domestic sources of energy production. clean energy would be the priority people are looking at hers, nuclear, offsho, things like that. that's going to continue. but people want to make sure that if we' going to do it, it's going to be a letter and sar than what happened in the gulf. let me turn to the nonation of elena kagan. here she is backin 1993 in the committee room. she worked for senator biden. there she is. she saw it up ose. he had some pretty direct things to say about it. this was an article she penned for he universitof cicago law review during which she said in the rece hearings lacked acrimony any they also lacked riousness and substan. when the senate ceases to enge nominees in meaningful discussions, the confirmation pross takes on an air of va cutie and farce. and it becomes incapable of eitr properlyevaluating nominees or appropriately educating the public. th that in mind, do you think sh's prepared to reveal more about her legal views a philosop? >> i think that's the ght thingto do. i sd that when there we republican nominees withgeorge bush and i bieve itith democratic nominees. it shouldn't be what's ur favorite movie or rtaurant. they should talk about judicial ideology and philosophy. you can't try to pin someone down on what mht be an upcoming case. knowingow they think, how they reason, what's theiriew o settled law, these are all very leitimate questions and the hearings would be much less i they weren't asked. >> wt do you specifically nt to know? >> the first thing i want to know is just how she balances things. what i really likabout elena kagan i she's a practical purpose. we have eight justicesho were judges abe all. sometimes whenou have people way u there in at rare phied ivory tower, the forget the practical consequences of their decisions on bunesses, on local governments, on people. to have seone practic, someone who ran a big legal business, harvard law school which he ran by all reports verwell, $160 million budget. >> pretty rare phied air. >> it's a lot of practical concerns. one othe thin she had to do which she may have to do on the court is pring e conservative and liberal factionsing the and both sides sa she did a very good job. i want to see how and i hope, it's myope and belief ts practical person will help bring the court down to earth a little bit. >> so talk about that. what does she mean for th overall direction of the cou? is she a libel or is she a derate? >> i thk she tends to be a moderate when you look at her writings. i think that's less important. wn the president called me and asked mewhatas number one criteria for a nominee this was before he chose kagan -- i said i think it shld be somebody who will be in the majority of fiveather than the inority of four. somee who wl have n only theintellect, and everyone says she's illiant, but the force ofpersonality, t practicality to try to create coitions. a lot of us onthe democratic side were shocked by the citizens united case, for instance. >> just remind eople, this was about political contributns. >> this was a case that said unlimited corpora money could flow into our politics undisclosed in any way. the first amendment is important, so is the sanctity of our potical process so the average person has a say. i was shocked atthis. maybe a kagann the court could have persuaded a justice kenned that the practical -- the abstract nion of first amendment triumphs everything, has a balance. the balancis the pctical effts of that. and my hope wou be she would do it. that's what i'm looking fr. i woul like to seesomeone who would be effective of that. >> there are liberals concerned abouter view of executive power, that she mighbe clor to the bush admtration, frankly, what thexecutive can do with regard to a waon terroa she mit actually oma administration has put forward with regard to a robust executive powerith regard to the war on terror. is that a concer >> it's certainly a concern. it will be a area of questioning. i think elena kagan as both brillnt and practical, those are the two watch words that i would ascribe her looking at herecord as i hve little bit, meeting her this week, will srt of come to a balance. iebalance. i don't like judges too far rt. but i don't like them too far left. th tend to want to impose their own views a ideology. >> the republicans have said she's a blank shae she don't have judicial experience. >> she doesn't have judicial experience she's hardly a blank slate. you look at allof h writings. she wrote many articles wha she did en she was working in thelinton white house, that's alloing to available, freedom of information tohe kennedy library or the clinton libray, has been put rwd. there will be plen of informion about her. this idea tt sh has to be a judge and has judicial writing, some ofurreatt jusces had noudicial experience. justicemarshall, jusce frank footer, juste jackson. rehnquist, who many consider a great justice, had out as much judical expiece as kagan h. >> a couple issues in our couple minutes left. terrism and homeland security funding has been a hot button issue for you. here