i have already had two calls for mitch mcconnell this morning. instead of spending my time on leadership, i want to focus on the issues i care the most about. i would like to work with senator feinstein and senator bingaman and find a way to put out a -- place to put our nuclear waste permanent. we are closed down yucca milton. we need a permanent repository. we need to work across party lines to do that. i believe we can do that. >> we've seen bipartisan efforts in the spring and summer, most notably the gang of six trying to get a big debt deal. they got a lot of attention. 36 are supportive. they never followed through. they do not have a legislative draft of their language. they're not close to putting something on the floor for a vote. how do you go from the debate society view of what should happen to actually getting something accomplished? >> people who have not been a part of the senate do not understand it operates by unanimous consent. each senator has about the same amount of influence. what i can do is make it easier for them to succ

mcconnell, help us rebuild this bridge.nt obama brings the jobs debate right

if mcconnell says to go left, i do not come out and go right. now i am free to do what i want to do. >> you do not like the way the senate is operating now under reid. want to see some changes. if things do not change, what does that mean for you running again in 2014? >> i plan to run again in 2014. i understood the senate when i came. you have to work to get things done. i worked for two years to pass the act about our our country can be competitive in the world. in china, the premier did it in a different way. he assembled everyone in the great hall and said this is the way we're going to do it. in the united states committed to two years. you can say it is frustrating, but that is the way democracy works. >> are there any other issues below the radar of what we cover that you really want to work on? >> i would like to fix no child left behind. i would like for us to have clean air laws instead of the regulations that come out. i want to be a voice that says not to allow mandatory spending to go up three times inflation and squeeze out the na

it must be what this guy, mcconnell, has figured out.'s listening, so he can say what he wants. >> and i think as you know, as you can guess, like i can, chris, my guess is mitch mcconnell's not sat in traffic at rush hour, going south into kentucky or north into ohio. i-71 and i-75 meet right at the brent spence bridge and a half a mile north of there, and that bridge is not in good shape. i certainly hope there's never any serious, serious public health or public safety problems there. but i don't want to put my, just stick my head in the sand and hope the bridge lasts another ten years and we don't have to worry about it. another thing that's interesting there, under federal law and state laws, almost that entire bridge, although it spans the ohio river, is actually in the state of kentucky, because kentucky owns basically the, almost all the way across the river. and i wish that senator mcconnell would pay a little more attention to things in his state, if he doesn't seem to care anymore about that bridge, his sort of dismissive comm

i heard what senator mcconnell said about that one project. but the hard truth is that in america, in spite of his hostility to it, green technology jobs have grown twice as fast as the overall job generating capacity of the economy in the last eight years, where all job growth has been anemic. you're going to have a lot of that. and in america i think you'll see some interesting partnerships. the afl-cio and some of the public employee pension funds are looking at this and saying, hey, we're not earning all that much money in the stock market, maybe we should invest in an infrastructure bank. maybe we should invest in putting people back to work, modernizing all these buildings and making them more efficient, because if we do that, we know we're going to get our money back plus a return. i think you'll see some innovative things that will be a real beacon of what america could do and do in a hurry to put itself back to work if we move the money to where the jobs are. >> it would be malpractice on my part, mr. president, if i didn't ask you ab

riviera hotel mcconnell cintra hotel mcconnell. when the. british and french leaders visit the libyan capital in a show of support for the new authorities all three people in tripoli still backing colonel gadhafi fear their devotion might cost them their lives. also russia says it's time to let the u.n. impose a no fly zone over libya introduced to save civilians as it doesn't help those trapped in the last remaining good that the strong holds. a blow for the billionaire who turned to politics russia's third richest man sensationally quits as leader of a party he's headed for just three months. plus a piece of the long gone soviet union preserved norwegian learned about his close up travels to a russian town on the spitsbergen occupant of. international news in comment live from our headquarters here in central moscow this is r.t. just past nine pm here and seven pm in tripoli where british prime minister david cameron has promised more financial aid to libya's new rulers he's there with french president nicolas sarkozy in support

