term election. that swept speaker foley out of office. and, then you had '94, as i said, '94, getting over a chest cold. '94. then had '86 was a big democratic one. 2006, rather, 2010 was a big republican one. where we had these wave elections from time to time and so, whether is it going to be a micro, all politics local kind of election, or is it going to be macro, one of these sort of wave elections that strongly advantages one side or the other. the other question is, what's the theme of the election? there's a famous thing of winston how much hill where he apparently reportedly sent back dessert to the kitchen and said to the waitress, you know, madam, take this pudding away, it has no theme. so the question is sort of what's the theme of the election? what's it about? what are the key dynamic that's out there? sort of what's the current term people use is narrative. what is the narrative of this election? and, so at the beginning of this election cycle, a year ago, i started thinking, okay, th

elections are in my blood. the way these formulas work, and there are three different ones and we are not putting a -- and one in particular is that you have to assess how long it takes to vote on a ballot. you have to have estimates of the number of machines you will be placing in polling places could you have to have an idea the number of people. those variables will, depends on the state but will often be contingent on the county so that the formula that they use actually really just depends on for example the voting technology you're using so so for the state to mandate one might end up being counterproductive because if it's not sensitive to the differences within the counties. in other states where they have more uniform architecture for elections those types of formulas will work out any more uniform way. but one of the things as you play around with them on line you will see that they do somewhat different things. i encourage you to look at marks which is the third one on the tools which will predict fo

and that has effects on elections. something that's happening sort of outside the electoral sphere, that's having an effect on elections. and schools are the most ubiquitous and accessible polling places out there. and if it you lose schools, you lose a huge number of polling places. and that's something that we try to draw our attention to. schools that are concerned about security issues, we encourage states and localities to adopt inservice days for teachers on those days so that there's not a sort of security/election tradeoff. finally, the commission endorses expanded opportunities to vote before election day, whether that is no excuse absentee voting or in person early voting. it was unanimous among those who testified whether a democrat or a republican, that channeling all of the election into one day just magnifies the potential for administrative disaster. so while there are good ways and bad ways to do early voting as well as absentee votings, and there are cautions in the report about things that look what a

legal election. legitimate meacy will be questi. the opposition orient says it will accept nothing less than a future care taker body, and the deadlock is very much set to continue here. and without the credibility that the government needs to restore order to the streets and restore stability to this country, it is quite hard to see how that is going to happen. the economy needs stability. >> jonah haw in dacca, many thanks jonah. >> many of the crowd are asylum seekers from africa. mickey rosenfelt joins me. >> the israeli police, are in place in preparation for people requesting to be in israel at the moment, our units are in and around the area in order to prevent any disturbances from taking place. part of a three day strike, continuing today through tuesday. >> please repeat that, mickey, how many are on the streets and are about. >> the majority being african migrants making their way inside israel, three day demonstration taking place today today up until tuesday. the people are -- the police

and that has effects on elections.something that's happening sort of outside the electoral sphere, that's having an effect on elections. and schools are the most ubiquitous and accessible polling places out there. and if it you lose schools, you lose a huge number of polling places. and that's something that we try to draw our attention to. schools that are concerned about security issues, we encourage states and localities to adopt inservice days for teachers on those days so that there's not a sort of security/election tradeoff. finally, the commission endorses expanded opportunities to vote before election day, whether that is no excuse absentee voting or in person early voting. it was unanimous among those who testified whether a democrat or a republican, that channeling all of the election into one day just magnifies the potential for administrative disaster. so while there are good ways and bad ways to do early voting as well as absentee votings, and there are cautions in the report about things that look what ad

election. next political analyst charlie cook political report talks about what he expects to see from both political parties leading up to election. this is an hour and 30 minutes. >> good morning. elcome to the campaign management institute at american university. being a nelson the tkpl -- academic director of c.m.i. this is our 35th year. we started as a bipartisan have beennstitute and going strong ever since. our first speaker today is charlie cook. editor and he publisher of the cook political report which he founded 30 years ago? >> 30 years ago in april. political is also a analyst for national journal and regular election night it cnn, cbs and nbc and always been generous with time with c.m.i. and will start us off by talking about the general political 2014.nment going in >> thank you. applause] >> thank you, candy. i pt want to compliment all of you for your decision to participate this c.m.i. because hardly a month goes by that i don't run into somewhere that didn't say i met you o

