dorgan: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. dorgan: mr. president, i ask consent that the quorum call be waived. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. dorgan: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. so ordered. mr. dorgan: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration of s.j. res. 25 andhe s its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s.j. res. 25, joint resolution granting the consent and approval of congress to amendments made by the state of maryland, the commonwealth of virginia and the district of columbia to the washington metropolitan area transit regulation compact.e priding oft objection, so ordered, the committee is discharged. the senate will proceed to the measure. according doing mr. p

the dorgan thing is a real problem.n, dorgan is sort of a moderate democrat who is throwing in the towel, and that looks like a republican pickup there. and the second thing it does is it sends a message to the democratic senate caucus and to the democratic house caucus that, look, this could be a real bad year, fellas. if you're going to get out and you're going to have another career, now is the time to go before you get defeated and thrown out. >> hey, peter, do you agree with the potential republican pickup there with dorgan's retirement, and can anything be gleamed here regarding the retirements about the democratic party and the president? >> i'm not sure about the president, alex. i think you've got a lot of folks who have been in there a while and are making decisions about whether they want to continue. in dorgan's case, i think he heard the hoof prints of the governor, hoven, who's very popular there in north dakota, who in polls was way ahead of him. look, you've got a situation there where unemployment actua

>>dodd, dorgan, colorado gov. bill ritter all standing aside following republican victories in gubernatorial races in virginia and new jersey. is the handwriting on the wall for democrats, mark? >> it is somewhere. i'm not sure it is on the wall. maybe the ceiling on the floor is not good news. chris dodd, who is one of my favorite people in all of washington, but may very well have stayed too long. chris dodd, who in private is one of the most disarming, natural, unaffected,n itpretentious people you'll ever meet -- unpretentious people will ever meet, when he stands before a podium, eyes glaze over. the irony is, of course -- his chances -- his leaving improve the chances the democrats holding on to the seat in connecticut. that is not the case in north dakota. byron dorgan had a special relationship with that state, congressman at lge, senator, and there is nobody there -- are a pomeroy, congressman at large, democrat, will run for reelection in the house. on balance, is not good news for democrats. >> when you

>host: our guest is senator byron dorgan. david drucker is one of our two questioners. and the financial correspondent for politico. we are taking this on friday afternoon after an extraordinary meeting between the president and house gop members. it was televised live, and scrap this session for the president. much of it was about partisanship or our partisanship. in this town at this time, is partisanship possible to? -- our partisanship possible? -- bipartisanship possible? guest: are sure wrote this is able to be changed, because it is intensely partisan. when george w. bush was elected, i invited him to, meet with the democrats. he came, and we have a good exchange. it was polite and respectful. i am pleased president obama decided to go and was invited at the republican caucus. i did not give the chance to see all of it, but it is the right thing to do. need to build bridges here. in this intense partisanship is not good for the political system, the way of governing. the american people see it and say, you know what? we pay your salary is three and we send you th

senato dodd and dorgan announced ey won't run again. >> ifill: and i'm gw ifill. on t newshour tonight, what do the rerements mean for mocratic control of the senate. we'll talko congress watchers amy walt and chris cillizza. >> lehrer: the some perspectivon how president obama isandling the bomb plot crisis, from wter russell mead, jeica mathews, and dan balz. >> ifill: a report frothe streets of yen's capital, on al qaeda's appl. lehrer: margaret warner uptes the guantanamo prison story, after preside obama suspend transfers back to yemen.iú ou can imagine a situation i which the gornment as a choice between yemen and cleveland,nd that's , you kn, very appealing choice from the government's pointf view. >> ifi: and jeffrey brown talks with rocco landesmanthe broadway procer who now heads the national endowment for t arts. >> i'm goingo be outspoken. i'm iz say.çadÑiçó if people wa to regard that as partisan, i can't lp it. >> lehrer: tt's all ahead, on tonight'pbs newshour. majofunding for the pbs newsur is provided by: >> what the world needs now energy. the en

dodd's announcement came one day after byron dorgan, another democrat, announced that he would not run for senate re- election from north dakota. he would not seek a fourth term. in the house of representatives, ten democrats say they are bowing out this year. democrats davis, meets, abercrombie, moore, booth, gordon, tanner, baird. why are democrats opting out of the obama mid-term election? to avoid a bloodbath? well, hiss store achelely a president's first m.i.t. term election has led to major losses for his party in those elections. in 1982, republican president ronald reagan's first mid-term election, republicans lost 26 seats. more notably, in 1994, president clinton's mid-term

i think it's interesting , too, en you look at where these reoning compelatively, in the dorgan situation youook a seat that waseally not on the table-at least not yet coo and put at basically into what i would say rit now is a lean republican column.

