republican. a lot of the tea party ideas the republicans wisely embraced a lot of the ideas the parties some democratic candidates are doing the same but i mean you know that's the reason i think that tea partiers are supporting republicans it's not some plot you have it but feel that i mean this money almost almost all the credit and today go figure out exactly i mean almost all of the money has been given to the republicans and republican candidates that is not the case i mean if it's if this is just a nonpartisan then why haven't the democrats been given any of that money and support i mean there are moderate democrats out there. well i mean they're going to say you know that is all when i got the wall then i got the indoor wall then i got the endorsement of the tea party express he's a democrat from idaho i know that you know there have been there have been some races where tea party people have split i know that gene taylor's district in mississippi. a lot of the activists have been split there are some conservatives who want to support him down there because of many of his conservative votes i th

it ought to be more of a -- perot was more out of the republican party in terms of at the outset but there's a lot of space for third-party voting. >> you know, the best thing possible i think for our system would be the emergence of a new -- a new party. and, you know, the history of our country is though we've had two political parties, one party -- we've gone through not exactly similar things but one party changes and adapts. the democratic party today is not what the democratic party in the -- the democrat and republican party were not what they were 60 years ago, 70 years ago or 80 years ago. very different parties. that i think -- i think that could easily happen. i think our structure of our system to allow a third-party to compete with the two parties is probably less likely but the ability of one party to try to sort of remake itself where they are now sort of reflective of where the majority of the country is definitely a possibility. i think we would benefit from that. i think it's contingent on what happens in 2012. if barack obama's number continue to deteriorate and the

at behind the republican party. there is real same party there. i think they will remain in the process. i think it is a good thing for republicans in congress. i hope these efforts to demonize and marginalizee tea party votes will stop. maybe the media will understand who they are and stop trying to characterize them. i didn't think it helps the perception of media very well either. i will cut it a little short. >> i am going to suspend the first amendment. there is a right to ask a question. we have a few minutes at anyone has some questions. -- if anyone has some questions. there right of freedom of speech is suspended. >> why do i think you are not kidding when you say that? you are not blind to like me. unhip -- you are not going to like me. i am a political cartoonist. the question is, if you guys had been in charge of the perception so long with all of your dog, blues, purples and reds, i want to remind these people if you are an independent, you vote for a d or an art, that does not make you an independent. it makes you one of the to corrup

yes, in the back. >> at the republican party does nominate a moderate candidate, [inaudible] >> will blicans nominate a moderate candidate, how that change the way you will read the new democratic campaign click >> well, first of all, i think that's highly unlikely given what i just said about the votes come in the act of his uncommon energy in the party. the sword answer is listen, i don't know. will have a nominee who will run against a sometimes in the spring and 2012 and the campaign will commence at that point. you know, that person is, the views they hold, that position will obviously take some of the debate. most important obviously will be the president talking about where he wants to take the country and why he made the decisions he made and why he wants to again make decisions in the future. so we'll see. i think it, you know, if they nominate someone who's only getting a third of the latino vote or not even that, who doesn't have a lot of moderates, doesn't have much ability to young voters, and et cetera let oral situation really, really hard. you really have to thread the

the tea party, are the republicans? seen where they have been placed on the ballot as a separate party like the green party or the communist party. is that the party republican? question to all of you in the media that i have not heard mentioned at all. the two largest indices that have been built in the world, in iraq and haiti. i have not heard any of the media in terms of mainstream media talk about those at all. that is a lot of government and money. >> if you are concerned about the cost of building the embassy in iraq, you should take on the bigger issue which is how much we spent on the war. the money that has been spent on the industry is a huge footprint as it has been and will be in afghanistan. if you are concerned about that, it goes well beyond those buildings. goal isthe tea party's to rehabilitate the republicans. >> they ran in the republican primaries. i think one of the things that was a sigh of relief for republicans is that they did not try to run as independents. >> it seem like many of the tea party

how much as the republican party about to become the tea party?he leaders in that movement to a traditional right of american politics? i am joined by the minnesota congresswoman, the founder of the tea party caucus. some think she will someday soon eclipse sarah palin. >> the governor and i have five children. we're both committed to limited government and tea party principals. that includes not taxing any american any more than they are now. that is having our federal government live within its means, not spending more than what we taken. under our constitution, we believe the congress should not be acting beyond those limitations. i think that is very compatible with people that stand 40 party ideals. >> you have a new stream of tea party candidates coming into congress. do you believe you are making the republican party stronger? are you working against it? >> far stronger. the energy of this election came from the tea party candidates. i think the republican party has found its way. it understands its core and solul. these wonderful fresh men

