i hope they are not going to a second week, because my family will be in vermont, and i imagine some of these families will be in their home states. >> can you give us a sense of what the timetable is after that? how soon could you hold a senate vote? >> that is up to senator reid. i would hope that they would not put it over, but under our rules, the first time a person comes up to the committee, anybody has the right to put it over for one week, and certainly, i would protect the rights. i wish they would not, but i would protect the right. >> what do you feel like her greatest vulnerability is going into the hearings, what the feel like the greatest question is she is going to have to answer -- going into the hearings? what do you feel like the greatest question is going into this? >> that is one i do not think you can knock right out of the ballpark. some -- certainly anybody who wanted to be recruited was recruited at that time, so she shows huge respect for veterans and those who have served, i have the firm private conversation as well as public conversations with her -- i hav

i would hope it would not go into a second week because my family will be in vermont and i imagine most other senators will be in their home states. >> can you give us a sense of what the timetable is after that? >> that's up to senator reid the majority leader. -- we have to have the vote first in the committee i would hope that they would not put over but as you know, under our rules, the first time a person comes up in the committee, anybody has the right to put it over for one week. and certainly i would -- if somebody asks, i would protect their right i wouldn't i thy wouldn't. but i would suspect time in july the leader would want to have a vote on the floor. >> what do you feel like her greatest vulnerability is going into the hearings? what is the biggest questions she will have to answer from the other side? >> i can't think of any. and, i mean, there's a question of precluding is such a red herring it will be asked. but that one is something you can knock out of the ball park. certainly anybody who wanted to be recruited was recruited at that time. certainly she shows a huge a

and only a few months ago, the republican governor of vermont and the democratic congressman from vermont joined the people from sprague at a groundbreaking where they were opening up the construction of a brand new factory with great jobs for the people of barry, vermont. it's real and took governmental involvement and that's an investment that's going to come back with taxpayer revenues, but real strength in that community where they will have a great new factory with new jobs developing a product that will haveeripple effects across vermont. i yield to mr. boccieri.%- mr. boccieri: i thank the ppgentleman for talking about h we can get our economy back on track and put america back to work. we are beginning to see the signs of economic recovery. 10 successive months of manufacturing growth has led to an upturn in manufacturing and our output in ohio and many midwestern states. we're seeing the housing sector improve. the housing sector of the economy is very important to our economy because every recession since the great depression, the housing sector has led us out any downturns in t

vermont, democrats won. isl er: that col destroying an area in kentucky. people are getting sick up there. if we do not have an energy policy soon, we will have wind technology ancilla technology from workers in china exporting our jobs. the latest polls show 65% of americans want an energy policy. what are we waiting for? last, 11 people died in that explosion. let's not forget that. these workers that do not want the moratorium should make a stop and think about that. host: on her point about investing in new energy, the president mentioned that china is spending a substantial amount of money on clean energy. give up or viewers the sort of technology they are looking at -- and give our viewers the sort of technology they are looking at. guest: turning coal into a gas to burn it more cleanly. wind and solar technology as well. china's economy is growing so rapidly and in such demand for electricity that they are putting a lot of money into all kinds of energy, including some not so clean sources. this is a big issue in how you fit the united states and it

. >> california is not vermont. california is a big state with royaling cities. it's the gang capital of america. the state has tried to legislate in the arena. so here's my question to you. why is a 5-4 decision in two quick cases, why does it throw out literally decades of precedent in the heller case in your mind? why do these two cases become settled law ? >> senator feinstein, because the court decided them as they did. once the court has decided a case, it is binding precedent. i think that that's an enormously important principle of the legal system . that one defers to prior justices or prior judges who have decided something. and that it's not enough, even if you think something is wrong, to say, oh, well, that decision was wrong. they got it wrong. >> reporter: feinstein also raised the issue of abortion rights under the landmark decision roe versus wade and subsequent rulings. >> here's the question. do you believe the constitution requires that the health of the mother be protected in any statute restricting access to abortion ? >> senator feinstein,