i was shocked by senator dorgan's.nd, again, i know him not well, but i know senator dorgan casually. i think most people were shocked by that. >> your recent book, the headline was 40 more years, how the democrats will rule the next generation, were you being a little bit too optimistic? >> i didn't say an actual election now, did i? i don't think so. in the book i say, look, we're not going to win every election. we're certainly not going to win three congressional elections in a row. big win in '06, big win in '08. it is obvious to anyone there was going to be some pullback. but it depends on how many seats we lose. i actually think that if we run this right, we can cut our losses to fairly reasonably. the economy is starting to get better. the republicans have been known everything. and by the way, the republican party is held in no higher esteem today than it was a year ago. their long-term problems are with them, just as it was when i wrote that book. am i bearish in the short-term, the next election, sure. i thi

i was going talk about chris dodd and byron dorgan, two senators. >> lehrer: what did i ask? >> let's talk about those two guys. >> okay. i know them both and i like them both. and mi going to miss them both. and they are both been good public servants. chris dodd's leaving with refreshing candor. he talked about his political problems. he didn't pretend i want to go home and spend more time with the family and do that. he did, in fact, level that he had problems, that he had a better chance of keeping the state democratic by his leaving and dick blumenthal, the attorney general running in his place. byron dorgan and kent conrad, sort of the touchdown twins, the two democratic senators, they've been winning elections in that state since 1980 in a state that ronald reagan won 2- -- solidly republican, north dakota, and somehow they have managed to survive, a populist, fiscally responsible national democrats. and byron dorgan i think decided that he had spent enough time, energy and effort doing that. and maybe that the prospects weren't that great. >> lehrer: you don't see gla

>> the byron dorgan decision in north dakota was a stomach punch because they're not going to be able hold that seat likely especially if the popular republican governor runs. chris dodd's decision was actually a blessing for the democrats. because they were going to have to write off that seat. he was running so far behind in his race. and now they could be competitive if the fairly popular veteran attorney general turns out to be as good on the stump as he has been as attorney general. but itaps into what you were talking about, there is a feeling of there was so much promise and hope only a year ago, and now because of continuing economic woes, all of the bailouts, the problems on the terror front, government is not working the way people expect itted to. >> i talked to a white house adviser who said the problem for this president with independent voters is that fling hey, i may believe in this guy but he can't solve these huge problems. the debt, government working overall, wall street, he can't prevent the little guy from getting hurt by these forces. >> and there's a snowball ef

dorgan: i askse waived. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. dorgan: mr. president, first let me say to my colleague, senator casey, his comments about the nearly unspeakable tragedy that has occurred in the country of haiti, i think strike all of us in a very poignant way. i've been to the country of haiti. it is -- it is one of the poorest regions in the world. we have people in haiti living in unbelievable poverty. near the airport is an area called cite soleil i believe it's called. it's a slum of nearly a half a million people living in desperate conditions. the entire country of haiti has suffered such immense difficulties for so long; the people of haiti are wonderful people. and to be visited now by this great, great tragedy with an unbelievable loss of life that will exceed 200,000 people just is heartbreaking to me and i know to all americans who watch this tragedy play out on television as volunteers are digging through rubble and in some cases finding people still alive and most other cases finding a lot of people who have lost their lives in t

and byron dorgan ihink decided that he had spent enough time, energy d effort doing that. and maybe that the proects weren't that great >> lehrer: you d't see aciers moving the way david does. i do think that what you have right n is -- it is a difference from 19. 1933, in 1932 there were 217 republicans and 6 democrats in the housef representative and two years lar there were 200 mordemocrats than there were republicans under roosevelt. in other wds, it kept incrsing. thdemocratic numbers are not going to increase. what the democrats are coerned about are more retirement in the hoe, especial because open seats are the most vulnerable pce for a party to defend. incumbent is still toher to defeat in a house election. >> lehrer: no matter wheth they are replican or democrat. >> republican or democrat. in 1994 when the democra ffered their few nam -- tsunami loss wh bill inton, lost 54 house seats, 40 of the 52 seats thelost were open seats. that is mbers retiring, or ruing for another office. they have been able to kee the retirements now unr single digits. if they can do th

