That you have. We do this out of respect for our panel and each other. We do not want these things going off in the middle of our meeting. I am when to start by introducing our four panelists in the order in which they will speak. On this, socided there is no significance to be read into the order in which they will speak. Our first speaker is to my immediate left, david bender. He is well known to many Conference Attendees for his involvement in public issues and political activities. He also has been a broadcaster and an author. One of the things you may not know about david is that his interest in politics goes way, way back. And he, in seventh grade, took a leave of absence to participate in bob kennedy, Robert Kennedys president ial campaign. So [applause] [laughter] it is called truancy. [laughter] i was trying to be diplomatic, here. Leave of absence. Second is mary hughes. Mary is a seasoned political strategist and author, who has focused her efforts on increasing the number of women in congress and state legislatures, especially california. [applause] fromhould know that 19842008, in the nine bay area counties in california, they sent six women to the house of representatives, 2 to the u. S. Many of us know, celebrated the selection of nancy pelosi as speaker of the house. Mary had a hand in many of those campaigns, and she continues to be involved in working on an urging women to run and win. Escalchi,have daniel od a known voice and face to many who attend the conference. He is a political consultant and campaign strategist. He has worked in many emerging countries and tradition in transitioning countries, including Eastern Europe and the middle east. He also has worked on Many Political campaigns in the United States. He has a longtime interest in politics. When asked what got him into politics, he said, i was a somewhat nerdy kid, and i really loved politics. So thank you, daniel, for that. So glad you said that. I was afraid of what you were going to say. [laughter] i am trying to censor this just slightly. Last but not least, we have ana a cnn contributor and political strategist with expertise on latin america and hispanic issues. [laughter] sure you do. Stop ijacked it will it. She served as National Chair of john mccains Hispanic Advisory Council in 2008. She has worked on several other state and National Political campaigns, as well as serving as your as ambassador of the u. N. Human rights commission. You can see we have a very versatile panel. David is going to pick us kick us off. Thank you for being here. I also want to thank cspan for joining us today. I think cspan is probably one of the rare things i can say that has been great about television and democracy. Let us give a hand for cspan. [applause] television in the era of the bysecond spot, funded independent expenditures, largely undocumented money, has not done democracy a favor in recent years. Inception, since its has done something incredibly valuable, which is to bring an unfiltered view of our government to people. That was the intention. A lot of people were terrified at what it would do. To this day, since it started, every day it may be boring some, but it is invaluable. I encourage everyone to make sure their local Cable Provider includes cspan, because it is important to all of us. Having said that, let me say that this mornings paper asked all of us on this panel to comment on what we saw in the political crystal ball. The quote i gave is what i say to anyone who asks about forecasting the political future. They usually will start off with some polling data which says, if the election were held today, always think, this person has never worked in politics. It is the election is never held today unless you are actually asking the question the first tuesday after the first monday in november. We have early voting, so extend that in some cases to october. Truly, it is impossible. Ask some of the former president s, like former president , or former president , formernton president al gore, or former president Hillary Clinton, who wonthe popular vote, and the Electoral College as well, but did not get to serve. Nevertional wisdom is what ends up playing out. We are sitting here in 2014 and are going to have a discussion, appropriately i think, about what will happen in these midterm elections in november of this year. Still, a lot of variables. A lot of things will happen that we cannot forecast. People will tell you what they think they know is going to , but are smoking something that is not legal here in colorado. I will say there are some clues. There are some clues. What i am going to officially dug the Sheldon Adelson primary. It was held a few weeks ago in las vegas. You can tell by who chose to participate in that primary who is looking not necessarily who is favored, but who is looking at 2016. These are people who went to a Forum Sponsored by the worlds eight richards eighth richest adelson, whose principal interests are israel and the prevention of internet gambling. Which will of course cut into the fact that he is the eighth richest man, largely based on casino gambling in las vegas and macau. The people who went to las vegas to see Sheldon Adelson included a man you may have heard of, chris christie, governor of new jersey. Anyone heard of him . He has been out of the news a lot lately. I wanted to remind you he is the governor of new jersey, which includes part of the George Washington bridge. Of the George Washington bridge, as my good friend points out. Not the new york cap, which has behaved a little bit better. A number of other people went to participate in the adelson pri mary. They included scott walker, the governor of wisconsin. They included john kasich, the governor of ohio. They did not go because they needed a trip to las vegas. And scott walker did not explain what the hebrew pronunciation of his sons name is because he was uninterested in Sheldon Adelson s support. Shamelessat we call pandering, which is what was going on in las vegas. But they understood that this was, as was the case four years visit when they came to donald trump, they needed, if they received the nomination for president three years hence they needed Sheldon Adelsons support. He almost singlehandedly kept Newt Gingrichs candaces candidacy alive in the last election cycle through continuing to infuse money. He plainly intends to be a participant