positions in the house and senate, and you had long-term democratic control in t and larry is tex perthe southern stronghold for a whole host of reasons that most of us would agree with, so that blacks, so that women, so that consumers and environmentalists could enter into the political equation. and what happened in 1980 is the system becomes competitive. republicans actually win in the senate and these swings are back and forth by one or two votes on every election. it is one thing to watch a football game and it's 55-0 and everybody is picking each other up and patting them over. put them in overtime and the super bowl and they're going for each other in a hard way. and as long as you have parties that have a strategic interest and either maintaining power or trying to recover power, you're going to have a competitive situation. my feeling is it's not because of men of goodwill that are having a problem. it's just that the american political system since about 1980 has been very competitive and swinging back and forth and narrow majorities in the house and senate and it make for a

cable satellite corp. 2009] later, another chance to see interviews with supreme court justices john perts and john palm stevens. coverage of financial markets was discussed at a conference hosted by the university of virginia. you will hear remarks from several financial journalists including robert samuelson of the washington post and alan murave "the wall street journal." this san hour and 15 minutes. >> standing here tonight in this historic ug splendid building, i wonder what some of the founders of the republic might have thought about the subject of our discussion today and tomorrow, how do we govern through debt and deficits? in fact, both of -- most of them had some acquaintance with the subject of debt and deficits. alexander hamilton, for example, the first secretary of the treasury, is said to have said "a national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing." end of quote. mr. jefferson, who didn't always follow his advice to others, said, "never spend your money before you have it." now, i've often thought too that what we have here tonight is a discussion