i guess bill frist was probably the first one who did it when he went to campaign against tom daschle. >> yes, but it's a sign of just how polarized our political party system has become. there's no question about it. the parties are a lot more polarized than they were 30 years ago. the american people aren't as polarized as the pears. but the center of the electorate is weaker. more people have flocked toward the extremes. that does make cooperation across party lines more difficult. having said that, i am a bit of an optimist as well. i think there's going to be an early confrontation particularly if there's a fired-up new majority in the house of representatives with perhaps 80 new representatives be holden in some ways to the tea party people but speaking as a veteran of the clinton white house, i can tell you that the confrontation comes to an end when one side or another hits a wall because the american people expect parties who have a share of governing power to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. >> schieffer: we should add, you were in the clinton white house

daschle. but back to the cats. after obama first hired rouse, one former daschle staffer or daffer for short said this, "i speak for all daschle alums when i say learn to love cats, or at least talking about the pete's cats. we found cat-shaped sugar cookies well received." he is not alone. and when he hit the white house they wrote of rouse, "he keeps photos of the kitties scatter scattered around his house. he obsesses about their well-being. he is a sucker for cat-themed knick-knacks." some suggest it is related to his lack of personal life. but who cares about those jerks? what do moose and junior think? they have been discussing the new job a lot. >> their mixed feelings are understandable. are these cats -- let's face it, are these cats going to be a distraction? >> i hope so, greg. what takes people's mind off unemployment like adorable cat stories? >> isn't it amazing? >> not married, likes kids, no cats. >> you know his backyard is filled with secrets, and they aren't dead cats, andre

he served as chief of staff to senatorom daschle when tom daschle was senate minority leader. >>> president obama is working hard to try to fire up his younger supporters. he spoke at a democric democrat raiser at the dar constitution hall organize said by a group called gen 44, referencing president obama being the 44th president. and mr. obama implored his supporters to do whatever they can to help democrats this november. >>> we can't let this untry fall backwards. the stakes are too high. we have to move this country forward for you in your future. so there better not be an enthusiasm gap, people. not now. >> supporters also enjoyed a con tert featuring concert featurin performance by b.o.b. >>> a bill was passed that would require tv commercials to be no louder than the show they ar in. the fcc must implement the new regulation within two years. >>> well, while you were sleeping some of the world's top golfers were teeing off in the ryder cup early this morning in newport, wales. it puts a team of golfers from u.s. against a team against europe. europe has taken an early lead. right no

so next thing you know, tom daschle tells the white house and they finally have a meeting. >> yeah, it was interesting because the synopsis of this whole article is you have to have mutual trust. yeah, you do. mutual trust between two parties to be able to come to any sort of compromise but the bottom line has to be a trust level before you can try to discuss the issues so is that there? and after the midterm elections, will the president have any kind of a mutual trust. not only with democrats and his own party but with the republicans? >> i just saw this. bill galston who i remember hearing this during the clinton years as the domestic policy advisory, he said this, the biggest prom saer note he handed out during president obama's run to become president during the campaign was trying to overcome the red and blue america into one america and the perception is he didn't work hard to redeem that note and i don't think he wants to go down in history as a president who promised to overcome polarization and ended up intensifying it. but that's exactly what happened. and the reason is -- a

he was called the 101st senator when he worked for tom daschle. he could walk into a lot of washington restaurants and be unrecognized. >> and john, it's not just rahm leaving. there's a couple of people who are leaving. it seems the white house is going through somewhat of a reset. >> that's a very common thing. think about bill clinton's administration to think of the most recent democratic administration. by this point in his administration you had changes. he was already heading towards his third chief of staff by the end of two years. he changed his head of his national economic council, his treasury secretary. a lot of things had changed at this point. this is a natural time for this to happen. the rouse thing is really fascinating for the reasons mark said. he's also a very skillful political guy. he was the guy that, when obama got to the senate, actually was the first person who sat down and drafted the plan for how obama would move from senator to a presidential candidate and ultimately to the white house. >> he's been very close to the

