job isn't done yet and he needs your help to get it done. we need you here in pennsylvania and across the nation to stand up and make sure the rest of the voters out there haven't forgot what your voice sounds like. .. texts greater together and your zip code. this will allow us to follow up with you and let you know what is happening on your local team and makes it easier for you to state with young americans for

obama. you are going to years from some amazing speakers and i. when you go home you should log onto barack obama.com/greater together so you can learn how to be part of young americans for obama. i'm sure many of you have friends who couldn't be here today. they probably have a late class are they are studying or they are not quite as engaged as you are, at least not yet. yet. it is that you. that is mean those friends can get involved. tell them to go on line to barack obama.com/greater together so they can sign-up and get the information they need and join you as part of this incredible movement. we are depending on you to spread that word. now for those of you who are here and those of you watching on line we are going to be taking your questions directly from the audience and on twitter using the hashtag greater together. so keep those smartphones out and log onto twitter. we want you to make greater together a trending topic by the end of the night.

we are going to be talking about three topics tonight, jobs health care and education so get your questions up there and get them up there early so we can get your voice on this panel. i want you to remember is we do this the greater together is more than just a hashtag. it's a symbol of everything that young americans for obama stands for. it's about you and students like you across this country can achieve when you work together to make your voice heard. it's about knowing the next election will depend on you as a generation of young leaders to get the word out about the kind of country you want to live in. and now it is my distinct pleasure to hand the stage to a man who supported president obama and knows just how important all of your voices are. please welcome the mayor of this beautiful city, mayor michael nutter. [applause] >> good evening philadelphians. and colleges and universities across the -- welcome temple,

all welcome drexel welcome to the city of brotherly love the city that will support resident barack obama's re-election and the suburbs and pennsylvania we are taking it all right here and it will start in philadelphia so we are tremendously excited about this event tonight, the kickoff of this event. we will have more of these events all across the united states of america. this election is about you. it really is about your future. it really is about what happens in health care and jobs in education and what this country is really all about. the president has to deal with on a daily basis and congress and they are not working. they are talking. they are not working, they are talking. [applause] talk is interesting but action beats talk each and every day and what we want is action. the first action is to make sure everyone is registered to vote,

get our folks out and go out and win this election on election day. that is going to happen if you are engaged and involved in your future and their future is present in barack obama in the 2012 election so again we will have a great night tonight. welcome to the city of philadelphia. we could not be more excited to hosting this first-ever event right here in our great city. thanks a lot. [applause] i appreciate that. [laughter] i didn't do what i was supposed to do. ladies and gentlemen, here in philadelphia not the first time, been here a number of times and will be back many times, the campaign manager to reelect president barack obama. [applause] i know his name. just waiting for that, to

reelect president obama the national campaign manager, jim messina. [applause] >> fire it up. fired up. fired up. >> ready to go. >> that's what i'm talking about. greetings and welcome to the grassroots campaign effort in american legal history the 2012 rock obama re-election campaign. and thank you for joining us for the greater together. we are very excited to have you. let's talk a little bit about what we are building block by block, person by person student by student we are going to build the biggest grassroots ever in american political history. it started the summer by 1400 summer organizers around the country going door-to-door every single day this fall, our fall interns. raise your hand if you have done one of these things. that's what i'm talking about in

the house. over 1000. if you are just joining us for our winter internships we are going into winternship across the country. go to barack obama.com tonight and applied to be one of these people. they are literally changing the face of american politics. not too many years ago barack obama did the same kind of organizing on the south side of chicago that you are all doing today. people when he started out running for president i remember the early meetings when people said he can't win. a lot of you joined and said we are for him. he can win. he went from small in the polls to winning the presidency. people said how did he do it? person by person, door by door organizer by organizer. that is what we are building this campaign. people talk all the time about a late been the most historic campaign in a long time and it was an import he was elected by young people across the country. people don't focus on the 8 million registered voters are