you think of here, think of federal elections, sometimes state elections, sometimes municipal electionsnd issues, special elections -- all of these things so that over a four-year timeframe, i'm guessing, in a lot of states, you could vote 10 or 12 times. you could be asked to vote 10 or 12 times over four years. does that devalue the importance of voting some? yeah, i think so, particularly in states like virginia, kentucky, louisiana, new jersey, mississippi, that have already or state elections. and a lot of the municipalities have odd year elections. it devalues it. the second thing is, we elect jobs in this country that for the life of me i do not know why we vote on them. i consider myself a relatively politically sophisticated person. the maryland special court of appeals, who are they? what do they do? why are they special? [laughter] you look at a bunch of names where you could say, oh, my god. nobody knows who these people are. or, in my home state of louisiana, you know, we elect parish corners. -- coroners. who the hell here is qualified to judge who would be a good coroner?

elections. of i am -- i am pleased to present steve phillips. [applause] >> thank you. i am very grateful to be here. one of the things we created last year called pac plus. there are things on the table that we have had here as well. we were talking about how this -- i have a lot of friends in and it is moving to me. this is probably the closest you can have of actually seeing what it would be like of who would come to your funeral without actually dying. [laughter] hopefully, this won't be a near-death experience for me. i do want to give a special thank you to sandra who introduced me today. he and i have been friends since the 1980's. he is a smart guy who has great potential but he really proved it when you decided to marry a woman from cleveland heights. i am proud of the leadership he has provided around issues of equality and justice. i was pleased to work with them in 2008. i do want to thank all of you for coming out today. it's great to be home and great to see all of my friends. i wo

we don't know yet whether they would be taking part in any deal of egypt elections. anti government protest is one to political reform to take place here in thailand before any elections take place they say they want to see that new rules put in place dough into a back to democracy that not content with the existing system. they're saying that the timescale for that i would take at least to get to eighteen months. i'm so it's unlikely that they would be in any way satisfied by upstream and the lighting in elections until may protests to the bay hill bay are out of body be the only reason the election will be delighted or of iraq the fact is that of being considered as well. it's the old connects it to the factory to this at the destruction that's because abide by this practice be a regional at suggestions the ice but in the elections was made by the election commission which is responsible for holding that it means it's a neat story that the commission felt that the situation was sending to the trial but too dangerous at two and showed that those elections could be h

are you going to continue to be a uniter told which was elected president of ukraine you would agree with than why don't we just wait for another election to overturn i mean let people go to the ballot box where they have to burn buildings in three hundred police have been injured as well but does it mean that violence on the side of the state is is should be overlooked ok alexander i mean it seems that this is a kid who have endured by police who have been going to the police i would guess vet visit the city to spare called the. kate all right but we haven't aired as we have a third get in the program we have a third guest star the program we go to alexander in london how do you see the. and going out in the streets of care of right now we're well. i would describe it very straightforwardly as a riot and an extremely violent riots and one i'm afraid which has been run by the protesters i think what must understand is that my done square does not belong to the protesters it is a public space they have been occupying that public space now for granted two months for happy and anything

right after the 2010 election you saw the special election in the in which kathy hochul was elected, was a race decide on medicare but in a very different way than the races in 2010 had been decided on medicare. i think that we are going to look also at the people who haven't really done all that well in this economic recovery, this bush -- is reported people without college degrees. i think we'll look and see especially when without college degrees, which would they break. because 2010 was an important year in which they broke against democrats. democrats lost the edge they have had with those voters in terms of who's on your site. i think we're going to look also at a lot of suburban areas, areas that are think after 2008 democrats felt like they locked up, areas like the area outside of richmond or outside charlotte which really swung back and were important in republican victories in 2009 and 2010 in those states. but i remain optimistic. not only optimistic for democratic politicians and democrats like kay hagan in north carolina who are centrist, one of the most moderate member

