,ust start you know, kevin mccarthy is out. you know that, right? you really need somebody very, very tough and very smart. smart goes with tough. i know tough people, they are not smart. that is the worst, ok? you need to be smart. we need smart, we need tough, we need the whole practice -- packet. like me, thank you. i like this guy over here, whoever he is. but it is bedlam in washington right now. i have never seen anything like it. i have always been in politics people -- politics. people said, he has never been in politics. at some point, i said we are going to make our country great again. and we are going to do it, so -- >> [cheering] mr. trump: i had to do it. >> [cheering] mr. trump: but kevin is a nice guy, and i just hope now they find somebody that is going to, you know, have those qualities where we can negotiate, we can use that debt ceiling that is coming up very rapidly and do something really, really significant. but if we don't, we are going to be in big trouble. we are going to be in very, big trouble. we are in a big, fat, beautiful bubble right now. i predicted t

reflected in the members, to find. >> now it becomes kevin mccarthy's problem. you assume, like i do, he will be the next speaker. rep. mcmorris-rodgers: yes. >> good luck, kevin mccarthy. i understood it was john boehner who was singing after he made the decision, not kevin mccarthy. mccarthy is under intense criticism because of what he said about the benghazi committee. he suggested the benghazi committee has been responsible for bringing down hillary clinton's poll numbers, that people see her as "untrustable," was his word. [laughter] first of all, what do you make of what he said about that? rep. mcmorris-rodgers: i believe hillary' is poll numbers really reflect people who do not view her as being trustworthy. i think there's a lot of questions related to whether or not she has been forthright, whether she has cooperated. obviously, we, it has been difficult to get the e-mails, etc., but i do believe that the work we are doing in the benghazi committee is very important. it's important that we know what happened that evening in benghazi. we have a responsibility to do that. yo

friday, kevin costner will be here to discuss his new book. like to present our speaker with the honorary national press club mug. [applause] >> you are developing a collection. dr. ben carson: thank you. >> so a couple of final questions. downe situation was right the campaign trail, circumstances changed, would you consider being donald trump's running mate? [laughter] the press will have a field day with this one. and by the way, before i answer that question, i just want to mention that many in the press will say that i am sensitive and you know, i should not be thinking about running for office because i get offended by what they do. of course they will say that. but the reason that i expose the press is because i want the people of america to understand what they are doing. so it is not because i am sensitive. i will continue to expose them every time they do something because as more people understand who they are and what they are doing, it will negate their effect and until they have the kind of transportation -- transformation that is necessary for them to be the ally of the peo

the next one. that's what we want. thank you, i love you too. i want to start by saying kevin mccarthy is out, you know that right? [applause] and they're giving me a lot of credit for that because a city really need somebody very very tough and very smart. like me, thank you. i like that guy over here whoever it is. it's bedlam in washington right now, it's a mess. i've never seen anything like it. i've been doing this for a long time. i've always been in politics. for three months have been a politician. it's so embarrassing, i'm a politician. i never wanted to be a politician but at some point they said we are going to make our country great again and everybody assumed. [applause] but kevin is a nice guy and i hope they find somebody that's going to have those qualities where we can negotiate and use the debt ceiling is coming up very rapidly and do something really significant. if we don't we are going to be really we are going to be in very big trouble. we are going to be in very big trouble. we are in a big beautiful bubble right now and i predicted the last couple and i

george washington university professor and former president of the national press club. kevin merida, he is the managing editor of the washington post. gabriel dibenedetti is a national political correspondent for politico. the correspondent for the kuwait news agency and the director of strategic communications for the data quality campaign. [applause] i also want to welcome our other guests in the room today and our c-span and public radio audiences. i want to welcome our audiences watching a live stream on our website, press.org. you can also follow the action on twitter. use the hashtag, #npclive. well, our speaker today has never served in congress, or as the governor of a state. or in any elected office of any kind. he did tell me he was elected -- and that gets applause. he did tell me he was elected to the yale board. this is one of the reasons that dr. ben carson's supporters say they want him to be the next president. he is not part of the washington establishment that so many fault for gridlock and ineffectiveness. so far, on the campaign trail, he has separated himself from b