18 to 21 herb weren't old enough to vote last time who will cast their first vote for barack obama. [applause] you all gets to seize the future. you get to be part of this. your older brothers and sister started and you are going to complete it. we are going to talk about all the things the president has done and those are important things, historic health care reform ending the war in iraq and getting people home by the holidays, doing the historic "don't ask don't tell." [applause] those are all incredible achievements, health care took 70 years on wall street reform took 60 years. they got it done because you elected the right leader. [applause] but you all know all the things we have to get done that we haven't gotten done yet all the things you care very deeply about. you saw it last week when the president issued an executive

order to make student loans -- student loans easier to get and allow you to repay them easier and have your payments below are. those are the kinds of historic reforms barack obama brought to the white house and those are the kinds of things we will get done in the next four years if you reelect rock obama. [applause] so i would like to now have a rock obama talk for a second. ladies and gentlemen, on the video screen we have a short message. >> young americans were apathetic. he didn't care about the direction of the country or have what it takes to seek change. that is not what i saw. you prove them wrong by helping them build change. lots happened since then that you should be very proud of. we avanda combat operations in iraq and all of our truce will be home for the holidays. [applause] comprehensive health care coming to a reality. millions of young adults have

helped -- we put new rules in place to protect consumers and our economy from wall street. all that is thanks to you but we have so much more to do. the economic crisis the likes of which we haven't seen since the great depression has made jarvis harder to come by particularly for folks -- this is the moment that demands everything we have got to put our people back to work and rebuild an economy that works for everyone. not just the folks at the top. that is what this election will come down to, whether we will come together to finish the work we started were said back and watch the progress we made get rolled back. i'm asking you to make your choice. i'm asking you to join us. here are the first steps. go to barack obama.com/young americans and say you were in and. let's get the word out there. facebook it, tweeted whatever you want to do and ask everyone to get involved on

campuses and in communities across the country. there are lots of things we don't know about next years election do something i'm sure of is this movement has you in it. you are the generation of leaders and we are stronger together than we could ever be on our own. thanks. [applause] >> one of the reasons why president obama was able to bring historic change to the white house because of the next woman i'm about to introduce. every single step of the way melody barnes was next to the president passing historic pieces of legislation. she is one of the smartest policy people in the world and i'm proud to call her my friend. ladies and gentlemen, melody barnes. [applause] >> thank you, jim. tonight is about a conversation. i have a question for you.

are we greater together? are wreak greater together? i have some more questions for you. when you leave your campuses, do you want to walk into your professional lives in a country that is leaning forward or one that is leaning backwards? exactly. when you think about the economy do you want an economy that is built to last, one that is creating jobs for the future, jobs like clean energy jobs? or do you want one built on a bubble, risky financial deals, loopholes, the kinds of economy that hurt the middle class, that keeps people living in poverty? which one do you want? do you want an america, do you want an america that is creating more opportunity, not less? an america that regardless of race or ethnicity or gender or sexual orientation, allows for opportunity? do you want one that has a

functioning immigration system? do you want an america that is an america for every single person to achieve and to climb the ladder of success? i tell you that those are the choices. those are the choices that will be made every day and especially a year from now and 2012. those are the kinds of choices that this president is making every single day. let me give you some examples of the things that we have been able to do over the past three years. one example, when it comes to education and i'm here to tell you they said it could not be done. they said, you will never be able to pull back the subsidies from the banks to pass the largest education bill, the largest higher education bill since the g.i. bill by president obama said oh yes i can, and we did it. as a result of that, thank you. as a result of that we are

talking about billions of dollars to make sure that more students have tell grants and not only two more students have them, but they are larger pell grants. [applause] it also created -- you have to have access. you can have the grades to get into college but if you don't have the resources it doesn't necessarily matter. [laughter] also jam, just church and talking about it. income-based repayment, the same bill, making sure that you are able to repay your loan's more easily. only those loan amounts are tap -- capped a 10% of your discretionary income as opposed to 15% of your discretionary income. establishes loan forgiveness for students over shorter period of time and even less so if you go into public working job so those are a few of the things we have done in education. health care, people are talking about they can't remember what it looked like before when

34 million people didn't have access to health care but because of the affordable care act we are making sure that they will. we are making sure that many of you up to the age of 26 and your younger siblings are able to stay on your parents insurance plans until you are able to establish one of your own up to the age of 26. we are also making sure there's preventative care for people that didn't have it. it means a preexisting condition means -- when he needed the most of us are a few of the things we have done with health care. we also have been moving forward when it comes to the environment. and some of the ways that we have done that historic, doubling the fuel efficiency of cars and ensuring that by the year 2025, that americans are saving up to $1.7 trillion, that is trillion with a t. [applause] $1.7 trillion that supports less