someone who never would have been nominated by the republican party if the tea party movement hadn't come along. so, they've given a lot of energy to the republican party but have also produced a lot of candidates who really can't take advantage of this climate. obviously, you know, great night for republicans, but, you know, if the tea party had been a little more flexible in some of these primaries, it could have been better. they conceivably could have won the senate, i think, without the tea party. >> really? okay. thanks so much for your insight. we do appreciate it. >> sure. >> we'll be right back with more election 2010 coverage. this is the "cbs morning news." may not be getting the nutrition they need to keep their bodies strong. carnation instant breakfast essentials supplies the nutrients of a balanced breakfast to help build strong muscles and healthy bones. carnation instant breakfast essentials. good nutrition from the start. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but i

cost the republican party control of the senate? >> that is a very silly thing to say, david. the tea party is responsible for just about every republican elected around the country. this time last year, people will think about it, we were concerned about holding our own. any thoughts that republicans would fall below 38 in the senate. so, i supported all the republican candidates, including christine o'donnell. unfortunately, she was so maligned, she never had a chance. >> you're not really saying it was just lack of republicans at work that tainted her candidacy, are you? this is a woman that said on a national ad that she was not a witch. >> well, i think we did see in the wake of her primary win a number of republicans suggest she was not a viable candidate. that did make it difficult for her to start on the right foot. all over the country, we saw candidates like pat toomey in pennsylvania, marco rubio, rand paul. we saw candidates supported by a tea party in a new active wave of citizens change the face of the senate. this is w

ronald reagan sort of bridged the establishment an the grass roots of the republican party. you may see a consensus figure. somebody perhaps like indiana governor mitch daniels is somebody whose conservative politics may be able to appease or attract grassroots republicans. but his corporate ties. his ties to washington. his ties to the bush administration may be able to gra b the administration in washington. they're looking for a bridge candidate. until there is one, sarah palin will be a divisive figure in republican pot ticks. >> let me give you one last question. does palin have a chance? can she overcome this and vins the conservative voters and the people listening to talk radio, et cetera, that she's right, rove is wrong, and does that leave rove on the outs? is that possible within the gop? >> sure, it is you can play it out two years out any way. yes, she can win. but she's not going to beat howard dean. that energy doesn't just disappear. it doesn't do what howard dean is, which is to salute and give a nice speech at the convention. they're likely to splinter off a

the republican party fundamentally disagrees that the republican party can have that role. >> but ther.p. was under president bush. and john mccain voted for. >> t.a.r.p. wasn't -- >> larry: one at a time. ben. >> t.a.r.p. was a republican idea. it worked incredibly well. t.a.r.p. was a huge success. in stemming the collapse of america's financial system. so maybe the stimulus didn't work that well but t.a.r.p. was a colossal success. >> but this t.a.r.p. was not really extended to the real economy. it helped prevent the financial collapse but it did not help revise main street. >> ladies and gentlemen, what we're -- >> -- financial collapse, main street would have gone down too. >> larry: we'll get a break. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] at&t covers 97% of all americans. rethink possible. ♪ who's born to care this life was protected... ♪ seems you've always been right there ♪ this life was saved... ♪ soothing sadness ♪ healing pain and this life was made easier... ♪ making smiles appear again because of this life. nursing. at johnson & johnson, we salute all those who choose the life..

the republican party fundamentally disagrees that the republican party can have that role in rebuilding.r.p. was under president bush. and john mccain voted for. >> t.a.r.p. wasn't -- >> larry: one at a time. ben. >> t.a.r.p. was a republican idea. it worked incredibly well. t.a.r.p. was a huge success. in stemming the collapse of america's financial system. so maybe the stimulus didn't work that well but t.a.r.p. was a colossal success. >> but this t.a.r.p. was not really extended to the real economy. it helped prevent the financial collapse but it did not help revive main street. >> ladies and gentlemen, what we're -- >> -- financial collapse, main street would have gone down too. >> larry: we'll get a break. [ commentator ] lindsey vonn! she stays tough! earlier, she had an all-over achy cold... what's her advantage? it's speedy alka-seltzer! [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus rushes relief for all-over achy colds. the official cold medicine of the u.s. ski team. alka-seltzer plus. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 if anything, it was a little too much. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 but the moment they ha