the 2008 election, you had a really ugly election for republicans. --n 2010, it got even worse 2008 an ugly election for republicans, and so a lot of republicans that are sitting in competitive streaks or districts that may be a democrat ought to have, they got washed out back in 2008 just as they did in 2006. they had back to back ugly elections for republicans, that window cap a lot of republicans in competitive districts. in 2010, the way it went the other church in was a fabulous year for republicans, and it washed out the see of a lot of democrats that were sitting in districts that should have been republican. wasing out of those in 2008 a decent election for democrats. 80 senior for democrats. for democrats.r you sorted it out so there are not many fish out of water that are out there. it has been his motorized the elasticity it -- it has minimized the elasticity in the house. it has made it difficult for the press to make a 17-see games as it would be difficult for republicans to make a 17-seat gain in this environment. and you look at the in

out after the election was over. at that point, i was sort of early october. at that point, there was a lot going into certain races. i don't read call how much. they were managing to raise a lot of money regardless in the berman/sherman. geary miller, who ended up in the district, he is a republican running against -- probably should be elected democrat. there was a ton of money from realtors see when it did that raise. at that point in time and october, there really wasn't a lot going into california specifically. if you look at the universal super pac money, most of it was going to the presidential election. there were certainly some going into these races when i saw how the money change the protected outcome of the house elections nationally, generally change or move the needle much. so my own view on the super pac is a goes in where the races are ready highly competitive. i will say in california, they saw a lot of super pac activity for state legislative candidates. state legislative races are hugely expensive.

and let's focus on making elections work better. and this is a good manual to help do just that. >> i just want to conclude this segment by saying, because trey ended on the note about partisanship and being able to tran1e7bd it. the we looked at public administration as our guidance and the expectations of voters across the political spectrum as the light that we had to continue if we keep our eye on it. it's a standard that we needed to continually worry about. but as ben said at the outset, bin ginsburg andtben ginsberg and i i do not think have ever voted the same weight. >> before as he puts it, he matured. we just fight each other all the time. i cannot thank him enough. we were able to acknowledge the agreement. keeping in mind the sanders that guided the report and had the extraordinary support of the commission, i think we were able to get something done. with that, we will open it up. >> we will open it up for questions and discussion. lex the election officials will read and take to heart and implement and where necessary

president of ukraine and he still have a parliamentary elections. that have a variance to what is and how did the advance in kiev today come on over the last few days hala certain people said we don't like the parliamentary elections we mark tell me something about these groups that are very very good at all this and here and you know. who are they. ok the b.b.c. and the nation magazine in the united states both solidly democratic left magazines have both done pieces on exactly who these ultra nationalist rioters are who have been intimately involved in the violence in the ukraine from the beginning to the catastrophic escalation we have seen today they are a loose coalition of ultra nationalist groups known now as the right sector they include openly anti-semitic and arean groups such as white hammer the patriots of the ukraine una a u.n.'s so and the trident group these are openly groups that on the main field of the mind on have as the nation has reported been attacking leftist feminist gay rights and labor activists and driving them off of them

well indeed so i mean i think this is an important point there isn't the election the presidential election is a year away now while the parliamentary opposite what the opposition ought to be doing logically is they should be agreeing on a single candidate to put up against mr young a code which in that election now there are lots of things you can criticize mr yanukovych for his economic policies were not very successful he made a complete hash of the association agreement negotiations whether he should have signed it or not is another matter but the way in which he pulled out of it was disastrous. the trouble is and this is what i think is happening here is that a lot of the scenes we're seeing in kiev today. are happening because the opposition itself is very fragmented and divided and cannot agree on a proper political and electoral strategy and because they cannot agree on these things they are and cannot control some of their own supporters and are egging some of some of their others we are seeing a certain drift towards violence now and i think people like anders who are obviously sy

