of being hospitalized for asthma problems. symbicort is not for people whose asthma is well controlled with a long-term asthma control medicin like inhaled corticosteroids. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop symbicort without loss of control, and prescribe a long-term asthma control medicine. be sure to see your doctor if yoursthma does not improve or gets worse. symbicort is a good choice to help control my asthma all day and night. [ inhales ] [ exhales ] ask yr doctor if symbicort is a good choice for you. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. >> paul: this week on the journal editorial report. some of the party's longest serving and most powerful house member are fighting for their political lives. we'll preview the races to watch. battle for the senate down to the wire. some key contests tighten. the clones. republican candidates even a

democrat or two are taking up the new jersey governor's reform mantle. can they replicate his garden state victory? ceo settles with the sec for his role in the mortgage mess. what about the so-called friends of his in high places? will congress ever name names? >> paul: welcome to the journal editorial report i'm paul gigot. first, democratic barons on the ropes. you may not know all of their names but they run washington. in over a week some of the most powerful democrats could be out of a job after facing toughest reelection challenges in years. the ink deered list includes: john spratt 14 term incouple bent who chairs the house budget committee. skeleton of missouri served 34

years. observer starve minnesota in a tough -- observe starve minute anyone in a tough fight, chairman of the house transportation committee. joining us to talk about this. dan henninger assistant editorial page editor james freeman and kim extras sell. we keep hearing this a -- wave election, big event the kind we don't see often. what explains the vulnerability of a guy like skeleton less than 60% of the vote since 1982? >> there's a percentage that is higher than that he voted with nancy pelosi 95% of the time. it is fascinating. because he is very conservative, very pro defense, pro iraq, pro afghanistan. >> but the b-2 to the air force base.

he's running against a formidable candidate saying she not sufficiently pro military. clinton came out to campaign for him. sarah palin has been out to campaign for her. he's in a district that voted in 2008 for john mccain. 60%. obama's approval rating in that state is 36%. he may lose having voted with pelosi. this is a perfect story of what the democrats did. they forced guys like skeleton to vote with them on obama care, stimulus and cap and trade. now they are paying the price. just as they were warned for the entire past year. >> paul: she is a former teacher and businesswoman, first time candidate so she has that freshness too. kim, what about extra the budget committee chairman -- what about spratt the budget

committee chairman? this time they have a shot, what are the dynamics in that race? >> you've got a republican, new fresh out there running. he's a state senator. he's out there talking again like dan said about health care, stimulus, cap and trade. this too is a district that is conservative. one of the problems that these guys have not just mr. spratt, skeleton, oberstar. they are saying you need to keep us, we are very powerful and we've shown you through our many years we are in tune with the district and conservative. what the opponents are saying and what voters are saying, wait a minute, if you are as powerful as you are, and you are in tune with this district why were you not stopping nancy pelosi? there's a bar that is being set for them is somewhat higher than some democrats out there. they are saying you had a responsibility to step up and

you didn't. >> paul: let's look at an ad that the national republican campaign committee is running in spratt's district. >> announcer: for years he wasn't listening to south carolina. since nancy pelosi took over he's become a rubber stamp. cap and trade energy tax, sprat voted yes, wall street bailout, yes. wasteful stimulus bill, you betcha. obama's health care bill, spratt yes, yes every time. he works for her. >> paul: a -- in the past a lot of these candidates culturally conservatives some pro-life, a lot pro gun endorsed by the nra they could say i'm a culture conservative, i'm one of you, in these conservative districts. this time they could vote liberal on economic issues. this time the litmus test issues all economic. so they are exposed.

who cares about guns this time. it is not an issue. >> most of the beam you showed in that opening graphic are not left wingers. i think it is bigger than nancy pelosi. a lot of house democrats trying save themselves saying i won't vote for pelosi for speaker again. if it is a democrat majority it is going to be the enabler for an obama white house. voters are saying we don't care about senior we don't want the democratic agenda as it current operating to keep going. interesting, two of the endangered barons, frank and -- >> paul: barney frank of massachusetts and kanjorski are in danger. >> not only the history of the financial crisis but for -- these are the two architects in the house of the financial services reform. >> paul: that was supposed to be popular. >> it was supposed to be.