again. He is 80 years old. He shows no signs of slowing up. The Sheldon Adelson primary, to me, is some part of what we might call the political crystal ball, if we are looking for signs, tea leaves to read. The most interesting part of that, and i will look to our colleague on the payroll today, who has worked for former isa governor jeb bush the fact that jeb bush went and participated. I think that is a very interesting indicator. As a lifelong democrat, i will tell you that the person that i believe has the strongest possibility to both win the nomination and be elected president in 2016 is jeb bush. [indiscernible] you will ruin his chances. It is an assessment. And if i can ruin his chances, i have more power than i think i have. I will tell you that out of respect i do believe he believes he brings the strongest credentials to the apparently weak field. But he would give a great run. Whether he wants to run his brother has said, we have had too many bushes already. I will tell you, i think the fact that he went to las vegas shows he is at least looking at it. I do not think anyone, including Hillary Clinton, has made up their mind as yet. Maybe a few have. Maybe Rick Santorum knows what he is doing again in 2016. Most people are looking at it, trying to get the lay of the land and figure it out, but it is interesting to me that former , hasnor bush was present made some early trips. If you want to follow this, i will tell you follow the money. Household broke famously hal holbrook famously said in the garage scene in all the n, follow the money. See if anyone is locked up for a particular candidate. And follow the travel. Ask people in iowa, new hampshire, and South Carolina who they have met lately. That will give you some idea of how the 2016 field is shaping up, at least in the minds of people who think they are credible candidates. Does not mean they will be. It means they are testing the waters. Pointedlleague daniel out, if you were doing the same exercise early on, when then former mayor Rudy Giuliani was considered the frontrunner for the republican nomination, you would have thought he had it locked up. Conventional wisdom does not exist in this process. We will prove that by sharing our unconventional wisdom today. Thank you very much. [applause] mary, go ahead. Wonderful to be with you. My crystal ball is a little bit error. It reads in headlines. I will share six this morning. Agree that welso will see how it goes. The funny thing about predictions is, you help enough time has passed no one remembers them. We will see. I am happy, because as you might guess, there are things that perhaps are things we might want to see, or some of us might. The first is, the northeast, which led in new england, in new hampshire, with a suite of women in all of its statewide offices again the will lead region in the renaissance of women governors. Havehe last decade, we gone from nine women governors to the current five. Lead states and one democrat, Maggie Hassan in new hampshire. Pennsylvania, allyson inwartz, Martha Coakley massachusetts i think they will run strong. Theink we will increase number of women governors significantly, and that will be a major story in the 2014 midterm election. The honestys will be much in your headlines over the next dyanasties will be much in the headlines over the next year, and possibly for years. You will watch michelle nine in georgia in what is emerging as a very interesting race. She has a clear field against him unruly field of republicans who are repeating competing for their nomination. Her father, sam nunn, search 24 with in the house distinction, an expert on the Armed Services committee. I would keep my eye there. Well. Dall you know him that is another one that people will be watching closely. Sam pryor in arkansas. I think this is important, for reasons that have been alluded to. I do not know how much tolerance families tonvest in lead us. And it is hard to know whether the value that we come to know about them are so clear to us that we have confidence and or whetheris earned, we are a lazy electorate and it is easier to go with the brand they know. I think this election cycle and the next one will put us to the test. Aether you are looking for generational change or a shift in perception, some different approach to how we evaluate the generations that come after. And i think we are going to have an opportunity to do that. Hampshire,o new where we all know all politics in america is rooted. Contest in ther last 48 hours. Scott brown moved into new hampshire. Let me assure you, Jeanne Shaheen will make short work of that. [applause] i can imagine no voters in the you, live free or die are going to come into our state, tell us you are going to represent us. I thought, really interesting. Is ot know what it i am sorry. It worked for Hillary Clinton. The one thing you want to watch about that move is, who is behind it . And for what reason related to the president ial election coming up . I think that is an important thing to watch for. My crystal ball stops there. , where theyors race mayor it is unclear to me, from the left coast, what exactly was underneath this. It always troubles me when Law Enforcement officers bring charges so close to an election. I think a lot of information came out late in that election. And a woman councilmember beat the sitting mayor running for reelection. In the lasteen, months, in various pockets of our country, prominently in my own, unfortunate scandals. Not really scandals. Just crimes. Just people charged with crimes. I know the mayor of charlotte was indicted. We have a state senator in San Francisco who was indicted, following the indictment of two other state senators for unrelated crimes. I do think we are reaching a tipping point. Itask ourselves, what is that allows for this to go on and on and on. Antidote . E historically, the antidote to this problem has been elect women. I think you all remember, i arizona,the 1990s, in and the state of arizona said, are you kidding me . They had a governor who i think he was indicted. Women swept all the top offices. We call that, in our work, the virtue advantage. It has prettyu, much as women have become more prominent as leaders, that advantage, in many ways, has fallen away. But in some sense, for some voters and voters skew older, as you know there is some vestige of it. Whether that election