congratulations to reince priebus. the big issue is going to be can we gain back the senate and the white house. if we do not, there will be a lot of questions and soul- searching. you can give hundreds of dollars. if you did not win, will not mean anything. we will see. congratulations to reince priebus. we will see what happens in the future. >> thank you for the call. we will go to indianapolis. you are on c-span. >> i am call in because i am glad the man won. i am disappointed about of the people who are sitting -- who are standing around and not fitting down that thing us see what is going on. we cannot see what is going on i think that is very bad. >> your reaction to the election of reince priebus as rnc chairman. >> i am happy. i am the president of the brave republican women federated. i think this is a new start. we are ready to do great things in 2011. >> on that note, we will thank you for your call. you can see a portion of this rnc meeting. we have the whole thing for you on our website at c-span.org. the

reince priebus. [applause] i have been involved in politics for some time, and i have watched over the last dozen or so years the courier and leadership that reince priebus has brought to our party and our state, culminating several years ago when he became our leader. immediately upon becoming chairman, he retired are dead, he ran the house -- he retired our debt. he raised record amounts of money. he recruited conservative candidates. he represented us wonderfully to the media. he stayed on message. he wrapped us -- wrapped his arms around the various coalition groups to include the tea party, and the results showed it on november 2. never in history of our state have return of our state around. governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, both houses, and two congressional seats. a state that was totally black and blue became totally red. and now he is offering to bring that kind of leadership to our national party. reince is the leader that we need to unify our committee, bring the resources

. >> my name is reince priebus. if you need some help with comedy central, i'm sure you can google it. >> reporter: after seven rounds of voting friday, reince priebus captured the chairman manship of the republican national committee. >> and now, i exit stage right. >> reporter: out is the controversial and outspoken michael steele, who, despite sweeping g.o.p. victories in the 2010 midterms, was at times at odds with his own party. >> if you don't want me in the job, fire me. but until then, shut up. >> reporter: he was criticized for his verbal gaffes. >> not in the history of mankind has the government ever created a job. >> reporter: most damaging were the accusations stool mismanaged the rnc, running up a $22 million debt. >> in the end he was a punch line in the media. >> reporter: as party chair in wisconsin, priebus helped republicans win the governorship and a new senate seat. he even served under steele as general counsel to the r.n.c., but priebus faces tremendous challenges during his two-year term. bey

[ laughter ] reince priebus?sounds like the type of wine you'd bring to a dinner party you got suckered into going to. "hey, how you doing? my and my wife picked out some reince priebus. hey, great place here. [ laughter ] you got a dog? you don't? oh. [ laughter ] this isn't good. the faa says that nearly 3,000 airline pilots were blinded by laser beams last year. [ laughter ] i'm just glad we're getting that from the faa and not the pilots. can you imagine like hearing, "hey, folks, this is your captain speaking. don't want to alarm anyone here, but i've been blinded by laser beams. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] so, if you look to your right, can you please tell me where the hell i am, because i got blinded by laser beams. [ laughter ] it looks like we are probably going to get in around -- well, "looks" is a funny word. [ laughter ] i'm not looking anymore, because laser beams completely blinded me." [ laughter ] listen to this, a new study found that most friends actually share similar genetic informat

reince priebus.p that reince priebus has brought to our party and our state, culminating several ars ago when he came our leader. immediately upon becoming chairman, he retired are dead, he ran the house -- he retired our debt. he raised recordmounts of money. he recruited conservative candidates. he represented us wonderfully to the media. he stayed on message. he wrapped us -- wrapped his arms around the various coalition groups to include the tea party, and the results showed it on november 2. never in history of our state have return of our state around. governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, both houses, and two congressional seats. a state that was totally black and blue became totally red. and now he is offering to bring that kind of leadership to our national party. reince is the leader that we need to unify our committee, bring the resources we so bad need if we are going to succeed and build on the successes that we enjoyed in 2010 in 2012. i urge yo support for the next generatio

reince priebus. [applause] i have been involved in politics for some time, and i have watched over the last dozen or so years the courier and leadership that reince priebus has brought to our party and our state, culminating several years ago when he became our leader. immediately upon becoming chairman, he retired are dead, he ran the house -- he retired our debt. he raised record amounts of money. he recruited conservative candidates. he represented us wonderfully to the media. he stayed on message. he wrapped us -- wrapped his arms around the various coalition groups to include the tea party, and the results showed it on november 2. never in history of our state have return of our state around. governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, both houses, and two congressional seats. a state that was totally black and blue became totally red. and now he is offering to bring that kind of leadership to our national party. reince is the leader that we need to unify our committee, bring the resources

