tom foley was mentioned. this is sort of a reprise of something we did about a year and a half ago on a panel sponsored by the bipartisan committee in washington. for those of you that have an interest in this, it goes a lot longer than this but it is a very nice presentation of how cooperation between the two parties can produce good results. in that, tom foley was very gracious in his comments about george bush and talking about the relationship that they had between them that made such a big difference. bill friends are, let me ask you, you were sitting in the middle of this republican caucus when the gingrich defection took place. can you talk about what went on there? >> actually we were mostly -- those of us on the committee were mostly involved in the negotiations. when the bill came out, my impression was that the problem with republicans was the boredom. for six months, the house had done nothing. for six weeks, we were sitting out at andrews air force base and everybody was back at the castle doing

tom foley was mentioned. this is sort of a refreeze repiece of what we did a year and a half ago on c-span sponsored by the bipartisan committee in washington. it is a nice presentation of how cooperation between the two parties the can produce good results. in that, tom foley was very gracious about his comments where george bush and the relationship they had between them that made a difference. you were sitting in the middle of this republican caucus when the gingrich deaffection took place. can you talk about what went on there. >> actually, i wasn't. most of us on the conference committee were involved in the negotiation. when the bill popped, it came out. my impression was, however, that that the problem with republicans was boredom. for six months, the house had done nothing. for six weeks, we were sitting at andrews air force base and everyone was back at the capitol doing crossword puzzles or whatever it was. they had a lot of nervous energy. it is like when you don't walk the dog, the dog sneaks out

tom foley, who was an incumbent, who was very important. he was speaker of the house. he was not, actually, turfed out by his own party. it was a general election defeat. also, it was not a blowout. he lost his seat in a race that wasn't that close, but it was a really big surprise. everybody knew the republicans in 1994 were going to do great, but nobody thought the speaker of the house was going to lose his own seat at home. and so, did the beltway lose its mind? yes, absolutely. the beltway lost its mind in 1994 when tom foley lost his seat when he was speaker of the house. did anybody cry? we don't know. benefit of the doubt, we're guessing that nobody cried. that same year in 1994, recognize this guy? new york state governor's race. mario cuomo was defending his throne, basically, and it did kind of feel like a throne in new york. not only did he seem like he was governor for life in new york state, but it felt like the only thing that might actually pry mario cuomo out of the office of governor of new york state in albany was is if he agreed to accept the democra

ten years before that, it was tom foley, democratic congressman from washington state, and speaker of the house. he lost his seat in the general election in 1994. 1994 was a big landslide year for republicans, but winning tom foley's seat that year, ousting the sitting house speaker in his home district, that was perhaps the republicans' single biggest victory in 1994, but it took somebody from the opposite party to do it. when speaker foley lost his seat in 2004, he became the first speaker in a century to be defeated for re-election. before foley, you would have to go back to the '50s, 1952, when a democratic leader in the senate lost his seat to barry goldwater in the general election in arizona. members of the leadership in congress losing their seats in the general election, losing their seats to the other party, that is a rare thing. but it is a thing for which we do have some modern examples in history. also run of the mill incumbents losing their primary races. we have modern examples of that in recent years, but a leader in congress? one of the top members of congress, one of

ten years before that, it was tom foley, democratic congressman from washington state, and speaker ofral election in 1994. 1994 was a big landslide year for republicans, but winning tom foley's seat that year, ousting the sitting house speaker in his home district, that was perhaps the republicans' single biggest victory in 1994, but it took somebody from the opposite party to do it. when speaker foley lost his seat in 2004, he became the first speaker in a century to be defeated for re-election. before foley, you would have to go back to the '50s, 1952, when a democratic leader in the senate lost his seat to barry goldwater in the general election in arizona. members of the leadership in congress losing their seats in the general election, losing their seats to the other party, that is a rare thing. but it is a thing for which we do have some modern examples in history. also run of the mill incumbents losing their primary races. we have modern examples of that in recent years, but a leader in congress? one of the top members of congress, one of the most powerful leaders of the majori