. >> first at bat, molina tipped his bat to tim like tom daschle -- when he came up to bat, you can see him tell him hey, i love you. >> reporter: all right, when you haven't seen the name before and you are not a sports fan, that's easy to happen. tim likekecum as he is known there in texas. >> rangers -- here a when you probably expected a sign that would refer to brian wilson and his now famous or infamous beard. they were letting him have it down there. brians manager, stressed that he has decided to leave of a controversial player for the roster because of health reasons. investigators are investigating jose -- before today's game, he said he left him out from the roster because of problems with the outfielder's neck and nothing else. cording to new york times, investigators told baseball officials they are looking into shipments of the hormone allegedly sent to his wife here in the san francisco bay area. >> if you are just joining us, joins fall shy, 4-2. both teams -- giants fall shy. giants lead the series two games to one. let's take a look at some of the latter stages of this

. >> reporter: as chief of staff to tom daschle he received top marks for his handling of that. the cat lover is also a deadhead. big fans of the grateful dead and the allmand brothers. but as for how long he'll ramble on in the white house as the interim chief of staff is unclear. >> nothing is likely to be decided on, on chief of staff for several months. >> reporter: but even if the new job title doesn't stick, he's hosted plenty of power brokers over the years, the mayor of may, wah is always welcome. >> one of the nicest guys i've known for years. >> reporter: rouse is clearly the front runner to get the chief of staff job on a permanent basis, his former boss has been mentioned as a possible contender. >>> coming from the white house today, the president issued a formal apology to guatemala. back in the 1940s the u.s. government deliberately infected prisoners with a sexually transmitted disease. it was part of a test for inoculation. the u.s. calls it tragic and clearly unethical. >>> a serial burglary strikes again in fairfax county. three homes broken into overnight and

he serveds chief of staff to former senate tom daschle when he was senate minority leader. >>> today is october 1st, which means several new laws take place today. you can no longer hold your cell phone and talk while dring. you can use a hands-free device or hang up. maryland cell phone ban is a secondy offense, which means police can only write you a ticket if you're pulled over for something else. it's a $40 fine that adjusts to $100 for repeat offenders. >>> residents along the north carolina coast are dealing with major flooding. the city of washington declared a state of emergency and even had a curfew last night to keep people off the road. self highways are under water which forced drivers to abandon theircars. the water was so deep in areas that tow truck drivers used snorkels to hook up cars. >>> thousands of residents remain in the dark. bge restoring electricity to 7,000 homes, most of them in the baltimore area. and t southern maryland electric cooperative says about 150 of its customers are in the dark. kroots the potomac in virginia, dominion has about 400 customers in

pete rouse is an insider, not only obama's former chief of staff but tom daschles and heads up the transition project and he is methodical, low key compared to obama and he is part of the president's in inner circle. we are not at a point of dramatic shift. of course, upheaval could follow. we will see what could be the loss of the democratic house in november. >>trace: the key was "low key." you talk about rahm emanuel, do they lose intensity with the transition from rahm emanuel to peter rouse? >>guest: that's right. depending who you ask that could be good. but rahm emanuel is a lightning rod and in some sense you can make a comparison to karl rove. karl rove was a lightning rod for bush and it served the president for bush, rove took the heat. and rahm emanuel takes a lot of the heat. he takes it from the left. he is a bit north of left. the left despise him. be frank. and conservatives don't think highly of him. he is a man without a country. that said he has bomb bomb in -- and he has president obama at his back and is looking to be mayor. >>trace: but maybe both would think that rahm e

senator, pete rouse was the chief of staff for tom daschle. pete rouse was looking for a job, and a lot of the daschle folks were close to the obama campaign at the time, and basically made that marriage happen between pete rouse and then senator-elect barack obama. he's been with senator obama ever since. he was on the presidential campaign, he was working on the west wing transition even before the election. both campaigns do that, because you want to hit the ground running. he's been the guy in charge of the long-term planning. there's every chance they view it as a transition position as you go to the reelect. the presidential campaign will start quickly. >> and just for fun and maybe a bit of self-promotion, our first guest on "the daily rundown" was rahm emanuel. you know, we asked him about this. will you commit to stay at the white house? a lot of chiefs of staff make this a two-years gig. >> yes, i'm staying. >> so you're not going to run for mayor of chicago? >> no, this is a historic time with great challenges. i was pleased to get

