senator walter mondale, democrat of minnesota. mr. mondale entered the u.s.enate at the beginning of our national war on poverty under lbj. senator mondale outlasted president johnson in office, but he kept working on that basic idea, of using public policy to help out the least well off among us. by 1971 he succeeded in getting passed with big bipartisan support a bill that would have created a daycare system essentially in this country. universal preschool for american kids. the tuition was on a sliding scale so everybody could afford it. senator mondale got his bill passed and it went to the guy who was president by then. it went to richard nixon. and richard nixon vetoed it even though it passed with lots of republican votes. president nixon said the idea of preschool for everyone had quote, family-weakening implications. he said quote, the child development envisioned in this legislation would be truly a long leap into the dark for the united states government and the american people. a long leap into the dark. 40 years after president nixon said no to p

democrat hasn't done as badly with them since walter mon mondale. here's how wane lapierre is using statistics. he wrote this online this week. it's not paranoia to buy a gun, it's survival. after hurricane sandy, looters ran wild in south brooklyn. better get back before dark, are or you might not get home at all. amy, pretty ethnic appearance in there. talks about border crossers, not against government anymore, it's against people. >> demographics of this are very interesting. first, we know demographics now have become proxy for voting behavior. white southern married men, republicans, hispanics, african-americans, lowest rates of gun ownership, democrats. 50% of white men owning guns, another group of voters that will consistently go for republicans -- chris: why did he tie together and nick fear with the fear of immigration. all of that fear of the government shutdown. tied it all together la bee area f. you're afraid of this stuff, vote for the n.r.a. >> they say the folks who want to take guns away are liberal leets, writing laws and look do

barack obama lost two-thirds of white men who didn't go to college, first wipeout since walter mondalee president ever crack through that? hi, i'm chris matthews. welcome to the show. with us today presidential historian michael beschloss. cook political report amy walter. "the washington post's" henderson and "the new york times"'s david henderhard. have the republicans turn turned up the heat on barack obama now even before he won re-election? we saw in there temporary the defeat of chuck hagel's nomination, leaving the president without a pentagon secretary and there seems to be more where that came from. we decide to look at how this past tuesday, state of the union day played out starting with

walter mondale was the author of it. richard nixon vetoed it.ght it was a bold, new idea for the president but actually -- >> there's nothing under the sun, bill. >> bill: we're learning that. >> what's old is new again. >> bill: it seems to me again it is a no-brainer. republicans say no no, brainwashing our kids maybe. the federal government should be involved. >> i guess more the money thing bill. there isn't a price tag put on this that i know of. it is part of the problem. people feel like giving the sequester, it will be hard to put something like that online financially. >> bill: is the white house still confident that they can get chuck hagel john brennan and jack lew all confirmed? >> if they can ever avoid the holes. that gets into senate rules which i'm not familiar with. got rand paul saying he was going to put a hold on hagel and brennan. harry reid said he's not going to recognize the hold. i think it has to be worked out behind closed doors on capitol hill. my understanding is they're hoping for a hagel vote tomorrow. i know brenn

vice president mondale said it well. he said the pressure of money in politics and its power to destroy the public trust is a threat to the senate and to the nation. i couldn't say it any better. the third factor is a combination of two things really. the redrawing of congressional districts in the power that certain constituencies have now taken upon themselves to influence the primary election process. we have redistricted insatiably throughout the country, were now approximately 400 of the 435 members of congress on so-called safe seats, either republican or democratic. the number of swing districts are diminishing by pierre. we add to that, the ability of big money and special interests to influence the primary election process and not make the primary and is 400 seats a lot were important than the general election. and when the primary support and, guess what happens? to graduate to the extremes, right and left and therein lies the dilemma, standing one's ground for finding common ground. to find common ground for t

barack obama lost two-thirds of white men who didn't go to college, first wipeout since walter mondale states to 1. can the president ever crack through that? hi, i'm chris matthews. welcome to the show. with us today presidential historian michael beschloss. cook political report amy walter. "the washington post's" henderson and "the new york times"'s david henderhard. have the republicans turn turned up the heat on barack obama now even before he won re-election? we saw in there temporary the defeat of chuck hagel's nomination, leaving the president without a pentagon secretary and there seems to be more where that came from. we decide to look at how this past tuesday, state of the union day played out starting with

mondale said i'll raise taxes to fight the deficit and lost 49 states. >> we usually do, this is a great point, deficits come up in periods of economic hardship. it is not a good time to come up. it hurts the economy to cut the deficit quickly while the economy it weak. so krystal this is the real danger of the sequester fight, this is not a cliff or a breach or a government shutdown. it will hurt, not that badly, but hurt the economy maybe in ways people don't even recognize is coming from the sequester. it will take growth out and people having jobs out of the pretty soon we'll see shrinking, but it wouldn't be directly relatable back. >> it was interesting last week, there was polling asking people how much have you heard about the sequester from pew. and 72% of people said they either heard only a little bit about the sequester or nothing at all. they had heard very little or nothing at all. and that is changing, the president made a concerted push to make them trace back this pole, specifically by releasing state by state estimates of what is going to happen, the agency estimates, a