mcconnell calls the move political theater. but is it working? in washington state have missed more than a week of school because of a teacher strike. this the latest battle over union rights. i'll talk with one parent who's kids are caught up in the middle of it, all of that and more ahead in 15 minutes. >>> whatever happened to paul ryan's budget plan? it was released last spring with much fanfare. major g maj major gar receipt joins us now. the fact is they have not introduced a single piece of the paul ryan budget? >> that's right, they have not tried to translate any of the changes, the very controversial changes that paul ryan put forward to shift medicare from what it has been, fee for services benefit structure to a premium support or voucher like program, moving medicaid from a partnership from the state and local states from a block branch. he said the senate didn't passed theirs and we never had reconciliation and 50 vote simple majority protection in the senate, why go forward? that was always true, republicans knew that from the begi

mcconnell blocking the debt ceiling.n he said mcconnell was instrumental in making a deal and extending the debt ceiling. but mitch mcconnell did that when all the damage was already done. by him saying that, mitch mcconnell was instrumental in getting the bill passed, mr. mcconnell was instrumental was instrumental after all the damage was done. host: we will leave it there. guest: mcconnell said he was trying to a void that scenario since after the election. i am remember him giving some speaker -- some speeches. and boehner, frankly, he said, let's not make these mistakes. they get using that term to acute adult conversation." one of the remarkable stories in the house is that boehner and the leadership lost control of the situation to the tea party faction. people talk about the power of late small group like tea party, it comes from polarization. if the moderates could agree on something, 80 people in the house would be a basically meaningless number. as long as you have this polarization, if you open the door to sm

mcconnell: could i speak to that point? mr. reid: sure. mr. mcconnell: i think i could probably speak for everybody on this side that if we had a choice between wrapping all of this up sometime tonight as opposed to coming back tomorrow, i think i'm pretty safe in saying we would prefer, if it's possible, to complete the job tonight, knowing full well that we're scheduled not to be here next week and presumably if we finish the job in a way that's satisfactory to both the house and the senate, i think our preference would be to grind through and try to get to the end tonight. mr. reid: i understand what my friend is saying, and i'm sure that if we took a vote, everyone would agree on that, but if we don't get that bill until after midnight tonight, there comes a limit as to what we can do. so it may be necessary that we come back sometime tomorrow morning. i have a number of us here who have really important things to do, not only legislatively but some with their own personal business. so i understand if we have to come back tomorrow, we'll t

he's built some of those bridges and roads in boehner or mcconnell's district. nixon, the clean air act. you have republicans who understood the need for government. today we have a republican party that wants to dismantle government and take us back to a time of great insecurity. you're on your own, jack, seems to be the motto for the republican party that wants to gut, dilute the possibility of reform, of opportunity for people who need jobs in this time of national emergency. so i don't think there's a lot of chance that this republican party will support anything, have any clue, and i wish what was shown at these debates for executions and people dying without health insurance would turn into lust for creating the jobs and security this country needs desperately if we're to restore that imperfect but always hopeful american dream we should aspire to. >> so well put there. jonathan alter, you just heard the mayor of columbus, ohio, saying he wants john boehner, the speaker, to work with the president. that's something really he hasn't done. what's the upside

mcconnell, help us rebuild this bridge! help us rebuild america. >> the president is turning up the heat on republicans and they can't stand it. tonight, karen bass of the congressional black caucus. and we're going to cincinnati to talk to mayor mark mallory. the right wing is flipping over the obama family's jewels. tonight, melissa harris-perry and james peterson on the latest version of obama derangement syndrome. >>> troy davis has been executed. but questions over the death penalty remain. >>> legal scholar michelle alexander will show us the way forward. >>> and tomorrow, the sky is literally following. a big old satellite is headed for earth. we'll give you the forecast from space so you don't get wet. >>> the latest attempt by republicans to portray president obama's jobs plan in a negative light may be a bridge too far. the president took his message to cincinnati, ohio today in the shadow of a crumbling bridge that connects the home states of house speaker john boehner and senate republican leader mitch mcconnell

mcconnell seems to be upset about this. >> he is defensive. thing going on. if you look at what the president has done in the last couple of weeks and see what the republicans have been talking about, we are in a general election argument at this point. this is all about the philosophical argument going forward. let's battle this out next november and let the voters decide which side they are on. >> >> it is weird, you hear he wants to ramp up more, he thinks that will be a distinguishing feature against perry. >> the ceo of the ladders has a blog. he has some interesting posts about linkdin and why he doesn't like it. >> that's the thing that spams me all the time. >> that's why i don't like it. >> and live tweeting on the blog tonight. all things you need to know about the campaign trail. >> the one song we banned was "stand." . that's it. a simple prop to occupy your time. that's what we were this hour. that's the edition of the daily rundown. up next chris jansing and company. and we will speak to susan rice, the u.s. ambassador to the uni

