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Republican, to be a john heinz republican. you know, my congress represents america. i have bernie sanders who, who he was first elected, was a socialist. he's an independent. i have barbara boxer, one of the most progressive members in the entire senate. but on the other side, i have mark prior from arkansas, a very moderate man. i have claire mccaskill from missouri. i have ben nelson from nebraska. so my caucus has these extremes on both sides, but it has also the mixture that gets us to where we are. and that's why we're able to stick together and do things that we believe are right for th...

Art of compromise, consensus building. nothing wrong with that. and republicans throughout the country also believe that. but they don't have republican leaders that are leading them down the path that we used to have to bring about good things in our country. >> harry reid, thank you very much. >> you bet. still to come, my evening with ann. it is impossible to prepare for a debate with ann coulter, as i discovered last night here in washington. there is just no way of knowing what she's going to say next. we'll get the reaction from some people who were there. and later in "the rewrite,"...

What are the obligations to the country and to the people we represent? it's the coming up with effective solutions, to sitting down and working with the issues and sitting around table and sorting through the differences, you cannot solve a problem without talking. the senate is based on consensus building. that was the vision of the founding fathers, if we abandon that approach, we do it at the expense of the country and the issues that we need to address to put us back on track. >> you have been a critical vote, reaching across the aisle, for stimulus and for these keeping health care alive...

Yesterday, moderate republican olympia snowe announced she was leaving the senate, crippling gop's hopes of winning a majority in november. snowe says she's retiring because of the hyperpolarized atmosphere of, quote, my way or the highway. this afternoon, she told andrea mitchell the country is at risk. >> it's very, very difficult to resolve major issues. it's dysfunctional and the political paralysis has overtaken the environment to the detriment of the good of this country. the united states senate is predicated and based on the essence of consensus building. that was certainly the vision ...

Save the jobs. those are a few things we have to do. i hope this congress has had a very good learning experience, especially those newer to this body. everything we do around here does not have to wind up in a fight. that isn't the way things need to be. people wonder why the approval rating of congress is so low. i don't wonder. it seems that everything we have done this last year has been a knock down, drag-out fight. there is no reason to do that. and if there were not, if there were message received from this last thing we've been through, i would hope, especially i repeat the new members...