first of all, a wonderful man and one of america's greatest public servants is here, walter mondale,resident. [ applause ] your outstanding governor, mark dayton is here. [ applause ] two great mayors, mayor r.t. rybak of minneapolis and mayor chris coleman of st. paul. [ applause ] and your outstanding congressional delegation, senator amy clob char, senator al franken, representative keith ellie son and representative betty mccullom. and i should acknowledge my outstanding attorney general. what's your name again? he does a great job every single day and i could not be prouder of eric holder for his leadership on this issue, in particular. now, i just had a chance to sit down with some local police officers, but also, community leaders, as well as folks who themselves have been victims or whose families have been victims of gun violence. to hear their ideas about how we can protect our kids and address the broader epidemic of gun violence in this country. because if we're serious about providing the kinds of tragedies that happened in newtown or the tragedies that happen every day

no one is saying back in 1917 walter mondale had a proposal that had a lot more basically creating a. that's very different than what is being proposed now. i want to talk about the details with the republican senator, very excited to have, who supports universal pre-k but skeptical of the president's program that he's from your home state of georgia and we are going to talk to senator isakson just after this. [ male announcer ] how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. [ sneezes ] [ sniffles ] [ female announcer ] for everything your face has to face. face it with puffs facial tissues. puffs has air-fluffed pillows for 40% more cushiony thickn

. >> it's one of the things that squelched the original universal attempt, mondale's push in 1971. >>s of this, i do want to call everyone's attention to james heckman that did a cost benefit analysis, and it shows that if you spend $18,000 a year per student for pre-k, the annualized rate of return is between 7% and 10%. the stock market has grown at an average of 5.8%. can you not make the economic argument? >> there are some cavats that are out there that have shown that the affect dissipates as children move through elementary school, and the really critical part here is that the teachers and this was part of obama's proposal. that the teachers at least have a bachelors degree and that they're compensated adequately because that is a huge factor in this. this is not a cheap plan. >> a big take-away is the quality does matter, right? we know -- one of the things we know, and i thn right now as a parent, is that preschool is just under supplied by the market. the private sector actually just doesn't produce enough of it for the people that want it. forget about getting people that a

what grabs you like mondale in 1984, where's the beef. senator, you are no jack kennedy. is it the line or the more structured presentation? >> people vote for president. this is a different vote from anything you have to cast. if you vote for councilman, you vote for issues. will he keep 7-11 up on sundays? will he zone your neighborhood to keep out mini-warehouses. but the vote for president is different and most studies suggest people vote for the person they have the most confidence in in a time of national crisis. i happen to think this is a good reason. in that case, communication skills do matter. the american people are not stupid. they are generally pretty smart. they pick the right candidates. you get a fuller picture of the person running for president, not just the talking points but you get to see him react and how he reacts when the pressure is on. >> or she. >> or she, next time around. >> the ability to communicate is critical. you can have the greatest ideas in the world but if you can't communicate them, forget it. >> that is about leadership. it is not

in 1984 mondale beat reagan among latinos 24%., after the amnesty, dukakis beats george h.w. bush by 39%. so the swing towards democrats was plus 15% in between the two elections in which the amnesty program happened. >> which was signed by a republican president and had strong support from republicans in congress. pat buchanan supported that particular amnesty. why would legislation signed by a democratic president really earn the undying loyalty of these voters to the republican party? >> aaron? >> look, the hispanic population is not modelled on that. you can't say we're going to pass a bill and they're all going to come along. we're very diverse. i come from a rural community, and rural people in my state are conservative. you have second, third, fourth, fifth, 12th generation hispanics living in this country, and they're all very, very different. . most of the young hispanics live in san antonio who are third and fourth generation only speak english, they don't speak spanish. if you find hispanics third and fourth generatijeg

first of all, a wonderful man and one of america's greatest public servants is here, walter mondale, outstanding governor, mark dayton, is here. two great mayors, mayor artie rybak of minneapolis, and mayor chris coleman of st. paul. and your outstanding congressional delegation senator amy klobuchar, senator al franken, representative keith elson, and representative betty mccollum. and i should acknowledge my outstanding attorney general. what's your name again? he does a great job every single day and i could not be prouder of eric holder for his leadership on this issue in particular. now, i just had a chance to sit down with some local police officers, but also community leaders, as well as folks who themselves have been victims or whose families have been victims of gun violence, to hear their ideas about how we can protect our kids, and address the broader epidemic of gun violence in this country. because if we're serious about preventing the kinds of tragedies that happened in newtown, or the tragedies that happened every day in places like chicago, or philadelphia or minneapo

first of all, a wonderful man and one of america's greatest public servants is here -- walter mondalee president. [applause] your outstanding governor, mark dayton, is here. [applause] two great mayors -- mayor r.t. rybak of minneapolis, and mayor chris coleman of st. paul. [applause] and your outstanding congressional delegation -- senator amy klobuchar -- [applause] senator al franken -- [applause] representative keith ellison -- [applause] and representative betty mccullough. [applause] and i should acknowledge my outstanding attorney general -- what's your name again? [laughter] he does a great job every single day, and i could not be prouder of eric holder for his leadership on this issue in particular. [applause] now, i just had a chance to sit down with some local police officers but also community leaders, as well as folks who themselves had been victims or whose families had been victims of gun violence, to hear their ideas about how we can protect our kids and address the broader epidemic of gun violence in this country. because if we are serious about preventing the kinds o

