i'm candy crowley and this is "state of the union." presidential campaign and democratic sources confirm members of the president's re-election team told top congressional leaders this week, no re-elect money will go to house or senate democratic election coffers. at least until after the election. although the president and top officials will help in other ways. sounds like every man for himself. joining us this morning, one of the lawmakers who spoke to the president's campaign team, senate democratic leader harry reid. thank you so much, senator, for being with us. >> my pleasure. >> i want to start out, though, in an entirely different place in the world. that is in afghanistan where this morning we are learning that an american soldier went off base and opened fire on civilians, young, old. we're not sure at this point of how many -- cnn's reporting is that 14 people were shot. we don't know yet how many of them fatally. he is now -- he turned himself in, apparently, after this. i know that you have supported the president's plan for withdrawal. i want to first get your reaction to this soldier going rogue, which is what it appears to be. and then ask you whether over time you have rethought whether we ought to speed up that withdrawal time. >> well, of course, our hearts go out to these innocent people. one of our soldiers went into a couple of homes and just killed people at random. very, very sad. especially following that incident dealing with the korans. just not a good situation. our troops are under such tremendous pressure in afghanistan. it's a war like no other war we've been involved in. but no one can condone or make any suggestion that what he did was right because it was absolutely wrong. i think that we're on the right track to get out of afghanistan just as soon as we can. there's a way we have stabilized some of the provinces there. there's conversations going on with karzai now. we've turned over the big prison to them. in the next six months, we'll turn that over to them. so i think -- i think our timetable is pretty good. we're moving out, as the president said. i think that's the right thing to do. >> have you watched? there was -- or there were those riots in the street, kandahar in particular was hit hard after the burning or the accidental burning of the koran by american personnel. watching that, we don't know what will happen in the wake of this. hopefully the commanders over there can calm things. but, nonetheless, have you ever thought, we need to do this more quickly? >> i think we're moving pretty quickly right now. i think some of the things that are going on we didn't expect would happen this quickly. there's peace talks starting in qatar. taliban have set up offices there. there's conversations going on. i think we're going to find out that hopefully we can get out of there as scheduled and things will be stabilized when we do that. >> let me move you back to this country and domestic things, particularly domestic politics. you did have a meeting with some re-elect people for the president. i wonder what your takeaway was from that meeting. what did they tell you? >> well, i had a meeting with jim messina, who is a wonderful friend. he's a senate guy. spent a lot of time with him. david plouffe, who is the brains of the campaign operation for the president. >> did they tell you no money? >> well, there are many ways they're helping us. everyone should know that. i'm pretty proud of my campaign organization i have in nevada. i think people would recognize that the reason i was re-elected is because of the campaign operation i had on the ground. obama has that same campaign operation on the ground. that's important. i don't know why anyone's concerned about the conversations that we had. it's the same conversation i've had with presidents over the years. they have to guard their money. i didn't expect them to bring their checkbook with them. >> right. i guess the reason this sort of becomes an issue is because if you talk to some of your democratic colleagues on the senate side, they will at times voice some displeasure thinking -- saying, listen, the white house, the president, just even on routine things, isn't in regular contact, sometimes isn't in semicontact. this feeling there's a detachment between senate democrats and the white house. do you feel that same detachment? >> i really don't. i've worked with a number of presidents. i've been fortunate to do that. of course, my relationship with -- because of my being the leader of the senate has made it a little closer than some of the other presidents. but i can place a phone call any time. it's returned immediately. he's got staff around him that i care about a great deal. pete rouse, his new chief of staff, is a wonderful man. rob nabors who works with him. we meet every week for at least an hour. i feel very good about my relationship with the white house and the senate's relationship. >> i want to put up some numbers for our audience, and the question, you've seen the polls, how is congress handling its job? the approval rating for congress right now is 10%. the disapproval rating is 82%. i wonder if you believe at this moment that you will hold on to the majority in the u.s. senate on the day after the elections. >> first of all, if they could poll me, i would have been with the majority here. i think -- i think congress looks bad. i think the obstructionism we've had over the last two congresses, especially this one, has turned the american people. what the republicans have done, stopping us from doing the most simple things -- >> is it all their fault? >> as i indicated, what you had when you introduced your show, why does everything have to be a fight? there shouldn't be a fight. we should be able to get things done that are routine. we haven't been able to do that. but we feel really good. we've had some tremendous -- we've had some good fortune in north dakota, in massachusetts, in nevada, in arizona. we have good candidates all over. i feel very comfortable about where we're going to wind up in november. >> you think you'll wind up with the majority? >> i sure do. most of the pundits are saying so now. especially in light of the fact that snow has stepped down. my friend bob kerrey is going to run in nebraska. we have some good things going on around the country. >> your friend bob kerrey has dropped some pretty broad hints that