reince priebus. [applause] i have been involved in politics at 37 years and have watched over the last dozen years the career and leadership that reince has brought to our party and our state, culminating a couple of years ago when he became our leader. immediately upon becoming chairman he retired our debt. he ran the house. he hired the best people. he raised record amounts of money. he included numerous candidates. he represented as wonderfully. he stayed on message. he wrapped his arms around various coalition groups to include the two-party and the resultant -- the results november 2 showed it. never before in the history of our state have we turned our sit around. governor, both houses, the u.s. senate and two congressional seats. a state that was totally black and blue came totally red. hawes a casa -- became totally red. now he is offering that kind of leadership to our national party. reince is the leader that we need to unify our committee, bring the resources that we so badly need if we ar

reince priebus. yes? reince priebus.he republican national committee elected him the new head of the party on friday, replacing michael steele. let me ask you bill kristol, who is reince priebus? what does his selection say about the direction of the g.o.p.? >> he was wisconsin state chairman in the last cycle and wisconsin did extremely well -- >> electing republican governor. senator. >> considering an upset, the republicans have both house of the state legislature. a good political mechanic. it puts, it gives yet another feather in wisconsin's cap. the packers yesterday. [ laughter paul ryan at the center of things in washington. very impressive new governor scott walker who is going to take jobs from illinois. >> chris: what does it say about the party and where they're headed? it clearly says we don't need a high visibility spokesman like michael steele. we need a nuts and bolts guy. >> absolutely. that's what he ran on and what he'll do. >> he was the nuts and bolt guy for michael steele. let me hit an off-note. th

priebus and back down this way. >> this is about choices. life is about choices. god gives us different talents and given a gift. everybody up here is a good person. i'm not running against anybody paid i'm running -- i'm not running against anybody. i'm running for rnc chairman at time of different needs. chairman to his would-be workers, who is going to put on a great convention, at tackle redistricting. i have demonstrated that i can do all that as chairman in wisconsin. as i've said many times, we learned how to work with the conservative movement. i'm asking everybody in this room for your support. i know not everybody can vote for me, but if god bless me to be chairman of this party, all of us are going to have to work as a team to get it done to save our country and in turn to save our party and win in 2012 and take back the white house. thank you, and god bless you. [applause] >> i would like to thank our sponsors for this opportunity. i want to thank the members, and the members of the republican national committee, the 168 members, thank you for allowing

priebus faces several big challenges. he has to dig the party out of a $22 million debt and prepare the republicans to take on president obama in 2012. he also has to try to unite party members in the midst of an identity crisis brought on by the rise of the tea party movement. some republican donors who were unhappy with the previous chairman, michael steele, ended up giving money to outside groups instead. >>> and a commission of current and retired military officers recommends the pentagon allow women to serve in combat. thousands of women have served in iraq and afghanistan, but always in combat support roles. if the recommendation is approved by congress and the president, it would be the third largest social change to the armed forces in the past year. the other policy changes involve allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, and allowing navy women to serve on submarines. >>> the sun of president ronald reagan suggests his father was still in office while the beginning stages of alzheimer's diseas

he'll be replaced by a former supporter, wisconsin republican party chief reince priebus. >>> on wall street today, stocks marched higher, reaching levels not seen in 2 1/2 years. the dow closed up more than 55 points at 11,787. >>> when we come back, pope john paul ii, a step closer to becoming a saint. what happens next? >>> pope john paul ii died in 2005, and now six years later, he's one step closer to becoming a saint. pope benedict is leading the process, but the beatification of his predecessor is not without controversy. here's nbc's anne thompson. ♪ >> reporter: from the funeral, the cry "sainthood now" is one miracle away from being answered. this may, the church will beatify the man who redefined the papacy in the modern age. working to topple communism. traveling the world, reaching out to other faiths. a media superstar, now on his way to becoming a saint at a record pace. >> he made christianity interesting in a world that thought that christianity was fading to the margins of history. >> reporter: to achieve sainthd, two miracs must be attributed to the person. today, p

