democratic party. but the dpj suffered a major setback in the upper house election in july. the upcoming leadership vote will be the first poll since that election. both candidates are party leaders who have long worked to put the dpj into power. in this presidential election votes will be counted according to a points system. each party lawmaker has two points for a total of 824 points. rank-and-file members and ordinary voters who have registered beforehand as party supporters account for 300 points. 100 points are allocated to local assembly members. all combined, this puts 1,224 points into play. the candidates have two weeks to campaign. during this period they'll hold party meetings in tokyo, osaka, and sapporo, to explain their policy priorities. minako misawa, nhk world, from dpj headquarters. >> thanks very much. >>> now, it's been a year since the democratic party took party and ended more than 50 years of an almost unbroken rule by the liberal democratic party. since then the dpj-led governm

the current foreign minister, katsuya okada, has accepted kan's request for him to become the democratic party's secretary-gener secretary-general. chief cabinet secretary yoshio sengoku and finance minister yoshihiko noda are expected to retain their posts. in the new party executive line-up kan asked former party secretary-general ichiro ozawa and the party's upper house leader, azuma koshiishi to serve as his deputies. however, koshiishi told aides that both he and ozawa have declined the offer. now, on friday morning kan accepted the resignations of all current ministers at a cabinet meeting. before he launches his new cabinet this afternoon he will formally appoint new party executives at a meeting of all legislators from the party. the party meeting is expected to start soon. on friday afternoon kan will meet shizuka kamei, the leader of the coalition partner. after that he'll announce the line-up of the new cabinet. >>> eight years ago today north korea acknowledged it had abducted japanese nationals. however, a sense of disappointment lingers among relatives of the abductees. on septembe

ozawa was a liberal democratic party member. he rose quickly within the party and became its secretary general at the age of 47. the relationship between ozawa and kan started in 2003. ozawa left the governing party and joined kan's democratic party. ozawa wanted to form a two-party political system in japan. three years later, ozawa and kan fought against each other for the party's leadership. ozawa won the race. they believed he had more political skill. >> translator: we want regime change. so let's join our hands to achieve it. we must work hard and do our best. >> translator: many lawmakers expect ozawa to play aa leadership role party. ey president. >> reporter: after three years as leader, ozawa was forced to step down over a political funding andal. hatoyama replaced him.victory i election in august 2009. it ended the ldp's almost half assistant of rule. ozawa went on to become the dpj secretary general. but in june, political funding scandals again forced ozawa to resign, together with prime minister hatoyama. with hatoy

as for the democratic party, i've stayed in my post for only three months. from now on, i will fully work on reviving the japanese economy. i will get through the three years with that determination as prime minister. >> kan was up against powerful politician ichiro ozawa in a race to lead the dpj and the country. the election was decided on a points-based system. slightly more than 1,200 points were available. kan won 721 points, while ozawa took 491. kan claimed the vast majority of points from rank and file members and supporters. he also gained more points than ozawa from local assembly members. but they essentially split the points from dpj lawmakers. with three decades in politics, kan is considered a popular figure who understands the needs of ordinary citizens. the 63-year-old took over as democratic party leader and prime minister at the beginning of june. after hatoyama resigned. his first few months in office have been tough. the dpj suffered a major setback in july's upper house election. then kan had to devote time to this two-week leadership ca

but the conservative side of the democratic party is waging full on electoral war against the democraticty. in effect, working to get more republicans elected this year. so why isn't that where the battle lines are being drawn? joining us now is arianna huffington cofounder and editor-in-chief of huffington post and author of the new book "third world america." so nice to have you here. >> great to be here, rachel. >> democrats seem to be okay with conservative democrats sort of waging war against their own party. why is that? >> sort of hoping that one day maybe one of them will be the 60th vote on some compromise piece of legislation and therefore he cannot afford to really take them on. it's also something else which is that maybe progressives and the middle class need to sort of face up to the fact that the president is not that much into them. that he would rather hang out with larry summers or flirt with olympia snow or play war games late into the night with general petraeus. and there is something about that, too. plus, the fact that he has compromised his own arch narrative. rem