mcconnell blocking the thing. daniel said mcconnell was instrumental in making a deal on the debt ceiling. and what daniel said is true. but mitch mcconnell did that when all the damage was already done. it was already done. so by him saying that, mcconnell was instrumental in getting the bill passed, mr. mcconnell was instrumental in getting the bill passed when after all the damage was done. >> host: we'll leave it there. mr. barbash? >> guest: you know, actually mcconnell -- i will say this, he's been trying to -- he was trying to avoid that scenario since after the election. i remember him giving some speeches and boehner right after the 2010 midterms, let's not do this. let's not make these mistakes. they kept using the term "adult conversations" and i think things got beyond and this is one of the remarkable stories particularly in the house and boehner and the leadership basically lost control of the situation to the tea party factions. and here again, people say where is the power of a small group like the

but kentucky senator, top senate republican mitch mcconnell, has denounced the american jobs act as not serious. his mitch mcconnell plan for dealing with more than one in three kentucky bridges needing to be replaced is apparently so serious it he's keeping it secret. in the face of rather monstrous traffic and detour adversity, like what is being faced in southern indiana and in kentucky right now, in the face of that kind of adversity, americans innovate. that means a brand new every 45 minutes $1 ferry service across the ohio river that did it not exist before, which is particularly handy if you work right at the bridge abutment. but still better, another option for getting across the ohio river there with sherman minton shut down. but it also means another kind of innovation in the form of branding and merchandising. when we first talked about the emergency shutdown of the sherman minton bridge on this show and the proverbial bomb it was dropping on louisville-area are traffic, i described it as that region's version of carmageddon. los angeles had what it called carmageddon one we

doesn't really call out mitch mcconnell. so i don't think you're going to find it from mitch mcconnell because they seem to have a mutually beneficial relationship, but you could see other republicans pointing to rand paul and saying, hey, that's rand paul and the tea party, that's not necessarily me. but in terms of the tea party base here in kentucky, that's what rand paul really cares about. it's not just the base. he's a true believer. he comes from -- his intellectual heroes are libertarians like lou rockwell and people -- and his father. he's a true believer when he comes to that and typically ver stubborn. i'm not sure how much pressure from other republicans is going to do. >> in the meantime the whole country doesn't get improved gas pipelines. joe sonka. thanks very much for joining us. nice to have you here. >> thanks for having me on, rachel. >>> on last night's show we ran out of time because of the breaking non-chris christie news before we could show you our best new thing in the world. while i like the happy

i used to do what harry reid does now and mitch mcconnell does now. when the leader fills the tree you block amendments from all senators. that doesn't sound very democratic. but i didn't discover that but it is being used more than it was in the past. i think there is a problem when you get into a filibuster on the motion to proceed. that you would take a bill. may be some of those should be evaluated. it depends on your perspective. i used to think seniority was a bad idea until i woke up and i would get close to the majority and was number 2 and i thought this isn't bad at all. when i'm with a freshman rookie i would get so mad george mitchell i couldn't restrain myself and said what i thought about him. that i was standing in the leader's chair and i saw it differently. the senate is a unique place. it is hard to get anything done. it is easy to block stuff. if you got true leadership and true commitment and you find ways, i would urge harry reid to stop finding things to fight over. see if you can find things to move along and if you look under t

. >>> president obama is set to make the trip to the boehner mcconnell bridge in cincinnati. wendell young of the cincinnati city council is my guest. >>> while the rest of the country is worrying about jobs and the economy, the right is flipping out over chaz bono's participation in "dancing with the stars". >> he's on a campaign to mainstream transgenderism. >>> thanks for watching. i think most of us in cable television do this because we love being in the mix. in fact, i've often thought this business is kind of a disease. you do it and you just can't get it out of your blood, out of your system. but maybe that's not the case for everybody. you see, the king of cable television news, he's threatening to pack it in if president obama raises his taxes and raises the taxes of his rich buddies. bill o'reilly, we all know he's being looking out for you folks for a long time, the top 2%, the self-proclaimed culture warrior is threatening to walk away from his $10 million a year contract with fox news because the president is going to make an effort to get people like billo to s

