pavement here at the cruise terminal. so just lots of smiles and excitement. and relief. to be off the ship after spending those days at sea. and now, tell us for anyone bho hasn t been listening and isn t up with what is going on. are they putting people on those chartered buses? that are going to take them back to galveston? yes. they are loading people onto the buses that will be heading back to galveston, some going to houston. others have 100 charter buses in all, those not going to texas will be going new orleans, those going new orleans will board charter flights. carnival chartered 20 jets to take these passengers home over the course of friday. and it s really left up to the passengers whether they want
and i think even since election day talking to people up there, that they understand that the economy s at stake. that their own political futures are at stake. because while the president isn t up for re-election, certainly many of them are in two years. and remember some of the most outspoken members of the tea party lost on tuesday. alan west looks to be gone. joe walsh out of illinois appears to be gone. michele bachmann had a bit of a scare, barely winning her re-electi re-election. i think they understand that they re going to have to perhaps temper it a bit, maybe fall in line and all indications are that the early conversations among republicans, they understand that there s going to have to be some negotiation. it s just a question of what exactly they will compromise on. what do you think, amie, the president might get pushback from democrats in the senate? i think that right now they want the president to stand firm on, you know, basically not they want the middle clas
numbers are where they are, the only thing a challenger would have to do is simply make the case that the current occupant of the oval office isn t fit for the job, isn t up for the job and the romney campaign and republican outside groups have spent millions in months making that case and the result is a race that is stubbornly close in the polls. so i think that this strategy shift is an acknowledgement that the romney campaign and the candidate have to do a better job on details, in sort of explaining their policy position and how a president romney would govern if elected. jon: this race stubbornly close in the polls as you say. since the elections, i m sorry, since the convention as lot of polls have been suggesting that obama, president obama is pulling ahead, especially in key swing states like ohio, the president is uping his advantage? yeah. and i think when you look at those polls, the romney campaign made the argument to politico over the weekend the national polls
that the court is going to throw out the mandate is that, one, democrats are trying to blame republicans for coming up with the idea of the mandate which could be true back in the 1990 s. shepard: may be, it is true. that isn t up for debate, is it? guest: figure of speech, here. it is not what i meant to get to and, today, today, democrats were saying, look, the only prudent decision, the only correct decision legally would be to uphold the law and if not the court would lose all power and credibility and would damage its reputation. so this is where both sides, again, are trying to make sure they are on the right side and republicans say regardless of what the court does they will try and repeal. shepard: sense you brought up the political part of all of this if the mandate is struck down, that is the president s signature legislative achievement and it is stuck down that is a blow. if this is upheld, again, a win
what s that? oh, you mean this giant check for 522 big ones? it s just the staggering amount of money i save people on average when they call me, the saver, to switch their car insurance to esurance. you mean the same amount they save when they switch to esurance online.? do we have any giant envelopes? it costs $522. can you take a check? [ female announcer ] you could save 522 big ones. see for yourself at esurance. technology when you want it. people when you don t. joe lieberman isn t up for another knock-down- drag-out fight against a progressive democrat, the times reporting that lieberman will not seek reelection. democratic senator from north dakota kent conrad has also announced he will not run. the brain drain for the democrats continues, conrad the chairman of the senate budget committee.