because he says he is part of the national movement of the tea party to purge republicans who will do business god forbid with the democrats. >> this particular campaign has become a bit of a test of can, you know, the very conservative elements of the republican party take out an incumbent with whom they do not always agree. so that is part of what we are dealing with here, and it is beyond delaware. >> fair point, erick erickson that there are some on the right who want to adopt a purity test in the party? >> no, it is nonsense, and that is what people like mike castle say. he is not a moderate, but a liberal. he sat on the sidelines in february instead of opposing. conservatives don't want mike castle, and this is a race about moving the senate to the right and not into the republican hands. >> james carville, as you watch the races play out and you were involved when you helped bill clinton back in 1992 and he was a different democrat running against a democratic party he thought was too liberal, and we have seen these debates, but anything like that? >> well, it is rough there. they all kind of sexual undertones and o

the democrats behave like democrats and the republicans behave like republicans. just two parties. >> we had that in eisenhower's era. that's the last time we had a unity government with ike and two democrats controlling both houses. >> but sam raburn working with ike. >> is it a good idea in theory or bad idea for the following reasons. when you have republicans who are conservative republicans, liberal republicans, and middle of the road republicans, that's good. because if you have the other kind, all conservative, all democrat, that would be bad. all republicans, all democrats, all conservative, all liberals, then that would break the vision. >> i get the point. the 1950s were a great unified era. now we are ideologized and they are at each other's throat. >> the democrats were clearly in the majority and the republicans had a lot of moderates and they were happy to get along. i think the last moment that we had where there was a sense of unity was immediately after 9/11 and i think president bush squandered it, because he then used the leadership boost he got out of that by p

democrats. there are republican party and something like 68 of them belong to the democratic. it's a category 3 or category 4. >> monica. >> big component in this election are independents. it's not the tea party per se. it's not the republican base that is energized. the democratic party and obama hemorrhaged the independents. and what happened is that eleanor mentioned president reagan at a lower point in his turn. the difference is that reagan was a conservative leading a central right country and policies were moving in that direction. obama is far to the left. he's not taking the country to a ditch. he's taking it straight off a cliff and the american voter is mad. exploding deficits, out of control spending and 10% unemployment. >> you can't beat something with nothing. this won't be like 1994. there isn't a contract with america that newt gingrich with the republicans before. i mean, i think it's a curse on all of it. >> i disagree with that. the people in 1994 did not vote for the contract with america. it was an anticlinton vote totally. this year, it's antidemocratic

democratic party is uneasy about the president, republican party is in open rebellion. you're watching "hardball" on msnbc. [ engine revving ] [ male announcer ] the u.s. government may soon require brake override technology on all new cars and trucks. at nissan, we think this is a good idea. so we did it... ...six years ago. [ wind howling ] nissan. innovation for safety. innovation for all. >>> candidate linda mcmahon is now six points, a half a dozen shy of the democratic. that is a first-rate poll, look at that, 51-45, getting real close. she has got the money. she may get the women vote. that's it this could be a real big surprise. and he had a problem with his war record. he got that wrong. let's get this, nour ten people support mcmahon say they are doing so mainly because they are against blumenthal and has to do with talking about his war record inaccurately. if i were him, i'd straighten things out as quickly as possible. say you didn't serve in vietnam and you were wrong to suggest you did. it was a dishonor to the people serving. "hardball" returns after thi

. >>> lawmakers of the ruling democratic party of japan will vote for a new party president on tuesday. the race is a close contest between former party secretary-general icihro o zau ozawa and naoto kan. >>> they started their campaigns on september 1st. it has been a tough competition. during the campaign, ozawa stressed he has the leadership to implement the needed policies. >> translator: i'll work hard until the last moment. >> reporter: kan said the party had to do away with old-style money politics and become more transparent. >> translator: i'll do my best to convey my ideas at the party convention. >> reporter: all of the ballots will be added up based on a points system. each of the lawmakers has two points, making for a total of 822. 100 points are set asided for local assembly members. rank and file members and supporters account for 300 points. the ballots of local assembly members and supporters have already been received and were being counted on tuesday morning. kan is thought to have more support from local assembly members, party members and supporters. but the race a

