dignity of having a job and this country back on track and get america be america again i think that is a message that penetrates and it penetrates through much to the heart of this country is. .. to actually give it a go or is it going to be sort of lip service? >> we are here and we are campaigning and again, we got in

late. we are just now laying out after 10 weeks, which is actually a pretty good time table, to lay out a rather in-depth, economic plan and that is what this campaign is going to revolve around. who has the vision for this country to get america back working again? and i think our 20% flat tax, how we are going to balance this budget by 2020, get americans back working and i go back to -- do you want to know how somebody is going to perform in the future? look at their past. so i think people are just now starting to pay attention to the campaign. with all due respect governor romney has been running for this for six years. i have been at it now for 10 weeks and the polls are going to go up in the polls are going to go down. i was 25 points down at the

start of my last gubernatorial race, so there is plenty of time to be in new hampshire, to be in iowa, to be in south carolina which i will have been in. this is my tenth trip to new hampshire, so as the voters here book and look and probe and ask questions and peel back the skin of the onion, think they will like what they see and at the end of the day if they want someone who has a track record of creating jobs and creating opportunity. >> there has been so much about your organizational hierarchy and what i keep reading is in the cat -- pass campaign stuff, while you are soft-spoken here in in the situation, these guys are apparently as one person put it who has supported her is they

are going to amputate romney. it is going to be an attack. how rough is this going to get as we go forward as you see the goal and him being at least in the state way out in front if you believe in polling? is this going to be a ballot round for you or is this a place where you can do just okay enough to keep going on? >> well, we aren't in any state just for the exercise of it. we are in every state to win, and i'm always intrigued with folks who talk about negative campaigns and actually i have never run a campaign that wasn't factual. somebody on the other side might not like the fact that they did x or y or said the x or y but if they find someplace where we are

not telling the truth, please let me know and i will be the first to pull it down. but facts are facts. and they may be difficult for some folks to get their arms around, but we will be factual if that is considered to be hard-hitting, then so be it. i think americans are ready for some just really straight, honest answers to how to fix things in this country whether it is dealing with the issues of social security, which we have clearly said that it is broken, those that are on it today, those that are approaching the age to be on it. it is going to be there for them, but to use it as a political tool and say listen they are going to take away your benefits, now that is dishonest. and i will come back pretty hard on that. do we need to give young people the options to have these

personal accounts wax do we need to raise the age of which people become eligible because we are living so much longer? do we need to means test it? all of those are appropriate questions to ask and i think there are a lot of positive aspects to those. but, americans want to hear how are we going to get this country back working again? how are we going to get america back to being a powerful influence in this country -- i mean in this world? there are going to be hard decisions that need to be made and people that are misleading americans i don't have a lot of time for. >> who is misleading americans? >> anybody that says it's going to be easy and if you all just listen -- the president of the united states stood up three years ago and said listen, you allow me to be the president of the united states and i will

create 3.5 million jobs. that is misleading america. we have lost 2.5 million jobs. we will wait until all the plans get laid out. >> you have to ask a question about what department would be eliminated. >> actually, cut what? >> well i laid out one earlier when i talked about in year one you can save $25 million by consolidating those elementary and secondary programs. i would rebuild epa and substantially reduce the impact of the epa from the standpoint of a federal agency. it out to be there as the place to consolidate best practices. there ought to be a place where it can work out interstate issues but from the standpoint of making one-size-fits-all regulations, and having this, i

mean, i want to say it is $12 billion worth of administrative costs. this is an agency that is out of control, so substantially reducing the epa. the department of energy, i mean, i don't know what -- i am not sure there is anything the department of energy doesn't do to be placed in an upper agency of government somewhere. there is a substantial amount of reduction. health and human services, again, the medicaid torsion of that should be sent back to the states but you have to have agency administrators in those senior-level people who are willing to go fight that fight. that is the kind of people i'm going to be hiring. >> without an epa, you are in favor of the clean air and clean

