and the sparring politicos from the left, beautiful in blue, karen finney.right, a redhead. >> that's right. >> and a smart one at that. brian donahue, gop strategist. pleasure to see all of you. we begin with don't ask don't tell. with the news, it failed. here was lady gaga's strongest advocacy. >> if you are not committed to perform with excellence as a united states because you don't believe in full equality, go home! if you are not honorable enough to fight without prejudice, go home! >> well, you know, the interesting thing about what happened today is a little bit of kabooky theatre. they were voting on whether or not they would actually vote on the bill. >> this happens with every piece of legislation where there is two votes. one is do we agree or not. >> but of course, if you're on the campaign trail, that's not how you talk about it. you say my colleague voted against or for. but then it also gives you the opportunity to say you didn't vote against because if you voted against this, you didn't vote against defense aughtization and don't ask don't

donohue, karen finney, thank you so much. for the premiere of "follow the money with jimy williams" which is a huge new segment. the comcast people i think are excited about it. >> we talked about that. >> it will consist of two or three minutes a few times a month where we talk about money with jimy williams. >>> coming up on "hardball" anchoring from belfast -- apparently his plates work. we could v we can't even get out of the billing. chris is there ahead of him, talking to p.j. o'rourke. >>> but first, daily ranting, talking about why the president just doesn't get it when it comes to the liberals and health care. we're back after this. >>> we've got a health care bill that becomes more apparent every day how much it does for people and biggss, because because there was no public option, some say we're not going to participate. >> vice president biden in an interview last night. mr. yewer, the floor is yours. >> thank you, dylan a perfect example of saying his base is whining, the president said the actions of the base i

democratic strategist karen finney and republican strategist, kevin madden. karen, let me start with you. this is that argument as we heard in david kerley's piece. it's the republicans that are to blame under george w. bush and the republican congress. that's when the economy went sour. it's their fault. blame it on them. it doesn't seem to be working. why not? >> because it's really hard to prove a negative. what we're trying to say, we need more time. when you try to explain to people and remind them that president obama came into office after 11 months of job losses and we're now starting to see private sector job growth, that's a hard argument to be out there making when a lot of people haven't felt it in their own lives. so i think what you're seeing democrats do is they're trying to make that contrast. it says if you really want to have a speaker boehner, here is what the republican agenda will be, versus here is what democrats have been able to do. and if you give us more time, we'll keep on the right track. >> kevin, your party is in a bit of an inter

pat buchanan and karen finney. you. >> good morning. >> so pat, we'll begin with you this time. and kentucky senate candidate rand paul also had a rocky start to the campaign after make something controversial comment. do you think tea party candidates are finding themselves far outside the mainstream and that's why they're getting that kind of attention? >> not at all. i mean, one of the toughest cases we've gotten is in nevada. sharon angle's running even, rand paul's ahead, rubio's ahead, toomey is ahead. mike lee in utah, they're all ahead. this is the toughest race we've got right here and for a number of reasons. delaware is a liberal state. had a very bloody primary. mike castle lost. he's very popular. the castle republicans are abandoning christine o'donnell or have not come back. she's controversial. no doubt bill maher has put out this stuff and it has been an attack on her. can her energy and enthusiasm and the money that is pouring in behind her and the general wave, can that overcome what are really b

we'll bring in pat buchanan, republican strategist and also with us karen finney, former dnc communicationsor and msnbc contributor. welcome back to the two of. >> hi. >> hi, alex. >> ladies first here. karen, beginning with you. a simple trip to the midwest or something much bigger. >> if that trip to the midwest is iowa about this time of year, yeah, that's presidential politics. although i actually don't think that sarah palin's final intention is to run for office. i think she's enjoying kind of being a political celebrity. she's had a good primary runs, she's able to give paid speeches and weigh in with her advice without having the accountability of her own ideas. >> do you agree with that, pat? do you think she's going to not make a run for it? >> without any doubt she's enjoying the role she's playing now. the trip out to iowa, whether she's going to run or not, has caused tremendous amount of excitement and interest and elevates her profile even higher. but i wonder if she's going to get in -- my guess is she won't make the decision until later in the season and most of them will m