as governor-elect taffle, other elected officials and the general assembly embark on this new journeyey are faced with difficult situations and circumstances, remind them, as david did, to look to the hills from which cometh our help, knowing that all your help will come from the lord. help them, lord, to remember you are the source that is dependable. you are the advocate that is understanding. you are the counselor that is wise. we pray, lord, that you would bless and protect our first mcauliffe, hy peter, sally, mary, jack and dorothy along with the families of all our elected officials. lord, we ask your blessings and guidance on governor-elect mcauliffe's cabinet, elected and appointed leaders and the general assembly that they may work in harmony for the common good of the citizens of this great commonwealth of course virginia. governor mcauliffe, lieutenant governor northam and attorney general herring, as i close this prayer, may the lord bless and keep you. may the lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. may the lord lift up his countenance on thee and giv

and then trying to pass off in the next stage which the elections was that of parliament elections. how effective this will be a bit amazed to see but for now this in spite of the violence yesterday and this the did the fourteen went on as planned and that they ended with people going there that the turnout is said to be around forty percent on on on the first day we can see what the turnout to be the second day. but it seems that the process is ongoing and in spite of the plot is that the roadmap is good to be on it's on its path. for i think we're not just about so yes uh huh cannot postpone the reporting to a strong current. now we mentioned earlier about the iranian foreign minister is continuing his efforts to drive to the diplomatic solution in syria and the reports i did not have the job with the wreath arrived in damascus on wednesday morning for talks with syrian government officials will we can take care not to damascus the clothes on and a lot either hand. i enjoyed this walk a mile off. what sick and we expect from the iranian foreign minister is visit to syria. and what

elections. in 2008 you remember the iraq war had gotten, you know, it was getting really pretty ugly. president bush's numbers were, gosh, at one point he got down to like 30, 28%, something like that. so that 2008 you had a really, really ugly election for republicans. and then 2010 it got even worse. i'm sorry, 2008 -- no, i'm sorry. 2008 had a ugly election for republicans, and so a lot of republicans that are sitting in competitive districts or districts that maybe a democrat ought to have, they got washed out, they got washed out back in 2008 just as they did in 2006. so you had back-to-back ugly elections for republicans, the sort of win knowed out a lot of -- winnowed out a lot of competitive districts. then in 2010 the way it went, it was a fabulous year for republicans, and it kind of washed out to sea a lot of democratics that were sitting in districts that ought to be republican. so coming out of those in 2008, you know, it was a decent election for the democrats. it wasn't a wave, bu

the it still meant that we are in denver and the that and that the buildup to the election the election has looked in the top of the demon that is all that well. distill it to me is ready to switch things up with a month ago mental his head goes ahead it to the mission of any involvement in the new parliament. though the devious it into a position to continue to do mind that the visitation often go into the van. i had affected all sections of society. what was going into the stands. sitting by the fees and strikes. it is like sixty four dollars and ten. i've been sitting activities. the was declined and he screamed yes. nobody has concluded that eating and why not use one of the dod has gone on since in by walking just twenty two in the new dawn of dawn to dusk i got to move through to adults. ceos of attacks on the open. the production hussain said. something to digest food in the end england's at all it took the offensive. this segment i did my activist died. this time. so putting up a lot of footy of a problem see a photo of me. its use of aborted show what the most common probity of

wave election. and there's a tendency to get too wrapped up in this all politics is local thing if you go a really long time without a wave election. and so it's sort of like hard to imagine it happening until you really see one up close and personal. and so that 1994 one was probably -- it was you sort of step back in awe and watch it happening. and i remember the person that first, you know, there's some people on each side that can be relied upon to predict that their side's going to win huge in every single election, okay? that's fine. and you kind of figure out on each side who they are, then never listen to them again. but the first person that didn't qualify in that category, we were over -- my house editor at the time was a young man named ben who's now a lawyer and intellectual property expert at the motion picture association. but anyway, he was our house editor, our first house editor. and we were over at the democratic congressional campaign committee meeting -- we do this with each side

it has an effect on elections.chools are the most ubiquitous and successful polling places out there and if you lose schools you lose a huge number of doling places. schools that are concerned about security issues we encourage states and localities to adopt in-service days for teachers on those days so there's not a east security election trade-off. finally the commission endorses expanded opportunities to vote before election day. whether that is absentee voting or in-person early voting. it was unanimous among those who testified whether democrat or republican that channeling all of the election into one day just magnifies the potential for administrative disaster. and so while there are good ways and bad ways to do early voting as well as absentee voting and there are questions in the report about things that local administrative staff to pay attention to it was clear regardless of party of alienation that the localities were endorsing early and absentee voting. let me just conclude by saying that there is more

