that's john burton for his leadership on this subject. i mentioned it would be the grand central station of the west. why? this center will be a place where people can board high speed rail trains as part of california's high speed rail system. it will bring consumers to our city, to our system that is better, faster and cheaper. once the entrance bay transit center is complete, it will bring 11 transit systems together under one roof, meaning more convenience for commuters and more efficiency for workers and more growth for our city. today our action serves as a marker for the entire city. leaders in businesses are behind the transbay center. that's why i'm so proud that the recovery act had $400 million for the transbay center in it. that doesn't count for the central subway, all of the other transportation issues. as i always say to the workers, who make all of this possible as we thank you. our hopes are riding on you because you make all of this possible. so let us again salute the men and women in hard hats who make this all possibl

next we will have william miller from flagler college and i call john burton from ohio university, discussing"who needs enemies?" >> thanks. we always appreciate the state of the parties conference. it is interesting to point out that if we go back to the 2009 state of the parties, i remember one conversation about the tea party. it was at lunch and it was not very kind. it was much more of a they will have these nice little rallies and dress up and be gone in a few months. a few months later we started to see the idea that robert boatwright talked about, of individual elected officials being primaried within their own party and the effect that could have. what we are going to talk about today is a little bit different than looking at actually speaking with activists or tracking money back to causes. instead, we want to discuss the intellectual history of the tea party and how what we're seeing today and hearing about today is not necessarily new to the conservative discourse, but it is being presented in a new way with a little more organization than previously. and again, focusing on the fa

next we will have william miller from flagler college and i call john burton from ohio university, discussing "who needs enemies?" >> thanks. we always appreciate the state of the parties conference. it is interesting to point out that if we go back to the 2009 state of the parties, i remember one conversation about the tea party. it was at lunch and it was not very kind. it was much more of a they will have these nice little rallies and dress up and be gone in a few months. a few months later we started to see the idea that robert boatwright talked about, of individual elected officials being primaried within their own party and the effect that could have. what we are going to talk about today is a little bit different than looking at actually speaking with activists or tracking money back to causes. instead, we want to discuss the intellectual history of the tea party and how what we're seeing today and hearing about today is not necessarily new to the conservative discourse, but it is being presented in a new way with a little more organization than previously. and again, focusing on the f

next we'll have william miller from flagler college and michael john burton from ohio university who will discuss who needs enemies? the tea party impact on the republican party. >> thanks. and i also want to echo peter and say that it's great to be back at akron, and we always appreciate the state of the parties conference and the opportunity to talk about these issues. i think it's interesting to point out on this panel especially that if we go back to the 2009 state of the parties, i remember only one conversation about the tea party. it was at lunch, and it was not very kind. it was much more of a they're going to have these nice little rallies, they're going to dress up, they'll be gone in a few months, and instead a few months later we started to see the idea that robert boat wright talked about at that conference, of elected officials being primaried within their own party and the effects that could have. what we're going to talk about today is a little bit different at looking at actually speaking with activists or tracking money back to causes. instead, we want to discuss th