the democratic party is what it's been. center left. barack obama may be a tad to the left, but not more than a tad. the republican party though is in play. it's in flux. it's the way it was in the '60s. this is where the ideology is being yanked. >> i have no brief for christine o'donnell, but i'm going to tell you, a senate full of mike castles is not going to get us anywhere. it's going to get a bunch of republicans their chairmanships on the committee, but it's not going to do anything to reverse obamaism. >> there you have it. the walrus under water has spoken. jonathan, you're from politico, right? >> yes. >> is this the mood of the country? are conservatives willing to maybe risk a seat so get the right person? >> you assume that the person in delaware is thinking, if i vote for her over castle, the is that going to impale our possibleties to get to the senate. >> more foun vote for o'donnell or castle. >> if you're a conservative in delaware, probably her. >> if you go into that voting booth, what's more fun to go into the voting

but both these races so critical to the democratic party when you're talking about a party that is under the gun with obama's poll numbers falling. people talking about nancy pelosi losing her house seat and here in northern california at least two seats that are critical. >> is it an illusion or the democrats have implied they had some secret ground force plan that was going to come through and save the day. can't old fashioned politics do door-to-door? >> the democrats have organizing for america which was sort of the obama offshoot of obama. the fact is they do have that, they have the labor groups. but you have a year in which republican voters, the angry voters are the motivated voters. even though the democrats have a 2 million advantage and blue leaning state, when you have anger about the president and the republicans out there pushing voter turnout and then meg whitman throwing millions into the state republican party the democrats have got to be sweating how is this going to turn out. >> belva: so the answer is -- >> we haven't just started. we start casting ballots actually in

they attended a democratic party une breakfast today. how they plan to unify the party. >> what better way to make sure that democratic party is yubted than to sit down to breakfast. it is a sign of things to come for the democratic party. mayor e-lect vincent gray, and adrian fenty hand in hand, as the party plans too in a new direction. it is important among council members, hoping that fenty would win. >> we have a new nominee. voters have spoken it is time to come together, everydy who ran, everybody who cares about washington, and work on the things important to us. >> reporter: some of those include the future direction for d.c. schools and the chancellor, michelle rhee. something to consider sooner than later. >> give vincent gray a chance to work something up to the council and they will react. >> i think it would be a great loss to the city to jeopardize the momentum that has been built for change. i mean, there are ways to do this differently. let's make sure that we continue with strong reform effort. >> reporter: delegate nor

are candidates like a christine o'donnell helpful to the democratic party? >> sean: joining me with analysis of the democrats' latest tactic is author of the "new york times" number one best seller take back america. dick morris is here. first of all, i find this interesting. i think you are gonna see the polls they show she is behind. i think this is all going to boomerang back. thoughts? >> she is behind because she has just been through a firestorm. i think she has a very good chance to win. i think that the criticism of her misunderstands the fundamental concept that this is not an election about social values. if this were an election about abortion, gun control and gay marriage, then okay, if you weigh over right you are going to -- if you are way over right you are going to alienate tacks in the middle. if it is economy, taxes and holding deficits, the issue is pure, i am pure -- you are not an extremist, you are a purist. you are not a radical, you are rereliable, credible. o', believeable. i believe that sharron angle and miller from alaska, and chri

parties. one that will make them more comfortable, and frankly, more enthused about voting for the democrats, not the republican tea party. so ben nelson says we mustn't mention it. for most of my adult life, democrats have been afraid of their own shadow when it comes to campaigning. at least today the white house, president and vice, do not seem to be afraid to campaign to try to win this election. can the rest of the democratic party swallow their fear and actually try to win too? stay with us. [ male announcer ] gladys has always loved the scent of gain laundry detergent. and the moment she set eyes on gain fabric softener... she found herself overwhelmed with desire. ♪ ahhhhh, the things we do for love. the amazing scent of gain in detergent, fabric softener, and now in a dish soap too. wow. sniff sniff hooray! >>> the republican party tomorrow is putting out its agenda. at long last, for this year's elections, they let advance copies of it leak tonight, and it turns out that what their candidates say they are running on this year is not at all what the party officially says it is running