water act. who is going to enforce that? >> your local states would. let me share with you the clean air act that was passed. texas implemented it in 1991, and they went forward with their plan interestingly. excuse me, it was 1993. it is put was put together by and overture to and it was approved by the clinton administration. not exactly you know hard-core republican and for 17 years this plan was in place and worked well. as i shared with you those numbers of the last decade. so my point is, the state has the incentive, they have the expertise to put these programs in place. we just got these multiple layers and the federal government and there is nothing wrong at all with the clean air

and the clean water act but there are -- bobby jindal i have great faith. if he were to allow things to happen in his state that would harm the air and the water, the people of that state are going to become irate. they are going to make the changes, so i mean, the idea and this is a philosophical difference between myself and obviously this administration in particular. i trust the citizens of this country to make decisions that are in their best interests and not have it all consolidated in washington d.c., one-size-fits-all and spread it out all across this country. i truly believe that the american people will make better decisions than some bureaucrat in washington d.c. whether it is environmental, whether it is race to the top on education or whether it is you know, transportation infrastructure. the idea that earmarks are

deciding where transportation products go in a state and they're not even working with the states transportation department, that's insanity. >> here in the east where the states are smaller, literally smaller, environmental issues i want to say might be more -- [inaudible] there has to be in some cases somewhere -- go. >> that is where i said, and as i have said, there can be some interstate issues where the epa can sit down and work out issues. it's like the ferc in dealing with electrical. i know you have an issue with transportation lines through new hampshire. you know, there is a row. i am not anti-government. i'm just for a government that works and doesn't cost jobs.

>> repeal obamacare. >> well again, i think when you look at -- there are two aspects of health care, medicare and medicaid. medicaid i would lock grants. i would put it back to the states and allow them to come up with a program. i think paul ryan and some of the work that he is doing has some great examples and we talk about it in our white taper here, some of the ways to give options on medicare. maybe it is moving up the age of which people become eligible for it. baby it is having insurance programs that they can access to give people the options of

whether they want to have a private sector accounts. i mean there are a lot of different ways of which we can deal with the medicare side of it. we have a system of sick care today. we don't have a system of health care, and to give, to give those incentives to the physicians, to the hospitals for outcomes that are healthy outcomes rather than the way we do it today, where they get paid on the number of her seizures they do, and again i happen to think paul ryan is one of the brightest most cable will individuals who has really taken on this issue and i would have him very close to the my administration on a regular basis. tom coburn on the spending side.

tom has put a white paper out called back in black. i want to say it is mine gillian dollars with the productions. the answers are all there. it is just going to take a courageous administration working with some courageous members of the united states congress and the senate to say do you know what? we have got to do this. america's future is at stake from an economic standpoint and if we don't stop the spending, and we don't get the relief on the tax side if we don't reduce the regulatory burden than this country every day is going to get closer and closer to becoming more like our friends in europe where we have a sovereign debt crisis. a serious sovereign debt crisis. >> probably the main goal was to access the health insurance so if you repeal obamacare, if you take away -- so what would be a

perry plan for saying we want to make health insurance more accessible to people? >> i saw an interesting sign today when we were signing our paperwork and it said keep your hands off my medicare. this administration to tie -- $500 billion away from medicare to help pay for obamacare. they are talking to the wrong people. they need to be talking to that administration for taking $500 billion away from medicare. state-by-state, we make decisions every day about how we are going to take care of our citizens. we get criticized in texas because we don't have everybody covered by insurance, and we made the decision that is how we wanted to operate our state.

