this week, democrat kathy hochul defeated her opponent, republican jane corwin, in the special election for new york's 26th congressional district. this district is a solidly republican, and generally, but does with the key issue was? >> jane corwin supports a budget that essentially ends medicare. >> what do you say to these we need republicans? >> they are going to run these attack ads regret this. this is a time for leaders to be leaders. >> we will hear from paul ryan later on. democrats tied republican jane corwin to ryan's plan, which makes major changes to medicare. what did we learn from this, mark? >> when they change seats and one party wins and the other part of this is, they get attention. the especially get attention when it rolls out a single issue that captures the american people's attention. republicans are on the defensive, but democrats are on the offensive. let it be noted that kathy hochul was a far better candidate than gencorp when, but that the ways that medicare -- then jane corwin, but medicare helps democrats and republicans. >> colby? >> she is in the middle

this week, democrat kathy hochul defeated her opponent, republican jane corwin, in the special election for new york's 26th congressional district. this district is a solidly republican, and generally, but does with the key issue was? >> jane corwin supports a budget that essentially ends medicare. >> what do you say to these we need republicans? >> they are going to run these attack ads regret this. this is a time for leaders to be leaders. >> we will hear from paul ryan later on. democrats tied republican jane corwin to ryan's plan, which makes major changes to medicare. what did we learn from this, mark? >> when they change seats and one party wins and the other part of this is, they get attention. the especially get attention when it rolls out a single issue that captures the american people's attention. republicans are on the defensive, butemocrats are on the offensive. let it be noted that kathy hochul was a far better candidate than gencorp when, but that the ways that medicare -- then jane corwin, but medicare helps democrats and republicans. >> colby? >> she is in the middle of

what was expected to be a respect land slide, democrat kathy hochul defeated state assembly woman jane corwin last night. corwin steadily lost support after she came out in favor of the republican budget plan which proposes cuts in medicare to lessen the deficit. the election was called to replace republican chris lee who resigned after his shirtless photo appeared on the internet. >>> back to our top story, we want to take a look at local news coverage from the latest round of storms. from our affiliate, kfor news channel 4. assigned to the dangerous task of documenting the disaster unfolding before them, putting themselves in harm's way to bring you these astonishing reports. >> it's bigger than before. it's across i-40. >> look at that. you can see it. you see it? see the bright spot? that's just ahead of it. look at the size of it. a giant wedge tornado. i-40 is closed. they're shutting it down right now. get ready to get out of the way or get below ground. do you see that? that is a giant cloud on the ground. it is huge. >> winds are 80 to 100 miles an hour and slow. it's truly am

. >> we had the issues on our side -- we did not have the right -- >> right -- hochul kathy hochul rand calls it premium support. after the election ryan accused the democrats of demagoguery. >> if you can scare seniors into thinking their current benefits are being affected, that will have an effect. >> on wednesday, the u.s. senate, the senate, voted down the ryan plan 40-57, five republican sided with the democrats. scott brown, massachusetts, susan collins, maine, lisa merkow ski, alka, olympia snowmain, and senator rand paul, kentucky. tim carney, what else happened ininthat race? i'm thinking about it, remember the name of jack davis. >> he was a democrat who was running a pretend tea party candidacy. >> what happened? >> he brought in 9%. >> did they do that with a purpose in mind? >> yes, i think -- >> it's a convinced democrat. >> yes. >> and he managed the tea party -- >> may have done that -- [everyone talking at once] >> yes, they had done in in other districts. >> why did they do that? >> it was a strategy they tried in other districts. [everyone talking at once] delivering

>> reporter: democrat kathy hochul and her supporters on capitol hill left no doubt today what they thought was the key to her upset victory. >> the republican plan to kill medicare was the number one issue. it was the number two issue. >> would essentially end medicare. >> reporter: in ad after ad. >> while cutting benefits for seniors. >> reporter: hochul tied her republican opponent to the house g.o.p. plan to privatize america's most popular entitlement program. >> and now, she wants to cut medicare. >> reporter: this district outside buffalo is normally so reliably red that republican chris lee won reelection last november with 74% of the vote before stepping down over shirtless photos he posted online. in this race, republicans outspent democrats by more than 2:1. >> it's a preview of scare tactics, distortion... >> reporter: in interviews today, congressman paul ryan blamed the new york loss not on his plan but on the demonization of it. >> if you can scare seniors into thinking that their current benefits are being affected, that's going to have an effect. >> reporter: under ryan's

