newt gingrich and mike huckabee have been campaigning for nathan deal while sarah palin is throwing her support to karen handel. >> are you ready to elect a pro-life, pro-second amendment, commonsense, constitutional conservative who will fight like a mama grizzly for you? >> reporter: if her candidate wins, she's guaranteed to be seen as the mama grizzly bear of her party headed into the

in georgia, nathan deal narrowly beat sarah palin's hand-picked candidate for governor. in connecticut, a former world wrestling executive, linda mcmahon, won the senate nomination. and in colorado, tea party candidate ken buck easily won the senate primary. >> now they're electing conditions in their primaries that are probably too conservative to win. >> reporter: but democrats are not counting their blessings just yet. republicans have high hopes of winning back the house. >> if they want to see last night as a good night, they ought to savor it, because there

they are nathan deale, a former congressman, in the first round, each candidate will enter a question from one of our three panelists. in the second round, the candidates will ask questions of a. one another each candidate will have time for rebuttal in this round. in the third round, the panelists will continue questioning the candidates. finally, each candidate will have 30 seconds to make a closing statement. before we get started, let's meet our three distinguished analyst. panelists. firsteri,n haynes, next, charles richardson, and our final panelist is a tragets -- is a tr biggeragets. let's get started with the debate. the first round as it can that being asked a question by one of our panelists. the candidates will have 60 seconds to answer each question and i will determine whether a rebuttal is necessary. karen handel gets the first question. >> good evening. welcome to both of you. over the weekend, the governor pledged to bring community to the republican party. are either of you willing to make the same pledge tonight? would both of you pledged to support the winner shoul

but nathan deal leads by 1,000 votes? guest: yeah.nd again we are waiting for the provisional ballots on that one. i think the interesting point on the minnesota one may be it's pawlenty senting himself up and how the 2012 fight is playing out. host: back to minnesota and talk about mark dayton re-entering the ring. he resigned from the senate not wanting to be in the senate. now he's decided to run for governor. guest: a lot of people say the political bug, you may hate it while you're up here, you miss it when you're gone. you hear a lot of former members talk about it. he's back and he made a statement in that race. host: spending a lot of his own money as well. host: jane, democratic line, good morning caller: good morning. time of year with campaigns, negative campaigns just really drop me -- drive me crazy. i have been a democrat for a long time. i think because i was brought up, that's the way we voted, i have seen the light and i believe i'm going to switch sides. i like tea party. one of the things i just disgust me about thi

. >>> and in the republican runoff for georgia governor, former congressman nathan deal is leading former secretary of state karen handel, but that race is too close to call. >>> defying advice from lawyers to keep quiet, new york congressman charles rangel took to the house floor yesterday, making it clear that when it comes to charges against him, he's not going without a fight. a defensive rangel said he's not resigning, despite 13 ethics charges against him from the house ethics committee. he denied he was corrupt and told fellow lawmakers that if they thought he should step down, they should just expel him, the harshest penalty in an ethics case. >> if it is the judgment of people here for whatever reason that i resign, then, heck. have the ethics committee expedite this. don't leave me swinging in the wind until november. >> reacting to rangel, house speaker nancy pelosi made it clear she wasn't pleased with his choice of forum, saying the ethics committee is the proper forum for ethics matters. >>> and now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. in n

. >> reporter: in the georgia gop gubernatorial runoff, former congressman nathan deal squared off against secretary of state karen handel. >> we are very encouraged by the numbers. we hope that they will hold. but i justted to come out and say thank you to all of you for all that you've done. this has been a great night to have for us. >> reporter: the contest had turned into a proxy race for 2012 republican presidential candidates. handel was endorsed by mitt romney and sarah palin. deal had newt gingrich and mike huckabee on his side. the highest profile race of the night was easily the democratic primary in colorado where senator michael bennet bested former state house speaker andrew romanoff. bennett, appointed to the seat, was branded the establishment candidate even though this was his first time on a ballot. in his corner, the endorser in chief, president barack obama. romanoff ran as the outsider despite his years in state politics. romanoff had the backing of former president bill clinton. bennet avoided becoming the third sitting senator this year to lose in a primary. t.j. win

