i think it was unclear from his answer. >> let me start with ed gillespie.as a cartoon i'll put up on the screen. the slug is cold war 2010. what you have at the at the table are russia and united states on one side and republicans on the other. ed, is this a test of whether bipartisanship is real, whether the president has the ability to make the politics tough enough for republicans that they have to say yes? >> the problem is they are a day late and dollar short in terms of the s.t.a.r.t. treaty and working with congress on it. what's so extraordinary to me about this meeting with congressional leaders coming up is that it's extraordinary. the fact is president obama does not have a working relationship with republicans in congress and not many democrats in congress either. senator kyl has been asking legitimate questions for a long time about the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. he's the number two republican in the senate. he's the leader in our party on these nuclear weapons issues. the white house has essentially acted as if they are getting mail from a college int

one of the reasons you saw karl rove and ed gillespie step in and help form this american cross roads organization is a lot of big donors weren't confident that if they gave money to the rnc, it was going to be spent prop properly. some of the state chairmen are concerned if michael steele has another two years in the office that these outside groups might become a kind of way around

being here, ddy. >> thank you. >> jimmy: good to see you. >> thank you. >> jimmy: how was dizzy gillespie>> oh, amazing, he's like a grandfather to me. >> jimmy: is that right? >> yeah. >> jimmy: i mean, this guy, can, can you -- his cheeks can blow out to -- out to he, right? >> yeah. >> jimmy: i seen him do that on "the cosby show." he'd go on and do that bit. >> yeah, yeah, i can't do at. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: you don't do that? >> no. [ laughter ] >> jim: i don't know -- you gotta try, right? you gotta try -- oh, what are you going to do? we've got a fantastic show tonight, you guys. you remember him as niles from "frasier," now he's kicking butt on broadway. the eat david hyde pierce is here! [ applause ] the newly crowned 2010 nascar champion, jimmie johnson is joining ! [ cheers and applause ] he just won his fifth straight -- he just won his fifth straight nascar points championship yesterday and is a world record, never been done five in a row. and the one and only, i can't believe this guy hast been on already, but he's one of my favorites, but chef bobby flay and i are going t

the good news is what ed gillespie mentioned. independent voters are now closer to that court republican voter -- the core republican voter. the independent will demand that something happened with brac -- >> if you turn it over to hundreds of millions of americans and say, what do you want? they will sit, we need to get stuff done because it is in the country's best interest. the question from the democratic leadership and the american leadership and the republican leadership is, are they going to pay attention to a very small minority's ideological set, some of whom represent the party people, but not necessarily the frustrated voters? are they do not -- are they going to pay attention and do nothing or are they going to say, no, we could do this to help us in 2012 by appealing to the majority? to date have the capability of looking to many voices on heard on cable channels and in the halls of congress. i think that is the problem. if so -- if it wants a been done, they do not have the megaphone to talk in the year of boehner.

ed gillespie called me during october and approached me with the idea. me being a huckster, i said sure if it is in your lungs. -- in new orleans. ed was the chief of staff for bush 20 -- was 43 -- bush 43. he is one of the top hams and political consulting and this area. my friend for the past 17 years, stan greenberg, i cannot remember if he has a ph.d. from harvard or yale. i think it is a ph.d. from harvard and he taught at yale. he is another result and that the a political consultant holophane. they took a pull together. they cannot agree on the results. what i am born to do is start -- one in one to do is start with ed and have him tell us what he saw in this poll. i do not think this group meets a moderator. you guys can jump in and began to discuss and give everybody a chance to be heard. your want to hear some interesting data. my first take was things that i expected to see and things i did not expect to see. ed, we will start with you. >> mary, james, thank you for sponsoring mr. it thank you to tulane. there should be a fascinating day stan

well, chris, he certainly -- look, he was involved in the founding of american crossroads as was ed gillespie but i'm not sure karl rove necessarily helps a candidate running against michael steele. i think the committee people are a little resistant to the idea of having the white house types tell them who it should be. i don't know if being rove's candidate helps. i think there is a concern that michael steele for the fact that you ran through his resumÉ. he had wins. some people would say republicans won in spite of him, not because of him. >> right. >> i think there is a desire to have someone else there as they prepare to run against barack obama. >> mr. chair? >> i totally disagree. look where we were when he was elected. we'd lost the presidency, the office. didn't have a president in the white house to tell us who the rnc chairman would be. it's the way it works. the chairmanship is up for grabs. there were several people interested in it. michael was competitive in fr the beginning and won. he's done a superb job and the rnc has raised $175 million this cycle. they have spent $175 mi