of the individual who bought those fishing weight shrapnel. they were able to bring kevin ham to justice. i was the fbi where we were not meeting the national security council with our partners in the cia and nsa and it was not a case that involved a foreign terrorist group. it was someone who was motivated by mites of her miss -- motivated by white supremacist and developed those elites. we did not -- those beliefs. we do not have the tools and structure in place to hold accountable that individual as we do for international terrorism. i was reminded of the real stakes. that was a bomb that did not go off but this near -- this year marked 20th anniversary of the oklahoma city bombings. that memorialnd along with many u.s. attorneys across the country who are dedicated and have an expertise in preventing terrorism. when i was at that event, it was in originally beautiful day and there was a slight rain cloud that came over us as we watched the memorial. if you have not been there it is a moving site. one thing they have is instead of a normal tombstone they have little chairs to

house majority leader kevin mccarthy who just tweeted the presidents announcement signal he didn't want to repeat his mistakes any rock by withdrawing prematurely. juliano in florida, go ahead. like you just said, all of our tanks and everything in those countries, isis has taken our stuff. i've been wondering, these other people are overthrowing the government. i don't understand that, how is that ok in the american people's eyes. if someone were to come here and get our people guns and overthrew our government, they'll be chaos. the american government, i don't understand how everyone is ok with this. we are supposed to have the best military in the world. it takes russia one or two weeks to take these people out. take the day can leader of isis out. and we have been doing it for months. i think this is calculated and i don't think he has very much interest in helping those people. i feel like he has all teary or motives.- ulterior host: we appreciate you weighing and. let's go to california to frank. make sure your mute your television or radio. that we need to send more troops

the recent kevin mccarthy is able to ascend is because john boehner has taken on the tough task and crackdown on the rebellions, the guy who has read up a budget bill and debt limit increases. i think what he is saying is he will try to figure out what he can get done that has not been done that does not destroy mccarthy. it is a pretty good idea of what would destroy mccarthy and i think a lot of stuff with destroy mccarthy. >> what would destroy mccarthy? think everything he has a gun. >> because he is one of the folks behind closed doors that advocates for immigration or is that white? john: i think that could reshuffled the republican conference. he will have a window for a couple of weeks between the election and when the next speaker actually takes over and if you try to jam too much there is are, possibility they would look to vacate the chair as they planned to do with john boehner. i think he will have some leash but not a lot. maybe he will try to get a budget deal done but a bill that is longer for december. >> molly, do you think that is possible? , a budget that gets us

it's called on kevin mccarthy to apologize for his remarks this week. that it has damaged hillary clinton's poll numbers, a respected member of the republican conference rights. the overwhelming favorite to replace outgoing speaker john boehner. to nearbyke you live fort lauderdale. hillary clinton will be speaking at a grassroots organizing meeting. >> we can full of politics. the possibility of policymakers, industry innovators. on book tv saturday night, martha discusses her new book on presidential transitions and is interviewed by the former white house chief of staff. and sunday at noon, we're alive with tom hartman who has offered -- authored several books. texts, e-mails, and tweets. his book, the author explores the events of the april 26 1913 murder in marietta georgia and the lynching of jewish factory member. a sunday afternoon, the 1975 federal energy administration documentary on the supply and demand fossil fuels in the u.s. and a look at alternative energy sources. >> the supreme court is scheduled to begin its new term on monday. earlier this year, a poll was cond