pick in the republican primary for governor, karen handel, is pitted against former congressman nathan deal. some experts say the key to today's primaries is actually who shows up. democrats will be paying close attention to see if republican momentum is holding. a recent pew research study shows gop enthusiasm is at a 16 year high. 77% of republicans say they will definitely vote this year compared to 65% of democrats. a big motivating factor, the economy. >> on the national landscape, there is one single issue. and that's the economy. because the economy is so bad, it ends up being a referendum on the president. >> reporter: democrats head into november eager to maintain their majorities in congress, but republicans are just as eager to regain that control. and on november 2nd, all 435 seats in the house are up for grabs. 37 seats in the senate. emily, back to you. >> tara mergener in washington. thank you, tara. >>> as democrats fight to hold on to congress, long time democratic congressman maxine waters is fighting ethics charges. on monday, the house ethics panel formally accused water

the three-week runoff election between karen handel and nathan deal featured biting attack ads. handel was endorsed by sarah palin and deal by newt gingrich. >>> in minnesota, mark dayton won nomination for governor. he'll face republican state representative tom emmer. >>> a tropical depression has formed in the gulf of mexico and headed right toward the site of the oil spill. the storm center is located about 340 miles southeast from the mouth of the mississippi river. with winds of 35 miles per hour, it is expected to strengthen into a tropical storm today. >>> the approaching storm forced bp to stop working on a relief well designed to permanently plug the damaged well. work is expected to be suspended for two to three days. meanwhile, federal authorities announced tuesday that about 5,000 square miles of the gulf along the florida panhandle have reopened for commercial and recreational fishing. >>> in haiti, former president george bush got a firsthand look at rebuilding efforts following january's devastating earthquake. mr. bush visited a mango farm and a sewing factory t

in georgia, nathan deal narrowly beat sarah palin's hand-picked candidate for governor. in connecticut, a former world wrestling executive, linda mcmahon, won the senate nomination. and in colorado, tea party candidate ken buck easily won the senate primary. >> now they're electing conditions in their primaries that are probably too conservative to win. >> reporter: but democrats are not counting their blessings just yet. republicans have high hopes of winning back the house. >> if they want to see last night as a good night, they ought to savor it, because there aren't too many more good ones, election nights coming their way. >> reporter: one sign that president obama is slightly toxic right now -- >> do you want him to come back and campaign for you in colorado in the fall? >> reporter: today on "good morning america," obama's man in colorado didn't exactly welcome that help. >> well, you know, i just won the primary about six minutes ago, so we're going to have to give it some thought. >> reporter: the president's popularity has suffered, and that could spell trouble

they are nathan deal, a former congressman, and karen handel, a former secretary of state of georgia. here is our formats. in the first round, each candidate will answer a question from one of our three panelists. in the second round, the candidates will ask questions of one another. each candidate will have time for every bottle. in the third round, the panelists will continue questioning the candidate. finally, each candidate will have 30 seconds to make a closing statement. let's meet are three distinguished panelists selected by the atlanta press club. first, erin hayes, a writer for the associated press. next we have charles richardson. our final panelist is the reporter and producer for "morning edition" for public broadcasting and atlanta. first-round has each candidate being passed a question by one of our panelists. the candidates will have 60 seconds to answer each question. as a moderator, i will determine whether a rebuttal is necessary. >> good evening, secretary. this question is for both of you. over the weekend, the governor pledged to bring unity to the republican par

our thanks to the candidates, karen handel and nathan deal. and to our panel of journalists. we would also like to think the atlanta press club for arranging this debate. for more permission about the lack press club, you may visit their web site. the debates that air on george of public broadcasting will be archived on the press club's web site. the broadcast has been strained alive and will be available on demand on the website, gpb.org. we invited to stay tuned for the primary debate that the candidates and republican runoff for attorney general. that debate is coming up next. thanks. >> s club today series is made possible by donation from the late tom watson brown. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> in a few moments, a forum on the economic effect on community health centers. in an hour-and-a-half, two views of national security with retired general michael hayden of the cia and the former director of national intelligence, vice admiral mike mcconnell appeared after that, today's news confer