if you come to texas, you will have access to some of the finest health care in the world. at the texas medical center every day there are more doctors, nurses, researchers that go to work there than any other place in the world. you see southwestern in dallas, i mean we have some of the finest health care. we committed $3 billion over a ten-year period of time to find a cure for cancer in texas. we have substantially -- substantial health care and passed tort reform in 2003. there are over 20,000 more physicians practicing medicine today in texas then there were six years ago. so the idea of somehow or another, oh texas doesn't -- texas has a large uninsured population, that doesn't mean anything to me. what means something to me is that people in texas have access

to some of the finest health care that there is. how we choose to pay for it is actually our business and that is how we chose to deal with it. that health care is available in the state of texas. now, could we take those medicaid dollars and come up with programs that are affordable? you know, to people, they don't want to buy health insurance today because it is too expensive for them. so are there some ways that we could come up with? i think there are. rather than forcing us to deliver health care the way that the federal government says. so, again, go back to allowing the states to be the deciders instead of washington d.c.. i don't think texas wants government mandated health care, and i am positive that they don't want obamacare. in fact i don't think this country wants obamacare after they have looked at the cost and

looked at the accessibility that will be negatively impacted if it is fully implemented. so, again, i just philosophically am in a different position than those that think that government mandated health care is the correct answer for people's health care needs. i think we need to give folks a substantial menu of options of which they can pick and choose. there may be folks who say you know what? i am 25 years old. i am healthy as a horse and i would rather spend my money on something else rather than health care. >> you write a chapter on -- and you used the phrase a lot unelected judges.

when you are talking about the federal government, they are elected by the state. would you have the supreme court elected? >> actually what i would do is have a term. i would have a discussion with the country and say, does it make sense to have an appointed for lifetime united states supreme court justice? i happen to think lifetime is a pretty long time, and particularly when you are talking about a court that has that big of an impact. is it 12 years? is it 16 years? i don't know but i would have a term limit on -- i would have on all of those federal judges. i would have a limit on the number. i mean why do we limit the president of the united states

to eight years max, yet we put a person on the united states supreme court, who may serve 50 years. and from time to time you know, we decide as a country that the founding fathers -- >> the founding fathers had unlimited terms of the president and then -- came along and said with the supreme court nominees, the way the battles are now, what is the realistic chance of anybody having been term limited after 12 years for you to get anybody in the next position? >> somebody would. >> had mentioned earlier in your interview that you would

threaten. threaten? what does that mean? >> threatened means if your guy doesn't go to get your spending under control you on elect them. that is pretty straight up. we do that all the time. across this country. you basically say hey lesson here is what is going on in washington d.c. and your guy or your gal is part of the impediment. i don't consider that to be negative. i considered to be factual, and when the president of the united states who generally has a pretty big megaphone stands up in your state and says hey, senator smith, why are you not supporting a balanced budget amendment to the united states constitution and then they could have that conversation with their folks back home. >> we have got to cut it now so this guy can go write the story. >> i enjoyed it.

thank you. yes, sir, absolutely. >> thank you. ç z(j(

>> i don't want every story to be 1800 words. >> last month jill abramson became the first woman to hold the post of executive editor at "the new york times." she believes the times is more irreplaceable than ever but also envisions a few changes. >> there is a certain lack of discipline. sometimes the point is repeated too many times in a story or there were three quotes making the same point, where one would i would like to see a variety of story lines. >> she will discuss her career her new book in the future of the time sunday night on c-span's q&a. >> early thursday morning european leaders agreed on a plan to resolve the eurozone debt crisis which includes a second financial aid package for greece. part of that agreement also

includes european banks taking a 50% loss on the value of greek debt. last night greg by minister george papandreou address the nation and said the deal would give his country extra time to rebuild its economy. his comments are just over five minutes. >> translator: my fellow citizens the agreement we have just achieved opens up new prospects for our country. gives us the possibility to determine our own future. the efforts of the greek people is to produce results step-by-step and it brought us to last night to yesterday's decisions. this did not come by chance. our own collective effort is what gave us the most important tool for the negotiations. not only for our debt, but also for our very future. yesterday's decision gives us time.