. >> dorgan said he didn't have a republican opponent yet. he said he wants to do other things. his retirement will mean an uphill battle for the democrats to hold on to that seat. >> the democrats will defend four open senate seats this year. it is increasing the pressure on them and the president to get their agenda and health care approved this year. >> usually presidents in their first term lose seats in their midterm elections, okay. that is clearly going to happen to barack obama. >> it's enough to make rush limbaugh's day. >> they are running for the hills, these democrats drank the obama kool-aid and they're committing political suicide. >> some perspective here. four democratic senators are retiring but so are six republicans. on the weather front, an arctic blast cased havoc across the country. 2/3 of the nation experiencing record low temperatures. >> snow has been piling up from kansas city to the carolinas and here in memphis at least three fatalities have been attributed to the bitter cold. kamikaze iguanas, plummeting from tree

to his colleagues, byron dorgan was a surprise there. chris dodd's retirement taken as good news. richard blumenthal will step in. he's ahead right now. how serious is this threat that the democrats are facing? is it 1994 all over again? >> i want to give chris dodd credit for not saying i want to leave because i want to spend more time with my family. which is what most politicians do. as journalists, we ought to track the next couple of years. >> in this case, it might be true. >> look, i think it's going to -- you couldn't pick a tougher environment than you have today. election is ten months away. right now, today, the democrats stand to lose a couple dozen house seats and three or four senate seats. i don't think the -- >> they'll hold on to control? >> almost an absolute to hold control in the senate. they could lose control in the house. it would have to be a tsunami. it would have to be 1994 all over again. this week's event doesn't chan much. the north dakota state goes into the republican side. retirements?ing to be other the senate there have been six republican retirem

dorgan: mr.president, there has been a lot happening in this country with respect to the economy and politics in recent months, and i know that there is great angst, great concern about this country. i know there are questions about when will america get the bounce back in its step. these are troublesome times, for sure, for a lot of reasons, but i am convinced that we will find ways to put america back on track. i'm convinced of that. you know, you go back a couple of hundred years of american history. this country has been through some very tough times, but always, always rebounds. always has a sense of optimism that the future will be better than the past, that kids will have it better than the parents. and i am convinced of that. the american people i think have plenty to be steamed about, and they need to find ways too let off -- to let off that steam but they have a right to be steamed, and let me describe a bit of it. one year ago, this president took office, and he inherited an economic w

we are backed after talking with senator byron dorgan, who is leaving congress this year.bill, financial reform, and the political climate. they're all intertwined. what do you think about the political climate and weather it is possible to get legislation on this issue? >> i asked whether or not they could accomplish anything, having failed to get the major pieces of the president's agenda through last year, and i come back to the point that if they could not do it with a huge majority in the senate or a hugely popular president, they are going to have real difficulty accomplishing almost anything with a much less popular president. >> what is the relationship like between the house and senate democrats? >> as of now, not very good. you have the fact that it kind of died in the senate with scott brown's election. you have senate democrats now furious about being called out because they feel as though house democrats to not appreciate the position. she said she does not think the president or house democrats understand why the democratic party has a majority in the senate

dorgan: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. dorgan: i ask consent that the quorum call be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. dorgan: mr. president, yesterday president obama made some recommendations that have caused quite a stir, especially on the morning shows today, on television. the president suggested something that watching television this morning was called "radical" by some of the commentators. he suggested that banks that have -- commercial banks, fdic-insured banks insured by the american taxpayers, shouldn't be essentially gambling, shouldn't be investing in risky instruments, risky securities on their own proprietary accounts. been going phon a long time. it shouldn't have been going on but it president says, you know what? let's stop it. we've soon a financial wreck in this country in which this country'sy was steered right into the ditch. something like $11 trillion of value has been lost by american husband holds

dodd's announcement came one day after byron dorgan, another democrat, announced that he would not run for senate re- election from north dakota. he would not seek a fourth term. in the house of representatives, ten democrats say they are bowing out this year. democrats davis, meets, abercrombie, moore, booth, gordon, tanner, baird. why are democrats opting out of the obama mid-term election? to avoid a bloodbath? well, hiss store achelely a president's first m.i.t. term election has led to major losses for his party in those elections. in 1982, republican president ronald reagan's first mid-term election, republicans lost 26 seats. more notably, in 1994, president clinton's mid-term first election, democrats lost 54 seats. with republicans led by newt gingrich seizing both the house and senate in landslides. republicans are the preferred choice in 2010 polls. more importantly, polls also say that the gop is the more popular choice of independent voters. a big deal. democrats are a wash in three. >> it's a tough time for democrats, frankly. our voters are less enthusiastic than republi