heralds a trend it is not probably the beginning of a big trend. But i would ask you to watch how voters react in the next election to the issue of fast and loose. Point, to my colleagues , there is a great deal of foot with jeb bush. Bush, and ih jeb hope ana will illuminate more on this point. But the one i am interested in and i hope heralds a good discussion for the country is the acceptance of Immigration Reform as something that we must do, that we should do for a host including a compassionate one to keep families together. I think republican congressional candidates will be grateful to 12, 24, 36is next , because the language the debate has devolved into is divisive, and no one can move off their position. And he has come straight at it. He has said, we have to do this. We have to do it at her. There are great reasons for doing it. That gives everyone else cover to have a place to talk about the issues in a constructive way, and that is terrific. A simple shuffling of the lingo we end up in a highly partisan place on the issue yet again, with no progress. But a hopeful sign in the crystal ball. Think the decision by the Supreme Court recently on Campaign Finance reform is unfortunate. , and here istent what i mean. Thatu agree with buckley speech and money are the same, this was a consistent decision. Consequences of that decision, we live with in the concept forest mess between policy and money. It is unhealthy. It is unwholesome. Legislations our legislatures and or congress. I would just say to you, while i do not see in my crystal ball a short Term Solution for this, it is the one thing that will make a huge difference to the way we do public policy, and probably have a big effect on all of the other issues. So i will stop there. [applause] good morning, everybody. I had a crystal ball and i was going to bring it with me this morning. As i was looking at it, i did not see a reason to. I saw marion barry and the mayor crack, and itking got all cloudy. It started to dissipate a little bit, and i saw a tweet from anthony weiner, who lost the primary to glossy oh in new york, and i was afraid to read it. So i am going to abandon that. However, i want to up broach this panel a little differently today. I know we have many panelists here who are going to talk about the candidates and the playbyplay. I am going to step back for a moment and talk about something that i feel is going to affect the midtermn, election as well as the president ial. And it is going to affect our politics here in this country and abroad pretty significantly. And that issue is the fact that Many Americans today feel threatened. We feel threatened. Are threatened. Our standing in the world is threatened. Realign notgoing to just the electorate, but how politicians react to this electorate. It, i think about actually worked for doc Kaufman Hoffman when he ran. He was the First Tea Party candidate. I saw, in a sense, a reaction to this. There is a fear among the elect a writ of where americas place is in the world today. Its is going to have very is shifting the politics in this country. But i will also step back even further for just one moment. Democracies and those countries that associate themselves with it, we are seeing this in those countries as well. Hungary just elected a Prime Minister again and gave him a greater far right majority. We know what is going on in israel. We see this going on in france and germany, in the netherlands. People are feeling threatened. Act to america. Let us talk about how this is going to affect the politics, the politicians, and the policy they are going to start promoting and elections. Spoke about the tea party panel yesterday. I do not know how many people were there for that. You already see that a lot of those pushbutton issues that fomented the anger within the tea party more issues that are now being coopted by the Establishment Republican Party fiscal responsibility, school choice, issues like that. See thate going to major parties are going to start to adopt it, and so are the candidates. They are going to adapt a portion of that. It is very understandable. Unemployment is still rather high. Making a lot of money, because they are more productive. But they are being more productive with fewer people. They are not hiring back a lot of people we let go during the recession. On the economic front, how our candidates are going to address these issues is going to have a major impact. I am glad you brought up immigration. The immigration report Immigration Reform this is why you had people like john mccain. In the very early stages, all for the dream act. The Establishment Republican Party, in many senses, was for it. A shift changes. , youl say that this shift cannot only blame the tea party. Many conservative democrats also feel this threat against their jobs and their wellbeing. There is some cross party pollination on that issue. Policy i know it is not a big motivator in the elections. But it is going to play a lot in the way the candidates coming forward are going to be handling our foreignpolicy issues. How does everybody feel about drone policy . Everybody happy with it . You know why that is kind of all you hear about in our fight against al qaeda and many of the other terrorists . Front, on the domestic obama can do that on his own. Greater to have a toater impact in this fight secure our country against terrorism, we would need to do many of the elements we did during the cold war, where we use soft power. Were aroundbassies the world, even in communist countries, were Little Springs authors, american music, american culture. None of that is around today in the countries where we need it the most. Those are places where they do not like us. This has an impact in the sense are, let us say, the arab world the only things they see now from america or drones. They do not see the writers. They do not see the progressives. They do not see the culture of women. They do not see our music as much. Even though the internet is there, it is not coming through our official modes of communication. And why is that . Domestically it is becoming very difficult to find those things. You do not see an Immediate Impact from these. And congress is going to have a difficult time, with the mood of the electorate today, with the sense we have as americans, to fund these things. You are going to send my money over there . So