it is now a political failure with a policy failure. voters figured out this does not end bailouts. those two guys are not getting credit for. >> in kanjorski's district it is 60% registered democrat. a poll last week said 60% of the voters think it is time for him to be retired. there's that as well. they feel these guys have been around too long. >> paul: let's turn to the senate races. we reading they are tightening. i think they are. in pennsylvania tightening towards the democrat, sestak. in kentucky tightening with rand paul, the republican losing some of his lead. in the west coast fiorina in california and rossi in washington state are catching up, at least a little bit on their democratic incumbents. what do you see the reason for this tightening? >> the tightening you are seeing on both sides this is about voters tuning in. we are less than two weeks out

from the elect. in a lot of these races people were undecided now they are saying okay i picked my spot one way or the other. what are not seeing, i think is important, necessarily some big, new momentum on the democratic side which is what they've been hoping for. the key number, you look at all democratic candidates running. you do not see, this is a problem for them, them breaking that 50% number. for a party on its back foot in an election they need to be doing better that is going to be a thing to watch. >>ats are saying we've got our enthusiasm back. we got our mojo back our base is coming out. they were sullen for at least a year now they are fighting and we are going to come out on election day. are you seeing that? >> no. if you saw that you would be looking down at places like lincoln in arkansas and she wouldn't be losing by 15, 20 points.

at ohio maybe lee fisher running against portman there making some sort of a surge. you wouldn't see folks like ken buck appearing to be pulling ahead a little in colorado. you are not seeing this across the board. in the few races you are seeing more democrats tune in. this is not a major change. >> paul: what you see every year is a lot come down to the wire of there's going close sometimes they all break in one direction. they for the democrats last time maybe it will be different this time. when we come back the christie clones. trying to capture the new jersey governor's magic. can he repel republicans to victory in other blue states? [ j. weissman ] it was 1975.

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>> paul: just call them the christie clones republican gubernatorial candidates and a democrat or two running on an agenda similar to the one that got new jersey governor christie elected last november. like christie these candidates are campaigning on lower taxes, spending cuts and public ply i pension reform. kim, who are these guys and what are they saying? >> you a bunch of 'em everywhere. brady in illinois. walker in wisconsin. you got foley in connecticut. meg whitman in california. the guys getting the most mileage are republicans

running in blue states. they are really receptive to this message that someone is going to come in, clean house, stop these budget crises, cut the size of government, stop raising taxes and deal something without of control issues. >> paul: one of the things that is fascinating when christie was running he wasn't even chris christie. because he was pretty muted in the themes he ran on. then he took office and became the guy we've seen in office taking on the unions and so on. a year later the other candidates aren't afraid to sound like him when running for office. >> he's changed the discussion. that started to happen at the end of his campaign. i got a feeling we might get a reformer here. i think that's the beauty of the christie phenomenon. he hasn't gotten all this done in new jersey yet. these there slugging.

but he's got a democratic legislature. he's made it okay to talk across america about saying all of these backroom deals that were cut to take care of public employees maybe we ought to renegotiate. >> paul: even some democrats, cuomo's son andrew, almost certainly going to win. he's talked about a property tax cap and spending cap. you don't hear democrats say words like cap when it comes to spending. does he feel he needs to absorb some of that christie magic? >> there's a big caveat. yes he does feel that way. but he has no choice. one of the realities is, none of these governors has anywhere to hide any more. new york, california, illinois. their deficits are so huge, their public pension obligations are so overwhelming, it is no longer possible to raise tacks to pay that off.

so they have to do these things. it is good christie was the first out of the gate. implementing this stuff is going to be harder. andrew cuomo is talking about a property tack cap. to get that reform he has to take on his assembly. he has to take on some teachers unions who constitute 60% -- >> paul: and are helping him get elected. >> and helping him get elected. to see him pull this off would be a minor miracle. >> paul: kim any other democrats sounding these themes? >> such aq04c huge issue you on the campaign trail. they've been so beat up by the republicans. the democratic governor in illinois quinn is making argument that he ought to be elected because as a democrat he would be better positioned to forcefnoh unionso make concessions. this is a crazy turn of events. what is interesting, a lot of these republican candidates, they are not only running to

win they are running to build public mandates to get some of this done. important as well. >> paul: two of the candidates meg whitman in california and foley in connecticut, they are hamstrung a little because they are succeeding republican governors who are not very popular. and who both raised taxes. you are seeing the democratic candidates try to -- particularly in california brown tying meg whitman to snagger who is not popular. they said we tried -- to schwarzenegger who is not popular. they said we tried an outsider let's stick with the professional , like brown. >> you have foley in connecticut the same thing. in a way this is helping some of these guys, like whitman and foley because they are sail i'm a different person than that. don't -- they are saying, i'm a different person. i'm promising to come in and clean house not just the

democratic side but the republicans who are running the state too. >> paul: can you put in long term structural reform then make it impossible when the good times come back, much harder when the good times come back, if they do for the spenders to come back in power. you have to have some kind of cap on spending and taxes. hard cap. >> you want the hard caps on spending and taxes. you want the reform of pensions to shift workers to 401(k) style like everyone in the private sector gets. benchmark it to whatever the average company in your state is offering. offer that to the government workers. >> paul: right now they have guaranteed pay-outs and they get spiked at the end of the tenure so they have a bigger pension. >> i hear from christie's camp he is pushing another plan to get rid of the most of the unfunded liabilities. but he wants to go further. >> paul: when we come back, angelo's ashes.