also, what was interesting last night is former vice president walter mondale was at this party. long time. >> he doesn't do a lot of stuff apparently. >> bill: tweeted out a photo with me and heidi heitkamp and me and the vice president. a sad passing last night. a man who really made a mark. every surgeon general from now on will be rated as to how he or she stacks up with everett koop, the man who put the ban on -- not ban but put out the word about cigarettes, yes indeed, they do cause cancer. and we should have warnings on the pack of cigarettes. took on all of the tobacco companies. passed away yesterday at the age of 96. just a few years ago, he actually sat down with an interview with ally g and they were talking about the inevitable. >> let's talk about a big thing... death. the end. i'm talking about the thing that happens to you you know, a few weeks after you were alive. that's bad isn't it? >> you don't spell it that way though. it is d-e-a-t-h. >> bill: it happens to you a few weeks after you're alive. i like that. what are the chances here that this is going to hap

i had dinner about two or three months ago with walter mondale who i really do know very well and hehe said we had partisanship, all of the kinds of stress that you have today. but, he said, at the end of the day, most of the members of the senate were committed to governing so they could work together. he said a lot of things were accomplished on a bipartisan basis. by the time we got there, it had already deteriorated substantially. our first deficit reduction program was adopted entirely with democratic votes but what's interesting was after that, there were a fair number of important measures that had bipartisan support. today, there's virtually no bipartisan activity unless it's in response to a crisis or very special circumstances. >> people often talk about presidential leadership and compare president obama and they compare president clinton. and the suggestion is that president obama has not been able to lead the same way, not been able to cross the aisle. do you think that's right? >> i think that president clinton was effective in crossing the aisle. and i think president

if you alive at this point and aware in the 1970's, then senator mondale pushed for this, and then bysupport by the senate and died on the president's death. this isn't the first time that the president is thinking of some sort of bold plan in his second term to try to do this, but it's at a heavy, heavy cost and the benefit is the question. we have a 48-year-old experiment that may it will us something about whether or not this will work, it's called head start. we've spent untold billions on head start since the johnson administration received more publicity, good publicity than any other federal program and the results are in. no long-term benefit to head start. now, why is that? i'm not against head start on principle. why hasn't it worked? shouldn't we figure it out before we mandate for everyone. >> you're talking the health and human services, while it helps them become more, kindergarten through third grade shows no benefit. as opposed to the control group and for what the president is proposing, 98 billion dollars over ten years, again, i think that people might be willing to

walter mondale, former vice president.dayton is here. and the mayor of st.paul. and your outstanding congressional delegation. senator al franken. rep. keith ellison, and rep. betty mccollum. i should knowledge my outstanding attorney general. -- acknowledge my outstanding attorney general. what is your name again? he does a great job every single day. i could not be prouder for his leadership on this issue. faction had a chance to sit down with community leaders and local police officers and folks who have been victims of our whose families have been victims of gun violence. to hear their ideas about how we can protect your kids and address the broader epidemic of gun violence in this country. if we're serious about preventing the kind of tragedy that happened in newtown or other places, law-enforcement and other leaders must have a seat at the table. all the folks standing here behind me today, they are the ones on the front line of this fight. they see the awful consequences, the lives lost, the families shattered, they

but walter mondale came out opposed. so we adjourned for the elections and failed to finalize a bill that year, two years before president reagan finally signed a bill. we returned in 1985 to pass our bill again. this year senator simpson included a provision to trigger the amnesty program only after enforcement measures to curtail illegal immigration were in place. doesn't that sound familiar? congress passed a final bill november 1986. the vote in the senate was 63-24. and the house vote was 238-173. over the years many members offered amendments to water down the enforcement provision in the simpson my -- ma -- in the simpson-mizzouli act in 1986. there was a lot of opposition to employer sanctions, especially by senator kennedy. he wanted, in his words -- quote -- "criminal penalties to be based only upon injunctive finding of a pattern or practice ." he tried to sunset the employer sanction. senator kennedy also fought hard to move the legalization cutoff date from 1980 to 1982 so that more people could benefit from

first of all, a wonderful man and one of america's greatest public everybody is vants is here walter mondalermer vice president. . your outstanding governor is here. [applause] two grate mayors, mayor of minnesota and mayor chris coleman of st. paul. >> and your outstanding congressional delegation. [applause] and i should acknowledge my outstanding attorney general. what's your name again? [laughter] >> he does a great job every single day and i could not be prouder of eric holder for his leadership on this issue in particular. now i just had a chance to sit down with some local police officers, but also community leaders, as well as folks who themselves have been victims or whose families have been victims of gun violence to hear their ideas about how we can protect our kids and address the broader epidemic of gun violence in this country. because if we're serious about preventing the kinds of tragedies that happened in newtown or the tragedies that happen every day in places like chicago or philadelphia or minneapolis. then law enforcement and other community leaders must have a seat at t