and where we ve prepared to do it is critically important. i m glad he s willing to do that even if it s limited to just that. martha: look at syria, look at egypt, these are extremely tumultuous times and i think the world does look to america for leadership in terms of what to do. myra, the european nations have been stronger saying we need to get in there and be more active in the syria situation. no doubt that will couple as well. sure. the white house has not provided much clarity on what they want to accomplish on this trip. it is incredibly important that he goes to israel but there neither to be a clear objective and an outcome defined as to what he wants to accomplish. martha: the white house is down-playing expectations as far as substance. there are two instances we just discussed, iran, the red line and in terms of standing steadfastly with our relationship with israel that there could be a lot of positive change in that from this trip as
well. myra thank you very much. doug always good to have you. bill: a jailbreak in broad daylight with a hollywood-style twist. how a couple of inmates were actually airlifted to freedom. martha: that s fancy. plus, who stole the show at cpac and could be the new major player in the party? we saw this thing with the bill gulp, right? a lot of folks were out there at cpac. we ll talk about all of this and the future of the party coming up. there is great cost for people, confidence in some of our leaders. confidence in our ability to restore our communities, the economy and bring greatness to this nation again. this is the united states of america and we have never been a nation of fear, blame or failure.
that kind of money in arkansas and smaller states. you have to travel nationally to raise those dollars. and, again, still not knowing what you can anticipate in terms of both the party moneys and the super pacs that come into your state. i had no idea i d have that kind of money against me in 2010 coming from outside of our state. it s a tough thing. and, again, getting things done on capitol hill means members have to be focused, they have to be there. you know, they have to be in committee and talking about these things. coming to the table with their different ideas. and when you re out raising money again, as myra says, to combat negative ads, you re not able to do the job that could help you defend yourself against those negative ads. so it s a vicious cycle. i know, myra, you advised some of these lawmakers running for re-election and it sort of gives you a perspective on how
fundraising breakfasts, lunches, and dinners according to the sunlight foundation. just yesterday there was a re-election breakfast for mitch mcconnell. he s about to go up for an ad buy to fend off ashley judd. lawmakers are fundraising early and often because in one analysis winning senators had to raise an average of $10.5 million and winning house members raised 1.7 million. let s bring in senator blanche lincoln and myra miller. senator, you ve been through this. what goes through your mind when you see some of these fundraising numbers? well, it s unfortunate because it takes away, when you re raising that kind of money, from your opportunities to work in the senate and solve problems, it takes away from your opportunity to be home, visiting with constituents,
difficult it is if you re not independently wealthy in some cases to run for office. we have got to be back to focusing on outcomes and solutions that matter to people and another reason for all of these negative ads is the way that campaigns are being run in recent years. candidate ideas have become a liability rather than an asset because the focus is on defining the opponent, attacking them, and not really running on your own ideas and plans and we ve got to get back to that. that s a challenge for my party as well as democrats. myra miller, blampl lincoln, great conversation. thanks so much. thank you. checking the newsfeed this morning, in just a few hours, jodi arias will be back on the stand for an 18th day of testimony. arias is accused of brutally killing her boyfriend in 2008.