the chair recognizes the gentleman from vermont. >> it's absolutely outrageous that we're here today. what happened in the gulf was something that bp assured us woull never, ever happened. and if it did happen, it was foreseeable and inevitable. at everyyturn, reckless corner cutting, and decisions that were made for money not safety. mr. chairman, i want to take this opportunity to address the current crisis. as bp debates with the issue of second quarter dividends on their annual $10 billion dividend, we have people in the gulf coast to need compensation. responsible companies pay their obliiations, and then they pay dividends. many in congress have joined me in my call on bp to direct dividend funds to an escrow account to be available to deal with the heartache and the destruction of livelihood in the gull coast. bp has confirmed its intention to make good on its obligation. now we ask that bp take financial steps consistent with its assurances. president obama and 54 members of the u.s. senate have called for the establishment of the independently dministered $20 billion escrow f

it's not vermont versus california, it's maintaining the dairy industry fror the united states. making it competitive against european competitors, new zealand, for example. that's not going to happen with the 2012 farm bill. that's going to happen before the 2012 farm bill. >> to make sure i understand what you're saying. you believe there should be and will be a separate dairy bill prior to the farm bill that will address the dairy price issues that you're concerned about? >> we put this council together and charged them with coming wup a proposal that is is a consensus proposal by the end of this year. my hope is they will meet that deadline. and if they do i think it's something that congress needs to discuss in 2012 before the farm bill discussions get started in earnest. >> mr. secretary. >> we don't have any time to waste on that. >> you talked about the administration creating a different framework for relating to rural america. and revitalizing the economy. one of the things that some lawmakers have criticized you for is too much emphasis on rural economic development,

vermont except for hunting season, we try to give the deer a fighting chance. otherwise, there are no rules. is there any doubt after the court's decision heller and mcdonald is a second amendment to the constitution, secures a fundamental right for an individual to own a firearm, use it for self-defense in their home? >> there is no doubt, senator leahy, that's binding precedent and entitled to all respect to binding precedent in any case. that is settled law. . >> as solicitor general, did you have a role in the president's domestic or foreign policy agenda? >> the solicitor general doesn't take part in policy issues. certainly -- the only policy issues i think i might have taken part of, and these are policy issues that would only overlap with litigation issues is national security issues. but otherwise, the solicitor general is a legal officer. >> if you were involve in domestic or foreign policy agenda, would that not be something you want to consider in the issue recusal? you mentioned national security issues, for example. >> right. i think that anything

for whht purpose does the gentleman from vermont rise? mr. welch: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. welch: mr. speaker, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. shuster, and i are speaking to you today about credit card relief for small businesses and merchants. as we are, credit card lobbyists are roaming the halls to water down a key provision in the legislation. they know if the conferees keep the amendment in the bill, small business and consumers will gain and the monopoly pricing of the credit card industry will lose. just yesterday several small vermont business owners told me how much the credit card and debit swipe fees are hurting their business, kathy who owns healthy living market in burlington, her business paid $250,000 in fees last year. this year it will be $350,000. cheryl who runs a mobile station told me she could take the money she spends on better wages and more jobs. i call on my colleagues in the conference committee to put small businesses before the credit car

thomas's brother terry joins us from vermont. he had lou gehrig's disease.onvicted in the death of your brother, terry? >> well, of course, we never felt that jack should have been convicted because we don't believe it was a crime. as far as we're concerned, it was an act of mercy, and we'll always be very grateful for that service that jack provided for my brother. >> larry: were you involved in the arrangements to have dr. kevorkian do this? >> yes. at my brother's request, i contacted jack initially through the mail. thereafter i talked with jack on the phone and made the arrangements through him, which, by the way, the recent hbo special completely misrepresents how this happened. they rewrote it to have my sister melody contacting jack, which did not happen. it's a problem for me because i made a promise to my brother to insulate my sister-in-law from having to deal with any of those kinds of arrangements. so that's how it really happened though. >> b >>. >> larry: but you were not charged, were you? >> no. neither my sister-in-law or i was charged beca

senator sanders from vermont is a socialist. they've elected him. that's how it goes. i don't like it but that's how it goes. in fact, i don't dislike him. i just disagree with him philosophically. but that's how it goes in america. so he's a pro grossive and a socialist and -- progressive and a socialist and we have 77 members progressives in this congress. are they socialists? i don't know if they all are. if you look at the voting records of president obama when he was in the united states senate serving with bernie sanders, it's clear that president obama voted to the left of socialist senator sanders of vermont consistently. to the left. so, madam speaker, the argument is not, what is the ideology of our president? it is, what is to the left of a socialist? that's the argument that's out - there. that's the thing we need to consider and contemplate. and i believe this, if you want to declare something not to be socialism, however it is socialism, you have to figure out how to redefine something to the american people. they're smart enough to know what words mean.

