wages fell. we're opening up our phone lines to get your sense of the u.s. economy. call us and let us know what is happening in your job and with your paycheck. is your income rising? is it falling, staying flat in this economy? we split our phone lines up recently this morning. if you are in the eastern or central time zones 202-748-800. in mounted pacific, -- in mountain or pacific it's 202- 748-8001. good saturday morning to you. a few headlines on the monthly jobs report that came out yesterday morning. here is bloomberg business payrolls in the u.s. surge while wages drop in mixed jobs report. this is the financial times headline. data highlights the dilemma for the fed at the next meeting over any further interest rates rising. a headline from "the wall street journal." "job gains ease recession worry." nnonfarm payrolls rose by 252,000. and the prior two months were revised up by 35,000 jobs. the on a plummet rate held steady at 4.9% as more americans jump into the job market -- the unemployment rate held steady at 4.9%. showed some softness under the surface. american wages fell from the prior months. a potential sign of reduced spending power -- the state of the economy has become a point of debate among elected leaders in this country. night'sfrom thursday debate on foxnews, ohio governor john kasich talking about the economy. y. governor kasich: ted's right. there are people whose wages have not gone up for so long. they see the rich get richer and they are not moving and they put their money in a bank and they get no interest on their money. or daughters are living in the basement because they cannot get a good job after they rang up so much debt. what people are hungry for us who can fix this? people want to know who, what can you do to solve the problems in washington and make sure we have stronger job growth and better wages? but you know what else they are yearning for? they want to believe they have the power to fix things where they want the power back so they can begin to do things in their community. as in, this is been going on for a long time here. i appreciate the discussion back-and-forth. but there are a lot of people out there you're running for somebody who's going to bring america back, both at the leadership level and in the neighborhoods where we can begin to reignite the spirit of the united states of america. and let's stop fighting. en yesterday, after the jobs report came out, president barack moss spoke at the white house about the state of the economy -- president barack obama spoke at the white house. president obama: the facts don't lie. there seems to be an alternative reality out there. the political of folks that america is down in the dumps. it's not. rn greats pretty da right now and making strides right now. small businesses and large businesses are hiring right now and investing right now and building this country brick by brick, neighborhood by neighborhood. all across the country. don't expect that these facts and this evidence will convince some of the politicians out there to change their doomsday rhetoric. talking about how terrible america is. but the american people should haveoud of what they achieved because this speaks to their resilience, innovation, creativity, risk-taking. host: again, the numbers that came out yesterday, the february jobs numbers. jobs that were added in february, 242,000. the unemployment rate 4.9%. the average hourly rate dipped 3 cents to $23.35. we are asking about your job, your income. give us a call. want to hear your interpretation of what is happening in the economy. the politicalll news happening today later in our program but the phones are yours. larry's up first. washington, d.c. good morning. caller: i'm working. thank god i'm working full-time. i'm making some money and so forth, but the point is that lie by the president and other people. we. are not at 5% on a plane -- 5% unemployment. they're taking a manipulating the jobs numbers. adding people that are on unemployment as employed. so a lot of people are hurting. inflation, they are not telling the truth about that, it is 15%. america is no longer a manufacturing nation. capitalld decrease the corporate tax from 39% to 12% like ireland, we would be in good shape. i am working but i am also struggling. there's many americans out there that are working. part-time. not majority are full-time. host: stick around. in our next 45 minutes, shobhana l join us.he'l we will talk about how they come up with these numbers in the different numbers in these reports. that is coming up at 7:45. for the first 45 minutes, we want to hear about your income and what is happening in your job in your part of the country. is your income rising or falling or staying flat? what you think the economy looks like right now? good morning. caller: how are you doing today? i have madeeah, more money simply because i work for a mortgage servicing company. and because we still have people filing bankruptcy, losing their homes and foreclosures, doing short sales and giving the property back. there's been tons of overtime. also, i've seen the company not hiring new employees. because it is too expensive to hire new workers because of obamacare. while i'm happy to see that large number of people hired last months, i'm wondering how many were part-time. wages are not going up. more thansume we have 40 million people on food stamps. a huge number below the poverty line. we are told, everything is hunky-dory in this obama recovery is going so well p people to not feel it. i see prices are still creeping up. i'm not feeling this recovery. i'm having to work longer hours to earn more money to pay higher taxes. to obamacare,anks my health premium went up last year again. i wonder if people get this idea that everything is so good. host: what are you doing with your money? is now a time to save money? caller: i'm trying to stand back as much as i can. trying to pay down my car loan. it.not spending i'm trying to reduce my debt and try and plan for what little retirement i may be able to have because so security may not be around. -- social security may not be around. host: ever since obamacare, finding a permanent job is tough. "the problem is we do not have enough highly skilled or trained people due to our poor public education system that we import them." richard rodgers writes "the gop, six years of job growth and they fret over the news?" "jobs report doing well despite seven years of republican efforts to damage the national economy and attack president obama." we are getting your thoughts on the state of the economy. is it a good place or shaky place? one to get your thoughts coming off of yesterday's monthly jobs report. brian, in illinois. good morning. you are on "washington journal". caller: i would agree with the previous two callers. say stagnation would be the single word that describes it best. i electricity. i worked on a service truck and i've seen many businesses, and the point i would like to make is when i see all these businesses, i notice i tend to seek immigrants from india, pakistan, and latin america working everywhere, everywhere. everywhere business can plug immigrants into their organizations, they are doing it. that is what drives me crazy about america media, including c-span. they refuse to see the correlation between high immigration levels and stagnating wages. you get the top of the hour, the top of the show you said how they are concerned about falling wages. but you're not asking why are wages falling? the obvious answer is we are flooding our market with labor, with immigrants, legal and illegal. we need to think about reducing the level of immigration in this country. raises startsee to rise. corporate media and for some reason c-span refuses to make that link. we regulate the money supply to help the economy with the fed. the fed is just interest rates. economytime to keep the going smoothly. but we never talk about adjusting the rate of immigration. all we ever hear is we got it.ease it, increase that is the business community wanted to drive down wage levels and they are succeeding at doing that. host: stick around. at 7:45. the ask shobhana chandra impact on wages. we will dig into those numbers and i will ask her about it. mark's up next in brighton, massachusetts. you are on the "washington journal". to follow-up on that gentleman's comment. i fully agree with that. companyt at my own in financial services. we are aggressively for years have been trying to figure out anyway we could outsource work to inda. ia. it has just been relentless in their approach to figure out any possible position that could be eliminated, moved overseas. i do see that. they are, all the people they do hire are temporary workers, contract workers. so, no one is committing to full-time employment. the other thing i would mention is the statistics of 4.9, that is really not ture. if you look at how they measure it. if you go back to how they used to measure it, it is much, much higher. there's an interesting gentleman named john williams who has a website called shadowstats, which gives you a much different picture of how they used to measure on employment. it's much higher. have 93 million people not participating in the economy and have a rate that low. host: what do you do? caller: i work in financial services. host: for how long? caller: about 15 years. host: have you gotten a raise in the past 12 months? .5%er: usually like about or 1%. it's fairly stagnant. ast enough to say it's raise. host: is that is something that is comeback since 2008 and 2010 or has it been steady since that time? caller: yeah, no. are i said, i think they depressing wages, the outsourcing and anyone they pick up employment on in the states is a contract worker. themuch more so -- percentage of contract workers who are becoming -- who come in for two, three weeks. it makes for a very stressful long hours for the people who are there personally because they are picking up the slack for -- it's a tough, tough road now. it's about it. host: appreciate the call. anna, good morning. you areon on the "washington journal". caller: i do not ever recall hearing a hairdresser call in. i watch "washington journal" almost every morning. the,hen you first start in to work you have commission. i started about 48 years ago. and then, when you build your smart, thenf you are you rent your station, which means you own -- you don't own, but pay rent on your own stakes. until two years ago, i worked in a retirement community in and new sun city, arizona. so, the economy in the winter in the people iand had worked with in the past, is fairly good in the wintertime. but then in the summertime, your business is cut in half. as people age and retire here, they get sick. their spouse passes away, they intock to live -- they go assisted living or nursing homes. so, that is a whole different take. company.body can own a not everyone can be bill gates. we in the service industry depen d on these people. and in various circumstances, had i to do over again, i probably would have chosen a different way to make more money. but you know, the service industry is very difficult. you are only as good as your next -- host: do you think things are going well right now? this is a good economy right now? caller: no. i'm retired, but the people i know who are still working, this winter has not been as good as inthe past due to changes ownership of salons. salons closing. people getting ill. salon that ie retired from. we lost hairdressers who took their clientele to another salon. that left an opening space in the salon where the woman i worked with -- so, you know, there is a lot to look at. however, on the upside, all my family, my three children, my grandchildren, they are all working in different states. two in. california. in in oregon, one florida. so, they are doing ok. from thanks for the call arizona. want to get to your calls, your view of the economy right now. eastern and central -- i do want to give you a preview of what is happening today in the caucuses and the primaries. we are joined by jesse byrnes of "the hill." good morning to you. run through today and tonight's primaries and caucuses. five states where this is taking place today. what is the biggest prize of the day? biggest prize for republicans, at least, is going to be kansas. that's a state where trump is campaigning today. opting for that, rather than going to the cpac conference. trump traditionally, he has lost three of the four caucuses to date. so, it'll be interesting to see how he performs there. a big pickup opportunity for cruz and marco rubio. . ando being there yesterday painting the picture that trump is going to lose in the general election. rubio also has the endorsement of the governor and more endorsements from the state. that could give him an edge but canl see how far trump go. another couple in the south -- looking at louisiana. trump on super tuesday steamrolled through the south. it looks like he could do that again in louisiana. we'll see if there is the opportunity for curz or even -- for cruz to pick up the evangelical vote in that state. delegates available in louisiana. 40 six in kentucky. for republicans, 40 in kansas for republicans. maine has 23. let's turn to the democratic side of the all. you mentioned there are caucuses and primaries going on. the primaries taking place on the democratic side? kansas, nebraska, and these are definitely opportunities, and maine will have a caucus tomorrow for democrats. these are states where bernie sanders could potentially make some in rights -- inroads. maine having a street for couldndence -- that definitely be an opportunity. sim campaign has optimisism about chances. they could have an edge after super tuesday. in louisiana, which has a primary, that could be a blowout in favor or clinton because they have a majority. clinton has been dominating in the south among minority voters. host: are there any must wins for any of these candidates or are these just five more states in the slog through march? jesse: there are certainly states like kansas where the republicans at least, if rubio or cruz where to edge past trump in that state, that could be a big shot in the arm for their campaigns. of course, there are so many of these primaries and caucuses right after each other. going on sunday, we have some. we have some on tuesday. it is kind of hard to say how much of a boost picking up one surprise state is going to be for somebody, because there are so many back-to-back contests. ortainly cakkansas theaska or maine for democrats that could be something if clinton pulls out a big win over sanders, that could be potential helpful for her efforts. host: a story you have in the newspaper from late this past week. a poll showing trump holding a kansas.d over cruz in as we get to these later primary states, are the states tougher to poll, the states that are not the usual states that get polled dozens of times leading up to iowa or new hampshire? jesse: absolutely. in kansas, there were just two polls we have seen recently. to polluse it is harder in some of these areas were trump has not put in a lot of effort in kansas. cruz heaveno and going out there with ads and campaign appearances. today's appearance by trump is the first he will make our he has the name recognition they might not. so, that is something where it is kind of hard to poll that. and a lot of these other states, missouri, for instance, that are not typically on people's right are, at the onset of the race, those are things to watch for and could be surprised pickup opportunities for some candidates that are trying to derail trump. , appreciatebyrnes your time on a saturday morning. jesse: absolutely. thank you. back to are getting your calls. we want to get a sense of the state of the economy. the debate among proclivities -- among political leaders. a mixed job reports. 