is the "n york post" ter the administraon said would cut back some funding. obama to new york,drop dead. you put out a blistering atement as well. we'll put that up on the screen. for the administration to nounce these cuts two weeks after the attempted times square bombing showshey just n't get it and aren't doing right by new yk city on ant tire richl fundi. yoy it was ut by 27%. secrety napolitano say wai a minute, new york has unused an terror funding available to it now andou got ddtish stimulus money to help in this regard. what's at issue? >> what's at issue is two things. first, 's changed. we learned since christmas with tall and thank god the l my msed attempt in timesquare that nw yorks the target,not one of 50 taets. we're theumb onearget. second, there's a gro pakistan liban,that has t capability of trying to d something. they came all too clos the funding should change. shld new york get only 12% of he po anti rrorism security funding? you know, secretary napolitano pois out that not all e money is spent. that's how washington wos. bottom line a lot of the money hasn't beenent because fema, annual agency under the jurisdiction of the homend security, hasn't spent it. >> senator, lootf ppleon't like how washington works. if you haven'tpent all the money, y doyou ne more money now? >> we've spent it. it hasn'teenpent out. wh you do a three-year contrt to pu in radiation tects. she's saying years two and three haven't been spent yet. that's true. but they've been acted for. wn femais holdinit up, you can't blame -- that'ru people d't like the way washington works. that's an example. ere is what think, david. the prent gets it. he came to new york, he showed respsibility. what happened here is sortf bureaucrs an bean counters at omb and maybe homeland security wer doing business usual, following through on a forla that had been put in place before december. terror funding,he laest pot called uawsi. i asked t move it up from 18 to 25 which is wt it was i205. we do that,e canake up for the cuts and i think the mayor, myself, peter king wuld be happy. >> thettory general, eric holder s here last suay, he refuto say when khalid shai mohammed lle tried in new york or no u have said th is not close question. >> it not a close question. i think the chan of him being tried in new york arelose to zero. >> does he go to a military tribal, se closed? >> th's auestion they wi ve to decide. >> what doyou think? >> here is what i think. i'mough on terroris i wrote t feder death penalty law. what's the qukest and best way to do that? i think we ought to defer to the experts. >> final point here is politics. look what our poll found about who th vote preference are in termsf republican or democrat controlled congress. even split, 44-44. republicans have come way back. job approval for congres, not so good. 72% disapprove in or poll. should democrats be concerned about this going into november? >> f course we should. at's why have to focus, number one, on tssue americans care st about, jobs and the economy. we are doing th. the stimulus ich is unpopular fit is getting more popular having its effect. financial reform, good strong financial reform will ha its ef. let me telu this, the american people are generally optimistic. the reason the numbers are so w is because for the fit time i think in this receion, unlike the oer nine, post world war ii recessions, americans said we'll never get out of this. if by labor day they start seeing light at the end of t tunnel, not at wee there yet, but i can see where we' get there and be back to the good old optimistic prosperous america. natorec win or lose in the primary? >> i belt he wins by alittle. >>senator schumer, thaou as alway >> ne to talk to you. joining us from louisville, kentucky, senaterepublican ader mitch mcconnl. >>ood morning. >> d like to begin with the kaganomation. you have questioned her qualifications sayinghe doesn't have judicial experiee. the nominati of harriet myers you were on the floor of the sene an you said the following. she will bri to the court a lifetime of experience i rious levels of governmentat the highest levels ohe legal profession. e is well qualified to join our nation's highest court. she wast age ther. yet you were foher. >> well, i think we learned from he hri myers nomination that when you'r a friend of the president and don't hav dicialexperience, it makes it importanto make su you' just not going to be a rubber amp f the administration. really, we've had plent of supme courtust who have not had judial experience, who ve done an outstanding job. just rais a red ag. i'm good dl more troubleby two other things. number one, the cas that chuck schumer mentioned, the citizens united case which was blow pour the first amendment, a very important free eech case. solicitor kagas office in the initial hring argued itould bekay t ban bos. and then when there was a rehearing solicitor kagan herself in her first spreme court argument suggesd it might bekay to ban pamphlets i think th's very troubling, and th whole area of heriew othe fi amement and political speech