"washington classroom" is a partnership with george mason university and the washington center. this semester's class is focusing on presidential politicians. issues shaping the company, with a look back at past elections. >> to the students joining us from the washington classroom here in washington, d.c., representing universities and colleges around the country, we want to focus today on polls and focus group and the latest from the gallup organization this week, showing that barack obama is ahead, 49% to 45%, the editor in chief of the gallup poll is joining us here in our studios, frank newport. thank you for being with us. >> my pleasure. >> as we look at the poll, you tell your audience all the time, it's one snapshot, a snapshot in time. doesn't tell you where the country is going, but tells youy the country is at this moment. >> well, a couple of -- it can tell you where it is going if you look at the trend. we have economiced confidence, consumer confidence, we track daily. you can look at it today. when you look at it going back to the last four years, it was as high

greg gribble the attack on the campus of george mason university during the daytime. the search for a robertber. >> well, online dating services can get kind of expensive. so to save money i've found a new way t get my profile out there. check me out. everybody says i've got a friendly disposition and they love my spinach dip. five foot ten... still doing a little exploring. but... my sigigis sagittarius, i'm into spanish cheese, my hairline is receding but i'm getting a weave. getting a weave. there's an easier way to save. who wants some ronald tonight!? who wants some ronald tonight!? geico. fifteen minutes could save you 15% or more. >> you're watching abc 7's "good morning washington." correct checking our top stories, investigators are searching for clues in two overnight shootings in southeast. a man was shot and killed on 14th place at around midnight a short and a short time earlier a man was shot in the arm on 53rd street. police are not saying what exactly led to those shooting sport. of the two may be sport the secret service sex scandal is still growing.

thomasina borkman, professor of sociology emerita, george mason university, fairfax, virginia. keith, let's start out by letting the audience know what is the need for treatment in terms of substance use and mental disorders in this country? a lot of people aren't aware of how prevalent these conditions are, but amazingly there are 45 million american adults who meet the criteria for a mental health problem. and 23 million who meet it for substance use, alcohol or drugs. and most of those who also smoke and the overlap between those groups is about 10 million people who struggle with both of those problems. so that means at any given time one in four people in this country could conceivably benefit from treatment for mental health or substance use disorder.

history at george mason university in fairfax, virginia. professor zagarri earned her doctorate from yale university, where she studied with edmund morgan. and before joining the faculty at george mason she taught at west virginia university and catholic university of america. her scholarship articles have appeared in leading journals, including the journal of american history, the american quarterly, the journal of the early republic, lehman merry quarterly, along with numerous essays in edited collections. she's been the recipient of such honors as the outstanding article prize awarded by the southeastern 18th century studies association, fellowships from the national endowment for the humanities, the american antiquarian society, and the american philosophical society. she's also had an poimt by tappy the fulbright commission to the thomas jefferson chair in american studies at the university of amsterdam in the netherlands. professor zagarri has appeared as an on-camera historian on c-sp c-span, on pbs, and on the fairfax television net

c-span's washington classroom is a partnership with the washington center and george mason university. this week the class gets some insight perspective from former governor of virginia, douglas wilder. he joins the class to look back at his 1992 presidential bid and share his insights into the unique brand of politics that resides in the south. this is about an hour. >> congress passes the most sweeping civil rights bill ever to be written into law and shows the equality for all men that began with lincoln so 0 years ago. he wins his dignity now. five hours after the house passes the measure the civil rights act of 1964 is signed at the white house by president johnson. before an audience of legislators and civil rights leader who is have labored long and hard for passage of the pill, president johnson calls for all americans to back what he calls a turning point in history. >> we must not approach the observance and enforcement of this law in a vengeful spirit. this purpose is not to punish. this purpose is not to divide but to end divisions. divisions which have lasted all too long

magness is an academics program director at george mason university. he's also taught in public administration at american university and international trade at gmu. also in his biography is something i find fascinating. he's an avid scuba diver and plays underwater hockey for the washington, d.c., and i love this name, beltway bottomfeeders. [ laughter ] there's probably no end of applicants for that team. after dr. magness makes his presentation, rodney ross will come to read a poem of john willis menard that is very appropriate. and actually there are print copies of it on the table outside. rod is an old friend and a dear friend, a great proponent of history and public history. he works at the national archives. he's very active in a number of organizations, including the illinois state society, which joins the capital historical society in sponsoring today's event. then after rod, we will have our third speaker, dr. matthew wasniewski, who is the historian of the united states house of representatives appointed in october of 2010. he had served as