by the way, that hurt tom daschle. that same issue. he's trying to explain it's his wife and not him who got the exception. "hardball" will be right back. hey, guys, i know i've been bad at this in the past, so i've come up with some mnemonic devices to help me learn your names. hello, a "penny" saved is a "penny" earned. oh, that's 'cause fedex ground helps you save money. that's right, penny. do you know ours? heavens to betsy. dwayne the bathtub. magic wanda. yeah! what's mine? uh, you're a dan fool. oh. it's just a device, dan. you can't take it personally. yeah, i suppose. [ male announcer ] we understand. you need a partner who helps you save. fedex ground. [ male announcer ] we understand. you need a partner who helps you save. discover customersl are getting five percent cashback bonus at restaurants. it pays to switch, it pays to discover. >>> welcome back to "hardball." michelle norsis the host of npr "all things considered" in her new book the issue race through the personal experience of her family and the secrets they kept

daschle. now if more and more people are getting their news from comedians these days, well then exactly what are they getting? stick around, we'll hear who's getting roasted by the late-night comedians. [ printer whirs ] done. ♪ thanks. do you work here? not yet. from tax info to debunking myths, the field guide to evolving your workforce has everything you need. download it now at thinkbeyondthelabel.com. >>> welcome back to what the week, i'm pete dominik and this section is called why this person is better than me. haley is only 12 years old and she started her own charity. go to every.org and donate just one dollar. patricia moran, she is better than me, why? she just joined the peace corps to learn spanish. who else is better than me? the tunes of mona shore high school, they elected a transgender peer homecoming king despite school officials barring it. mark zuckerburg, we know why he's better than me, he donated $100 million to newark public schools, maybe he's not better than me, th

and before that he was a powerful aide to senator tom daschle. again, president obama scheduled to make personnel announcement from the east room of the white house in about an hour. that is 11:05 eastern time. we will bring it to you live as soon as it happens. >>> all right. let's check in our severe weather. we are talking about the east coast.if you are anywhere between north carolina and maine, you are probably living in it right now and ready for a dry day. the storms, the flood waters, high-wind warnings, the story on the east coast. that is all they are talking b and days of pounding rain flooded streets and stranded cars, sent a lot of people to shelters and delayed far too many flights. rob marciano, did i sum it up for you? >> zuchlt. >> nothing to talk about? >> way too much and not enough time. the most impressive thing about this note, most news worthy thing about this how many people are affected by this storm system, which had some tropical characteristics, some leftovers of tropical storm nicole and then had this very strong fall

he won office back in 2004 by defeating senate democratic leader tom daschle. right now, thune is the number four senate republican. he's running for his second term without any democratic opposition. thune builds himself as a pro-business anti-tax and antiabortion leader. he's a basketball fan and ranked in the top five of the "huffington post" list of sexiest u.s. senators. we're here with john thune, the republican senator from south dakota. senator, thanks very much for coming in. >> nice to be with you. >> are you seriously thinking about running for president in 2012? >> right now i'm seriously trying to help elect republicans to the house and senate in the midterms. you know, like a lot of people, i'm interested in public service. i want to do as much as i can to change the direction of the country. >> i know you discussed it with your wife. >> this is true. any time you talk about something of this consequence, that's -- she's one of my closest advisers, obviously, and somebody i would consult on everything. we've had a good amount of encouragement from

leader tom daschle, a friend of rouse, says "he loves cats, and the way to suck up to pete is to get him sort of a cat gift of some kind." from here on out, the road to the oval office goes through pete rouse, for those looking for a little time with the president, we suggest a scratching post or a little catnip. thank you for watching "state of the union." i'm candy crowley in washington. for our international viewers "world report" is next. for empbs, "fareed zakaria gps" starts right now. >>> this is "gps" the global public square. welcome to all of you in the united states and around the world. i'm fareed zakaria. the big news on the foreign policy front is that the afghan government is in secret talks with the taliban, not so secret anymore. regular viewers and readers know i've been advocating this for year. don't expect miracles. but the idea of talking to the people we're fighting with makes sense. most civil wars end with some kind of negotiated settlement, and in the afghan case this is inevitable. much as we don't want to believe it, the taliban is a part of afghan society