oil. also the largest investment, $90 billion of an investment to make sure that we are standing on solar and wind and biofuels. when it comes to sexual orientation and making sure that this is an america for everyone, they said he couldn't do it again. "don't ask don't tell". "don't ask don't tell" is gone. [applause] we are also no longer defending doma. that is unconstitutional. [applause] and i'm here to tell you and this is a personal one for me, the hate crimes bill now is law and i'm here to tell you when i started working on that, when i worked in the senate in the mid-90s, we fought over and over and we kept bumping into a presidency that did not want to sign that will. well, this one did. [applause] so the list goes on and on but

those are the things we can talk about later tonight. i'm hoping tonight that not only do you learn more about what we have been doing but to share your ideas are golightly said this is a two-way street and about a conversation with you to hear your ideas as well and also hoping you will find ways to become involved and make sure we are making the right choice in november of 2012. finally, i hope that you will remember that we need a leader who makes decisions for the next generation as opposed to thinking about just the next election. that next generation is you. that leader, president barack obama. tandy back so much. [cheers and applause] >> alright come are you guys ready to get this party started? okay so now i want to bring to the stage our first student. everybody say hi to david lopez. [applause]

and i have been told that we are already running a little bit behind so you guys can keep your answers short and sweet i think everybody would appreciate that. okay, melody, how would the american jobs act benefit students and young americans? >> glad you asked that. there are number of different ways and we can talk more about it but i will take you through a few of them. first of all putting more money in your pocket. at the president has proposed is a payroll tax cut. in fact increasing the payroll tax cut he fought for last december that will ensure more money is in your pocket because more money is going to be in your paycheck. secondly, there is a pathways to work funded and they are. we are talking about five really in dollars. those resources will go to summer jobs as well as year-round jobs and we know this works. we passed a stimulus bill and we saw literally hundreds of thousands of young people, 16 through 24, there were able to

get jobs that otherwise wouldn't. also subsidize jobs. again hundreds of thousands of people who are able to get jobs because we were working with states and localities to make sure they could go to work. those are just a couple of ways that we are make an sure this works for young people and when you think about it for those of you who might want to go into education and might want to become teachers were thinking about your younger druthers and sisters back at home, we are proposing ways to modernize schools with more construction workers that work but it will also mean that the average school that is about 40 years old when we talk about educating students for the 21st century are educating people and schools built in the last century we are modernizing those schools, dating the science labs and technology labs and making sure people are in classrooms and at home. those of you that are going to go out and be part of one of the greater professions on arth which is education. those are some of the ways the american jobs that will help

make sure people are at work and make sure up young people are at work. >> thank you. [applause] david what can young americans do to help pass this act? >> i think it starts here. i know a lot of you are college democrats, correct? [cheers and applause] it starts with a chapter in what you do on your campus and start to the grassroots. go and knock on doors and let people know about the american jobs act and how it works. when i first started and i wasn't sure if i wanted to continue with my mage or mater at one point i thought maybe i should quit and have job security in another area of study but i've seen the changes we have had over the past two years and i see the potential for the american jobs that could take it further. middle-class families are affected by this as well as students. the young americans here right now so you can do what i've done so far. i made phonecalls and send e-mails. i've taken out my phone and spoken to people all the time. they are the people who will be in congress and the want to make the decisions about the american

jobs that. we can't wait. we can't wait for other people to go and just put off time and let this not pass. we can't wait for others. we are the young americans that can change the future and will be leading it one day so it's important to remember, we can't wait. [applause] >> okay so right now we are going to open it up to the audience. does anyone have any questions? we will take two questions. there we go, over there. this fine young gentlemen here with the glasses on. >> my name is george and i'm a student at new york and. my question is how will the new plan affect us who are taking on loans for education? >> jump then, whoever. >> a couple of different ways. one that i mentioned the income-based repayment plan, that is already in place. for people who are out there

right now working, take advantage of that. we know there are so many people who can take advantage of that and have their payments tapped at 15% of their discretionary income. right now they are not doing it for are those of you sitting here right now in school, by the time you graduate, because we were able to move forward with pay as you are and you will be able to benefit from a 10% cap on your discretionary income for your monthly payment. that is literally hundreds of dollars every month at you are going to be able to save, hundreds of dollars every month and combined with that the way we are able to do this is we were able to encourage people to consolidate their loans. some people may have these older subsidize loans from the felp program and others will have in addition to that, direct loans. combined those under the direct lending program and you will get a decrease in the interest rate on your loan and that will also

save you over the course of the life of your loan hundreds of dollars. there are two things that we put together to accelerate the income-based repayment plan two years and that means you are going to be able to benefit from it by the time you graduate. >> okay, one more question right over here. >> i am a high school student and i am a junior right now so i won't be able to vote in 2012 but we want to know what high school students can do. >> we have this thing called a high school organizing program as part of greater together. you can code today to barack obama.com/young americans to sign up for it. we have a special organizing campaign on high schools that you may not be able to vote but a lot of your friends can. we have a whole program design just around high schools and we are really excited about it.