see, even today, when kevin mccarthy dropped out of the race or speaker, from was that with a response within minutes. you can tell it is not -- i would be -- it might be carefully scripted, but if it is, he did it might quickly. whether he be the front runner without twitter, quite possibly because he was already a tv celebrity and they know he gets great ratings etc. have been quick to want to feature him. in fact, i think country to his decline in the polls are a few things but one as he was hyper covered for so many weeks and there is only so much that it could be sustainable and they had pulled back. john, what do you think donald trump's lasting effect will be? john: i think it is all of the above based on where you sit. i think it is good because he is innovative. first time i have ever seen a candidate create short, 15 second many ads on instagram, so good as i think he has shown the can dof what somebody and engage people. whether he is engaging people in terms of moving the country forward making america great again is to be determined. i think he could be far more p

presidential candidate donald trump weighed in on kevin mccarthy dropping out of the speaker's race. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> you won't hear this in the media -- but donald -- [applause] donald gave $20 million to the st. jude's children home, $20 million. [applause] he decided to give it to children with cancer. that's donald trump. by the way donald has more hispanics, hundreds of thousands and they'll love him, believe me. [applause] >> thank you everybody, thank you. thank you very much. thank you. so nice, thank you. thank you very much. what a great career. you know they have hundreds and hundreds of people standing outside the can get in. they didn't get the good real estate. you got there good real estate. i feel badly. i feel badly. [applause] bill ruffin owns this hotel and he has been a friend of mine and we did deal together. it's a great thing to be involved with somebody that is so talented and so smart. such a great business person bill ruffin and he's a great poker player. i at least put my money on him and make game of poker and he always walks away

you, too. i love you, too. [cheers and applause] mr. trump: i want to start by saying that kevin mccarthy is out, you know that? [cheers and applause] mr. trump: they are giving me redit. we need smart and we need and the whole package and it's a positive -- i like that. i like this guy. but it's bedlam in washington. it's a mess. i have been doing this for a long time. i have always been in politics. for three months, i have been a politician. it's embarrassing. i never wanted to be a politician. we are going to make our country great again. we're going to do it. [cheers and applause] mr. trump: kevin is a nice guy and i hope they find somebody that is going to have those qualities where we can negotiate and use that debt ceiling that is coming up rapidly, because if we don't, we are going to be in big trouble and going to be in very big trouble. we are in a big fat beautiful bubble and i predicted the last couple and i'm telling you we have to get our act together or are going to be greece on steroids. that's what is going to happen. there's nothing wrong with the republicans t

october 26. off the floor, the focus remained on who will be the next house speaker after kevin mccarthy suddenly dropped out of the race yesterday. in a closed-door republican meeting this morning, the hill and louiem rice gohmert's stood up and confronted and outgoing speaker john boehner about his decision to postpone the election for speaker. john boehner planned to resign october 30 but told members this morning he would stay on as speaker until the conference can unify around a successor. so far, republicans say paul ryan is the only person who can bring the warring factions of the gop together, but he has repeatedly said he is not interested. john boehnerohn -- pau and paul ryan leaving the meeting this morning. >> you want them to decide. >> mr. speaker. >> are you going to run? reportsew york times outgoing speaker boehner and kevin mccarthy you drop that have been trying to control -- yet congressman ryan into running and leaving the basement of the capital say they believe mr. ryan was softening his position even though paul ryan has repeatedly said he does not want t

friendwho said when his kevin mccarthy stepped down and out of the running for the race for speaker in a dramatic moment, you said things have gotten too hard and you are part of a body that no longer legislates. what you thinkce will open a pathway to cooperation and build an environment where a huge goal like one of the four goals in the national strategic agenda could be reached. congressman welsch: i think on a macro level there are two major issues. the micro in congress thinks they can do. money and politics is a catastrophe with 158 families driving the debate. we heard lindsey graham talk about that. the second issue is gerrymandering. a lot of us come from districts that are hyper liberal or hyper conservative. it means members of congress fear a primary more than they do a general election. i come from vermont, i am the only one elected so i have to be listening to and working for a broad cross-section. those are two that need to be got with. within congress there is an axis central decision my republican colleagues have to make -- texas dental decision if a tough, people withi