byron dorgan gave every indication he wanted to run again for a fourth term. we had a profile of him just a few weeks ago in which he expressed some frustration with the way things were going in washington, not only the nature of partisanship and the combative nature of how things have become more combative since he first got here, but he was somewhat of a critic of the obama administration so that their focus on health care and climate change was misplaced and they should be focused on jobs. he is a classic prairie populist. he is young enough that if he retires from the senate now, he can have another career. he has written some books and he likes to lecture. he would be well courted for lobbying. he has lots of different options in front of him. >> is north dakota a possible republican pickup. >> it absolutely is. in a sense, the two we're talking about, one has gone from leans republican to likely democrat and this other one from heavily favored democrats in north dakota to probably republican. the very, very popular governor of north dakota is a little bi

. >> brian dorgan was a moderate democrat and he's being pushed out by the republican governor of thetate. >> he didn't have the option to run again? >> this governor has not even put his name in. people will have to move more to the left or the right. trace: it seems like people are picking sides. i think it's good people are pick besides. the parties need to be more liberal or conservative. >> i think we should have moderates. but if you make promises and you don't live up to those promises you are out. trace: thank you. across the news room to martha. martha: i can't figure out which side either one of them on on. i'm going to send it to studio n are harris faulkner is standing by you know the video we looked at, the burj in dubai? it took one and a half minutes for these jumpers to reach the ground which is less than half mile. look at these guys. they interviewed these jumpers. they are going 136-mile-an-hour. there he is. they did have a parachute. he said i was a little nervous. but i wanted to jump from the highest building in the world. the building is the burj khalifa. it is

. >> today, byron dorgan talks about whether or not the president made a mistake in putting health care in such a high agenda place in the last year. >> do you think that he made a mistake? >> i do. not because health care is not important, but i think that the timing was not good. Ñispending in a deep hole, it is hard to reach as high as you need to reach to get a proposal that will go through congress. personally, i would have said to work exclusively on economics again, putting people back to work. i am sure that the president will say that he was working on that as well. look, the president won the election, i did not. his position is that you cannot fix the economy without fixing health care. we found it difficult to get a menu for health care changes. both >> you can see the entire interview today on "newsmakers" on c-span. >> this weekend, on "book tv," the political cartoons of dr. seuss -- published in the 1940's. also, the growth of the muslim middle class in the middle east. as well as neocons and federal foreign-policy going back to the nixon administration. get the latest u

senator dorgan is a democrat from north dakota and he's retiring after the end of this year.s to go up to canada or elsewhere for that matter and buy prescription drugs at cheaper prices. the white house has not been enthusiastic about this. this has been a point of frick shun between democrats and the white house. this has been a bit separate from the overall health care fight in terms of insurance, but it is a fight that is likely to continue for years to come after senator dorgan is gone from congress. host: next eddie on our republican line from indiana. caller: i was wondering as a recent enrollee of v.a. benefits and v.a. care would i be required to enroll in obama care or would i be exempt? guest: i would have to check the details and we'd have to see what ends up in the final bill, but it is my understanding that veterans benefits, of course v.a. coverage, will remain in tact, and you would not be required to go under the employer-based system, but you have to see what the final language of the bill is. caller: i am sure it is a question a lot of veterans would ask. g

dorgan: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. dorgan: mr. president, this weekend there was some discussion and writing in the papers and elsewhere in journals about the nomination of mr. bernanke, the chairman of the federal reserve board, for another term at the federal reserve board. "the washington post" had an editorial entitled "scapegoat at the fed." tpho -- i don't normally come to the floor to respond to "washington post" he editorialst i do want to respond to a portion this have editorial and describe in a broader way why i think this is important for the senate. "scapegoat at the fed. is there many ways to interpret the election results in massachusetts last week," the editorial begins. it says, "but one thing massachusetts did not represent was a mandate to make a national scapegoat out of ben bernanke, the the federal reserve board chairman. yet two senators seeking reelection in november plus another p

