing will happen to him. this might get tied up in court. if it winds up in court, it will take months to resolve itself, and as you point out, 131 days to the election. this is designed to embarrass him, which it does, but there will be no formal legal consequences. >> unprecedented, david gergen. you advised four u.s. presidents, a member of cabinet now found in contempt of congress. normally when there's this threat, sometimes they get up to the last second. in 99 out of 100 cases, they find a way to negotiate a resolution. what does this signal to you? >> it is more than embarrassment for e

david gergen what do you make of this? >> i'm not sure what to make of it.nment had laws on the books, but they were not enforcing, they could pass their own laws. and the court apparently has said, no you cannot do that. those were centralized powers and you can't step in. that is from a point of view of state's rights folks of people who have wanted tougher border enforcement at the state level. that's a loss, that's a defeat. and whether it says anything to us about how the court is going to come out on health care, is a very different matter. i think it does not signal one way or the other anything about health care. >> i'm talking to my executive producer now, it was a 5-3 decision in favor of the u.s. government. there are nine justices, so one of them may have abstained. i wishrey toobin out here, but he's waiting for the decision on health care. >> sections 3, 5 and 6 have been pre-empti pre-emptive. a crime -- you had to register with the state and say i'm here illegally. and that section three also made it illegal more them not to carry registratio

david gergen was leaking information to the media. every administration has had it. far do you go with what you leak out? this so much smells like the obama administration because they are so much into themselves and patting themselves on the back and say look at me, when you have the republicans who say this man is not strong with defense, you have a president picking out the exact targets that the drones are going to go in and fire at and take out. this is outrageous, these kinds of leaks going out. it puts the president of the united states in harm's way in the future because you have taken plausible deniability away. they need to find the person who might have leaked all this information. and i think they are right. it's not from the white house. i would check at the vice president's house today. shannon: the attorney general has tapped two attorneys general to lead the investigation. he wouldn't say what they are after. but you saw senator lindsey graham suggesting they don't think those u.s. attorneys can be independent. do you think it's enough to have those t

. >> david gergen, you can see from the reactions on both sides. the white house is trying to raise money. think the president kept his commitment. now with the help of the court to a signature issue of the democratic party. you see the romney campaign going to the right. raising a lot of money already. what about the middle? how do the centrist swing voters who tend to decide 50/50 elections, do they want this over? whether they favor the law or not back in 2010? do they want it fight over? or do they want to litigate it again? >> excellent question, john. there's no question, there's no doubt this galvanizes the right. in talking to conservatives who were in state legislatures who got elected by the tea party folks, they say, look this is going to bring the tea party out. this is the issue that ignited those town halls. but mitt romney cannot win with simply the tea party as a base. he needs to bring in some of those people from the middle. in talking to a variety of folks today, john, my sense is there are a number of people in the middle who wi

david gergen, i just want to start of with the pictures. you've advised four u.s. presidents and you know, the white house always says when the meeting doesn't go well, don't pay attention to the body language. look at these pictures. putin is leaning away with the stone face. i remember it well from covering him back in the jrnlg w bush administration. he had a much more friendly relationship with george w. bush. you can see it in the president's face. you could hear it in the tone of his words. this is not a working relationship at the moment, is it. >> it is not a working relationship. and it's been an enormous source of frustration for the administration. as you know, the obama is team came in promising to hit the reset button with russia. in the beginning it seemed to be working. obama had a an excellent relationship with medvedev. the two saw themselves as risings members of a young generation that was going to transform the world. and they made some progress on some issues. but now with putin in, we have this authoritarian that many in washington regard as a

presidents david gergen with me now. i've covered him for a long time, it is like a roller coaster. obama says we're in a recovery, tough recovery but a recovery. bill clinton says we're in a recession. helpful? >> helpful to the press. he is like covering teddy roosevelt after he left office. he rattled the cages today but give him credit. he told the truth and people in washington are not often doing that right now. most americans -- >> people in chicago probably don't appreciate that. >> probably right now most americans think we're in a recession. importantly bill clinton even as he took on the republicans and you pointed out he did say the republicans were wrong about trying to make permanent tax cuts and wrong about going to austerity but we should look at and he would favor extending all the tax cuts, all of the bush tax cuts and the obama tax cuts for a few months into next year to help the recovery. there are a lot of americans who believe that, and more importantly, john, too many people in washington have refused to face what's going to come after this election and he's h