242,000 jobs gained. yet wages falling in february. 49.%. there is a chart showing wages over the past year. -- 4.9%, the unemployment rate. mark's up next. virginia calling in. what is happening with your wages? caller: my income has been fairly steady with some increases hereinafter it i cannot complain because it is fairly high level. cannot complain. on health care, i've heard callers talking about obamacare and increases they encountered in her health insurance premium. i can tell anyone flatly, anyone in health care who dealt with this, were it not for obamacare, the health care premiums would have gone way up. this is a monster, we have to get control of. obamacare is taking criticism in that regard. the main comment i wanted to make was, i think the current republican congress has been poisoned for our economy. we all know her infrastructure has to be repaired. we talked about it for years. our bridges are falling apart, our roads, our airports. the, for the at first time in over 60 years, interest rates are near zero. are going to borrow a cheap rates to repair this and are structured -- this infrastructure. but republicans in congress will not allow because they do not want president obama to get the credit. hundreds of thousands of people in suddenly given jobs repairing infrastructure some thing to think about. i thought i would pass that on. thank you for listening to me. host: i appreciate the call. you mentioned you are in the health-care industry. kicking down into the jobs number from yesterday. the health care sector gained 38,000 jobs last month. regional sector up 55,000 jobs. construction sector of 19,000 jobs. one of the places that lost jobs last months was that mining, drilling and mining sector that has been hit hard over the past 12 months and even longer. one story on the drilling sector, this is in "the wall street journal." oil prices jumping as a number of rigs are falling. u.s. oil prices road for the third consecutive week as drilling continues to decline. the combined number of oil and natural gas rigs fell to 439, just about the record low in 1999, according to bake hughes data. crude to april delivery settled up 3.9%. friday. -- we will look into several sectors and we are joined by shobhana chandra. next segment. what to hear about your stories. sharon is up n eext. alabama. good morning. go ahead. caller: well, i just feel like people are barely getting by, you know, in just about every household, the two adults are both having to work. to make what they made years ago. it's just getting really bad. but i think the two main things that is hurting the economy in the united states is immigration and drugs. because where there is drugs, there is crime. and a lot of young people get where they cannot even take care of their children. of -- there are a lot grandparents that are having to spend the retirement money raising a second family. --, so, host: what do you do with alabama? caller: i'm in health care. host: what is happening with your wages in the past 12 months? caller: our raises, by the time everything has, gone up so you do not feel like you have had any raise at all. and people do not get raises every year. the money just isn't there. and unfortunately, when at one time there were just hundreds and hundreds of democrats -- immigrants out there. and a lot of these people are so poor and have so many children. and it has just become overwhelming. if you are real wealthy, it hurts but not like it hurts the middle class. host: sharon in alabama. victoria has been waiting in michigan. lavonia, michigan? did i get that right? caller: yes, you did. hello? sorry. i'm a small business owner. i'm a native detroiter. we have done so much better in the obama administration. so many jobs that were saved and so many more that have been created. i own a service oriented company. and the doors that basically are open now because more and more companies and local businesses are hiring service companies. so, in that respect, it has improved. host: how many people are in your company? caller: i'm just, i'm a small business owner so it is just myself. but i'm a service oriented company. i do writing and documentation. like i said, for me, it is like, you know, people are saying, yes. as opposed to be forward people did not want to go out and spend that money for a service. host: guest what kind of servic? caller: io do writing and documentation. host: looking ahead, who are you supporting in the 2016 campaign? hillary clinton -- part of the obama administration and you said you have been happy with the obama years. are you a hillary clinton supporter? caller: yes. host: what you think of for chances. caller: i think she has a great platform. she offers the american people the best opportunity to continue our progress. talking are going to be a lot more about the democratic side and the republican side of the presidential primaries later in our show. have two different guests joining us. eleanor clift will be here at 8:30. and we'll be talking about the democratic side of the rice. and then about 9:15 we will be joined by alex marlowe. stick around. wantow, taking your calls, to hear about what the economy looks like in your part of the country. nathan is in ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to tell you i'm a retired teacher. i have been retired for one year and five months. i'm 68 years old, so i worked until i was full retirement age. and they're going to cut my pension 54%. have you heard about this? had. no, thnathan going -- go ahead. caller: it's about broke so they are going to cut my pension 54% starting july 1. is reason the pension fund broke because jimmy carter deregulated truck in 1978. since then, union companies have gone out of businessok? so, now the pension fund is depleted. i do not know what we were going to dupe your i was going, right now i'm getting $3975. and it is going to $1824. my pension is getting cut big-time. host: do you think you have to pick up a part-time job to help that? what you going to do? i mightwell, i guess have to go back to work. years old andm 68 i do not know who is going to hire a 68-year-old to drive a truck. so, anyway. by the way, president obama signed the budget bill of december 16, 2014. he in the last minute, they inserted 131 pages allowing the pension funds and trouble to cut current retirees before you could never cut.current retirees . now they can. got jimmy carter. i voted for jimmy carter. he is a democrat for the working man. t destroyed the trucking industry. then we have got obama, he is a democrat supposed to be for the working man to he signed the bill allowing them to cut our pensions. we can bailout all these foreign countries, bailout g.m. and chrysler. they can't they'll is out. that is the whole story right there. i'm going to vote for donald trump. a littleald trump has bit less competition today for the republican presidential, for the mantle of the republican party. ben carson dropping out of the race yesterday making that official at the cpac conference yesterday. "the wall street journal's" editorial board wrote one of its pieces. they write his soft-spoken temperament to not fit the political mood. arson was not ready to be president, he exits the field remarkably well liked. his 2016 president showed that while personal character is not enough to succeed in politics, it still counts, or ought to. that's ben carson speaking yesterday at cpac on your screen. mike in rockford, illinois. good morning to you are on "washington journal". caller: i feel the economy is being held down and going sideways. the deficit, number one. glass put your ear to the behind you, you hear the ripping of the fabric of society. with the deficit, we find out a which wasks ago, earthshaking to me, that after bailing out the banks, banks are paying fines now. after the downturn. the fines are being reverted. instead of u.n. i -- you and i getting the money -- they are taking the money and diverting it and putting it back into the deficit. we find out the white house is diverting the money towards catholic charities -- [indiscernible] same people that are settling the syrian refugees. it is like we are in between a shell game and -- the: rodney, you are on "washington journal". what has happened with your wages in the past 12 months? caller: we are staying about the say but you have got an increase but you cannot tell. i deliver food to restaurants. in west virginia, coal mines are real bad off. if you do not have people spending their money, they are not ordering food. host: what you say you can't gtell when it comes to your own wage increase? caller: because we get an increase and the coal miners are not working. so, they are not out eating food or throwing parties. we get an increase but our cases go down because we are not delivering the product. host: do you work hourly? caller: no. it's a base. it's like, how many cases and stops and miles. host: how long if you been doing this job? caller: about a year and a half. i worked in the coal mines for six years. got laid off. i was lucky to find this job. host: how about some of the other folks are worked in the coal mine with you? caller: right now it is very hard for them to find jobs. jobs around this area are hired. men just laid off a lot of two weeks ago. i've noticed two or three people moving out of state, out of west virginia. it's just hurting the economy in west virginia. host: when it comes to finding a new job, is it luck, a different kind of training that you got? what is the best way to try to transition from some of those coal jobs that are closing to another job? what have you found is the best thing to do? caller: i was lucky. i had mine cdl's when i was about 19 to notice a lot of coal miners are going to cdl's. but most of them want local route. they do not want to travel and be away from their homes. pretty much luck what my case is. host: craig's up next calling in from frisco, texas. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i would like to take as nonpartisan approach to subject as i could. i think it is pretty simple with respect to stagnant and decreasing wages since the late 1980's. globalization and the availability of cheap labor for businesses is really the root causee. and corporations are finding the lowest possible solutions which is cheap labor. where it gets political is when discussing solutions. on one side of the spectrum you have deregulate and tax breaks, which really is not going to bring these jobs back. there's not enough deregulation and tax relief to offset the benefits of cheap labor from overseas. these countries like china and india, they're basically going through their industrial revolution. where cheap labor is available. on the other side of the spectrum, you have democrats who are wanting to tax corporations, reduce profits and reinvest that money into infrastructure. so, it is really the solution is where it gets political. but it think the root cause is simple. host: what is it that you do? electronicsin manufacturing. i am a senior manager. host: has your company then hiring? what is been happening with salaries at your company? caller: no, they have been stagnant. my salary has been stagnant but i general he will make up for that through bonuses. but my bonus -- they have not had any bonus this year. oil and gas, it's hard. we watched a significant revenue share from the oil and gas prices going down. so, that's had a significant impact on us. next in pamona, california. caller: i do private security out here in l.a. it's pretty hard to even advance is what -- in what i'm doing. so -- i don't know where to turn, you know? host: do you work hourly. are you paid hourly? caller: yes, sir. host: are you able to work the amount of hours you want to work? caller: for the most part, yes. do a lot of work for the industry, the hollywood type. there's no movement out here anymore. host: what you mean when you say "movement"? in terms of moving up in your own company? caller: movement as far as money, you know? i mean, it's expensive to live out here. host: peter, do you think you might have to move away from pomona? caller: no way. no, born and raised. i'm in california and i will stay here and die here. that's it. host: do you think you might have to take a second job? caller: hostthere's not time for a second job. there are only so many hours in the day, you know? host: peter in california this morning. we want to get a sense of your economy. have time for a few more calls and then we will dive deeper into yesterday's jobs numbers in our next segment of "washington journal". michael in gadsden, alabama. go ahead. caller: h oow you doing this morning? i have been living in alabama the past 40 years. i've been unemployed for the past 10. but my wife decodes charts for the hospital. we don't have a lot. we just bought a new house in south side. we get by. just seems like the whole world is just coming to an uproar. it's unfortunate that donald trump has gotten this race, done what he's done and saying all the things he is going to do and all this. i wish people would understand what is at risk here. if he gets president, he has got to go to a congress. and anything he saying and promoting he is going to do this or that, if they do not agree on it, it is not going to happen. mad just like they're because they keep getting false promises. they are getting more false promises from trump. host: what did you use to do? caller: just industrial jobs. i worked at dixie pacific. we made fiberglass columns. i got fired from there. then a couple more places. steeled -- we made big telephone poles. i got laid off. i just decided i'm going to take an early retirement. i'm a -- a live and my family is breathing. i thank god. it is going to be ok. host: on twitter, he wrote, how is your life before nafta and how is it now? were you around to experience nafta? caller: uh, not really. host: it did not impact you very much? caller: no, sir. thank c-span forgiving people an opportunity to call in. seems like this is the only news organization that is neutral in everything. i thank y'all. host: appreciate the call from alabama this morning. one other story we want to keep you apprised up or the story of the potentialof supreme court justice nominees. three more judges are said to be vetted according to "the new york times." they include a federal appellate judge. rial courtral crti judge. the president reported to be vetting another. the extension of having some degree of probability to republicans -- that is in "the new york times." time for a couple more calls. dawn in port charlotte, florida. good morning. what do you do in port charlotte? caller: port charlotte is beautiful but you cannot make a living. it is really hard to make ends meet. host: why is that? caller: i have been working two jobs for two and a half to three years. i work seven days a week to make ends meet. i have not got a raise in the last two years because i maxed out at one job making $10.00 an hour. the other job had a management change. and we're making about 20% less per even.t t. i do banquets. 