fat for host: they begin with edward rogers. he writes host: what would be the biggest political surprise of 2011 themself there are several here in this opinion piece. this comes from the deputy press secretary of the clinton white house, speaking about health care. host: that is her prediction on the political surprise for this year. as for the appeal? host: one more opinion here from the communications director for john mccain s 2000 presidential campaign. in his opinion it would be host: we know that it was blocked in the lame-duck session that just ended. your opinion on the biggest political surprise of 2011? youngstown, ohio. you are out first. caller: the biggest surprise to me would be of the banned lobbyists in washington. i think we have the best government that money can buy. host: do you think that would ever happen? are you there? i think that he moved on. nashville, tennessee. good morning. reggie? go ahead. caller: if the republican controlled house worked
host: if you called us in the last month, put the phone down today. send us a message electroncally. our e-male address is journal @ c-span.org and on twitterc-span wj. the top stories of 2010, the mass yiffer gulf oil spill triggered at a rig used by bp was the top news story of 2010 followed by the did i vicive health care overhaul. the oil spill received 150 ballots cast for the top 10 stories. the health care bill was next. the u.s. election was third. here is how they ranked them. we ll go through the first four stories and then take calls and come back. in order, the gulf oil disaster, the april 20 explosion at a bp leased oil rig killed 11 workers and unleashed a deep-sea spill that ultimately spewed at least 170 million gallons of crude into the gulf. the health care overhaul, after bitter political wrangling president barack obama was able to sign into law a major campaign promise, a health care overhaul intended to expand coverage to more americans. u.s. electrics.
we are talking about 90% in cash sale cash salaries. is this move constitutional? the judge weighs in. number two? manhunt in arizona. cops say that a father intentionally drove the car into his daughter because she became too westernized. in no. 3, john travolta s nightmare will not end anytime soon. he is fighting people trying to profit from his son s death, in essence blackmailing him. now the case has ended in a mistrial. a stunning mistake by a politician that got this case tossed out of court. it is all coming up on studio b. investigators believe that the body found in a south georgia landfill is the remains of a 7- year-old florida girl missing since monday. somer thompson, she vanished on her way to school less than 1 mile from her home. the police announced that they have discovered the remains of the young girl. now the father is saying that the body had a birthmark that matched the one on a young girl s leg. roughly 50 miles north of the home in orange park,
and you came out of this agency. you were with the federal reserve. if i look at you and tell you that your obligation is to assure the safety and soundness of the institutions that you have a responsibility to regulate, and i look at you, and i say, i am also going to give you the authority, to do consumer protection, tell me as a practical consideration, a practical consideration, which one of those things are you going to do. i think that you say this right. if you have a range of different priorities, not only one, you will do less good job of focusing on the consumer side. what is your highest priority, if you are the ultimate regulator, for the safety and soundness of financial institutions. is this not far and away, disproportionately, and a higher priority for you as a regulator. in that scenario that i just spoke about. that is the risk in combining those responsibilities. you are being very kind. the federal reserve, in a hearing, had a witness who was up he