is mething thatught to be explored by the judiciary coittee and the full senate. secondly, there's the issue of the military recruitment at rvard. she took the position that harvardhould not allow military recruiters at thela school. later supporte that positi in a decision in a case in the court system that ended up with a supreme court ruli 8-10 against t potion that sh took. i think these are two areas that need to explored and wi be explored by the committ. >> want to unpack tt a little bit, senator. let me go back qualifications. ar you sisfied s has the level of quifications to be on the supreme court? >> look i think that's what we go into in the hearings. there will beots of records that wille reviewed from her time at the clinton administration,ro her time at hicago law school,t harvard law school. we needo let the processay out here, an orderly process, a fair process, not a rush to judgment. >> don't u think a lot of people lok atashington and say this is the kind of politics i hate? ar you re, you sd up for harriemyers despithe fact she was a friend of the presidt, despitethe facthe didn't hve judicial experience. when it comes to a dmocratic nominee, yo say these areeal problemshat have to be explored. >> look, did,the republicans have treat supreme court nominees better tnhe democrats have. i can't think of a sine nominee by a democrati presidentho has treated the way robert work w, the way clarence thomas i was, the way samalito s who was filibust filibustered. 'veever filibusted a supme court nomion. >> do y thinkthere'y mpediment to elena kagan being confirmed this tme around? hat i think we need to do is to findut at her recd is. that's why --e hearings are not a sham. they're serioushearings. the recordille developed bere the juciar committ nd the members of the committe a subsequentl the senate will an opptunity to tell us how they feel about it. >> let's go to the other ccern that you ised aut her position about the military. so she's dean of harvardaw school,opposesmilitary recrumenton campus becau of the ati discrimination policy that she wa supportingwith regard to the probition against gays and lesbians serving in themilitary. do you think tt position makes her aradical with regard to her viewsf the military? >> youeft out the most important point and thatas the l, theolomon amendmnt required milita cruiters allowed on campus or t university give utheir federal fuding. so think a more appropriat responseight have beo follow the law. i think it's something we're going to look into at the committee because the decion was aprently de. we'l takeur chances on federal funding by notowing those recruiters harvard law school. >> they dihave access to students through militar groups and veteran groups asociated with campus. myestion is, do you think as some republica have suggested, she has radical views about the miliry? or doyou think that's an overstatement andnfair? >> look, i don't know. know is the iss with regard tothe solomon amendment. i think the mmittee ought to lok init. theecord is yet tobe developed. >> let me turn tthe issue of the bp oil spill which t president was qui angry about after the aearanc by ceos on capitol hill including th ceo of bp. ourd senat schumer say there oht be more effort on the part of the government to look over the shoulders of the oil compani. what dyou say? >> we're all ang abt it. this is environmental disaer of gar an want proptiss. youhould point the finger at bp and the other coanies involved in it. we're also interested to know what the administration did. was the mineral management service a rt othis administtion thatpproved this site? also approvedhis spill response plan. at kind of oversight d the administration pvide ding the course of the drilling? there are plenty ouestions thatneed to be awered. nd there will b adequate time r tha buthe administration's involvement in tiswie a bi part ofhe inquiry. in the meanme we need todo everything we can to ophis spill. >> what about the issueof legitimate clas, as bp i tt it will honor? do you think the cap for damages shoulbe higher now, hier than $75illion as you heard senator schumer say they would propose? >> well, the dangern that, of course, is if youraise the cap too high, there will be no competition inhe gulf and you'll leave all t nene to the bigu lke bp. what bp has said they need to b held t which is they're going to pay for this. they ought to pay for it. and they will pay for it but the danger in taking the cap o high is you end up with only massive, very largeil producers aleto meetthat cap and produce in e ulf. look, we can walkaway, and the president is not suggesting this eier, from offshore drilling. as horrible as this is,t's imptant to remberhat we get 30% of our oil from the gulf, and if you shut that down, you'd hav$14.00 gane. l move on to kentucky polits, something i'm sure you're thki a lot abt this week. this is the rce you've been engaged in, the senate primary between t sretary of stat of kentucky, that is trey ayson, against rand paul. rig now, senator, as you kw, it is rand paul'to lose. he's