let me turn to bob, my colleague at george mason university, with a question or comment. bob? >> yes, actually, a comment or question that relates to what we were just talking about, the question of transparency. you want to -- >> especially regarding super pacs, how can transparency be increased in the system of federal campaign donation? >> thank you. let me back up for just one second and help define a little bit about what super pac means. i have to do this because i must tell you, it is not an official campaign word in our law or at the fec. when we first saw these new sorts of entities, they really came about for two reasons. one was the citizens united decision that we just spoke of and another was a case called speech now. d.c. circuit court decision that held that a group of people could get together and spend their money in, as long as it was independent, could spend an unlimited amount of their own money. they did not have to be c constricted by the contribution limits that are in the law. if you combine citizens united that says corporations and labor unions may sp

facebook saying come by to the event. >> when we talk about climate change -- >> reporter: at george mason university, beth parker, fox 5 news. >> i mean i guess whatever works. >> i go -- anything to grab their attention. >>> a wild ride for passengers on an airpltripped by something captured in this video. details of what led to an emergency landing. we'll hear the pilot's call to air traffic controllers as it happens.  . >>> welcome back. frightening moments for the passengers and crew of a jumbo jet on thursday. >> a delta flight had just taken off from jfk airport in new york when a bird strike caused one of its engines to fail. i hear this was very scary. smoke filling the cockpit. here is a closer look. >> reporter: in this youtube video shot by a passenger at jfk, watch as birds strike the engine causing it to fail. then listen as the calm and cool collected pilot makes a kind of announcement that would make some flyers scream. >> delta 1063 has had an engine failure declaring an emergency due to a bird strike. >> reporter: with only one working engine, the b

. >> a violent attack on campus at george mason are you still sleeping? wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answererfamilies need. siens. answers. >> live and in hd, this is "good morning washington," on your side. >> all the women in america were offended by the actions of these individuals. >> the secret service agents accused of soliciting prostitutes are facing serious heat. >> it looks like a coin to be a wet wednesday. we could finally see some of that much-needed rain in the nation's capital. good morning. it's wednesday morning, april 18. i am steve chenevey. >> i am cynne simpson. glad to have you with us. traffic and weather every ten minutes. first, lisa baden. busy morning on the roads. >> plenty of on 495 in maryland, the b-w parkway, 197 near -- road, we will take you to picture in a moment. 270 these are the headlights of father hurley boulevard, moving at a good pace out of germantown through gaithersburg and rockville. 95 virginia of b

these lectures are popping up all over the george mason campus on subjects like science, internationalnd gender studies. >> i heard one has to do with the zombie apocalypse coming. >> final is coming up soon, so most people are zombying out. >> reporter: flash yoga was a hit. most of the crowds are between 10 and 30 people. word of the flash is spread only by social media. >> 10 minutes beforehand they were sexting out news to the twitter and facebook saying -- texting out news to the twitter and facebook saying hey, come by to this event. when we talk about climate change and global warning. >> reporter: dr. dan says the best part of all is the whole thing is organized by students eager to soak up new information in a flash. at george mason university. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: beth parker, fox 5 news. >> beautiful day for anything outside really, even classes. >> exactly. this is the kind of thing you don't want to do in a flash. you want to drag it out and enjoy the day. >> can we do that? >> we can do it again tomorrow. tomorrow looks like a spectacular day. >> excellent

and another new friend at this table, michael fauntroy of george mason university, where he teaches public policy. and this is all about public policy. so, welcome. >> thank you. nice to be here. >> talking about public policy, we have some people who want to change. they want to change it in the home, they want to change it overseas. what is going on? in short -- an election. >> shortens elections. where everything is seen in the prism of wars. you find is curious? we have wars on women, we have wars on small business. everything is seen in the prison -- prism of war. that is a sad thing. why are we not talk about policy? >> and there are shooting wars going on. contention in afghanistan, contention in syria. there may soon be in iran. the real wars and chateau wars. >> and what are now being called a phony war -- like the phony war on women. why don't we just talk about policies of women -- that we will we have a flare-up like hilary rosen. >> tell a sushi is. not a household word, maybe washington. >> democratic strategist -- outspoken person and is now working at cnn that as a commenta

