Leaders. If you live in the Eastern Central part of the country, 202 7488000. You can join the conversation on wj, or as well as cspan go to facebook. Com cspan. The phone lines are open. We will get to your thoughts in a moment, democrats only. In a vote that took place behind closed doors, nancy pelosi one 13463 against tim ryan. Here is what she had to say. Today has a special excitement to me because i think we are at a time when it is well beyond politics. It is about the character of america and how we go forward in our caucus to put forward our values, which are what ignite us as a caucus, to differentiate between us and the administration that will come and washington in january, to take that message clearly to the public is something that is of historic challenge. The American People see the urgency. We have a responsibility and we embrace the opportunity that is presented. E know how to win elections we have done it in the past and we will do it again. By making that differentiation, but again, this is so much bigger than politics. It is about the character of america, the responsibility to the people, our obligation to our founders, our gratitude to our men and women in uniform, and our respect to the aspirations of americas children and families. I have a special spring in my step today because this opportunity is a special one, to lead the House Democrats, bring everyone together as we go forward. Host nancy pelosi yesterday after winning an eighth term as the minority leader for democrats in the house. The New York Times reporting that for years few would even consider challenging her. After a wave of Tea Party Republicans swept democrats out of power, she lost by 43 votes. Yesterday, she lost 63. Ryan is up first in houston, texas, a democrat. What do you think about your Party Leaders . Caller i think we are doing a great job. I think we did the best that we could in the president ial election. I think president obama and mrs. Obama did the best could. You cannot talk about drug deals or prostitutes. You elected someone that is immoral. Boxut all black people in a and made it like all of us are getting killed and not working. Tell a shame and i want to all the black people out there to hold onto your money, because this president right here is not for us. He is not for all. Host before you go, what about the economic message . What about Donald Trumps economic message . Does it seem to resonate with voters . Do democrats need to stop talking about social issues, which some democrats on capitol hill said, and talk more about Economic Issues . Caller you cannot talk about economics if you do not talk about social issues because social, all of that comes as one. You need to talk about, he never worried about Economic Issues. He wants to pay people less. He wants to keep the minimum wage as is. How is this guy supposed to be someone who is a champion for economics . He let people to work and did not even pay them. How can you elect someone like that . Host bobby, jackson, mississippi. What do you think about the democratic leadership . Caller i think that nancy pelosi is a very effective leader. She knows how to get things done. I really like her and i was absolutely in favor of her having another term. Fact that about the democrats have lost as many seats as they have under her leadership . Thatr i do not believe she is to blame for all the losses of the democrats. A 100 democrat and i think there are other factors that come into play. Host like what . Caller well, people are saying because of the losses on november 8 that they are pointing toward her, but i can say, you could probably blame part of it on her, a fraction on the president , a fraction on hillary who i supported 100 , and other things. I think she is a very effective leader. Host what about the argument that leadership does not represent the middle of america . If you are looking at your screen, nancy pelosi represents a district from california. James clyburn on the coast, south carolina. Maryland, also on the eastern coast. Then you have joe crowley who represents the district in new who, and Linda Sanchez narrowly won the vice caucus chair slot yesterday and she is from california. Tim ryan was running from ohio saying that leadership needs to reflect rural america, middle of america. Thatr i certainly believe that is a factor that should come into play, however i would marylandcalifornia and are great democratic states. I really do not have been a problem with some of the leadership coming from states where the people are very democratic leaning people. Host that is bobby in jackson, mississippi. Wasph crowley of new york elected chairman of the House Democratic caucus. He was vice chair of that caucus. For theking over now democrat from california who was term limited and could not run again. The New York Times also says that disappointed by the outcome of the leadership election, a handful of democrats who had vowed mr. Ryan from ohio to press forward with a proposal to turn some jobs into elected positions. At plan is expected to meet assistance from ms. Pelosi who retains the power to appoint people to those positions. Some democrats have expressed an interest in the idea. Selected ms. Pelosi Ben Ray Lujan of new mexico to again laid the Democratic CongressionalCampaign Committee in the House Democrats picked up just six seats in this election. Morning an update this from politico that says that nancy pelosi yesterday sent a letter to rankandfile last night, just hours after fending off the first real challenge to her control in years. Ms. Pelosiports that has decided to support changes to the leadership that will loosen somewhat her grip on democratic hierarchy. She will back the election