you sort of put some sweeteners in this to get him to decide again that he would come into this race. what did you tell him you might be able to do for him if he would run for the senate. >> anyone that knows bob kerrey knows you don't need to make a deal with bob kerrey. he's running because he wants to run. he loved the senate. he's coming back. bob kerrey and i had conversations not over a few days, but over many, many months. and the things we talked about were between the two of us. but bob kerrey was promised nothing. >> you didn't say i'll give you seniority, i'll put you on a committee, none of that was promised? >> no. and not only that, it's determined after the election when our steering committee meets. i can make recommendations. but i've learned a long time ago -- for example, when arlen specter switched parties, he's writing in his book, reid didn't deliver what he thought he would do. i told arlen i'm going to try to do something that helped you. as things worked out, more senior members of the senate didn't want to give him seniority. i learned my lesson then. don't make any promises. >> i want to get back, backtrack a little to something you said. that is that you do blame republicans for the low rating of congress. is there nothing that the democrats are doing to add to this? >> well, you know, there's a lot of things -- >> by "this" i mean the stalemate. >> oh, sure. we've really tried. i'm there. i try. i try -- you know, why should we have right now more than 20 judges held up, many of them from the last year, reported out unanimously. these are things that have never been done before. we've had -- we have had on the most mundane, simple, routine matters, they've stopped us. and as i said, if i were being polled, how do you feel about congress, i would -- i would be with the 80% saying not very good. >> let me ask you, 11 of your democrats defected and went over and voted for building the keystone pipeline. what is the message to the white house from the democrats as a result of that vote? >> the message is pretty simple. the pipeline, half of it's being constructed as we speak. the owners of that pipeline have filed new applications to get rid of some of the contention that's in the original application. i think it's very clear that the amendment that we have, we'll vote on this coming week, says that if -- if they want to build it here, they have to sell the product here. and so i think -- and many exaggerations about tens of thousands of jobs. half of it's being built right now. this is something that the republicans have raised as an issue, to lower the price of oil. it won't lower the price of oil. construction won't be complete for a long, long time. under the way it's constructed now, all the oil would be sold elsewhere. we can't have that. >> let me ask you -- >> when i say elsewhere, i mean to some other country. >> right. let me ask you something about -- something the attorney general said recently. he was giving a speech to northwestern university law school. and he was suggesting -- he said, you know, people are arguing that for some reason the president needs to get permission from a federal court before taking action against a u.s. citizen overseas who's an operational leader in al qaeda. he says that's just not accurate. that due process and judicial process are not one and the same. do you have -- this is creating quite a stir. do you have any problem with that? do you understand what that means exactly? >> no, i don't. but i do know this. the non -- the american citizens who have been killed overseas who are terrorists, and frankly if anyone in the world deserved to be killed, those three did deserve to be killed. >> these were the three killed in yemen. i understand that. are you slightly uncomfortable with the idea that the united states president, whoever it may be, can decide that this or that u.s. citizen living abroad is a threat to national security and kill them? >> well, i don't know what the attorney general meant by saying that. i'd have to study it a little bit. i've never heard that term before. but i think the process is in play. i think it's one that i think we can live with. i think with the international war on terror that's going on now, we're going to have to make sure that we have the tools to get some of these people who are very bad and comply with american law. >> you think that the president should be able to make that decision in conjunction with the folks in the administration without going to a court, without going to you all, anything? >> there is a war going on. there's no question about that. he's the commander in chief. and there has been guidelines set. and if he follows those, i think he should be able to do it. >> senator harry reid, majority leader in the u.s. senate, come back and see us again. thank you so much. >> you're sure welcome, candy. how do you know when it's time to quit, when you've poured your heart and soul into running for president? former house majority leader dick gephardt and steve forbes have been there twice, and they're next. imagine if you could always see life [music] in the best light. every time of day. outdoors, or in. transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything the way it is meant to be seen. maybe even a little better. experience life well lit, ask for transitions adaptive lenses. lemon burst, blackberry harvest, pina colada... i can't imagine where she is... orange creme... 