i like what david gergen said about this is really a psychological win for the republicans, skmefs very much the leader of that movement. and it became very much a national campaign. and i thought he handled it very well. he remained sane -- you're giving me a bad look, ed -- >> how can i give you a bad look? the guy won. i can't sugarcoat it. >> he won with an even greater percentage this time, i think 37% of which said that they were in favor of the unions. but they still voted for him, because he's doing things, the economy is still at 6%, which is lower than the national average, and people are clearly happy there. >> he's doing things, all right, and to your point, he made it a national campaign. 64% of his funding, his $29 million, came from outside the state. so no question, he is a national right-wing celebrity now. >> he does have experience going around the country raising money. >> he absolutely does. i don't think -- i can't see them putting him on the tick this time around, but 2016 is not that far down the road. and you never know. >> i don't want to rain on anybody's para

david gergen, thanks as always. >>> a debate, how to get a long term fix for the broken immigration system. >>> and what looks like mitt romney's latest auditions for vice president, senator kelly ott joins us next. if you made a list of countries from around the world... ...with the best math scores. ...the united states would be on that list. in 25th place. let's raise academic standards across the nation. let's get back to the head of the class. let's solve this. ♪ ♪ [ man ] excuse me miss. [ gasps ] this fiber one 90 calorie brownie has all the moist, chewy, deliciousness you desire. mmmm. thanks. at 90 calories, the brownie of your dreams is now deliciously real. mcallen, texas. in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so every piece of equipment knows where it is, how it's doing or where it goes next. ♪ this is the bell on the cat. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ helping y

let's go to david gergen. this is the attorney general, the highest law enforcement officer. a house committee says he is in contempt of congress. where do we go from here. how significant is this in. >> it has suddenly gotten more significant, john. we had a low level fight going on in washington, almost below the radar screen for most americans. both sides escalated dramatically tonight. the president exercising executive privilege the first time in his presidency, and the house committee voting contempt and sending it to the floor where it is likely to pass. john, in the past when we've had these kind of dustups, they've ordinarily been resolved by negotiations. clearly there are documents the administration is sitting on, don't want to share with the committee. the committee really wants to see them. i don't know if there's a smoking gun there or whatever, there must be something there that's sensitive from a white house perspective. but ordinarily in this kind of thing, negotiation would say why don't we have two or three selected people or four people go into a room, lo

i think there a lot of mainstream honorable, decent political reporters and journalists and david gergenes who see because they believed themselves to be centrist and many of them actually are centrist. they get to place the privilege to the metaphorical center of american politics and a i don't think they deserve and let's put it this way, think anybody who knows anything about politics knows the most contemptible people in politics and the most ridiculous people in politics are those idiots after the third residential debate in late october, whenever it is, who form a focus group who for the last undecideds and abandoned a campaign for two years, right? you will have one brett der or chris wallace or somebody who will go to the focus group and say, what did you think? they will be like, oh, just wish i heard more about education or you know it was interesting but i didn't hear him speaking to me about theuiñ?ñ? environment. i didn't get a full understanding of what his position is on k-12 education. and at that point if you don't know what these guys positions are by late october, you

and my problem with conservative -- a wonderful writer, david gergen -- is this confusion of the measureof a person's soul is directly connected to their support for bloated, outdated, big government programs. the new deal great society cooperation of conservative, and president bush said in labor day of 2003, irthink it was, somebody hurts the government has to move. barack obama said not too long ago, if one american has a problem, we all have a problem. and these are absolutely ludicrous propositions to me but they're very similar. so the cliches that bother me have republicans is -- i'm trying to talk conservatives. i don't have a lot of illusions how much -- how many liberal book buyers i have out there. one of the things i'm trying to do is inform my own readers, my own side, as it were, that these cliches, these ways of seeing the world infects us all. if you don't know what your history is, you're going to go with the people who teach you history, and so the way we thought about the catholic church, the way we're taught about fascism, if you don't know the alternative story, if y

i suspect that the man steam idea of good government would be president david gergen.s of the question is the republican party extreme, i can only answer i certainly hope so. let us recall the republican party began its life as an extremist party dedicated to the purpose of abolishing the relics of barbarism and slavery in the year of its founding the republican party was the supreme court declared the republican party platform to be unconstitutional. the republican party wishes we would have said i guess we should accommodate ourselves to the status quo. likewise there's little reason or purpose for the republican party unless it acts with a new determination to call a decisive halt to the endless ratcheting expansion of centralized government power and reckless spending. my hypothesis is not successful in gaining placement in the post and in procuring admiration from the daily show audiences but i would remind norm of one thing. all glory is fleeting. [laughter] [applause] >> i don't disagree with of thing. [laughter] let me next say i don't know which is more disori