parties. one that will make them more comfortable, and frankly, more enthused about voting for the democrats, not the republican tea party. so ben nelson says we mustn't mention it. for most of my adult life, democrats have been afraid of their own shadow when it comes to campaigning. at least today the white house, president and vice, do not seem to be afraid to campaign to try to win this election. can the rest of the democratic party swallow their fear and actually try to win too? stay with us. or 60 to 0? [ tires screech ] the quarter-mile, or a quarter-century? is performance about the joy of driving? or the importance... of surviving? to us, performance is not about doing one thing well. it is about doing everything well. because in the end... everything matters. the best or nothing. that is what drives us. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers on the c-class. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer i but i justve my 5 employcan't afford it.ance, i have diabetes. i didn't miss a premium payment for 10 years. and i'm worried if i lose my job, i won't be able to

she and other tea party republicans knocked off establishment candidates in primary after primary but are democratsng the appeal of tea party candidates at their own peril? eugene robinson is a pulitzer prize-winning columnist and msnbc analyst. gentlemen, both of you, the conventional wisdom, the cw, the democrats had a good night last night night they now have candidate that will be easier to beat, that was their view coming out of nevada, got to face sharron angle instead of sue loudon. these tactical victories do they cover a more frightening reality out there of the anger level that has driven people to vote for people they don't even think are qualified because they are so angry? >> right, exactly. >> your answer, my answer may be not be good as yours. go ahead, gene. >> absolutely. i think they do tend to look past the anger that is out there. the anger is not just at the democrats. it is not just directed at the establishment but the republican party as well, which is, i think, arguably in as much trouble as the democrats. what they must not look past is these unbeatable candidates are not

parties. one that will make them more comfortable, and frankly, more enthused about voting for the democrats, not the republican tea party. so ben nelson says we mustn't mention it. for most of my adult life, democrats have been afraid of their own shadow when it comes to campaigning. at least today the white house, president and vice, do not seem afraid to campaign for this election. can the rest of the democratic party swallow their fear and actually try to win too? stay with us. ? ? campbell's has made changes. adding lower sodium sea salt to more soups. making it easier to find your favorites and discover new ones. even giving you five dollars in coupons to get you started. campbell's condensed soup. pass it on. campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™ i'm gonna need my biggest player. a change in the lineup? [ female announcer ] one bottle of ultra dawn has the grease-cleaning power of two of this competing brand. [ sponge ] way to go, kid. [ female announcer ] dawn does more... [ sponge ] so it's not a chore. >>> the republican party tomorrow is putting out its agenda. at long last,

. >> everyone knows the washington establishment of the democratic party didn't want me in the race.

nancy pelosi and the democratic party seems to want to pin the tail on the donkey of the tea party but there is no tail. they tried to promote dick armey as the de facto leader of the tea party. in fact, i was so outraged at that attempt to put a tail on the donkey that i gave an email back to them. the diversity of the tea party and the myriad of a different -- of different political point of views is the impetus and formation of the tea party. it's a multiple mindsets that come together with conservative values of limited government, of responsibility of finances and getting god back into the country instead of throwing god out of everywhere because this country was founded on god and we don't believe that -- although there may have fringe elements that have racist tones, most of us do not hate blacks, do not hate muslims but we hate what certain elements are doing that have been swept up and portrayed as those elements of society. for instance, the black panthers or the muslims, building the mosque in new york. niece are being portrayed as the mainstream, and we have elements of all

he said it in two years and said i can't lose the democratic party. he's the leader of that party. he is the man who is going to lead it and us to new frontiers. this party in two presidential elections argued strongly that the war in afghanistan was a good war. the important war, the central war and the war on terror and now it seems as if all of that was a force, insincere and disingenuous. it shows if you are an ally who is helping us, you will think he will change sides or leave afghanistan. this is demoralizing and the enemy will be greatly heartened when it looks at the quotes and hear what is is really in the heart of the president. it's no longer inference. it's his own quotation. >> bret: mort, white house is trying to spin it as public relations winner showing the president as decisive with a broad view of history, national security and his role. >> i share charles' december may at the fact that this guy -- dismay at the fact that he said in the 2008 campaign that afghanistan was the good war and that we had to win it. it was in our vital national security interest that w