the republicans have done great job taking out leadners in the past like tom daschle. a lot of national money in south dakota in that one. thune beat him. we'll have you on again, mr. coussoule. >> coussouleforcongress.com. or beatboehner.com. >> beatboehner, i like that one. >> thanks, ed. >>> up next sharron angle's been caught on tape trying to cut a shady deal. imagine that. i imagine how she'll try on get out of this one. i'll play -- i'll play it for you and you could decide. >>> and heidi harris will give us her expert opinion out of las vegas. >>> welcome back to "the ed show." a potential bombshell in nevada senate race, sharron angle's senate campaign could be undone by an angry tea party. while angle has a lot of support from tea partiers scott ash. >>an is the actual tea party candidate on the battle in nevada. he claims he could get 20% of the vote on election day so angle met with him last week and tried to convince them to drop out of race given her better chances to win. the "las vegas sun" got an audiotape of angle's plea. >> joining me now is heidi ha

she's running an ad reminiscent of what was done to tom daschle, catching that anti-establishment out there. >> harry reid lives at the rilgs carlton while thousands are losing their homes. the country needs a new direction and nevada needs jobs. >> say no who harry reid because of where he live sincere remarkable. sharron angle campaign is obstructive. the money has just poured, poured into that race. she also ran an ad in that race that i think is the most overtally racist, showing a group of white college students being menaced by a group of tough-looking latinos. for a lot of democrats there is no national message. that's absolutely true. democrats decided they didn't want a national message. in almost every race, the democratic message to get out the base are three words, google my opponent. look at this guy i'm running against. sharron angle says conservatives should be expected to use guns to get what they want. the second amendment remedy thing, a woman who is raped and gets pregnant as a result of that rape to be forced to bear that child. you may not like me but look what yo

we saw senate democratic leader tom daschle. just a few years ago. we saw tom foley, the speaker, the democratic speaker like 10 or 15 years ago from washington state. he was voted out of office. we've seen it in the past. but it's not just them. we're seeing chairman of very powerful committees. look, the budget chairman of south carolina could lose reelection. ike shelton could lose reelection. barney frank in massachusetts, why is bill clinton there? well, because barney frank thinks he needs to be shored up a little bit. so, look, those last two are probably going to win, but the fact that bill clinton has to go to their districts shows that they're a little concerned. >> and, you know, john. president clinton is doing what he can to get voters to reconsider their vote for change. listen. >> i don't want to see my country make a mistake. and i'm old enough to remember that when you make an important decision, never mind politics about anything, when you're really mad, there's about an 80% chance you're going to make a mistake. and you will get th

we saw senate democratic leader tom daschle. he was voted out of office. he was from south dakota. just a few years ago. we saw tom foley, the speaker, the democratic speaker like 10 or 15 years ago from washington state. he was voted out of office. we've seen it in the past. but it's not just them. we're seeing chairmen of very powerful committees. look, the budget chairman of south carolina could lose reelection. ike skelton who oversees services could see re-election. barney frank in massachusetts, why is bill clinton there? well, because barney frank thinks he needs to be shored up a little bit. and bill clinton is going to be on the trail for john dingell, the longest serving representatives. those two are probably going to win, but the fact that bill clinton has to go to their districts shows that they're a little concerned. >> and, you know, john. president clinton is doing what he can to get voters to reconsider their vote for change. listen. >> i don't want to see my country make a mistake. and i'm old enough to remember that when you make an important decision, never mind

daschle who spent decades shaping washington policy from behind the scenes. >> pete's strategic sense has played a big part of the direction of virtually every big decision that's made inside this white house. >> reporter: emanuel's departure is no surprise to washington insiders and there is speculation more top obama administration officials could be on the move. >> two years people start to leave. they burn themselves out, work hard, have jobs they can't refuse on the outside. >> reporter: defense secretary robert gates is among those expected to leave next year. press secretary robert gibbs could take on a new white house role and senior advisor david axelrod says he is heading back to chicago to run the president's re-election campaign. emanuel kicks off his campaign with a listening tour of chicago neighborhoods this weekend. tara mergener for cbs news, washington. >>> president obama has met with sarah shourd the berkeley grad recently freed by the government of iran. shourd's mother and the mothers of the two young men still being held there also attended the white house meeti