now what's interesting about that is a lot of the activists in the republican party, people in the tea party, they didn't think this was a game. they believed a lot of what they said, and what these candidates said. so that's the other dynamic here is if some of these republicans aren't delivering. there's not a lot of patients out there among the republican activist community either. and so, they feel that these guys all of a sudden are trimming their sails see the earmark reform. rand paul, remember from kentucky, i'm going to be a post your marks. they aren't in the senate and he's reversed. the grassroots republicans don't like your marks, okay? mitch mcconnell says we are going to protect your marks. that's a dangerous thing i would argue for the country. it's a fundamental reform to make that it's also not healthy for the dynamics of this grant be a lot of things here. macro in terms of, you know, the economy, how people view health care over time, you know, afghanistan, the debt and deficit. you're going to have obviously huge issues within the republican party you have in the d

poll after poll after poll in what shows tea party tends to be republicans. here's talk early on that they were independents who voted for obama and they were upset now and that's not the case. they decided themselves as conservative and that's true. within the tea party i think there is a split that is going to be problematic moving forward because it starts out with people who were very ideological, most libertarian ron paul supporters or of that strain, but as the tea party swelled and the great proportion of it now are people who came to it with frustration and no ideology. the first segment, the ideological vent is they do believe in things like, you know, saving accounts and investment acts and not social security. a lot of the older voters in particular who have come to the tea party don't share those goals. i think it's a question going forward and particularly talking about spending cuts, i don't know many of the people said that they were tea party supporters. i don't know that they would go along with the cuts that some of the more ideological tea p

the republican party fundamentally disagrees that the republican party can have that role. >> but the t.a.r.p. was under president bush. and john mccain voted for. >> t.a.r.p. wasn't -- >> larry: one at a time. ben. >> t.a.r.p. was a republican idea. it worked incredibly well. t.a.r.p. was a huge success. in stemming the collapse of america's financial system. so maybe the stimulus didn't work that well but t.a.r.p. was a colossal success. >> but this t.a.r.p. was not really extended to the real economy. it helped prevent the financial collapse but it did not help revise main street. >> ladies and gentlemen, what we're -- >> -- financial collapse, main street would have gone down too. >> larry: we'll get a break. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an

party. item think it will be anybody other than obama as the nominee. on the republican side, the tea party represents a real challenge to washington establishment. the question becomes who they might be interested in putting up against sarah palin or a candidate of that ilk. you may want to look at a governor like haley barbour or tim pawlenty. just to give you my view of obama triangulation, and it's going to be difficult for him because the key party is going to hold the republican leadership to a very rigid line. i'm not sure how far across the aisle obama is willing to reach in order to reach a compromise. other than the mandatory bills on spending, i look forward to very little getting done over the next two years and the president retreating into foreign-policy as an area where he has more leverage and independence. >> knowing you will never vote for any of them, is there any hope the republican candidates you think looks better tomorrow than they might have six months ago, given the issues we're talking about? >> sarah palin looks better than she did six months a

he beat the establishment of the republican party to win the nomination. ou say he apparently won without trimming his sails. >> if you're a republican this year even a tea partyer or whatever you have to people over the head with your confidence not to get elected in a close race. rand paul had a mistake early where he wackter philosophical about the civil rights act. he did not make any big mistakes. sharron angle may have beat people over the head a little too much. the republicans were not the issue in this campaign. if you could make yourself not the issue you probably did okay in a close race. >> lehrer: let's go again to judy woodruff. >> woodruff: let's turn now to some newshour team members who are out in the field tonight. kwame holman is at the white house. and geoffrey brown is at the grand hyatt hotel in downtown washington d.c., that is the headquarters for the republican congressional campaign committee. geoffrey brown, i'm going to come to you first because the republicans are the ones that have some good news so far. three senate victories.

senator john mccain now leading the charge in the republican party against anyone in his party who wouldre suggest any cuts to defense. yesterday he went after republican rand paul, saying, quote, already he has talked about withdrawals from or cuts in defense, et cetera. and a number of others are, too. so i worry a lot about the rise of protectionism and isolationism in the republican party. in other words, defense cuts not on my watch. and i'm the guy who's on watch for our party on this. >>> last month 57 members of congress signed on to a report that proposed $960 billion worth of cuts that could come out of the defense budget, precisely one republican was willing to put his name on that. one. congressman ron paul of texas. one of that report's biggest ticket proposed cuts was nuclear weapons. since, you know, we already have more than 5,000 of them. you can only blow up the world so many times. so let's save a little money, right? let's cut back on the nuclear weapons. jon kyl of arizona is the republican making the direct republican response to that, his response has been to secur