20% less per banquet now. it's tough. host: when you hear president obama after this job support that the economy is going pretty well, what is your reaction? caller: i get what he's talking about as far as people have found work. and the market seems to be somewhat stable and things like that, but it is hard. individual income. i'm 57. and my retirement fund went down the tubes. i was a nurse for 25 years and they rolled over our pension plan into a 401(k). before the rules were solid, when they first came out, they had an insider trade. they drove the stock up. they sold it and crashed it and we lost our retirement money. the class-action suit we had going, they just have so many lawyers. the corporation that owns all the hospitals that ran out of money for the suit. so, i will probably be working the rest of my life. host: thanks for the call. we are going to try to get in gary in ohio. go ahead. caller: thanks for taking my call. i work for a company in my hometown. i have lived here all my life. a company up, been sold on us. left desperate he much high and dry. they said at the end of -- they left us pretty much high and dry. now new owners have took over. they are wanting to bring everybody back at a lot less ra te of pay. it is rough here in ohio. why can companies do that to people? i don't understand it. several businesses here in the town that have closed down. host: when you hear this debate over the economy, is the country in a good place right now or no, economically? caller: up till a week ago i would've said yes. now i'm financially not working. so i have to say no. i do not know where my next money is coming from. i worked there for 29 years. it's rough. host: thanks for the call. jodie writes in. i'm 58, and no one will hire me. they say they cannot pay me what i more spirit how is that for a final insult? annext, shobhana chandra, economics reporter a bloomberg news joins us to dive deeper into those numbers. joins us toor clift look at the road ahead for hillary clinton and bernie sanders. first our guest on "newsmakers" was the senator, one of the senators in the middle of the judiciary committee debate about supreme court nominees. ranking member patrick leahy. he talked about the dispute in this week's interview that aired sunday at 10:00 a.m. and again at 6:00 p.m. [video clip] host: this or anything that guarantees nominees hearings and a vote? senator leahy: the constitution says we shall advise and consent. that is interpreted to me you advising you can vote no. but there has never been a time, never been a time -- host: the devices wait until after the election? let's havehy: well, the courage to do it and have the hearings. at least have the hearings. there has never been a time, never been a time the supreme court nominee was denied a chance to have a vote. we've even has supreme court nominees that were defeated with members of the president's own party as voting against them and committees. they did not have a majority vote. the democrats still said, let them go forward and let them have a vote of the whole senate, because we are not -- we are not elected to vote maybe. this is a very critical position. i don't think the american people are going to take very kindly to the united states senate say we are not going to do our job. we do not have the courage to vote yes or no. the: one of the things democratic leader, senator reid said, senator grassley will go down as the most obstructionist judiciary chairman in history. he was comparing it to the judiciary chairman during the civil rights era for blocking civil rights legislation. do you agree? i will lethy: senator reid and senator grassley speak for themselves. i remember when i was chairman of the judiciary committee. i made a decision. when names would come up and when they come up for a vote, i made sure they did. this is not what is happening now. >> "washington journal" continues. host: shobhana chandra joins us now to dig into yesterday's jobs number. an economics reporter with bloomberg news spirit your headline yesterday was "payrolls search while wages drop in a mixed jobs report." so, explain the two waves you can read the next report -- the two ways you can read the jobs report. shobhana: the mix is where we get a strong headline number on the payrolls. inhad 242,000 jobs created february. expectations and are bloomberg survey of economists. it looks like the economy in the last couple months has been doing jobs at 200,000 plus. this was even better. so, of course, there was a lot of focus on that and a lot of excitement. then you look at wages, a little setback there. aey actually fell a tenth of percentage point mandal vermont and that brought the year-over-year rate to 2.2%, do wn from 2.5%, which i got people excited the prior month. there are other signs that wages were starting to pick up. everybody was looking for this report for ok, we are getting that increase in wages. but there was a disappointment. host: why have wages have been so tough to tick upwards? be thea: it happens to weakest part of the jobs market. we've seen all other metrics up. payrolls, the unemployment rate holding at an eight year low. is tightening. i the wage front, we are still lacking the attraction, the traction we need for wages to lift off. part of it is the mix of jobs. we have been adding more jobs in the lower paying sectors. the less sklllilled ones. now in this recovering we are seeing a broadening of all kinds of jobs. yes, wages -- but the message was yesterday is that things are getting into place for wages to pick up. wantedne of our callers to ask about the impact of immigration on wages, saying that companies are using rocket high immigration rates to hold down wages for all employees. what are your thoughts on that? what can we tell from the data? shobhana: with all due respect, i think there is some confusion about immigration. there are enough studies that will tell you that competition, legal immigrant workers, is good for everybody because it raises wage levels. yes, if you have been hearing a lot of negative talk about how immigrants take away jobs, people are bound to take along those lines. it is not true, however. if you have legal work status, or will get market wages even better depending on your skills level. again, it is more competition, better workers. we have job openings going up. when you look at the signals from the jobs report, you get the sense wages will go up. workers will have a lot coming up for them. job openings. slack getting absorbed. don't get carried away by all this negative talk. host: what about illegal immigrants? wagehey can an anchor on numbers? is anecdotalre evidence, again, but it is in very small pockets. there is no way to prove that that is the reason why we have not picked up. remember, some of the sluggishness in wages is also a lingering effect from the recession. we have had millions of people out of work. we've improved on that front. again, it is also do with the tightening labor market. as the slack is absorbed, more people are coming back into the workforce. they can actually find a job. as that happens, employers will have to pay up more to get those workers. host: a question of what this jobs report means for the future. the headline from the financial times says the data highlights the dilemma for the fed at its next meeting over any future interest rate increases. remind is where we are in this process. shobhana: certainly. alongbor market came in the lines the fed has been talking about in the sense there is progress in the jobs market. to that extent, things are going along as planned. then on the inflation front, inflation has been very low. the fed would like to see it move closer to their 2% goal. one of the things that is important is wage pressure which the jobst see in report. i talked to what economist who said if people at the fed were really looking for a clear signal from this jobs report, they are was not one, except as a things are going along as we want but we are not quite there yet. sorry. which means, march is not in the picture for a fed hike. so, people are starting to kind of question where we are -- for anothe rate hik. e. host: we are talking to shobhana chandra of bloomberg news. a couple of notes on yesterday's payroll in wages and employment report coming out from bls payroll. "while wages drop in mixed job before it." the numbers regionally, in the -- let's go to aberdeen, maryland. good morning. go ahead. caller: hi. that c-span exists. i just want to say that i think this administration is doing everything they can. as far as trying to create jobs. i don't think congress is doing what it can. i do not know the last time that congress has done anything as far as trying to improve wages. i know many of the republicans say that if they increase the minimum wage that that would cut out a lot of jobs. but i really do not understand that. host: the minimum wage debates and other debates on wages in congress. shobhana: the minimum wage debate, huge issue. we have seen a lot of states, i think 20 or more states, increase the minimum wage at the start of this year. so, there is some movement on that front. a lot can beain, done to increase minimum wages. and not just minimum wages, a lot of groups are arguing for something better, something that will allow workers to even not purchasinge their power now but to put some aside for retirement. and to the caller's point about, you know, congress doing something. again, i don't know how much can be done? this is an election yera. we --- an election year. not much changes by way of policy. but, yes certainly,, the minimum wages would help. there are enough studies that show that just increasing the minimum wage is not so bad for the employer. it is not like they have to get rid of a whole lot of people because they have to pay them more. so, again, there are studies that will prove that in pocket. s. raising thlarge, e minimum wage does not reduce employment. host: how important do these monthly reports become in the fi rst friday of the month leading up to the november election? going back to the 2012 election, these dates for the bls reports were dates that were struggled on the calendars by the campaigns, by journalist watching the campaigns. h important to they become in this electiono? shobhana: they are always important and certainly in the selection when we are hearing so much about jobs, about the state of workers. they will be important. we have got eight or nine more reports to come. so, the importance increases incrementally. and it's not just voters who trying to see what is in the jobs report versus what they hear along the campaign trail. it's the candidates themselves. so, both sides are going to look to this as a source of trying to prove their point. the democratic presidential candidate who's leading right now, hillary clinton, has pointed to the jobs report yesterday and said, look, there are more people are coming back into the workforce and good things are happening. on the other side, donald trump who is a front-runner for the republicans, can look at the wage part of the picture and say, see wages are not currently picking up, they are slow. he has talked a lot about off jobs overseas were u.s. companies are setting up shop. both sides will have lots to use to their advantage. it will have to see how things are looking. are improving. fingers crossed as a keep improving. up in virginia. caller: good morning. much of theis how demise of unions affected wages? seems to me that it is not an even playing field. when wages were strong, the worker had some power and could negotiate. unions, ordemise of declining membership in unions, has been mentioned as one of the as to whym reasons wages have not been so good and they are gaining power. union membership has made a difference, globalization is another one. they may find their job is getting shipped overseas. some people say union membership, if it improves, it will not gain power. if you look at the job market itself, it looks like there is hope for bargaining power to come back and for the pendulum to swing in the favor of workers because yesterday's numbers we have seen opening numbers at a record high. jobse can quit their because they feel more comfortable. the slack is getting absorbed and that gives employees more marketing power. host: john, good morning. you are on with shobhana chandra. caller: there is a powerful illegalion between the immigration's, these is replacing white-collar workers, illegal immigration at the lower end. they have greatly suppressed of wages.en rates there is a direct correlation between the increase in the immigration and lower wages for u.s. citizens could look at the last several decades. from 1948 to 1972, there was a direct relationship from productivity and increased wages. still continues to increase. startedon skyrocketed in 1973. the policies of nasa -- bush, an -- bush and obama increasing illegal immigration. the indian worker gets half the salary. the company gets the other half of the salary and they are paid at a salary much less than the u.s. citizen that was replaced by the visa worker. here that theory caller goes into. talk a little bit about that. guest: there are both sides that pocket, there is a net positive except. that tradeproven leads to a better outcome. it