the republicans in a position where they're saying there is no compromise. the american electorate wants compromise, and if they don't, he's got the per -- upper hand. jenna: we're getting a lot of questions about how the tea party will or will not be absorbed into the republican party. what duke about that? >> they're not a monolithic bloc of voters but a reform element within a center-right electorate. and these are folks that very much like the perot voters of 20 years ago, they want to see a little bit more common sense applied when it comes to fiscal issues. they think we're doing too much spending in washington, and i think those are core concerns that a lot of republicans that were already elected and part of this congress and part of the republican leadership, i think they're just as concerned about those issues. so i think they're going to be aligned on a lot of the policies