felecia butterfield who runs it is one of the most kick but organizers is on this every single day. go tonight to the web web site d sign up. the other thing you all can do is go to the web site and sign up and do all that but on facebook the average american has over 150 facebook friend so tonight ask all of your friends to join the campaign. asked the mall to -- get on your twitter feed and ask everyone to sign up and say you are in for the campaign. you are all organizers and ambassadors for the president. take control of this. ask your friends to join the campaign today. >> okay i think it is time for a twitter question. you guys at home watching on line don't forget to send in your questions. [laughter] have you guys send in any gaps with the hashtag greater together? okay, here we go.

what message do you have for those students struggling to pay student loans? from dems, ucs. >> those are some of the things and based on the gentleman's question a few minutes ago we were talking about. we know that this is a problem in one of the things the president has pushed on is the fact that we know college tuition and college costs are going up. we are challenging work to bring those down. with that is why we increase the pell grants so that those are grants you can have that will cover more of the college education. that is why we fought to pass income-based repayment and by the added the pay as you aren't program program so in the back and we help students with that loan burden off of their backs. we will want to use buy a house and start a family so these are the kinds of things we are doing to help students. we will continue to push to make

sure this is here for students because what you are doing by going to community college and getting that certification is the right thing to do in our new economy. >> okay we are switching topics and going to health care. we are going to do a little bit of musical chairs here. say goodbye to david. [applause] next we are bringing up our second speaker, the lovely elliott griffin. [applause] okay, go ahead. right there, there you go. elliott, how has the affordable care act benefited students and young americans? >> well first of all the affordable care act allows us to the honor parents health insurance until we are 26 and that is just amazing for a student to be a graduate like myself. initially i have a little brother and he might be kind of stubborn but you know we can do

with that. he was born with asthma and allergies and my family and my parents have the comfort of knowing that once we are all out of the house he won't be punished by the insurance company simply because he has these preexisting conditions. the affordable care act is amazing for young americans and it is what we wanted. i was a high school senior who was able to vote for barack obama and cast my first ballot and it was so exciting. eke as i wanted to be on my parents health insurance until i was 26 in case i wanted to graduate and start a small business or maybe i want to go to law school. i have that time where i know i can still be insured and if something happens i will still be covered by my parents health insurance and i think that is amazing. that is just one very small part of why we have to get fired up and ready to go for 2012. [applause] >> fired up and ready to go, right. melody can you explain the new law on preventative care?

>> in general? sure, sure, couple of things. we know prevention is the smartest thing you can do to stay healthy but to reduce health care costs. bypassing the affordable care act we are making sure that preventative care will be covered without cost-sharing, so that means without additional cost to you the consumer. we have already has elliott was saying nature that is available to children. we are to have made that available to seniors so seniors are out there and already getting their wellness -- there will person check-ups and that is going to help us reduce health care. another thing we did this year that i think is very important for the first time we passed the affordable care act or an organization called the institute of medicine who look at women's preventative health. for the first time we have actually looked at those issues that are very specific to women. they came back with

recommendations that were adopted by the secretary and they will be going into law next year. that will mean that in addition to things covered by health care like mammograms and other annual exams, that we are going to make sure contraception is available without cost-sharing. [applause] when you start a family and we are going to make sure equipment and other equipment is available so there are a whole host of things that used to be extremely expensive and we know that was a challenge for health care for women and are going to be available to them as part of preventative care. [applause] >> jim, this is for you. i think a lot of people want to know the answer to this. can a president and congress repeal a law that was legally passed? >> can congress repeal one. >> yes, can congress repeal a law that was legally pass? >> yes, they have the wrong

president in there. every republican running for president of the united states is promising to repeal health care reform. they're promising to repeal -- that will happen if we elect the wrong person for president and that is why we have barack obama for president president and that is why elections matter and are so important. it took decade after decade of people organizing and working through these issues. when you elected barack obama president and a whole bunch of you including people in this room filed for health care for two years and they won those rights. those rights were one after very hard battles. what we can do is what the president said in the video, to go back to the days when you lose your health insurance because of preexisting conditions. elliott's rather in those are the stories that made health care pass. it matters very much. >> okay, great. this is a reminder for everybody watching on line.

