CROWLEY: Just this week, Indiana Democrat Evan Bayh said after almost 12 years in the Senate, he is so fed up he won't run again. Bayh is among those who join us in a bit to look at whether there is any way out of this mess other than the door. But when the senator made his announcement, he teed up the problem CNN will focus on this week.

Just out this morning, our CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll showing just how many of you think it's a problem: 86 percent of Americans think their government is broken. It's not hard to argue that near gridlock has set in, no health care reform, no new effort to cap carbon emissions, no new jobs bill, and the new tone in Washington is pretty much the same old song.

The politics of hope seem to be stuck in the wheels of governance. How did we get here? Is there a fix? But even more fundamentally, what is wrong with moving slowly on the really big things?

While we try to figure it out with our Sunday guests, keep this in mind also from our new poll. Yes, a growing number of Americans think government is broken, but more than three-quarters of Americans thought the same thing four years ago.

Joining me to begin are two governors from states that President Obama should be able to count on. Republican Jim Douglas of Vermont is the chairman of the National Governors Association, Democrat Deval Patrick's Massachusetts is still feeling the aftershocks of having a Republican take Teddy Kennedy's seat.

So you've come to frozen Washington. You've had your convention or are in the midst of it, actually, so give us the view from outside. When -- I am assuming some of these 86 percent of Americans live in your states, and what are they thinking?

PATRICK: Well -- may I, Jim?

DOUGLAS: Go ahead.

PATRICK: First of all, I want to say we are very well led in the National Governors Association by Jim Douglas, who is a great friend, and we work together on a number of things. And frankly, I think that the public I represent is keen to see more of the kind of cooperation that Governor Douglas and I share.

You know, there are -- I am a Democrat and proud to be a Democrat, but I did not run to be governor of the Democrats. I serve everybody. And I think that expectation is there and it's a fair and appropriate expectation of the public for people we send to Washington as well.

CROWLEY: What most irks your Vermont folks?

DOUGLAS: Well, I think gridlock that we see in Washington to which Deval referred. We have two major political parties in our country, and that's fine, they have different points of view. And the robustness of the political process is that those views come to the table, they are debated and reconciled.

But ultimately something has to happen. The work has to be done. The streets have to be plowed or the budget has to be balanced. And I agree that in the National Governors Association, we have a much more collegial relationship. We talk with each other, we learn from each other, Deval and I hosted a health care forum last spring at the request of the president. We have to get the job done. And when we look at Congress, all of the bickering, the inaction, I think the American people are really fed up.

PATRICK: And if I may, Candy, it's -- it's unseemly, to use a tactful term, to see so many people sit on the side -- so many people in office sit on the sidelines and root for failure. I think most Americans, no matter what their political background or political party affiliation, if they have one, want their president to succeed.

And I think this president, by focusing on health care, by focusing on job creation, by focusing on the anxieties and the sufferings of the people of this country is focusing where people want him to. He does not pretend to have all of the answers and never has. He has been open to ideas from other sides -- from the other side, and that has shown in the legislative agenda that he has pursued and the substance of that agenda.

But I think that the American people are going to hold accountable those who simply sit on the sidelines and root for failure. We can't afford that.

CROWLEY: Let me do point out here just that in 2006 when we saw also three-quarters of Americans going this government is broken was a huge sweep out of office of Republicans. I think it remains to be seen who is actually going to get punished for this come November, because the Democrats are in charge. But I want to ask a more fundamental question of you.

I think we all know that in comedy, there's always a lot of truth and you can sometimes get difficult questions or sometimes the most simplistic questions out...

PATRICK: (INAUDIBLE) says there are no jokes.

CROWLEY: That's right. There are no jokes.

So I just want to play this from David Letterman solo, when he opens his show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW": The upper East Coast and Washington, D.C., probably hit hardest of all, two storms back to back, the bad news is Washington, D.C., is entirely shut down, the good news is, Washington, D.C., is entirely shut down.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: So I'm wondering if he is speaking for governors? Because you all both have health care programs installed in your states. You are working on that. Do you wish Washington would just stop working on health care? DOUGLAS: Well, we are in this together, Candy. Medicaid is paid principally by the federal government, the program that helps the low- income people of our state.

CROWLEY: (INAUDIBLE).

DOUGLAS: Well, I know, and that's -- can be a problem unless it's done sustainably. But your point is a good one that Massachusetts, Vermont, Minnesota, some other states, have really been on the vanguard of reforming health care.

And what I said to my colleagues at our meeting was health care reform is happening, it's happening in the states. We would like to have a better partner in Washington because we have a shared responsibility, but meanwhile governors are going to keep moving forward to try to insure the people of our states.

CROWLEY: Do you sometimes look at Washington and think, I really wish they would all go on recess?

PATRICK: No, no. I'm -- you know, I -- the joke was funny, but we need a functioning federal government, we need a functioning -- we need functioning state governments and local governments, not because government can solve every problem in everybody's life, but that has a role to play in helping people help themselves. And there are some things we choose to do together. And that's what we call government.

In the case of health care reform, we've had now a program in place for the three plus years I have been in office that has delivered health insurance to over 97 percent of our residents. There is not another state that can touch us.