those countries can read about our authors . But we need that money here. That is the sense we are having. But this dynamic of the threatened american is playing into our elections very much, and is going to affect the way the candidates move forward. This is not going to be solved in an election. Ofm not a big proponent another bushclinton election, i have to be honest with you. But whoever the candidates are, these issues are going to live for a while in our nation. They are not going to be solved quickly. Candidates that can navigate these waters are going to be the most successful. The ones that can give america a sense of confidence to move forward, and a sense that it is not over. Thank you. [applause] i think i am on the far left in order, but i think i might be on the far right when it comes to this panel. A few things that have not been mentioned, and then i will talk about some of the things that have been mentioned. In 2014. It may seem to some that we are in 2015, because everyone is focused on the president ial race is already, and who is in, who is out, who is meeting with who. But i think 2014 is something we have to focus on. And that is going to have a lot of effect on what happens visavis 2016. Tony 14, most experts, most people conclude that the republicans will keep the house. I think that is true. But the question when it comes to the house becomes, what happens with john boehner . If the republicans keep the house, who will be the next speaker . I think that will have a huge impact on legislative agenda in the coming years. I happen to think john boehner still has fight in him. And i happen to think he is going to do it again. But i think he does not know yet what he is going to do. Also, we have had on enormous amount of retirements. Some house veterans, including Committee Chairs in the last couple of months that have been announced. We are going to have an entirely new makeup in many committees. We are going to see some pretty ferocious dogfights as to who is going to be the new chairs, the new ranking members in the house. It is going to be a new world order in the house of representatives. We have the u. S. Senate. Ago, theew months basic consensus was the democrats had a lead and were likely to keep it. That has become less of a prediction in the last several weeks. Republicans have been able to field some pretty good candidates this year. And people who can win generals. There is a lot of red state concerned,hat are that are in races that are running as far away as they possibly can from president obama. Will not be seen in public with him, no matter what is offered. I think that is something that we are going to have to watch very closely. And it is going to tell us the effect of obamacare. I do not think it is going to be nearly as bad and all about obamacare as a lot of my republican colleagues believe. But i also do not think it is the panacea and the utopia that a lot of democrats want to paint it as. We still have a lot of information when it comes to obamacare that needs to be dissected. Of the 7 million that enrolled, how many have paid . How many wereey, preinsured . There are a lot of things that need to be known before we know if this is going to work, how it is going to work. There are a host of exemptions and delays that at some point are going to have to be resolved. At some point, that is going to have to be confronted. I think the social issues are very interesting as to how they are shaping up. There are several states, including my state in florida, that have the legalize marijuana issue on the ballot. What we are seeing with the Gay Rights Movement there might be a majority of states that allow gay rights and gay marriage by the time 2016 rolls around, not because of the political front, but because of the judicial front. How much of an issue will that still be in 2016 . Another very interesting aspect in 2014 is going to be the overall shape of the Republican Party. 2010, we saw in 2012, a lot of veteran mainstream republicans frankly get caught asleep at the wheel. I call it getting lugared. They never went to home states. They did not have houses there. They became washington commodities. They did not work as hard. They did not raise the money. They did not spend the resources. They did not eat the rubber chicken. That is not happening this year. Have a lot of veteran mainstream republicans that are being challenged in primaries, and they are winning. Primary, mitch mcconnell, wiley as he is i predict he survives. I think Lindsey Graham is going to do just fine. I think we are going to see a the mainstream republicans come back, fight hard, and shake up the branding and definition the Republican Party has been in the last couple of years. That, in turn, is going to have an effect in 2016. Let me talk a little bit about the quote unquote Sheldon Adelson primary. There is something called the Republican Jewish Committee. It has been around since 1985. It is an important organization. It goes above and beyond Sheldon Adelson. Lawmakers,can candidates, have been showing up not to kiss the ring, but because it is an important issue, the same way many republicans and democrats show up every year to the aipac annual conference, and the same way that Many Democrats trekked sabano the haim conference, a very wealthy billionaire jewish contributor. You, everybody from president barack obama to president clinton to secretary of state Hillary Clinton trekked to his conferences. It really is, i think, demeaning which is a well established an important organization, to claim it as the Sheldon Adelson primary. That does not mean the money is not important, that Sheldon Adelson is unimportant, that important, that visa bond checkbook is not important. But let us remember this is an entire organization that has existed and will exist before and after Sheldon Adelson. , you all want to longterm, he is a friend of mine. He is also my tenant. I saw him yesterday, in fact, at lunch. Was he in new hampshire, by chance . He lives in coral gables, florida. I suspect that is part of what shapes his immigration views. The fact that it is an immigrant community. And a lot of times, the immigration debate can be about faceless government statistics, how many people cross the border, how many children of undocumented born here. It can be all about faceless numbers. You speak spanish fluently, live in an