james carville democracy core joined together with ed gillespie resurgent republic to do a poll of 2010 voters, post election poll. in it, by margin of 51-40, independents supported extenting all the bush tax cuts, even though after being given the best arguments against doing so, against extending the tax cuts for those making $250,000 or more a year. the question was -- the wording was crafted by james carville. independents 51 extent them all. 40% don't extend them all. among all voters including democrats and republicans alike, 49-45. quarter of democrats said extent all the bush tax cuts. even after being given the best argument that carville could come up with, american people and people voting in the election are in favor of extending all the tax cuts. >> greta: what you said they "they don't want to deal with it." it's their job. they said they wanted the job. >> absolutely. >> greta: they're gaming us with the politics. they wanted the job. so these are tough decisions. whether taxes go up, down, stay the same, we have been left in a hanging out there trying to guess what they

> well, chris, he certainly -- look, he was founding in the american of crossroads as well as ed gillespiewouldn't say it that way. i wouldn't say karl rove necessarily helps a candidate running against michael steele, i think rnc, committee people are resistant to having the big wigs, white house types tell them who it should be. so, i don't know being rove's candidate helps. i think there is a concern that michael steele for the fact you ran through his resume, he did have some wins, some people would say that republicans won in spite of him, not because of him. i think there is a desire to have some -- >> mr. chairman -- >> no, i totally disagree with that i mean, michael -- look where we were when he was elected office. we have lost the presidency. we had lost the congress. we didn't have a president in the white house to basically tell us who the rnc chairman was going to be, occurred for eight years that is the way it always works. so the chairmanship is up for grabs there were several people interested in t michael was very competitive from the beginning and he won. he has done a su

one of the reasons you saw karl rove and ed gillespie step in and help form this american cross roadsof big donors weren't confident that if they gave money to the rnc, it was going to be spent prop properly. some of the state chairmen are concerned if michael steele has another two years in the office that these outside groups might become a kind of way around dealing with the rnc and permanently weaken its structure. martha: right. >> reporter: so you saw saul anuzis from michigan announce, i think you might see some more either current party chairs, state party chairs or former party chairs. and you might see some outsiders. one of the names that's been dimensioned is norm coleman, the former senator from minnesota who lost in that tight re-election battle with al franken. martha: you know, a couple of things cross my mind. one is michael steele's proponents, his advocates would say, look, gop had the biggest gains since the 1930s, he drove this fire nancy pelosi bus all over the country, and, indeed, she lost her seat as majority leader -- or speaker, i should say, of the house. h

us tonight, laura flanders, editor of the book tea party and john fiery, president of the quinn gillespie communications. were you the president of that the last time you were on there? i don't remember that. >> i was, ed. i didn't get promoted. >> i thought being on the show might have elevated you. all right. let's talk about this poll first. what do you make of this? who should take the lead in setting policy for the country and 52% of the people say the congress. this is a strange number, is it not? >> it's very unusual, ed. usually the president proposes and a congress disposes. that's kind of how the system works in this country. but i think so many have lost faith with the president they want the congress to set the agenda and the agenda of many coming into congress and the tea party is to cut spending and create jobs. i think that's where a lot of people want this country to go. >> laura, where is this coming from? >> these numbers a month ago the same polls were showing that you had a majority of people thinking democrats were the right ones to deal with the crisis in this countr

republican strategist and president of quinn gillespie communications.ou going to go out and buy a gm car since they're making money and all of them taxpayers helped them helped their head get out of water? isn't this a victory, come on. >> i think that i'd rather buy a ford because they didn't take the stimulus money and they actually have better products but you know what i'm really proud of gm. i'm proud of any american car company that made any money in this tough economy. >> it is a tough economy and they're making money and they wouldn't be at work, todd webster, had it not been from president obama and his team, correct? >> no question. i think this is one of the -- this is one of the big achievement of the first couple of years of this administration, that they -- steve ratner, they drew a hard bargain with detroit, but as we now see, they're making money. we preserved an industrial manufacturing base in this country. we preserved over a million jobs and it's -- they're making better cars. that's the bottom line. >> john feehery, are you willing