. >> in vermont -- abramoff. >> abramoff is a little older than i am, but i was a college republican in the early 1980's. when the college republicans took that sharp turn to the right, that's the same direction i was going in. a lot of the same heroes. i thought ronald reagan was the greatest man who ever lived. >> in thisspresent crisis, government is not the solution to our problem. government is the problem. >> where do you find things like that clip of karl rove or dan roorabacher? >> oh, man, we just dig and dig and dig. our eyes when we saw those things. that's one of the fun things3 you start looking and you start believing that stuff is out there that hasn't been seen something. you usually find >> how do you find it? if i were sitting in your shoes, who would you call to find something like that? >> well, the first place you start is you go to the networks and you say, you know, send me all your material that has stuff about either jack abramof3 sometimes you get stuff. but then someeimes there's certain incidents you're interested in, and there's another incident in the fi

the chairman of the judiciary committee-- vermont democrat patrick leahy-- summed it up. >> solicitor general kagan will be confirmed. >> reporter: indeed, kagan managed to sidestep republican challenges on key issues, and democratic invitations to criticize the current court. that, despite pleas from senators on both sides, such as republican jeff sessions of alabama to be more expansive on her views. >> some of the critics who are saying, "who is this nominee? exactly what do you believe?" might find it from the... from the testimony difficult to know if... if, ms. kagan, whether you'd be more like john roberts and more like ruth bader ginsburg. so i think we need to know a little bit more what we can expect of you as a judge. >> reporter: rhode island democrat sheldon whitehouse tried to get at that point, asking about high-profile split decisions, driven by conservative justices. >> i want to ask you what you think about all these five to four decisions and what effort the court should make to return to a collegial environment that the court, where even these highly contentious de

chairman patrick leahy of vermont. >> i believe that fair-minded people will find her judicial philosophy well within the legal mainstream. i welcome questions to solicitor general kagan about judicial independence, but i would urge senators on both sides to be fair. there is no basis to question her integrity. no one should presume that this intelligent woman has excelled during every part of her very and distinguished career . >> reporter: party line divisions were clearly on display. the ranking republican jeff sessions of alabama declared it's not a coronation but a confirmation process. >> ms. kagan has less real legal experience of any nominee in at least 50 years. it's not just that the nominee has not been a judge. she has barely practiceded law and not with the intensity and duration from which i real legal understanding occurs. ms. kagan has never tried a case before a jury. she argued her first appellate case just nine months ago. while academia certainly has value, there is no substitute, i think, for being in the harness of the law, handling real cases over a period of years.

we are cautious in vermont.e understand the importance that the amendments have had in expanding individual liberties have had over the past 20 years. it should be the kind of independent justice who keep faith with these principles and keep faith with the words that are enscribed over the front doors to the supreme court. "equal justice under law". i'll put the rest of my statement in the record. senator? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would like to join you in recognizing the special moment of the loss of senator byrd who is such an institution here. he believed they were two great senates, the roman and american he wanted ours to be the greatest eve. and i remember one day he gave a speech on friday morning in which he complained about the text books and the failure to stin distinguish between a republic and a democracy. he called them touchy feely twaddle but he loved the constitution and loved our country and loved clarity of thought and we will certainly miss him. miss kagan, let me welcome you here today.

host: next phone call in vermont. ron on the republican line.aller: i am hearing grumblings of 401k's, retirement funds in the future might be taxed, will lose their tax-exempt status. i wonder if you could give me some information on that. guest: that is another area where there is a willingness in the government to come instead of incentivize savings -- you know, in the past decade or so, we have seen more options, more ways that individuals can save tax incentives. i do not see anything on the immediate horizon that would take away the tax-the late treatment of retirement savings. host: leland in california. are you there? we are going to move on to alexandria. nate on the democratic line. caller: it is my understanding that a minimum value of an estate tax is $2 million. has that changed for 2010? guest: yes, it has. right now, there is no threshold in which an estate is taxed. because of a temporary repeal, all the states, no matter how large, are not subject to tax this year. host: on the estate tax. how much does the government get from t