of the chair of the d. C. Cc and will throw her weight behind five new leadership spots including two for junior members , and she will create the positions of vice chairs or vice ranking members within the committee to give junior members more of a say on what goes on within panels. Serious dissension the ranks, due to the fact that the caucus is topheavy with veteran lawmakers. That shuts out more junior members of having a role in policy and messaging. She might end up on the wrong side of the issue so she moved to head off the fight before it ever got that far. The average age of the democratic leadership in the house versus the average age of thisepublican leadership, tweet, House Republicans average age is 47 years old and the housee age of the democratic leadership is 76 years old. What are your thoughts on your Party Leaders . Caller good morning. Nancy is a good leader but the Democratic Party has to go to the local government to let the people know that this is a multicultural United States of america that makes America Great, even the military. They also have got to remind all of the people, especially the republicans, you have the president , the house, the senate , and the supreme court. Fordo not have any excuses not passing laws. You do not have no excuses now. You have the whole pie in your hands. But the results be brought out and lets bring it to them, put the pressure on them. Let the Republican People understand that, does this party represent america with your standards and principles . If they cannot do that, then it is time to put them to realize that this party is being duped into a party that is not constructive to your personal levels. It is simple. We have got to do that. Host eddie in st. Louis, missouri, what do you think . Caller i think nancy pelosi has done a good job but it is time for change, new blood, new leadership, and new ideas. I think we need to focus on job creation because it reduces crime and that is what we need to do. The more jobs and money goes into our community, the less social programs we will need. When you adjust job creation address job creation you are addressing a lot of the programs the issues that social programs address. It is time for a change and i ,hink you leadership, new ideas a new vision and new blood is what the Democratic Party needs. Host listen to tim ryan who represents the youngstown area. This is what he had to say after the vote. i think we got the message out that we wanted to get out, that as democrats we need to talk about economics. Usis the issue that unites and i believe in my heart if we are going to win as democrats, we need to have an economic message that resonates in every corner of this country. Leadership of this election united as democrats to take on the challenges that we forward. Oving i am disappointed, because i like to win, but i think it was a great discussion for us and honestly, i think the party is better off. Ryan the 43yearold tim who challenged nancy pelosi for the top leadership spot, he was backed by some members of the Congressional Black Caucus and nominated to take her on, ultimately losing. The Washington Times frontpage story, democrats reaffirm pelosi as leader despite losses. Her backers agree that the party must do better to connect with voters in the flyover states but says democrats problems are the fault of others. Lucille in redding, california, you agree . Not. R no, i do not with the Washington Times. You read only from the Washington Times and bankers bible. Host not true. I read from the Washington Post, politico, roll call. Caller you never read from los angeles. California is never heard from. You are only on the east coast. You used to read from the boston globe and the arizona republic. We are bigger than fly over. California is huge. , fromso given that california is that why you think it is important to have nancy pelosi is the leader . Caller absolutely, and i hope the electorate puts Hillary Clinton in as president. That is still to be seen. These try and read some papers from california. Host fairpoint. We try to incorporate all of the papers, as many as we can across the country but i hear your point on relying on the east coast papers. Eric in juliet, alabama. Good morning to you. Caller i am from joliet, illinois. Host illinois. Caller i think nancy pelosi did a good job. Democrats, i do not think they should have to change too much has just like the obama elections in 2008, and in 2012 it kind of tethered off. The same thing will happy with donald trump. I think with 2018, i do not think he will have the same amount of voters that he had in 2016, and on 22020, he is not going to have the same amount of voters. People came up the hill to vote for him but as they see he is not going to provide for them like they hoped, the votes will tear off and we will be back. Host speaking of president elect donald trump, the wall street journal, donald trump plans to hold a victory rally in cincinnati, part of a broader thank you to her. We will have thank you tour. We will have coverage of that on cspan2 and cspan. Org, and you can listen in with the cspan radio out if you are not near us grain radio app if you are not air a screen. Then there is an article about his choice for hhs secretary, tom price, republican of georgia. Times, democrat see medicare is a winning wedge issue and they will take it up when the senate will vote on the nomination of tom price. To press mr. End price on the subject during his confirmation hearing. They see a wide opening for political gain given the 57 million Older Americans who rely on medicare, including many white midwesterners who voted for mr. Trump. Price has supported privatizing medicare. For democratsne in red states. 