. >> reporter: cnn senior political analyst, david gergen who served as an adviser to several presidents clinton saying bill clinton had his days as arkansas governor and's a division on the attacks against private equity. >> overall, there is a fear of democrats who are descending from the obama attacks. the attacks themselves sound like they're antipf business and a free enterprise quality about it and in business some quantities succeed and others don't. when a company doesn't succeed to a lot of democrats seems tenured. >> reporter: the obama campaign pointed out president clinton also talked about a tactic some private equity investments used and investing in company, rung of debt and firing people and forcing them to lose retirement. president clinton said that when comparing investors. wolf? >> mary, thanks very much. let's dig a little bit deeper right now in our strategy session. joining us, the democratic strategist and contributor donna brazile and mary matalin. it seems that the president is undermining the bain capital management by suggesting that mitt romney's reputation t

our senior political analyst david gergen put it this way, he said a substantial defeat for labor, forntial victory for those who have been trying to curb them. how do the unions, how does labor actually get back some of that political clout? >> well, it was a devastating blow, but not a fatal one. for example, last night democrats regained the senate. they won where the strongholds are in madison by big numbers, in milwaukee and racine. so now governor walker has a democratic senate with which to deal. secondly, governor walker outspent barrett by 9 to 1. there are whole rural areas in which there was no investment in, democrats lost in a big way, so all is not lost. my concern is that president clinton -- president obama offered an $800 million stimulus for infrastructure and fast rail to connect milwaukee and madison, and mr. walker turned that -- sent that back. the result is not having the access to where the jobs are within the city of milwaukee, 55% black male unemployment. there's been no economic growth under mr. walker. it's been austerity but not growth. >> i want to talk a

former presidential adviser david gergen talked to john king last night about how this sounds to americans. >> for a lot of americans who don't understand the complexities and really don't care about the complexities, i think it's one more illustration, as if we needed anymore, that washington is broken. >> it can be very confusing as you're watching this, right? congress has never held a sitting attorney general in contempt. is this political? >> reporter: people are going to say that, certainly it's an election year, and lost in all of this is the attorney general's claim that releasing this information would affect ongoing investigations, ongoing prosecutions, and that's the kind of thing a court might want to actually weigh in on, if you will. but clearly, the sides are very far apart this year, democrats calling this a witch hunt. republicans saying they need to get to the bottom of it. they say they need to find out whether they need to pass other laws, for example, to make sure it doesn't happen again. the sides are very far apart on this one. >> and just unprecedented that eric hol

because david gergen and i were talking a couple days ago and we both agreed that both parties are livingrse when you ask him, how are you going to move forward and get anything done, they both believed that they're going to sweep it. >> oh, nobody's going to sweep anything. >> of course we all know this. >> nobody is going to sweep anything. >> we know this. we know there's going to be divided government and i had one democrat tell me -- well the president is going to win and -- i said even if the president wins the white house -- >> narrow victory. >> even if you take back the house, even if you take back the senate, mitch mcconnell will have 49 senators and you're not going to get anything done that mitch mcconnell doesn't want done and you can reverse that, if mitt wins, republicans win, then -- >> on the other hand a victory is a victory and if you get to a situation like last summer where you have a debt crisis like last summer i think the republican party will be in deep, deep crisis if it behaves the way it did last year. deep crisis after a victory. and also -- >> you can say tha

i suspect that the mann-stein ideal of good government would be president david gergen. so to the question question is the republican extreme? i can only answer i certainly hope so. let us recall that the republican party began its life as an extremist party dedicated to purpose of abolishing the twin relics of barbarism. polygamy and slavery. within a year of its founding supreme court dedeclared the republican party platform unconstitutional. the republican he wishes wrae should have we should accommodate ourselves to the status quo. likewise today there is little reason or purpose for the republican party unless it acts with a new determination to call a decisive halt to the endless ratcheting of expansion of centralized government power and reckless spending. the man-steen hypothesis is gaining prominent placements in the post and procuring adoration from daily show audiences but i remind norm one thing, all glory is fleeting. [laughter] i had it timed out. >> first minute 1/2, steve, i don't disagree with a thing that you said. [laughter] let me next say that i don'