a democrat named liz mathis. and perhaps they picked her because they were treated to calls like this against her. >> so before you support liz mathis, call her and ask her which homosexual sex act she endorses. >> yes, that's how the campaign went in iowa. we'll have more on that coming up later in the show tonight. so the democrat won that race in iowa. the democrats, there, hold on to the state senate in iowa. and the genius republican plan by the genius republican governor there is foiled. that happened in iowa. even though there was national focus on ballot measures in a few different states last night, off-the-radar places like iowa and new jersey and kentucky had some pretty striking results. in kentucky, a number of statewide office holders were up for election, and it was nearly a clean sweep for the democrats, in kentucky. democratic governor steve bashir and abramsome won re-election by a 20-point margin. the state auditor's race and the attorney general's race, despite some big national guns weighing

you're a democrat. he's a democrat. >> right. >> you are jewish. he's jewish. you vote the same.nt a congressman where you know if you have a problem with the federal government you can tap him on the shoulder and tell him about it. that accessibility is probably the single most important thing. >> in a race between two almost identical politicians, the bumper stickers aren't going to be so clear. he's been in congress pretty long. you have been in congress a real long time and both somewhat effective. where are you going to be able to get the message across that i'm even better than him? >> it's your last point. both somewhat effective. if you want to get down to what we have accomplished in congress, there's really no comparison. >> and no end to this fight. the reform movement in california did not stop with redistricting. voters made another change. next year there will be one super primary for everybody. republicans, democrats and independents. and the top two vote-getters will square off again in the main election in november. >> it may create situations where you have a re

the amount of entitlement savings that was proposed by democrats on the super committee, senate democrats, exceeded the amount of savings proposed by simpson-bowles and everyone said that's a very, very serious measure. yes, there were some democrats who didn't like it. but, we knew we had to do that, and we did. and just one other point, everyone in the room agrees that democrats put entitlements on the table. rob portman, one of the republican super-negotiators, said when asked did democrats put entitlements on the table, he said, yes, i give them credit for that. that's his words, not mine. >> senator, let me ask you about simpson/bowles. this, of course, was the panel that was convened, it was set up by praums, alan simpson, former senator of wyoming republican, erskine bowles, a democrat. it did call for tax increases. it did call for cutting benefits to social security and medicare. it did call for sweeping tax reform. is there a prospect of some revival of simpson/bowles now? >> yes. i believe this is a contrarian view, but we have a good chance of actually getting the big package,

look, first of all, liberal democrats, let's be clear, liberal democrats are very happy with this presidentappy with president clinton too. if you look at the gallup weekly tracking poll, go all the way back, very far back, i mean, obama stays in the 70s, goes up into the 80s with liberal democrats. >> let me go with that. joan, you've perked me up here. i'm going to challenge you and you can tell me what you're thinking here. here we have the latest nbc/"wall street journal" poll making that same point. should the democrats nominate obama again. 73%, that's a pretty good endorsement by the disgruntled liberals. only 20% nominate someone else, hillary or someone else. how can you say that crowds like the ones who watch this show and myself oftentimes are disgruntled and permanently so? >> you know, there's a difference between wanting to dump a guy out of office and being happy with him and liberals are in between there. they're not ready to dump obama. some of them are, but most of them aren't ready to dump him. but there is a broad dissatisfaction, right? the people who are approving of h

please welcome back to the program house democratic leader nancy pelosi.us again. >> my pleasure. >> jon: how are you? you know, congress oh, for goodness sakes. they are so sweet. their approval rating right now is slightly below, from what i understand hepatitis c. >> and you wonder who are these people who approve of congress, the 9%? [ laughter ] >> jon: why do you think that is? >> let me -- last time i was here in april of 2009 -- that was the last time i was on the show, democrats were in control congressional rating was 40%. 40%, you remember that? note to self. >> jon: not only do i not remember that. the whole 2009 thing you mentioned that went past me as well. >> we have work to do. >>. >> jon: it feels like they take good intentions. it's where good intentions go to die. >> no. well, not when we were in the majority. we took them to a place to make survival to success. >> jon: i understand. working class families. look at me pelosi. [ laughter ] it's we'll use the example of this vocal rule. so the idea is banks are using money from customers t

it's a winner for the democrats. senator charles schumer told "the new york times" 2012 is going to be a lot different from 2010 for voters because, "jobs and income inequality are going to be the number one issue. simply cutting government isn't going to work." i toldly agree. you know, i picked up the paper on thanksgiving morning and i read in "the new york times" an editorial, it said the poor, the near poor, and you. and i thought that this was so well written and so to the point because you couldn't -- you don't even have to be a news follower to follow this one, okay? it said loud and clear that one-third of americans, one out of every three americans, is living in poverty. we sit here bickering over a little bit of a tax cut, we sit here bickering over a little bit of an unemployment extension of benefits, but in the big, big picture, what are we going to do? where's the war on poverty? where's the big lift? where's the big idea to turn this whole thing around? what's so disheartening about it is if you can't