. >> we had the issues on our side -- we did not have the right -- >> right -- hochul kathy hochul rand calls it premium support. after the election ryan accused the democrats of demagoguery. >> if you can scare seniors into thinking their current benefits are being affected, that will have an effect. >> on wednesday, the u.s. senate, the senate, voted down the ryan plan 40-57, five republican sided with the democrats. scott brown, massachusetts, susan collins, maine, lisa merkow ski, alaska, olympia snow main, and senator rand paul, kentucky. tim carney, what else happened in that race? i'm thinking about it, remember the name of jack davis. >> he was a democrat who was running a pretend tea party candidacy. >> what happened? >> he brought in 9%. >> did they do that with a purpose in mind? >> yes, i think -- >> it's a convinced democrat. >> yes. >> and he managed the tea party -- >> may have done that -- [everyone talking at once] >> yes, they had done in in other districts. >> why did they do that? >> it was a strategy they tried in other districts. [everyone talking at once] deliveri

. >> reporter: democrat kathy hochul. >> secure my medicare. >> reporter: has attached the republican-- attacked the republican plan for week. >> convert a guaranteed health insurance plan to a program that are you on your own with the insurance companies. here is an $8,000 voucher, you're on your own, good luck. >> okay, and thank you. >> reporter: her message is resonating with voters like beverly wah, a registered nurse. >> i don't feel vouchers are going to work. >> reporter: republican corwin has tried to shift the focus back on cutting the federal budget deficit and creating jobs. >> it's more than just medicare. we've had a huge drain of jobs over the last 30 years. we need to turn that around. >> businessman jack davis is the wild card in this race. spending $3 million of his own money. >> people need congressman like me. i cannot be bought. >> reporter: davis ran for the seat three times before as a democrat. but is now running on the tea party line. >> i believe in smaller government, lower taxes, cutting spending. >> reporter: davis appears to be drawing conservative voters

on tuesday kathy hochul want to special election in new york's twenty sixth congressional district becoming just the fourth democrat since eight hundred fifty seven so hold that seat democrats were able to turn the election into a referendum on paul ryan's budget plan to privatized medicare take a look at this ad that's been running around the nation. it was funny as paul ryan said he had to do six takes to get this right i think that there was such a great idea as you can imagine voters soundly rejected the republican plan so now the paul ryans road map of throwing grandma off a cliff is costing republican seats and congress isn't time for the party to dump the whole ryan and the rest of the tea party. guy well of course not i think that this is first of all the ad is silly so much for the newtonian power of ryan dumping in old defenseless old woman off a cliff it's a bit much do you really think a defenseless old woman is going to win seven but with a seven thousand dollars voucher she said to architects mr of be able to buy health insurance can be a lot more than seven thousand dollars v

hochul still prevails taking forty eight percent of the vote republican jane corwin is forty two percent of the vote there was a third party candidate jack davis but he only took nine percent of the vote the democrats won because they successfully turn this election into a referendum on the republicans plan to end medicare take a look at this ad that's been running around the nation. as we saw at yesterday's election the american people are putting up with the right wing radical agenda to kill medicare so is paul ryan with the help of the tea partiers and its millionaire billionaire financier is like the koch brothers killing off the republican party as we know as we know it or talk about this issue is phil current vice president for policy at americans for prosperity phil welcome back my pleasure thomas nice to see a hopeful soul in the fourth democrat to ever hold the city as i mentioned since one thousand. seating hundreds isn't it time for the republican party is for backing away from from paul ryan the way the new gamers tried to do a sunday and a half ago and i think that would be

hochul still prevails taking forty eight percent of the vote republican jane corwin is forty two percent of the vote there was a third party candidate jack davis but he only took nine percent of the vote the democrats won because they successfully turned this election into a referendum on the republicans plan to end medicare take a look at this ad that's been running around the nation. as we saw yesterday's election the american people are putting up with the right wing radical agenda to kill medicare so it's paul ryan with the help of the tea partiers and it's millionaire and billionaire financier is like the koch brothers killing off the republican party as we know as we know it and it's talk about this issue is phil kerpen vice president for policy of americans for prosperity phil welcome back my pleasure thomas nice to see a hopeful soul of the fourth democrat to ever hold the city as i mentioned since eighteen. seats hundreds isn't it time for the republican party is for backing away from from paul ryan the way the new congress tried to do sunday in africa and i think that would be