does not seem like that to the workers who might lose their jobs to trade. overall, for the economy, that is a good thing. exporting is always a good thing for the worker who is in that job. studies show, and i did a story on this a couple of months, somewhere between 50% and 18% more is what workers in export -related industries are in -- industries earn. company worker in that are going to get higher pay. yes, some people may lose jobs. but across the board, the net effect is a good one. on the immigration trend, yes, overtime there is some turn, but we are talking about things that have been in place for decades. the best defense for those who feel they are not such a good thing for workers is arm yourself with a better education, better skills, upgrade your skills for the jobs that are being created and or plenty being created for this economy. the trend is going to stay that place -- the trend is going to stay in place. like thereket looks is something for a lot more people. phoenix, arizona is next for steve is waiting. you are on with shobhana chandra. good morning and thank you for c-span. i would like to tell shobhana she does not know which he is talking about, and i can prove it. there was a manner made an observation that the racks who who work in the sewer are no better than thera s rats that work in the barn. host: what is the point you're trying to make? caller: it is not about capitalism. ats who live in the barn he better because that is where the food is at. how long have you been cover economics at bloomberg? caller: i have been at bloomberg for 17 years now. almost a decade of that has been on the economic side. followed trends with the consumer and the job market. that is where my opinions are coming from. by the way, i am an immigrant myself. and -- i movedia here from india. america has been good to me. my bottom line is do not lose hope. host: how these job numbers are calculated, 242,000 jobs added in february. is that net jobs added is the ? guest: yes. that is the way we look at it. the are coming off of two very strong years. in best back-to-back years for hiring since 1999. if we can do this kind of clip, anything over 240,000, that is what we need to keep the employment rate stable. accordingtotal number -- the total number of unemployed, 7.8 million. how is the unemployment rate calculated? the caller before said that number is low. explain that. guest: there is a broader measure of unemployment which includes marginally attached people and people who are unemployed, or working part-time for economic reasons. they would like full-time work, but the economy has not provided them an opportunity. by that measure, yes, the employment rate is much higher than the 4.9% that we saw. 4.9%9% is really -- the are people who are in the labor force looking for work and thing you calculate how many people out of that labor force are actually out of work. to your point about the long-term unemployment -- these theways of looking at unemployment numbers to show, yes, everything is not perfect yet. we have come a long way. how we can drive long-term unemployment, that number has moved down a lot from the days of the recession when it was much higher. even the long time unemployed are finding work. as more people get off the sidelines, they are starting to realize it is really not as bad as what we had gotten used to. , evenare jobs out there for people who have been out of work 15 weeks -- one to do on methodology. do we count jobs added and the unemployment rate during the george w. bush administration? guest: we have always calculated the numbers the same way. the numbers go all the way back to the 1940's. labor market does not change methodology in terms of administration. no country does that. these are truly neutral numbers. they are calculated by the labor department people. it is always the same. good morning, you are on the shobhana chandra. caller: good morning. thank you c-span. -- i am to talk about 75 years old and i have been working all my life. i had a stroke in 1998 and of surgeries afterward. i would rather be working. i am living off of $13,000 -- $1300 a month. marco rubio is running for president. who is the big money person behind him? there must be big money people behind him. he does not look like a president to me. i have been watching this thing for a long time. the republicans are talking about the job market talking about the jobs are back. i heard that on the news a long time ago. predicted thaty they were over $7 million. your questionsst: some of of who is funding the candidates. focus on one of those segments on the democratic race and one of those segments on the republican race. tune in for that. shobhana chandra, was there anything you want to pick up on? guest: he did mention that he would rather have worked. again, i would say start looking at those jobs openings and step up your searches. evidence shows that more people are coming back into the labor market and getting a pleasant surprise. there,re jobs out full-time, part-time, good jobs, the kind you want, flexible jobs. you have to start looking. host: pamela in highland, california. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. to bring up the elephant in the room. it's corporations that are hiring with you have a good education are not at a lower wage. that is what it is. i want to bring the attention to ima union government worker at the san bernardino court. i have not seen a raisin 10 years. they pay $300 million for a new courthouse. .e were doing furloughs governor brown supported the $40 million to cover the budget. we can't even get a cost of living wage. the union has been selling us out. the people running it, the corporations, they don't want to pay a living wage. they want to get as much back as they can. it is a combination of illegal immigration, legal immigration, and as the pool of employees grows, the wages will be down. american people are aware of it. that she saystter it does not affect our lives, it doesn't affect our lives. thank you. host: can you dig into the state and federal workforce and what has happened with them? guest: if i recall from yesterday's numbers, even the government heads -- has started to add jobs. workers havetate more openings that are available and those are starting to get filled. to the point about workers not yesing a wage increase, there are still a lot of people out there, which across the board, which is have been sluggish. but again, you look at the condition and the direction is for a one optimistic scenario. again, will happen is, the numbers indicate pretty soon. corporations can not hold back on hiring especially the skilled workers they need. there are pockets we are seeing, the i.t. industry, they are always complaining they are not finding enough skilled workers. it is only a matter of time. once there is competition for workers, they have -- employers have to pay up. that somer sectors big games -- health care up to 30,000 jobs. retail last month, up 55,000 jobs. down 19,000 jobs. we are going through the jobs report with shobhana chandra a bloomberg news. we have time for a few more cars -- calls. gregory in new jersey. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i really appreciate it. h-1b oneted to say is visa needs to be drastically reduced because it is slowing down growth of wages in information technology and low-end medicine. we keep wages down. i want to make a point that learning new skills is very hard 45 years olds over or so. you could conceivably work until retirement. now it is not a luxury you can afford because your company will replace you with a cheaper h-1b new higher or move your job overseas. a lot of white-collar jobs are being moved overseas and that is all over the government. government, clinton nor obama, nor bush does not protect us. it people wonder why we have to vote for bernie sanders, that is why we have them. hopefully one of them wins. host: that is gregory in new jersey. h-1b one visas. can you go over that a little bit? guest: companies in the i.t. sector will argue for increasing rather than decreasing the h-1b visa one minutes because they say they cannot find enough workers in the u.s. versus thee perception, that is an interesting contrast. h-1b visas are given only when rules -- thet employer has to make sure that being paid our market wages. the have to show that it was an open position and everyone applied. as far as wages go, that is what the rule is. you cannot undercut an american worker. that is the idea behind me h one. whether it holds down wages, ironically, the i.t. industry is of what example competition with foreign workers does. it is the one industry were cap openings are happening all the time. it is one of the fastest-growing in terms of wage growth. one of the fastest in terms of demand for skilled labor. we get surveys all the time from private companies, job search firms, and when they do the , or where the most attractive jobs, i.t. is at the top across the board. it it just completely disproves his point. int: mary is waiting illinois. that morning. you are on "washington journal are co- mary, are you by your phone? denver,go to bill in colorado. bill, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, bill. caller: hello. i was wondering if anybody -- you never mentioned it on here. $2 trillion underground economy -- that is a lot of people. mitt romney had it right. pay federaleople taxes. can anybody figure out a way to this $2 trillion economy and have everyone pay for it? economy the underground folks who don't pay taxes on their workers and earnings? caller: yes, it is a cache business -- it is a cash business. host: let's shobhana chandra jump in on that. is a complicated one. one is tax policy itself, widening the next so you get more people into the fold of taxpayers that increases revenue across the board. it also helps the worker who might be getting stiffed by the company simply because he are a part of that underground economy. then the other is enforcement. those two things are in the roma policy and -- those two things are in the realm of policy. place, it isws in just that they need to properly weaked. of course, it is more money for the government. host: let's head to tennessee. anne is waiting period good morning. caller: good morning. i have two or three questions. she said the number of federal government workers were increasing. i would like to know the number and the number today. i heard stories on the news of people in oregon and the northwest where minimum wages were hiked due to government or local regulations of people losing government support. their wages went up. they were asking their employers to cut back their hours. so it was effecting the number of hours they worked. it stands to reason that it would affect prices that people have to pay that would affect inflation. number three, have you become a citizen of the united states? have a good day. guest: ok. i will start with the last one first. i have become a citizen of the united states. your second point about or again, i am not familiar with the details, so i will hold off on that. but i will say academic studies across the board show minimum -- raising minimum wages does not lead to a net reduction in the number of workers. it may very by industry or company. some businesses may find they need a different mix now that they have to pay more. again, across the board, that is not the case. we heard a lot of these up last year. there was a lot on both sides. again, specific cases, i would rather not comment. to your first point about the ,xact number of federal workers i am sorry, i do not have the numbers at the top of my head. what i did mention was we are starting to see that in the last couple of months, and the last couple of years, the federal government and the state government is adding workers once again. host: i think i found those numbers from the bureau of labor statistics. they have a lots of charts that show employment by industry. local government, the number 14 million for state government, a little over 5 million employed. 2 million employed, i don't know if you can see the softer line to 1996.it goes back you can see that that is the much lighterments' blue line along here showing state government employment. you can see the spike during the great recession back in 2010. a spike in federal hiring and then it dropped back down. if you want to play around with those charts on the bureau of labor statistics' website. guest: thanks, john. that was a good be allowed. i did not have the numbers -- -out.was a good bail i did not have the numbers at the top of my head. you have to match it up with the state budget. you will get the picture if those are the states that will indeed be adding workers. in boston,s waiting massachusetts. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i would like to say welcome to the united states and we are glad that you are a new citizen. [laughter] -- it is interesting, the economy now is completely different than it has ever been. i think part of the problem that is happening is that the reason. in other words, as she said, as the unemployment rate goes down, technically the wages should go up. that has not been happening. on top of that, too, since we are in deep government debt, we cannot deficit spend to jump the economy even though the fed was buying back bonds. that supposedly had some impact on the economy and now we are at almost 0% interest rate as well. mean, we are adding jobs, supposedly from the government's report. the problem is, i would like to have your opinion on this, what happened -- what happens if it doesn't us tt? guest: it is a very different economy now. you can look at this two ways, different in terms of the types of jobs. more new economy jobs have uber comes up. that is nontraditional jobs based off of new innovations like ridesharing. you have a regular worker who in their part-time can double up as a driver to earn as to money. these kinds of things were not possible 10, 20 years ago. we have a lot more interesting jobs, if you will. , coming up now. it is a different economy when you look at the health of the economy and things are improving. go back to when things were down in the dumps. the job market crews we have come a long way. consumer spending is very strong. job we talk about the market, you have to talk about the consumer and what it is doing to the consumer, in addition to low inflation, low borrowing costs, you got a job market that is creating more jobs and hopefully will create more wages. so, yes, it is a different economy. i would say it is a better economy, far more exciting economy as a worker. john, was there anything i am missing? host: we have time for one or two more calls. alberto is a new york, new york. go ahead. caller: i have a quick comment. i wanted to say that at the end of the day, after everything is aboutd done, it is all making these greedy airesonaires, trillion e riding the backs of hard-working people. that is alberto's thoughts in new york. ron is waiting in florida. ron, good morning. morning, john, thank you for having me. i wanted to make two points. one about unemployment. what about the people coming in onler: first of all, i was unemployment about eight years ago. it feels good, they pay you the money you put in. i probably collected unemployment the entire time. i was looking for a job there was over in a year, and the money never ran out. i was put on on a claimant recently about six months ago -- unemployment about six months ago. i put in the same time and the same amount of money, but my unemployment was depleted after probably just about three months. they cut you off, you can find anybody to talk to, you can find any extension. they don't make it possible for you to talk to anybody. the point i wanted to make, my brother, did somebody want to say something? john: what is the other point? caller: i know a bunch of people, they train the people overseas to take their job, and then they came in and trained them, and then they took their job for half the work they were doing, and they lost their job. that happened to several people in my family. john: in a last minute or so we have left? that if youdo agree think you need to be getting unemployment benefits, and they have been unfairly cut off, and there is maybe some conclusion -- confusion, conflict in the process being handled, you do need to address that and hopefully you can find the right person within the system to address that. workerspoint about being asked to train the next bunch of people going to take over from them, there has been anecdotal evidence of that as well. it is happening, and is part of the aches that a lot of people st that a lot of people feel. it is on everywhere, fortunately, and again businesses are going to their bottom lines, and as employers, they look to where they can get -- again, doing it the right way , but the system, doing it legally, and where can i get the best, most competitive worker for the amount they are willing to pay. and some of them have done this. -- withobhana drip with bloomberg news. you should check out her story from yesterday. it is what we showed at the top of the show. thank you so much for your time this morning. shobhana: thank you. john: up next, eleanor clift: of the daily beast will be here. marlowe willalex be here to talk about the prison -- political action conference taking place outside of washington dc and media coverage of the campaign. we will be talking about all of your questions on the presidential election. that is coming up on washington journal. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] announcer: every weekend on american history tv on c-span3, feature programs that tell the american story. some of the highlights for this weekend include this afternoon at 2:00 eastern, the association for the study of african american life and history hosts of their 90th annual black history luncheon, with remarks by the national park service director and a keynote address professoruniversity whitehead. >> it makes us passionate. i think of the 1992 olympics. some of you might remember that with me. i don't remember who one. i don't remember anything else but that guy. he snapped his hamstring, and he got up, do you hobble around the track. they came to help him, and he waved them off. and then a man broke through the stands, that man was his father and put his hand on his shoulder . they asked, why didn't you stop? he said because i came to barcelona to finish a race and not just to start one. 8:00, lectures in history. we talk about confederate veterans in reconstruction and aid for veterans was put to war monuments and pro-confederate propaganda. 5:00,ay afternoon at persian gulf war veteran and recounts desert shield and desert storm and describes a soldier's day-to-day activities, harsh conditions and wartime pressures. >> we began digging frantically, frantically. we were just a few miles from the border, where the iraqis or going to come across. we just went and started digging. as fast as we could. about this far underneath the ground wasn't shale -- was shale, rock. the sinking feeling that came across, we are digging our position six inches in the ground to withstand and iraqi onslaught. announcer: at 6:30, road to the white house rewind. 20040,000 -- the presidential election between john kerry and edwards. for complete coverage, go to c-span.org. announcer: washington journal continues. the panelists eleanor clift: joins us. between bernie sanders and hillary clinton. another day in march, another handful of primaries. what is your expectations today for the primaries taking place on the democratic side? three today, and then maine is tomorrow. eleanor: i imagine the same pattern is going to continue on the democratic side that we have dean with hillary clinton winning the majority of the votes and the majority of the delegates, but bernie sanders is still viable enough he could feel in a position to win a couple of states, it and democrats award delegates on a professional -- for personal basis, he could come away with that. . how long does he stay in the race, what does he want. a 7-4 decision on super tuesday. questions pop up, what does bernie sanders need to do to change this? does he need to do it in a handful of primaries today, or does it happen tomorrow with the cnn debate? eleanor: i guess he needs to shake things up to some extent, and that would mean probably going on the attack more against hillary clinton. end, people kind of know how it is going to come out on the democratic side. she seems to likely be the nominee. republican tot up win the white house, so as some point they are going to join arms well before the convention. hillary clinton very much needs a bernie sanders, and i think she so far has resisted resid -- returning to much fire in kind because she really needs his full throated support, and she certainly needs the energy and the backing of the people he is attracting, because then it becomes all about can you turn out what is essentially the obama coalition from 2008 and 2012. young people are a big part of that. hillary clinton has shown out she can show out african-americans, hispanics, and older women in particular. young people, bernie sanders has a lock on them so far. she needs them. i am anticipating the moment when they really are a team. john: we are moving to the acceptance stage, as you seem to indicate. what did bernie sanders do wrong ? should he have gone after hillary clinton more on the e-mail issue rather than taking that off the table very early on in one of his debates? eleanor: i don't think he has done everything wrong. the fact that he has accomplished what he has is incredible. here is a 74-year-old legislator who has been in washington almost any four years. -- 34 years. rather inconsequential member of congress. he suddenly bursts on the scene, finds out where the the zeitgeist is, it brings all the people to the ballot. i don't know that he was ever destined or would have been destined to go the distance as a socialist,mocratic but the fact that he has drawn attention to the issues that he cares about and a country cares about, he has affected the conversation on the democratic side. going against clinton more know thatly, i don't that would pay off for him over the long run. i think he really has gotten her into fighting shape. everything he brings up as a republican candidate would bring up in a much harsher way. one of the positions is certainly going after her on speaking fees, and i am talking about donald trump as the republican nominee. i don't think he will go after her on receiving money from goldman sachs. those are his people and he deals in such huge sums of money that issue kind of goes away. on the e-mails, i gather the investigation will be coming to a close in early may. a resolutiony get on that, how serious it is or how serious is isn't. john: she is the daily correspondent for the washington beast. she is here for 40 minutes or so, if you want to call in. what you think the debate centers on? eleanor: i think more of the same. i welcome them on both sides, they do tend to get repetitive. the candidates are sort of determined to get their talking points across. i look at the flint, michigan issue as a turning point in the clinton campaign. it was her closing statement in the new hampshire debate where she used the time to draw attention to flint. first she sent one of her top aides there, then she traveled there herself. that flint, the community there, the problems they are facing is really a of similarr problems communities across the country. and hillary clinton just introduced her jobs there. she has got more specifics then bernie sanders. when you watch these debates, you do kind of get the message that sanders is so passionate about his issue and rightfully so, but he is not all that comfortable when you move away into other areas. i think, we haven't had much talk about foreign policy, which is again hillary clinton's strong point, but the fact that this debate is an flint, michigan, the problems of the community definitely are going to be center stage. john: the water crisis wasn't addressed in the republican debate on thursday in detroit. until 90 addressed minutes into the debates. here is the exchange, the question and answer on that. [video clip] >> if you talk to people in this state, they are concerned about flints. why haven't gop candidates talk more about this? marco rubio: i have talked about it, and others have areas what happened in flint was a terrible thing. it was a systemic breakdown at every level of government. partially at the federal level as well. the politicizing of it is unfair, because i don't think the one woke up one morning and said, let's figure out how to poison the water system to hurt someone. accountability is a important. i will give the governor quinn it. he has taken -- the governor credits. he has taken responsibility and he has made a change. democrats have tried to turn this into a partisan issue, somehow republicans woke up in the morning, it is a good idea to poison some kid with lead. it is absurd. all of us are outraged, and we should work together to solve this. there is a proper role for the government to play at the federal level in helping local communities to respond to a disaster at this time. two answers of them like this never happens again. john: has it become a partisan issue? eleanor: it has become a partisan issue because the governor there is republican, and the governor decided, and it was a desert is -- a decision made by the republican governor that money that led to the poisoning of water in flint. i think of that ruby is response, republicans are concerned with protecting rick snyder and his role in this, deflecting it to the washington and epa. there was one figure at the epa who was fired or let go, so i think responsibility has been acknowledged. to talk aboutng local control and returning power to the state, and states are all-powerful here, i think you have to acknowledge the state government really failed the citizens of flint. people have said, if this were a suburban white community, with this ever have been allowed to go on to the extent that it did? i think we all know the answer is no. john: we have a call in fairfax virginia. caller: good morning. i really enjoy you on mclaughlin group, and i would like you to talk about failure of many republican governors across the land -- i believe if the people understood how badly does governors have put their citizens, they would not be so enthusiastic about the republican party. because they are really mean and uncaring. i also believe that the people should tune in to the thom hartmann show. he gets really after issues that you don't get on mainstream media. rt is not a communist station, it is a great new station. tom hartman and many find correspondence provide real views about the real world with loads and loads -- without loads and loads of commercials. eleanor: the color makes a number of good points. caller makes a number of good points. i met him. harrow on have no -- nbc made good points about flint. in terms of governors, there were a number of governors running in this cycle, and they are all out. jeb bush, well no, john kasich remains. governor christie, his credit rating has been downgraded, and his approval rating is really low. the governors, with the exception of kasich, did not do well in the presidential field. voters a cut on to the fact that governors aren't doing that great a job. one of the early dropouts, now former governor, i don't think you can claim citizens of louisiana are better off after his tenure. the current governor of kansas, brownback, has acquitted to play many of the conservative ideas in the school system is suffering, the state budget is it doing well. -- isn't doing well. i don't think you can point to any of the current crop of republican governors necessarily as models of excellence. i think susana martinez in new mexico might be an exception to that. overall, governors have not fared well. john: in california, sam is waiting. caller: good morning. c-span, andwer of elinor, i watch you on the mclaughlin group. i enjoy the viewing. my question to you is, given the primarystate of the process, is there an argument perhaps were moving away from the by party system to more of a multiparty system? thank you. eleanor: if it is, it is only the first step in what would be a very long process. i think you have to look at what is happening on the republican side. you wonder, is the party going to break up into more than one entity? are they going to figure out what they stand for. ? i think we are looking for a process their. the moderators at the beginning of the primary season, asking everyone to kind of take a pledge if they would support the nominee, and donald trump took the pledge, and he took the pledge again the other evening, and that you have other republican talking about splitting off if donald trump gets the nomination. they want to start another party. you have some sort of minor parties already have a line on the ballot, the constitution party, the libertarian party, their decision and libertarian circles talking about if trump begin the nominee or those lines. so two-party system is hidebound in this country, it is very difficult to break off. we have a couple of independent candidacies, moscow was considered successful, he did get double-digit percentages, but he never won a state. michael bloomberg, former mayor of new york