up double dits. "t washiton post" hadthis headline last ek, the o kentucky reign. who wi join mccnell in the senate depends on how much voters like mcconnell. you haveut yourself on the limb. the votrsppear tbe rejecting that. is this a referendum on youand the establishment republican party? >> it reminds me when the president ntinto massachusetts, the state he carried by 26 points and tried to et the candidate running against sott brown. i don't tnk anybod serisly thinks the president wn't cay massachus next time. this is a ra between twoone incumbents. we'll fd out something may about incncy tuesdain arkansasand pennsylvani where e ha twoemocric incumbents in sious races. we don't have incumbency on the line in kentucky. we have two nonincumbents running for an open seat. one of o senators is supporting one candite. the other supporting the oter candidat wchever run it is best race will be the nominee. we'll have uni rally at the stat pty headarte next saturday to get behind the winner d win innovember. >> you're not going to be in kentucky on election night, are yo theenate isin session on tuesda i'll be at state headquarters next saturday with the wier. we'll al lock arms and go o and win in november. >> you're suggesng that ur efforts to help tay grayson have not paoff. you expect rand pl to win? >> i d'tnow who is going to win. i think tr grayson will b a stronger candate in november. ixpect kentuckyill be in a pretty replica mo this fall. i'moptimistic whoever wins the pmary will be the next senator. >> what ds it say about the strengths of the tea partmove mtd, however last and vast that movement is it's bee indence in the support fornd paul. >> i think it's impoant. it's an important movement in the county and i think it will really help us in november. >>resident obama has made the point and begun to fra the argument for the mterm race. he did it at a campai the her night about how republans will have toear from democrats, how democrats will run in the fall. this is what he said. >> after they drov the car into the ditch, made it as difficult as possible form us to pullt back, now ty want the keys back. no. you can't drive. we don't want have goac into the ditch. we just t the caout. just the car ou >> how do you rnd to that? >> sounds like he was to run against george bush one more time, doesn't it? look, the administration -- t american people have taken a look at wt this admintration has e, runni banks, insurance mpanies, car companies, nationalized e stunt loan business whiwill kill31, privateectorjob ten over heth re. they're about do to fcial services what they did to health care. their appointees athe fcccc are trying to take over the internet. th've doubled the national debt -- wl double the national de in the next five years, trip it in ten. the amerin people are appalled by this. and in yr ownnbc-"wall street journal" poll peter heart, the democratiollster who pticipates inhat bacally said the american people have made up the mind and it will bevery, very hard for the democratso change their mind. we're looking at a mid course correction here. we'd lio see the president be the moderatee campaigned as. think the only way that ll happen is if the american peopl send morerepublicans to the house and senate to move this administration back to the midd and what pe is the last two years of its only term. >> before you go, senator mcconnell, if thecomy continues to produce jobs, 73,000 bet january and april, it's a projected 1.7 million jobs eated er full if that happens, do you think president obaeserves credit? >we know right now the have lost since the president cameto office. e kn theye aded 260,000 government jobs. we know theonly boom town in erica is washingn because they're explodiornnt employment, hirig new government workers by borrowing money from our grandchildren. that isn't like to change by november. i hope the ecomy is beginni come back, butt would have to come ck a longay for anybody toelieve the stimulus plan which was sld to us to keepneloymt at 8% hs worked. unemployment is at 10e%. we're not making a lot of headway so far. >> leader mcconnel wel leave it there. thanyou very much. >> tnk you. >>up next, a super tday of sorts in tw days. our roundtabl weighs in on all the b racnd what' behind thisnt incumbent way. jonathan alter, peggynoonan, mike murphy and b shrum plus our "meet t press" minute, the ♪ [ male announcer ] imagination. it's the most powerful resource on earth. and at ge, we're using it, right now, to create innovative technology that will improve the health of our economy... the health of the earth... ♪ ...and the health of its people. ♪ ♪ compare a well equipped lexus es, to a well-equipped buick lacrosse. get inside each. and see what you find. if perfection is what you pursue, this just might change your course. meet the new class of world class. the twenty-ten lacrosse, from buick. may the best car win. less travel? 