. >> let me stay with george mason. bob lichter? >> actually, you had a second question, ray. >> yeah, i do. okay. sorry about that. as a southern black, how would you characterize racial tensions sufferinged suffered during your time in office? >> well, what i tried to do is open doors for any number of people to become involved in the process to make certain that people were selected based on choice. based on the opportunity. i didn't measure whether people were of color or of gender, but i wanted to make sure they were included. in terms of racial tension, let me give an illustration of that. i campaigned in two statewide elections in virginia as steve pointed out in 1985. i went to every city, every independent in every county and would not stay in hotels. i never stayed, i didn't campaign on the interstates, i always did the back roads and i always would stay in the homes of the people. that i either had met or had known something about. and as i would go out to stores or country stores or go into these areas and shake hands an

. >> bob lichter, george mason university, let's turn to you for a moment. >> okay. i wanted to voice another question from brian glassmaker. governor, you talked about the grassroots quality of your campaign for governor. and you could argue that barack obama had a grassroots campaign for the internet age. do you think he'll be able to recapture that grassroots insurgent quality as a candidate for re-election or is it just too hard for a president from washington for four years to run a true grassroots campaign? >> well, bob, that last part that you had is a very salient part of the question, because is he being considered a part of the problem? as it relates to the deficit, as it relates to cost of living? the inheritance of some of these problems and many of them as the democrats would tell you from the previous administration is a fact. but first of all can you hang on that? if gas prices go up and stay up by election time, i don't care how you cut it, whether it's his fault or not, people will say he's the president now, consequently, he must have had something

. >> go back to bob, professor at george mason university. bob? >> thanks. i have a student who has a question about amount of money but before getting to him, correct me if i'm wrong, i wanted to fill in a little about the atmosphere in the atmosphere in the 1970s that led to this cry for reform. as i recall, an official of the committee to re-elect the president, which went by the appropriate act crow anymore of creep. maurice stance, found with a briefcase holding $100,000, people thought it was shocking, you have a briefcase filled with so much. and one of the well remembered momentstapes is when john dean was quizzing the president about what it would take to buy the silence of the watergate conspirators and suggested $1 million, which today would be several million today and nixon said, well, that wouldn't be a problem. i think it was generally understood that that's because all the money they were raising was considered a kind of slush fund, it just provided a lot of money in safes that could be dragged out and given to any purpose. and i think that's

. >> george mason university on alert after a daytime robbery. takingstudent union is a back of cash. he spoke with there. fromas able to keep them the bad. the mandate that perce cell phone. >> it is a surprise. and then not expect to happen not expect it to happen. police did not believe the robber was a student. they said this is a very rare occurrence. >> the crowds gathered along the d.c. region. the world must troubled space shuttle continued the final spin. >> then later landed at dulles international airport. we have more on the final flight. couple ofve a modified mumbo debt. skin scarred for this. , coming a home grown mean suitable. extraordinary moment in the history. >> it is amazing. it is just wonderful. >> discovery integer flight few laps around the capital's skyline monument. >> it went over my head. >> the capture these moments of the camera. this is where the shuttle landing. >> that to see it today. bittersweet. often >> the space program is over. thursday they will linger in the retirement home. this is heading to new york c

george mason says that. thomas jefferson says it but doesn't do stuff about it because his party depends on it. james madison understands this in his bone. so does george washington. the reasonable virginians understand their slave holders, that slavery is a bad business. you have to persuade them. then the north carolinians have to decide whether they're going to cast their lot with the nut jobs down south or with virginia and they're going to go with virginia and you have to isolate the nut jobs. there are nut jobs, they have to be isolated. it at the time the center are the reasonable slave holders, george washington, preeminent among them, and you could have done it and it was a failure of craft. it seems mean to emphasize the one thing but the system basically did did break because of it. and we need to understand that because our system could be at risk today. see, i'm a presentist. i want to you understand they almost failed because we could, unless we, the people, today solve our problems in time, we