the speaker of the house, tom foley was beaten in a congressional race. >> that's true. >> right nown where those of us in pundant land are trying to justify what it means. i always had this fantasy live shot i wanted to do when the anchor would say we now go to capitol hill and bob franken, bob, what does this all mean and i would turn to the camera and say absolutely nothing. and i think this is close to being one of those things. >> well, thanks for telling us nothing today. appreciate it bob. >> call me seinfeld. >> all right. have a good one. bill karins and richard lui are coming back with first buzz. we're talking about a pothole and epic traffic jam. could this be the future of space travel? stick around for details. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done. if ...hey breathing's hard... know the feeling? copd includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. sp

you know, speaker of the house tom foley losing in 1994 in a general election. newt gingrich when he was the number two republican in the house, he got a scare in a 1992 primary. he survived that. especially in the case of foley, the speaker, though, we saw that coming. you know, weeks, even months ahead of time. it was still shocking to see it happen, but we saw it coming. this is something that nobody, and i mean nobody, saw coming. there were rumblings that this race was closer than people would assume it was going to be. there were rumblings that cantor was getting a little nervous, maybe the margin would be embarrassing. nobody thought, right until the votes starting coming in, even as the votes were being tabulated and cantor was falling behind, everybody's assumption was a new area is going to come in, this must be a weak area. nobody saw this coming until about 50 minutes ago. this is the biggest shock i have ever seen. >> in terms of how this happened, steve, i know that congressman cantor's district is among the most conservative districts in virginia.

. >> a lot of people are comparing this to when tom foley was defeated, the first time a house speaker had been defeatd that way. so big stuff. >> big stuff out to the west of us but not so much here right now. storm tracker 6 live double scan does show you that there are some showers and some thunderstorms that we're produce -- were producing lightning, still strikes in lancaster and north and east of harrisburg. this is falling apart a little bit as it heads towards the:it's also moving very slowly so, so far so good. i do think that while there's a little sprinkle opening up ahead of this around reading the main rain probably holds off for another hour or so before it starts to threaten places like reading and perhaps chester county, southern chester county could get it within the next 15 minutes or so, at least that first cell and we'll keep watching it. it has a chance of falling apart a bit but we may still see some thunderstorms out of this as it continues to push east over the next couple hours. let's get you outside and we will take a look at sky 6 and we are down the shore an

. >> it is different from when house speaker tom foley was defeated and when tom daschle was defeatede senate, because that was in the general. they were defeated by republicans, correct, not a primary? >> you're absolutely right. they were defeated by republicans, and they were both republican years. totally different order. anythingnot think of that has this kind of repercussions. and this is unusual. unusual, howf worried is speaker john boehner right now? >> i think john boehner is worried and a different sense, not so much for his own job. i think at least entertaining the notions of perhaps leaving. this makes it almost impossible for him to leave now because there is such a void of leadership. no one can raise the kind of money that he can raise for the party in the next election cycle, but what worries him is there will be -- i mean the next five weeks, the children, babies, you do not want to see what is going on in the house of representatives. they are jockeying. they are fighting. these internal struggles are not welcome, and nobody knows what really motivates them, and it

i remember that 1994 election and that race and the tom foley loss was a real surprise. d his candidates did a great job. but i don't think it was anything like last night. 1994 was a good republican year. there was a sense that foley might be a little out of touch. no one, no one that i know thought that there was any chance eric cantor was going to lose yesterday. it is a district that is a republican district, but it is not a right-wing district. cantor has been elected six times before. i think it was just a real shock. >> a real shock that means what ultimately? >> well, my sense, and we'll see what terry thinks, my sense for people to say the tea party is in the ascendancy is just as crazy as saying that they were dead. what i think the message is going to send -- two messages. number one, it's going send the message, you got to be careful. whatever that's exaggerated or not, that will be the per sefplgs the secretary thing substantively, because this guy did attack cantor unfairly on immigration, i think it's going to make immigration much more difficult legislativ

tom foley was the house speaker.ut i don't remember somebody getting beat by his or her own party this high up in the leadership. it is stunning, everybody is shocked. that is why we're getting so few statements, because nobody thought it would happen. >> well, what does the apocalypse look like, what does it actually boil down to? >> i think in the short term it will send the republican party which i think in the past couple of months as we've seen the primary results for the most part go for the establishment figure or the incumbent. it looked like the civil war in the party was starting to perhaps die down a little bit. this throws this right back into play. completely, and i think into chaos. people in congress, republicans who were maybe trying -- starting to inch back towards compromised positions on things like immigration will be scared to do so. because they will be worried about getting beaten by somebody from the right. if eric cantor can get beaten by somebody from the right why can't a rank and file repu