is looking at jumping into the race. he looked into it before, and he has always been dissuaded because he doesn't think he could actually win any race or impact the outcome, except perhaps in a negative way. very hard in this country to break out of the two-party system. john: let's go to cottonwood, idaho. good morning. caller: good morning. eleanorjust like to ask if she doesn't think there should be a whole lot more transparency in our government as elected officials and for instance, who is actually intervening money to the political campaigns on both sides? who is into getting money to hillary clinton, what companies, the banks? and don't you think if donald show his tax returns, hillary clinton should show hers? ,f this thing from the times new york times that trump should show, shouldn't hillary clinton show heard transcripts from her talk to the banks? every candidate should have all ,f their tax returns revealed who is intervening money to their campaigns. i think there is a lack of transparency across the board. eleanor: well, it is standard procedure for candidates to release their tax returns. i don't know what to what extent the clintons have. i'm sure she will when she gets the nomination. that if donald trump does get the nomination, he would as well. ,ou might remember from 2012 there was a lot of conflict over mitt romney and whether he would release his tax returns areas he finally did and they showed he less of his taxes than the ordinary worker, which presumably was why he didn't want to put them out there. you are right, there are some things the public has a right to know. in terms of the campaign donations, i think we can fault the supreme court there and is there incidence -- the citizens united decision. they allowed people to give huge amounts of money without having to reveal their identity. i think the republican side has taken more advantage of this than the democratic side, but whoever does it, it is an outrage. courtd hope the supreme at some point would overturn that decision and get rid of that rather extrude inerrant loophole. -- extraordinary loophole. in the new york times, maybe this jock's people, but -- shocks people, but it was it officials, politicians, they sit down with boards all the time, around the country for off the record at sessions. the person speaking doesn't have to worry that every word he or she is altering will be a front page story. , andis standard procedure the new york times is not going to release that transcript. donald trump is correct in saying he's not going to violate those ground rules. maybe there's something he said there he was to protect. understood, and maybe he would be harder than taking the heat for that position and going ahead and releasing those transcripts. hillary clinton would be that are off releasing the transcripts with statements she made. they are what i would call boiler points. there may be small exchanges back and forth where she might say who executives in wall for yourrm, thank you service to our country. kind of the smalltalk people make when they want to ingratiate themselves before a group. i think she is figuring whatever she releases will only add it to her questions. she will rather take the heat. both donald trump and hillary clinton have held their ground on that particular issue. maybe they cancel each other out. john: if you had an off the conversation -- off the camera conversation with an elected official, and they said it was ok to release that later, whatever it notes you took, would you as a journalist? by the: if i was told person that the ground rules no longer mattered to him or her, then yes, that would be ok. off the record, it is something journalists take very seriously. i would never violate that kind of confidence. john: let's go to fort lauderdale, florida. line for democrats. .aller: hi, good morning i want to talk about the primary for the democrats right now. i'm in florida, i will be voting in a couple of days next week on the 15. people are talking about the ticket to the vice presidential pick. thatems so obvious to me if clinton wins the primaries and is the nominee, then sanders should be the vice president. it is just so obvious, i can't believe people are not talking about it. but i am seeing different names, although sanders is not coming up. so if he doesn't win the primary , as vice president, he would be so close to her, be able to speak to her about whose ideas about foreign affairs, which i think are important. . i think elizabeth warren is in as a second. and hillary clinton would be president. sanders would bring all of these young people that love him so much. andeep the democratic party him in charge. i think people should start talking about vice president of candidate text. -- presidential candidate tents. john: your thoughts. eleanor: you make a case for picking bernie sanders. when i look historically and i see two people making a battle at the end, very rarely does the winner take the runner up as their vice president. john: is there animosity? eleanor: there was clamor for barack obama to take hillary clinton in 2008. why didn't mitt romney take rick santorum? the exception is ronald reagan in 1980, who did pick the runner up, which was george h.w. bush. bush's took george h.w. campaign manager jim baker and put him in the white house. that was extraordinary matchup and it worked out well. you don't see that often. i don't see a 69-year-old presidential nominee, which is what hillary clinton would be, taking a 74-year-old as her vice president. eleanor: -- john: he would be 75 on inauguration day. eleanor: he also comes from vermont, so it wouldn't fit the bill of someone who could become an instant president, who is younger and healthier. joe biden is older than barack obama, so that violates that as well. you can find exceptions here. i can't imagine bernie sanders would really want to be vice president. the vice president of job is much more substitutions of -- substantive than people think, but it is a lot of filling in at funerals. he would be vernal -- valuable in the senate. he would not want to be her number two. john: staying in florida, one for republicans. let me first of all, remind you i am an american, and i have a choice whomever party i want to choose, but since i mentioned republican -- you know, i used to live in michigan, and it was a beautiful state. what saddens me is these folks ,aving to drink rotten water perceptionl for the that everybody in government has been very negligent, regardless of party. i am an american. i can't imagine in this country that we allow these officials who are placed in their position with our taxof us dollars that these poor folks in exposed to this filth that is going on and the corruption that is going on, and dissensionsvile that are going on. these are people alive, they breathe. children being born with lead in them. how shameful it is, the situation that you you wonder why we are so angry with our politicians, with our media, with our journalists -- they do not get it. guest: a lot of anger there, and rightfully so. if you even take away all the issues about the economic disparity with flint, the racial issues, just look at it as metal . they went into this to save money. they created health problems for a generation of children that the government will have to pay for in many ways. in the end, no money is saved. if you look again at flint, as a metaphor for cities around the country, our infrastructure is in terrible shape. here in washington, an iconic tens ofthat thousands of cars passover every day -- host: that leads to the gates of arlington cemetery. guest: they think they can patch it. it needs rebuilding, or else it will become a pedestrian footbridge. in the past, democrats and republicans have worked together in a bipartisan way to spend money on infrastructure. reagan called in democrats, and said, we are going to spend money on transportation, and they said, how much? this did not used to be an issue. host: when did it become an issue? guest: i think during the clinton years, money was spent on infrastructure. during george w. bush -- it became an issue under barack obama. there's kind of an irrational dislike of this president, where they don't want to give him any kind of a victory. also, it arrives with the tea party and that session with the deficit, and you can't spend money on anything. when interest rates are so low, we should be borrowing money and spending money on infrastructure. it would be a wise expenditure. host: let's go to pennsylvania. barry is waiting. ,aller: eleanor, i follow you you are a breath of fresh air, what an educated woman. on thelly hold your own show. i'm so proud of you, when i watch you. guest: thank you so much. caller: today, there is no middle class. we are all average americans. now, peopleed -- have to hold 2-3 jobs, just to survive. they are getting their education on fox so-called news. they are trying to make ends meet, and that is why voter turnout is so low. bernie is speaking the cost will. this all has to do with the economy. that is why crime is up. my paycheck has been stagnant since the reagan recession. everything else has gone up. onu can only be so frugal -- the show, in the last saidrsation they had, they get an education. that is the problem. people get an education, go into debt. today?h profit is profit i think that is the biggest problem. i'm 63. i'm voting for bernie. if hillary -- if bernie doesn't get it, i will vote for hillary, reluctantly, but i will e-mail her every day, if i can. host: on your point, on the issue of turnout, you are right 2.6 million fewer people came out to vote in the 11 states shofar showing results from the primaries on tuesday. that number down on the democratic side of the aisle. on the republican side of the aisle, voter turnout is 81% higher than it was in the 2012 election. two different stories on turnout. guest: let's face it, the race on the republican side is like watching a car crackup constantly. it is more exciting from an entertainment when of view. on the democratic side, i think most people who pay attention probably figure hillary clinton is going to win, and they are not as super motivated. i think bernie sanders was disappointed, when the race moved to nevada, after he won that huge victory in new hampshire, i think he thought his revolution was building. people did not turn out for him in nevada. you don't have the excitement on .he democratic side i think when we get down to a democrat versus republican, the contrast of the two parties on virtually every issue is so aark that it is going to be motivating factor for both sides. host: about 10 minutes left with eleanor clift of the daily beast talking about the 2016 race. we will be joined in a few minutes from the editor in chief eitbart news. then it -- ben is on the line from alaska. caller: good morning. i want to say hello to this whole world. i have some enlightening to do to this lady that is misleading view. we have to go back to the popular vote. i have to give obama credit for getting a straight after the mess up the hillary clinton and her husband, and the bushes -- we don't ever want them in there again. banks, andlated the shipped 17 car manufacturers to mexico. other things. anyway, we have to get to the popular vote. i've changed from democrat to republican. i'm a registered republican. when ross perot and the republicans went down there and tried everything under the world -- they interrupted his wedding. the republicans in the clinton democrats, we have to get back to the popular vote. the stupid judge who died, he put all of his money into politics. i better shut up. host: we got your point. guest: i understand the allure of the popular vote, but the founding fathers did not leave us with the system of an electoral college. every four years, there is a lot of debate about whether it should be reformed, whether the in iowa andld start new hampshire, to states which are not really characteristic of the country. it is a rough justice that comes out of all of this. i'm not so sure one blanket vote -- blanket there could be a lot of room there for manipulation. host: rosslyn, might for independents, good morning. caller: i was just calling about to bernieluding sanders perhaps dropping out for s' sake.crat i'm a bernie sanders supporter. a lot of people are. one of your previous callers -- we are not voting for hillary clinton. if sanders does market the nomination, i know a lot of people are planning on writing independent.oting i hope they are joking about voting for trump if sanders , i thinket it, but hillary clinton will get a lot fewer votes than many people think she will. people like me don't trust her. her previous actions, and her whole history. we want bernie sanders. we're not going to settle for hillary clinton. host: how much does hillary clinton have to worry about that? guest: i think she is very concerned about winning over bernie sanders supporters. i would hope that the caller would listen to bernie sanders. bernie sanders, at some point, if he does not win the nomination, is not going to want his supporters to stay home and put a republican in the white house. if you really care about bernie sanders and his message, i think you might want to listen to what he would like you to do. i think this is still playing out. i'm not asking him to drop out, i don't think he should. he has a message that people want to hear, and hillary clinton certainly wants to incorporate. host: in terms of issues still playing out, how much does hillary clinton need to worry the justice department decision granting immunity to staffer who worked for clinton before setting up the server in her home in 2009. time, as i recall, at the the clintons were urging him to testify. he did have a lawyer. lawyers frugally don't want you liabilityny possible at the time that was happening, that's when the select committee on benghazi on the hill was that top pursue. if you talk to people in the clinton campaign, they are glad he is cooperating, and don't feel he has done anything wrong. i gather the investigation will be wrapped up in early may, and then it will be decided whether any civil complaint are going to be brought. l in rhodego to a island. good morning. eleanor, and for john also, did you read the article that tony blair wrote for bloomberg news? it is very important. guest: that he wrote about what? about the reason why in this so important country. is happening all over the world. people are fed up with the government, the governing class controlling everything, and voters have no say anymore. guest: you are correct. there are trump like figures in europe, in particular, who are on the rise. , andally, in europe elsewhere, these figures are connected with