. >> larry: and byron dorgan. >> i think that an example of the president having pushed the agenda a little too far to the left. we have to see if the president makes a correction or not. he is putting a lot of sites, it seems to me n jeopardy. particularly in the house where you have a lot of democrats sitting in districts that were republican districts. >> larry: now your own party. is sarah palin viable in the fats of your party now? >> sure. who knows three years before the presidential election who the face of the party is. sarah palin is extremely popular, articulate. ran for vice president and has a right to make a case. she generates an enormous amounts of enthusiasm. i took her a baseball game last year, judith and i at yankee stadium in the bronx. democratic territory. and he had a great response. everybody wanted to take a -- even the democrats wanted to take pictures with her. >> larry: it's a good sign. there is a "new york times" report today that hard ford was moved to new york. maybe will run the pry nair against the senator that replaced hillary clinton. we know you

announced they're retiring, chris dodd who was facing a tough re-election bat nell connecticut and byron dorgan of north dakota. >> he said he didn't have a republican opponent yet, he said he wants to do other things, his retirement will mean an uphill battle for democrats to hold on to that seat. >> that means the democrats will be defending four open senate seat this is year, it's increasing the pressure on them and the president to get their agenda including health care approved this year. usually presidents in their first term lose seats in their midterm elections, it's clearly going to happen to obama. >> these democrats drank the obama kool-aid, and they're committing political suicide. >> have some perspective here, four democratic senators are retiring this year, but so are six republicans. on the weather front an arctic blast caused havoc across the country this week, two thirds of the nation experiencing record low temperatures. >>> snow has been piling up from kansas city to the carolinas, here in memphis, at least three fatalities have been attributed to the bitter cold. iguanas pl

chris dodd of connecticut and byron dorgan. >> i'm ware of my present political standing here at home in connecticut. it's equally clear that a prediction a year from now would be absurd. >> i wanted to do some other things in life outside of public service. i made that decision, i feel good abit. it's no reflection on my party, on our government. >> al? he was a surprise there. kriz dodd's retirement taken as good news. richard blumenthal will step in. how important is this? is it 1994 all over again? >> i want to give chris dodd credit for not saying i want to leave because i want to spend more time with my family. >> in this case, it might be true. >> look, i think it's going to -- you couldn't pick a tougher environment than you have today. election is ten months away. right now, today, the democrats stand to lose a couple dozen house seats and three or four senate seats. >> they'll hold control? >> almost an absolute to hold control in the senate. they could lose control in the house. this week aches event doesn't change much. the north dakota state goes into the republican side.

host: what about senator dorgan 's second priority, financial reform? guest: qthat is a tough because there are financial industry lobbyists out there. the wall street folks are pushing back on this. but, again, if they could not given done a a year after wall street was a smoking crater, and the idea they can get it done another year later when it has faded into memory i think is unlikely. and they will have a much tougher time doing that this year. they may have to settle at the white house. host: soros among those saying do not come down on a nurse and when you are in the middle of an economic catastrophe. how you respond? guest: the president is in an economic and political catastrophe. the president had surveillance of those things -- has to balance both of these things. these guys are paying enormous and bonuses. if these systems are so fragile, and why are they paying on bonuses? host: what is to look for next week? guest: more on jobs. behind the scenes, there might be some movement on health care. this is all about the economy at this point. ho

but byron dorgan was a long-term senator and congressman, he had been in congress since 1980. this was a shock that he dropped out. and look, he didn't drop out in isolation, he had an extremely tough opponent coming in the governor, john hoven of north dakota, a republican governor of north dakota in public and private polls, hoven was destroying dorgan, 20 points or more. so i think that played into his decision regardless of what he says publicly and i don't care who the democrats run now in north dakota, my crystal ball has put that seat solidly in the republican column. the governor will win that seat so long as he runs. >> brian: well, swammee sabato take a look at the crystal ball and tell me your long range predictions how it's going to play out. >> i think republicans right now are on track to pick up about 27 house seats, on track to pick up three or four senate seats and they're going to pick up some net governorships in part, brian, and this is really quite amazing, 21 governorships are being vacated. you're going to have another three, four, five governors defeate