the george mason study says that is not true. talk radio may help governor romney but that's about it obviously he can expect no support from the liberal media fox news will cover the campaign fairly. if romney doesn't do well, we will report it. same thing with the president. so the governor himself must defeat barack obama one on one. he certainly has enough ammunition as the cold truth is the u.s.a. is not in good shape. nevertheless, president obama has a devoted constituencies, labor, african-americans, entitlement people and is he working hard to convince women and hispanics he is their guy. obama must -- romney must outperform the president man to man. that's the memo. now for the top story tonight. let's bring in our pal bret baier. are you surprised first of all that "special report" is as negative on the republic candidates as the network news is? >> bill, i'm not. i think we cover the race i think we cover it fairly. i have a lot of respect for bob media and public affairs. i would like to hear more about what they con

local college campus after an attack where a woman was robbed in broad daylight on the campus of george mason university. we have a look at why the victim was targeted and the efforts to keep students safe. >> i have to tell you, students say this campus is normally considered very say, even at night. this campus is well lit. if it is this a fad that you can consider how save students feel during the day which is why this was such a shocker. >> things like this happening in the daytime morning? unbelievable. >> unlike some colleges, a broad daylight robbery is just about unheard of. " second i remember the last time we had any type of robbery. >> it is such a surprise. this does not happen a lot. it caught me off-guard. >> a worker at a chickfila had come on site and plan to take cash back to a campus bank. a man came up and punched her in the face. >> an individual saw somebody with a money bag and tried to steal it. >> the police say she did not give the back up and ran inside. the man did take herself on and later ditched it. he fled into fairfax city. students give high marks to campus po

. >> george mason university is on edge after a woman was attacked and robbed in broad daylight at the student union. this happened at the johnson center. if a worker at chick-fil-a had come outside with a bag of cash. she was planning to take it to a nearby bank when a man ran up and punched her and tried to take the bag. >> an individual saw someone with a money bag and on the spur of the moment decided to try to steal it. correct it turns out the woman was tough. she did not give up the money and ran back inside for. the suspects uecker cell phone but later ditched it. he left on a bicycle and was headed north into fairfax city. >> feels more like spring today after the summer temperatures earlier this week. adam caskey has a look at the forecast. >> we have been doing the rain dance and the weather center. we need the moisture not just because we are so dry in the ground, but the pollen count is high and this would washed some of it out of the air. there's a light rain across the region especially along and south of 66 and along and south of route 50 and sneaking up near hagerstown

the george mason study says that is not true. talk radio may help governor romney but that's about it obviously he can expect no support from the liberal media fox news will cover the campaign fairly. if romney doesn't do well, we will report it. same thing with the president. so the governor himself must defeat barack obama one on one. he certainly has enough ammunition as the cold truth is the u.s.a. is not in good shape. nevertheless, president obama has a devoted constituencies, labor, african-americans, entitlement people and is he working hard to convince women and hispanics he is their guy. obama must -- romney must outperform the president man to man. that's the memo. now for the top story tonight. let's bring in our pal bret baier. are you surprised first of all that "special report" is as negative on the republic candidates as the network news is? >> bill, i'm not. i think we cover the race i think we cover it fairly. i have a lot of respect for bob media and public affairs. i would like to hear more about what they con

. >> the project at george mason university which will in the next 25 years reverse engineered the human brain, and reach parity with the super computer. >> a bit late for us. >> yes. >> the bad news, we mentioned in the last few minutes, the collapse of the european union, which i see happening within the next year. >> ed o'keefe? >> i could give you something non-political. the washington capitals knocked off the boston bruins in the nhl playoffs, but the low point was the response of some fans to the fact that it was a black hockey player the scored the winning goal. a big problem in the nhl in a demonstration that there are still problems in sports in europe and the united states when it comes to black athletes. >> high point, npr and private foundations funding young journalists to do stories about nigerian traders in china, which sets up a lot of interesting issues, putting immigration in context here. the low point is fox news and biting -- in the fighting -- in viting kim a quincy loiahan. >> my problem is i might not recognize them. [laughter] >> that is our show for today. than