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[ engine revs ] or a quarter-century? is performance about the joy of driving? or the importance... of surviving. to us, performance is not about doing one thing well. it is about doing everything well. because in the end... everything matters. performance without compromise. that is what drives us. performance without compromise. p.a.: the master suite has a completely updated master bath. it's got a screened-in back porch and a large backyard. it's the perfect home, in excellent condition, and ready to move in. anytime, anywhere. no one connects you with the home of your dreams like coldwell banker. we never stop moving. roundtable, author of theew book, "thepromise,ment obama year one. jonathan alter. wall street columnist ggy noonan,ikeurphy and b shrum. e firstouple weeks i keep welcoming peopleo the new digs. >> they're great. >> this is a sweet set. >> we're all very committed about hd. >> righ so mh to talkabou let's start with the president's standing right here as we get set forhis mini super tuesday coming up this week. here is his job proval accordg to o new "wall street journal"-nbc poll. he's at 50%. mimurphy, i oke to sebody closeo the president this week whoaidlook, he gets 53% of vote in 2008. not bad. >> i think if the election were held today, the democrats would lo t house. the question no is the trend from n to november. there's no question there's a usack in the country. he ran as moderate, govern as a liberal. orces arepushing bk. you can argue about the slope of the decline. he is not up. but his polies are up for ferend and i believe will have a bad midterm. >> b shrum, what may krubt to that thinkg among seniors, her activist tys, the enthusiasm between republicans democrats, th's in the republicans' favor which is a problem. >> i think that's lely to change, although not certain. i agree with mike by t way, that if the election were he tod it would be aproblem. there's new ap poll that shows democrats suddenly back with a five-point generic lead the congressional rae. i think at becae people may be beginning to feel the effects of t ecnomy. jobs are everhing here. these job numberseally matter. i wouldn't yet call the midterm. we saw it last summer. we saw an august that was transformativ i think inhe era we liv in, things can move very fast i think perceptions c move very fast. >> it isnteresting, jathan alter,nd you write abo this in the book "the promise: president obama, year one." people like him personally, not as sold on his policies. his policies a less popular than he isas the man. u write in your boo in terms of what started to happen in the coursof year one. little by ttle, in the second halff t year -- this is his first year -- obama lostuch of his coection to the american people. se voters lt he wasn't exping their anger. thoers thought he was taingt a level over their heds. hcould be folksy, but he did'thave bill clinton's gifts for makng complex subjects fully accessible. in fact, thewo presidents' relationships -- the publ were the inverse of each other. in 2009 the public trusted and admired obama personally, but not his approach to the iues that affected their lilis. >> change is ha david. a of pele weren't quite ready or all the change that they got in yearne of obama' idency. eliver on a lot oft. they are onlynow beginning to feel the effects of that change. when barac obama came to office, the economyas losi 740,000 jobs a mont in janry 2009. we're now addi about 250,000 jobs a nth. so the has been a turn-around. we have evented another great depression fro taking place. but, as mitch mcconnell pointed out, unemployment is still 10%. americans vote and respond to he picieof the white house based otheir pocketbooks large measure. what will happ this year politicaly will depend on wat happens onomically. >> peggy, they also respondto leadership qualities, people they have ainity for. you experienced at with ronald reagan. is there allel here? im ruck by t numb of people w say they kif like m but they kind of don't like hispoci. when you add up thos who say whatever they think ofim they don't like as policies. they more dn't like his however, he stays roulyat 50% approvalnd i ink lility. i thnk one thng that has changed for him in th pt few mons is that he has finally goen off health care, which made him- made sition very delicate and was very hard for him, and i think helped him lose some ofhe ceter. that'some of the three points it's ierting to me, also, s. that the president seems different from his party. s position seem strongerhan that of the democratic party. he stys arnd 50. they stay around atever. congress is aut 20, the party itself about 40. tht's interesting to me and probly asimplications, i not sure what ty are. >> what are the implications, bob? tre is big difference there. at theisk of offending ggy, the first thing i want see is i think t arc of is presidency will be a like the arc of rona reagan's. in 1982,eopletill liked him, a terrible job approv ng, down t35%. ashe economy got bette the emocrats who sivated toun against h in 1984 found out how wrong they were. i twhat obama hasone is the otherthing jonathan has written. he actually ok a lesso from ronald reagan, go early a go big. get thebig changes do no matr howard they a and ridehe economic recoveryp. i think the end2012 isnot going to be a good year for epublicans. 