vin, is there much division within the republican party? i mean, i said to al at an earlier time this evening, what's the conversation between mitch mcconnell and jim demint vin? >> well, i... the republicans have had the advantage of being simply able to be in the opposition for the last two years. the democrats have been upset about that and tried to make a lot of gains by simply calling the republican it is party of no and what we find out tonight is that the country wanted to vote for the party of no. but it means the republicans have not really defined a clear forward-looking agenda. and i think that that's a fair criticism of the republicans. but i don't think that it matters a whole lot at this point. the forward-looking agenda of the republican party is going to be devised and invented by our candidate for president or our candidates for president in the course of the nominating process going forward. i think that the republican leadership in the congress has a difficult task. i think that the congress and the president have a diffic

that is no longer true. >> john, the republican party was dead, written off, no future as of 2008. it came surging back to a historic victory and the tea party is the single greatest -- >> going to destroy the republican party and split it right down the middle and it's going to be civil war and it's going to be fun to watch. >> tea party actually thinks -- >> okay, hold on. >> the tea party got elected on promises and buzz words and translating that into reality, their going to run into the same obstacles that obama did. and they are going to push the party so far to the right -- >> in 2012. >> do you want to make a point quickly? >> my point is that the tea party saved the republican party and they would not have had nearly the kind of gains without the tea party. we are talking about -- >> the tea parties go nuts and boehner stays in. >> we are talking about >>> issue two, the shalacking. >> i'm not recommending for every future president that they take a shalacking like i did last night. you know, i'm sure there are easier ways to learn these lessons. the relationship i've had w

in those days, there were not really any republicans and birmingham and she was trying to build the party. that is how my father got registered to vote as a republican, but he remained republican his entire life. tavis: you ever think about how the republican party welcomed your father for whatever reason they may have wanted him to be part of your group, and today there are still people wondering about when the republican party will get serious about reaching out to folks like your father? >> it is kind of funny that the only two black secretaries of state or serving republican presidents. the only black chief was serving a republican president. the democratic party does not have the only option on to win well for minorities. i served a president who i think cared about minority achievement, kids in school, minority kids in school. let's be fair, both parties have a lot to atone for what comes to issues of race and poverty. tavis: on that last point, we agree. i was about to say that you and colin powell were wonderful and econo, but you are just two people. -- you were wonderful and ico

the question is whether the republican party really wants to return to its fiscal conservative roots,hat the tea party is saying and whether that applies -- >> you hear that or is it about other things, is it about social conservatism? >> i think it's about both those things. i think it's also just a general throw the bums out kind of wave election, the normal thing. it's exactly 94, almost exactly the same balance in the house as 94 except of course in 1994 the republicans had the senate and also the difference in 1994 when they rejected clinton is that clinton didn't get his health care in and obama has. >> sorry to interrupt, do you think that the republicans are going to commit the same mistake today that they committed in 1994 where they basically shut down the federal government and overreached their new powers and therefore paid a consequence? >> i think you can bet the rent money that's exactly what is going to happen and there are a lot of people watching this who think that is the case. you're hearing the expression tonight, tea party tidal wave. they've won as many as they'

her ties, philosophy, background put her in the republican party. i'm sure senator mcconnell and the other republicans are going to immediately go to work to bring her back into the team. my guess is, in a few weeks you will find they are all on the same side. as compared to harry reid, nancy pelosi and barack obama. >> greta: we'll have senator murkowski join us in a few moments. another election in washington for speaker pillows show is going to become the new minority leader. why would she want that? >> i think she must believe that president obama is going to win reelection by such a big margin he will pool the democrats and house back to may majority. that's the only rational reason for her to stay. i think she makes it much harder for the democrats to recruit candidates. in most of the swing districts they need win, going out and saying gosh we have a chance to come and work with a san francisco liberal as your leader is not a big drawing card. in the districts they lost under her leadership are going to be districts where people are going to b

party tank. the danger or not surface if you're a republican you think that's great. the danger, however, is having that tea party weight then come crashing down on every establishment of republican. warren hatch is looking at a primary challenge in utah. just a few years ago that notion would have been absurd. graham in south carolina, and so there are going to be -- there's always going to be that element of on the right that are just angry, but what really fueled the tea party movement and gave it energy was all of the people who were just -- they're not the ideologs, they were just angry, and those people need to be spoken to and their issues and concerns need to be addressed, or they will be even angier in two years. >> okay, guys, we have just a few minutes. i'll limit to one wise comment to each question, and we'll move it around. >> if we look specifically at social security or government shutdowns, do you think there's like a disconnect between the generalities of people talking about i'm for gridlock or social security reform versus what the specifics of that

