Bipartisan baldies

>>> there is a safety on this so no lasting damage will be done. there you go. this is going to be good.

>> if only washington cut spending like you cut hair . mission accomplished , right?

>> we've cut some republican hair. now a little democratic hair.

>> bipartisan.

>> are you sure you're ready for this?

>> i'm good! comb it over.

>> this is just too good.

>> in for a dime, in for a dollar, right? my kids are going to run.

>> all right. you pulled it off, coming together for a good cause. brad woodhouse , shawn spicer, thank you very much.

>> way too much john karl in that segment. hair today, gone tomorrow. that was for charity. a about bet before the election that whoever's candidate lost would have his head shaved to raise money for cancer research . spicer lost, of course, woodhouse agreed to sacrifice his hair as well. both men joining me now.

>> that's a scary sight.

>> look at you two. it's a good thing you're both already married. there's no way your wife would like you.

>> another bet without consulting nate silver .

>> before we get to business here. tell me about the specific cancer research group.

>> well, as you mentioned, we made this with bet. i lost the bet. and then brad got a call from an organization that raises money for childhood cancer. he in a good natured bipartisan way decided to jump in and do it together to raise money for this charity and --

>> where can people go?

>> it's a wonderfully important charity that focuses all its attention on raising money for research into childhood cancers and they do -- they raise all their money by shaving heads. that is the entire thing that they do to raise money . they shave celebrity heads. they would shave yours. we have clippers in the car.

>> to the business at hand. this pledge, this grover norquist pledge, how important is it to the republican party ?

>> i think it's very important.

>> do you think it's important for people who signed the pledge to keep it?

>> i think it's important to remember the problem we have which is a spending problem and, frankly, i think we look at it in terms of any family. if your family is going into debt, the first thing you do is say, hey, dad, get a second is job and raise more revenue. you look at the family budget and say how do we cut? where do we get back? once that's done, we are still a little short to pay down the debt, how can we bring in more revenue? so i think before -- for a lot of these members of congress who have committed to saying the problem is spending, we need to reform our out-of-control entitlements, that's where the focus should be.

>> the base of the democratic party going to allow the president some leeway on this?

>> we need to have everything on the table. let's be clear.

>> social security ?

>> s ocial security is not contributing to the current debt or the deficit. social security is something that needs to be shored up. it's relatively easy to do compared to the other -- compared to the other problems, but we need to take a balanced approach to the other problems. this idea that we can just -- you know, the american people didn't believe the republican party 's nominee who said we can just get rid of some of these deductions. we can get rid of some of the loopholes. that's not going to work.

>> i don't understand the, frankly, the contortions being taken by some republicans to avoid raising the tax rate even a point or two at this point. can you explain why it's so important not to raise the rate at all even if it means getting rid of all sorts of deductions?

>> because i think you have to say before you raise the rates and say, hey, everyone needs to pay more, we need to look at things we can do to flatten the code, to grow the economy, why would you tell people they have to pay more, small businesses, individuals, before --

>> make them pay more by getting hatch the deductions.

>> it makes it flatter and fairer and supports economic growth and stops picking winners and losers in some cases. we've been here in the '80s and put the revenue first. said, hey, we'll agree to the spending cuts that come down the road and most never materialized. we had the deficit reduction in graham rudman.

>> we know the rates we had under clinton we had the best economy of the past 50 years. we can go back to those rates.

>> i want to talk about both of your parties. brad woodhouse , one thing we have learned is when barack obama is on the ballot, there is a coalition that helps democrats win a lot of elections. when he's not on the ballot, the one time that he was head of the party but not on the ballot, the party got shellacked.

>> we were facing 10% unemployment. we had this debate over health care . one of the things we learned in this are the lessons that candidates and the party will take away is from president obama and that's to make early investments. that is to expand the map. that is to be on the ground, invest in data. invest in infrastructure. the 50 state strategy was a precursor to what barack obama it did. we're going to continue that.

>> and, shawn, you have a problem with the more people that vote, the less likely the republicans can vote?

>> we did very well in a lot of places. our ground game in every battleground state was up from 2008 . it wasn't up enough except ohio probably. so i think what we need to do and what we are doing right now, the chairman has undertaken a full review of our ground game, our messaging, the metrics. everything that we can do in terms of messaging mechanics, tactics, what did we do well? let's do more of that. what did we not do as well and how can we do better.

>> priebus is running for another term.

>> i had a discussion with debbie. i think she would like to stay but, you know, that decision will be made between her and the president.

>> real quick, chuck, st. baldrick's, this is something we can come together on. be a hero. join brad and i.

>> that's a great shirt.

>> it is a great shirt.

>> better looking than your heads.

>> absolutely.

>> you realize you have to make up your head. thank you both coming up. how do senate democrats manage to