been neglected by national parties for a long, long time, and we worked in partnership with ed gillespie'setween 16 and 20 state legislatures flipped. we were proud to win the maine governor's race and thought that that was a big deal in the itself. and then when we talked to paula page yesterday and he said, yeah, i've got a majority control in the house of representatives, we couldn't believe it. >> host: yeah. >> caller: we're going to have a republican governor and house in maine. >> host: yeah. this, you know, one of the kind of semi-official words in the media and from democrats is this was an anti-ip -- incumbent election. one could make the point more sharply and accurately, correct? >> caller: yeah. it's hardly. we had six republican governors running for re-election and all six got reelected overwhelmingly. the democrats had seven running for re-election, we defeated two of 'em with one on the ropes in illinois. so it's hardly just, you know, it's the media wanting to chalk it up to say, well, it's an anti-incumbent year. hardly. this was an anti-tax, anti-spending and anti-defic

interesting poll out this week, a bipartisan poll, run by james carville's democracy core and ed gillespie'soters do they favor extending all of the tax cuts or part of the tax cuts and james carville wrote the question so he could explain the best reasons why they should only be temp -- they should not be extended for those making $250,000 a year. among all the 2010 voters, it was 49 percent in favor of extending all the tax cuts, and 45 percent opposed among independents, it was 51-40, republicans, 74-21, it was democrats who opposed that by 26-69, but even you got a quarter of democrats saying we ought to extend all the tax cuts. so it's a winning argument for republicans, because it draws the independents to their side, and i think the president understands that he's got to face that dynamic in the house and senate democratic caucuses as well. jenna: it's what is being said. we'll see what actually goes into action. karl, stay with us. we also want to talk to you about the leadership battles we're seeing in the house now. some democrats are saying they're not sure nancy pelosi is the rig

and lisa gillespie, managing editor of street sense and also the new media director there, andrea schneiderg news editor, geraldine ryerson cruise, the international news manager for world vision, and ed mixner editor of kiplinger agricultural letter. [applause] earlier this month, crusaders against global hunger like our speaker today received relatively good news from the united nations. the number of people experiencing hunger worldwide fell in the past year from 1.02 billion to a mere 925 million. that is the right direction. but it is little comfort to josette sheeran, executive director of the u.n. world food program. from rebuilding haiti to solving the riddle of agriculture and sub-saharan africa, the organization sheeran leads which is the world's largest distributor of food aid to the poor is intimately involved with aiding the lives of the so-called fodam billi. this year the organization's goal is to reach more than 90 million people with food assistance in more than 70 countries. around 10,000 people work for the organization, most of them are remote areas who are directly serv

one of the interesting things is, these groups ever put together by karl rove and ed gillespie, theying to stay in operation. they plan to keep going right on up until the 2012 presidential election. >> an interesting point, karl rove and ed gillespie are always saying we are supporting these groups, but there are others who are doing it. karl said he gives money to the texas game association and you do not say he runs that. the more the cycle when along and more groups seemed to be going well, the less of that complaint i got. clearly this was an effort by the washington establishment to have a big effect outside the parties. >> it is almost all about money now. the money does not always mean a candidate wins. you have examples of that out in california, but money is such an important part. it just lets our system. it almost cannot think of anything else except the money -- it just floods our system. >> will make this the final one. >> "politico" had a good piece this morning about the narrowing of states that will be in play in 2012. do agree with that premise or do you think the 2

i was on a panel of the other day with ed gillespie, former chairman of the republican national committee who said, you know, obama was elected to change washington and what he tried to do instead was to change america. is think people are worried about the future of the country, deeply worried, but i don't think that changing the united states as many people perceive it into a european social democracy is what they had in mind. and they are terribly worried about the debt and they think that obama and the democrats were too liberal. every poll indicates that they think that they went off too far in a liberal direction. and the electorate itself has become more conservative as a result, in reaction. host: we are talking to morton kondracke "roll call." we would like to get you involved. the numbers -- you can also send us messages via email and twitter. there was a chart about presidents who rode out the wave. it looked at fdr, truman, lbj, reagan, president clinton. these are all presidents who halfway through their first term had to deal with a shift in congress. compare for us, if you