kathy hochul is only down five points. that's amazing. the republicans were on full display last night. the big-name contenders didn't bother to show up. the most popular guy there, based on recent polls was ron paul, coming in a whopping 35% in the recent polls. john boehner didn't even care enough to watch it. he spent his night at a steakhouse. sounds like an average night for boehner, swilling cabernet all night long. he said there's more time for people to get in. wow, that's not exactly a hardy endorsement for the field. they spent a lot of time on social issues and of course bashing obama on foreign policy, despite the fact we just got bin laden. here's a sample of the debate. >> governor pawlenty, you've had plenty to say about romney-care. >> governor romney is not here to defend himself, so i'm not going to pick on him or the position he took in massachusetts. >> what president obama has done on his watch, the issue that is have come up while he's been president, he's gotten it wrong strategically every single time. >> most of t

kathy hochul.caf >> i am kathy hochul and i approve this message. guest: this is all about medicare. in the first ad from jane corwin, she is trying to distance herself a little. corwin did say she supported the brien budget and medicare overhaul. the republicans quickly voted -- it happened so quickly and without four republicans decided to vote against it. it was almost as if a lot of republicans did not look at the political consequences they were taking. we are seeing it played out in these tv ads. we will not know quite how effective this is until the next elections. it may be more effective if republicans use it against democrats. it is a controversial issue that did not make it into law. membersave to vote on it. host: we have a new set of phone numbers on this sunday morning. here they are. we still have the same e-mail address. address. you can visit us online at twitter. wolf as through congress this week. what are you keeping an eye -- walk us through congress this week. what are you keeping an eye on? guest: some items are somewhat contr

democrats today hailed kathy hochul's upset victory in a special u.s. house election in western new york state. the erie county clerk seized on the u.s. house republican plan to convert medicare into a voucher system, while cutting billions from the program. on tuesday, hochul won 47% of the vote in the state's 26th congressional district, where republicans hold a heavy voter registration advantage. republican jane corwin placed second with 43%, followed by democrat-turned-tea party candidate jack davis at 9%. at a victory rally tuesday night, hochul supporters chanted "medicare, medicare." >> tonight, we showed that voters are really willing to look beyond the party label and vote for the person and the message they believe in. ( applause ) and we showed that thousands and thousands and thousands of voters are more powerful than millions and millions of dollars of special interest money. ( applause ) >> woodruff: outside interest groups, including the conservative american crossroads, spent more than $2 million on the race. in a statement, the group's

the big develop in the the upstate election in new york where kathy hochul a democrat won in a district that has gone republican for a century. it wasn't the only factor. paul ryan's medicare plan was a big issue there. how big of a problem is it for republicans? >> it's a problem if they don't have anyone to defend it well or defend it aggressively and say the choice is not status quo or paul ryan reform. it's paul ryan reform or obamacare or other changes in medicare. status quo is unsustainable. it's important that the republican candidates next year and the republican presidential candidate i would add be able to make that case. >> chris: nina, both sides in the aftermath of the new york 26 race held their ground. senate republicans except for four of them all volted for the ryan plan when it came up for a show vote in the senate. and yet, house and senate democrats just intensified their attacks. so who's right? >> i think the republicans ultimately are going to have a high ground on this. you look at -- the conventional wisdom now is hardening around the idea this is going to be a

kathy hochul.caf >> i am kathy hochul and i approve this message. guest: this is all about medicare. in the first ad from jane corwin, she is trying to distance herself a little. corwin did say she supported the brien budget and medicare overhaul. the republicans quickly voted -- it happened so quickly and without four republicans decided to vote against it. it was almost as if a lot of republicans did not look at the political consequences they were taking. we are seeing it played out in these tv ads. we will not know quite how effective this is until the next elections. it may be more effective if republicans use it against democrats. it is a controversial issue that did not make it into law. members have to vote on it. host: we have a new set of phone numbers on this sunday morning. here they are. we still have the same e-mail address. address. you can visit us online at twitter. wolf as through congress this week. what are you keeping an eye -- walk us through congress this week. what are you keeping an eye on? guest: some items are somewhat con

first we have kathy hochul, running on the democratic and working families line. and jane corwin running on the republican, conservative, and independent line. we invited a third candidate, jack davis, but he did not respond to our invitation. when did not invite the green party candidate because he did not qualify under the debate guidelines. we begin with opening statements, the order of which was determined by coin toss. >> thank you very much for hosting this event. i decided to run for congress because i look at the federal policies coming out of washington and i believe our government is taking this country and the wrong direction. i grew up loving the american dream. the team from a middle-class family. my parents did not have college degrees. we worked really hard, took some chances, had a great people working alongside us, and we were successful. when i was a kid, i remember delivering phone books with my friends. as a teenager, i used to proofread the phone pages. after going to college and getting my m.b.a., i came and worked in the family business and

