Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and Washington Post columnist David S. Broder was online Friday, June 16, at noon ET to answer your questions about the world of politics, from the latest maneuverings on Capitol Hill to developments in the White House.

Broder has written extensively about primaries, elections, special interests and the business of politics. His books include "Democracy Derailed: The Initiative Movement & the Power of Money," "Behind the Front Page: A Candid Look at How the News Is Made" and "The System: The American Way of Politics at the Breaking Point."

The transcript follows.

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Arlington, Va.: Is there some kind of back story on this Hawaiian reserve thing? It seemed like a very random thing to be announced. Summer vacation season or something?

David S. Broder: Good day to all of you visiting the chat room. I'm glad to be back with you. But I don't know the answer to this first question. The same question popped into my mind, but I have not seen it answered anywhere,

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Hackettstown, N.J.: As a student of Constitutional history, I am profoundly concerned about the future of our democratic constitutional freedoms. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about that future?

David S. Broder: I share your concern. As an example, yesterday's Supreme Court decision loosening the restrictions on testimony obtained after a no-knock entry into someone's home strikes me as a serious setback to civil liberties. It was a 5-4 decision, with the two new justices making up the majority. The only thing I would say to you is that we should expect to have to fight for our freedom and our constitutional protections. That is inevitable in every generation, and we should welcome the challenge.

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Los Angeles, Calif.: Hi Mr. Broder, I read WaPo's online article about the brouhaha over Senator Kerry's amendment language being pulled and then introduced as Senator McConnell's own to force a vote. Article also stated that 6 Dems voted against killing amendment (paraphrasing here). I was confused by the whole issue, can you clarify? Thanks so much

David S. Broder: Perhaps. Senator Kerry introduced the language, but had second thoughts about forcing it to a vote. The Republicans (McConnell is the No. 2 man in the GOP Senate) saw a chance to embarrass the Democrats, so they called it up for a vote. Then, as you note, all but six senators voted against the resolution.

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Chicago, Ill.: Greetings from the South Suburbs, where my wife attended your high school alma mater...

My question is about the obvious (to civilians out here in the country, anyway) contempt Bush has for the media...Why do his reporter/victims just keep taking his abuse ... even to the point of constantly saying "we like Bush personally"? Of course I'm referring to the belittling nicknames, etc., and just the most recent example, his humorless dissing of the LA Times reporter who's legally blind.

Are reporters so intimidated by this towel-snapping frat boy that they can't stick up for themselves at all? The only one who seems to is Helen Thomas.... Thanks very much.

David S. Broder: My greetings to your Bloom alumna wife. No, I don't think reporters are intimidated; certainly the ones who are covering the president for this newspaper are not. Reporters often like the politicians they cover; I like a lot of them in both parties. But liking somebody does not give him or her immunity from tough, probing coverage. And I think the White House reporters are trying to do that with Mr. Bush.

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Winthrop, Mass.: Has anyone in Congress actually discussed how much it would take to faithfully implement any of the immigration plans? The INS is so over loaded that it takes years to process applications, and the Amnesty plans would increase their work load by several fold. Is anyone providing the money to increase the INS by four times or so? On the boarder issue, no one ever cites studies on how many boarder agents we need to stem the flow. So will 5000 more really help, or do we need 20,000 more to have a serious effect on the flow across the boarder?

David S. Broder: There were some estimates of the cost of the immigration bill passed by the Senate, and they ran into the billions--I can't recall the exact figures. No question, it would be an expensive proposition. The question is whether we can afford to maintain the status quo with growing numbers of people living long-term in a shadowy status as illegal residents.

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Baltimore, Md.: I had read that this new preserve actually increases the danger to the local wildlife, since it takes primary responsibility for environmental enforcement in the area out of the Navy and Coast Guard's hands and makes the Parks Service responsible for all the policing. Any guess which one owns more boats and has a bigger budget?

David S. Broder: I am no expert on this subject, but all the comments I have seen from conservation groups--including Mr. Cousteau, who made the film about the area that apparently influenced the president's decision--welcome the announcement. I trust they know what is best.

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Richmond, Va.: Does Jim Webb have a chance to beat George Allen in the Senate race in Virginia?

