Steele casts elections as vote on his leadership

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   >>> us in washington at the white house . and here now, the chairman of the republican national committee , michael steele joining us, joining the conversation this morning. good to have you, mr. steele.

   >> how's it going?

   >> pretty good. i'll let you take this one. we've got this report from the washington times . apparently, the administration, according to their reporting, has been rewarding top donors with exclusive access to white house officials and white house events, and the dnc admitted to paying for some events at the presidential mansion . is this unusual for -- i mean, i've heard of this before. what's the story here.

   >> it's part of what happens, you reward those and your supporters who have been a part of helping you achieve success in winning the election. the difference here is that the president made a big deal during the campaign about bringing something different to washington . i think it goes to your prior segment and what chuck was talking about is how voters are reading this stuff. they believed the president said he didn't want to muddy the waters here in washington any longer. he wanted a clean slate and a clear ethical track when it came to access and the like. when you have these stories about all the fat cats getting time at the bowling alley and sitting at the movies, you know, how did this all come about? who pays? and why is this a $30,000 price tag to go bowling at the white house ? i think that taints the water further, and it feeds this sense that a lot of people have now that political leadership in the country is completely out of touch with problems in everyday life , from the economy to health care to going bowling.

   >> we're going to ask about the key races at play across the country, but first harold ford jr . has a follow-up for you.

   >> mr. chairman, good morning.

   >> what's up?

   >> with regard to health care , republicans in the senate and the house have made clear a public option is not something they can support. so assume for a moment the public option is not in the final package. how many republicans do you believe in the house and the senate, percentage, you think, would be in support of a health care reform package without the public option?

   >> it depends what else is in the package. this is not an absolute where, okay, zero sum game . you take out the public option. okay. we're all for whatever else is in the bill. the whatever else is in the bill still matters. that goes to how much it costs, who pays, where the money comes from. and the fact that you've got these artificial triggers already in place where we're going to be paying on the front end between now and 2013 for a program that doesn't kick in to place until 2013 or 2014 . so this whole rush to kind of get health care done is really about getting money out of the pockets of the citizens right now to pay for a benefit they're not going to be able to access for another three or four years. so we want to look at the total package. again, we still believe that we can do portability. we can do tort reform . we can do a host of other things without this 1,500-page behemoth health care bill.

   >> i'll start with the races, virginia first, you feel pretty good about that. what are you going to take from the virginia race, supassuming the polls are correct, about other republicans running in 2010 , what should they learn from bob mcdonald 's campaign?

   >> they should learn from bob mcdonnell and chris christie how to have the campaigns translate across their states and across their districts. we can no longer go into the campaigns with the one-note charlie kind of beat. you really have to reflect back to people two things. one, you understand what they're going through, the fact they just lost their jobs or their businesses are failing, et cetera . and you've got to have a plan, or at least an attempt to do something about that that's different from what they already know and what they've already seen. i think both our candidates have done that. and the fact that you've got the president going into both new jersey and virginia talking about how his policies are, you know, are going to be important to have these individuals corzine and deets be in the governorship to affect their policies. that's not the message right now, or else they'd be beating our republican candidates.

   >> if chris christie doesn't win under these circumstances in new jersey, should the republican candidates fold in that state? this is like lucy and the football. lucy is about to pull the football away again.

   >> you've seen the commercials the nfl is running with the referee who's tripping up the players and getting into the game. i'm that referee getting into the game, and we're doing everything we can to keep that football in place for chris christie to kick that extra point, if you will.

   >> very quickly, they're trying to wrap me. congressional race in new york. where do you stand? who do you support? the republican or the other guy?

   >> i support the republican nominee. as a republican party chairman.

   >> what's their name?

   >> that's the way it should go.

   >> who's running? what's her name?

   >> dee dee scazafava, district 23

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