announced their bids to be the next speaker of the house, jason chaffetz, kevin mccarthy, and daniel webster. the republicans will pick their candidate in a closed-door meeting tomorrow. the three candidates met in a meeting. we talked about that meeting with bill florence. >> representative bill flores of texas is chairman of the study committee, congressman, your the threeearlier with members running for house speaker, what they have to say? rep. flores: we had a great meeting today with over 100 of our members in attendance. all three candidates did a really good job expressing their opinions about the direction they would lead our country. they talked about how we can unify the party, the processes we would use moving forward, the way that we would develop our agenda and messaging to support that agenda. the other parts of their individual personalities that they thought could help get across the finish line in order to be a successful conference. host: you heard from kenneth -- kevin mccarthy, daniel webster, and jason chaffetz. what are the key questions your members wanted to

john boehner out of the position and blocked kevin mccarthy from replacing john boehner, they have been the roadblock all along. so paul ryan met with them and knew they'd have demands, same demands they had of kevin mccarthy he didn't go in blind and had a week to think about it in the columbus day recess. what he did was a very deft maneuver on his part he kind of turned the tables on them and said, you have demands, well i have demands too. he went in and said, these -- i'll accept the speakership if you guys endorse me. and i have these -- this list of demands he met with the freedom cawcaw -- caucus, the far right guys, there's about 40 of them. it's a shadowy group. still don't know everybody who is in that group. and by all accounts, he met with them on wednesday. they emerged from that meeting very quiet about what they were going to do and then the freedom caucus met later that night, late-night gathering, and without paul ryan in there and when they came out they said, they kind of split the baby. they had it both ways. he said -- they said we didn't endorse him by our in

the capitol at the long worth house office building. representative kevin brady of texas there walking in, congressman mccarthy just entered the room a few minutes ago. didn't have any answers or didn't have any reresponses to questions from reporters. that meeting getting under way shortly as well. we'll watch live here on c-span as members arrive. >> house republican members still arriving. this is the long worth house office building where the meeting is taking place to select the republican's choice for speaker of the house. there are 247 members of the house republican conference. when the whole house votes, as everyone is there, present and voting, they'll need 21. that candidate will need 218 of those voting in the house, three weeks from today, october 29, and "politico" reports earlier today that house speaker john boehner will vote for kevin mccarthy. he has to be selected by his conference first. that meeting getting under way now on capitol hill. the house itself should be back in a couple of hours. in fact, a tweet from cristina marcos of the hill d says the g.o.p. meeting

, too. jonathan: now becomes it kevin mccarthy's problem and you assume like i do he will be the next speaker of the house. congresswoman rodgers: yes. jonathan: good luck to kevin mccarthy. i believe john boehner was the one who was singing his name and not mccarthy. he faces intense witticism for -- criticism for what he said about the benghazi committee. he suggested the benghazi committee was responsible for bringing down hillary clinton's poll numbers so that people see her as untrustable, i think that was his word. [laughter] what do you make of what he said about that? congresswoman rodgers: i believe hillary's poll numbers reflect people who do not view her as trustworthy. i think there are a lot of questions related to whether or not she has been forthright, whether she has cooperated. it has been difficult to get the e-mails, etc., but i do believe that the work that we are doing in the benghazi committee is important. it is important that we know what happened that evening in benghazi. we have to responsibility to do that. we do not -- we have not yet had important que

lack of american leadership. chairman of the armed services committee. here's kevin mc carthy, poised speaker for the epublicans in the house -- and then senator gary peters, emocrat in mission -- and pat roberts who used to chair the intelligence committee senate allowing putin to danger yria is a great to the united states. himes in connecticut -- "the new york times" this morning, they're reporting this, run news media strongly endorsed the move by russia. pleasedmed particularly accept sending military aid. putin harbors reasons for interfering in syria. e wants to restore russian influences of global power and try to force an end to the and financial solation after moscow seized crimea. he also wants to maintain ontrol over russia's naval station in syria, only remaining outside the soviet union. reporting gton post" this, that john kerry suggested yesterday that policy underway in washington would soon bring sharply increased u.s. air against the islamic tate which he emphasized continued even after the russian own attacks. up that mean they'll take authorization of military for