CROWLEY: So, but other than to fund Medicaid...

PATRICK: Vermont is right behind us, coming on strong.

CROWLEY: Yes, other than to fund Medicaid, though, would you rather they stay out of the way? I mean here is this a big program, I know at the Governors Association, you have had governors going, stop, you know, I don't want this thing to pass.

DOUGLAS: Well, I think we have to work together. But remember what the real problem is, and that's the cost of health care that keeps rising at rates that are multiples of inflation year after year after year. And I think there has been too much...

PATRICK: Whether you have a universal program or not.

DOUGLAS: Exactly.

PATRICK: That's happening everywhere.

DOUGLAS: That's the point, because it doesn't matter whether it's a publicly funded program or private health insurance companies, if we don't get cost under control, we are going to be broke either way. So we need to reform the way we deliver care. We need to reform the payment system to incent quality care and good outcomes and get those costs under control.

(CROSSTALK)

PATRICK: Excuse me, Candy, I'm sorry. We think there are a handful of principles that we can agree on on a bipartisan basis as governors who are having to solve problems and deliver real care.

CROWLEY: Let me sort speak to that, because when you all sat down at this table before we went on the air, the first thing you said to me was, this is a great governor, he really has done such a great job. You have far more commonality of purpose here than I think we've seen on Capitol Hill for some time.

As you know, Evan Bayh, who is going to be on the program a little later, said this week, I'm not coming back. They're not getting something done. He wrote an editorial this morning in The New York Times. And I want to read you a portion of it and ask you about it.

It said: "In 1968, when my father," that would Birch Bayh, "was running for re-election, Everett Dirksen, the Republican leader, approached him on the Senate floor, put his arm around my dad's shoulder, and asked what he could do to help. This is unimaginable today.

DOUGLAS: I think it is about relationships. And we had a long- time senator from Vermont named George Aiken, and he had breakfast with Mike Mansfield, the Democratic senator from Montana every morning for like 30 years. Two senators of different parties building that personal relationship. And now they don't have breakfast together in Washington, they don't have dinner together. And without those personal relationships that we have as governors, I don't think we can accomplish our goals.

CROWLEY: Do you have personal relationships -- well, you have to work with Republicans in your legislature. You clearly have to work with Democrats in Vermont. Do you know their kids? Do you have personal relationships? You sit down to dinner, is that how you get things done?

PATRICK: You know, we find ways to build bridges. You work together on different issues. You occasionally socialize together. I think, governors, we get together formally a couple times a year, but we talk all the time. And it's a very -- you know, they are very almost intimate conversations, conversations that are difficult to have, that are more candid in some respects if there was not another governor.

And then we trust each other to keep those confidences, to use discretion.

DOUGLAS: In Vermont it was four years ago when we passed our health care reform measure, frankly, I vetoed the first one the year before, but then we worked together on a bipartisan basis to fashion a program that is sustainable, that meets our objectives. DOUGLAS: And earlier this year, we worked together again across party lines to address the budget challenge that we're confronting to agree on some budget cuts that are difficult but ones that we have to make for the best interest of the state.

CROWLEY: And it probably helps that you all have to live in the neighborhoods and walk the streets and listen to your constituents, and it makes you do that, yeah. I need to take a break, here, but we are going to come back with both of you to talk more about this.

Later, Democratic Senator Evan Bayh and two others who decided to get out of Congress will talk about whether there is any way to get back on the right track. But when we come back, I would like you two to address whether the sentiment that Washington is broken is really anything new.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CROWLEY: We are back with Governor Jim Douglas of Vermont and Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. One of the great things about TV is that you can just put together blasts from the past and sort of amuse yourself. So I want to play you this as sort of a rendition of where we have been in years past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT: Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.

GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT: The American people, I don't know about inside the Beltway, but outside they are fed up with business as usual and so am I.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: Government is broken and we intend to fix it.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT: Congress is not getting its work done. We are near the end of the year, and there really isn't much to show for it.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We face a deficit of trust, deep and corrosive doubts about how Washington works that have been growing for years.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CROWLEY: So rather than have the two of you, as I suggested in the break, sort of lead a therapy session on Capitol Hill, how do you -- this has been a cycle that has been going on, and I dare we could go further back and hear presidents complain. And this seems to be more than just the branches of government in a natural conflict. This seems to be certainly something the American people believe in, that it's just broken. So do we accept it or do we move on and figure out a way?

DOUGLAS: I think we have to move on and figure out a way, Candy, because we've got a national debt that is now over $12 trillion. We have got unemployment that is higher than it has been in our lifetime. We have an economy and a government that are indeed broken. So we have no choice but to get folks in Washington to come together, to find some common ground, as governors do, as we do in our states, and address the challenges of the American people.

CROWLEY: What do you most want them to do? What do you need?

PATRICK: Well, I'll tell you one thing, apart from policy that would be very helpful is to deal with facts as facts and not pretend like you know, everybody can have one set of facts. I mean, I look at the Recovery Act and all of the noise about job creation and then I go and I visit a company like Next Anthup (ph) up in North Andover, which is founded by Iraqi vets. They are doing solar installations. They started at four. Thanks to the Recovery Act, they are on their way to 100 employees, that's real. And there are 25,000 other stories like in that Massachusetts.