rouse was called the 101st senator back in the day when he worked for tom daschle because he had good relations with ev y everyoever everyone and he knows everyone within the halls of the congress. having a fairly tense relationship with congress. >> christina, david, thank you, both. >>> now, the president will talk about rahm emanuel's departure about an hour from now. and you will watch it live right here on msnbc. >>> let's talk about those torrential rains and inflooding that killed five people in north carolina and still coming down in a big swath of the northeast. travel delays expected across the country because some of the nation's busiest airports in new york and boston, frankly, are a mess. check out how the massive rain storm washed out roads and flooded homes in virginia. now, the worst rain hits parts of north carolina. a foot of water came down in just six hours. in washington county, north carolina, a couple and two of their children died when their cheap hydroplaned, hit another car and ended up in a canal. the remnants of tropical storm nicole soaked commuters in mar

many of you remember pete as the top aide to then senate majority leader tom daschle. pete was efectiontally known as the 101st senator. from the moment i became a u.s. senator, he has been one of my closest and most essential advisors. he was my chief of staff in the senate. he helped orchestrate and advise my presidential campaign and he has served as one of my senior advisors here at the white house. and in that role he has taken on a series of management and legislative challenges with his customary clarity and common purpose. there is a saying around the white house, let's let pete fix it. and he does. pete' known as a skillful problem solving and the good news for him is that we have plenty of problems to solve. so, i am extraordinarily grateful to him that he has agreed to serve as our interim chief of staff and i look forward very much to working with him in this new role. obviously, these two gentlemen have slightly different styles. i mentioned, for example, this is a couple of years ago. i pointed out that when he was a kid had lost part of his fipger in an

we saw senate democratic leader tom daschle. he was voted out of office. he was from south dakota. just a few years ago. we saw tom foley, the speaker, the democratic speaker like 10 or 15 years ago from washington state. he was voted out of office. we've seen it in the past. but it's not just them. we're seeing chairmen of very powerful committees. look, the budget chairman of south carolina could lose reelection. ike skelton who oversees services could see re-election. barney frank in massachusetts, why is bill clinton there? well, because barney frank thinks he needs to be shored up a little bit. and bill lclinton is going to b on the trail for john dingell, the longest serving representatives. those two are probably going to win, but the fact that bill clinton has to go to their districts shows that they're a little concerned. >> and, you know, john. president clinton is doing what he can to get voters to reconsider their vote for change. listen. >> i don't want to see my country make a mistake. and i'm old enough to remember that when you make an important decision, never mind

by the way, that hurt tom daschle. that same issue when he was running for re-election. he's trying to explain it's his wife and not him who got the exception. a hair-splitting explanation that may end up helping mansion. the democrat in the race. this is very bad for raese. "hardball" will be right back. let's szush up this one tone hair color! try nice 'n easy, with color-blend technology. in one step, get a blend of tones and highlights for dimension that takes you from drabulous to fabulous. nice 'n easy. your right color. nice 'n easy. on your next business trip, pack your marriott rewards visa card. get triple points every time you use your card at marriott. apply now and earn 22,500 bonus points when you use your card and enjoy a free night stay. so, before you know it, work time becomes well-deserved downtime. apply now at marriott.com/freenightstay. you've got staying power. >>> welcome back to "hardball." michelle norsis the host of npr "all things considered" in her new book the issue race through the personal experience of her family and the secrets they kept

daschle who was both minority and majority leader. he was known as the 101st senator in part for the wide reception that he works well across party lines. roust helped create the new consumer protection memo. elizabeth warren became the senior adviser for that. that may cheer progressives. he once described rouse as ego free. as for the other obvious differences between the outgoing and the incoming -- >> obviously, these two gentlemen have slightly different styles. this is a couple of years ago i pointed out that rahm when he was a kid had lost part of his finger in an accident and it was his middle finger so it rendered him mute for a while. pete has never seen a microphone or a tv camera that he likes. >> also from the president, quote, there is a saying around the white house let's let pete fix it. let's see if we can get richard wolfe to fix this. msnbc political analyst and author of quoif renegade: the making of a president." did this have anything to do with how quick' he emanuel was an anathema to progressives? >> no. if thi

