CELESTE HEADLEE: Good morning, Senator.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER: Good morning to you.

CELESTE HEADLEE: You know, the first question that I have to ask is, why open yourself up? Why write fiction? So many legislators write non-fiction books, they read like a history paper in highschool or college, but you've written something which can be critically reviewed, probably will be critically reviewed, criticized, praised ... why do that to yourself?

SEN. BARBARA BOXER: I like to write! It's just what I like to do. I have colleagues who like to golf, and some like to paint. My colleague, Senator Feinstein, does beautiful artwork. I like to write, and I think my constituents know that you have to elect a person who has, maybe, some varied skills and talents. I used to write a column for a weekly paper; I've also written non-fiction, but I love to write fiction. I teamed up with a partner on this one, and the one before. And it is funny to see the critics, I sort of laugh about it, but for me it's great fun and I can do things, I can say things in fiction that I couldn't say in non-fiction.

CELESTE HEADLEE: The lead character in this book is, also happens to be a female senator ...

SEN. BARBARA BOXER: Yes, she is ...

CELESTE HEADLEE: ... but she gets accused of ethics violations. Were you worried that people were going to connect her to you?

SEN. BARBARA BOXER: Well, Ellen Fisher is my idol. The way she handles her life, and I aspire to be like her. Of course what happens to her, she's in the pinnacle of her power, and she's about to investigate surveillance and other things that are happening from the administration, and she becomes a target of the right wing, so they make up all sorts of things about her. They go after her staff, and I wanted my readers to really see how much is on the line, here, when you begin to gain power. It's very cathartic for me to write fiction.

CELESTE HEADLEE: So let's actually talk about what's on the line for you in your position of power, because we've been talking a lot on the global stage about climate change, and obviously you are the chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, there's this Boxer-Kerry bill on the table there, so what is your strategy for actually getting your 60 votes to get this passed?

SEN. BARBARA BOXER: I have a very good strategy: It's called 'one day at a time.' The next step is to get it out of my committee, and that's where I'm totally focused. John Kerry, who's been a wonderful partner in all of this, he's not on the committee, so his strategy right now is to work to get support, off the committee. Yesterday he had an op-ed piece run in the New York Times, with Lindsey Graham, which is the first Republican to actually come out and say, 'Yes, I want to work on this.' It was a big breakthrough. So the strategy is to build our coalition stronger and stronger. We have worked with the faith groups, because the faith groups are looking at this global warming situation and saying, 'if we care about God's green earth, we have to speak out,' and they are really coming forward in numbers. We're very pleased to add them. We have people who are working on natural gas; they see that they have a product that has half the carbon emissions, so we're building some very interesting coalitions. So that's the strategy.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:Well, certainly noone would argue that you're one of the progressive Democrats in the Senate, and if we're talking about the whole...

SEN. BARBARA BOXER: ... and very proud of it.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:And very proud of it, sure. But does that put you on the front line in 2010? Are you vulnerable from the criticism ... explain?

SEN. BARBARA BOXER: Sure! I'm vulnerable every time I run. My right-wing friends always say, 'Barbara Boxer? We're going to just knock her off,' and so I'm running for my 11th election, and I hope to win it. Of course I'm on the line, but that's who I am, and I expect that.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:Is former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, who might be your challenger, a right wing extremist?

SEN. BARBARA BOXER: Well, she's totally anti-choice, she wants to drill off the coast of California, so she has a lot of positions that don't mesh with the people of my state, but beyond that, she's someone who didn't vote in 75% of the elections since she moved to California, so there are other issues. My view is that these are very tough times, and who do you really want in the Senate? Someone who's going to stand up and fight, who's always done that from day one? Or someone who's untested who didn't even vote in most of the elections? It's going to be a very intriguing race -- a very expensive race.

CELESTE HEADLEE: I have to ask you, although you and Senator Kerry have kind of shied away from using the phrase 'cap and trade,' but the cap and trade idea, where it's almost like buying an indulgence from the Catholic Church -- You have a wealthy corporation so that they can continue with their practices when someone else gets cleaner -- that seems, to a lot of environmentalists, like a bad deal for the environment. But even that, we're having trouble, you're having trouble, getting through the Republicans in the Senate. If you can't even get cap and trade through, how are you going to get any kind of meaningful environmental change through Congress?

SEN. BARBARA BOXER: First of all, the cap and trade, which we call 'Pollution Reduction and Investment...'

CELESTE HEADLEE: ... way more snappy ...

SEN. BARBARA BOXER: ... Well, 'cap and trade' sounds like a baseball term. You put cap on a player and you trade him. Most people don't get it; you do, bless your heart. First of all, it did pass the House, number one. Number two, the environmentalists pretty much all embrace it at this point. I think we can do it. It gives us flexibility as we reduce the carbon out of the air. It's not that many firms that are going to have to pay this, that are going to have to do this. So we feel it's the most flexible way to reduce this pollution, and we think it's going to work. It worked for acid rain, this same kind of plan, and we think it's going to work for this.

CELESTE HEADLEE: So the other big issue on Capitol Hill is Afghanistan. You've said before that you haven't made up your mind about the troop increase in Afghanistan.. have you ...

SEN. BARBARA BOXER: No, I didn't say that. I said that before I spoke out on it, I wanted to see what the president said, but here's what I believe: We have enough troops there to fight the Taliban. If you count our 68,000 troops, the 30,000 troops of NATO, the 100,000 troops of the Afghans, and we're going to train another 94,000, that's well over 200,000 versus 20,000 Taliban, and thankfully, al-Qaida is really on the ropes, and they're way down. So I don't think it's a question of the number of troops. I think people get off on that, and it's wrong. The question is, the strategy. And that's what has to change, not the number of troops.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:Barbara Boxer, Democratic Senator, in our studios here. Your book, 'Blind Trust.' Did you ever read the book 'Advise and Consent?'

SEN. BARBARA BOXER: Oh, of course.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:That paints a picture of a nasty, awful place called Washington. This is ... while there are some nasty and awful people, this is a kind of heroic, roll up your sleeves kind of place. Do you believe Washington is that way?

SEN. BARBARA BOXER: Well, you've got the good and the bad, and I try to show some goodness there, and I try to show ... the truth is, no place is all bad and no place is all good. You know that: Right here in this studio, you've ...

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:... yeah, it's bad here in the studio here sometimes ...

SEN. BARBARA BOXER: ... you've got the good and the bad and the who knows? What I try to show is the staff and how hard they work and how good they are.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:Well, thank you for being here.

CELESTE HEADLEE: Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat from California, thank you so much.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER: Thanks.