oberstar: we need to restore the construction grant program. we need to invest substantially more, on the federal government side, as an inducement to states and local governments to make the investments they need to make. man: but the federal role is going to continue to be diminished because of so many competing demands. so the expectation that the federal government will step in and infuse a lot of capital into water infrastructure, i think, is doubtful. and whether they should or not, i think, will continue to be debated. narrator: where money continues to be elusive, some cities and towns are turning their assets over to private companies, hoping the private sector can find the solutions they cannot. man: in the u.s., roughly 90% of all water and wastewater systems are still publicly owned and publicly managed. the remaining 10% are managed by privately held companies. man: the private sector has learned to become very efficient, and frequently a municipality can save themselves a significant amount of money by bringing in a private compan

oberstar: the federal government has let down municipalities. the first investment under the '72 clean water act was to deal with the biggest waste streams. and after a period of six or seven years, to then go to municipalities under 250,000 population. but that was just about the time when the federal government converted to a loan program. so smaller-sized communities have had to deal with repayable loans. a larger cost on a smaller tax base, and, arguably, less affluent communities. man: sewickley township is a rural farming community, however, herminie itself would be considered to be the downtown area of the township. it's the agways, the auto-parts store, the bank. it's your typical small-town village. man: people think that rural areas are pristine and perfect and everybody has a nice, simple life. that's, uh, not exactly the situation here. when you come into town in the summer, you know you're coming to herminie. woman: the aroma in 90-degree days... can sometimes just want to knock you over. woman: we have water. we have power, we have

oberstar charting the audience which is not the way they vote.y 69 percent last time. new york immigrant fast talking new yorker he's winning votes down there in despite lacking north carolina draw. that's pretty amazing. the jersey six it's the scott district. >> frank malone is my congressman. he is working harder this year than he has for a long time. the only poll in the race by a dozen points and he virtually has no financial resources but he is playing quote of frank palone saying it is not the president's it was my bill. it's important to note president obama did well in 2008 with 61 percent of the vote. he carried the

he and jim oberstar agree about the scope and dimension of the six-year bill that wave got to reauthorizehere's hope here. if there's one area that we can maybe get off on a right foot after the election, it's infrastructure. because of its history, because of its tradition, and because, look, the unemployment news, the economic news is stark. after the election, i believe, and again, i know this sounds like i'm a naive fool, but i believe that we've got to act in the best interest of the country. and this works. this absolutely works. we can show it, state by state. we can show the significant number of jobs that were produced, again, on the construction site, back in the factories. reat for american manufacturing. and it fulfills a substantiative need. do you want to hear a shocking statistic, rachel? the army corps of engineers needed to spend a little under $7 million to repair the levees in new orleans before katrina. we didn't get the money and now we've spent $16 billion in new orleans, the federal government. >> john micah, who you described correctly as the ranking member on the

spratt, skeleton, oberstar. they are saying you need to keep us, we are very powerful and we've shown you through our many years we are in tune with the district and conservative. what the opponents are saying and what voters are saying, wait a minute, if you are as powerful as you are, and you are in tune with this district why were you not stopping nancy pelosi? there's a bar that is being set for them is somewhat higher than some democrats out there. they are saying you had a responsibility to step up and you didn't. >> paul: let's look at an ad that the national republican campaign committee is running in spratt's district. >> announcer: for years he wasn't listening to south carolina. since nancy pelosi took over he's become a rubber stamp. cap and trade energy tax, sprat voted yes, wall street bailout, yes. wasteful stimulus bill, you betcha. obama's health care bill, spratt yes, yes every time. he works for her. >> paul: a -- in the past a lot of these candidates culturally conservatives some pro-life, a

the striking thing for me was that chairman oberstar said we believe there will be republican support for this. if you look at the tradition of the house and the senate on transportation bills, if you look at the votes, they have been done in a bipartisan way. >> you say this is one of the greatest things you can do to create jobs. why didn't you do this a year ago? >> you all know the answer to that. the president inherited a mess when he came here. he tried to address the economic mess, there were other priorities for the administration. i don't think anybody doubts the president is willing to take on big things and get them accomplished, and persuade congress to pass them. now it happens that transportation and infrastructure has moved up to the top. >> the house is waiting for the senate to introduce the transportation bill. the senate cannot decide how to pay for it. what is your input? >> the president made it very clear at this meeting today, this will be paid for. this will not be put on the dept. we will be looking at a lot of recommendations and we will be consulting with ch

oberstar reporters to responded in kind. moderators' ask for stability but the catcalls and jeering continued through most of the 90-minute forum, drowning out the candidates' answers due to a faulty sound system that lacked volume. "the daily beast" did an interview with bob dornan, former representative and presidential candidate. if you have ever watched c-span in the past you remember bob dornan down on the floor. 77 right now and retired. congresswoman sanchez, who beat him in 1996 or 1998. here is a little bit of bob dornan this morning. central plank of the tea party is challenging conservatives who strayed from the truth. once upon -- upon a time bob dornan was a soldier for george h. w. bush's's 1992 campaign and supported george w. -- but the father left does bill clinton who corrupted the morals of high-school kids. oral sex is not sex and the son left us of the solomons the community organizer. what more can a father-a son do for america? if there is entranced -- intrench republican in his sights, newt gingrich.

recently people who are not accustomed to this, jim oberstar chairs the transportation committee fromminnesota district. the duluth paper said he's in a three-point race up there and was not accustomed to this. >> john, how much trouble -- we had the picture up there. barney frank, how much trouble is he in? i know he called in bill clinton to campaign for him. i think some people will be surprised to see his name on the list. >> it is surprising. it's an indication that as we've known and talked about, this is not a normal year. it would be a huge shock if barney frank doesn't survive this scare. if this really ask not a wave, but a tsunami, you'll see people like barney frank get washed out. i think he's up in his race and expected to win. he's woken up and said, wait a minute, this could be a real race. >> still the favorite, but will have to fight for it. we'll check back with you later in the show. >> see you soon. >>> new rumors surrounding president obama's 2012 ticket. will it include joe biden and who might replace him? >>> our first look at lebron james and the newly despise

the one to keep an eye on is jim oberstar from minnesota.one of three watergate babies left in the house, the class of '74. there are three left and he's one of them. this summer, he said he did not have a race at all and he suddenly has one now. it could be one of those scenarios where they don't see it coming and that it's too late. >> what have you seen on the campaign trail is surprisingly good and surprisingly bad. >> the democrat nominee for the senate, a race thought to be very competitive. the last financial report, he showed very little money on hand. on the republican side, she could still win, but meg whitman in california has spent $150 million. jerry brown, every poll right now, he is winning. so those have been a letdown. >> i think i would add dick blumenthal to that despite the fact he's likely to win at the moment. he has surprised a lot of people. >> i'm going to go to you for an audience question. is it the mama grisly label a good thing? you will forgive me for noting that -- >> [laughter] >> i think it is politically pot