in the georgia gop gubernatorial runoff, former congressman nathan deal squared off against secretaryce had turned into a proxy race for 2012 republican presidential candidates. handel was endorsed by mitt romney and sarah palin. deal had newt gingrich and mike huckabee on his side. >> we are very encouraged by the numbers. we hope that they will hold. but i just wanted to come out and say, thank you to all of you for all that you've done. this has been a great night for us. >> reporter: the highest-profile race of the night was easily the democratic senate primary in colorado, where senator michael bennet bested former state house speaker andrew romanoff. bennet, appointed to the seat, was branded the establishment candidate even though this was actually his first time on the ballot. in his corner, the endorser in chief, president barack obama. romanoff ran as the outsider despite his years in state politics. romanoff had the backing of former president bill clinton. bennett avoided becoming the third sitting senator this year to lose in a primary. rob and vinita? >> our thanks to t.

>> lehrer: and former congressman nathan deal, endorsed by two other potential presidential contenders, newt gingrich and mike huckabee. handel conceded the tight race today, clearing the way for deal to face democratic former governor roy barnes. in connecticut, republicans nominated linda mcmahon for the u.s. senate she's former head of world wrestling entertainment. >> linda mcmahon said she wouldn't take money from special interests either. well, how much did she take? not a dime! >> lehrer: in fact, mcmahon spent more than $20 million of her wrestling fortune in the primary. she'll take on long-time democratic attorney general richard blumenthal to fillhe seat of retiring democrat chris dodd. and to "newshour" political editor david chalian. now there are themes to be read into these results, beginning with colorado. let's start there. >> yes, the democratic senate race in colorado, as you said there in the piece, jim, very welcome news at the white house today because they avoided the headlines of the obama political operation is out of sorts. they won one here and won it big by

especially with nathan deal, i'm always interested in what they're doing. host: thank you. will turn our conversation to proposed changes to lobbyist registration with our guest. first, an update. >> an update on the aid workers killed last week in afghanistan -- the u.s. embassy spokesman embassykabul says the remains of four are being flown back to the u.s. the families of two other american victims asked that they be buried in afghanistan where they have lived for many years. as for the war in that country, "usa today" says afghan troops have hit the two would of 40,000 goal, three months ahead of schedule. the size and quality of afghan forces will be a central part of the white house review in december. today at the white house the president focuses on iraq in a meeting with his national security team and the security commander over in iraq by videoconference. next, the president signs a security enhancement act. those are some of the latest headlines. >> book tv has been finding out about the new books coming out this fall. >> is an interesting and more. how did this

but she became 2500 votes short of a 17-year washington, d.c., fixture of nathan deal, one of the most corrupt members of congress. the tea party ca ashore and i did not think you can reconcile differences between a thin deal and the tea party. host: what do you mean by that? reconcile differences? caller: i do not think d.c professional politicians, being consistent wh the tea party movement which is back to a limited government and limited spenng when nathan deal never saw a spending bill he did not like. host: have you been to the website? caller: not yet. i will vis there. host: you have not heard about it? caller: sure. it could do you consider yourself a member of the tea party? caller: i do. host: why? caller: i think the republican party has failed the conservative side of america address that way and got very far away from the constitution, balanced budgets, and the sorts of things that i as a fiscal conservative like to see happening in government. host: is the tea party movement were to overtake the republican party, what would be the republican party's new brand? caller: ne

but she became 2500 votes short of a 17-year washington, d.c., fixture of nathan deal, one of the most corrupt members of congress. the tea party came ashore and i did not think you can reconcile differences between a thin deal and the tea party. host: what do you mean by that? reconcile differences? caller: i do not think d.c., professional politicians, being consistent with the tea party movement which is back to a limited government and limited spending when nathan deal never saw a spending bill he did not like. host: have you been to the website? caller: not yet. i will visit there. host: you have not heard about it? caller: sure. it could do you consider yourself a member of the tea party? caller: i do. host: why? caller: i think the republican party has failed the conservative side of america address that way and got very far away from the constitution, balanced budgets, and the sorts of things that i as a fiscal conservative like to see happening in government. host: is the tea party movement were to overtake the republican party, what would be the republican party's new brand?