it gives us the opportunity to plot out and follow our own course and i want to assure you that this decision in no way creates a problem for a banking system. on the contrary, creates new possibilities from development to the economy to the supportive social welfare. it gives us also the courage to move forward under better conditions. when negotiated and managed, a substantial part of our debt, tens of billions of euros will lift us off the backs of good people. the bank -- however a more fair fair -- and additionally we managed to cover our credit spending for the next year. in fact, the results of

yesterday's negotiations is of great importance for our country. having lightened the load of the greek people, we want the next year to be the first year at no additional burdens are going to be added on the backs of the good people -- maghreb people and we will achieve that. yesterday's decision signal also something of equal importance. when we work together, when we show our persistence, our dedication, when we dared take steps, we finally achieve our goals. a battle never fought is a battle lost. it also signals something else that our partners in the european union recognize these efforts. they want greece to succeed. they don't want greece to fail. they shoulder some of the

burden. now there is a stability of our debt for many many more years. we dedicate ourselves to the things that we need even more and which will bear the real results for our lives and the lives of our children. but most importantly, we will need to work together. in this course we have to all be together. we are going to fix greece and nobody else is going to do the job for us. let's not expect magicians to come do the job. for those who worry, i want to assure them that nothing, absolutely nothing in this agreement satisfies our ability to decide for ourselves. on the contrary. it opens up the way for us to rid ourselves of dependency and the future is in our hands.

we are going forward and we are responsible for it. of course you have good practices and expert advice in our country. we all know that our land has unlimited capabilities for as long as we make use of them, as long as they are not buried under the mistakes that have long -- a state that stifles every productive force we have available, a state that does not know or does not want to know how to collect, how to spend, how to invest for the common interest and not for the special interests, state which did not even know how many secret servants it employed and where they served, he a state that was wasteful and non-transparent. now we are the ones who are

taking the steps that we need all of us to participate. h.s. to make his own small resolution for a different warfare greece. in the long run we are going to make a more effective and more fair state, law-abiding state that will contribute and free development and civilization. a state that knows its role, a state that serves the citizens. at this point we have a long ways to go. the work has to continue indefinitely. day by day we have to change what happens from one day to the next and there is no point in predicting the same consistency. it is in our hands to change what is unjust and what has hurt us. as we invest and what makes this place special.

the crisis gives us the opportunity and this agreement gives us the time to choose what has value for us as greeks and what we want to keep and what it is that we want to change without the yoke of a the debt that would immobilize our generation, our children and their descendents. let's make together the big changes we all want. reforms in our political system, our economy, our developmental standards for regional and green development. already some of them have been implemented and with policies. changes that will bear fruit in the near future but will make the country stronger and fairer and give its citizens the opportunity to utilize -- and to

all of us a big competitive advantage of our country. we will continue but we still have a lot lots of work to do. i cannot but be optimistic that we can achieve our new target to create together the productive greece of justice and creativity. we have now the ability to build a better state in a reasonable time to create a completely different country. now we have work and responsibility in order to implement yesterday's decision. now we have work and responsibility in order to turn ourselves into a productive greece. i thank you. >> we are going to take you live next to the florida democratic party's annual convention in orlando where vice president joe biden is going to be speaking. you will also here from florida center bill nelson in florida

congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz who also chairs the democratic national committee. annual boyd watching live coverage here on c-span2. >> since becoming the chair i traveled to 23 states and a in a little over five months but friends let me tell you there is no place like home and it is great to be here at home in the sunshine state with friends and supporters and with all of you. tonight is so special, it is truly an honor to have vice president biden here with us. he has been a full partner alongside president of barack obama helping move our nation forward, passing a stork reforms to help the middle class and small businesses and getting our country back on track. vice president biden is no johnny come lately and in his quest to make this country and the world a better place. throughout his 40 plus years of extraordinary public service, he has been and continues to be a