>> look, one of the president's closest friends is tom daschle, former senator of south dakota, that's where rouse comes from, was chief of staff there, and it's kind of the daschle approach. it's a little bit softer. he's a veteran really of warfare on capitol hill, rouse. and i think it will be good. rahm came in as mr. 60, you know, he wanted -- he saw that they had 60 votes and that they were going to be able to get legislation through. he had the success with health care. it also drug on for a long time and it took a toll on the obama administration. i don't think you're going to be playing that legislative strategy anymore. i think that's going to go with rahm after this midterm election. you'll see a president obama trying to do -- you'll see executive pow area great deal more. >> douglas brinkley, good to talk to you today. thank you. >> thank you. >>> there are airport delays all over the country due to weather, kind of feeling like a monsoon is passing over the east coast right now. major delays at new york's airports and new jersey and san francisco as well. people have aban

the republicans have done great job taking out leadners in the past like tom daschle. a lot of national money in south dakota in that one. thune beat him. we'll have you on again, mr. coussoule. >> coussouleforcongress.com. or beatboehner.com. >> beatboehner, i like that one. >> thanks, ed. >>> up next sharron angle's been caught on tape trying to cut a shady deal. imagine that. i imagine how she'll try on get out of this one. i'll play -- i'll play it for you and you could decide. >>> and heidi harris will give us her expert opinion out of las vegas. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] at&t and blackberry have teamed up to keep your business moving. introducing the blackberry torch. at&t. rethink possible. will save us. [ crunch ] look! [ helicopter noise ] [ grunting ] [ male announcer ] introducing new wheat thins crunch stix. [ male announcer ] ever have morning pain slow you down? introducing bayer am, an extra strength pain reliever with alertness aid to fight fatigue. so get up and get goin'! with new bayer am. the morning pain reliever. one month, five years after y

, no problem, and this president can carry it off, that is not pete rouse's attitude, he worked for tom daschle 19 years and, he's different in tone and governing philosophy from rahm emanuel and, it is interesting now they are accepting rahm emanuel's story, he always wanted to be mayor of chicago, and and you can never find a word about him being mayor of chicago until it became his lifelong ambition to give him a nice excuse for leaving the white house and i think republicans shouldn't underestimate president obama's willingness to get rid of people who he thinks may be, for all the good intentions, haven't served him well and is not exactly pivoting to the center, governing in a different way than the first two years. >> chris: let me, juan, bring you in about rahm emanuel. because, you know, the original line is, and, bill quoted it, during the presidential transition, he said, never let a crisis go to waste. which meant, let's take advantage of the financial situation and pass big legislation. but, during the debate over health care, he wanted to go smaller, more incremental, and,

by the way, that hurt tom daschle. that same issue when he was running for re-election. he's trying to explain it's his wife and not him who got the exception. a hair-splitting explanation that may end up helping mansion. the democrat in the race. this is very bad for racy. "hardball" will be right back. coming in a little short. you've got more whole grain in your little finger! let's get ready for breakfaaaaaaaaaast! ( ding, cheering, ringing ) keeping you full and focused with more than double the fiber and whole grain... in every tasty bite -- frrrrrrosted mini-wheeeeats! didn't know i had it in me. lord of the carry-on. sovereign of the security line. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro. [ technician ] are you busy? management just sent over these new technical manuals. they need you to translate them into

former obama adviser, tom daschle in a recent interview, daschle said in early july '09, the public option was taken off the table as a result of the understanding that the people had with the hospital association, with the insurance association, and others. they wanted to keep those stakeholders in the room and this was the price some thought they had to pay. bear in mind, behind financial services, health care is the second biggest contributor of political donations in this country. i guess that's what it means to keep them in the room. keep the money coming in. despite that deal, the president was still saying he wanted the public option later that same month. >> this is controversial, and i understand some people are worried about this. we do think that it makes sense to have a public option, alongside the private option. >> of course the public option didn't make its way into the final health care bill after daschle's initial interview was posted, he tried to walk it back saying the public omgs was dropped only when it was no longer viable in congress, not as a result of any deal cut

daschle's shoulder, it was a wonderful time to see the country come together. it didn't last very long, but we did what we had to do in a difficult time. somehow, we always find a way to do that and let's hope we always will. thank you all very much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> you can stay there, you can move, what ever you are most comfortable with. we now have a special opportunity to hear from someone who is in the thick of the battle day after day. susan collins has represented the state of maine since 1996 and his ranking member of the homeland's security in the governmental affairs committee. she has spent years in state government before seeking federal office and has been a consistent voice in maine and in washington for doing what is right. the program that you have notes that "o" magazine listed her as one of the few women that could run for president. there have many -- there have been many cents, but we're glad that they were able to recognize her. se