i am pleased to introduce, david gerleman, an adjunct professor of history at george mason university where he teaches courses on 19th century and military history. he earned his ph.d. under the direction of john weiss simon. his dissertation was on the care, treatment, and use of civil war cavalry horses. i would like to tell you a little bit about the work that david does with the papers of abraham lincoln. david and his fellow editors are doing an incredibly labor intensive but extraordinarily important job with the papers of abraham lincoln. . there are many editors working at the national archives going through millions of documents. every piece of paper that was generated by the federal government or sent to the federal government from the civil war years that is held at the national archives will be looked at by one of the editors of the papers of abraham lincoln. they are daily finding new insights about our nation's 16th president. this work is extraordinarily important and shedding new light on someone we thought we knew a lot about and we did and we are learning more about

and they are also behind alec, the heritage foundation the institute out of george mason university.rd and fourth richest men in america and they have pumped more money into politics than anybody else in this country. more than anybody else combined. >> so what do you two propose? what is the best way to stop that? to stop that oversized influence. >> the supreme court has just said -- >> how do you undo it? >> well, you either change -- i mean you either change the supreme court or change the constitution. >> and how would you do the latter? >> i'm the author. can i go back to the koch brothers for a second. the koch brothers fascinated me and you are from wichita. and one of them still lives there. >> yes. >> and the other one lives in new york. the richest man in new york. >> but also the richest man in wichita. but they intrigue me for a number of reasons, but they were not the biggest donor behind right-wing -- the coors family but the koch brothers were different. they aren't these kind offer can kermugen types. they also give normal philanthropy things. and one of the brothers

is considering heading to -- maryland and your child is considering heading to college park or george mason in virginia. you can see the average amount students end up borrowing in maryland is just over $13,000. at gw it's just more than $27,000 at mason it's almost 28,000. you can find that tool at www.wusa9.com. start saving your money and click on consumer. >> enough to give us parents heart palpitations. >> uh-huh. >>> tonight at 7:00 moving on up as metro's board takes action on proposed fare hikes. it could mean a pricier commute for riders very soon. >> still ahead in this half hour a local gas station that hearkens back to the past may be pushed into the present but not without a fight. top? >> the winds will diminish and make it colder tonight. today 63 and 42 goes in the books, average 66 and 45, record high 90, record low 24. we will come back and tell you how cold it's going to be and where those frost advisories are posted. >> but first a democratic strategist backtracks after making some controversial comments about a republican candidate's wife. we'll be back. >>> george zimm

child is considering heading to college in college park at in state rates or gw in the district or george mason in virginia. you can see the average amount the students end up borrowing at maryland is just over $13,000. gw you end up borrowing $27,000 and mason it's about $28,000. >>> following the crowd appears to be a natural instinct of human nature. >> when we return in two minutes, we will bring you the findings of a study. plus, we also have your weather first. >>> good morning. happy friday 13th. it's a good luck day because the forecast you're going to hear from howard in his words is going to be spectacular. >> it's a great weekend to get out and do some yard work, grill. >> really? you don't have to worry about the fire zane senator. >> well, -- fire danger? >> well, if you have a controlled burn. don't go out and -- it is rather dry. we do need the rain. i'm starting talking about our rain deficit. it has been a very warm, dry start to the year. looking at the numbers you'll see we've only had about 5.7 inches of rain here in washington. we should have over ten. we have a four and a

george mason university economist, blogger and "new york times" contributor tyler cowan joins me now,of "an economist gets lunch." good to have you on the program, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> you're not a fan of some of the current food trends out there. what are for example food snobs as you write and what do you think is wrong with them? >> often food snobs are people who use the food world to feel better about themselves. they'll glorify local food or slow food when in fact those practices don't do much for the environment. i think we need to take a more rigorous look at food using economics. >> do you consider yourself a foodie? >> i am absolutely a foodie and i have been for most of my life. >> you say big agribusiness and industrial food companies have gotten a bad rap. what's good about huge food Ñi companies? >> the era of cheap food is arguably the greatest human achievement of all-time. we're now feeding billions of people around the world more than ever before. agribusiness has played a critical role in doing that. we do in some ways need to regulate it better b