problem solver, a decision-maker and a tireless fighter for middle-class families in the united states of america. we are just so thrilled to have him here tonight. let me just share with you how particularly thrilled i am, because i was a young girl at the university of florida in 1988 when i signed up for joe biden for president campaign and the work the university of florida campus and i'm so proud to be able to be here working the united states of america to make sure that barack obama and joe biden go back to the white house to help move this country in the direction that we know it needs to go. vice president biden on behalf of all of us here this evening thank you for your inspiring leadership in their public service on behalf of the president and all americans. my fellow florida democrats, i am here because we have got some important work to do in florida over the next 12 months, don't we? in 2121st and foremost, we need to to send president obama

and vice president biden back to the white house for a second term to ensure that we continue to move america forward. [applause] we must also make sure to reelect bill nelson to the united states senate. senator nelson is a proven leader for working families here in florida and a critical voice to our states many seniors from the everglades protection to consumer protection. senator nelson has been there for us and we need to be there for him. and we will be. are you with him florida democrats? [applause] and with the passage of fair district florida, we need to make sure we take control back from our states, from rick scott and his cronies by electing democrats from pensacola to key west in our state legislature and congress and up and down the ballot. we can do it and we will do it with your hard work. there is no other option. my fellow floridians, the contrast between what the democrats are fighting for and

what the republicans are fighting for has been made very clear in recent weeks. republicans in the u.s. senate have now twice voted to block hard or all of the american jobs act. the president's plan to put americans back to work immediately and put more money in the pockets of those already working. these are ideas that have previously received bipartisan support. i know that is foreign these days. ideas like tax relief for middle-class families, keeping teachers in the classroom and police and firefighters on the job in helping to rebuild our bridges and our roads. and one of the thing that should made it easy to pass, the president's plan is fully paid for. fully paid for. unlike with the republicans used to do which is just spend our economy into oblivion without regard to whether we were paying for what we were fighting for. president obama's plan is bold. economist like john mccain, former economic adviser have concluded that will create as many as 1.9 million jobs.

let's take a closer look at what this plan will do for florida's families. for starters, the jobs act cuts taxes, something president obama has done 17 times before for small businesses. 17 times. we need to -- in addition to vital middle packs -- middle-class tax relief that we passed last year. here in florida the american jobs act would create tens of thousands of jobs rebuilding the state highways and transit systems and modernizing schools throughout our state. president obama's jobs plan would extend unemployment insurance for out-of-work americans as they worked to rebuild their lives and get back on their feet as well as give companies tax breaks if they hire the long-term unemployed and our veterans. but republicans have blocked all of it. they propose a so-called alternative plan, but analysts agreed the republican plan will do nothing to provide immediate relief to the middle class or

creed jobs. in fact according to moody's, it would actually worsen, actually worsen the economic outlook. but nothing has exemplified the contrast between democrats and republicans more than mitt romney during the last two republican debates. at the new hampshire debate, romney called an extension of tax cuts to the middle class little band-aids said he would allow to expire. do you remember that? these tax cuts mean a typical florida family would keep an average of $1430 in their pockets. $1430. does that sound like a little band-aids to you? you see a multimillionaire like mitt romney doesn't think that honey is important for working americans. he is so out of touch that he doesn't understand that $1430 is four months of groceries or seven months of gasoline so in his own economic proposal mitt romney would cut taxes for the wealthiest americans and for corporations but do nothing for

middle-class americans. as if that wasn't enough, romney also said just this month in nevada that allowing foreclosures to run their course by cutting off health for americans facing the loss of their homes and their allow the inventory of troubled mortgages to be reduced faster which would allow investors to buy the properties and rent them out. romney's reckless approach teach -- treats honest hard-working americans like nothing more than monopoly pieces. mitt romney wants to repeal wall street performance at anchors write their own rules again. do you hear that florida democrats? is that what we want? and he wants to provide the wealthiest americans more generous tax breaks all while telling homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages that they are on their own. to put it simply, this is unacceptable. i'm counting on you florida democrats to tell your friends and neighbors the truth about these outrageous and harmful proposals. as the president emphasized earlier this week when he