priebus called for unity.ys his party has to, quote, get on track to defeat president obama in 2012, end quote. >>> new flood warnings in australia this morning, as more heavy rains continue to pound the country. in brisbane, however, the cleanup has begun, now that most of the water has receded, leaving behind a thick sludge. in all, more than 30,000 homes and businesses were flooded. the complete cleanup is expected to take months. >>> and finally, las vegas is known for high-rollers. now, they have a hamburger all their own. a restaurant at the mandalay bay is selling a burger, wait for it, for $5,000. >> what? >> it's made from kobe beef, topped with foie gras and black truffles. but really you're dropping 5 grand for a bottle of wine, said to be one of the best merlots ever produced. apparently, the burger is something of a throw-in. the chef says he expects to sell five or six of these this year. and i will note, it will be $2 extra for cheese. >> you made that up. >> my parents tell an immigrant story a

my name is reince priebus. i know it is a tough name. and i just want to thank you grover, tucker for putting this on. and i am running because i believe the ve american idea is at stake in this election. our country is about to walk off of the fiscal cliff, and as all of you know, pretty soon we want more people writing the wagon been driving by and. the are in a in -- the rnc needs to restore the trust and confidence of the major donors, a grass-roots activists. when i took over as chairman of the wisconsin gop, we haveoads of debt in did not a lot to build on. we did it the right way. we did it with conservatives like scott walker, our new governor. and our new u.s. senator defeating russ feingold. sean duffy. we flipped both houses of the legislator. we won five out of eight congressional districts. we did it the right way. we did it together with the conservative movement. once in thrall -- we can be darn proud to go to the polls on election day and said that is th kind of republican i want to vote for. you know why? because our rep

guest: right now it is reince priebus. he has the most public supporters, trailed by chairman steele. over the weekend, some of his previous detractors have come out with memos complaining that he is too closely aligned with the current rnc chairman, mr. steele, who has weathered a barrage of criticism in the weeks since the november midterms. whether or not that is enough to knock him off his black as the front-runner, remains in question -- off his block as the front-runner remains in question. host: where does that put michael steele? caller: it looks like michael steele will have a really hard time returning as chairman. politico did a canvas of the members and 88 have said they will not vote for the chairman. that would more or less in him. he has between 15 and 20 public commitments right now. there are enough people coalescing around anybody but him. it looks like he will have a really hard time winning in the indy. -- end. host: who votes on this and when will that take place? caller: the debate takes place on a fa

priebus and back down this way. >> this is about choices. life is about choices. god gives us different talents and given a gift. everybody up here is a good person. i'm not running against anybody paid i'm running -- i'm not running against anybody. i'm running for rnc chairman at time of different needs. chaman to his would-be workers, who is going to put on a great convention, at tackle redistricting. i have demonstrated that i can do all that as chairman in wisconsin. as i've said many times, we learned how to work with the conservative movement. i'm asking everybody in this room for your support. i know not everybody can vote for me, but if god bless me to be chairman of this party, all of us are going to have to work as a team to get it done to sa our country and in turn to save our party and win in 2012 and take back the white house. thank you, and god bless you. [applause] >> i would like to thank our sponsors for this opportunity. i want to thank the members, and the members of the republican national committee, the 168 members, thank you for allowing me

probably a race between priebus and wagner. host: the budget situation for the republican national committee, they think a $20 million shortfall in the next year. saying that is priority one. almost refering to dialing for dollars to offset the deficit. here is more from yesterday's debate. >> i think in the future we do need to fully fund the tv effort across the board, whoever that may be pared the states, the rnc, and it comes down to money, resources. you heard the estimates. i think everyone here would agreeing that the number one challenge to moving forward is raising about $400 million over the next two years, which basically means that the next chairman as going to be sitting in the office for five or six hours a day, running from major donor list, setting up meetings, national finance network and team in order to fully fund all of the programs. we cannot go into 2012 having to make decisions between which the effort we fund and which one we don't. host: one of five candidates for rnc care. -- chair. did he close the de

and he has been replaced by, diane, get used to this name, rineince priebus. he is the former republican chair in wisconsin, and is now the new chairman of the republican party. >> thank you, jon karl, reporting tonight from capitol hill. >>> and, an extraordinary event to tell you about overseas, here in washington and around the world, everyone watched what they are calling the twitter uprising. an extraordinary act of daring in the country of tunisia. people took to the streets, rose up and forced out one of the toughest dictators on earth. so, how did tweets change the world today? here's lama hasan. >> reporter: anger erupted onto the streets today. riot police rushing a crowd carrying banners reading "yes we can." using tear gas and then live rounds to disperse them. it was enough to bring down the government and force the nation's president to flee. for 23 years, the president's grip on the nation has been brutal. and then, there was a wikileaks revelation. leaked messages from the u.s. outlining the lavishly corrupt lifestyle of the president and his f