please use the hashtag later together. time to open it up to the audience. there you go. this gentleman right here. are you going to use a mic or do you just want to speak really loudly? [inaudible] [inaudible] >> the benefits of the health care law and that we want to kick in. we are fighting all these efforts for people who want to repeal health care like jim was just talking about but by then the exchanges will be set up-and-up and running and people will be able to either, for those who are extremely low income, stay on medicaid and we are expanding medicaid. others will be would be able to

go and use exchanges and provide subsidies for individuals based on income so they will be able to afford health care so it will be more affordable and also for small businesses to be able to be there as well. and also have options and choices. that sits on top of our system. one of the things a president that if you like the health care you have and that is not going to change so if you have an employer who is covering your health care than that is great but for those who don't have access, for those 34 million people who don't have access, they will be able to take advantage of these changes and others will be able to keep the benefits they already have. >> okay, one more question. >> we have a question right here. >> hi. i am a sophomore software and i have a question for jim messina. during the health care debate we all saw a lot of misinformation being spread and a lot of people were scared about what would happen when health care reform

pass. health care reform passed and the world has not ended and people actually are waking up and realizing that this country is a lot better off and there is a lot more protection for people with three existing conditions. but how can we get the word out and tell people understand the great benefits this law has made in people's lives? >> a great question and one that every single day we think about. we really believe that organizing person-to-person stories -- the personnel he talked about, her brother and you will have the personal health care stories. those are the stories that are going to win the day on this. saying to your friends who may be questioning what happened with health care, saying to them now i can say on my parents health plan until i'm 26 and after that i can go to the exchanges. now i can't be kicked out because of preexisting conditions. telling all the facts of matter about health care person to

person neighborhood to neighborhood, group to group. that is how we will win the fight everyday and that is how barack obama got elected president. that is how we will tell the story of health care. selfishly go to brocker -- barack obama.kim and say you were where were in and join the campaign and start volunteering. the end of the night we opened up our philadelphia office and we had over 600 volunteers the first night. that is the kind of grassroots campaign that will win pennsylvania and that is what we are building every day. we hope every single one of you will be in the office next week volunteering. go to the web site and download some things you can do. downloader app and start working from home. there's a whole bunch of things we have to do. we only have 360 some days before this election. i know some fake a lot of time but we have a lot of work to do. sign up tonight and let's start getting it done. [applause] >> it goes to the gentleman's question about the sky hasn't fallen. not only has it not fallin,

today, today, 1 million young people have health care that didn't happen before the affordable health care law became law. [applause] it is getting better. the promises the president made are being kept. >> one other thing i would add, the young man raises a larger issue and whether it is about the health care bill or about the financial bill or whether it is about the economic recovery act and certainly the american jobs act there is a ton of misinformation about the presidents record that is out there. when jim talks about going to the web site and when melanie starts laying out the facts and elliott elliott gives a personal testimony, we have to fight every day to get the president's message across. these folks couldn't tell the truth if you gave them the first three letters. they will spend every day trying to figure out how to undermine and how to undercut and basically run the president out of the white house.

we just need to call it what it is. so there will be a fair amount of misinformation, disinformation and gesture regular old household liar that the other side will be telling in the course of this campaign. we have juice sellers in the community in the street and also using social media to get those messages out not in down these misinformation campaigns. that is going to help us a great deal on the ground to let people know what is really going on. [applause] >> we have time for one more question. >> hi, i am with harvard college. [applause] i have a question. in the last year we have watched as reproductive rights have come under attack weather whether at the state level or the national level, whether it is stupak or the attack on abortion or

contraception and i'm wondering what the president is going to teach do to ensure that all people have access to these important rights. [applause] >> that is absolutely a great question and you know the president has been very clear in his support for reproductive health and reproductive rights and i can give you a specific example of that. last december when we were fighting and we were working on the continuing resolution, the president -- we kept having a lot of pressure placed on the president to do that in a way that would undermine planned parenthood and access to the resources for family planning. the president said, absolutely not. i am drawing the line, absolutely not and pushed back