announced new executive actions, his administration has helped our economy grow now and we can't wait. we can't wait for republicans in congress to get off the dime who keep obstructing efforts to create jobs now. we have a responsibility to the american people to help them get back to work now and get back on their feet. they simply cannot wait. and let me be clear on this point, president obama's fighting to create jobs and grow our economy. he has accomplished so much in his time in office and we need to sing that from the rooftops. we need to tell every floridian and every american about this president incredible record of accomplishment, the best record of legislative accomplishment in decades. [applause] he prevented the economy from going over a cliff. because of the present leadership we have added 2.6 million jobs in the private sector over the last 19 months. he signed into law historic health care reform eliminating insures abilities to exclude

people with preexisting it -- from coverage and closing the doughnut hole on medicare. pretty important here in florida, wouldn't you say? he has brought nearly 100,000 troops home from iraq. [applause] thank you. thank him and as the president recently announced the zero of our servicemen and women in iraq will be home with their families for the holidays and the war in iraq will finally and. [applause] finally. this is a vote that i was very proud to cast. he has put an end to the discriminatory to -- discriminatory policy "don't ask don't tell." he thought hard to ensure that we keep our promise to americans veterans and military so that we provide for our troops not just in the battlefield but also after they have returned home. and ladies, he has enacted the

lilly ledbetter pay fair act to help women get equal pay that we deserve and so we can make sure we hold employers who do not treat us fairly feet to the fire. i'm not saying republicans don't have a job agenda. does just that their focus is on just one job, barack obama's. democrats care about american jobs. over the last three years we have seen smear campaign after smear campaign, haven't we? we have seen millions of dollars in secret money used to support false attacks on democrats. president obama could've taken the easy road and maybe avoided some of these attacks but that is not what leaders do. he made the decisions that were hard but right. there are some folks who want to play politics. they would rather wait until the 2012 elections and ignore the 20 million americans who are struggling now to make ends meet. the president has said the next election is a year away and if you are living week to week,

paycheck to paycheck you don't have a year to wait. we can't wait, can we? i say to the republicans here in florida come in washington and on the campaign trail, take down the roadblocks, come to the negotiating table and stop playing partisan politics so we can get this done right now and get this economy back on track and do it together. but if you don't, we will do it without you. [cheers and applause] florida democrats, we did our job in 2008. we delivered florida and it was a great victory. but our job is not complete. the challenges we face aren't created overnight and they won't be solved overnight. and president obama second term, now doesn't that sound good? it sounds good to me. when you to keep building an economy where every american can find a good job that pays the bills and lets them get ahead. we need to end our dependence on foreign oil and take bigger steps to fight climate change and global warming. when you to keep rebuilding are

the structure and improving our public schools and implementing health care reform, but that is the question before us today. will we do these things? will we? of course we will. but we need to fight hard all the way to november 6 of 2012. over the next year we are going to have a debate between competing political parties, but more than that we are going to have to debate a debate between competing priorities. so let me take a moment to tell you as an american and a floridian with high priorities are. as a mother i believe a child needs in education more than a millionaire needs a tax break. [cheers and applause] as the representative for many retired americans living here in the beautiful sunshine state, i believe that the medicare for seniors is more important than protecting subsidies for corporate jets. [applause] as a wife, neighbor and a friend i believe that our government

bots message to the middle class should be we are in your site and not, you are on your own. thank you. these are my priorities and these are their presence priorities. they are vice president biden's by reason they are senator nelson's priorities and i know they are your priorities to. it has nothing to do what party we belong to and everything with who we are as people. every day you hear republicans arguing that it is tough times. we simply can't afford to invest in these priorities but we are here because we know the truth. we can't afford not to. [applause] we are democrats because we believe that in the face of adversity at america's job to lead the way and to those who say that we can't afford to be optimistic, to those who say it is our job to settle for second place, we say this. americans don't settle. floridians don't settle. americans don't quit and floridians don't quit and as