gop congressman kevin mccarthy admitting that the benghazi committee hearings or political -- were political. so she is pointing out, the republicans kind of invented these committee meetings just to hurt me in this political race. tuohy, has the upheaval in the republican party here in washington and the fight over who will be speaker of the house having any impact on the ground in new hampshire? are ordinary voters paying attention to the? guest: i think to a degree. it lends to the narrative that washington is a dysfunctional mess. and that is what some of the outsider candidates are running on. whether it is donald trump or ben carson or carly fiorina. even the sitting governors are pointing out -- chris christie was in new hampshire this past week. he was the first candidate here who i heard talk about this game of thrones down in d.c. with mccarthy out and who is the leader of the house. it's one of those things -- chris christie of course is a sitting governor. he's trying to tap into that distrust or anger with the establishment in washington. he was using that to court a g

the house impacted this debate, or has it? guest: it seems like it has. when kevin mccarthy was seen as the likely next speaker, he said the highway bill was going to be one of his top priorities. now that he has withdrawn from the race and is kind of a vacuum as to who will be the next speaker, everything is on hold, and this deadline is october 29. they will have to do a patch. host: certainly this is not the only deadline lawmakers are facing. there is the debt ceiling, the overall budget. does that make you question the ability of congress to get all of these things done in the time allotted? guest: um -- i would not guess on their ability. congress is nothing if not unpredictable. cliffs had a series of here in the last couple of years, and we will have new ones. the debt ceiling is coming. it will be another fight, i am sure. host: next up is lisa from kentucky on the democratic line. go ahead. anks for taking my call to rid i live in kentucky, and we do pay a little more for taxes for our roadways, but i have to say that we really have good highways and good infrastructure in

our addresses maria svart. to get more information, the woman calls and times, kevin from marshall, text, republican larry -- republican. caller: you had mentioned at the beginning of the show that you are using social security and medicare some of your hallmarks, but [indiscernible] withliability and now retirement is putting more in this husband the get out and i think it is left to soon to talk, but what i really want to ask is, it comes down to the philosophical basis of your theory. i am a conservative. i believe that people are born without government. government does not create you. requires that you take from some and give to the others here so i am wondering, what is your philosophical basis to being able to do that? host: thank you, kevin. guest: first, i cannot let with hat he said that social security unanswered -- about social security left unanswered. the money is there and going to the pockets of the wealthy. if we raise the cap on taxable income for social security, we could make it financially viable many decades. it is just this repeated mantra that the right-wing

but none of these people have the following that kevin mccarthy could have built up that paul ryan has. it really would take multiple rounds to have someone emerge with a majority of votes. host: do you know if the house speaker is currently calling mr. ryan to consider the position? aest: paul ryan is under tremendous amount of pressure from republican leaders to enter the race. he's got calls from speaker boehner. kevin mccarthy is the gamut of top-tier republican leaders saying you are the only one with the reputation and the only one with the street credit to get in and rule this unruly and unmanageable conference. in, johnsn't get boehner would likely put his somewhere else to push his allies toward a consensus candidate but everyone is waiting to see and hoping that paul ryan gets in because there -- we are on plan c or d. for: what is the timeline an actual vote to take place? boehner indicated that he would call a vote or schedule a vote for some time this week for sometime in the future. he does have his eye on exiting at the end of the month and they are only in washingto

john boehner out of the speakership and also made it clear that kevin mccarthy wasn't going to succeed the speaker. .aul ryan is a smart man can he pull together? he will have a honeymoon and then what? this will be the test of his lifetime as a politician. host: to the caller upon point that the republicans are not interested in governing? guest: i don't think that's fair to the candidates. with arepublican field bunch of men and one woman saying they will do a good job as president. you have people who run with other goals in mind with speaker fees and to boost their public profile for other reasons. i like to give people the benefit of the doubt. if they think they would be a good president and that's why the running. host: let me ask you about senator bernie sanders because he did take aim at hillary clinton on a number of policy issues including her vote to go ahead with the troops in the rock -- in iraq. here's what the senator said last night. [video clip] these republicans prefer to take super pac contributions from the koch brothers and fossil fuel industry rather than to prot