in the face of everything else he was facing to make sure that people would have access to family planning. it is crazy to believe that if we want women and men to make smart decisions about reproductive health, about their own personal health and when they are going to start their families that we are not going to give them the access to those kinds of forces. also while we were trying to pass health care, he made sure that we were maintaining the status quo and that those rights and access to those rights would still be available to people. so this is something you are right, we have been confronting time and time again but the president has drawn a line and i think a respectful line understanding people of good conscience will disagree but this is a legal and a constitutional right that exists in our country and people should have access. [applause] >> the this is just a reminder for everybody at home, please tweet your questions using

hashtag greater together. we are going to go to a question right now. okay, how does the affordable care act to improve maternal health and the u.s.? mayor, anybody can jump in. [laughter] >> well, i was mentioning a few of the things that have happened. one, just because of access to health care and preventative care, may can sure that a woman's who made the decision she is going to go -- she is pregnant and she is going to start her family, having access to a doctor and having access to those prenatal visits are so essential. also, i was mentioning in the women's preventative health care package, that in a year will become part of overall health care. to make the decision whether or not she wants to breast-feed,

being able to do that at work and have access to a place to do that and access to the kinds of equipment that is necessary, so there are many ways. one is the overall health of the woman going through her pregnancy and then also after she has given birth to a child making sure she is getting access to a healthy child and having access to. the affordable care act provided a -- provided a provision for home and family business so low income parents, making sure that they get the resources for those who can work with them to ensure better health outcomes for the infant and they have access to information as they are trying to raise that intent in the early years. there are a number of different ways the affordable care act attacks that particular issue. >> we are switching topics and we are going to do a little musical chairs again. goodbye elliott.

we are going to bring up our next student, graham white. [applause] you guys know graham, okay. he will be up here in the second. the next topic is education. get your questions ready and remember tweet your questions using the hashtag greater together. our first question is for jim. jim, how has president obama improved the quality of education? >> well, do you want to take the first part and i will take the second? >> we have taken a full spectrum view of education so starting with early education and in fact we just announced the half billion dollar race to the top for early learning to make sure that we are establishing quality education for those zero to three because right now you have

got children entering kindergarten, think about it. five years old you are starting school and your 60 points behind the rest of your peers. you have to close that gap to make sure kids are ready to learn when they start kindergarten. k-12 we have established a game-changing program known as race to the top that encourages states to compete for grant money if they also took on take on certain kinds of reform. we are making sure to turn around low-performing schools that turn out 7000 dropouts every single day. there are 1.2 kids dropping out of high school every single year. we are turning that around and making sure we are supporting our teachers and leaders in schools and setting career ready standard so when people finish high school they are ready for a career or ready to enter college. then i was talking about some of the other things we have in higher education to make it easier for you to have resources so you can start college and complete college but also when you are done really been a

crushing loan burden or lifting some of that off your back. i could go on but those are just a few things. >> most of the things mel talked about matt -- that many of the new right? this is what is so important to get the information on the web site and talk to your friends about these things, start informing everyone about what this president has done an about what he is going to do second term. it will be grassroots organizing and why education is such a huge part of the president's campaign >> okay, great. the next question is for graham. tell us your story about getting a grant helps you get here and why it is important that colleges affordable? >> the issue of student loans is particularly important for me because the only reason i'm sitting here with the privilege of talking to you guys right now is the university offered me a -- otherwise it would have had

to take out all the student loans and all that stuff. i know a lot of people have similar stories about getting generous financial aid packages from the university but the truth is there are students across the country to take out backbreaking student loans. there are students who earn -- and some of them can't go because they can't make the money work for them. that is why i'm so proud to be part of this movement starting in philadelphia and throughout the country to reelect a president who has done so much for students. as regional director of students for barack obama have had the privilege to work with two other remarkable students. together we have brought this movement over the past several months to 65 different colleges and universities in the state of pennsylvania alone. [applause] we do big things and we are just getting started.

