steele addressing the southern republican leadership conference. blasting the democratic leadership for their handling of the nation and finances. urging members of his party to throw them out of office in the upcoming midterm elections. saying watch ton cynicism needs to be replaced by the people s aspirations. carl cameron is live in new orleans. the chairman has been under fire recently. how was his speech received today? reporter: pretty well. it want the packed house that some of the more speakers offered. this was not a republican national committee meeting it was the southern republican leadership conference. a gathering of 14 states and 3500 people from aren t south. mr. steele s chairmanship speech was much anticipated because of some of the criticism he has received from members of the republican party. he did address it and said he had been mistakes and everybody makes them and he to make the necessary corrections. it was an important moment in advance of the con
inside the arrowhead mall. police say there are also unconfirmed reports of gunfire elsewhere in the si. they re still looking for suspects. nasa astronauts took their second space walk, looking to replace an old storage tank outside the international space station. today marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of apollo xiii. mitt romney may have not attended the leadership conference in person but that didn t stop him. the former massachusetts governor won the meeting s straw poll yesterday. romney narrowly edged out texas congressman ron paul, who came up just one vote shy. despite their well-received speeches, sarah palin and newt gingrich settled for third and fourth spots respectively. president obama is working to take a leading role in trying to prevent terrorists from gelting access from nuclear material. an international summit is set to begin in washington tomorrow. on meet the press this morning, david gregory asked