chief of staff to the majority leader in the senate tom daschle, known as the 101st center. so pete rouse is well known behind the scenes in democratic politics. and some think, look, instead of the high wattage star power of rahm emanuel, it'd be good to have an insider to steady this ship. >> how much of a cat lover is he? he doesn't have 82 cats? >> i've heard he has several and talks to his friends about which cat they've got and what not. i can't imagine rahm emanuel being a big lover of cats or puppies. as you said, he sent that dead fish to a political opponent years and years ago. you couldn't find two more stark style differences between rouse and emanuel. >> we'll see. all right. ed henry this morning. ed, thanks. christine? >>> oprah talking candidly to "fortune" magazine about her fears of starting her own network. hear what oprah had to say when we speak to the editor at large in a few moments. are getting fit cashback bonus at restaurants. it pays to switch, it pays to discover. can be unsettling. but what if there were a different story? of one financial compa

reid who is the majority leader, and as you know, sometimes being the leader does not help you, like tom daschle, because people believe you are not representing them back home, and for us, we think the majority leader, but it is not necessarily a good thing back home. he is also the other end of the wave of something that seems to be going republican, but when sharron angle became the primary winner, they were looking at this with much more relief than they had before when they thought they had a different opponent that they thought was a more serious opponent, so it shows you the strength of the tea party and the weakness of senator reid, and however, he has had a lot of tough races before, and the under 50% is what bothers them more than anything, and he is below the 50% mark which is never where you want to be as an office holder. >> and the unemployment rate nationally in nevada is 14%, which is the highest in the nation right now. and there are a lot of frustrated angry voters out there. >> yes, the tide is awful. i mean the wind is totally against him at this point, and he is an i

. >> gregg: a decade ago, tom daschle and trent lott, ther the party leaders and got along okay, and got the education bill and the tax cuts and is that the key to reaching consensus and avoiding gridlock and do you see that kind of agreement in the current leadership. >> what you have to keep in mind is we have had a super majorities, almost super majority in the senate and that didn't appear to get people to work together. actually, when we did have it closer in terms of the margins, 50-50, you did see people working together. so it really goes to the question of... >> gregg: harry reid and trent lott, didn't you see those guys getting along? >> well, they have strong differences? let's put it the way. >> gregg: that means no, right. >> no. no no. no. it depends on what the message is the american people deliver on november 2nd, brian baird is leaving the congress and i'm sorry he. >> chris: -- sorry he's leaving, he was a democrat you could reach across the aisle to, our leadership, if we're in the majority, suggested in the house, we'll run things differently and the democrats di

he's trying to avoid the fate of tom daschle, another majority leader six years ago who went down in defeat back home, suzanne. >> and ed, this week i'm following the first lady michelle obama out west in california. where are you going to be? >> reporter: yeah, well, she is going to be going to california and washington state helping barbara boxer and patty murray. some of the senators that the president was with. she's coming back here to vegas to help harry reid. vice president biden was in nevada, as well a couple of days ago. it shows you how worried the white house is right now. i'm going to be staying here to do ballot bowl later today, it's coming back 3:00 p.m. eastern live. i'll be here in nevada talking about this. president going head-to-head, helping harry reid who is facing sharron angle, giving harry reid the fight of his political life. >> thank you so much. good to see you. >>> well, remember, kicking off cnn's very first ballot bowl in frigid iowa, just two years ago during the campaign, and it is back as ed said. to hear the candidates, they're all saying what they

many of you remember pete as the top aide to then senator -- senate majority leader tom daschle, pete was affectionately known as the 101st senator. from the moment i game a u.s. senator, he's been one of my closest and most essential advisers. he was my chief of staff in the senate, he helped orchestrate and advise my presidential campaign, he has served as one of my senior advisers here at the white house, and in that role, he's taken on a series of management and legislative challenges with his customary clarity and common purpose. there is a saying around the white house, let's let pete fix it. [laughter] >> and he does. pete's known as a skillful problem solver and the good news for him is that we have plenty of problems to solve! >> [laughter] >> so i am extraordinarily grateful to him, that he's a agreed -- he's agreed to serve as interim chief of staff and i look very much toward working with him in this new role. obviously, these two gentlemen have slightly different styles. [laughter] >> i mentioned, for example example,o this was a couple of years ago, i pointed out that ra