so the democrat won that race in iowa. the democrats, there, hold on to the state senate in iowa.plan wa. by the genius republican governor there is foiled. that happened in iowa. even though there was national focus on ballot measures in a e1 few different states last night, and new jersey and kentucky hadi some pretty striking results.+ in kentucky, a number of statewide office holders were up for election, and it was nearly a clean sweep for the democrats, in kentucky. abramson won re-election by a 20-point margin.5a the state auditor's race and th attorney general's race, despite some big national guns weighing on behalf of the republ'ç people like mike huckabee, rudy giuliani, sarah palin, the republican in the ag's race just got creamed. and in fact, in all of those other races.lpe1i]c actually, a quick correction on the attorney general thing. i have been calling the pa-pool, because it's spelled p'pool, but it's pronounced my apologies.q the only race that a republican won last night in kentucky, only statewide race was for agricultural commissioner. despite that electo

nonetheless, there is a democratic advantage in the electorate for the democratic party in general because of women. the absolute numbers that turn out and preference of the democratic party. no, the issues that seem to mobilize and attract the vote has to do with social welfare issues, foreign policy issues, and also cut to a certain extent, so-called morality issues. but for example, on issues like same-sex marriage, women are much as opposed to that that are ben, not by a huge margin, but nonetheless there is a difference. women are more concerned with foreign policy security issues, and that can have an impact. finally, women are more concerned about social welfare issues including things like health care, employment, the state of the economy, education. >> with a woman candidate for president coming into the campaign, do you see a change in 2012, are based on your research to you think that they will largely remain the same? >> i see no fino candid it's coming to the president's candidacy in 2012. there are only two on the list that i know of, sarah palin who is not yet declared and m

floor. >> it be democrats take the house next year, do you want his do -- if the democrats take the house next year, do you want eric cantor's job? >> i think we will take the house. the president's numbers have come up over the last 30 days. that is a good sign. they are not where we would like them to be. the president has taken the message that we are on the side of working americans, trying to get a jobs bill passed, trying to stimulate the economy, to grow and create jobs. the american public sees that as a positive effort. that is why his numbers are going up. the president has led a successful effort to eliminate osama bin laden, he limit his number 2, and see muammar gaddafi, one of the senate interests -- significant terrorists of our time taken out without a single loss of life. this president has shown the effectiveness to the international community. the fact that he has focused on jobs at home means his numbers are going up. let me tell you why we will take back the house. the independents in america are looking for solutions. the independents looking for common sense. they a

that was our offer to the democrats. in addition to which there was other revenue, you know it, total about $500 billion. this had never been proposed by republicans before because it would mean that people in the upper brackets, whatever eir tax rate was, would be paying more taxes becau their loopholes, the dductio and credits th they take advantage of, would no longer exist. >> i want to ask you quickly where we go from her so the question is, if you fail, ultimately, there are automatic spending cuts that happen. one of the big ones is on defense. secretary panetta has said the following about the impactf that. sequester, he said, which is the process by which those automatic triggers go io place, will lead to a hollow force that in effect invites aggression. healso said in a letter to senator mccain of armed services, the iact of these cutwould be devastating for the department of defense. as a result we would have to forumlate a new security strategy that accepted substantialrisk of not meeting our defense needs. w

to democrats in a state that tends to provide the democratic base. it's such a one-party state i think there are five republicans in the state senate and 25 too or something like that the margin is start but when you get a republican who can appeal to the democratic voters or independent voters that republicans can surprise some democrats. they raised something like $400,000 in the first three days as a candidate. that's more than both of her democratic opponent raising the previous quarter. so it is a sort of sleeper race to watch an opportunity for the republicans may be to create a bit of a surprise. in connecticut interestingly i think it's the end of the day we will break towards democrats the two contests on the republican side better going to be such, competitive next year for the races in nevada which i think is the greatest contrast of the need to candidates who are going to run up against each other. you've got dean heller, the guy that rides his horse into the sierra nevada mountains for his idea of a vacation every summer from carson city