just to wrap up, the president made a promise and his state of the union address. i think it was two years ago. he started by saying, the united states of united states of america, no student should go -- to college and he said he promised he would take definitive action to reduce the burden and he has. since being elected he has doubled the pell grants. recently issued executive order that made student loans, made access easier to pay back. you know that's it. that is real change and i think that just shows how big it is in this election. you folks on the other side who are saying we want to cut, cut, cut and referred everything the president has done. that hurts the students here across the country. that is why the election matters and that is why we have to get

the president in for a second term. [applause] >> this next question is for mayor nutter. can you talk about some of the programs that may college make college your affordable? >> sure. when melody talked about not only at the secondary level but the race to the top grants having impact -- race to the top program having an impact on the k-12 experience. certainly see many colleges and universities trying to get away from the loans. we have been talking to the local institutions here in trying to increase financial aid from a grant standpoint. we have a number of great colleges and universities not only here in pennsylvania but in the tri-state area, 101 colleges and universities. i meet with the college president on a regular basis and talk about this issue of affordability. one we want more people in philadelphia to be able to

attend college or university in the tri-state area and hold onto our folks and the tuition often is a major barrier. the mayor mayor's office of education and the college program, we are helping young people get access to the grants and trying to stay away from loans and work with our colleges and universities to also try to keep down those periodic tuition increases. many of our colleges here recently though experienced a cut. it wasn't as bad as originally announced that also leads to tuition increases. we need to make sure that not only at the federal level but also the state level that we are investing in education and the president is trying to do the right thing. again, we should be investing in the american people and certainly in our young people and making college that much more affordable not just from a local perspective but also from a national perspective as well. >> thank you.

[applause] >> melodymelody, how will the student loan reform legislation introduced last week benefit students? >> well, this is the pay-as-you-earn a program which we talked about this evening and i think to underscore this point, we are talking about saving hundreds of dollars every month when you are just starting out in your career. also by consolidating your loans, also decreasing that interest rate and that is going to save you even more money over the life of your loan. we know that loan debt can be crushing, crushing, crushing. i remember when i first started work and i had an office mate. she had a masters degree and also a law degree. she would come in once a month with this big file folder of her bills. she had these big loan payments and she would flip through. boquet which bill mike going to pay this month? am i paying my lights? am i paying my electricity back

she was trying to balance that with her loan debt. that is not what we want people to have to do and that is why we were able to take executive action and add this to the pay-as-you-earn program so we could pull forward a program we passed the year before with -- so salute be available not in 2014 but in 2012 so it is available to you all and we were also able to make sure you are able to benefit from the lower capped monthly discretionary income level, 10%. i can't say enough and i know the president actually has an op-ed out today. many of you may have seen it, talking about this and we are going to continue to work on this because it is critical that students get that certification, go to that community college, go to that four year institution because over the half of the jobs in our economy require some kind of post-secondary education. what you are doing is right and what you are doing is important

and we want to help you. >> okay we are going to open it up to the audience who have questions. go ahead. >> hello my name is chloe at temple university and you were talking about how you have plan to give money to schools where they have higher graduation rates, but there are a lot of school districts that are having problems where teachers and administrators are forging grades and pushing people along even though they are not ready to graduate or even to get into the next level of their school. what can we do to fix the problem but also increase the rate of graduation? >> i am sorry, maam. can you tell me the second part of that question again? >> to fix the problem of principals and teachers forging the grades of students on tests

and stuff like that. >> one, we have sent a very clear message that as much as we are going to push hard, for our young people to do better in school and do better on tests achieving -- cheating is unacceptable. sending a very strong message weather here in philadelphia -- we have heard about other issues in a couple of other cities. this date overseas the repeal of all the various test. we have had some concerns about a couple of schools and we do not believe it is systemwide. we can never allow the pressure whether from the central administration or the principals to the teacher in the classroom, we can never allow that level of drescher to ever be acceptable that somehow we are going to help students. you are not helping the students. you are really doing them a disservice and if you are worried about yourself and what

is going on in your own classroom then we need to make sure you have the proper support. giving out the answer, all those issues ultimately don't really help that young person. when they go on to graduate, we want to make sure when you come out of 12th grade that you are really a twelfth-grader, that you are reading at grade level and you know what you are doing. when you come to drexel or where it is you go you are not going to get run over because you are really not ready. we are working with the commonwealth of pennsylvania to crack down hard on any teacher or any administrator or any principal or anyone who creates an environment where somehow cheating is going on for folks think that is acceptable. >> thank you. one more. >> hi, i am from u. penn as well. i just had a question.