her opponent nathan deal is backed by former presidential candidate mike huckabee. >> it's so important that we elect her. >> reporter: out west, john mccain rallied support in the colorado senate primary. and in connecticut, the gop hopes a national wave of enthusiasm with outsiders will help them quoefr run the u.s. senate seat democrat chris dodd held for five terms. heading in to the primary, polls show pro wrestler executive linda mcmahon, wife of vince, is expected to beat former congressman rob sim ons for the republican endorsement. and linda mcmahon has already spent more than $20 million of her own money on her campaign. she's expected to face democrat and connecticut attorney general richard blumenthal in november. >> whit johnson, thank you. >>> drilling continues in the gulf to complete the relief well. and permanently stop the oil flow from bp's blownout well. the relief well is now within 30 feet of the main shaft. as early as friday, engineers could begin pumping mud and see nmt to to permanently kill the well. >>> and a case of mcnugget rage. surveillance individual yoe

the runoff for the gubernatorial nomination pitting nathan deal against ex-secretary of state karen handelsarah palin endorsed handel. >>> in colorado with the backing of president obama, in couple ben michael bennett won the u.s. senate nominations. he faces republican and tea party favorite ken buck. in connecticut former wrestling executive linda mcmahon easily captured the republican senate nomination. in october she'll face attorney general richard blumenthal. she told erica she'll spend $50 million of her own money on that campaign. >> well, the money i'm spending in this race i have clearly earned. i'm investing in myself to be a public servant. >> mcmahon and blumenthal are battling for the seat held by retiring senator chris dodd. >>> president obama continues focusing on the economy this week. mr. obama signs a bill boosting manufacturing by $4.6 billion and to help cut the trade deficit. it could support 90,000 jobs by cutting tariffs on some materials. yesterday mr. obama signed the jobs bill that is supposed to save 300,000 jobs of teachers, police officers and others. >>> esc

newt gingrich and mike huckabee have been campaigning for nathan deal while sarah palin is throwing her support to karen handel. >> are you ready to elect a pro-life, pro-second amendment, commonsense, constitutional conservative who will fight like a mama grizzly for you? >> reporter: if her candidate wins, she's guaranteed to be seen as the mama grizzly bear of her party headed into the midterms. these are obviously state races but with the midterm elections coming up and 2012 looming in the distance it's all about positioning. and, george, there's a lot at stake. >> sure is. for more we're joined by donna brazile, from washington, and mary matalin from new orleans. good morning to both of you. donna, let me begin with you. as david pointed out while these races are going on in colorado especially the president's in texas, the gubernatorial candidate in texas does not appear with the president on the tarmac. is he becoming toxic in these democratic races? >> well, george, all politics is local. we've heard that before. look, the president is gravy, what you need in every campaign is a

he is being challenged by a former republican congressman nathan deal. have seen barnes troubling stayed pretty much apologizing for his first term and saying he would like another chance. deal is regrouping after a tough primary runoff. he does have some ethics problems the democrats will remind voters of on a daily basis. i think this is going to be a close race. host: we have about 15 minutes left with the coca of political reporting. -- the cook political report gang. next call from indiana. caller: if you compare this race with 1994 with newt gingrich coming in, is it similar to that? guest: you have that sense that all politics is local and then you have these brave elections. in 1994 you had a pub -- republican wave and in 2006 a democratic wave. it is not exactly the same dynamics that existed in 1994, but close enough. democrats had a lot of open seats in that election, lot more retirements that left them vulnerable in a lot of ways. but on the of iran, the economy in 1994 was -- but on the other hand, the economy in 1994 was stronger. the elemen

backed by sarah palin and called her one of the mama grizzlies she's backing and former congressman nathan deal backed by mike huckabee and newt gingrich. this one is just too close to call right now. fewer than 1% of the votes separate them and there could be a recount here, and finally up in connecticut, a big race on the republican side, linda mcmahon, the former head of world wrestling entertainment, won the republican primary after spending $22 million in the primary. she's going to face the attorney general democrat richard blumenthal. he faced questions about whether he exaggerated his war record in vietnam. that's going to be the november matchup right now. we spoke with linda mcmahon, but first, i talked to senator bennet. congratulations, senator. that's your first win ever, right? you were appointed to the seat before. >> yeah, i've never run for dog catcher before. it feels pretty good. >> i bet you it does. it was a tougher challenge than you expected. you did have the backing of president obama in this primary. republicans are saying they'll make that the issue. here's senator joh