i am a visiting scholar at the george mason university. i have actually one question. if i caught you correctly, you pointed out that pakistan needs to make reforms, to implement reforms. could you please elaborate on that? what kind of reforms do they need to implement? and my other question is, so, you know, you pointed out afghanistan is seen as a threat and opportunity for central asian countries. one of the threats is the issue of drug production. so you have been making resurgent region for a long time, i think. could you please let us know what kind of solution can be seen as a way to reduce the production of drugs in afghanistan? because it is another -- if i may be permitted to ask another question. >> i think let's go to the others. if we have time, we'll come back to you. >> okay. thank you. >> gentleman behind you. >> thank you very much. i'm from the afghanistan council. i want to congratulate you for a great panel. still no afghan representation. when we talk about regional, it would have been great to have one. let me give you a perspective on the afghan

a paper published in this month from the mercatus center at george mason university states: "the data exhibit no evidence of stimulus spending having any effect on economic growth." in fact, the authors go even further. they say the effect of stimulus, looking over a variety of time horizons, "is always statistically zero." or put another way, that's hundreds of billions of dollars wasted. i hope sense prevails enough in congress to keep the check book closed, but i fear not. i'm simon constable. >> susie: here's what we're watching for tomorrow: with mitt romney now looking like the republican candidate, we'll look at how the money behind the presidential race is stacking up and where its coming from. >> susie: that's "nightly business report" for tuesday, april 10. i'm susie gharib. good night, everyone, and good night to you, too, tom. >> tom: good night, susie. i'm tom hudson. good night, everyone. we hope to see all of you again tomorrow night. "nightly business report" is made possible by: captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

. >> on behalf of the students joining us from fair fax, virginia, at george mason university, and from the washington center here in washington, d.c., with students representing more than 200 colleges and universities spending their semester here in our nation's capital, i want to welcome you back to the c-span class room, janet brown, as always, thanks for being with us. >> thank you, steve. >> let's talk about the role the debates play in a general election. do they re-enforce the view that the public has of a candidate or change the view that the public and the electorate has on a public candidate? >> our understanding from the research that is done on the questions which we do not do independently, they tend less to change minds than they give information that helps people confirm the impressions they may have had going into the debate. polling has shown that they cite the debate as the most important factor in how to cast their votes than any other single issue. that isn't to say that they are mind changers. it is to say that people find the content of the debates extremely helpfu

. >> back to bob lictor at george mason university. bob, first of all, your thoughts? you have seen this debate moment in the past. and you have probably written about it as well. >> well, i'm uncomfortably near the issue of senior moments in my life, but you can see there a candidate who made a mistake, had a brain freeze, and didn't know how to cope with it. that was an interesting thing. other candidates have been able to slide over this kind of problem, where as he clearly didn't have the experience of trying to think on his feet in this sort of high-pressure situation. and i think it wasn't simply his failure to remember that third one. everybody has to sympathize with that, but hisesh cruciating inability to cope with the fact that he had forgotten that one. you have to believe someone like a ronald reagan or a jack kennedy would have come up with a quip to get himself out of that. but with that, we go to ray. >> i was actually going to ask a question similar to the last one about the debates. at first, i was going to ask how would you characterize the influence

. >> we'll go to george mason in a minute, but libby moore from the washington center is first up. libby? >> hi, ms. brown. thank you for being with us today. my question, i was reading an interview between you and campaigns and elections from december of 2011. and it was said that the cpd seemed resistant to incorporating social media into the debates. seeing as social media seems to be here to stay, is it inevitable that will be need be incorporated? >> that's a good question, and here are my thoughts on social media. there are obviously a lot of good things about technology that we should incorporate in terms of always modernizing the debates. anything that allows for more information to get out about the conversation that the debates foster and equally importantly engaging people in discussing that is a very good thing. but social media is a delivery system just like telephone and fax and lots of other innovations. the question is, how do you harness it to make it a productive aspect as a debate? how do you use it to bring in information or feelings from citizens, feedback to t