Archives for March 2012

On Tuesday, 10 states will hold primaries or caucuses to award delegates to the Republican National Convention.  We discuss how the busy night is likely to shape up for the four remaining candidates with Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia.  Sabato tells us how he thinks the pivotal state of Ohio will unfold and which other states he expects to be competitive.  He also explains whether winning Georgia will be enough for Newt Gingrich to stay viable and where Ron Paul might finally crack the win column.  Sabato also scolds his home state of Virginia for its tough ballot access rules and forbidding write-in votes.  He also reveals how this year’s ‘Super Tuesday’ is somewhat mild compared to what the event has been in previous election cycles.

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Pete Hegseth is a highly decorated U.S. Army officer who fought in some of the most difficult moments in the Iraq War.  He came home to lead Vets for Freedom, a group committed to finishing the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Hegseth then returned to active duty to teach counterinsurgency tactics in Afghanistan.  Now he’s back home in Minnesota and running as a Republican to defeat Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar.  Hegseth tells us what he learned during his days in uniform and how that experience prepared him to deal with many other issues besides national security.  He explains why he believes Sen. Klobuchar does not deserve a second term and what type of mindset he would bring to Congress.  Hegseth also gives us a frank assessment of the political road in front of him in a state that has elected conservatives, liberals, a former wrestler and a comedian to statewide office.

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Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are pleased to see that even General Motors sees the Chevy Volt has been a massive bust.  They also shudder as Vladimir Putin wins the presidency in Russia amidst claims of rampant voter fraud.  And they shake their heads as two of the four GOP hopefuls fail to make the ballot in one Super Tuesday state and Rick Santorum fails to amass a full slate of delegates in the battleground of Ohio.

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Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar is the longest-tenured Republican in the U.S. Senate.  In most years, winning a seventh term would be pretty routine and winning his own party’s nomination would certainly be a slam dunk.  But Lugar is working hard to fend off a primary challenge from Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock.  Mr. Mourdock tells us why he’s running to unseat a member of his own party.  He also tells us why he believes Lugar is not even eligible to represent Indiana in Congress.  Mourdock chronicles the issues on which he feels Lugar has recently changed his views in order to win the primary.  He also responds to allegations he has often been AWOL as state treasurer and that he may be too conservative to win a general election.  Listen here for our conversation with Richard Mourdock.

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On Tuesday, Mitt Romney won the Michigan primary by a narrow margin over Rick Santorum.  Santorum tried to pull ahead at the end by slamming Romney for opposing the auto bailout – even though Santorum opposed it as well.  Today, the Capitol Steps take us back to 2009, when the fate of the U.S. auto industry was very much in doubt.

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President Obama says there are no silver bullets to bring down energy prices and anyone who says we can drill our way to lower gas prices doesn’t know what they’re talking about.  Texas Rep. Bill Flores begs to differ.  A 30-year veteran of the oil and gas business, Flores says there are concrete steps that Washington can take to give increase supplies and relieve the pain at the pump.  In our interview, Flores details those steps and explains how they would impact gas prices.  He also has some choice words for the president over Obama’s suggestion that it’s time to end tax breaks for the big oil companies.

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Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review like to see how the shocking death of Andrew Breitbart brought conservative healing to a movement fractured by the primaries.  They also explain how the Obama administration is tone deaf by publicly saying it’s not trying to lower gas prices and clueless by thinking higher taxes on energy companies will bring prices down.  And they marvel as Obama compares himself with Nelson Mandela and Mohandes Gandhi.

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Earlier this week, the Government Accountability Office reported that taxpayers lose tens of billions of dollars to redundant government programs.  There are literally dozens of programs in some areas that are tasked with the very same things.  Leslie Paige of Citizens Against Government Waste says this is nothing new and the real cost is probably above $100 billion per year.  Listen here as Paige explains how this happens and why new programs keep getting added when identical ones already exist. She also explains which areas of the budget see the most redundancy.

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Mitt Romney scored big wins in Arizona and Michigan on Tuesday.  In reality, Romney only won half the delegates at stake in Michigan but John Gizzi of Human Events says the momentum gained by winning the Michigan vote not only helped him dodge a huge embarrassment but gives him a leg up heading into Super Tuesday.  Gizzi also breaks down what he expects from the four candidates next week .  We also ask him to assess the real and political fallout of President Obama’s apology to Afghans for the inadvertant burning of Korans.  And Gizzi shares his thoughts on the sudden passing of conservative journalist activist Andrew Breitbart.

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Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review set aside the normal martini format to discuss the shocking death of conservative journalist, publisher and commentator Andrew Breitbart.  They discuss Breitbart’s rise in online media, his confrontational style and some of his biggest stories.

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