minor parties, fringe parties, not within striking distance of getting anything more than a few seats in the parliament. what is different in this country, because we have this two-party system is that donald trump is now within striking distance of getting the nomination of his party, which puts him at a much more affordable -- formidable position of taking over. liberal,if you are a or democrat, and you compare donald trump with the other candidates on the stage, with the possible exception of governor kasich, you find that issues areitions on actually more progressive than some of the more ideological rubio and tede cruz. i think that is part of his appeal. he is going in some democrats. host: just a minute or two left. a call from flint, michigan, john is waiting on line for democrats. caller: good morning to you. i have one thing to say to c-span and a couple of comments to your guest. hillary clinton, you know, all she is doing is downgrading bernie sanders and upgrading hillary clinton. getting tear gas, hillary beside hernding husband, bill clinton, when he signed into law nafta, clapping for it. when signing nafta, it took 75,000 jobs from the city of flint. it sent them overseas. now, you want us to put her in office. i will say some the about the water, then i will you go. clinton went to a black soapbox -- ped on a she did not go to nobody's house, see the water, she did not bring a bottle of water from the hillary and bill foundation. thank you. hillary clinton not signed sign nafta into law, that was her husband. she is taking a position that is virtually identical now to bernie sanders. grant that she does come out of some more free trade wing of the democratic party, but a lot of issues have changed. when you evaluate candidates, you're not evaluating someone who did everything right, you are evaluating someone in .ontrast to someone else hillary clinton and bernie sanders would say they have the same goals, they differ about how to get there. hillary clinton has made the point that she knows how government works, and can get stuff done, while bernie sanders is promoting ideas that cannot happen, unless you really did have a revolution coming to washington. so far, his revolution does not look like it will materialize. no one is going to be perfect on all these issues. i think you have to take every candidate in context. host: mary puts it this way, the only reason hillary clinton has a chance in this election, bernie sanders showed her what to run on, she has lifted his message. guest: i think hillary clinton started out with a lot of positions on issues, but did not have a compelling overarching message. i think she has learned from bernie sanders. i think that is good. host: eleanor clift is with the daily beast, and also has her own website. can follow her on twitter. thank you for your time. news editor,tbart alex marlow, talks about the conservative political action conference taking place right outside washington, d.c. we floyd the history and battery life of anaheim, california. today, we will have all of the nonfiction programming in one block. you will also discuss the book, "asking mexican." >> the idea for ask a mexican came from my editor. he would always ask me a question about mexicans because i was only latino on staff, the only person of color on step, for that matter. i would always answer them -- silly stuff -- why do people talk go soos and much. there are a lot of ignorant people that ask questions about mexicans, so why don't we make a column called, "ask a mexican." adviceupposed to be an column. mexicans call my people gringos? gringosngos called i gringos. i wrote it, i file that, i thought, whatever, i don't have to do this again, it's fine. i was wrong. people went nuts. some people loved it, some people hated it. at the bottom, since it was supposed to be an advice column, i put, if you have a spicy question about mexicans, write me, and i put my e-mail. >> booktv has 40 hours of nonfiction books and authors every weekend. books tosome of the watch for this weekend. >> the history of american conservatism is the story of disappointment and the trail. "afterwords" discusses the book, "why the right went wrong." "in-depth"unday, and herh jane mayor most recent book, "dark money." join in on the conversation. we will be take your phone calls, tweets, and e-mails. watch booktv all weekend, every weekend on c-span two. television for serious readers. >> "washington journal" continues. host: alex marlow is editor in chief of breitbart news. he joins us this weekend as the conservative political action conference is taking place just outside washington, d.c. he is actually scheduled to speak on a panel today called " sins of th seven deadly hillary clinton." first, i want to get your opinion of donald trump not speaking at the conference. guest: it is a tough situation for him. he is between a rock and a hard place. you can see developing the anti-trump movement, and you can moment.utube hero the bottom line, newt gingrich tweeted, the voters are not in washington, they are in kansas, the states where people are voting today. there is an election today happening, and that is where trump decided he wanted to be. the bottom line is if he suites today, and four states, no one cpac.are if he misses you certainly see the strategy. host: cpac is very valuable. for those that aren't familiar, why's it so valuable? guest: the conservative movement is a very diverse place. i learned this early on. i thought i was libertarian, and ,hat i showed up to berkeley and the berkeley college republicans was the only club. the liberal groups were very disoriented. if you are at all right of center, you end up in one club. that is what cpac has come to represent. show up,aul people the conservative show up, the gun crowd shows up. everyone gets along for one time. the other purpose it is so great is with young people. for young people who are just getting exposed to conservative ideas, they have a people inhear from government. host: c-span is covering cpac today. at 11:35, marco rubio is scheduled to speak. also covering donald trump's event today. his 2:30 event in our that don't, florida will be on c-span. that is west palm beach, florida . trump, thisto don .s a headline from breitbart the american conservative union chairman saying, marco rubio cannot unite the republicans cpac.t showing up at can donald trump unite republicans without showing up at cpac? guest: it is a good question. we have been accused of being a site, and we have also been accused of being a pro-cruz site. we like to push to our viewers, but this is a very tough call. it will be very difficult for him to unite the cpac crowd. will the cpac crowd interfere with him winning? i don't know what the answer is. trump has made his calculation. be will see how it plays out. host: alex marlow has been editor-in-chief of brantford since 2013, here to take your calls for the last part of our show. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. if you are an independent, (202) 745-8002. we will start on the line for independents, doug, virginia, go ahead. caller: good to talk to you this morning. i would like to know what the gentleman thinks about donald 's approach to the conference. for better or worse, i think he is the only guy that filed for bankruptcy. i wonder if he knows that student loans are one of the few loans you can get in this country that you cannot reorganize through bankruptcy. i wonder if he would be issuested in solving this for people who own student loans, which would be about $1.2 trillion stimulus to the economy. that way, people living home, who can't start a family, kenexa do something without that burden hanging over there heads -- their heads. host: donald trump, student loans. guest: i ask a don't have donald positiontudent loan memorize. i'm not a trump campaign spokesman, anything like that. this is a big issue. it is a big issue, not because of any particular candidate's position. the problem is we have a university system that essentially overcharges people. a lot of it is for liberal arts degrees that are not turning into jobs. people come out into the workforce, and have massive amounts of debt. people are getting demolished in the job market. trump's policies are very much about america first in job growth. he says he will bring 10,000 jobs back from china. i think it is an uphill battle, hisan important tentpole in talking points. having an immigration system that is much more common sense than it is now has been at tentpole for him. i think that will help with the student loan issue because they're so me people coming out into the workforce, and not being able to procure work. host: this from fall last year, donald trump vowed to restructure the student loan process, saying he will make it really good for students, and people is not fair that profit off of student loans. he said, we are going to make it very affordable, right now, it is not very fair. that story from september. , in thehat happens process, there will be a subsidy that the government will include first student loan. morewill take in x amount dollars. a lot of it goes to the bureaucracy, the arrestee. essentially it is money extracted from the taxpayers but does not trickle down to the students. have af the schools billion-dollar endowment. i don't know how much that is good for other than to brag about it. it is a complicated issue. it sounds reasonable, what he is talking about. matt, lifejersey, or republicans, good morning. caller: i would like to add on to the topic at hand. actually read an article bdsme that talked about -- [laughter] i apologize for that. chicago heights, illinois, my for democrats. good morning. comment -- ae a question. the comment i have is about donald trump. i feel that the media is feeling that is and bigotry coming on the airwaves. it gives him more airtime than any other candidate for president of the united states. bad abouttalk very hillary clinton. you have a man expressing hate, represented the ku klux klan, who talks about president obama being a muslim, who does not even have strong policies, or does not even really know policies. pretty much illiterate, .gnorant every day americans do not think this is funny. people are suffering. they have no food. their jobs are gone. they are trying to find a way out. life is not a joke. i know a lot of people in the media, maybe they have a lot of money, maybe they don't know about the everyday hard-working american who is suffering, who is really serious. guest: the media coverage of donald trump is let's talk about this latest issue where he represents the kkk. he has been disavowing david duke since the year 2000. he is going to have to answer to that through the general, assuming he gets the nomination. is, whenike to ask nbc he had the number one show in primetime tv, if they knew he was some sort of kkk guy? how about all the thousands and thousands of people who worked for the guy? this is all media hysteria that has been created to target donald trump. it is not that he is a big ot, it is that the media has always crafted this narrative. accusedbama's campaign someone of murder because he died of cancer. the media has always greatest scandal around republicans. this david duke thing dates back he was a reality tv star. i encourage people to look at his position, what he stands for, and what he has done his whole life, and not by the newsstand. host: what is a fair attack? guest: my main concern with him, personally, is that he does not seem to have digested his own opinions in the debate. i personally would like to see him prepare more for the debate, to have his positions more light out, so he can hit the bullet points. i think he is a smart guy, but he gets accused of not having policy specifics. immigration has been a top issue at breitbart. we are over 20 million unique per month. the issue that animates them the most is immigration. he is the most knowledgeable -- the intellectual leader of the movement, but the feel they are all the specifics when he talks about it ? how he will get 10 million jobs back from china? not always. i wish he would do that or. he needs to show more discipline, i believe. i believe there are more specifics out there, on his website, but can he translate that when he goes out on the stump? host: susan is up next from pennsylvania. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i'm calling to ask why is hillary still running? she should he disqualified. how come we trust her? ,ust with the computer e-mails if they looked at the department of defense security manual, they would see that she has so many violations with that that she is not qualified to go on and try to be president. we have asked people to leave unless security problems than this one. the other thing is why do we ask her to be president? at 3:00 in the morning, she will overseas anyboys help, she will not answer her phone. i don't know why the families of the benghazi men are not protesting. panel today, "the seven deadly sins of hillary clinton." guest: she touched on some of them. not all of them. why will you set up a personal e-mail server? because you will hide stuff. i talk to people, and they say, because she knows how to play the game. is that it? donald trump and bernie sanders are running purely on authenticity. can you have someone, a creature of washington, and know when she is lying or not? the truth for the clintons is whatever they believe, whatever is most convenient for them. that is why she can say to the american people she will disclose all the donors to the clinton foundation, and then she doesn't. that is why you see with benghazi, where she is completely cu culpable, and pushed us into the -- she pushed us into the libya situation. you see why her base is eroding. host: what time are you giving the presentation today? guest: it is in the 4:00 hour, sometime between 4:00 and 5:00. host: that is going all day at potomac river.he marco rubio is expected to speak this morning. and about two hours, we will be covering that life on c-span. israel is waiting to talk to you from vermont. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm a first-time caller. all over the place with the situation going gone in the country. i'm hispanic, a hard worker. i got a job. i'm not getting paid good enough where i can meet my needs, take care of my family. i am thinking of voting for bernie sanders, but there is a problem. how are we going to pay for this? in fors no money coming us to take care of all the situation -- sorry, i'm alone hello?us -- host: we are listening. caller: how are we going to pay for this? donald trump, on the other side, yes, he is kind of crazy, and says something sometimes, but i inbelieve that putting him will create some kind of stir up in the process, and get us to a situation where we need to open our eyes, and say, what is going on. donald trump, if given a fair chance, could do good. bernie sanders, i don't see how he can pay for all this. host: i'm going to let alex marlow jump in. as he answered, i what you to address this crossover between some sanders' supporters, and trump supporters as well. guest: that goes to the authenticity point i was making. people in american life right now have a huge disdain for washington that people don't understand. this is a liberal and conservative thing. people don't like the permanent political class in washington. stere is a cronyi atmosphere in this town. a lot of the richest counties in america surround washington. why is that check with the lobbyist money, kick ax, deals , deals that people are making. bernie sanders is barely even a democrat. they represent the two parties that most people think the country is dismayed with. breitbart does not identify with a party. behold republicans just as accountable as democrats. that has been a huge advantage to us. twitter, a viewer wants to know if you have an opinion ofromney's donald trump? guest: this is a tactic that will only help donald trump. mitt romney lost twice. during thee immigration crisis? would we saw the pictures of the kids on the death train, coming from central america. he did not want to speak out then. mitt romney only chooses to speak out against donald trump? this is where he resurfaces? not during the trade battle? not during the budget battle? we are in debt as a country, we cannot afford to add anything. we have two parties in washington adding all that stuff. there is so much drama in the last four years an in the obama administration. this, opted out of all of he decided to wait in on trump. host: bill, good morning. caller: good morning. i've a question for the gentleman. there is certainly divisiveness among the republicans. it seems they are steadfastly .nited to obstruct barack obama i wonder how that comes about. do you circulate some sort of memo? how does that happen? guest: if you look at barack obama's signature piece of legislation, it was passed with zero republican votes. greatest is the single expansion of government in history, and he did it with no republican vote. he has proved he will do whatever it takes, even without democratic support. tactically, you have to admire the guy, and he will do whatever it takes to get his agenda across. he is not at all interested in working with the republican party. doingan ideologue, and everything he can to get the furthest left agenda he can possibly get through. republicans are not here in washington to aid in that. more thaney help them they should. i'm on the complete opposite side of you. host: alex marlow was breitbart's first hire at age 28. what do you think andrew brought breitbart would think of how this campaign played out? guest: it is hard to put words in andrew's mouth. he was such an original. always surprising you. i sat at his side doing our jobs for years, helping him with .arious duties i have done everything with andrew. he would still always surprised me. there is one quote of him when he was asked if trump is a conservative. he said, no, he is not a conservative. host: when was this? guest: just before he died. probably with the talk of trump 12.ning in 20 trump is not a conservative, a aire conservative. he talked about his ability to slay the media. that is what is very appealing about it. nailed trump. if you look at how he has st ood up to media time and time again, that is part of his appeal. host: let's go to victor waiting in maryland, light for republicans. and an i have a question observation. my question is -- i am legally televisionannot see farewell anymore -- and curious about comparing the crowds from when obama was running in 2008, you hear people fainting, and all that. i would like to compare the difference between the two crowds. i have not heard anybody fainting, or anything like that during a trump rally. my observation is -- i'm also very angry about the illegal aliens and want them to leave -- since i cannot see that well, my girlfriend reads bumper stickers to me that she thinks are interesting. i'm afraid that this is illegal alien thing is going to get out of hand because she read one that showed a picture of the goodand th it said, a illegal alien is a dead illegal alien. guest: i disavow that completely, horrible bumper sticker. hopefully she misread it, that is all he can say. illegal alien situation is not good in this country. that is an issue of american sovereignty. there is no one calling for the murder of an illegal alien. by an illegal alien, and san francisco, registered with our readers at breitbart. host: let's go to stand. ¿ -- stan. so disappointed with my fellow democrats. five of the last seven governors of illinois are in jail. every cityichigan, councilmember, for democrats, voted for this water to be pumped out of the flint river. my question is this. can we get somebody to get the -- the that rick snyder previous demonstration was corrupt -- previous the administration was corrupt. all of them celebrated the flint river water project. -- we needebody leadership within our own party to tell people the truth, or it will keep happening. guest: i cannot agree more with the caller. that is why i think hillary is struggling as much a she is. and not the people are fully appreciating what bernie sanders is a accomplishing. socialistlderly white from an elderly white state. on as basically running post. the guy only recently became a democrat. the reason he is doing so well is because of these callers saying, why do i want a creature of washington, put her, with all of her corruption, with the clinton foundation, with the speeches from goldman sachs, with the uranium deal to russia, where she is essentially trading favors for the clinton foundation for our country's security -- people are sick of that stuff. matt on twitter once you to name one trump business venture that has not gone bankrupt or failed. i will let you answer that, and it speaks to attack ads. guest: the guy has had some bankruptcies. that is part of how the system works. parts -- onef his of the parts of his resume that is not so laddering, but he has employed thousands of peoples, he has great golf courses, buildings. the guy builds skyscrapers. he has some flaws. bankruptcies are something that american people can deal with. have to choose someone else. it looks like governor kasich is little farther behind, but the top two guys against him are young senators who have not worked in the private sector and have a great ability to articulate their viewpoints, but they have not employed people. you want someone who has had business ventures. his: he came into this with hisness background being strength. here is a new club for growth ad about his business record. tell me if it is effective or not [video clip] host: that is action ted cruz cruzrday -- actually ted yesterday. we look at the club for growth ad for you. [video clip] >> donald trump talks tough about china and mexico, but who has donald trump actually taken on? he hides behind bankruptcy laws. he even tried to kick an elderly woman out of her home through eminent domain. he won't do a thing to china and mexico. club for growth is responsible for the content of this advertising. host: are these going to be effective against donald trump? guest: a little bit. the wood of story was a compelling one -- the widow story was a compelling one. to brand ourtrying site, people don't like eminent domain. we like to hear from the readers. that is a hot topic, eminent domain in donald trump cost position. again, who are you comparing it to? people who have never done business, or international deals, like he has. , by: it is breitbart.com the way. time for a few more questions. we have about 10 minutes left. laura is in pennsylvania, line for republicans. anler: i have a question and observation. i want to thank the gentleman for discussing why romney's comments made so many people angry. he did lose before. these are voters that are voting what is in their heart. they want change. trumpation i have is if continues to win all these primaries, and gets a very high number, do you think there is a z beinglity of cru aligned with him and becoming his vice presidential running mate? wouldn't that solve the whole question of who will be on the ticket? guest: i think it is a great question. i think it would definitely appeal to a lot of the antiestablishment crowd, which embodies aodies -- large part of it. i consider myself a conservative. i think both are very appealing positions. in terms of if they can make a ticket -- things got so nasty between the two of them, it is hard for me to say if that can be reconciled. donald trump, because he is not a creature of washington, is going to have to sack his government, if he wins. it could start with branching out the people he has called names over the years. personally, i think it would not be a bad choice. host: california, glenn is waiting, might for independents. caller: good morning. vet the to really be candidates. from what i understand, mr. cruz 's mother renounced her citizenship so that she could vote in canada. ere rubio's parents naturalized? i heard it was three years after he was born. host: citizenship conspiracies in this election. guest: i don't know if there are conspiracies. it seems that rubio, from what i know, is a naturalized citizen. born in canada. it seems like the court of public opinion is weighing and on his -- weighing in on his behalf. we report on facts. born in canada, his father was not. thet is based on just citizenship of one parent, he is. i don't know what the conspiracy would be. it seems like rubio is more clear cut, because he was here. the whole anchor baby issue. not to say he is one, but that if the discussion -- mother is here, you are a natural born citizen. i think rubio is much more clear-cut. it seems like people have the debate of cruz, and it came out on his behalf. host: let's go to houston, texas , brian. go ahead. caller: good morning. i have to start with a question. i'm going to give you the question. then, an observation. first of all, if donald trump simply wants to bring jobs back to america, and he is a businessman, he could do that without being the president. if you think about it, if he is the president, he will have time to do what businessman do. that is bring jobs, and worked the economy, and do what he does. understand, unfortunately, most of his businesses are failing and bankrupt. if that is what he wants to do, why does he have to be president? the observation -- if you recognize from the start, mr. trump, once he saw barack obama for aice, his hatred black man being in office was so intense, he took the position he took to think he could do what he saw him doing being president. he insisted to the point of doing berthing rights, and all sorts of things to make this person seem incapable of doing what he is capable of doing. he is no comparison. he has raised the bar to being president. host: let's let alex marlow jump in. guest: in terms of barack obama's effectiveness, he has been unbelievably effective. he should be someone that people look to on how to run a campaign. if you want to do things on your own, just for the sake of accomplishing as much as you can, i think history will look at him. he got a lot done. too.t a lot of golf in donald trump would be redefining what the office would be like, but i think a lot of american people, especially those in the antiestablishment grassroots populist movement are anxious for that. i'm not sure if my colleagues in washington york understand that completely. host: time for a few more questions. james is waiting in california. caller: good morning. i am an evangelical christian, conservative republican voter. my issue, and what i want to ask is the vast majority of the largest voting block of voters currently right now in the republican primary are evangelical christians. we are for traditional marriage. underlying that is the fact that we believe is ugly that .omosexuality is a sin gayave people who promote that we, and everything don't believe. was involved in a gay rights group, and breitbart continues to employ gay activists. where is the space for us when we believe in biblical marriage, and we have people in the gop, and even breitbart that pushes things against us. guest: i think we have been particularly against it. we are willing to have a debate though on a website. we are a new site. we don't have editorial policy. overwhelmingly, our coverage has been prone judicial marriage. i don't think you can cite any evidence against that. mosthas been the successful voice against the social justice warriors. host: let's go to the line for democrats, anthony. good morning. caller: how i? -- how are you? i would think that if you raise the minimum wage to mandatory $15, or maybe $12, across the anyoneno one could pay below that. that would discourage people from hiring illegal immigrants. even mr. trump would not be able to do that. isst: i think the reality people will end up paying below-market wages. penalized.ding get they will have to cut hours, cut jobs, and that is the reality of minimum wage. once you artificially inflate the rate of what people are paid, the business will have to operate at a loss, or cut hours. other alternative is what we have seen, and i saw a lot growing up in california, they will find immigrant labor, and underpay them. that will be in the form of remittances, get sent back to other countries. it is a real mess. zero.nimum wage should be it is economically sound that way. it is not talking point that the candidates will take because it is not viable, in terms of voters. host: alex marlow is editor of com.tbart, breitbart. come back and join us. your talk today at cpac is this afternoon on the seven deadly sense of hillary clinton. that is our show for today. make sure to come right back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. we will be joined by silly oe carpenter to talk about the latest developments on the presidential campaign. be will be joined by james thurber on political polarization. and we will also be joined by karin agness of the network of enlightened women to talk about the cpac. our show begins at 7:00 eastern, 4:00 pacific. in the meantime, have a great saturday. ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> next, from the annual conservative political action conference, we will hear from republican presidential candidates, including governor john kasich and texas senator ted cruz. by that 11:35, florida senator marco rubio.

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