we are cautious in vermont. we understand the importance that the amendments have had in expanding individual liberties have had over the past 20 years. it should be the kind of independent justice who keep faith with these principles and keep faith with the words that are enscribed over the front doors to the supreme court. "equal justice under law". i'll put the rest of my statement in the record. senator? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would like to join you in recognizing the special moment of the loss of senator byrd who is such an institution here. he believed they were two great senates, the roman and american he wanted ours to be the greatest ever. and i remember one day he gave a speech on friday morning in which he complained about the text books and the failure to stin distinguish between a republic and a democracy. he called them touchy feely twaddle but he loved the constitution and loved our country and loved clarity of thought and we will certainly miss him. miss kagan, let me welcome you here toda

patrick leahy of vermont chairs the judiciary committee. live coverage >> we have families who have gone through terrible tragedies, and trie tragedies and show the respect due for that. it's been now 50 days since bp's deep water horizon oil rig exploded and oil began gushing into the gulf of mexico. deadly contamination has reached the shores and wetlands of the gulf coast. our nation faces an environmental catastrophe. americans are angry. in the past week, when i was home in vermont, i don't know when so many people have come u to me on one issue as this saying what's happening. american people want to know how and why this happened. attorney general holder and others investigate this disaster, i'm confident the facts will become known. and if criminal conduct occurred, it should be and it will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. senators on both sides of the aisle believe those responsible for the disaster should be held fully accountable. we cannot let big oil companies play roulette with our economic and environmental res

the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr.leahy: madam president, i appreciate the words of the senator from north dakota. i recall sitting here on the floor, i tell my friend from north dakota, he may well have been there too when senator byrd spoke of the pygmy strutting like a colasses, we know who he meant and the effect it had. i thank him for reminding us of that. madam president, we -- i believe all of us who served with and knew senator byrd are sa saddend by news of his passing. no senator came to care more about the constitution or to be a more effective defender of our constitutional government than the senior senator from west virginia. madam president, how many times have we seen him reach in his jacket pocket and hold up the constitution and he would say, this is what guides me? now, madam president, i say to the judiciary committee today, many of us carry the constitution and we can turn to it and read from it. senator byrd, if asked, would recite it verbatim from memory from page one straight through. and he wa

>>thsenator from vermont. >> thank you. i do want to congratulate the chairmaen of puttinghis bill to the u.s. senatt. it is no small feat. senators lincoln and dodd and majority peter harry reid -- fixing the econnmic system is equivocally in the bes interestf every citizen in the country. it is time to rein in wall street to e benefit of main street. this financial crisis taught us to -- taught us that the look the other way regulatory processes that were in vogue can vestments but our entire economy. we need more transparency and oversighof wall stre. we eed to prohibit financial institutions from growing too big to fail. i am hopeful iin bill will include provisions that i have been working on as chairman as the san -- chairmaof the sete judiciary committee. the whistlblowers who helped the american people and they have access to information about the complex operations of large financial institutions that the federal agencies regulate. the agricultural committee derivatives section will bring in 600 trillion dollars de

. >> the senator from vermont. >> thank you, mr.chairman. >> the committee will resume work on tuesday, june 15, with six public meetings planned. more the financial regulations bill tomorrow with congressman spencer bachus, financial services committee ranking member, on how the bill could alter the financial community. that is at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. with the confirmation hearings for supreme court nominee elena kagan coming up later this month, c-span2 inside the supreme court to see the public plaaes and is rarely seen spaces. hear directly from the justices as to provide insight about the court, the building, and its history. the supreme court, home to america's highest court, this sunday at 6:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> thursday, the ceo of bp is scheduled to testify on capitol hill. of the house energy and commerce subcommittee on oversight investigation, on bp's role in the gulf coast oil spill. that is live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3 and c-span radio. >> a discussion on the federal response to the gulf of me

we are cautious in vermont. we understand the importance that the amendments have had in expanding individual liberties have had over the past 20 years. it should bethe kind of independent justice who keep faith with these principles and keep faith with the words that are enscribed over the front doors to the supreme court. "equal justice under law". i'll put the rest of my statement in the record. senator? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would like to join you in recognizing the special moment of the loss of senator byrd who is such an institution here. he believed they were two great senates, the roman and american he wanted ours to be the greatest ever. and i remember one day he gave a speech on friday morning in whi he complained about the text books and the failure to stin distinguish between a republic and a democracy. he called them touchy feely twaddle but he loved the constitution and loved our country and loved clarity of thought and we will certainly miss him. miss kagan, let me welcome you here today.