the whole question who elected you inverts the model, he said. they elected me the overseers. he named the chairs of the senate and house intelligence committee, both of you, dianne feinstein he said elected me when she asked softball questions in committee hearings. mike rogers elected me when he kept these programs hidden. the fisa court elected me when this he decided to act on things they were never intended to do. the system failed comprehensively and each level of responsibility that should have addressed this abdicated their responsibility. so i'll start with you, chairman rogers. will anything change? >> first of all, i couldn't disagree more.

election.e was elected governor. he fore went a run at governor in the 1850s because andrew was a stronger politically than he was. but slowly the conservative element in tennessee is the true across the south in that time period regained the senate seat, and he hadn't connections and had influence and he had press teeing as having been ultimate conservative governor because he had lead tennessee out of the union. in those days, the united states senators were elect bit state legislature. there weren't directly elected as they are today. he had his politics in order and was elected by the state legislature as united states senator in 1876 to take office in 1877. the thing he's most known for in tennessee history now is very famous quote that he issued or famous response that he issued to a call for federal troops. after fort sumter. the federal government called on tennessee for two religion men of volunteers to suppress the rebellion in the south. and governor harris replied tennessee will not

election has looked in the top of the demon that is all that well. distill it to me is ready to switch teams with that among the gum and go as it goes ahead it to the mission of involvement in the new parliament. though the dvd sitting in opposition will continue to do mind the visits nice enough to go into the van. i had affected all sections of society. what was going into the stands. sitting by the fees and strikes the garments. well it was cold i was with her daddy and a prince and interests activities the west did not and he screamed yes. nobody has concluded that eating and why not use one of the dod has gone up since and vomiting just twenty two in the new dawn of dawn to dusk i got to move through to adults. ceos of attacks on both. the production the statement said something to digest food and they weren't at all it took the offensive. the shipment to the activist got it into this time. so putting up a lot of footy of a problem see a photo of me. its use of aborted show what the most common probity of foot of a oh five and the ever brought g

if elected in 2016? well, first, i do not think there was anyone at the time when clinton was getting impeached, looking at that as an error of less polarization. >> the golden days. >> the golden era in washington. i think you did have a lot of people with experience from the clinton white house in the first term of the obama administration.

they are a very important part of election day. i've just heard about the recruitment of 15 and 17-year- old. what went into that aspect of the report and is there any limitations? we have a long list of recommendations in reference to recruitment training and retention of poll workers. isdefer a lot of it elections commission which has guidelines and quick site -- quickstart guides on these issues. doew of the things had to with 16 and 17-year-olds and sponsorship of polling places. many times roots and organizations, whether it's a business or fraternal organization, the lions club will provide poll workers for you as well as recruiting from within our own counties. allowing government employees to have the day off to work the polls. when we get into training, making sure there are some jurisdictions were the first time you work the polls, you receive training and never have to receive training again. to be trained for every election for which you work. there's the frequency of training, quality, duration, we have tried to touch

brines similar analystal skills into -- it this career's elections their post elect report this year will be entitled autopsy 2. lou: so where is the republican leadership before the 2014 midterm elections? where are they? have we got the ground game going? is there a big turn out assured, does reince priebus have all those lessons learned from 2012? about letting the same people try to win elections even if theyust keep losing. did we stop the usual suspects from reaching out to the same big donors to stir the honey pot, principlely for themselves. here is the same old same old -- of the leadership, gallup poll shows 32% of americans have a favorable machin opinion of thel righg.o.p.right now, how far hay come since 2012, that compared to 43%, approval right after the big loss in november election of 12. thing are astonishly getting worse. republican leaders are not leading. so let me say just gently, they are hiding, they are running from the reality they have created. through not one, but two presidential elections cycles, and this will be a further test of your capacity to tolera