. >> the reason that kathy hochul won in new york 26 is because she won independent voters and seniors. we lost the majority in the house of representatives because we lost independents and seniors. they came back to democrats in the 26th district of new york over the issue of medicare, and so, that's very instructive to us and it should be instructive to our republican friends. >> so, ruth marcus, what wins here, bold leadership on medicare and the argument that the democrats won't do something courageous or the democrats who say, hey, those guys want to take away my medicare? >> i regret to inform you that i think it's the latter. and i think when you were asking senator mcconnell if medicare was the new third rail of american politics, i think the question was wrong in a sense, because it's the old third rail of american politics. this play has been run time after time. if you go back and look at the quotes from president clinton, back when he needed to win re-election, they sound a lot like the quotes from democrats today about don't let those republicans take away your medicare. t

george bush won big in this district, so did john mccain, but in this race, the democrat, kathy hochul hit her republican opponent with ad after ad tying her to the house republican plan to turn medicare into a voucher system and it worked. >> and now she wants to cut medicare to pay for more tax breaks for multimillionaires. >> reporter: by the end of the campaign, voters said medicare was their top issue, even more than jobs and the federal budget. >> the represent represent can jane corwyn struggled to change the subject. >> it's not a perfect plan, i'm open to modifying it or changing or improving. >> this is the path to prosperity. >> reporter: all but four house republicans voted in favor of the medicare plan, put forth in a budget proposal by congressman paul ryan but now some republicans are looking to put distance between themselves and the plan. massachusetts senator, scott brown, announced his opposition this week saying, we can work inside of medicare to make it more solvent. democrats have seized on an issue that they think is a winner for them. medicare and the polls seem

. >>> democrat kathy hochul won a special congressional election yesterday by campaigning against the republican party's plan to transform medicare. the seat had originally been considered safe for republicans. yesterday's election was to replace former republican congressman chris lee. lee resigned back in february after a shirtless photo he e-mailed to a woman who was not his wife appeared on the internet. >>> one-time member of sarah palin's inner circle blasting the former alaska governor in a tell-all book. frank bailey started working with palin during her 2006 governor's campaign. in an interview with both cnn and abc's "the view" bailey said palin loves to play the victim and her, quote, leadership style was absolutely chaotic. he also weighed in on whether she plans to run for president in 2012. >> i believe she is very ambitious and i believe she is seriously considering it. >> isn't that terrible for the country if she run? >> it would be a disaster for the country. >> an advise er to sarah palin's action committee released a statement saying mr. bailey has an ax to grind a

our participating candidates, kathy hochul and jane corwin. also, thank you to our panelists. wxxi's voice of the voter debates are supported by the rochester area community foundation. that special election is next tuesday, may 24. from the wxxi studios in rochester, good night. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] a thaw morning on c-span -- energy secretary steven chu visits capitol hill to discuss his department's annual budget. then "washington journal" live with your phone calls. later, live coverage of president obama as he talks about the middle east. >> history is, as you know, is much more than just politics and soldiers, social issues. it's also medicine and science and art and music and theater and poetry and ideas, and we shouldn't jump things into categories. it's all part of the same thing. >> samuel morris, john singer sargent, thomas edison, henry adams, sunday night on "q&a," part one of two weeks with david mccullough on the americans who made the journey to america from paris, on 8:

kathy hochul.caf >> i am kathy hochul and i approve this message. guest: this is all about medicare. in the first ad from jane corwin, she is trying to distance herself a little. corwin did say she supported the brien budget and medicare overhaul. the republicans quickly voted -- it happened so quickly and without four republicans decided to vote against it. it was almost as if a lot of republicans did not look at the political consequences they were taking. we are seeing it played out in these tv ads. we will not know quite how effective this is until the next elections. it may be more effective if republicans use it against democrats. it is a controversial issue that did not make it into law. members have to vote on it. host: we have a new set of phone numbers on this sunday morning. here they are. we still have the same e-mail address. address. you can visit us online at twitter. wolf as through congress this week. what are you keeping an eye -- walk us through congress this week. what are you keeping an eye on? guest: some items are somewhat con