>> listen, that should be a question that speaker boehner and senator mcconnell look at. not us. we did our job. listen, we passed a bipartisan bill and went to the house. they have not touched this. we have shown the world that the bill that they passed on the house with by a very narrow margin was overwhelmingly defeated here. i don't understand how anyone could suggest nip is at fault other than the republicans and the house. i think a weekend of somber thinking about this what this is going to do to fema and i think the government will pick up significant -- >> is there a scenario to accept opposites? >> no. >> white house involved in any of the gorgeses and republicans gather four wince and say the bill -- [inaudible] >> president will do that if necessary, and i don't think that's necessary. i would have to think that the vote monday as all eyes will be upon that including the speakers and leader cantor misses a vote, and i think -- listen, we know what went on in the house yesterday. they were trolling for votes for almost -- maybe more than 24 hours -- to get enough votes

meanwhile, us republican senate minority leader mitch mcconnell has blasted what he called "political posturing" by president barack obama on the free trade deals. in an article in the washington post tuesday, mcconnell wrote that, for nearly three years, republicans and a number of democrats have been calling on the president to approve the deals to create a level playing field with america's competitors overseas, expand the market for us goods, strengthen ties with three important allies and create jobs for americans. mcconnell also stressed that congress is prepared to allow a worker training program to be part of the deals as a sign of good faith and to move the ratification process forward. prosecutors have asked for an arrest warrant for seoul's embattled education superintendent kwak no-hyun. kwak is still denying charges that he paid a rival candidate to withdraw from the election last year that he won. song ji-sun has more. after two days of intense questioning,... prosecutors filed an arrest warrant for seoul education chief kwak no-hyun... on charges of bribing a rival cand

mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: my amendment on which we are about to vote would grant to the president something that no president has had since trade promotion authority expired back in 2007. with without trade promotion authority, there will be no other trade agreements. we all know that. if america wants to be the leader of the world in trade, we'd have to have trade agreements. what i have done here is offered trade promotion authority, what we used to call fast-track, as an amendment to trade adjustment assistance. they have been historically linked going back to 1974. i think it is a big mistake for our country, even if we provide trade adjustment assistance, to just operate as if there are not going to be anymore trade agreements in the united states. we used to be the leader in world trade. my party does not occupy the white house. i want the president of the united states-to-, whoever that is, to have trade promotion authority because i'd like to see us have an opportunity to have trade agreemen

mitch mcconnell calls it political theater.fattal enjoying their first full day of freedom since being released from the prison in iran. we will have a live report. a first look at the massive satellite that is approaching earth. look very closely. we have new details on when and where it might strike. >>> shane bauer and josh fattal are enjoying their first day of freedom spending time with loved ones following an emotional reunion. the sultan paid $1 million bail to guarantee their release. >> we are so happy we are free and relieved we are free. >> two years in prison is too long. we sincerely hope for the freedom of other political prisoners and unjustly imprisoned people in iran. >> they were jailed on charges of spying and illegally crossing into the country. michelle kosinski has the latest. >> we are waiting to know what their next plans are and how they are adjusting and what were their conditions like and we saw them get off the plane, we could tell from a distance they looked pale and thin, but all of a sudden you sa

mcconnell: i ask further reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to speak about the amendment that the majority leader just called up, the trade adjustment assistance is what i'll focus on in particular in my remarks. i want to, first of all, thank the majority leader for his leadership on this issue in helping us get it started today. i'm particularly grateful for the strong leadership chairman baucus has provided. i want to thank him and their staff for their tireless efforts not just in leading up to today but over a long period of time, being such a strong advocate for this program. for many months chairman baucus led the charge to make sure a strong trade adjustment assistance program is reinstated because it's important public policy for our work toers get them re -- workers to get them retrained and to make sure they have th

mcconnell, help us rebuild this bridge. help us rebuild america. help us put construction workers back to work. pass this bill. let's pass the bill. >> cincinnati, i have a crush on you. i'm telling you. president obama continuing his national barnstorming for his jobs bill today. symbolically putting the top republicans in congress on the spot for where he chose to give the speech today. and it's worth noting that for all the consternation in the beltway press, in the pundit class, for president obama being confrontational with republicans about what it is he wants, for all the speculation that the president isn't really like this and he's just doing these sorts of speeches and taking this sort of tack on this issue because he's being forced to politically, for all of that beltway noise it is worth noting that when you see the president out on the speech giving these kinds of speeches he kind of seems to be enjoying himself these days. >> the idea for a big boost in construction is supported by the afl-cio, but it's also supported by the chamber o