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[ male announcer ] with wells fargo advisor's envision plan, you always know where you stand. in fact, 93 percent of envision plan holders say they will retire on their own terms. get started on the plan you need today -- wells fargo advisors. together we'll go far. everyone who gets in starts at the same place. >> i believe we're going to win this. >> i will go all the way to the convention. i expect to win the nomination. >> i intend to be the nominee that defeats barack obama. >> but after that first heady i'm in it to win it moment comes everything else. under the broad heading of reality. >> last night, the people of iowa spoke with a very clear voice. and so i have decided to stand aside. >> with a lot of prayer and soul searching, i am suspending my presidential campaign. >> today, i am suspending my campaign. >> i'm going to be ending my campaign for president. >> camp romney has spent the week trying to convince anyone who's counting that none of mitt romney's rivals can win the delegates needed to get the republican nomination. so far, no sale. >> we feel great. that's all i can say. we feel great. we're in this race. we're in it to stay. >> there are lots of bunny rabbits that run through. i'm the tortoise. i just take one step at a time. >> knowing when to hold them and when to fold them is not just a poker skill. it's a skill every politician needs at one time or another. steve forbes and dick gephardt faced that decision twice in their political careers. despite early signs of success, both ended the same way. >> in a democracy, the candidate who wins the most votes wins. it's that simple. >> we were nosed out by a landslide. >> i accept the results with the knowledge that i gave this campaign everything that i had in me. today, my pursuit of the presidency has reached its end. >> ceo steve forbes and former house majority leader dick gephardt are up next. my daughter's grabbing some yoplait. lemon burst, blackberry harvest, pina colada... i can't imagine where she is... orange creme... 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[ female announcer ] yoplait original. 25 flavors for you to love. joining me now, two former presidential candidates very familiar with the campaign trail. former house majority leader dick gephardt and steve forbes, chairman and editor in chief of forbes media. thank you both so much for trying to sort of shine some light on where we are now, at least it appears, in the republican primary race. we're hearing a lot of chatter about whether newt gingrich ought to get out, that it's impossible for actually either he or santorum to win this nomination. walk me through, first to you, congressman gephardt, what that process is like when you've kind of thrown your whole life into the campaign trail and when you wake up one morning and go, uh-oh, i've got to get out. >> well, you know, in the past it's a little different than it is today. because in the past we didn't have the super pacs -- >> ran out of money. >> there's an old saying. campaigns don't end. they run out of money. so when you ran out of money, you couldn't buy an airplane ticket to go to the next stop. so that's when people usually got out. so that's what happened to me in my races. we just -- we weren't winning. and when you're not winning, you're not raising money and you can't keep going. but that may be a little changed today. >> yeah. steve, like the congressman, you ran twice. and both times pulled out after you couldn't put it together. how -- what goes through your mind when you're making that decision? was it a monetary decision? because you could have self-funded probably all the way through november if you'd wanted to. >> yeah. you get the perception very quickly whether you're going to have a chance to be one of the two front-runners. in 2000 it was clear after a couple of early setbacks, even though we did well in iowa, that it was not going to come together. and in 1996 bob dole was clearly going to get the majority of delegates, so there's no point in carrying on. even with the super pacs today, there does come a point where you lose credibility. for newt gingrich, for example, next week alabama, mississippi, two southern states right near georgia. and if he doesn't do well or carry both of those, he's just not going to have the credibility he can carry on. he's not going to be taken seriously as a possible winner. >> and who makes -- at least take me into your decision making process. who makes that decision? does someone come to you and say, you know what, congressman? this is over. or do you wake up -- because you've got people around you that want to continue. i'm assuming that both of you all wanted to continue. so how does that come about? >> but you have a large group of people that you're paying to help you do this. and when you can't make payroll, it's obvious that you need to get out. because you don't want to hurt these people. and you can't really ask them to be volunteers for month after month when you can't pay payroll. so your campaign manager, you know, you're talking every day, every minute of every day. so you pretty easily come to the decision that's right. >> it becomes organic after a while, right? >> exactly. >> steve, let me ask you this. looking at the race where it is now, and you think maybe tuesday might be a marker, at least, for newt gingrich. in general, do you buy into the current theme in the republican race that this really is beginning to hurt republican chances in the fall because it's been so contentious, clearly they're draining money from romney and money he could be collecting for a general election if this were all settled at this point? >> well, i think you've got the change of roles this year, candy, where a lot of delegates are being back ended. oftentimes in the past it was front ended. so the thing would end because somebody was near the majority of delegates. the process itself in terms of hurting the republican party, yes, it has. a brawl like that never makes the fighters look good. but i think at the end of the day, if romney does emerge as the nominee, it'll make him stronger. he's done things on the tax side that the base wanted him to do from the beginning but which he refused to do until a couple of weeks ago. he's going to have to do the same thing on health care and perhaps one other issue to reassure the base that he can carry the banner in november. and then once the process is over, even though it reminds one of bismarck's phrase, you shouldn't see two things being made, one is sausages, the other one is laws, perhaps if he was around he would add presidential contest. but this thing will be over in june. and then the public will start to focus in later summer. and what happened earlier this year is going to be largely forgotten. the key thing is what kind of program, principles the nominee puts out. i think it's going to be pretty much a fresh contest. i wouldn't take the brawling out as something that's going to kill the republicans in november. >> i know you were an early supporter of rick perry. who do you like now in this race? >> rick perry backed the flat tax. so i liked him for that. but i haven't backed anyone. i'm still looking over the field. i like certain parts of each candidate's platform. less enthusiastic about