immigrant community, watch spanish tv, you know these stories. You know there are people, who get raped by human smugglers when they are crossing the border. , maybe, their lives swimming across a river, or taking a raft to the United States. And a lot of times lead children behind that they may not see for a decade. And it is in the hope that they can come here and find work and help support those families and loved ones they have left behind. Have they broken the law . Absolutely. Is it an act of love . It is hard to argue when they tell you their circumstances that it is not an act of love for those families. I think where he is, where he lives, the story shapes some of perception. I do not think you have to read many tea leaves when it comes to jeb. I know it is surprising. He pretty much told us what was. Hinking he is a pretty disciplined guy. He will stick to his timeline when it comes to his decisionmaking process. It needs to be ok with his family. By that, i do not think it means mama bush as much as that means the woman he has been married to for more than 40 years now, and his children. Running for president today means doing it as a family. It is not one person. It affects the entire familys life and privacy. He has also said he wants to be able to do it joyfully. He wants to be able to offer a positive vision. He wants to be able to offer solutions. He has said he will think about it over the summer. I know him. He means what he says, and he says what he means. We have gotten accustomed to politics as the art of the political piece, people who are trying to promote the sale of a get onr maybe trying to cable news, which is not a bad gig. Get themselves on dancing with the stars who knows . Trying to find some relevancy. I do not think jeb bush needs that. Various a very serious guy who is doing well, businesswise. He has a fulfilled life. He has a vocation for service. Is it the right thing for the family and the country . We will know. I get calls about this all the time from reporters, from donors, from everybody. In fact, my least favorite calls are the ones which ask me, what happens if marco rubio and jeb bush runs . They are both friends of mine, so at that point, i will go into a fetal position and just cry. Hyperventilating and having anxiety about jeb bush, marco rubio, marco rubio versus jeb bush, i have decided there is not a thing i can do about it all stop i think the decision comes from within them. I do not think it is about who else is running. For the meantime, i am going to be in colorado talking to all of you. They will tell me what the hell they are going to do. I will go from there. [applause] this is my last point. The person who has not been mentioned, in terms of political crystal ball, is Hillary Clinton. I think everybody assumes she will run, and she has frozen the field. Anything, there is more pressure on her to announce a decision quickly, i will say the donkey in the room, because i do not want to call her the elephant in the room, because she is a democrat all stop what she has basically got the entire democratic field frozen. I suspect we are going to hear and should hear from Hillary Clinton shortly after the 2014 elections. If she is not running, and everybody else a lot of other people give it as a fact that she is going to run. I am not sure. Guess what . She does have a book to sell. President ial circulation is good for business. Making 10clintons are event appearances in the next four days in eight states. Folks, that is not for free. President ial speculation has been very good. They do not need the money. I know and like bill clinton very much and can tell you, clinton has never met a dollar they have not liked. And more power to them. A republican, i am all about capitalism. I hate to cut him, but i want to make sure there is an opportunity for the panelists to comment on the comments of their fellow panelists. I would invite people interested in asking questions to come up to the two microphones. As soon as we hear any repartee, i will open the field for questions. This is her second round. Very well deserved. That the mostna important thing is bourbon or scotch. It is here. I have started already. That is the only way to get through this. Here are a couple of things i want to surprise some people and say i agree completely with ana on obamacare. Call the Affordable Care act, which was painted as obamacare in order to demonize it will stop you do not hear Social Security called roosevelt security. This was done delivered late. As is often the case, the rightwing succeeded in branding some in order to demonize it before it even had a chance to go into effect. That isaid that, i agree do not think it is going to play negative. Inevitable in many of these competitive wees i will say i think are going to continue to see this as one of those issues that some democrats shamefully, shamefully are running away from , when if they stood up proudly and said, i cast that vote people, more than anyone else, can sense the progress he, cowardice. Se . 10 hyp can sen hypocrisy. Backpedal, voters say, i do not care what your position is. I want you to stand up for what you believe in, even if i disagree with you. We will see where people are and whether they are willing to own their position. I also have to respectfully disagree on how to characterize the jewish republican event. If Sheldon Adelson was not the centerpiece of that, those people would not have shown up in the numbers they did, and it would not have had the attention it got. We have been going every year. It is an annual event. I was at it. I know that, as a jewish democrat. Say, the difference here is, the people who came, came with an agenda. They came with an agenda to be noticed by one particular individual. And they achieved that. It is kind of funny to me that when one of the largest democrat donors has a middle east conference which is named after him, and he has a middle east center named after him he also has power rangers. Power rangers and univision. He has a lot of money. When he has a conference and people like barack obama and bill clinton show up, that is about politics. When the Republican Jewish Committee has a conference, that is about money. How much money does he get . How much money does saban give . Ofhe gives many millions dollars. Does it ever go into the tens of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars . It probably is in the tens of millions of dollars. Lifetime, but not in a cycle. It does not compare to Sheldon Adelson. Last had nobody to give to time. He is a Hillary Clinton person, not a barack obama person. This could go on for a long time, and i want to make sure the other panelists have a chance to comment. Turn the microphone back on. Mr. Chairman, i paid for this microphone. Want to request that our panelists not interrupt each other. That they give each other a chance to speak, but they not interrupt. [applause] david, do you want to finish . I yield the floor to my colleague. I will let david and mary have a comment if they want to. It is all comment is, about money, and this is the tragedy of stop if this is what is in our crystal ball and it is all about money, let us get back to square one. Know, and loveou me for it, i am a republican, although i have to it is going to kill me. I have to agree with david. Newt gingrich was one of my clients his last president ial run. And the candidates do go there for money. I have to be honest with you. I do not find anything wrong with that. President ial races are expensive. Candidates on both sides do this. That myot pretend candidate they all do it. That said, i just wanted to touch on two things. The Establishment Republicans are making a comeback. That is granted. I talked about this a little bit before. They are starting to coopt many of the messages that the tea party had that were more normal, if i could use that term. Clinton, thisary is a phenomenal act we are seeing right now. If she does not run for president , the democrats are going to be in a freefall for a while. And it will be very interesting to see, on that side of the aisle, what happens. Young man, are you a student . Go ahead. Thank you. Get close enough so i can be heard. Ironicrs to me it is that with a great lawyer as a powersnt, chief justice is the card up the sleeve of politics. He is an ied for the peoples vision of democracy, because he keeps the money flowing. Du have a question . Do you see him as an device,ed explosive detonating the democracy . Money in politics, are you right . He has a job for life. He is in a sweet spot. He speaks as a controller of the rest of the justices of the Supreme Court. I am very glad that chief that justiceurg ginsburg is there as an opponent. My question is, his power is there to undermine roberts. Is roberts there to undermine the democracy he is supposedly protecting . I would just say this. I am going to not really address the question headon. But if you really wanted campaignfinance reform, how about this for an idea . You allow anybody to donate as much money as they want to any candidate you want, but you do it transparently. In 24 hours, it needs to be online. That would tell you more about a candidate than any 32nd 30 second commercial you will ever see. How is that . But it isds great, unfortunately inadequate in an era where you have independent expenditures, where the money does not go to the candidates, where that is allowed to remain private, and more of that money is in the process than money that goes directly to candidates. You are correct. When Campaign Finance reform first became an issue, molly ivins was still alive. We debated that very issue. To say,sultant, i have in the interest of transparency, i make a fortune on these. I was recently subpoenaed by the Moreland Commission in new york for not divulging who the donors were to one of these organizations. That said, i have to agree. Would prefer to see a world in which they do not exist. Allow people to donate as much as they want to the parties and to the candidates, and make that totally transparent. Put it online. As i said before, it will tell you more about the candidate than anything else. Thank you. First of all, i look at the political scene, and i am reminded of Richard Hofstadters antiintellectualism in american life. Au spoke with praise about governor as a powerful woman in politics. Are you equally enthused about governor nikki haley and governor jan brewer . No. [applause] good answer. Of coarse not. But why . For different reasons. Disagree with the on which they have run their states. It is pretty fundamental. My feminism is very broad. But it is not without an underpinning of clear values and priorities. To ana i love what she does on meet the press, because it is good for all women that she is as capable as she is. But i also enjoy, from my couch, disagreeing with her. That is how i feel. I agree with her. I think the end of sexism and the definition of modern feminism is having the freedom to choose, based on qualifications, based on character, they stunt experience, based on the person. Not based on gender, not based on race, not based on those issues. That is where we have made progress and broken the ceiling, when it is a freedom to choose. Young man over here, are you a student . You get to go first. Sorry. We will come back to you. We are not going to go away without you getting to ask a question. Go ahead. First off, i want to say thank you to all the panelists. It is always good to hear a nice debate. Being a student who has canvassed on local issues and registered voters, i am always struck i the disillusionment, as well as the frustration. Young voters and the millennial generation on the federal government. Going forward, looking into your crystal ball, how do you see young voters playing into the political atmosphere . You can look at this in a variety of different ways, such as a shift of focus from all the frustrations about the federal government to seeing more progress at the state and local governments, as well as the increasing price of education. Fromu have graduates college that are really educated, versus a number who have not gone to college, i think you can kind of look at these issues in a few different ways. I am interested to hear what you have to say on this. Can i come back with a question to you, if i may . Did you vote in the last president ial election . Yes. You do not have to answer did you support the president . Like i did at that point, yes. So many young voters played a part in helping to elect barack obama in 2008 and reelection in 2012. When he was reelected. In a quiet and stewart three years i definitely have become more aware. A completely i was educated voter. Many voters can be swayed easily with a couple of