Page 48 - State Capitals News Today

Just dont follow the media closely -- the big newspapers like "the washington post," "the new york times," you guys can investigate officials, local officials, state officials that are in your area, but throughout the rest of the states across america, newspapers have been decimated, investigative reporters are the first to go, then the old senior reporters are the next to go. so you take a state like florida where every newspaper used to have a capital bureau, 12 or 13 of them, now you may have...

Were happy to do it because their health care and family is important to them. >> people that are watching in washington that are in state capitals where theyre turning down medicaid expansion. what would you say to nonpartisan across the lines, what would you say to them the partisan political game over leads that you and others are here helping? >> well, im no politician, but i can assure that everybody can take a step on their own volunteer individually for these type of things, thats what i ...

Complacent around issues like this. and i think that some of the debate, i mean, you know, people in washington and in other state capitals that are debating issues of gay rights, they have to remember that when they oppose -- when they oppose civil rights protection for lbgt americans, i know that theyre not, you know, nobody supports violence but when they oppose basic civil rights protections, these people are getting their ideas from somewhere and it is very scary that someone would take ide...

A minimalist. release the evidence, give us our day in court. it seemed to be a minimal demand. >> chris, when we are talking about gun violence, my concern is at the state level because thats where the gun legislation gets passed. we have some of the most liberal laws when it comes to guns. you can carry a gun in the open. you dont need to have a permit. >> but you are never going to win with those cowboys, are you? >> we are. >> they want to carry guns and holsters into hotels. >> we need to g...

>> when will the president get serious about cutting the debt? what will it take? >> mass i have inflation? >> i think it will take a change in incentive. for elected officials right now you think about would they want to cut spending or increase spending all of their incentives are on the side of increase spending. they have lobbying groups pushing for various pieces of spending. there needs to be something on the other side. >> everybody who comes to washington they arent saying cut spending. ...

2016? >> tea party too? >> there are 30 republican governors. there is a huge base of competency building out there. and if the presidents not careful, by 2014, five or six of those state capitals are going to look a lot more competent than washington, d.c. and so theres a real -- and these are people who are winning elections, broad-based coalitions. christie is an example. but although he didnt do all that well in this last round, rick perry is another example. rick perry is a smart guy. its t...

2016? >> tea party too? >> there are 30 republican governors. there is a huge base of competency building out there. and if the presidents not careful, by 2014, five or six of those state capitals are going to look a lot more competent than washington, d.c. and so theres a real -- and these are people who are winning elections, broad-based coalitions. christie is an example. but although he didnt do all that well in this last round, rick perry is another example. rick perry is a smart guy. its t...

And what does he do? does he side with john boehner? because they are certainly going to have to make concessions on tax rates. and what does that mean for him? how does that box him in for 2016? >> tea party too? >> there are 30 republican governors. there is a huge base of competency building out there. and if the presidents not careful, by 2014, five or six of those state capitals are going to look a lot more competent than washington, d.c. and so theres a real -- and these are people who are...

You love the unforseen. >> ive got a new surprise. my surprise will be if shes right. [ laughter ] my surprise is not so much a surprise, but something to keep your eye on. i think republicans across the country are going to tighten their holds on state capitals or state legislatures with long-time conservatives. it ees how you spend education money, its a tertiary that we dont talk about a lot. it changes the political endskap. >> and it certainly does the issue of governing. im just going to s...

And maybe 21 or 22. tom, you love the unforeseen. >> ive got a new surprise. my surprise will be if shes right. [ laughter ] my surprise is not so much a surprise, but something to keep your eye on. i think republicans across the country are going to tighten their holds on state capitals or state legislatures with long-term consequences. they are more conservative than ever. the tea party is planting its flag in a lot of the statehouses and that will have consequences in redistributing, how you ...