2010 depends on whether or not people -- whher or not omic reality catcs up with tlrm me beginnings of signs that it is let's talk about the big issue on thpresident's plate. enaagan's nomination. sle have uespond to something that bob wrote. kagan may be the best choicefor e supreme court, although there are dissenting lira who doubt it. but undeny bly one reason she was picked was to circumvt the clh a smash of a bitter rt san time. she will be connell fird, but only afer a faux battle. >> i'm shked. since the democr ran the assassinationcampaign o politicsgainst wor we'vead two levels of supreme court nominations. one, the kind orealolitic thessues o the court,here they are as lyers or judge or academics and second, the politil show. theyave the vot to confirm her. he picked a centerleft juste thought he coul get rough. i'm not a bigfan i'm conservativ the politi will besecondary tohe economy and b things. i think republicans will score points on isilitary recruiter issu thas going to strike a cord eople that, i think it rnfces the obamaiew of a certa elism more concted to the harvard fulty lounge than main street and t fact that harvard campus is somewhere that you don't want military recruirs will be troubling. >>she waned evybody to be able to serve in theiliry. how is that anti military? >> she took a strong line against the don't ask don'tell policy. she was basically continuing the policies her pdecessors. i agree with mike, i think this going toome up. the o question of obama's relapgs ship with the military is sethi i wite a lot about in my book. thre was actually a showdown betwe the presint andhe peagon brass over perceptio that tere wasnsubordination ring the debatesver afghanistan last fall. and the president pshedack very hard, and none of this came out at the time, but this is something that in the afanian seion of my book i on. ihink that there is some tension ere that remains that by alarge hgets along pre well with the military. but this ki of issue uld rub sof that raw. the issue also of bork which mike brought up, he wawa own for being an outspoken jge. came into those hearings and said what hethought. shows you whatood thatid him in terms of what the oosition was againsth. tere with ka you do have, particularly liberals, who ant to explore her views about exetive power and whether she is closer tohe bush administration whenit comes to how -- what powerhe executive has over detainee over w gets their day in court, et cetera. >> uh-huh. look, ihink that since the bork hearins, it has been very hard for younlawyers whowant go forward in the juciary to realize anything but ths. if you are colorful, if y are interesting, if yo are forthcoming and share your thoughts and philos and views o the way up, when you geto your comation haring for the court, theyill put a nooseround your head, hanging u with every interesting tng you've evr said. i happen tohink the senate judiciary coittee has nodone a good job of vetting and bringing out the thouts of supreme crt nominees fo a longime. ihi they should change. let theominees be forthcoming, let them speak. i think th whole sense we've got that yocan't say anything resting on e way up out to ju away. oliver wendell hoes today would not be allowed on the .s. supreme court because he said such fabulous, interesti things. wouldn't have to have a confirmation hearing bause they didn't have them in those days. > fair enough. but we do haveem now. th ought tosummon thought and respect individuality and taking ait view and creativity, fry. those things shouldn't kill ou. >> i was going to say t barack oba during the soomayor preparations he actually said in the oval office i wod not b confirmed for the supreme court with the system that we have right now. that's how out of contr the whle vetting process h gotten. >>e ha to understand is what's going to hapen, a this isn't goingto cha much as peggy might wi it to or i mightish ito. the senate will ask questions t nominee will give carefully reheaed answ and the process ll move forward. do quarr with the reiting of history to explain this. robert bork's real problem in my view was h condemned the supreme court decision outlawing the poll tax. he condemned theone-pern, one-votdecisi. he condemn the decision strikin down restrictve housing covenants and called the. >> bob, this is one way -- >> my final point is, because i don't wantto talk tics. >> this is illustration what's going to happen. >> no one who say iis poll t ought to upheld is going to be confirmed. >> sit him down and talk to him and suon his thoughts. don't just make accusations and say you're over. the accusationsf bork came ithi mutesf e announcemeof his nomination. >> we're not gog to relitigate bork. i want to talk -- mik befe we talk about the key races on tuesd, i wantou to frame what we're seeing here. the big questio is whatis driving, who or what is behind this anti incbent wae? >> it's pretty simple, and it's both