amendment leader mcconnell will offer. leader reid and chairman baucus and the white house have also apparently asked the business community to oppose an amendment on t.p.a. as well. despite the fact that the tkeus community has uniformly supported the granting of trade negotiated authority to every president regardless of party. this is all baffling to me, but i agree with leader mcconnell that the president needs t.p.a., whoever the president is, as soon as possible. and i can't imagine any president not wanting that authority as i suspect the democrats will vote down granting their president trade-negotiating authority, i must also be inclined to vote against this t.a.a. amendment. much has been said about t.a.a., and that is the price for free trade agreements, but we are paving new and dangerous ground by holding three trade agreements hostage to expandinged t.a.a. each time we have tried to move these agreements a new roadblock has been erected. while we dilly and dally our trade competitors take more market share ar

. >> that was senate minority leader mitch mcconnell today, noting the growing democratic resistance to the president's jobs bill. the white house dispatched advisers david plouffe and gene sperling to the hill today to convince dissenting senate democrats to support the president's legislation. complaints in recent days ranged from the bill includes too much spending to the bill includes too many tax cuts to it unfairly eliminates subsidies for oil companies while ignoring other big industries. after the private 90-minute meeting, senate majority whip dick durbin told reporters, "we're not going to get 100% of our caucus, but believe me, if it's up to the democrats to pass the president's plan, it'll pass." senate minority leader mcconnell saw the meeting as a sign of weakness. >> one would think they'd want to be briefed on details before the president demanded they pass it right away, not after. but then again, the white house probably expected stronger support from democrats than it's gotten so far. >> joining me now, editorial director for aol, huffington post, msnbc political a

groaned leader who told mcconnell of a mission marco resulted till the sun. would result michael's closer to home a current riviera hotel would come cintra hotel mckown. kremlin come back gauge the global reaction. of the russian residents in the next day it is now planning to place him as head of the gulf. we've got the announcement now of the analysis joining me any for now wait for the latest global and russian reaction to putin for president. european needed. rescue as they battle to stave off a double dip recession on the prospect of greek default while the i.m.f. warns it may not be able to recall the rooms. freedom of expression in the u.k. isn't it starts presidents said. it appalls of.

mcconnell, those are the two most powerful republicans in government. they can either kill this jobs bill or they can help pass this jobs bill. >> reporter: but republicans were quick to accuse the president of a political stunt saying there is no guarantee the stimulus plan will immediately affect this bridge which may not be shovel-ready until 2015. >> we have heard these promises before and i don't think the president should expect anybody to fall for them again. >> now is not the time for the president to go into campaign mode. >> reporter: despite white house claims that the president was here today to argue that investing in infrastructure would expedite an economic recovery, the event had all the trappings of a campaign stop. >> you want to cut taxes for middle class families, pass this bill. if you want to help small businesses, what do you do? >> pass this bill! >> reporter: analysts say the president faces an uphill battle to win back frustrated swing voters in battleground states like ohio. >> he can't lose that whole rust belt, that whole ma

doug mcconnell, nbc bay area news. >> now they look happy. all right. >>> i was pretty happy as well. the weather is gorgeous. what is going on, rob? >> a pretty nice day around the bay area today. we did see the wave heights starting to come down on the coast, which is good news. but still be advised for stronger than usual rip currents if you're heading along the seashore tomorrow. 59 degrees in san jose. starting to see overcast skies around the central bay area, including oakland back over to san francisco. still a healthy sea breeze tonight will pump in the clouds and probably throw some drizzle our way tomorrow morning. right now 50s and low 60s outside. not much change from this hour last night around the same time. and there you see the wind still coming in. southwest through 23 at fairfield. northwest at 10 at livermore. those indications how cool the marine layer is going to push inland. if you can have the onshore winds all the way into our east bay valleys you know we'll wake up to low clouds tomorrow morning. yes, some drizzle. a