host: ed gillespie heads up something called the republican state leadership committee. if you go to their website you can see that this is something they were actively involved in targeting, raising money, soliciting members and sending money to state races. when her republican saying, especially those involved in the tea party movement and allies, we are in this for the long haul. talk about their level at the state level and the affected might have had on the races. become definitely effective. -- guest: definitely effective. a tough year for democrats given the state of the economy. but i think the total number of seats, 600 across the country. the amazing thing is even in some of the states where there is already a strong gop leader, you saw some fairly significant shifts. texas had a fairly even legislature -- sorry, i should say house chamber, about three or four seat margin, if i recall, and that group -- grew quite dramatically. in terms of the state legislatures, it really was a broad based shift. it is striking because you don't necessarily think that a genera

andrew snyder, chairman of the speaker's committee and associate editor at kid er.pling lisa ling gillespie, managing editor of street sense. and your snyder -- andrea snyder. kiplinger.of the [applause] earlier this month, crusaders against global hunger received relatively good news from the united nations. the number of people experiencing hunger worldwide fell from 1 billion to a mere nine of the 25 million. that is the right direction. -- to a mere 925 million. front rebuilding haiti -- from rebuilding haiti, the world's largest distributor of food to the port is involved with beating the lives of the so- called bottom billion. the organization's goal is to reach more than 90 million people with food assistance in more than 70 countries. 10,000 people work for the organization. must have been in remote areas serving the poor. requires great logistic and great diplomatic skills. josette sheeran became the 11th executive director of the united nations world food program in 2007. she has served as undersecretary for economic energy at the u.s. state department, where she was responsible f

and he's now at quinn gillespie's communications.to his right is eric smith who is the president of blue engine message and media. most importantly, he was a crucial component of the obama 2008 presidential campaign as far as its paid media and advertising campaigns. he was also structural supervisor to most of the president's inauguration here in washington. formerly worked witge bo in cond his presidential campaigns. and susan davis has joined us here. so, susan, say a few words and get it started. >> okay. i apologize for being late. i was actually working on a phone interview talking to one of the members that is going to be coming to washington in january. i think maybe just the best way to start off is open it up to the possible and say -- panel and say what, what did last night mean? >> and we'll get to stan's deeper question which i think we'll give them all a moment or two to think about in a second. eric, you want to start? >> sure. what'd it mean? i mean, i think there is danger in reading too much into this being a republ

host: ed gillespie heads up something called the republican state leadership committee. if you go to their website you can see that this is something they were actively involved in targeting, raising money, soliciting members and sending money to state races. when her republican saying, especially those involved in the tea party movement and allies, we are in this for the long haul. talk about their level at the state level and the affected might have had on the races. become definitely effective. -- guest: definitely effective. a tough year for democrats given the state of the economy. but i think the total number of seats, 600 across the country. the amazing thing is even in some of the states where there is already a strong gop leader, you saw some fairly significant shifts. texas had a fairly even legislature -- sorry, i should say house chamber, about three or four seat margin, if i recall, and that group -- grew quite dramatically. in terms of the state legislatures, it really was a broad based shift. it is striking because you don't necessarily think that a genera

one of the comments from our twitter page -- "sarah palin lashes out against the of the touch ed gillespie, warning the gop against compromise on health repeal." a lot of attention in virginia. president obama campaigned in charlottesville, va., on friday. congressman tom perriello, freshman right now, 49%, tied right now. these early numbers. robert hurt -- this district is in the university of virginia area. congressman rick about your -- rick boucher. we will have results for those in just a moment. the 11th district -- here are the numbers. congressman voucher is at 43% and griffith is at 55%. these are early numbers. gerry connolly, the seat previously held by tom davis, another freshman democrat -- it is another indicator for where tonight is going. >> all of those congressional races in virginia will be good indicators. 11th district, certainly, because congressman connolly has positioned his republican opponent as too extreme, as many democratic incumbents have done in this election year. he has the virginia -- northern virginia suburbs in that district. it will be telling to see w