sentences. That has to play into it as well. Degree topoint, the which millennials going to be involved in the process going forward, we so the drop off in 2010 from 2008 among young voters. That explains in great measure by republicans did so well in the last round of midterms. The young voters didnt come out when the president wasnt at the top of the ticket. A lot of young voters are also now incredibly disappointed that the world has not changed dramatically because he was president. I share their pain. In the words of bill clinton, i feel their client i feel their pain. I thought we would have a transformational shift. I believed it was possible. The problem weve got is the shift and change happens incrementally in the system, slowly. You do not get immediate results. If young people are expecting electionsone round of to another they are inevitably going to be disappointed. That is a problem and a challenge for people to say we have to be in this for the long haul. To his credit, the president from day one as a candidate in 2007 said this is not me, it is about you. I cannot do this. We have to do this together. Yes we can. Not yes i can. Will millennials adopt that view . We have to do this ourselves . I dont know. I cant fault millennials are any age group for the disillusionment. The dysfunction going on in washington dc is depressing for everybody. You have a congress that cannot work with each other. You have a president that cant work with congress. Is, very little that affects our lives in a positive way is being done. The American People perceive that. It is felt by people of your age group, not to mention unemployment in people in your age group. When you voted you had two more years of college now you are needing a job. Voter too. A dismayed as a republican i would love to say to be young and not be liberal is to be without a heart. To be older and not conservative is to be without mind, but that doesnt apply here. [laughter] this goes back to the point i was making. There is an economic shift globally right now. The u. S. Losing its status in the world. Ed is affecting us in job markets. That is not just because the u. S. Is losing its stature because china is coming up. There are technological reasons. Our globalization reasons. I used a bad analogy. When we have the Industrial Revolution we did the shift from an Agrarian Society to an industrial one. We displaced a lot of farmworkers. To ban farmed sharing to protect farmers. We are looking at a similar situation. Everything everyone thinks washington should have a solution. There is going to difficult to situation atcal this moment. We have Technology Moving ahead so quickly it is creating productivity in the marketplace without the need for people. A lot of people are being displaced. This is not going to be a solution we will have a solution for this is not going to be a problem we have a solution for quickly. I see the frustration you are going through is going to be similar no matter who is in office. Until this shakes out. Is guiding hope here somebody like one of these brilliant entrepreneurial minds finds a way to make Technology Work for the less skilled person. A lesko person using technology can have a higher skilled position and we can create jobs in that way. To look at washington, to blame obama entirely for this, to is thehat a tax fix panacea, it is not. These are difficult changes it is going to be difficult to see how any party looks to solve these. Just one thing. Generational look at this. First of all, the dip in the midterm elections in 2010 more as much a result of the failure of unmarried women, who had voted at an extraordinarily high rate, to not vote in 2010 10 as it was your generation. Your generation, any generation of collegeage tends not to vote in midterm elections. Is a function of community. When you are immobile, and this is the danger, when we are unconnected to each other, our activism is diffused. We cant do much as a society. The thing that is on you to figure out, how you integrate a communal aspect of activism where one person has a conversation with another about what is best for the community or the country, and not displace it with your online attachment. The disconnection that comes online,x activism signing petitions online, that will not do. That wont do. Thank you. [applause] short statement. Please go to a question. I would like david and daniel to answer. It is a question about your comment about americans have here. Have fear . That fear. Ing it is coming from one side of the political spectrum. You have asked your question. Koch. It is coming from a grassroots movement. People, republicans or democrats, have felt the pain of not having a job. Not getting rehired after the recession. Certain something candidates think they have a solution. That is fair. ,f i believe i have a solution and my jobs program, and my tax plan, i have every right to speak about that. Regardless of what side of the aisle. I dont subscribe to the fact that this is being stoked by a party. This is a problem we are seeing a respective of demographics. Its at the top of the scale. They are not really feeling this prayed most others are. Please. Agree that the fear is real. There is no question about it. They were afraid during the cold war. The bombs were about to drop. Fear has always been good politics. Not necessarily good democracy. That fear is in fact being stoked by americans for two peoplestaying whose combined wealth is 80 billion. They are not sending checks out. Theyre writing checks to consultants. They are spending a fortune to impact the electorate, which benefits of their bottom line. It is not creating more jobs, except for consultants. Have, thehat people loss of jobs, israel. Asis being inflamed and used a political weapon, as a tool. It is shameful. If these people had any shame, and they dont, one of the brothers wrote an editorial saying he resented being attacked for what he is doing. Just this last week. Poor man. He resents being attacked. He better be willing to be attacked for doing what he has done. And continues to do. He has put his name out there am i he and his brother. If they are doing what they doing, they better be able to take the heat. They deserve it. [applause] my question is for misuse ms. Hughes. Mentioned the renaissance of women governors in new england. We arefrom texas where in a gubernatorial race. The