well, as we ve been telling you, we re not a nation of liberal and conservative ideologues but the majority of the country falls in between, a country of pragmatists. the question is, is there any legislative center on capitol hill that represents this somewhat silent majority? turns out there are a few moderates left. senator mark prior is one of the few senate true moderates according to the national journal. west virginia senator joe manchin and former nebraska senator ben nelson were the two others. vote rating was 52.3% liberal, 27.7 conservative. senator prior joins me now. he s a member of the appropriations committee. senator prior, good morning to you, sir. thank you. thank you for having me. i want to start with this senate deal. i know you ve been involved with working with senator collins from maine. there s a group of you of senate
those things in a very straight forward chris christie kind of way. on the other hand, they did a head to head match-up between christie and hillary clinton and she wins 49-45% in new jersey. right. none of that is really important because it isn t chris christie who is the face of the republican party, for better or worse, the 27/7 news cycle have made john boehner and mitch mcconnell the face of the republican party to the american people. and john is right, the message is terrible. they are opposing the buff et rule, that has been advanced by senate democrats as getting out of the sequester. it says millionaires should pay a percentage on their taxes no matter what deductions they have and that percentage is about what the average working american pays. what s wrong with that? why don t the republican party embrace that? let me ask you, john, about the piece that kathleen parker
but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer. i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we re 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that s health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. it is about half past the hour. welcome back, herb. i m randi kaye. thanks for starting your morning with us. the rebel uprising in syria approaching the government s front door. gunfights erupts in the capital city of damascus, long considered a stronghold for the president, bashar assad. saying this is less than 200 yards from his home. aura damon on the phone from beirut, lebanon. looking at pictures coming in this morning from damascus, new video. does the assad regime sense trouble? reporter: we
graduates toss their caps in the air, a frightening storm moves in. you ll see why they scramble for cover. i m wolf blitzer, you re in the situation room kwoem. president obama took a few questions in the white house briefing room today but in rushing to get out front of the jobs issue, the president stumbled and republicans are already reaping the benefits. let s go straight to jessica yellen standing by with the details. president obama hammered congress, telling them to pass his long stalled jobs bill as a way to cushion the u.s. from the effects of europe s worsening economy. but that s 23409 the part of his remarks that s making news. the president trying to regain control of his mess amg. if congress decides despite all that that they aren t going to do anything about this simply because it s an election year, then they should explain to the american people why. after disappointing jobs numbers drove unemployment up to 8.2%, he called on congress to pass the j
gunned down. the supreme court begins hearing arguments this morning as 26 states challenge president obama s health care overhaul. at the heart of the debate? whether the individual insurance mandate is constitutional. and president obama is joining lead errs of more than 50 nations in seoul, south korea this morning for the 2012 nuclear security summit. the president kicking things off with a stinging warning to north korea. a developing story from afghanistan. nato officials say a gunman wearing an army uniform, an afghan army uniform, killed two coalition members in southern afghanistan before he himself was shot dead. this follows the shooting rampage by a u.s. army soldier that killed up to 17 afghan villagers just earlier on this month. in chile, rocked by a major earthquake, the 7.1 magnitude quake shoot buildings in santiago and triggered a coastal evacuation. three injuries are reported, no major damage however. one minute past 5:00. it s become emotional, i