megyn: i'll give you a chance to respond. >> reporter: in 2008 the democratic party line was a iraq bad afghanistan good war so the democrats could overcome their reputation for weakness in foreign policy and national security. if this book is close to accurate almost from the moment he took office he pivoted on how to get out of afghanistan. what was thoroughly cynical about that is if he honestly believed we were wrong to be engaged million tear lee in afghanistan he should have made the case, withdrawn our troops and not exposed them to 20 months of being in harm's way and death and wounding and that's that's encompassed in that. if he has any beliefs at all make the case, get our military out of combat. megyn: what about that lieutenant, bill. he had biden going around trying to make the case, don't do it, don't go for the surge. the president put himself in the po position of rejecting that advice, sending the troops but believing that victory is not possible. that's something that comes out of the book, he won't use the term victory, he's not thinking in those terms, he's thinking

fedex. >> sean: so if anybody out there needed additional proof nat democratic party is in serious troublee about to see is video proof that democrats are running scared. we put together several clips from several campaign ads. i'm willing to bet you won't be able to tell the difference between the republicans and the democrats. >> jason's independent, no doubt about it. >> he voted against health care. >> he opposed the wall street bailout. >> he's not afraid to stand up to the president. >> and nancy pelosi. >> i must ask myself 10 times a day what is washington thinking? bailout, pay raises for congress, spending your tax dollars on jobs in china. people are fed up, so am i. i voted to hire 5300 more border agents deport illegals commit felonies and eliminate amnesty. no one should be rewarded for breaking the crowd. that may not be what the washington crowd wants, but i don't work for them, i work for you. >> one of the first things did was oppose the annual pay raise for congressional members. it is not only my job but it is my nature to fight for people. >> sean: who were the democra

think 2010 is the year tea party activists go after democrats. 2012, they'll go after the republicansou think they're unhappy -- >> i think they're unhappy with both parties. >> when you mention the focus group, help us to understand, because we sit here and i traveled some this year but not as much as i would like. and you know it's different from state to state, the tea party movement. so how are they different? help us, when you do focus groups in different parts of the country? >> they're fundamentally disaffected republicans and they all get agravateded about different issues. findme findmentally, they're people who would be republicans if they felt like somebody were listening to them and speaking for them. >> as opposed to the perro movement which i studied in great detail which was half democrats and half republican, mostly out of the center. these are i think people who believed the republicans betrayed conservative republicans. so they're more conservative than the mainstream republicans. very different phenomena. >> quick break. we'll put this to the test. number of fascina

in 2006 and 2008 the democratic party had huge pickups where they took candidates in very conservativeocrat, i think the obama agenda in terms of health care, spending, the proposed taxes that have been thrown around, that fallacy is gone and people are rallying to reject that and say, you know what, we've got to turn back the tide. this is out of hand. the other point i want to make is a lot has been bandied about the republican party of delaware being quote/unquote establishment. nothing could be further from the truth. at the same convention where we nominated and endorsed mike castle, we also endorsed perhaps the most conservative member of our delegation in -- >> why don't you stand up stronger? people are saying that the established republicans didn't stand up stronger against the tea party candidates and let them roll all over them. >> i think i stood up pretty strong. i think -- >> in general. in general. >> you know, we're not opposed to tea party values. what we're opposed to is people coming in from out of state and dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars on candidates that

democrat wont there, too. it remains to see how powerful the tea party will be in a general election. >> david gergen, some democrats are saying we want these tea party candidates to win because they are on the fringe and we will be able to win against them in a general election. are they just kind of overly optimistic on that one? >> i agree with paul. it remains to be seen. i do think there is going to be now a -- there are going to be some of these races where the tea party folks are as candidates are doing much better than anybody would have expected. people wrote off ms. angle. that is a very close race. i don't think they should be written off. a big night for jim demint. i do think there are very large questions now that are going to hang over us after the elections about how we govern the country, how decisions are reached in washington. whether you can reach bipartisan agreement on budget deficits. >> david is right. i left scott brown out. that is the most important victory since barack obama won. >> up until today the conversation was how badly are the democrats going to lose in the fall. now all of a sud

because they are sick of the democratic party. eaning republican. >> why have they turned against obama? >> because they are mostly angry at the party in power, but they don't like the republicans. so the challenge for obama and democrats is to make this -- they don't like bailout. they would like bailout if it were for them. >> the stimulous package? >> no, they don't want any of the government programs. >> they don't like the stimulous package. they are against all of it. >> they are against the healthcare program that was passed by incredible numbers. they are basically -- >> why? >> because they think it's going to raise the cost of healthcare. >> it abliges you to haindivid >> libertarians are against that. >> the position is that what independents are telling us is that they want to make their own decisions. they don't want government making decisions for them. >> healthcare. >> the question on whether the insurance companies make your decisions on many of the benefits have gone into effect this week. you can't get kicked off