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>> paul: former countrywide ceo settled civil fraud charges brought against him by ties and exchange commission last week. agreeing to pay a 22 1/2 million dollar fine the largest ever for a senior executive of a public company. that huge sigh of relief you hear that's the political class in washington after learning he wasn't required to name names. documents show 30 senators or senate employees received

discounted vip loans under the so-called friends of angelo program. retiring connecticut senator chris dodd is countrywide's most famous client. will we either know the identities of the others? james, are we going to find out the names? why don't we know? >> this whole process in washington has been designed to prevent the tapes from coming out we almost learned more before they started issue aoulg subpoenas than we know now. -- issuing subpoenas than we know now. now when we want information the government says -- a subpoena sent to bank of america the current owner to say let's have the information on the present of angelo loans which were cut rate mortgages for vip's at fannie mae freddie mac in congress in the executive branch. unfortunately this came to a head a year ago with the house

oversight committee agreeing at long -- [ talking over each other ] >> part of the deal was, we don't want the names of congressman. send those to the ethics committee. >> where they get buried while there's an investigation or maybe there isn't an investigation. >> the question with the senate, the subpoena was carefully crafted not to endanger the senate. so what congressman darrell issa california republican did was send the senate a letter saying i've seen documents, names are blacked out, there are 37 employees, look into this. >> why can't issa make those public? >> this was the deal he worked out with the -- [ talking over each other ] >> paul: he had to agree to this secrecy. are we going to find this out? >> you know it is a question. unless the senate ethics committee wants to get more

aggressive or chairman in the house wants to release the names, he may or may not know depending on when has cared to look in these files. the question is whether the house ethics committee if they've gotten the referrals. it has been a black hole. a year ago they issue the seen nat. the press pack has moved on to other stories. >> paul: it has all died down this is an outrage this ought to be made public. dan, is this settlement that he got with the sec is this a fair reckoning for the public? >> you know, the idea here is did ma low pay enough? in is -- bernie madoff. he was not sitting in a room on third floor running this out of his back pocket this is much bigger. what would be really fair is if barney frank lost that race in massachusetts.

>> paul: since he was the biggest single inenabler. >> in 2004, they bragged that countrywide held 26% of their single home business. this was an enormous number -- >> paul: countrywide issued subprime loans to people many couldn't pay then selling to fannie mae allowing even more loans they were business partners in a fundamental sense. >> i think there's a big lesson. we often hear people say why can't business and the public sector work together? this was the biggest private-public partnership in the history of the world. there's more corruption and possibly criminality than anyone has seen. >> paul: private profits socialized risk. >> i think the problem would be if people think we the bad guy. the bad guys were in congress at fannie mae and freddie mac.

>> paul: one more break. when we come back, hits and misses of the week. [ j. weissman ] it was 1975. my professor at berkeley asked me if i wanted to change the world. i said "sure." "well, let's grow some algae." and that's what started it. exxonmobil and synthetic genomi have built a new facility to identify the most productive strains of algae. algae a amazing little critters. they secrete oil, which we could turn into biofuels. they also absorb co2. we're hoping to supplement the fuels that we use in our vehicles, and to do this at a large enough scale to someday help meet the wor's energy demands. did you know a problems ain your heartugh scale can cause a stroke in your brain? it's true. an irregular heartbeat, called atrial fibrillation, or afib, can make a blood clot form, here, in your heart, thstraight to your brain where it can cause a serious stroke. having atrial fibrillation gives you a 5 times greater risk of stroke than if you didn't have it. strokes that are twice as likely to be deadly

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>> paul: time for hits and misses of the week. dan first to you. >> significant miss to the students in france seen rioting on televisions all over the world in year. french president sarkozy is trying to get the country's

fiscal affairs in order by raising the retirement age from 60 to 62. the scenes show where the united states does not want to go. >> paul: i give them a hit for showing us where we don't want to end up. kim? >> i'm saying hooray for couldn't ! i know there's a lot of wailing there because canada lost the vote in the general assembly for a temporary seat on the u.n. security council the better tway to look at this is, you have to be doing something right to have upset that many dictatorships and sanctimonious western european to lose the in this case it is harper's conservative government, great on afghanistan, israel, push back on cap and trade. if the only price is lose you go the honor of a u.n. seat and -- canada ought to be throwing a party. >> paul: james? >> this is garcia t