. >> so the new chairman is reince priebus. he's an unknown face. he'll be leading the republican party into the next presidential election. what can we expect from someone who doesn't have much experience on the national stage. >> i think it's great that you pronounced his name for me. reince priebus. that's a show stopper. he's mentioned the tea party openly. overtly christian. seems to love sarah palin. loves eating moose steak. all these indications are that he's a man of at least the center-right. and he seems to be a guy that wants to bring together tea party people with the regular party and make that an organized political force as sort of a combination. also being from wisconsin is key. you know the industrial states, like everybody knows, is really going to be the key battleground for the presidential election in 2012 from pennsylvania to wisconsin. a pretty smart move geographically. >> congress took a week off to deal with the shock of the tragedy in tucson and because of what happened both sides were saying, hey, let's tone down the pol

my name is reince priebus. i know it is a tough name. and i just want to thank you grover, tucker for putting this on. and i am running because i believe the very american idea is at stake in this election. our country is about to walk off of the fiscal cliff, and as all of you know, pretty soon we want more people writing the wagon been driving by and. the are in a in -- the rnc needs to restore the trust and confidence of the major donors, a grass-roots activists. when i took over as chairman of the wisconsin gop, we have loads of debt in did not a lot to build on. we did it the right way. we did it with conservatives like scott walker, our new governor. and our new u.s. senator defeating russ feingold. sean duffy. we flipped both houses of the legislator. we won five out of eight congressional districts. we did it the right way. we did it together with the conservative movement. once in thrall -- we can be darn proud to go to the polls on election day and said that is the kind of republican i want to vote for. you know why? because ou

so along with priebus, you have others, all of whom have at least ten public supporters. those make up the top tier. the second i would put collins, and chairman steele in that second tier. it's going to be tougher for any of those three candidates to win at the end of the day. host: 2012 presidential politics,articularly on the republican side of the i'll but we'll also touch base with some of the docrats, is our topic for the next 35 minutes. reid wilson is our guest. the numbers are on the screen. ohio is where our first call comes from. dan for indents. caller: my question was do you feel that's predictable that the rising influence of the tea party will weaken the republican candidate to the point that the in fighting will ultimately lead to a democratic victoryor obama or whoever else may be running at that time? and how will the republican party manage that in fighting process at that point? guest: that's a really good question and i think there's going to be some impornt stuff to watch in the fst couple of months to watch. one of the first things that members of c

. >> michael steele is out as rnc chairman and reinc erke priebus in. >> it's the blocking and tackling. michael steele was criticized in part because he couldn't raise enough money during a great time to raise money as a republican for getting too much attention. they want grassroots organization. that's what matters as you get closer to 2012. this is a new leader who's seen as having a better capacity to do that to work with campaigns, governors, et cetera, to get that in a better financial footing. the rnc on better financial footing. >> thank you very much. >> thanks, jenna. >> liz francis is at the news desk with a look at the headlines. >> good morning. we begin in brazil where they are bracing for severe thunderstorms and flooding today. floods and mud slides killed more than 600 people. officials haven't been able to get to remote villages forcing people to fend for themselves. some are walking for hours in the heat and the rain just to look for food and water. >>> tunisia is on its third leader in 24 hours. the parliament speaker, now the interim president, is holding talks to

priebus has been chairman of the wisconsin republican party since 2007. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to jim. >> lehrer: the obama administration today called on china to help solve a number of the world's problems, including reining in north korea. ray suarez has our story. >> america and china have arrived at a critical juncture, >> suarez: in a major policy address at the state department today, secretary of state hillary clinton said a summit next week between president obama and chinese president hu jintao must produce "real action on real issues"-- trade, climate change, recession, and north korean nuclear proliferation. she also urged china to assume the responsibilities of being "a world power in the 21st century." >> but that means accepting a share of the burden of solving common problems, abiding by and helping to shape a rules-based international order. >> suarez: clinton emphasized one of those burdens was north korea. she challenged china to get more involved in reining in pyongyang. >> we fear-- and have discussed thi

i received this in the mail last week after i said wisconsin had a good week with reince priebus being.c. chairman and packers winning. in the mail wednesday, came a wonderful cheesehead. >> chris: i want you to put it on. >> i was scared you were going to say that. >> chris: okay. i want you to bear this for the entire panel. [ laughter i want you to wear this. >> this is in hon for of our colleague stephen hayes at chicago today. he will strip down the way the crazy green bay fans do. [ laughter >> chris: keep it on for the entire panel. >> bill, take it off. >> thank you. >> chris: i wanted him to wear it. you spill all the fun. >> anyway, the mid-terms, president obama has made a show, some say a reality of moving to the center. he made the tax deal on extenting the bush tax cut with republicans. he named bill daley chief of staff this week in the "wall street journal," he announced review of all regulations. is this move real or is it a re-election conversion? >> that is the question. it is going to take a while to find out. i don't think we know the answer. in outward terms he ma