>> good idea to expand voting before election day. understand the voters don't want to be permitted to the 12 hour, traditionally election day. without specifying, for example, early voting ought to be to a half weeks. it out to included two weekends. it out to be from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. as you know, there are wide differences of opinion. someone who's had a chance to litigate those issues, but as a part of the commission report, our main point is you can't administer elections -- [inaudible] by asking them all to vote on that one day. we need to provide multiple opportunities for voting. we've had voting in person as one of them and there are other forms of voting that could be provided as well. that's the approach we took. >> i think we wanted, the issues with the postal service, i mean, in the future of 16 week mail what that means for voting. we really didn't weigh in on what that means other than it's a concern. some dates we talked about earlier, some said to have by now, all states allow some level of absentee balloting. there's

divine wisdom as a governor-elect terry mcauliffe, other elected officials, and the general assemblyhis new journey, lead and guide them -- as governor elect terry mcauliffe. when they are faced with difficult circumstances, remind them as david did to look to be hills, from which cometh thy help. help them, lord, to remember you are the source that is dependable. you are the advocate that is understanding. you are the counselor that is wise. we pray, lord, that you would bless and protect our first family -- dorothy mcauliffe, peter, sally, mary, jack, and dori. along with the families of all of our elected officials. lord, we ask your blessings and guidance upon governor elect mcauliffe's cabinet, elected and appointed leaders, and the general assembly that they may work in harmony for the common good of the citizens of this great commonwealth of for genia -- virginia. as i close this prayer, may the lord less and keep you -- bless and keep you. may the lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. may the lord lift up his continence upon thee and give you peace. amen.

as for the elections in a year themselves the opposition the three main leaders. the german supported candidate the former boxer vitaly klitschko of the strike party. of the. of the back of sheen or the fatherland party and the neo nazi leader only good chinese are all of this photo party are all. i ing for egos emplacement with the protest movement themselves trying to position themselves as the presidential candidate none of them have shown any indication that they are willing to step down in front of the other two which of course is exactly the type of division among the opposition that led to victory almost five years ago and by the way right now waiting for talks between the opposition and the president to start well any time soon i believe what could come out of this what can we expect and we all obviously know that none of the sides are going to compromise going to go on any concessions. i don't know what's. i wrote though you go ahead i don't think we can really expect anything out of these talks both sides are playing for time at this point i don't think

if they know when you get close to election day and what the clean election model does is gets do you get $5 before most people have heard of the candidate. it's strictly door to door. that's where most of the people who of as a way of getting people in to the system. >> david donly. i see you back there. you were mentioned by name. do you want to comment on that question? >> okay. >> kurt walters with public campaign action fund. i was interested, professor miller, on your -- as opposed to turnout. i want to know if such a system to be in place at the federal level and house and senate elections. do you think we might see similar increase maybe at the top of the ballot in overall turnout rates? >> i think so. for me it was a -- well, yes, possibly. i'm already logging that back. i think my distinction in the book is nearly theoretical. because of, you know, as i said in the presentation. it's hard for me to get to a place where i believe that's the race you care about. that's the reason why you're going to vote is state legislature. no offense to dr. heinz, but i think people are foc

for two local elections a by election until my thirtieth and another by election. over twenty nine overall the parties agreed that we should reduce the number of elections from the current three to two but a different article about it the ruling party says that you are local elections and that you live by election should be combined and held together agm. but the main topic of democratic party says the two by elections should be combined and held it over. the rival parties have agreed to discuss the matter next week at the special commentary committee to re form politics although both parties say their proposal is the best three d is administrative costs and the petite. i would say their own political interests have certainly been taken into consideration can see the latest. jensen's present in the global market is on the rise the electronics giant has made the top ten list of popular brands in twelve out of fifteen countries according to market researcher you've got the survey which is based on whether respondents have heard anything positive or negative about the