ties. work.e think washington doesn they think politics,any o them vte for in the lt psidential electnto fix wasngton didn't fixit. they thi the governmentis out of control and politicians are incompetent. this is an election year whe it's a d ia to be a professional pitian in eitherparty. on tuesday, we'll see arlen ecter. >> you set itp nicely. let's start inpennsylvani senator scter is n a democrat, ud berepublican. up against congresan joe sestak in a race that is ose. there' new poll that's come out that has sestak ahead by seven. this is one of the big thrusts of the arment sestak is aking. hd it in ad he's put together againstenator specter. >> i'm joe sestak, the democrat. i authorized this message. >>chane in partyill enable meo be' elt sgld for 45 years arlen specter haseen a republan politician. >> arlenpecteis the right man for united states nate. i countedonhman. that's portant. he's am ally. >>t now -- >> my change is party will eble mto berelected. >> arn specter switched reso ve one j, his, not yours. >> as a practitioner of the dark art of potics jourks to like that ad. > has a goodmessage which is he's only half a democrat and all politician >> i think he is, too. thoug h whole cardas oba this ad whi i que brilliant reassociates him withbush. e has hopend that is e safe net of iladelia. rendell when he was running for governor lost aos every county pennsylvania in 20. >>ive been toldhe governor will sti eke it t. >> when schumer said by a little t, hlooked down byhe table. >> can i say something nice about senator speceran ornery guy, not the most popar guy. heoing to lose. in the stimulus debate, what did heold out for a doubli of fding for cancer reseah. maybeecause he's a cancer sur voif ani'm a caer survive ord, this takes on mor importance. i think there are a loof viewers out there who will thank sor arlen specter for that in the years ahead. >> let's talk about arkaas, blanche lincoln up against bill halter, the lieutenan governor. she's aheadhat looks like ten points. s's not runnng at%. she needs 50% for runoff here. as theatnajournal showed, eggy on hits cover thatioln is learning being a centrt in the senate is offering little refuge fromhe attacks only oth the left and the rig. a centri democrat right now is einpressed and sqezed pretty hard because ofealth care and other issu. >> yeah i remember a femonths agohe had a et, t senate emocrats had a meeting with pdent obama and she stood and almostleaded with him to understand the position of centrist moderatedemocrats. and he kif stffed her, h kind of said i'm doin what i'm she's in trouble. one gs the impression it's nt goingoork forr. again, she isan incubent. sheoes not have t part of prty tha needs to be on fire on fire. >> she's being attacked fr the left by the uons, ob. >> look, she haso geto % to avoid runoff. she is being attacked om the left. but her other obm is, and isort ofpreading throughoutrnsas and the electorate. she h a very bad proval, disapproval. she runs much more week than lieutenant governor hter does agait therosptive republican nominees. i think if she go into a n off, she edrobably lose it >> talk about kentucky, ke murphy, trey grayn and rand paul. rand paul has the strength of the tea prtyehindim and mcconnell ha not been ableo help the establishnt candidate. a classic case of the ph back because grayson is not a ashington polici, but a local politicia i think ball will probably win the primary. 's ahe in the pls. i think he'll win the genera too. >> john mura'sseat, pits m bur against mark critz. th is more cultuy conrvativ blue coar, pennsylvania distrt. murtha has been therer yes. both parties looking at this to say eher they're slowing the momentum if the decrat wins or repubcans re saying this is teat that wl spe the end of the democts. >>these a lunch bucket, white, worki class democrats who wentack with -- they did go for obama, not in as great numberss they went for john kerry. they cou conceivably trnd back the republican py. somethi that the democts have going for them, though, i think we're eing in blanc lioln's racehere she is mong agast wall street and that's also resonatg. so just beatg um on governmen isno longer cutting it when people ar now increasingly mad and not just wall street but the il companies and bi business in genel. >> final thig i want to look at, john mccain in a tough re-election attle, tssue is the politics of immigration. this is the ad the is running. watch thi >> drug and human smuggling frhome innovations, murder. >> we're outmanned. of all th illegals in america, more than half come through arizona. >> have we got the rightlan? >> plais perfe. you bring troops, state, county and local aaw enforcement together. >> and complete the dang fenc >> it wi work this time. seato you're one ofus. >> ye it was john mccain who spoor comprehensive immigration rerm. >> s, oh the ang" was the wst partf th. i don't know its impact. iteems desperate. >>yo have to round up and deport his principles in this rac > 30 seconds. >> 's a lawless froier because ofhe failure of the obma administration to ptect the border. peoplare gettg kied and murdered. >> this goes back beforema. but it'sgotten wrsand worse. it a crisis the obama administration has failed to address. th've done nothing. mccain i standing up for his constituency. >> you think 'llee comprehensive immigratn reform? >> democrats don't reallyant it. >> republicans will campaign against ths, do anti hianic tuff, make impossibleo win e presidency because they cat win it without 40% of the vote. 