but reince priebus finishing on but reince priebus finishing on top. top. michael steele with 44.wn in we expect him to go down in future ballots. future ballots. going into this we didn't expect going into this we didn't expect him to win. him to win. now it's where do his votes go? now it's where do his votes go? that's what we're going to be that's what we're going to be following. following. >> let's talk about who had the >> let's talk about who had the worst week in washington. worst week in washington. is there any contest there? is there any contest there? >> well, andrea, sometimes -- i >> well, andrea, sometimes -- i do this every week for the post. do this every week for the post. sometimes it's difficult. sometimes it's difficult. sometimes it's not. sometimes it's not. this would be in the latter this would be in the latter category. category. look, sarah palin came out on look, sarah palin came out on the wednesday of that big the wednesday of that big memorial in tucson. memorial in tucson. we knew the focus was going to we knew the focus was going to be on presiden

then the election of reince priebus as the chairman of

i think the two candidates are ryan priebus. who was formerly general counsel. i know there is a michigan committee man who is also looking at this. he is a good man. i know him the best. if i was a member, i would vote for him, but i do not get a vote. host: last call for bill kristol. middlebury, connecticut. going: gun-control ain't to go nowhere because anybody can get a gun. if i want a gun, i can build one in my basement. you just talked about oil companies. aren't they one of the biggest industries we have? but we only have so much oil in the ground. if we suck up all of that oil from the ground today, what happens in 10 years when china needs more oil? going baby, and drildrill ain't to work. natural-gas has a lot of potential but we are dropping so much chemical into the ground. well, what happened when i cannot even drink water out of my spigot any more? guest: i am no expert on the details of energy policy. there are huge natural-gas finds in pennsylvania, which are promising, and would help to improve our energy problem. i am actually optimistic abou

in is reince priebus, former party chair in wisconsin voted to the post as president obama was attending a memorial service for ambassador richard holbrooke. >> when our nation has recently received a tragic reminder that we must never take our public servants for granted. >> reporter: his second memorial in just three days capping off a somber week in which the president led the nation in a call for calm. from monday's moment of silence to wednesday night's speech in arizona, the president pleaded for civil discourse. >> if this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let's make sure it's worthy of those we have lost. >> reporter: and president obama's state of the union address coming up january 25th. typically, republicans and democrats sit on opposite sides of the house chamber during that speech but now, congressional leaders from both parties are suggesting a mixed seating arrangement as another show of solidarity. russ? >> whit johnson, thank you very much. >>> seating arrangements aside as congress learned any real lessons from the shootings in tucson, will they tone

i think the two candidates are ryan priebus. who was formerly general counsel. know there is a michigan committee man who is also looking at this. he is a good man. i know him the best. if i was a member, i would vote for him, but i do not get a vote. host: last call for bill kristol. middlebury, connecticut. going: gun-control ain't to go nowhere because anybody can get a gun. if i want a gun, i can build one in my basement. you just talked about oil companies. aren't they one of the biggest industries we have? but we only have so much oil in the ground. if we suck up all of that oil from the ground today, what happens in 10 years when china needs more oil? going baby, and drildrill ain't to work. natural-gas has a lot of potential but we are dropping so much chemical into the ground. well, what happened when i cannot even drink water out of my spigot any more? guest: i am no expert on the details of energy policy. there are huge natural-gas finds in pennsylvania, which are promising, and would help to improve our energy problem. i am actually optimistic about

so along with priebus, you have others, all of whom have at least ten public supporters. those make up the top tier. the second i would put collins, and chairman steele in that second tier. it's going to be tougher for any of those three candidates to win at the end of the day. host: 2012 presidential politics, particularly on the republican side of the i'll but we'll also touch base with some of the democrats, is our topic for the next 35 minutes. reid wilson is our guest. the numbers are on the screen. ohio is where our first call comes from. dan for indents. caller: my question was do you feel that's predictable that the rising influence of the tea party will weaken the republican candidate to the point that the in fighting will ultimately lead to a democratic victory for obama or whoever else may be running at that time? and how will the republican party manage that in fighting process at that point? guest: that's a really good question and i think there's going to be some important stuff to watch in the first couple of months to watch. one of the first things that me