long as president obama is in the white house, their government won't quit on them. [applause] i don't know about you but these seem like common sense principles to me. nothing radical here. my fellow democrats over the next year there will be ups and there will be downs. there are going to be days when it feels like we can't do anything wrong and days when it feels like we can't do anything right. here is my promise to you. no one is going to outwork us, no one. [applause] i can't keep that promise by myself. i need you to help me to keep it. we need to work harder than we have ever worked before. now is the time to roll up your sleeves and made those phonecalls, knock on the stores, dig deeper into your pockets than you ever thought you could. make sure that you waste floridians on your shoulders and carry them through the streets. go door to door neighbor to neighbor, talk about the

difference we have in america, the direction we can go as we continue down the path to barack obama and joe biden come the path to prosperity, the path that fights for the middle class and give them a chance to succeed or we can go backwards to the days when corporate america was allowed to write their own rules, to the days when he was the priority of government to keep the wings of the back for the wealthiest and most fortunate americans. do you want to go back there? i sure don't. folksy remember 2008 on election night? i remember the incredible feeling that i had. it was a historic election. 2008 was historic. we will finish what we started in 2000 we will take florida and america and a new and better direction. florida democrats, we need you. the president of vice president need you. bill nelson need e2 and i needed to help deliver florida in 2012 and keep this blue once again. it won't be democrats that we lead to victory, because every

american will win. so like i said, 2008, that election night was historic. but if you don't want to go backwards, if you want to make sure that we can move forward and give everyone a fair chance, to make sure that the next generation that my children and your children have a fair shot at the american dream, remember 2008 as historic, but let's make 2012 personal. it's personal. on, on, on to victory in november of 2012. thank you florida democrats. [applause] [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen please welcome senator bill medicine,

dr. jill biden and a vice president of the united united , joe biden. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [applause] >> good evening democrats. you remember that election is like driving a car. you want to go forward, you put it in d and if you want to go backwards you put it in auer. [applause] we are ready for the main event. everybody sit down, enjoy yourselves. we have the distinguished guests here and i just want to thank all of you for the great

rutledge that you have given to grace and me of years of public service and ladies ladies and gentlemen i'm ready for the fight again. [applause] and of course we have got -- at what the state of florida is trying to do to restrict our ability to vote, to register to vote, and to have their vote counted as intended and you would think in a state like ours, with what we went through and the in the 2000 presidential election, and what the legislature did after that in making it easier to vote and easier to register to vote and to have your vote counted, that instead in america in the year 2011, that we would be going the other way. and it has happened not here but

13 other states as well. florida is the worst in restricting, and putting out voter suppression. alright, i am here because of these two great people. now dr. jill biden was going to introduce her husband, but she has laryngitis. so let me just tell you about dr. jill biden. she was in delaware today, kicking off her campaign for awareness of women's rest cancer. [applause] sheehan the first lady have been at the point of this beer. >> are helping out families of those deployed to iraq and afghanistan. the boots on the ground. [applause] and listen to this.

wind joe's mom and dad were living with them, she was taking care of the vice president elderly parents at the same time raising three boys and at the same time, getting two masters degrees and a ph.d.. [applause] i would say the vice president and i definitely have something in common. we married above ourselves. [laughter] alright, since jill cannot introduce her husband, all i have to say is one of the best senators to ever come out of the united states senate, one of the true great american patriots, i think arguably the best vice president of the united states.

ladies and gentlemen, joe biden, the vice president of the united states. [cheers and applause] >> bless you. bill thank you very much. thank you all very very much. folks, please have a seat. you have no idea how disappointed i am dead jill did not introduce me. it's the only time she is required to say something nice about me. every husband likes to have that said. ladies and gentlemen, i am truly delighted to be here tonight. you all are going to be seeing an awful lot of me because the states i'm going to be concentrating on our pennsylvania, ohio, new hampshire and iowa and i'm going to be here a lot so i'm looking forward to working with you all. we plan on winning, florida. we can't win without florida, and we can't win without don't know if and in florida. [applause]

if you can't mention bill, without mentioning gray's literally. ladies and gentlemen, they have become two of the best friends for jill and knee in our career in the senate and now. no one worked harder for us this last time around than bill and grace, and as -- when i was running for election in 1978 he said joe what would he do for you in delaware? i said mr. chairman some places you heard. he said well, i have come to delaware and i will -- whichever will help the most. that is what i will do for bill in any of the democrats on this ticket. ladies and gentlemen need no, debbie is doing an amazing job by the way. [applause] she is doing an amazing job.