. >> if you look at what nathan deal is going to have to explain over the course of the primary, that may be the least of his concerns in terms of ethics investigations currently ongoing. i think having -- the last i checked, the results of that race or within a few thousand votes, which means that you have a divided party with someone in roy barnes who has a track record that georgia can be proud of. you still have a very splintered party. i think you are hard pressed to see whether gubernatorial races in georgia, connecticut, colorado, and senate races in connecticut and colorado. democrats did not have an extraordinarily good night and are faced with candidates that i think are largely out of step with states and areas that they wish to ultimately represent. >> following up on sam's question, in your view, is a rock as success story -- is iraq a success story? [inaudible] >> i would say that there are -- as i enumerated, i think that there is progress that the iraqis leading and being responsible for their own country now are going to have to make. again, i think that what has neve

the former congressman in washington representative nathan deal says that he would be very much in favor of legislation almost identical to the law that was supposed to go into effect july 29 in arizona before the federal district judge, bulletin i believe it was, put a restraining order on that long going into affect. -- on that law going into affect. i would think that they would probably be in favor of what you appear to be in favor of. i want to make sure that everyone in the room understands that the arizona law is fine. i would be totally opposed to racial profiling, but to basically assist the federal government in doing their job in regard to securing our borders and making folks that are here illegally go home and come in the right way. come back on a temporary worker program or get in the line. not push their way to the front. we would not like that very much on saturday night at the movie theater if somebody did that. let's have them do with the right way. as i understand the arizona law, it is saying to the federal government that if you do not have the manpower and you do no

candidates for governor in those states and also a republican runoff in georgia for governor between nathan dealnd karen handle. why is this race so competitive? >> it's another proxy showdown. karen handle came from behind after sarah palin came in and endorsed her. she won the initial race a few weeks ago. this is a runoff between her and the second-place finisher who has been endorsed by mike huckabee. so this is -- >> some are saying this is a test of the strength of endorsements for 20 1. >> absolutely. >> sarah palin really brought handle's campaign significantly behind in the polls then palin steps? all of a sudden she has all kinds of support. and mike huckabee endorsed late. >> casey hunt with politico. thank you. >> thank you. >> and you can watch tonight con cession speeches of these candidates on c-span and c-span.org. >> congressman tom price from georgia's sixth district. also the republican study committee chairman. >> thanks so much for allowing me to come. >> talk to us about the vote today for this $21 billion aid package. how are you feeling about it? what are your concerns? g

presidential proxy fight with newt gingrich and mike huckabee on one side supporting former congressman nathan deal and sarah palin on on the other side, in support of her mama grisly, karen handel. >> show the nation how you are ready to bring it on, georgia. >> reporter: a political comeback is being attempted by mark dayton, he's trying to become his party's nominee for governor. >> chuck todd in washington for us. thank you, chuck. >>> uss john mccain docked in vietnam today as two former enemy nations mark 15 years of renewed diplomatic ties. the destroyer is named for admiral john mccain sr. and junior, the grandfather and father of arizona senator john mccain who was held as a p.o.w. during the vietnam war. >>> now 7:12 pacific time. back to meredith, matt and al. >> thank you very much, natalie. mr. roker here with the first check of the weather. >> in dillingham, alaska, 48 degrees and raining. you see on the satellite, we haveot chauds and showers, nothing horrible right now, but the weather isot deteriorating, expect showers right over the next 36 hours there. as we take a look at the re

sarah palin's choice, karen handel, and the former congress man, nathan deal, are so tight in this race, they may be headed to a recount. ann? >> kelly o'donnell, thank you. >>> former world wrestling entertainment ceo linda mcmahon is a newly minted republican nominee for connecticut's u.s. senate seat. mrs. mcmahon, good morning and congratulations. >> good morning, ann, and thank you very much. >> still in the glow of your victory i've got to ask you about something you said last night. you said you didn't buy your victory, you earned it. but you did spend $22 million more than seven times than your opponent spent on this campaign. and you have said that you're willing to spend up to $50 million now to win the general election. so if you don't need to spend money to get this nomination, and you can earn it, then why are you spending so much money? >> well, i certainly started out way behind in terms of public recognition, name recognition. i've not been part of the political scene ever before. opponents have had a long head start, so it was important for me to get good name recogniti