patrick leahy of vermont chairs this two-hour hearing. >> good morning. i appreciate everybody -- everybody being here. i know this may be an emotional meeting. i'd ask everybody to recognize the appropriate degree of decorum. i understand we have families who have gone through terrible tragedies and show the respect dufort them. it's been now 50 days since b.p.'s deepwater horizon oil rig exploded and oil began gushing in the gulf of mexico. dead leaf contamination has reached the shores of the wetlands of the gulf coast. our nation faces an environmental catastrophe. americans are angry. in fact, the past week when i was home in vermont, i don't know when so many people have come up to me on one issue as this saying what's happening. the american people want to know how and why this happened. as attorney general holder and others investigate this disaster, i'm confident the facts will become known, and if criminal conduct occurred, it should be and it will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. senators on both sliles believe that those -- side

for what purpose does the gentleman from vermont rise? mr. welch: to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. welch: madam speaker, america needs jobs. the unemployment is too high, and there are concrete things we can do to create jobs. one is to pass the home star energy retrofit bill into law. the senate has to act. the house passed it in a bipartisan basis last year. it's a partnership between homeowners, the private sector and government. it will create 170,000 jobs where we need them the most in manufacturing, in retail by getting customers to the local hardware stores and in construction by putting out-of-work home builders to work retrofitting homes. this is a triple play. it will allow us to save $10 billion in energy bills. it will put 170,000 out-of-work folks to work and it will help homeowners save on their energy bills. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska rise? >> to address the house for o

host: patrick leahy of vermont questioned elena kagan yesterday. this is inside the hart office bottoming out the session is expected to last until about 6:30 p.m. today. each center will have 30 minutes for the first round. there are 19 members of the committee. there is a second chance for more questions. the plan is to conclude hearings on thursday. as we heard yesterday from senator patrick leahy, the passing of senator robert byrd may affect the schedule, or could go also into friday, depending how many questions they have. back to the editorial, the right to bear arms, but not a license to overturn all gun control laws. you can read more on their website. a caller from ohio, good morning, on the independent line. are you there? we will go next to chicago. this is impacting your city with your mayor angry at the supreme court decision. caller: good morning. i have been here all my life. in 51 years old. -- i am 51 years old. to me, the ban was stupid. criminals will always find ways to get handguns. all he did was take handguns away from hard-

. >> the senator from vermont. >> thank you, mr. chairman kent island to commend chairman dodd, chairman lincoln -- they do, mr. chairman. i just want to commend chairman doug, chairman lincoln, and others. there was the statement of trying to find at what went wrong. we know what went wrong. it went wrong in 1999. for 65 years, glass-steagall made our financial system in america sound and strong. it brought us through world war ii. it brought us through the korean war, the boom years of the 1950's, the tumultuous years of the 1960's and 1970's, brought andiberal president's conservative presidents. but, in the 1990's, what i3 these whiz kid wizards of wall street dreamed up new ways of creating wealth out of thin air. they devised ways of developing derivatives on derivatives on derivatives to the nth degree. they had nice mathematical %+rmulas. the problem was that they had no way of evaluating it appeared they had no real way of maximizing their promise. what they said was, to do this, all we can do now is under glass-steagall is

we have 1000 brave members of the vermont national guard there and i want to thank you publicly admiral mullen for coming up in speaking to them. it was the highlight for them, the fact that you did. so, how do you see it? what is our endgame? >> well, first of all, i think one of the results of very detailed analytical effort and policy consideration effort of the administration last fall was in fact to clarify our goals, and our goal is to ensure that afghanistan is not a place from which attacks can be launched on the united states again, and in a nutshell, the strategy is to reverse the momentum of the taliban, to deny them control of populated areas, to degrade their capabilities to the point where the afghan security forces can take care of them, and the afghans are ahead of pace in terms of building both the police and the army. we still are dealing with quality issues, but we are making headway. we are making progress on trainers. the percentage of trainers to trainees has gone from about one to 821230, and a lot of afghans -- i read a lot of the press about corruption and so on