over the committee after what was said by kevin mccarthy about this committee should get credit for taking down hillary clinton's poll numbers? did that hang over the committee? did you feel it? guest: you certainly feel it. kevin mccarthy had it wrong. i can't account for why they said it, why they chose to make the statements. i have been involved in this for 17 months, and i have watched the committee work. i have watched our team. we have been focused on the mission. we do our level best to avoid the circus that surrounds this. we did not fan the flames of this thing. we would have done this very differently had secretary clinton not demanded that this be an open and public hearing, and we cannot control what others might say. , the cost haspeo been an issue as well. some say that 4.7 million just for the -- some say $4.7 million for the committee's work. what costs $4.7 million to investigate? guest: as a fiscal conservative i assure you i am using every working moment to steer taxpayer dollars. it has taken an enormous amount of staff work -- people i assume is the vast majori

43. kevin mccarthy and marshall black. people whoost of the voted for candidates other than paul ryan, daniel webster, and the other two, most of them will likely vote for paul ryan on the floor. i suspect there will be somewhere between 10 and 15. that is just my guess and i could be completely wrong but i suspect some of those will still vote for another candidate. host: chuck in pennsylvania, democrat, good morning. caller: i just had a question whip, the one old accused of molesting kids. i wonder if you thought he should be prosecuted instead of six months probation. i am sorry, what were you talking about? whip,: the old republican -- host: i think he is talking about the speaker, who pleaded guilty. guest: all i know is what i have read in the press. he has led guilty. as far as i'm concerned, it is a matter for our system of justice to deal with. i am very troubled by the reports i have read by the former speaker. i do not know any more details than what i read in the paper so i do not know if i can say much more than that. i suspect he will pay a heavy penalty. host: the

replace speaker of the house john boehner? we will turn our attention to the challenge that kevin mccarthy is facing from two of his colleagues with gail russell chaddock. and later angela stent will be joining us. she is a former intelligence officer. about thealk situation in syria and relations between the u.s. and russia. our c-span local content vehicle on the road is in santa rosa, california. and c-span3,booktv we take you to santa rosa and introduce you to luther burbank. he basically cultivated what we now know as the russet potato. here's a preview. >> luther burbank was a self-taught plant breeder. he was able to create over 800 different varieties of plant. and of which he imported was the first to introduce to people in the u.s. burbank was born in massachusetts. one of the first words he ever heard was california because he had two older brothers who came out for the goldrush in 1849. enough, he old decided he wanted to focus on breeding new plants for people. he moved to california for the year round growing season. he ended up in santa rosa after wandering around f

kevin mccarthy saying the committee investigating benghazi and clinton's e-mails was created to destroy her candidacy. >> everybody thought that hillary clinton was unbeatable, but we put together a benghazi special committee. what are her numbers today? >> they spent millions fighting hillary because they support everything -- the because they oppose a re-think she supports. the: the same story from washington post. the story on the washington post site also has reaction from speaker boehner's office. he calls the clinton ad an attempt to distract from the probe. is a classic clinton effort to oftract from the record putting classified information at risk and jeopardizing our national security, all of which the fbi is investigating. benghazi is also likely to be among the topics raised that next week's democratic presidential debate. your view of her and her campaign. you can give us a call on two lines. in the mountain and pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. we will start with john in new york. i'm sure i would announce it, but new york on the democrat line. john, good morning. caller

is kevin mccarthy. he told his colleagues he is no john boehner. will talk about this leadership races on the program. first, we want to begin with your thoughts on afghanistan. whether or not the west should leave more troops in that country to fight a rising insurgency. or, should the president forced ahead with his plan to remove all combat troops from afghanistan by the end of 2016? can dialans 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. .ndependents, 202-748-8002 you can also e-mail us. , johnitol hill yesterday campbell, who was the commander of u.s. troops not afghanistan, 1 testified before the senate armed services committee. the afghanistan timeline is unfeasible. says the u.s. must leave forces beyond 2016. [video clip] mid-2014 envisioned in that we would transition to a normalized embassy presents by january 2017. that remains our planning assumption. since that time, much has changed. increasedise of dice, al qaeda presence in afghanistan and now, strong partners like chief executive abdullah. train, advise and assist the afghan security forces and conduct counterterrori