well, as the election day draws nearer it seems to have the election cancelled or postpone will fail the election will happen but even if it does it seems clear they will be legal challenges afterwards and possibly even a case that the election will be declared null and void because of the disruptions that it has faced. >> reporter: we were telling you a little earlier about protests over dumping near the great barrier reef off the gold coast and we return there saying hello to richard and getting a look at the weather in that world. >> across the north and the east and as we run this on the satellite image it's looking disturbed up there with areas of low pressure, certainly up towards the north, this trough has given some significant rainfall as you can see. more than 100 millimeters at the point but this area of clouds further towards the east which is giving more significant rainfall. and this has been associated with what was a tropical cyclone dillan and it has weakened moving inland but produced wild weather. coal ports in the northeast were closed because of the seas and majo

if elected in 2016? well, first, i do not think there was anyone at the time when clinton was getting impeached, looking at that as an error of less polarization. >> the golden days. >> the golden era in washington. i think you did have a lot of people with experience from the clinton white house in the first term of the obama administration. also, you are always fighting the last war. try to passntons health-care reform, the complaint was that they had handed the law down on high, and they had ignored the prerogatives of congress, and so the approach this time was different. framework, a bipartisan framework, largely because it had been built on the republicanrom the alternative to hillary care, and they thought that if the details were worked out, they would be able to do something in a bipartisan way than if it were a president handing things down from on high. theink they underestimated degree of resolve on the part of republicans. republicans came out scorched earth against the stimulus at a time wh

plus, how to streamline american elections and broker a syrian peace. tonight on "washington week." >> i come before you this evening as someone who has been falsely and wrongfully accused in his public service has been wrongfully attacked. >> mistakes were clearly made and as a result we let down the people we're entrusted to serve. gwen: they were both on the vice presidental short list. 2016 was on their horizons. but virginia's bob mcdonnell and new jersey's chris christie are now each on separate slippery slopes. will they survive? >> i think all of us share the elief that regardless of party affiliation, that our democracy demands that our citizens can participate in a smooth and effective way. gwen: a new bipartisan commission proposes a way to repair american elections. >> we looked for the areas where we could agree without abandonning our principles as opposed to the areas where we knew we would end up disagreeing. gwen: but at a conference in switzerland, the quest for peace in syria was all about disagreement. >> assad will never have or be

narratives in this election. is public brand image problems and internal problems just continue. the other theory is this is a midterm election in which the party of the white house traditionally get absolutely hammered in the midterm election halfway through the second term. it does not always happen but almost always. which so which will it be. let's talk about each one of them for a second. we are talking about republican brand image problems. i do not know if we should read too much into this, because it got caught -- talk a lot -- talked a lot about in 2012. you can blame mitt romney for his loss in the campaign. to be honest, i think that was a very winnable race had it been run somewhat differently. the obama campaign was a very smart campaign and made a lot of very smart decisions. the mitt romney campaign not so much. when you look at other races in the broader, you can see there are huge problems facing the republican party. first, minority voters, african- americans make up or 10% of the electorate and

the impact of demographic shifts on the 2012 election and on future elections. pleased to i am present steve phillips. [applause] >> thank you. i am very grateful to be here. one of the things we created plus.year called pac are things on the table that we have had here as well. thisre talking about how -- i have a lot of friends in and it is moving to me. the closest you can have of actually seeing what it would be like of who would come to your funeral without actually dying. hopefully, this won't be a near-death experience for me. i do want to give a special thank you to sandra who introduced me today. friends sincebeen the 1980's. he is a smart guy who has great potential but he really proved it when you decided to marry a woman from cleveland heights. i am proud of the leadership he has provided around issues of equality and justice. i was pleased to work with them in 2008. i do want to thank all of you for coming out today. and great to be home to see all of my friends. i would like to dispel one rumor that i am not here to interview for the browns head-co

the government win a one-sided election on sunday. but bangladesh has much to lose. >> everything you mentioned there makes you think will legitimacy be a problem after the election. >> i think it's spectacularly likely to be a major problem for the governor, as she should do. it's a mistake to think the situation is an easy one. she is going into an election in which the main opposition is not represented and the result is a foregone conclusion. she will know that predictions are that it will be a low turn out. it's so she risks going into a new government. the u.s., the u.n., the request european union, and the commonwealth making it not credible before it's happened. >> australia has one of the strongest economies in the developed world, avoiding the recession that affected so many other countries in recent years. it's down to the mining sector making up two-thirds of exports. is the booming industry losing steam. andrew thomas reports from the remote pill bra region. >> it's a menacing site, the more so when you realise these vehi