>>chris: are you saying this is all the democrats' fault? >>guest: i am not saying it is anybody's fault. you have people who have very different views, frankly, of what it means to produce, what it takes to produce jobs and to produce economic growth. it is not about assigning blame, but, we are unaware of any democratic offer that didn't include at least $1 trillion tax officer on the american committee. now, again, that is not a matter of blame. but it is a matter of fact we believe that is bad for the economy. >>chris: let me pick up on that and we will talk with a democrat congressman about entitlements on what they were willing and not willing to do. the fact is republicans, they say, republicans would not grow to a sizable increase in taxes especially on the wealthy because even the toomey plan, yes, it would do away with deductions but it was going to have a 20 percent reduction if the tax rate, not only would the bush tax rates be extended but there would be a 20 percent reduction to 28 percent and the result would be a huge tax win

democrats trying to hold onto their majority.abs 21 are controlled by democrats. that means it is just four seats that if they switch from blue to red republicans gain control of the senate. that's assuming they dope lose any. kelly, the senate map. everyday it gets bigger. today democrats actually found a competitive candidate in north dakota. from hawaii to north dakota. >> there is excitement on both sides. democrats certainly are on the defense but they have a good story to tell and republicans can taste it, especially when you have some states where you have incumbents who are retiring. in some cases vulnerabilities because of where we're talking about. i have been watching the public statements and certainly the votes of four democrats in key states you know they are worried. that would be john tester in montana. sherry brown in ohio. >> mr. nelson of course. >> and mr. nelson from nebraska. >> this is the 2000 and 2006 class. both were democrats did surprisingly better than anybody thought. in '06 they won the majority in

what's it say to the democrats?l you, ed, in my view, what happened in ohio last night was the most significant political victory for working class america that i have seen in many, many years. if i were republican, i would be extremely nervous. what did last night say? it said that when the working class and the middle class stand together and fight for their economic rights, you know what, there's no stopping them. that is the vast majority of the american people and they will win every single time. so the republicans are nervous. whether the question is will democrats snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. the issue here is if you stand on issues that ordinary people feel strongly about, you can win and do the right thing for public policy. some examples. democrats, loud and clear to the american people, we will not cut social security, medicare, and medicaid. and you know what overwhelming numbers of people will say? thank you, democratic body. >> you look at the polls going into last night's senate bill five

joining us now live from columbus, ohio, democratic state representative armand budish, democratic leaderohio statehouse. mr. minority leader, thank you for joining us tonight. >> my pleasure. great night to be here, rachel. >> let me ask you your reaction tonight to what we got so far on the vote on issue 2 in your state and what you expect to happen tonight. >> fabulous. i expect ohio to send a huge message to governor kasich and republican leaders that have adopted this anti-middle class, anti-worker legislation. that message is coming out loud and clear. i expect a big victory tonight, rachel. >> it was only a year ago that ohio voters chose governor ba c kasich. he won by 77,000 votes over the democrat in the governors race. the polling since then says if there's a rematch in that race, governor kasich would lose that race by 18 points. what explains the big turnaround in ohio voters' stated feelings in just one year? >> governor kasich ran on a platform of creating jobs in ohio. that's what people want, but unfortunately the governor has done nothing to create jobs in ohio. you don'

blame congress. >> eric: democrats had a -- >> bob: democrats had prose sal, too late. they had a proposal. came from the president of the united states the members of the committee. they said fine, you buckled on entitlement. we will give you the tack cuts but you got to keep pushing. >> dana: who wanted the tax cuts extended is president obama. that's when he had a big ceremony. regardless of grover norquist as a person, what he embodied is republicans stand for government cutting spending. what i think needs to happen is we have to have a reality check on entitlement spending. the budget is a pie chart. entitlement are growing like this. everything else is squeezed. everything we care about. maybe it's education spending or this and that. every day we wait -- >> eric: this is important. can we talk -- right now the super committee builts. >> bob: here is what you are faced with. what happens at the end of the year payroll tax cults go away. they don't get extended 2 %. the extension of unemployment benefits go away. the last thing is they are not going to do away wit

democrats line. caller: i would like to start out by saying bless c-span. you give america the opportunity to voice opinions. instead of all this finger pointing, we are very smart people. we are americans. i think we can come up with a solution. this might sound stupid, but what do you think about a global reset date? it appears all the countries around the world are heavy in debt. if everyone on january 1, 2012, all countries claim bankruptcy. everybody would be downgraded, so nobody would be any different from their neighbors, as well as everyone's debt would be set back to zero. it is just numbers. why would that do for the economy if we all started fresh, brand new? host: thank you for the call. guest: i think that could have a detrimental effect on growth. you would have trouble convincing banks to take a downgrade, and it that debt. jobs would be lost. host: we have the answer. sequester, it is a latin word to place in the hands of a trustee. another definition is to place in seclusion or isol