kay bailey hutchison. the three-term senator from texas is retiring this year.i spoke to her recently about her political career, her retirement and what's next. >> what are you most proud of? >> well, certainly the homemaker ira, so that a woman who works inside the home has the same opportunity to save for retirement with tax free money as those who work outside the home. and, i started that from my experience of being a working woman, getting married, and then not being able to contribute to my ira. i certainly lessened the marriage penalty tax. it used to be that if you were two single people working and you got married you went into a higher bracket and you didn't have double the standard deduction, which we do now. >> any business undone that you wish you had been able to do more of? >> oh sure. you ow, there's many things that you wish you could do. um, i wish we had been able to reform social security. and i introduced a bill to do that that would have made it last for 75 years and been on a good sound, financial plan, but we aren't going to get that thr

senator kay bailey hutchison of texas tells us why she's leaving congress. >> hello, i'm bonnie erbÉ.welcome to "to the contrary," a discussion of news and social trends from diverse perspectives. up first, the politics of birth control. as the republican presidential nomination race moves to new hampshire, rick santorum who finished second in iowa is now in the spotlight. santorum's controversial position on birth control is gaining attention. the former senator is against birth control and says states should have the right to ban it without interference by the supreme court. this builds momentum for the anti-birth control movement, which progressives have always thought social conservatives

. >>> still cocome this morning we're going to talk to texas senator hutchison.about mitt romney's tax returns and who she thinks won last night's debate. >>> plus, the strongest solar storm in years hits earth. what does that mean for those of us here on earth? >>> and finally, the best time to purchase airfare has been revealed. when you should book to score cheap tickets. forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa. ♪ you and me and the big old tree ♪ ♪ side by side, one, two, three ♪ ♪ count the birds in the big old tree ♪ ♪ la la la [ male announcer ] the inspiring story of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. ♪ ♪ you and me and the big old tree

2010 gubernatorial campaign in which they had utterly trounced a well liked senator, kay bailey hutchisonor governor. i think they came into the race when is they did in august very late thinking that they would be able to handle the rest of the republican field the way that they had handled kay bailey hutchison. they found out that that was not the case. >> clearly not. jake silver stein, thank you very much from texas monthly. with only one day to go, mitt romney brushes off the republican competition taking aim squarely at president obama. the politico briefing next right here on "andrea mitchell reports" live from iowa on msnbc. this is an rc robotic claw. my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪ >>> msnbc is the place for po

hutchison: mr. president, i just want to correct the record.aff tells me that senator graham is not a cosponsor of the social security reform bill. it is senator kyl and myself who are the cosponsors. and the age at which you would not be affected is 58, not 55. thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: without objection, the record will be corrected. mrs. hutchison: thank you. and i yield the floor, and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. rubio: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended and that i be recognized -- the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. rubio: i ask unanimous consent that i be recognized to speak as if in morning business for up to 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. rubio: thank you, mr. president. it's good to be back, good to be back at work here in washington, d.c. we have the big state of the union which is the beginning of the legi

level than what was passed in the senate and a bill that was pushed by senators rockefeller and hutchison. so i think that's going to end up in any final package. i think that'll stay in there. the conference committee, two of the people on the conference committee that will talk about this legislation are walden and upton, and they're the chairmen of the house energy and commerce committee and the communications subcommittee. so they're expected to push the spectrum revisions. >> host: juliana gruenwald, do you see action on spectrum happening this year? >> guest: i do. there's a big push on all sides to see this go through. the question is, what does the legislation look like. and congressman walden has actually thrown out the idea of possibly dropping the public safety provisions if they can't settle some of the issues on that. but, you know, that's a big priority for senator rockefeller in the senate, and i would be surprised if he allowed that to happen. he says public safety provisions are his most -- his top priority as far as spectrum goes. >> guest: yes, i think juliana's right.

hiring lobbyists to represent the state of texas to get more money back, and i suspect if you ask kay hutchisonation, whether they want him out of there they'd say yes, he did. that was the way the process was, but he gets up and talks about -- >> that's his argument. the priority is i'm a fiscal conservative, you need to vote for me and i'm the guy that can win and he got beat by 18 points in his last race. this guy has proven that he can't win races when it matters against a liberal democrat. so when, rick is a fine man, but the fact is his rhetoric doesn't match up with his record at all. >> why do you think he is rising? this just seems to be a little bit of this -- somebody described it as wahack a candidate. >> the next 48 hours, he's going to be vetted very well. i mean, they're going to look and see his support for arlen specter in 200 hear and arlen specker brought us the 60th vote on t.a.r.p. and he supported him. is that a movement conservative? i don't think so. >> one of the hits that they've also pushed back on you. you say, okay, he played the system when it came to earmarks. you