it won't surprise you that i have loved her for a long time. i remember she said she thought i was good enough to be president back in those days and she has been not only in 23 states, she has raised money, raise awareness, raise volunteers and raise their prospects and everyone of those states so thank you for letting us -- debbie wasserman schultz. [applause] look folks, the fact of the matter is that i don't need to remind you of the catastrophe we inherited that america inherited after eight years of the last administration. when barack and i were looking out at literally 1 million people standing on the national mall, you could sense their sense of hope and faith in expectation. it was an incredible sight but

there was something else, something else in the faces of those million people. there was concern, uncertainty, and in some cases even fear. practically before i lowered my hand on january the 20th, by that time, at that moment, that month we had already lost 740,000 jobs just that month. that quarter, our economy shrunk to historic lows, 6.4% lost in our gdp. and before barack and i sat down at our desks, we had already inherited a bill for $1,000,300,000,000 for that year and a projected deficit of $8 trillion over the next 10. middle-class americans lost

$16 trillion in household wealth it vanished without a trace. as you know better than almost any state, here in florida the equity of people's houses evaporator before their eyes. their retirement funds as the market was talked about going below 600 also evaporator den with it, all the wealth that they had. and with it, their hopes and expectations for how they would and could retire. their ability to send their children to school, their security. that is why i find it absolutely bizarre republicans are moralizing about deficits. that is like an arsonist moralizing about fire safety. these guys have zero credibilit.

[applause] their vision of economic policy and their plan for prosperity lay in creating financial instruments, credit default swaps, collateralized debt up locations, sub-prime mortgages. they gave us the bubble and they the call that an economy. ladies and gentlemen in addition we inherited a foreign policy that was in disarray. we have lost the respect of our allies and the fear of our enemies. we were nearly a decade into two wars, 180,000 americans deployed in harm's way, 150,000 alone in iraq. osama bin laden remains at large and continue to plot attacks on americans. in short, we were a nation isolated in the world and on the

verge literally of depression. america was in trouble and the folks we represented needed help. and they didn't understand. my dad who bill and grace matias to have an expression. he said joey i never expected government to solve my problems but at least i expect my government to understand my problems. [applause] and is the son of a proud man, a proud man who knew what it was like to be denied a loan to be able to send his child to college, the son of a proud man whose family had moved to a different city to find work with a hope to be able to bring his family together later. you know the longest walk and a parent can make is up a short flight of stairs to the child's bedroom to say honey, i'm sorry,

but that has got to leave or mom has to leave. my dad made that walk to scranton, pennsylvania when i was going into fourth grade. he said joey, there are no jobs here. you are going to have to stay with your grandpa, you and mom. jimmy and fell. i have got to move to wilmington with uncle frank and i will try to come home every weekend. it is only 156 miles, joey. i thought it was 1000. it could have been for all a new. he said that but i promise you, when i get a job and get enough money i will get a nice place to bring you and mom and the kids down to wilmington. it wasn't until i got to be probably in my late 20s that i understood that proud graceful man had even a longer walk to

make. into my grandfather ambrose pantry. he said ambrose i need a favor. can you keep gene and the kids? i promise i will make it up. i promise it will be okay. that is a hard thing for any man or woman to have to say think of how many floridians you know who had to make that walk. think of how many have lost their homes, lost their jobs and lost their self-respect. my dad used to say joey, a job is about a lot harder than a paycheck. it is about your dignity. it is about your respect. your respect in the community. and