'll leav it there but continue our discussion with jonathan alter in our "meet the press" take o we extra you can rea an excerpt from the book "the prise: press obama, year one." > up next, our eet e press" minute. ♪ [ male announcer ] over the past 50 years, toyota has been proud to be a model of quality car making. but recently, the safety of our cars and trucks has come under question. and at toyota, this is something we don't take lightly. that's why we're making fundamental changes inside our company, to communicate with customers better, and respond to their needs faster. in addition, we're currently spending over a million dollars an hour to enhance the technology and safety of our vehicles. the result? our comprehensive star safety system is now standard on every vehicle we make. ♪ don't get us wrong, we know actions speak louder than commercials. but just know, your safety will continue to be a top priority in any, and all of our decisions. ♪ in any, and all of our decisions. the disaster in the gulf is unfolding before our eyes. but this disaster is bigger than one terrible accident. the real problem? our dangerous dependence on dirty fuels like oil. oil costs us in every way. environmental catastrophes. skyrocketing prices at the pump. billions spent buying foreign oil, only to have the terrorists use that money against us. it's time to stop buying a disaster when we buy our fuel. it's time to put america back in control of its energy. repower america. >>we are back with our megs mess minute. if confirmed, elena kagan would become the fourth woman ever to serve on theupre cour sandra day o'nnor was appointedback in 1961. then president nixon w tasked wi filling two supreme court nominations. mildred lilly was under consideratn for the second spot. more than 50 quleers after women were grantedhe right to ote, many hoped a woman would get her due. on october 21st, 1971, the president nominated william rehnqst for e job. roberts harris, th chair of the powerful credentials committee for the democrats 1972 convention and former dean of howard university law school pearedight here on "meet e press" and spoke about whyshe believed a woman shou have been nominated. >> s. harris, the necks on administration indicated a woman was not pickedor the supreme court bec scrimination in law schools and law firms has be so eat there was such a small pool of talent available. is this a valid excuse? are there really noualied women to meet the criteria >> i d not believe it is a valid xcuse, ms. means. the president nt to he department of justice for one of his candidates and within my direct knowlee there is in thatepartmen a ser well-qualified womanho is head of the appeals and research section of theriminal dision, comes to my mnd immediately. and there are ny others who re available. because of the plausity of the womenin law, the outstanding omen are apparent. ere's cnstance baker motley in new york, and i think there are outstandi candidates who miht well have been picked for that spot. >>peaking tweek at kas nomination ceremony, president obama said he relished the prospt of havingree women on the high cou for thefit time in history, saying our planet is alive with data. it's generated by cars on a freeway, patients in a hospital, electricity in the grid. the more we understand data, the more answers we find. patterns are easing traffic in over 400 cities... detecting disease faster, reducing energy costs by 10%. on a smarter planet, we can analyze all the data we now see to make the world work better. let's build a smarter planet. we've got a way for you to check the status of your loan online. securely, any time, anywhere. - and that's why i love... - i love... i love being a home loan expert. ♪ to give our war fighters every advantage. to deliver technologies that anticipate the future, today. and help protect america everywhere... from the battlespace to cyberspace. around the globe, the people of boeing are working together, to give our best for america's best. that's why we're here. ♪ it's the chevy spring event. and everyone deserves a car, truck, or crossover they can count on. like these consumers digest best buys. and all backed by a 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. discover for yourself, and see why over a thousand people a day are switching to chevy. during the spring event, qualified lessees now get a 27 month, low mileage lease on this malibu ls for around $199 a month. call for details. the switch to chevy starts at chevy dealer dot com. how can you get your investments heading in the right direction? 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