. >> reporter: russell hutchison comes to the contest every year and plans to come again. he doesn't mind the new rules. >> i think it's safety first and enjoy the show. >> reporter: enjoy the show is right. you know, tomorrow will be the opening ceremonies. surfers from all over california will be able to attend, go out on the water. there have been people killed here at mavericks, so they will remember this type of thing. this is a dangerous sport. but once the contest is called, surfers around the world, talking about big wave surfers from places like hawaii and south africa, will then have 24 hours to get to the bay area to begin that contest. waves are spectacular. should be exciting. >> they are getting big. thank you, len ramirez. >>> they say loose lips sink shims but big waistlines don't help, either. america's ever heavier population has forced new federal capacity limits for passengers vessels like bay area ferries. the previous equation used to determine those limits was set in 1960 and based on an average weight of 160 pounds. well, now that is up to 185. the

you're in new york and hearing stories about how he campaigned against kay bailey hutchison and was brutalght he would get in the race and shut the club down. i thought it was going to be over. >> he did try to make it rain. >> i was starting to feel sympathy in advance for romney. poor romney, he's about to be defined as a moderate flip-flopper and he comes in and everything is tentative. there's no swag. it was really surprising to me. >> nen when it looks like he's going to leave he comes back in for reasons unknown. i would like to pontiff kate the reason why. this was published in the dallas news, call halts to this columncy campaign, governor perry, cancel the ego trip to south carolina and get back to the business of governing in this state. why is he still in this race? >> well, certainly it's the case that not only did it seem a prelude to an exit to people in the media but many people inside governor perry's own team. they thought he was leaving also and were confused when they saw the tweets. one possibility is that his donors were pushing pressure on him to stay in because they

and i suspect if you ask kay hutchison or john cornyn or any one of the texas delegation whether rick perry wanted money coming back to texas, they'd say, yes, he did. look, there's a legitimate role for congress to allocate resources. that's what the constitution requires them to do. when there's abuse, then you curb the abuse and i supported that. >> let's talk about iowa. your latest ad talks about conservative credentials and electability. let me play a portion of it. >> who has the best chance to beat obama? rick santorum. a full spectrum conservative, rick santorum is rock solid on values issues. >> so you've been making that contrast consistently questioning governor romney. calling him a liberal massachusetts governor. arguing, in fact, that he is a moderate. yet back in 2008, when he was running for the presidency you were singing a different tune. this was your press release back then. you said governor romney is the candidate who will stand up for the conservative principals that we hold dear. he has a deep understanding of the important issues confronting our country today

steve will say i'm not going to vote for the gop, but kay bailey hutchison would be brilliant.rstands congress, a jfk-lbj for republicans, and much more qualified than sarah palin was. fred in mississippi, romney's vp would have to be someone who can get conservative votes if romney's going to have any chance of beating obama. i believe it should be mike huckabee. he can get conservative and evangelical votes that romney can't get. laura writes, jon huntsman. this would not particularly police the true conservatives, then off a mover seasoned policy person would give the ticket balance as long as he doesn't telegraph the move before hand and encourage obama to replace biden with clinton. marco rubio. he has all the tickets to be a good vp candidates, and while a freshman he got elected by a wide margin his down side is a tea party views. rex writes loam any should from an unpopulated stay with questionable morals and intolerable ignorance. oh, weigh, we did that. it didn't work. well, and tom writes the donald. then we could have a ticket with good hair. great hair. go to my bl

and one of the races we're watching for the senate is a seat being vacated by retiring kay bailey hutchisonm texas. she has been a senator for 20 years. there is quite a battle for the gop nomination there. the reason the battle is so important, whoever the republican nominee is likely to win the seat which texas is reliably red state. among those trying to get the job, a familiar to face. joining for his first live national interview on the topic, craig james, former nfl player, announcer for espn and now a republican candidate for the senate. so, craig, why the switch and why now? >> well, good morning, jenna. you know, i've many times been in front of people but as a football player and as broadcaster. i'm proud of those accomplishments. jenna, over the next few months i will get out share with people texas who i come from and what i am and i believe n you will hear three things coming from. god is god, family is family and the constitution is the constitution. jenna, when people heard the message over the last few weeks when we started this campaign that i came an apartment background.