. >> the senator from vermont. >> thank you. i do want to congratulate the chairmaen of putting this bill to the u.s. senatt. it is no small feat. senators lincoln and dodd and majority peter harry reid -- fixing the econnmic system is unequivocally in the best interest of every citizen in the country. it is time to rein in wall street to the benefit of main street. this financial crisis taught us to -- taught us that the look the other way regulatory processes that were in vogue can investments but our entire economy. we need more transparency and oversight of wall street. we eed to prohibit financial institutions from growing too big to fail. i am hopeful i final bill will include provisions that i have been working on as chairman as the san -- chairman of the senate judiciary committee. the whistle blowers who helped3 the american people and they have access to information about the complex operations of large financial institutions that the federal agencies regulate. the agricultural committee derivatives section will bring

i would hope it will not go into a second week because my family will be in vermont and i imagine most other senators will be in their home state. host: the full interview will be at 10:30 a.m. on sunday morning eastern time. charles, ky. caller: i'm calling concerning the unemployment rate is high. the way that they could possibly do to get the unemployment rate down would be to move people who are close to retirement into social security. get started with like the 61- year-olds, then you would go to like 60, and etcetera, and each time you checked the unemployment rate to see what the rate would be the next month. continue that until you get down to 56. host: what about the social security spending? caller: now have the same cost, if not more, paying unemployment. what you would be doing is moving people who need the jobs the most, moving them to a different category, which would be employed. then moving the people a year away from the retirement anyway. host: how is the economy in georgetown? you have a big toyota factory. caller: we do. host:, a people they employ, you know? caller

. >> i went to my farm house in vermont and sat under my favorite apple tree.t sounds silly, but i am away from the phone in the computer and the blackberry. i was able to sit there and read. i have been trying to do that evening's and weekends getting off quietly. i try to get away from the phone and the computer. members of my family, and black. -- call my blackberry my crack berry. i am one of the few senators left in the whole hearing because of the questions i asked. host: you can see the entire interview on sunday, tomorrow, at 10:00 a.m. as o'clock p.m. eastern on c-span. it is also available online. you can also see it as an application for your iphone. back to the phones regarding our conversation of evidence of stimulus spending in your area. next is on our democrat line in illinois. caller: good morning. i was just calling to say that the stimulus in illinois, i do not see anything happening really big. there are a few road construction going on. as far as the little businesses, not much. host: you think that will not be enough to help the economy in

the exception is a vermont. when the economy crash, they went down with it. revenue dried up because residents lost jobs. expenses went up because unemployed people needed help. three years in, they are all against the wall, and because they cannot turn deficits over until their economies improve they are cutting services and raising taxes. using the data for 2009 and projecting for 2011 and 2012, the center on budget and policy priorities expect the state shortfall to it reached -- to reach $610 billion. the federal stimulus money wealthy in that dramatically this year. with unemployment sitting at 9.7%, we are not in any shape to let the federal stimulus peter out. that means the federal grant has to step in with aid for states. the obama administration has asked for $50 billion for 2011. but experts say they need twice that. the trick is to do not want to reward bad budget practices under the cover of mitigating and economic disaster. all things being equal, a fiscally responsible state would get less than a fiscally irresponsible state." he says "if you t

arizona and -- september 14, delaware, maryland, massachusetts, minnesota, new hampshire, rhode island, vermontwisconsin and in september on the 18th, hawaii. october 2, louisiana if ruffs are necessary. taking us into the fall when the general election will be held next november -- october 2, louisiana, if runoffs are necessary. caller: what motivates me to vote in primaries is i know the value of my vote. i can do more on local issues. the electoral college elects the president. i can do my vote on local issues. smoking issues, gambling issues. in arizona, i bet the immigration thing was on the bill. you have to get out and vote for these things. you can vote for your mayor. you start with a grass roots. you start with your local community. that is something you can do something about. people that say they just vote for president are stupid. they do not know how to use their vote and the right way. i vote on local issues and in every primary. host: looking at the california senate race, "the new york times" has a right up of that position. republicans face a battle there on tuesday. "the new

we have 1000 brave members of the vermont national guard there and i want to thank you publicly admiral mullen for coming up in speaking to them. it was the highlight for them, the fact that you did. so, how do you see it? what is our endgame? >> well, first of all, i think one of the results of very detailed analytical effort and policy consideration effort of the administration last fall was in fact to clarify our goals, and our goal is to ensure that afghanistan is not a place from which attacks can be launched on the united states again, and in a nutshell, the strategy ito reverse the momentum of the taliban, to deny them control of populated areas, to degrade their capabilities to the point where the afghan security forces can take care of them, and the afghans are ahead of pace in terms of building both the police and the army. we still are dealing with quality issues, but we are making headway. we are making progress on trainers. the percentage of trainers to trainees has gone from about one to 821230, and a lot afghans -- i read a lot of the press about corruption and so on and