So I think it's very hard to have a debate about policy direction if we can't agree on reality. And there are some truths here that I think are just unavoidable. Facts are, as I say, stubborn things.

CROWLEY: They are, but there are facts that can you bring to the forefront and facts you can ignore. I think that's also the problem is that people leave out things or choose the ones that sort of favor their possession. But how do you -- I have been in Washington for a long time, it's very hard to take the politics out of policy.

DOUGLAS: I think you should lead those therapy sessions, Candy. No, you're right, as I said at the outset, it's good to have different ideas. The marketplace of ideas is what this country is all about, some different opinions that are put on the table and talked about and good outcomes are what we expect from that process.

But recently, I think, we've seen such gridlock, such intense partisanship, that the American people, as reflected in the polls are really discouraged. And I think it's more serious now because this is the longest and deepest recession we have had. Yeah, it's more serious than those other times.

CROWLEY: And what is -- because you spoke to that yesterday and said you all think this coming fiscal year that begins this summer is going to be worse than the last fiscal year.

PATRICK: From a state budget. CROWLEY: From a state budget point of view. You are all working on deficits, most states are and a lot of those states can't have deficits, so you have to do something. So how is the gridlock right now affecting your constituents and your constituents?

DOUGLAS: Well in budgetary terms, states are facing shortfalls of about $134 billion total over the next two fiscal years. We get a significant amount of money from Medicaid and other federal programs from Washington and we need to have some predictability, some expectation of what those resources are, so we can budget in our own states. We may have different views on how much we should get or over what period of time, but we need some certainty, and this gridlock doesn't provide that. So we really need Washington to come together, to work on a bipartisan basis, and get us out of this.

PATRICK: Another example of that, we have large numbers of people out of work all across the country, in varying degrees in different ones of our states. The Congress has put forward a proposal to extend unemployment benefits. That's not because we want people to become reliant on unemployment benefits, it's just because we want people to be able to bridge to a better and stronger economy. There hasn't been action on that. There is a jobs bill that has been proposed by the White House and there is a discussion up on Capitol Hill. I think the House has passed it, the Senate hasn't moved it. We need that kind of action and we need it now.

CROWLEY: Governor Douglas and Governor Patrick, I want you to listen to something, which I think you will recognize that we, again, our blast from the past, not a too distance blast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGLAS: I know there are differences of opinion on some of the elements, and if I were writing it, it might be a little different. If you were writing it, it might be a little different, but the essence of a recovery package is essential to get our nation's economy moving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: Stimulus package, you were supporting the president. I can tell you that that same picture has gotten Florida Governor Crist in a position where he may not win the primaries and that picture of him with the president, isn't that part of the problem, is if you as governors can sit there and it's fine except for when you want to move on to a different position, you can get hurt?

DOUGLAS: I didn't realize my tie wasn't straight in that picture. What I said then is what I think most governors believe, that we might like it a little different.

DOUGLAS: Frankly, I was hoping there would be a little more for infrastructure, but -- but it was a package of relief that the states need urgently at a time when our state budgets were collapsing and we were facing the prospect of drastic cuts in state services or increases in taxes that wouldn't be fair or sustainable.

So a recovery package was appropriate to stimulate the economy at that time last year. So, on a bipartisan basis, the president reached out -- I appreciate that -- to Republican governors, to try to put something together.

CROWLEY: Let me ask you...

PATRICK: And Jim was -- Jim was great on this, and it was -- as was Governor Crist, very, very helpful.

And then, you know, there are other elements. For example, there was a -- Jim talked about wanting more infrastructure money in it. There was a compromise to do less infrastructure, because Republicans in the Congress wanted a larger tax package -- tax cuts, huge tax cuts in this -- in this bill.

The president agreed to that. The Democrats brought it to the floor, and then all of the Republicans voted against it. That's the sort of thing that seems to me has got to end. If we're going to reach out and try to make those compromises, then let's -- let's come together in the end and actually get stuff done.

CROWLEY: I want to ask you a quick question, because you have a number of urban areas, obviously, in Massachusetts; because you're an African-American governor. The president was paid a visit by a number of African-American leaders recently, and they said, listen to me; you've got -- the African-American unemployment is higher than the norm; we need a program specific for these areas.

Does the president need to do that?

PATRICK: I think it -- it can only be helpful. You know, we're trying to do something within the framework of the Recovery Act by using local residents on infrastructure projects, because -- and doing training in order to prepare people for those skills. I think that's the sort of thing we have to be focused on.

CROWLEY: Governor Patrick of Massachusetts, thank you so much.

PATRICK: Thank you for having me. Governor Douglas of Vermont, have a happy retirement, but I imagine we'll see you...

DOUGLAS: Oh, no, no. no. I'll find something else to do.

(LAUGHTER)

CROWLEY: That's right, I bet you will. We thank you so much for joining us.

DOUGLAS: It won't be in Washington.