i'm joined by karen finney, and jeff johnson a political comm t commentor for b.e.t. news.roposal race to the top. what do you think is best about the proposal? >> one of the best things is you have arne duncan, a big superintendent at the time no child left behind was implemented. so he has the real direct experience with some of the challenges that many school districts face. what they're trying to accomplish with race to the top is how do we improve on that? how do we give local control and flexibility to this local folks involved in education, but still make sure there are national high standards? how do we evaluate a child's progress, recognizing that if a child makes a certain amount of growth in one year, that's as valid as, you know, other measurements we may want to look at. so in many areas, and also the issue of teaching to the test. how do we get away from that and focus on learn sng the attempt here is to build on some of what was good about no child left behind. the idea of standards based education and measuring outcomes, but bring it into a more practical re

and our partisan democratic strategist and old friend of the morning meeting, karen finney. new friend. frank donatelli, chairman of gopac. that's why you're the political guy. one word. like to drive a go cart. let's start in delaware. we talked about this yesterday. if you're not filled in on this, there's a senate race in delaware for what will be an empty seat, i believe. again, as we've seen in other states, tea party versus incumbent gop. it goes a little bit like this. >> bottom line is if she's nominated, republicans lose the election automatically. that's simple. >> those so-called experts said that i would never get this far. we have a winning message. >> nate, how much trouble is the gop in in delaware by allowing the incumbent republican to become as vulnerable as he has become? >> it's about as close as you can come to throwing away his senate seat where if castle wins, probably a 90% favor to beat the democrat, but if o'donnell wins, she's down by 15 or so, that's a really tough deficit to overcome. so they go from having a 90% chance to a 10%, it's a big gambl

republican robert traynham and democrat karen finney. >> good morning. >> thank you for getting up withs this morning. we appreciate it. let me start with you, karen. is sarah palin running? >> obviously, in the primary season, she's had influence on the process. she is enjoying success in the process. she likes to get paid. >> robert, is she running? >> i don't know the answer to that. truth be told, i don't think she knows the answer. but she's doing everything she can to position herself, that if she chooses to run, she has the staff and resources in place to do so. >> well, staying with you for a second. if she does run, do you think she can win? >> in the primaries, i think she could. there are really three states that determine who the republican nominees are going to be. iowa, new hampshire and south carolina. if you look at the demographics in those states, sarah palin has a significant ground force. the real question is whether she can win in the general. she is a forced to be reckoned with. there's no question about it. >> karen, is this a candidate that the obama white house

let's bring in pat buchanan along with karen finney, msnbc contributor. to the two of you. >> hello. how are you doing? >> i'm well, thanks. i have to go with you first, pat, because you have a long history with the wing of the conservative party. >> this is like the goldwater movement way back when i came into politics in the early '60s. not only wants to beat the democratic party of jack kennedy. they've knocked off more than the two you mentioned. they must have knocked off eight people. six of them are probably going to win and two may be doubtful. what this is is a movement as a prelude to taking back their country. now i think there's going to be a huge success for republicans this year. when you consider where we were two years ago, moribund and despair, 20 more years of obama democratic rule. the tea party has been an enormous asset for the republican party. >> karen, we have to see how the midterms all shape up, but there's no doubt that the tea party has real momentum behind it. to what extent is that concerning democrats? >> a couple things we

. >> let's bring in pat buchanan, republican strategist as well as democratic strategist karen finneyo, you two, good morning. >> good morning. >> i'm going to do a ladies first thing here because i'm curious why are the senate democrats reluctant to hold a vote on tax cuts before the midterms? >> oh, that is the question. unfortunately, this shows the role that election year politics are playing in policy. there are some democrats who are in some of the tougher districts who are afraid of being cast as raising taxes rather than being on offense and talk about the contrast between what democrats want to do, which is lower taxes for the middle class and not hold that hostage to the full extension of the bush tax cuts. so that's really the debate that's playing out. obviously, in the senate they've said they're not going forward with that before the election. nancy pelosi, who is one of the few people in congress who is able to get just about everything done that she's been asked to do is still holding out hope that she can get that vote. >> would republicans be willing to oppose a midd