the first is from the director of the department of elections, mr. john arnst certifying the vote and results of each of the races shown in the sum have i report of the municipal election of november 6, 2013 to be true and correct. specifically, calling attention at another time contest for member of the board of supervisors representing district 4, that katy tang won the most number of choice -- first choice votes cast for that seat. >> congratulations, supervisor tang. [cheering and applauding] >> and, madam clerk, if you could read the second communication? >> yes, a communication was received january 2nd from the controller, mr. ben rosenfield, submitting a certification of surety bond for the newly elected supervisor katy tang therefore meeting the requirements necessary. >> thank you, madam clerk. congratulations again, supervisor tang, on your achievement of being elected district 4 supervisor. madam clerk could you please call the next item? >> the first item of business will be the oath of office to the newly elected member of the board of s

but suffered a string of election defeats. starting with the twenty twelve presidential election it plans to appeal to voters by choosing the pack an administration that worsening the people slightly as the nation's democracy. he moved in addition to protecting democracy and people's livelihood it's convenient an election victory this brand new year the democratic party recognizes the need for all of the foreign and strange and internal unity. as it has happily divine creature battle but also a new party led by the panama make caricatures sale. i miss pushing ahead with plans to form a third party. he says will overcome before politics at the two parties instead this new party is fast gaining popularity in the southwestern corn on the region which has long been the democratic party's traditional power base. he'll be in the old system and we are thinking that wants to keep its best to write by settling for regionalism in refusing to perform in a while talking about on the other must be eradicated starting in the region. this ne

parliamentary elections must come first because they represent the people. >> residential elections are set to be held before the end of april with parliamentary polls before the end of july. talks, finallyf signs of some progress at the syrian peace conference, the glimmer of hope, zumba government saying woman and children can leave homs immediately, after negotiators from the opposite side discussed humanitarian gestures on the second day of face-to-face talks in the swiss city of geneva. it is hoped when the two sides meet again today they can allow humanitarian access to homs to give aid to the thousands living in dire conditions. let's listen now to the chief of staff to the president of the opposition coalition. >> agree on each and every member of the transitional body. on structure.e not acceptable are people who commit crimes against humanity and war crimes -- including hise in his -- al-assad and associates who have blood on their hands of people with a minute crimes are not acceptable in the body. but at the same time there are many people who are still working in the govern

general elections are scheduled for april. the political parties are looking to get themselves in the best position they can, forcing nouri al-maliki to take the blame for the worst conscious in iraq, a fact unscored by the car bombs ripping through the country. >> secretary of state john kerry says the obama administration is concerned about the return of al qaeda to anbar. it was an area that saw fierce fighting ever u.s. entered iraq in 2003. here is some more context. a year ago sunni tribes protested in anbar, demanding the release of detainees. the prime minister tried to respond with reforms, but members of sunni and political parties blocked the move. the al qaeda-led group was formed. playing on fears of domination, support for the movement, and last week the i.s.i.l. fighters defeated a faction of the iraqi army, nouri al-maliki sent soldiers to anmar to break up the protest, triggering the latest fighting. >> that same al qaeda group is not only operating in iraq, but syria. the i.s.i.l. fighters killed at least 50

we started digging down can, local elections, state elections, judicial elections, referendums n. california alone, $550 million was spent on state reference -- referendums, the better part of $100 million in maryland. huge influence of money. now, almost all of this money -- i shouldn't say that. say an overwhelming proportion of this money goes to television, particularly local television stations and particularly to that area around the newscasts and the popular programs in the evening where most people are watching. so what we began to understand is there is this massive, largely unregulated and even unmeasured inflow of money into these television stations. and lo and behold, it does transform them. it transforms not merely how they approach their own schedule, how they structure their evening, but also we would argue that there's been a tremendous standing down of journalism at the same time that you've had this massive inflow of money. and at that point i throw it to bob, because it's bob who has really looked a lot at what it does to these stations and how they respond to