Democratic Party is running a big promotion to turn the state into a battleground state. A purple state. Their nominee is wendy davis. What you believe are her chances . A woman in texas. Do think this will be a successful movement . Her chances are zero. Short of greg abbott being caught. It could happen. [laughter] think i actually think wendy has a shot. I think it is uphill. She has demonstrated she is an extraordinary person. , the evaluation we would make, we have elected any democrats statewide in texas in a long time. That isis a state constantly changing. Its electorate is changing. There is a movement which is different than a gubernatorial campaign. The movement is what is in portend, and what will be there , orelp wendy make that build something that will help in the future. I think there is a shot. There is no doubt it is tough. I would say we will have to see how much that movement carries. Dont give up on texas. It is changing. It is going to change in the near future. The next 46 years, statewide. I promise you that. Democrats will be elected. I promise you that. A quick question over here. , washingtonon is has become so hateful. It is trickling down into society. When in your crystal ball will we see the democrats and republicans begin to Work Together so that we can fix america . And we can have an intelligent debate about criticizing and demeaning each other . [laughter] politics is a pendulum. I think we are on the far edge now. Civil discourse right i am an optimist. I do think the pendulum will swing back. It will be in voters start demanding it. What i tell people is, get out of your comfort zone. Dont just listen to people and speak with people and lead people who think just like you. You can have a republican friend. Have a democrat friend. Wantl my gay friends, you to get this issue moved, befriend an old, white, straight male. Show them it is not contagious. We all have to do our part by getting out of our comfort zone. Engaging with people different than us. Celebrating diversity of thought. Demanding it from officials. We are accused of recruiting when we do that. That is the problem. To that point, i associate myself with what ana says. Lower than five percent approval for the congress. Most democrats and republicans by the way, this is not my feeling about republicans. My friend gooding. I dont think republicans are demons. I dont think conservatives are inherently the enemy. I will tell you, that was a strategy put in the place by my good friends, newt gingrich, when he came to the house of representatives. He used language. He said language is going to define us. He said when we take back the house, we cant just defeat democrats. We have to destroy them. It changed the tone. Revolution set the bar, lower the bar for the discourse. Is willing to accept responsibility. It was tactically smart. It polarized things. It took a very entrenched Democratic House majority, turned it upside down, and the republicans did win. Of problem with the politics polarization and demonization is they often work. To say why it is hard there is going to be an end. Voters are not outraged by it. Nixon was the one that started with the southern strategy. To say when this is going to end, the voters need to feel better about themselves. Ofht now, we do a lot polling. I see this. There is a trend behind that. Threatened,e feel voters are going to be argumentative as to how to solve it. Part of this comes from the voters. The other thing that troubles me , when i got to washington, republicans and democrats would buy each other drinks at the monocle. Today that is so infrequent. One of the factors you see, a lot of congressman are almost ashamed to say i live in washington. There is a factor that did. They were together because their wives hung out together. Their kids went to school together. Connection. Ocial there was social fabric there. Today i keep my family back in the district. I sleep in my office. You dont have that. [applause] i have to make one quick comment. When you leave the room, exit by the right door here. There is a crowd of people coming in here for the next session. You can jump in. I watched every one of the republican debates in 2012. Almost entirely for the entertainment value. In 2016, will republicans allow a Panel Builder that entertaining . Or is there a method to screen out the fringe candidates . Know, we live in a country where the constitution allows anybody who is a natural born citizen to run. About whogoing to be we we doubt. Can they run . Yes. Resources toe the be will to sustain, that is the question. The rnc has made an effort and is making an effort to try to bring some sanity to the debate process. We shall see if it succeeds. Last comment. I want to leave you on a positive note. Example in washington. Group of legislators who do what they have described. The 20 women in the United States senate. [applause] we have legislation in this country, a budget, protections for personal safety because they Work Together. Athout holding you, it is lovely note to end him. Lets thank our wonderful panel. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [c a recent look from the politico. They talked about the nsa and personal freedoms. How they might approach a potential case of damaging surveillance programs. Last year they decided not to hear a case from the nsa. We will play that tonight at 9 p. M. Eastern time right here on cspan. Mondays Supreme Court justice advocatesl talk about from the justice department. The event was cohosted by Georgetown University and the new york town and the new york books. 4 00 eastern on cspan. 430 five years, cspan brings Public Affairs events from washington to you. In hearings, briefings, and conferences, and offering complete coverage of the house as it Public Service of private industry. We are cspan, created by the cable tv industry 35 years ago and brought to you as a Public Service by your local provider. Watch us on facebook and follow us on twitter. Mayor of san antonio, texas, and the former mississippi governor talk about immigration policy as part of a threeday civil rights summit. At the lyndon b. Johnson president ial library in austin. They talked about the impact on civil rights, border security, and politics. This is 50 minutes. ] let me say it is an absolute pleasure to be here today as part of this historic event here in thrilled to be