our participating candidates, kathy hochul and jane corwin. for our reporters, we had wxxi's -- wxxi's voice of the voter debates are supported by the rochester area community foundation. i'm julie philip reminding you that the special election is next tuesday, maye 24. from the wxxi studios in rochester, good night. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> next on c-span a senate hearing examining the future of nasa and space noo flight. then a news conference with the russian president. and a debate between the candidates for the special election in the 26th congressional district of new york. on tomorrow's "washington journal" a look at the g.o.p. presidential field with tom davis of the republican mainstream partnership. consumer product safety commission chairman ines tenenbaum. "washington journal" begins live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> history is, as you know, is much more than just politics and soldiers. and social issues. it's also medicine and science

and kathy hochul brought up medicare any chance that she could. host: what was the role of the independent in this race? did pull votes away from s corwin? guest: republicans are saying that was the case. he got 9% of the bug. he spent a lot of his own money in this race. republicans are certainly making him to be a factor. but when you saw his support of the last few weeks, it was not clear that all of his support was going to corwin. it was not clear that if he was not in the race, all of his voters would have gone to corwin. host: how much money was spent outside of new york and by these candidates? guest: jean corwin and jack davis put a lot of their own money in. $2 million by outside groups. host: do we know when the newly elected congressman will resume her role in washington? guest: i asked that i had. i am thinking maybe early next week. but i think it was premature to win a swearing-in would be. host: you can go to their web site to read her story. thank you for your time. back to your phone calls. john is a republican. we're talking abo

i want to congratulate congresswoman-elect kathy hochul wonderful campaign. medicare was the issue. it opened the door for her and she walked through, guaranteeing medicare for the american seniors, calling into question the priorities of making seniors pay more while giving tax breaks to big oil. as you may know, she is a respected county clerk of erie county. she worked for senator daniel patrick moynihan, but she brings a great knowledge of her district, which is more important than any familiarity with washington, as she is a mom, two young -- college age. we feel -- i know she will be a great addition to the congress. i spoke to her again this morning and said he did a great, great service to the american people by making the fight for medicare, and we thank you for that. especially in calling to the public's attention the wrong card is of making seniors pay more and giving tax breaks to the wealthy and the big oil. i wanted to move on to the issue of -- medicare and the 26 of the year. medicare in terms of strengthening it. some of you may recall in our fix for 2006, when we t

a new college poll shows that the democrat kathy hochul has a slight lead over republican jane corwin. the tea party candidate, jack davis, had 12% support in the poll, far behind the others, but enough to affect a close race. one of robert gates' on a pass before retiring as defense secretary is to set the pentagon on a budget-cutting course that he spent much of his tenure trying to avoid. gidget de -- he is expected to give details of the approach in a speech today at a washington think tank, expected to be his final speech before he retires. intelligence officials are warning against deep spending cuts by congress. they say the u.s. could end up with the same intelligence failures that led to the september 11 attacks. in the report being released today by the intelligence and national security alliance, it warns that when the u.s. declared a victory and slashed intelligence operations in africa, that was just as al qaeda was taking root. meanwhile, lawmakers said that while the are keeping the budget just about flat for 2011 and 2012, there is still $80 billion for the third strai

kathy hochul.caf >> i am kathy hochul and i approve this message. guest: this is all about medicare. in the first ad from jane corwin, she is trying to distance herself a little. corwin did say she supported the brien budget and medicare overhaul. the republicans quickly voted -- it happened so quickly and without four republicans decided to vote against it. it was almost as if a lot of republicans did not look at the political consequences they were taking. we are seeing it played out in these tv ads. we will not know quite how effective this is until the next elections. it may be more effective if republicans use it against democrats. it is a controversial issue that did not make it into law. members have to vote on it. host: we have a new set of phone numbers on this sunday morning. here they are. we still have the same e-mail address. address. you can visit us online at twitter. wolf as through congress this week. what are you keeping an eye -- walk us through congress this week. what are you keeping an eye on? guest: some items are somewhat con