10 democrats face reelection and joe donnelly has made it clear brook no overhaul of medicare. Seen at trump tower yesterday was linda mcmahon, the former chief executive of the World Wrestling entertainment. She talked to reporters and said that they need to stay tuned on what she might be considered for in the trump cabinet, something about Small Business administration. She ran for senate two times. There is also news that sarah palin could be considered to take over is being considered to take over the Veterans Affairs department. That in the New York Times as well. , was of stories about the announcement yesterday from the president elect about who will take over as commerce. Billionaire investor wilbur ross has been tapped as the next commerce secretary. Spoke to the Media Tuesday at trump tower, ross has been called the king of bankruptcy. Spent 24 years at rothchild where he headed bankruptcy advisement process. His wealth is estimated at about 2. 9 billion. There is this from usa today, frontpage, largest tax change since reagan. Donald trumps pick for treasury secretary is eyeing breaks for the middle class and for businesses. We will talk a little more about that coming up. There is the latest from the transition efforts of the next administration. Only, gina inats jacksonville, florida, what do you think about your Party Lawyers leaders . Are you satisfied . Caller i am satisfied with nancy pelosi retaining her seat. I do not think the party and dutch problem in the democratic i believe because of Voter Suppression and an effort for the last 50 years, republicans to suppress the africanamerican voting. I think this is the reason that trump won this election. Democrats for being too laid back. They did not fight enough. Trump had surrogates after surrogates talking on behaves talking on his behalf. Issues that democrats would have used to vet donald trump, they did not use those. It has just been an allout effort of Voter Suppression. The democrats are being too laid back. I do not see where the republicans have any cause to brag or beat their chest because they won this election, because they have not won an election fairly to me in the last 50 years, so to speak. So i pray that the democrats will wake up and that they will fight a little harder. And the old and Young Democrats will come together because the bible says the old man is wise and the young man is strong. If they would come together, work together, they do we could overcome. They need to work on undoing all of the wrongs that have been removing, finding a way to get around Voter Suppression. When you see 17 republican start out to become president , they already had a plan. They knew they were going to win this election from the beginning because they had their plan in place. That asstion would be democrats we fight a little harder. Host heard your point. Joining us on the phone is tara golshan who is reporter for the website vox to talk about the Election Results and the president ial recount effort being led by Green Party Candidate jill stein. Why is jill stein seeking a recount in wisconsin, pennsylvania, and michigan . Guest that is an interesting question because ultimately it will be really hard to change the outcome of the election. Jill stein said that is not her purpose. Nothas said that she does support either main Party Candidate and that she just wants to make sure that the , thatty of the votes there is validity to the votes. She wants to make sure that the green party votes and libertarian votes are being counted accurately, and that is ultimately her mission. She wants to ensure trustworthy elections. Host where has she seen discrepancies . Where is her evidence that something was wrong in those states . Guest there was a report from a group of experts that raised questions but to be clear, there was not any direct evidence. The professors and election lawyers and statisticians are not claiming that. They say based off of statistical anomalies that could indicate possibly something went wrong, but there is no direct evidence. She bounced off of that and said, we should check, which is not necessarily the wrong thing to do here. , wehere is a possibility saw interference from international governments. We did see hacking. And she is saying, why dont we just check . There is a process to check. Host who is backing her efforts . Guest she started a Grassroots Campaign to fund raise. Overnight she fund raised within 2 million. They say she fund raised more than 6 million, so people seem to be paying for this effort and interested in it. And really kind of exploded over thanksgiving break. I think is that a lot of democrats feel Hillary Clinton should have one and it is easier to hold on to help. I did a think that is jill stein point or what the evidence supports. Are the Hillary Clinton supporters helping to pay for the effort . Guest they did say they would support the effort. In terms of the direct organize organizing and fundraising, that is through jill stein. Host when does this recount starts and what is the deadline . Guest wisconsin is supposed to start today, on thursday. Pennsylvania is a little bit more influx of because thattially, the way recounts happen in pennsylvania is a little bit more complicated. She filed a legal petition and their court date is on monday. , she filed for yesterday and it was accepted. Ultimately all the electoral votes need to be finalized by december 19 and by december 13 for the recount so they can make the official announcement. Host you said dr. Stein is fundraising for this. How much will these recount efforts cost . Guest they cost a lot. In wisconsin the estimated amount was 3. 5 million that she paid. It turned out that it was 3. 9