we have seen tom -- will lose, paul harry lose -- tom daschle lose, paul harry lose. he gap between sandoval's popularity and engle's merrilee this shows the difference between the two parties. -- narrow lead shows the differences between the parties. they're a great within their group that -- against anyone -- they are angry with anyone it within their group that does not play party politics. >> john avlon is our guest -- host: john avlon is our guest. he is the author of "wingnuts: how the lunatic fringe is hijacking america" and is a senior political columnist for the daily beast. first caller, from oregon. caller: i have been a greeny for years. this two-party system -- the only people, elizabeth warren and bernie sanders, they're the only people that i feel are still fighting a good fight. it is beyond me why we do not have some form of a single payer plan, if you will. host: we have some environmental issues on the table, john avlon, single payer, from laurean. guest: callers seem to be expressing an independent view from the far left, which feels that president

daschle's shoulder, it was a wonderful time to see the country come together. it didn't last very long, but we did what we had to do in a difficult time. somehow, we always find a way to do that and let's hope we always will. thank you all very much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> you can stay there, you can move, what ever you are most comfortable with. we now have a special opportunity to hear from someone who is in the thick of the battle day after day. susan collins has represented the state of maine since 1996 and his ranking member of the homeland's security in the governmental affairs committee. she has spent years in state government before seeking federal office and has been a consistent voice in maine and in washington for doing what is right. the program that you have notes that "o" magazine listed her as one of the few women that could run for president. there have many -- there have been many cents, but we're glad that they were able to recognize her. se

but this last week we saw tom daschle give an interview for his new book. that says that the white house traded away the public option very early in the process in 2009, long before it ever hit congress. and so, again, people are going wait a minute, the president was saying as late of september he supported a public option but actually already traded it away. so it didn't really have anything with how anybody in congress felt. and so that's the problem that we're getting to. if you look at the hispanic vote, it's actually shifted weirdly, almost 20 points towards the republicans since july. and that's not because they think that the republicans, the party that passed the immigration bill in arizona, you know, represent our great champions of, you know, hispanic issues. it's because they believe that the president was not honest with them. and, you know, despite the fact that he says, yes, i'm for immigration reform, deportations are actually up significantly under obama than they were with george bush. so there's a lack of confidence going on. there's a ga

. >> brian: they say maybe tom daschle will come back. he's got the experience, low profile. it's all about the administration, not about him. you're probably not going to read books where he really stood about issues like perhaps rahm emanuel let it be known. john boehner has a program and a plan how to fix congress. he believes it is a state of emergency. it's called a cut as you go rule. what do you think about it? >> i think it's a pretty interesting idea. of course, what they always pass is pay as you go, which is you have a new program, you add to the government, now you got to find a way to pay for it. what he's saying is, let's freeze the size of the federal government and if you're going to put in a new program, then you have to cut something else out because we're not going to grow the entire size of the government. i'm not sure whether it's actually practical with the population growth, inflation and all of that. but it's a very good political argument and at least in theory, is an interesting governing philosophy. >> ainsley: you spend ten dollars here, you cut it

he did have transparency, but the problem is every deal that was made with pharmaceuticals, tom daschle's book came out and did an interview and said they gave up on the public option in july, traded it for $150 billion in hospital money over a ten-year period. i know a lot of republicans and independents that voted for barack obama. they didn't vote for barack obama because they liked the democratic platform. they voted for him because they believed he was going to clean up the mess in washington. that did not happen. >> mike, that was actually my first op ed in politico. i knew a lot of republicans in iowa, a lot of republicans in new hampshire that voted for obama because they actually bought into the hope and change idea. and as the governor says, when you're taking on health care reform and in the end you strike a deal with big pharma and with the big hospitals and the insurance companies end up in a better position than they were before because you've got a mandate now but no public option to keep the prices down, people are -- this is business as usual. >> yeah. the health care ref