those happen to be boehner and mcconnell's home states. mr. obama said his $447 billion jobs bill will fund public works projects and speed up repairs to crumbling bridges and roads. >> there is work to be done and there are workers ready to do it. so let's tell congress to pass this jobs bill right away. >> yeah! [ applause and cheers ] >> republicans aren't crazy about the president's jobs proposal. they say the package does not provide real solutions to the nation's fiscal troubles. >>> in less than an hour, gop candidates looking to unseat president obama hold their third debate this month. it's in orlando, florida. their last debate was in tampa last week. you can expect to hear the candidates slam the president on healthcare, foreign policy and the economy. you can also expect to hear michele bachmann and mitt romney form a team -- team criticism of front-runner rick perry. >>> south san francisco police have released a sketch of a man suspected of attempted kidnapping. the attack happened monday morning near alta loma high school. polic

i know that senator mcconnell was offended that the president was out there doing that. it was senator mcconnell who said at the end of last year that his goal for the next two years was to defeat the president. well, they ought to spend less time trying to tear the president down and start working with him to build america up. that's what the president's point was today. he's going to continue saying it. i understand it makes some feel uncomfortable, but they should feel uncomfortable. the american people don't want politics now. they want cooperation around this bill, big issues, let's get america back working. let's start rebuilding our economy in a way that provides broad opportunity, and that's the project the president is working on here. >> now, now maybe they're using the political way out, because they really can't control their own caucus. look at this. when you see the contradictory statements and sometimeline it was done in, they seem to have no control over their own forces in congress. so rather than say they're in disarray, maybe that's why they're trying

the president called on boehner and mcconnell to pass the jobs bill so the dilapidated bridge can be rebuilt. republicans called it a stunt. there was a remarkable charge made today by america's top military officer. admiral mike mullen told a senate committee that the pakistani government's intelligence agency was behind last week's attack on the american embassy in afghanistan. mullen said the u.s. has credible evidence that the pakistani agency is connected to that and to a number of other attacks against american troops. david martin has our story. >> reporter: the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said it as bluntly as it's ever been said: terrorist groups which are killing americans operate with impunity from pakistani soil and with help from pakistani intelligence. >> the haqqani network, for one, acts as a veritable arm of pakistan's internal services intelligence agency. >> reporter: the haqqani network is perhaps the most violent enemy faction in afghanistan. according to admiral mullen, it is responsible for last week's attack on the u.s. embassy in kabul in which 16 p

mcconnell, help us rebuild this bridge. >> the deficit proposals the president put forward i think are a step backwards. his plan, in my opinion, will destroy jobs by raising taxes on small businesses and their capital, the key ingredient, i think, for job creation in our country. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] host: those are some competing sound bites from leaders yesterday as the white house and congressional republicans continued their duel. late last night the house of representatives passed a short- term funding measures to keep the government and business after september 30. democratic senate leaders say no chance of it and the senate. at the market reacted to the fed's latest move with a drop in the dow of nearly 400 points. we have a question to you about whether or not washington and policymakers -- here are the phone lines -- host: of course this is not just the u.s. issue, but global. some headlines. "los angeles times" -- economic

mcconnell, they're the two most powerful republicans in government. they can either kill this jobs bill or they can help pass this jobs bill. >> and, remember, the president's first visit following the unveiling of his jobs plan a couple weeks ago was to richmond, virginia, in the home district of eric cantor, the number two house republican. wolf this is a white house, this is president obama being much more aggressive, much more trying to be on the offense than we saw this summer. >> that's what the base wants to see. so what is he planning on doing next week to continue this push? >> reporter: a couple things we know he's doing to promote his jobs plan. one will be a mountain view, california, silicon valley in northern california. he'll be participating in an online town hall through linked in, the social networking job site. he'll also reportedly when he's in denver, colorado, be visiting a school. a couple of provisions in the jobs plan, one that would give money to states so they could hire teachers who have been laid off or teachers that could

let's listen to mitch mcconnell referencing henry clay. >> let me see if we can back up a little bit. talk about his first foray into public life. he was a very successful lawyer here. did he always aspired to be a public person, and if so, how did he get into it? >> he started out like a lot of people did as a legislator on the state level. his ability showed itself very quickly. almost immediately they appointed him to fulfill a united states senate post, even before he was old enough. he served as a senator at the age of 29. that early, people recognized his abilities and his strength. of course the first day he steps foot on the floor of the united states house of representatives, he is elected speaker of the house. >> has that ever happened since? >> it has happen one other time, during the civil war. here is a man at age 34 who is elected speaker on the first ballot. the impression he made on people very quickly and very early in his life. >> what were his politics? what were the political parties of the day? >> he would have followed the ideas of thomas jefferson and james madi