David S. Broder: I would say it is an uphill fight for Mr. Webb. George Allen is a very good politician, and Virginia is a state that likes to send Republicans to the Senate. Webb has little money; Allen has a lot. But I think Webb will make it an interesting autumn in my adopted state.

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Groton, Conn.: Why isn't there a greater backlash from voters about the deficit and debt? Do you think this will result in tax increases in the next few years?

David S. Broder: I think the answer is that neither the politicians nor we in the press have done a very good job of explaining it. The only time voters really got it was when Ross Perot bought the half hour TV time slots and put up his charts. His folksy explanations got through; but nobody else's have.

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Springfield, Va.: Question about house vote on Rep Jefferson: I noticed that several representative voted not to strip Jefferson of his post. How do you explain that? Seems he has a good chance of doing some jail time.

David S. Broder: Those who voted no said they were bothered by the fact that there was no rule on the books requiring a member suspected of wrongdoing, but not under indictment, to relinquish a committee post. That may seem like a legalistic point, but I can understand why some members may have thought it important that Mr. Jefferson not be treated more harshly than others under suspicion.

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Prescott, Ariz.: Mr Broder, during your last chat, several people asked you about Rep. Kennedy's assertion about the vote fixing in Ohio. You mentioned you weren't that up on it, but would research the subject. Have you, and if so, what are your thoughts?

David S. Broder: No, I have not. Call me a procrastinator, and I would have to plead guilty.

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Portland, Ore.: Mr. Broder:

You apparently received a fair amount of grief over your column regarding whether the Clintons' marriage is a line of fair inquiry for reporters, yet relationships and the loosely-defined concept of character is enormously important. My own theory, for example, is that much of what President Bush has done over the past six year is directly the result of his relationship to his father, a towering figure who succeeded in everything that his son failed in -- academics, athletics, war, business. I have no doubt that President Bush will always think his presidency was a success because he did two things his father could not do -- topple Saddam Hussein and get re-elected. My question is, is this type of understanding going to have to wait for the historians? How can reporters help us understand our leaders' motivations without seeming to cross the line into those areas that should be left appropriately private and personal?

David S. Broder: I thank you for your very wise message. You raise one of the most important questions facing political journalists. We should not become amateur psychiatrists. What we can do is look carefully at the earlier careers of men and women who are seeking the presidency, looking for patterns of behavior, the character of their relationships with other politicians, their decision-making, their consistent goals and the anomalies in their careers, if any. We can talk with people who have worked with them and known them in their formative years. And we can learn a lot about them that way. An example of this kind of reporting is the work that David Maraniss did for the Post on Bill Clinton, when he was a candidate--work summarized and expanded in his book, "First in His Class." I hope we will try to emulate that example in the coming presidential campaign.

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Boston, Mass.: Wired News has published AT&T technician Mark Klein's damning evidence that AT&T is intercepting all Internet traffic for the government, with details down to the cabinet number where the wiretapping equipment (or in this case, optical splitters) is stored. Do you know anything more about this story?

David S. Broder: No, I do not.

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Arlington, Va.: Is there any information as to whether Republican support for staying in Iraq indefinitely would be a winning issue for individual representatives and senators in November?

David S. Broder: The answer to your question will depend on the makeup of the district. The national polls show a majority of Americans now believe the war in Iraq was a mistake, but obviously that cannot be applied to individual districts. The strategy of House Republicans, as outlined by Tom Reynolds, the chairman of heir campaign committee, is to run on local issues and individual accomplishments--downplaying the national and international issues.

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Beware: Any comment on Milbank's new threat, from his chat last hour?

Now that Tom Edsall is gone...: who else in the politics department could possibly be such an appealing target for your unique wit and wisdom?

Dana Milbank: We should probably bring this to a vote.

Jim VandeHei? (Plenty of Cheesehead possibilities.)

Shailagh Murray? (It's fun to pick on the girls.)

Jonathan Weisman? (We can hear him conducting an interview in the Capitol when we're in our offices on 15th Street.)

David Broder? (He has always been the newsroom clown.)

Dan Balz (Ok, give me a minute.)

David S. Broder: Murray wins. Women and children first.

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Washington, D.C.: So what's going on with Iraqi prisons? Today's Post (front page) says they are run by Shiite militias and Iraq doesn't want control of them. If U.S. control is so bad that they are run by Shiite militias, how much worse could Iraqi control be?