, the feeling that there's an opportunity here. >>> today, democrats look for an opening in the republican party divide. exclusive interviews with alaska senator lisa murkowski and tim kaine, chairman of the democratic national committee. >> they're chasing after moderate candidates and hence they're moderate voters. >>> also this morning, tea party kingmaker, senator jim demint. >> they're madder at the democrats than they are at the republicans right now. >>> i'm candy crowley and this is "state of the union". >> the election of christine o'donnell and the decision by lisa murkowski to keep fighting heats up the civil war among republicans and gives the democrats new life in delaware and maybe even alaska. but even with that, democrats are dealing with problems of their own. some of the biggest triumphs of the obama administration may be working against them back home. party chairman tim kaine says democrats would be foolish to run away from legislation passed by congress. >> it was democrats who delivered the affordable care act, and we'll be talking about that as a signature achievement for

the democratic party is at risk of losing control of both chambers of congress. the results of the midterm election will have a significant impact not just on the obama administration, but on his chance of re-election as president in 2012. >>> a japanese scientist who discovered a way to turn human skin cells into stem cells won an international award in biology. the professor of kyoto university is one of the four winners of the international prize. the balzan prize foundation said it chose yamanaka for being the first to bruce the stem cells three years ago. researchers hope to it use the cells, which can grow into various tissues into regenerative body parts to replace ones lost from diseases or accidents. the prize is for those who have made outstanding achievements in natural sciences. each winner will receive 750,000 swiss francs or $740,000. the awards will be presented in november at a ceremony in italy. >>> germany will extend the life of its nuclear power plants due to the lack of alternative energy sources such as solar or wind power. chancellor angela

in the pennsylvania 12th district, a credible tea party candidate. the democrat won there and it remains to be seen how powerful the tea party will be any general election when it is not just the republicans. >> david gergen, some republicans want these candidates to win because they are on the french and we will be able to win against them in a general election. a they overly optimistic? >> i agree with all that remains to be seen that i disagree with one point about what he said and that is in massachusetts, scott brown won that election for the senate and part because he has so much support from the tea party. i think there's going to be some of these races where the tea party folks doing much better than anybody would have expected. the people wrote off sharron angle. and it is a tough race. they should not be written off a big night for jim demint, and i think there are large questions now that are going to hang over us after the election's about how we, decisions are reached in washington, whether you can reach a bipartisan agreement. >> i want to say he is

going to solve the problem yelling at each other. >> yelling or not, the republicans say the democratic party is frightened by the energy demonstrated by the tea party. >> this sends a sign that the white house and really congressional democrats are very fearful of tea party activists and what their support means if it goes to republican candidates. >> former president bill clinton said he is unsure of what the policies tea party office holders would support but declined to attack the movement itself. >> a lot of voters voting for the tea party candidates have really good impulses. that is they believe that for years and years and years, the people with wealth and power, or government power have done well. and ordinary people have not. that's true. >> a recent american university poll highlights this year's republican voter excitement. it shows the average republican voter turn-out for senate and gubernatorial candidates this year exceeded the democratic vote for the first time in a mid-term primary, since 1930. the average percentage of democratic voter turn-out was the lowest ever. while th

disaster of the democratic party's health bill. he failure of the democratic either in the gulf of mexico with the bp oil disaster. the elite media will try turn every return right, if republicans are still standing on election day whether it is christine o'donnell or it is angle in nevada or it is rand paul in kentucky or you name it, they are gonna win. and they are gonna win for a simple reason. the obama democrats have been grinding the economy into the dust. leaving americans unemployed. we just had the highest number in poverty released today. i think in years. we have the highest number of -- >> sean: one in seven americans in poverty now. >> that's right. we have 50 million people without health insurance. we have the highest number of americans ever to get food stamps. here's a president whose redistribution policies turned out not to be a paycheck not to be a hand-up but to be a food stamp. in the republicans will be the paycheck party and take on the food stamp party they will make it clear. in delaware, where all these p