. you have the presumptive next speaker of the house, kevin mccarthy. then you have the late entry, jason chaffetz. host: they will hear from each of them. how long do you expect us to take? will there be staff in the room? what sort of indication why get from lawmakers when they leave hc5 this morning? the 11th hour.t they have been hearing from his candidates all week. phone calls, pleadings and meetings, trying to find coalitions to navigate this byzantine world of house republican politics. i think most of the members going into this room today already have their minds made. it is related hear the closing argument to see, are there any new concessions? the press will not be in the room. will there be anything signaled to someone on the sideline, those on the fence? because that is what is happening now. if you are webster, you are making a play. host: kevin mccarthy -- [indiscernible] -- he moved up from majority whip to majority leader, now he wants to be speaker. how many votes does he have? guest: his allies tell me he has 200 plus for sure. he needs 218 to become speaker of

happens in a crisis. they have a picture of kevin mccarthy at the top. they have a picture of representative paul ryan who people say should be the speaker. from the hill newspaper this morning gop pressures reluctant right. ryan has insisted that he has no interest in the speaker's job. he made that clear within minutes of weiner announcing his resignation. he has not shifted from that position since. on top of that the house freedom caucus 40 conservatives who oppose boehner would fall in line behind a right candidacy. i am grateful there were encouragement i have received. i will not be a candidate. a spokesman for ryan said later in the day that the wisconsin republican was still a hard know after gop lawmakers continue to urge him to run. that is a little bit from what happened yesterday on capitol hill. pamela is calling from the suburbs. upper maryland. democrat good morning. hamlet. caller: thank you for taking my call. i just want to say in my opinion this chaos is a gift for the democrats. it should show americans help dysfunctional the republicans are. that's the sm

kevin mccarthy admitting that the benghazi committee hearings or political -- were political. so she is pointing out, the republicans kind of invented these committee meetings just to hurt me in this political race. tuohy, has the upheaval in the republican party here in washington and the fight over who will be speaker of the house having any impact on the ground in new hampshire? are ordinary voters paying attention to the? guest: i think to a degree. it lends to the narrative that washington is a dysfunctional mess. and that is what some of the outsider candidates are running on. whether it is donald trump or ben carson or carly fiorina. even the sitting governors are pointing out -- chris christie was in new hampshire this past week. he was the first candidate here who i heard talk about this game of thrones down in d.c. with mccarthy out and who is the leader of the house. it's one of those things -- chris christie of course is a sitting governor. he's trying to tap into that distrust or anger with the establishment in washington. he was using that to court a great deal. as he poin

country from a government shutdown at a time when it was needed. host: let's turn to congressman kevin mccarthy. he is currently number two. he is being challenged by daniel .ebster and jason sha former reagan speechwriter kevin mccarthy is well-liked in the house. a veteran said to be a natural lover of the nuts and bolts. ofwill be surprising if some his fellow republicans don't start asking. he's got the guts and the hunger, but does he have the brains? guest: i'm not sure brains is the term. the term i have heard most often is a kind of temperament and capacity to speak clearly. number one quality that the speaker has to be able to deal with the caucus and larger issues. but there certainly is a lot of concern about whether or not the front runner is the best choice. the usually happens is speaker or later has to quickly demonstrate a certain element of inevitability. and that is what has not happened yet. -- he does not have the votes he would need in his own caucus to be nominated on a first ballot. that's a problem. jason chaffetz announced he was challenging kevin mccarthy. how