thom, great to see you. thank you for coming in. >> thank you. >> shannon: earmarks, the people who are now -- you looked at those now aligned with the tea party caucus on capitol hill. how they were a year or two ago on earmarks versus now, were you surprised by the findings at all? >> not necessarily. there were 13 members of the tea party caucus, including michele bachmann who did not request earmarks. overall, 45 representatives and senators did not answer the earmarks. what really happened was the election. the republicans, came in and whether they were tea party or not they ran on a fiscally conservative platform. they're not tied in the system. so they never ask for an earmark. i have won't affect any, it's a badge of honor to go back and say i came to cut spending. i didn't take earmarks. here are the things we accomplished in the house in particular. and going forward, that is a proven record to run on. >> shannon: what about the infighting we saw with the minority leader mitch