. >> the populous rage that has now caused dorgan in north dakota and dodd in connecticut to say they're retiring, i think that is the biggest political story right now, the first quarter of 2010. after that i think how that plays out will be how the futures of the parties are determined. >> we come right back, glenn beck has a special announcement about the bold fresh tour. he'll talk about his critics. also ahead, elvis' 75th birthday. we have a tribute moments away. >>> i'm bill o'reilly. the very controversial glenn beck is out of the country right now at an undisclosed location. i know where he is, but even if you water boarded me, i wouldn't say. before he left, however, we had a chat. here is beck and i've been watching your show. it pains me to do it, but i've been watching your show. you spent a lot of time correcting misinformation brought about by your critics and i'm wondering why bother? >> because i think it's important to set the record straight. not for them, because they're going to continue to smear. but i think if we continue to show the american people this is what i

popular senator byron dorgan announced retirement pap good shot at grabbing this seat by republicans. supermajority in the senate, even with a filibuster-proof margin, health care reform is one example of tough to pass. if they lose the supermajority, harder for president obama to advance their agenda. >>> suspended for shooting off his mouth. the nba crowes foul benching one of its high-paid stars. not for having guns in his locker. he recommended citracal. it's different -- it's calcium citrate, so it can be absorbed with or without food. citracal. dominates heartburn. 24/7... including the eight hours you spend with your eyes closed. prilosec otc. heartburn gone. power on. >>> a look at top stories now. the deep south deal wig an unwelcomed visitor. a hard freeze. meaning big trouble for motorists, of course. this i-report from knoxville, tennessee. where are his pants? shows the problems that drivers had navigating this hill. forecasters say the icy conditions gripping much of the country could last a few more days. >>> and a dozen people are dead after a coal mine fire in southea

. >> larry: byron dorgan also will not run. >> yeah, there's another one.ink that may be an example of the president having pushed the agenda a little too far to the left, which is what i was saying before. we'll have to see if the president makes a correction or not. because he's putting a lot of these seats -- it seems to me he's putting them in jeopardy, particularly in the house where you have a lot of democrats sitting in districts that were republican districts up until, you know, the last election or the one before that. >> larry: all right. now your own party. is sarah palin viable? >> sure. >> larry: is she the face of your party now? >> well, gosh, who knows three years before the presidential election who the face of our party is. sarah palin is extremely popular, she's extremely articulate, she's somebody who has run for vice president and she has the right to make her case to the republican party, which will all happen after 2010. but she certainly generates an enormous amount of enthusiasm. larry, i took her to a baseball game last year. judit

. >> the populous rage that has now caused dorgan in north dakota and dodd in connecticut to say they're retiring, i think that is the biggest political story right now, the first quarter of 2010. after that i think how that plays out will be how the futures of the parties are determined. >> we come right back, glenn beck has a special announcement about the bold fresh tour. he'll talk about his critics. also ahead, elvis' 75th birthday. we have a tribute moments away. why do women like you love activia light? sometimes i have no choice but to eat on the run... and to eat whatever happens to be around. heavy greasy food that's hard on my diet... and my digestive system. so i eat activia light every day. activia light, with bifidus regularis is clinically proven to help regulate your digestive system. mmmm. the new taste is better than ever. and with only 70 calories activia light helps make it easier to watch my weight. it helps me feel good and look good too! ♪ activia! >>> i'm bill o'reilly. the very controversial glenn beck is out of the country right now at an undisclosed location. i

byron dorgan was giving every indication that he wanted to run again for a fourth term.ith a profile of him in our magazine just a few weeks ago in which he expressed however some frustration with the way things were going in washington and not only the nature of partisanship but the set of whole combative nature of how things have become the core that if he is somewhat a critic of the obama administration so they're focused on health and climate change was misplaced weird they should be focused entirely on jobs. he is a classic sort of populist. he is a young enough man but if he retires now he can have another career. he's written some books. he likes to lecture. he would be obviously well courted for lobbying soviet lots of different options of one of them. >> so it's north dakota a possible republican pickup? >> it absolutely is. in a sense the two that were talking about today one has gone from leaning for public into likely democrat and this other one from harper lee favored democrat in north dakota to probably republican. the very very popular governor of north da

of heat in washington about him because, you know, he was on with sean han aty and we've got byron dorgansked him any chance you guys can take over the house this year. he said not yet, we're not ready yet. whether he believes it or not, isn't what the chair of the republican party ought to be saying in addition he's hocking his book and others saying he ought to be worried about the republican party. plenty to talk about because the democrats are the stiff head win, pushback at michael steele. it is a target-rich environment on "fox news" sunday. >> see you then. eeeeeee >> i'm janice dean and it is cold outside. taking a look at your current temperatures, 7 minneapolis, 6 kansas city, 17 memphis. reporting light snow. and with the wind it feels even colder. feels like minus 5 in minneapolis. potential for snow? florida. this frontal system could bring the potential for light flurries over central florida. here's our future cast into tomorrow morning. 3 a.m. 6 a.m.. look, shep, a little pink on the radar. we could see a mixture of sleet, freezing rain, and or snow flurries somethi

