strategist donna brazil and bill bennett, cnn political contributor, and host of morning in america and author of the fight of our lives, knowing the enemy is speaking the truth and choosing to win the war against radical islam. having said all that, with we start with 2012? i ve been dying to have a conversation about it. it s here, we understand the president is probably going to start to maybe file the fec and begin to start that so he can start raising money. first of all, let s just size up the president s chances at this very moment. he s an incumbent, we all know that means a fairly good chance of being elected historically. i want to show you the president s latest approval rating. this is from quinnipiac. 42% give him an approval rating. disapprove. 48%. not a great place to start a campaign, but it s a snapshot in time.
governor scott walker says thousands of state and local government workers will have to be laid off if democratic lawmakers don t come back home and work with republicans to pass his new budget. walker s plan cuts the state s budget deficit by stripping state workers of some of their collective bargaining rights. the governor says the alternative would be worse. as i said before i don t want to lay anybody off. the equivalent at the state level for the next budget would be 5,000 to 6,000 state government employees being laid off, and 5,000 to 6,000 local government employees, teachers, city workers, county workers and others out there. collective bargaining and unions are at the heart of the fight in wisconsin. and as of tomorrow, in ohio too. with us now, ron blackwell, chief economist for the afl-cio along with republican strategist, and cnn political
more of my conversation from cnn political contributor, william bennett. his book is the american patriot s almanac, a new version of his national best seller. we talked about the book and sarah palin. i asked him about sarah palin s new reality tv show and her political future. look, she s a media star. she s a sensation. a beautiful woman. she s talented. a beautiful state, i can see this with the the clips you re showing. but as to whether she ll be president of the united states or the candidate, she s going to have to take her chances with, i think, at least 15, 10, 15 other people. and what we have to do, i think,a a party, my own view, is to sit down when the time comes and to say who s the person who can take on and defeat barack obama and get us a republican president. and then unsentimentally just like you pick, you know, the winners of the bowls or teams that should go, not with your heart but with your head, you pick that person who s going to come out the best. did
more of my conversation from cnn political contributor, william bennett. his book is the american patriot s almanac, a new version of his national best seller. we talked about the book and sarah palin. i asked him about sarah palin s new reality tv show and her political future. look, she s a media star. she s a sensation. a beautiful woman. she s talented. a beautiful state, i can see this with the the clips you re showing. but as to whether she ll be president of the united states or the candidate, she s going to have to take her chances with, i think, at least 15, 10, 15 other people. and what we have to do, i think,a a party, my own view, is to sit down when the time comes and to say who s the person who can take on and defeat barack obama and get us a republican president. and then unsentimentally just like you pick, you know, the
our strategy session now. joining us, cnn political contributor, democratic strategist james carving in new orleans and republican strategist ed rollins in new york. guy, thanks very much for coming in. james, you re there and the oil spill, talked briefly with about that first. there s been suggestions can you actually smell the oil in new orleans? can you? no. i heard that, too, and i have not i ve not smelled it nor heard anybody talking about it. i heard similar reports when i was out of new orleans, but i ve been here, got back last night, and i haven t smelled it at all. from your perspective as a resident of new orleans, how bad is it? well i mean, the government