the most recent majority leader or speaker to lose re-election was the late democratic speaker tom foley of washington, but he lost in a general election in 1994, a republican wave. again those numbers, republicans 202-585-3880, democrats 202-585-3881, and independents call 202-585-3882. some more tweets with the "huffington post," sam stine, says, "on a more serious note, cantor's loss removes one of the more vocal republican n.i.h. champions, a potentially big loss for that community." and another tweet from jonathan strong, "by a significant margin, most surprising political story ever covered." a story in "politico" now, the eadline, "cantor loses." bratt ran a campaign accusing cantor being too cozy and disconnected from his district. in washington, there was equal shock at the vote tally from senior g.o.p. aides who long dismissed the primary challenge. cantor tried to beat bratt into submission spending $1 million in april and may, including on a spate of television advertisements and mailings, calling his opponent a liberal. we'll take your call. the first one. hi, go ahead. what

in 1994, tom foley was the first to be defeated for reelection. he lost a general election during the republican wave. a republican caller now from mississippi. good evening. theyt want to see that should look at this. the tea party incumbent is a runoff for the republican primary in mississippi. the longtime majority with needs to take note of this and everybody needs to get out and vote. in mississippi if you vote in the primary as a republican, you can only vote in the runoff but you cannot vote until the general election anyway that you want to. this should be a wake-up call for that caucus. you have any comments about what happened in virginia tonight with eric cantor? comfortable,t too like a collar said before. of name recognition and loyalty they will vote because of who they say they are and they've been there for a long time. people are waking up. they are not voting for you just because you've been there. looking at the principle of , they just really need to change. they want a change. people are hurting out here for .obs by the govern

. >>> back in 1994, then house speaker tom foley loosing to george nethercut, a lawyer who had never run for office. it came as the republicans took the control for the trirs time in fur decades. >> was eric cantor loosing in virginia and another member of the republican establishment destroying the position. lindsay graham had no problem defeating six lesser known challengers. he has been facing people talking about the bail out and other things. here he is. >> it is okay to believe conservative is the best way for younger people because there are. there are better days ahead. don't write our party off. make the other party earn your vote. give us a chance, folks. >> he is considered to win a third term against brad hutto in south carolina. >> and we will have more on the cantor upset straight ahead. what does it mean for the coming midterm and republican party as whole? and what part did the tea party play here? are the reports of its demise exaggerated? >> and you can talk to us on twitter. fire up your thoughts and if you have questions we will try to get them to our great guest.

democrats tom daschle and tom foley lost their seats but to republicans.they came up just short in his effort to seek an eighth term from his district. >> i know there's a lot of long faces here tonight and it's disappointing, sure. but i believe in this country. i believe there's opportunity around the next corner for all of us. so i look forward to continuing to fight with all of you for the things that we believe in for the conservative cause because those solutions of ours are the answer to the problems that so many people are facing today. >> bratt took a victory lap saying, quote, this is a miracle from god that just happened. bratt had little backing for his run. he raise just $200,000 for his campaign while cantor spent more than $1 million in april and y may. they both know each other as they teach at the same school. >>> cantor's defeat immediately throws the house republican leadership into disarray. he had been seen as among the top choices to succeed house speaker john boehner if he decides to step down, either after election day or early next

former house speaker thomas foley and former senate majority leader tom daschle, both democrats, eacht down to shocking defeat, but in general, not primary, races. house minority leader nancy pelosi said the results should send a strong message to the g.o.p. >> his opponent said he was too close to wall street instead of main street that what we've been saying all along. >> ifill: another republican incumbent considered to be far more endangered, south carolina's lindsey graham, cruised easily to victory in a crowded field last night, defeating six challengers. he won with 57% of the vote. but in the wake of cantor's precipitous fall, the republican majority in the house tonight, is in an uproar. >> ifill: we get the latest now on the flurry of activity on capitol hill today from ed o'keefe. he covers congress for the washington post. ed, almost 24 hours later, what's the gem accepted understanding of what happened last night? >> basically he got thumped. brat raised only about $123,000 to take the republican nomination in the 7t 7th congressional district in virginia. bottom line bas