dorgan what you like to write a book with the supreme court justice? >> or so, it's an honor but we have quite a few debates as we went along. the reason we wrote the book together is that we have a very similar philosophy of writing. and of advocacy. but when we got into the book we have some disagreements. so there were four debate in the middle of the book which are kind of fun. just on the audio book which we read in october back and forth, he would read a section, i would read a section. but in the sections in which we had disputes, we would have our arguments back and forth. so it was a lot of fun working with them. i would say just as clear as not at all the way the public perceives him to be. in my view, he was surprisingly humble to work with, and he acquiesced a good bit of the time when we disagreed. >> how did you get hooked up with him? >> originally, i was interviewing all of the supreme court justice is on their views on advocacy and on writing. and i've written a number of books on the subject. so i invited him to collaborate with me an

at 10:00 eastern byron dorgan talks about jobs legislation.r that president obama's state of the union address followed by the republican response with new virginia governor bob mcdonald. >> american jazz can be an instrument for spreading good will overseas. >> i think so. over there jazz is stronger than the masons, just like a religion. >> they go in for it big, huh? >> they love it. >> he was the single most important figure in jazz in the 20th century. >> q&a tonight. terry teachout on louisÑi armstrong on c-span. up next "washington journal." today the guests include linda feldman of the christian signs monitor and david hawkings. they talk about politics and the latest news. then jacqueline o'neill of the institute for inclusive security talks about the role women play in muslim countries. then a former c.i.a. intelligence officer looks at al qaeda's determination to acquire weapons of mass destruction. "washington journal" is next. . >> good morning and welcome to "washington journal" on sunday the last day of january for 2010. dozen p

host: the comp -- the caller mentioned senator dorgan's efforts on the importation of prescriptions fromer countries. what happened and why did that fail? guest: this would have allowed people in the u.s. to import pharmaceuticals from canada. the pharmaceutical companies were strongly opposed to it. that would add new competition to them and drive down prices. there were a number of lawmakers, senator mccain for example, who worked with the pharmaceutical companies to kill the bill in exchange for the pharmaceutical companies' support for the health care bill. host: use at the white house made a deal with the pharmaceutical industry. why wouldn't the white house be receptive to legislation like that? guest: pharmaceutical companies were very opposed to this amendment. 9lqthey always opposed it. it was reported that the white house had this deal with the pharmaceutical companies to support health care reform in exchange for opposing this kind of amendment. because host: from middletown, connecticut, on our democrats line. caller: i am a democrat. it is obvious that the only strategy that

governorga kaine, we're going to get to it finally, dodd and dorgan trailing in their state by double digits and both deciding to retire. how much trouble is your party in for november? >> chris, let me tell you something. we know we are running up a hill. if you go back to 1900, the average president in the first mid-term loses 28 house senates, four senate seats and governor races. we're running up a hill. the great thing about the obama team is we don't mind running up a hill. we climbed everest in 2008 and we'll climb pike's peak this year. i think we'll do better than the prognosticators are saying. first, we have record of presidential success to sell. we'll have a healthcare bill that's a historic effort that president since teddy roosevelt tried and this president is going to make it happen. we have taken an economy in freefall and turned it around. we're not where we want to be yet, but we cut job losses from 800,000 a month to less than 100,000 a month. and in november we saw jobs starting to grow again. we have a lot more work to do. presidential success is going to be our

host: went byron dorgan sits down with c-span this weekend -- when byron dorgan saddam with c- span thiseekend, i will ask him. pensacola, florida. democratic line. good morning, go ahead. caller: thank you. on the jobs thing, the previous segment was on changing the culture. i think that with this, jobs are a part of the culture. as the president said, we need to take this money back from the big banks and give it to the local banks so that making it the jobs going. that is a part of a culture, big banks keeping the money. again, the culture of america needs to change. simply because the republicans do not have enough votes, there are republicans on every committee that contributed to everything that has been done. simply because they do not have enough votes does not mean that it is not bipartisan. they have the opportunity to participate, they just have not been able to convince anyone else. as far as someone mentioned about the back door deals, if the republicans had been allowed to vote their role instead of voting in blocks, those three that we had to pay back door deals to would n

senator byron dorgan of north dakota, colorado gov.ill ritter, and senator chris dodd with just enough to hold a news conference today. meanwhile a former democratic house member, harold ford, previous of tennessee, said he will announce it -- announced in the debts month ago whether he will challenge new york democratic senator chris d'angelo brand who replaced now secretary of state tell bricklin -- a report that two suspected u.s. drunk strikes killed -- the first attack killed seven and the second killed five. the identities of those killed are unknown according to officials speaking on condition of anonymity. some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> admiral michael mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, talks this morning about the role of the u.s. military. his audience, high-school students at the washington center for in turns. live coverage at 10:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. at noon, in discussion on access to and availability of water in the developing world and how it is key for further development, hosted