i think it's very clear that the republican party -- that voters didn't vote for the republican partythey voted against the obama agenda. and i'm actually glad to hear john boehner sort of acknowledge that. i think it was very wise and, hopefully, he'll govern that way. but look, i think that some of the really bright spots out there are people like marco rubio and i've said it before but i think ma marco rubio's the perfect candidate in the sense he's a bona fide conservative but he was also the speaker are of the florida house and i think someone like him and pat toomey have a chance to sort of bridge the gap between the tea party and the establishment. hopefully, they won't be co-opted but i think someone like rubio is a classic example of the possibilities here and i think maybe i don't want to, you know, get too far ahead of myself but look for marco rubio to be a major player and a rising star for years to come. that may be one of the big stories when we look back a couple years from now what 2010 was all about. >> arianna, what do you make of this? >> well, the gop has a choice

poll after poll after poll in what shows tea party tends to be republicans. there's talk early on that they were independents who voted for obama and they were upset now and that's not the case. they decided themselves as conservative and that's true. within the tea party i think there is a split that is going to be problematic moving forward because it starts out with people who were very ideological, most libertarian ron paul supporters or of that strain, but as the tea party swelled and the great proportion of it now are people who came to it with frustration and no ideology. the first segment, the ideological vent is they do believe in things like, you know, saving accounts and investment acts and not social security. a lot of the older voters in particular who have come to the tea party don't share those goals. i think it's a question going forward and particularly talking about spending cuts, i don't know many of the people said that they were tea party supporters. i don't know that they would go along with the cuts that some of the more ideological tea

you know the big question washington right now is will the tea party you know take over the republican party no i do not see that but what i do see a lot of the tea party candidates that have been newly elected to congress doing is sort of serving as our fiscal conscience they will keep us on the straight and narrow and if we stray from it they're going to let everybody know they're also going to be pretty hard on a lot of moderate democrats folks like joe manchin and west virginia as well ok what do you think about that bob i mean do you see do you look forward to i mean on a positive sense obviously that the tea partiers are just going to make sure that nothing happens to forward the obama agenda into the presidential election in two thousand and twelve the world would they hope most likely will be thrown him. well don't forget that the republicans the leadership and the and the rank and file actually blamed the tea party for costing the republicans the senate when sharron angle said she wants to abolish social security and medicare and divorce is a wicked way and she wants to abolish the

you think speculation because we haven't heard much from the tea partiers themselves and the republican party actually what and let's focus on afghanistan how are they going to affect obama if at all are they going to make you know the republicans are going to say look you know in the house we have the majority we don't want you to stick to any timetable like you've wanted to do you think that they will him to have that kind of power on obama go ahead well from what i've heard the people that i've spoken with in washington they don't really believe that there's going to be too much impact on the afghan war at all in fact from what i understand most of the. most of the issues going to revolve around domestic issues and that's why the afghan war is really going to be on the back burner for a large part of the of the next two years ok we'll talk about how to keep funding these wars later because that does impact a mystic politics how about you kelly in washington what do you think i mean we have the review coming up in december this could be an opening for obama to go one way or another i think

republican party's chances to keep the senate? nate on election day? number two, how will we know if there's a true massive republican wave on election night? these are the 37 races to senate. a blue state currently held by a democrat. a red state held by a republican. the republicans need a net gain of ten to get there. some of you at home won't like what we've done. but we've assigned some races. new hampshire we believe will stay republican. louisiana will stay. florida we believe the republicans will keep. arkansas we believe alaska will stay republican. we've given the democrats connecticut. we've given them new york and the delaware seat. you have eight toss-up races. we believe we can say the democrats will most likely win this one here in california. so what would you get? 44 for the republicans under in scenario. if they only get to 50, joe biden, the vice president, would break the tie. the republicans would have to win all these, nevada, washington, pennsylvania, colorado, wisconsin, west virginia, california, illinois.

and that's why the republican party is going to win. >> reporter: there are problems for republicans. abc news has learned senate party leaders are abandoning essentially giving up on their nominee in alaska, joe miller, believing the incumbent write-in candidate, lisa murkowski, is now the best hope for holding that seat. the president is back in washington, he's done campaigning. he will wait until tuesday to find out what kind of congress he'll be dealing with for the next two years. and dan, every democratic operative i spoke to says the house is lost. the only debate they're having now is by how many seats. dan? >> david kerley, thank you. let eastern now to our senior washington editor rick klein, who is in new york tonight. nice to have you here. let's go back to this poll. our numbers show that likely voters favor republicans for the house 49% to 45%. that's a major tightening since early september. when republicans led by 13 points. but you would argue that democrats are still in serious trouble on the house side. >> reporter: that's right. if you look just two years ago, pr