kay bailey hutchison in texas, a member of the senate appropriations committee, has played a key roleprograms and resources to the johnson space center and to the houston area, as has nelson in florida. host: also a reason why we see the nasa program broken up in a lot of different parts of our country. guest: exactly. there's a facility in alabama. there are facilities in california and utah. there are contractors all over the country. it is a nationally supported program. once again, i think people realize, and contractors realize, and nasa leadership realizes, there are limitations to what they can achieve in this climate. host: back to the phones. paul is an independent from arkansas. good morning. caller: i do not agree with newt on much of anything, but yes, we need to go to the moon we can use helium for nuclear fusion. we can use that to get off our been dependent on these terrorist countries for oil. guess what? we can also put a laser cannon up there to defer any asteroids or comets. host: that was paul from greenwood, arkansas. talk about some of the new technologies that h

hutchison: mr. president, i am going to speak about the debt disapproval resolution that is before us because i feel so strongly that it is time to send a strong message to the president and give the people of america some confident that we're not going to continue -- some comfort this we're not going to continue to raise the debt ceiling again and again without doing something that shows we understand the crisis that we are in and that we are going to take the steps necessary to whittle down our debt and do the responsible thing. however, i do want to respond to what has just been said about the appointment, the recess appointment of mr. cordray, it the director of the new consumer agency, which was done by the president when congress was out of session, depriving congress of the ability to advise and consent to this appointment. and i think to put it in the context where it is proper, it is very important to know that this consumer agency was created by a democratic president that had complete dem

ranking member kay bailey hutchison, senator lamar alexander, as well as the house science committeechairman mark gordon. many thanks to all of them for leading and renewing this vital piece of legislation. legislation allows our nation to look inwardly at our economic model, find areas of improvement and track down solutions. other requirements, the law instructed the commerce department to study the countries economic competitiveness and innovative capacity. that's what we have done. the study was no easy task. i would like to ask all members of the commerce team were contracting this report to please stand and be recognized. [applause] >> and thank you. that include you, too. so thank you. now, the topic of this report is certainly a matter of pivotal, pivotal important. our ability to innovate as a nation will determine what kind of economy, what kind of country our children and grandchildren will inherit, whether it's a country that builds and holds the same progress, promised for them as it did for our parents and grandparents. so let's talk a little about the importance of inn

the race to succeed retiring senator kay bailey hutchison is emerging as a test even in the age of twitter, the grassroots campaign can work in a state as vast and costly as texas. leaving washington next year after 20 years in the senate is likely to be a member of her party. to win the g.o.p. nod, the candidate will have to figure out how to reach more than one million primary voters expected to turn out in april across the state's roughly 260,000 square miles. across more than one million a week to run radio and television adds across texas. political consultants said including four of the biggest markets in the country. dallas, houston, san antonio, and austin. those markets and members of congress are also affected by those high cost of advertising. this from "usa today." kerry weighing bid to lurn to the senate. this is bob kerrey. . host: next as we talk about the house and redistricting. town bluff, texas, of the dorothy is a democrat there. thanks for waiting. you are on. caller: hi, david. i have a question regarding the keystone pipeline. what would that have an effect on the ne

was able to get behind on a bipartisan basis and it took a lot of people to do that on kay bailey hutchison'sas well as senator rockefeller were extraordinarily hard-working and as i mentioned. we will see where that goes, but that could be very big deal. >> i know that you are pretty tune in to the sort of education work force k-12 stuff of which obviously has sort of broad reaching implications. the question here specifically is what is being done to promote the rise of the number of women? i brought in it do you have the sense that -- >> this isn't lucey's creston chris and the founder of the national center for women and innovation technology. they're doing unbelievable work on this very issue of when and where they've been underrepresented among almost all professions now, law, medicine, business, women outnumber men to a technical and engineering, still very much the outfit. >> thanks for the commercial. >> the question is do you have a sense that both the white house and congress really understand the issue here and the severity of the issue going back to the feed corn construct and so

to get behind on a bipartisan basis but it took a lot of people to do that, folks on kay bailey hutchison, rockefeller staff, easy to work with smh. we will see where that is, that leadership can b be a very big deal. >> i know that you're pretty tuned in to the sort of education workforce, stem, k-12 stuff of which obviously has sort of broad reaching implications. and the questioner specifically is what is being done to promote the rise of the number of women in the stem. but i brought it. do you have a sense -- is lussier by the way? lucy is the founder of the national center for women and information technology they are doing unbelievable work on this very issue of women in s.t.e.m. within the have been underrepresented. among almost all professions now, law, medicine, business, women outnumbered men. technical and engineering computer science still very much the opposite. deck thanks for the commercial. [laughter] that was for me, think you. but this year's question is, do you have a sense that both the white house and congress really understand the issue here and the severity of the