. >> tomorrow on news makers, byron dorgan, chair of the senate policy committee talks about whether the president made a mistake in putting health care on such a high place on his agenda this last year. >> the president made health care his signature legislative push in 200 , do you think he made a mistake? >> do i and not because health care is not important. i just think that the timing wasn't good. standing in a deep hole, it is hard to reach as high as you need to reach in order to put together a health care proposal that -- that can get through the congress. i personally would have said, let's work exclusively on starting -- restarting the economic engine once again and putting people back to work. the president will say he was working on that as well. if i had staged this, i would have said that first and health care later. the president won the election, i didn't. so he -- his position is you can't fix the economy without fixing health care. there's truth to that. so, we found it very difficult however to find -- to create a menu of health care changes that can be enacted and

dorgan: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator will withdraw his -- withhold his quorum call? mr. corker: as always. mr. dorgan: i support the conrad-gregg resolution. i will vote for it. i do so not because i think it's the best resolution. the best resolution would be for us year to year to reconcile what we spend and the amount of money that we have to spend, but we don't do that. we're now in a position where we have an unsustainable fiscal policy. it just is. and i know that people on that side want to blame this add many. people on this -- blame this administration. people on this side want to blame the last eight years. whatever the blame may be, let me just say we are on an unsustainable course and it is required in my judgment by republicans and democrats to come together to find a way to address it. this is not the best way but it is probably the only way that we're ever going to get some control here. now, i -- you know, i -- it is easy for me as well, because i've heard so many people

and conrad -- senator dorgan and conrad. they, through their skill, was able to get a provision bringing higher medicare patients to hospitals and doctors in frontier counties. now they weren't as blatant as some of the others, coming to florida and nebraska, but frontier counties, i guess i yield to the gentleman from michigan for his thoughts but first, i would ask him to answer, do you have frontier counties in michigan, because we don't in ohio? mr. mccotter: if we did, they're not in my district. on the point about the sweetheart deals and the states, in the haste of the backroom deal and the haste of trying to get their colleagues votes in the senate, the rule of law applies equally to all individuals. as a free republic composed of 50 sovereign states, it is critical that all states be treated equally under the law under the constitution. in their haste to pass this bill, they are endangering one of the fundamental foundations of a constitutionally based free republic, that is a very grave mistake to make. no matter h

i don't think that is the case with dorgan. i think republicans have a good chance of winning that seat. it's really rare for a president's party to gain seats or to not lose seats in the first election after the president was elected. it's, it is almost always a time when the president's party loses seats. when you add to that, the fact that this president's been very, very ambitious in terms of the number of major kinds of controversial issues, he's pushed in the first year, first two years, of his presidency, by that time, a lot of which, you know, generates a lot of opposition. whether it's, buying part ownership in companies, or, the huge bailouts of financial industry, or, health care, all of which are very controversial no matter which side you're on. i think, i think democrats are going to take a bath. i think they're going to be really hurt in the, in the elections. does that mean they will lose their majorities? i don't know if will be that bad but i think republicans are going to gain seats, partly because of just th

it is a light wind and byron dorgan introduced the importation plan of drugs from canada.s they do not care about the american people. host: when you say "they," who are you talking about? caller: congress. it seems the only people that are benefiting are the insurance companies. guest: yes, they oppose the public option. that was in the house bill. they opposed the measure to eliminate the exemption from antitrust laws. so health insurance companies have been fighting this. they have been putting a lot of money into ads, trying to defeat health care reform. we do not want to hand them a victory here. they have been resisting important parts of this bill from the beginning but we need to push forward. the status quo benefits nobody except for the internet industry. -- insurance industry. that is part of the reason it is important we move forward on health care reform. remembering health care is an important part of getting our economy back on track and making sure we are competitive in the international marketplace. host: after the scott brown victory in massachusetts, wha