(More good news for the administration.)

David S. Broder: It's one more example of the mess we have inherited--or helped create--in Iraq.

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Kansas City, Mo.: The local paper has started a new feature on the editorial page where they title columnists "From the Right" and "From the Left." They have you listed "From the Left." While I can see Michelle Malkin and Jonah Goldberg fitting the "From the Right," I guess I considered you "From the Left." Is this another attempt to label everything and everyone no matter what?

David S. Broder: I was not aware of the labeling. I resist being labeled, and I will so inform the Kansas City paper.

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Morristown, N.J.: The Chicago poster tried to imply that Bush dissed a reporter who was blind, as if he was mocking his disability. Bush did not know he was blind, nor did the reporter himself care to tell anyone on the White House staff beforehand. The President called the reporter up to apologize and the reporter said it wasn't any big deal. But let's not the have facts get in the way of the Chicago poster's bias.

P.S. Bush has nicknames for everyone. Are we becoming so thin-skinned that we get in an uproar over that?

David S. Broder: You are correct on all points. And I agree.

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San Antonio, Tex.: David:

Has the recent uptick in the president's poll numbers, the death of Zarqawi in Iraq, the president's trip there, and Rove not being prosecuted changed the conventional wisdom that the Republicans are in danger of losing either or both the house and the senate? Do you think that the Democrats have a good chance of taking either chamber?

David S. Broder: I think it's much too soon to judge how much the recent spate of good news has affected public opinion. As you know, it tends to move slowly and by small increments, so I would suggest we wait and see. As for the congressional outlook, I can count enough districts where Democrats have a chance to gain seats to give them a House majority; they need 15 seats., But as I wrote in a recent column, the California special election should remind us that it still takes a candidate and a campaign to win. Coming close, as they did out in San Diego, doesn't count. And I think the Democrats still have a lot of work to do to take control. The Senate is even more of a reach for them. My guess is that there will be fewer Republicans in Congress after November, but how many fewer, I don't know/

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Falls Church, Va.: In your editorial on the 15th you talked of Hagel's "can't do" attitude regarding illegal immigration. What is his motivation for this position? Why is the GOP so divided? Low cost solution - after a year disqualify from citizenship any illegal who has not returned to country of origin then deduct social costs (health, education, prison) of guest worker from foreign aid to respective country.

David S. Broder: I did not characterize Senator Hagel's position as "can't do." If that is your opinion, fine, but do not make it mine. I favor the comprehensive approach embodied in Hagel's Senate-passed bill, but I doubt anything like it can become law this year. As for your proposed solution, it strikes me as wrongheaded on all counts. But that's just my opinion.

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washingtonpost.com: GOP vs. GOP on Borders , ( Post, June 15, 2006 )

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Albany, N.Y.: Mr. Broder, your article yesterday on the two GOPs was very intriguing and kind of echoed David Brook's piece about the two emerging ideologies.

Sen. Hagel is an interesting politician; very pro-business, but not an elitist, very staunchly conservative, but more in the federalist style than socially conservative. What is your take on him and his future path?

David S. Broder: I think you have summarized Senator Hagel's politics very accurately. He has tentatively explored the possibility of running for president in 2008, but because of his close friendship with John McCain, I doubt he would enter the race if McCain caries through his evident ambition to run.

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Chicago, Ill.: Any comment on Senator Frist's son's actions as noted by Media Notes reporter Howard Kurtz-

"...son of the Senate majority leader declaring membership in the "Jonathan Frist appreciation For 'Waking Up White People' Group" and another group that says: "No Jews Allowed. Just Kidding. No seriously."

It has been out of bounds to attack the family of politicians (well, it use to be) but given the overtly racist and ant-Semitic views expressed by Jonathan Frist don't you think his father should bare some of the blame. Either for holding these views himself or bad parenting?

washingtonpost.com: Those Darned Kids , ( June 16, 2006 )

David S. Broder: I think the Frist family can deal with that issue on its own, without any help from the press.

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New Haven, Conn.: Mr. Broder - I recently heard one of our politicians say, in response to level funds for priorities like education, that he can't wait until the Ds retake the House. Given the war, the large amount of debt, and the general unwillingness to tackle entitlement spending and/or roll back taxes, do you really think things will change all that much if the Ds retake the House/Senate? In any event, I think it will take the US a long time to climb out out of this particular hole.

Thanks kindly.

David S. Broder: I agree with you. We are looking at a decade's work to fix the fiscal bind that we've let our leaders create. And I agree with you that if the Democrats win a majority in either House, they will find that their options are strictly limited by the budget mess they inherit.

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Washington, D.C.: Wanted to follow-up on one of the last questions about the fall elections. I think it's overdue that we have a real choice of candidates. It seems like the extremes of the parties are selecting our candidates. Due to this we will never see someone like former Gov. Warner run for a national election. Would love to see him on the ticket in the fall.

David S. Broder: Mark Warner is running for the national ticket--or at least he's traveling the country and raising money to prepare for such a race. He will have lots of competition for the Democratic presidential nomination, but I don't discount the chances of his winding up on the ticket.

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Suffolk, Va.: Sir, I worked as an officer of election for the primary in VA on Tuesday. The sheer lack of enthusiasm (and the miserable turnout) astounded me. I really expected a lot more energy and determination out of the voters, but less than six percent turnout? I can't help but read into this and think that Webb will have trouble come November. Is this sort of apathy going on elsewhere too? Does it mean anything?

David S. Broder: I agree with your comments about the Virginia vote and its implications for the fall campaign. Turnout has generally been low in the primaries around the country. In a recent column, I noted the paradox of seeing the voters are very upset with politics, but not turning out to vote. Maybe they're storing it up to punish people in November--or maybe they've just given up on the politicians. I hope they haven't quit in disgust.

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Arlington, Va.: David,

Do you think support for the war would change if people had to actually PAY for it?

What's $97 Billion when it's coming out of your grandchildren's funds? ($2 Trillion in total?)

David S. Broder: Yes, I do. And it would be a lot better for the country--and our grandchildren--if we were paying for it.

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Arlington, Va.: Prior to the OFHEO report, every Democrat on Banking voted against reform and oversight for Fannie Mae, which ended in a huge scandal. Could the Republicans use this to further blunt the effect of the "culture of corruption" charges? Or, have the Democrats sufficiently done that to themselves?

David S. Broder: That issue may be a bit too complex to turn into a 30-second ad, but you raise an interesting possibility.

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Arlington, Va.: Do you think the country is in an 8 year cycle for picking a president from each party ? Going back to WW-II (the last great country unifying event before 9-11 (perhaps)), we've had Eisenhower-8, Kennedy/Johnson-8, Nixon/Ford-8, Reagan-8, Clinton-8, and Bush-8. The only exceptions being Carter and Bush. Were the defeat of Carter and election of Bush in 1988 due to poor Democratic candidates ?

David S. Broder: I am not persuaded by the 8-year cycle theory. It is true that second terms tend to go downhill, creating a demand for change. But I say again, it still takes a candidate and a campaign to win--you can't depend on the calendar to do it for you.

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Centreville, Va.: Mr. Broder,

Tom Reynolds, Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, explained on one of the talking head shows this past Sunday that the GOP's strategy is to run on local issues in this fall's congressional campaigns. He must have used the word "local" a dozen times. Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, a Maryland GOP House member, is quoted in the Post yesterday as saying "To me, the administration does not act like there's a war going on. The Congress certainly doesn't act like there's a war going on. If you're raising money to keep the majority, if you're thinking about gay marriage, if you're doing all this other peripheral stuff, what does that say to the guy who's about ready to drive over a land mine?" Mr. Gilchrest doesn't seem to think Mr. Reynolds' strategy will work. Given that the Iraq war, in my opinion, is very much a local issue in every congressional district in the country--because our family members, friends, and neighbors are being killed and wounded, and because the staggering amount of money being spent to secure Iraq is not available for improving the lives of local constituents--do you think it will?

David S. Broder: In my view, Tom Reynolds is trying to ignore "the elephant in the room" when he says that war, gasoline prices, energy, health care, immigration, etc., and all the other things that have contributed to public frustration with Washington will not affect the November races. But he is a better politician than I will ever be--so we will see who is right.

This has to be my last response of the day. I've enjoyed this, and I look forward to our next session.

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