back in my home state of florida governor rick scott declared that only seven courses, science technology and math need to be focused on because according to him no one ever did anything with an anthropology degree so i was wondering this direction the country is headed in. is it going to be tailored toward specific subjects while herding students in other disciplines or students from a broad area will be able to pursue their goals? >> happy to answer that is a proud history major. [applause] it seems to be working out okay. two things i will say to that. one, the president does believe that we have to pay attention to the stem issue courses and we have a whole initiative around stem and trying to encourage

folks on science technology engineering and math, however if you look at our foot rent for education one of the things that we describe as the importance of ripening the curriculum. it is important. the president talked about it during his last campaign and you may remember he got pushback from people on the other side when he said learn a foreign language or two or three. we are trying to encourage that. it is important to know history. it's important to note geography and geology and all of those things for a well-rounded curriculum as people go out in the world and a way of thinking and an approach to education. those are the kinds of things we are encouraging in the footprint we put out and as we also tried standards in math and reading. right now we are 17th in the world when it comes to our reading and we are 24th in the world when it comes to our math scores. that is not going to allow us to be number one so we have to get

those up and we have to make sure students are well-rounded and have the school curriculum i think you are talking about. >> we can actually take two more audience questions. do we have a question on the other side? >> hi, i am from pan and i have a question about whether or not education, the issue of education in this country is more of a structural question. many politicians expected to improve. while i agree entirely -- i don't mean for this question to be controversial. teachers have an incentive to work towards their 10 year and then be protected by teachers unions, not to necessarily have the same level of effectiveness

at one school. and then it just sort of drops off. my question is more about how do we fix teachers initiatives and teach the students in a way that i guess makes education both inclusive and as effective as it really should be? >> mayor, do you want to take that? >> we love the support that we get from president obama and the administration. secretary duncan, arne duncan is doing a great job on the education front but you know as well as i do that we get federal resources to make things happen. the magic of education happens in the classroom and it happens locally. the federal government does not have direct jurisdiction over the school district or the city of philadelphia or the other 499 school districts alone in the commonwealth of pennsylvania. we need to make sure that one we have paula five certified

teachers in the classroom with our young people that they are getting there were sources that they need in the proper support and motivation to help that young person live out their god-given potential. i think that what the president did do and the secretary with race to the top whether you got one of those grants are not, the standards that were set pennsylvania, philadelphia at least change many of its standards in order to the will to compete for the race to the top grants and they were good things were students. the federal government can fund initiatives and can put out standards and get people to kind of go after competitive grants. we need to make sure that local elected officials at the city and state level are applying the proper support and funding behind education and as i mentioned earlier the school district of philadelphia is the result of the current economic

environment from the state took a 200 million-dollar hit in funding for education. we should be funding education and investing in young people and giving them the resources and not taking them away. i think teachers and parents and students see that kind of activity at the local and state level, it is not a particularly inspiring. >> one more. >> my name is megan and i messed student here at 10. i'm originally from new hampshire and in new hampshire with a standard set by no child left behind for adequate yearly progress by next spring over 90% of our public schools will be labeled as family. what has the president done and what can he continue to do to support the school struggling to meet the competitive standards we like to achieve? >> that is a great question and i'm glad you asked that. just a few weeks ago secretary duncan and the president announced that we were using the flexibility that we have under

the elementary and secondary education act. right now it is commonly known as no child left behind. that is what the last administration named it in a reform law that they pass. we are using that? ability to offer states an opportunity and that opportunity is, if you meet the standards that we are putting in front of you, we are going to waive certain requirements and that goes the adequate yearly progress standard you are talking about. you are absolutely right we are labeling schools as failures and many of them are not failures. in fact we had a principal today we made that announcement he graduated 100% of his seniors three years in a row but his school is called a failure. that's crazy. it doesn't make any sense so we have got to get rid of those labels that don't make any sense. we have to get rid of what mayor nutter was talking about people trying to meet a standard.

states that is said you know what? set at the standard here so what are we going to do to try and mediate? i don't know or we set the number in terms of failing schools so in order to not have the number of failing schools we are just going to lower our standards so we don't have so many schools failing. that is great for this day. it is awful for the students so that flexibility package the president the secretary announced recently gets rid of those bad incentives and instead puts in place incentives and going to the young man's question a few minutes ago that will be incurred jing of a smart education than one based on reform not just putting money behind it but dollars that are associated with smart reform and giving states and districts more flexibility so they can work with parents and work with students and work with teachers so people can get a college and career ready education. >> thank you. i have a twitter update. i've just been told that adam

levine from maroon five, and a maroon five fans out there? adam and president barack obama have used hashtag greater together so if you want to follow greater together, follow ofa underscore pa. i think it is time for a twitter question. universities like ours are seeing cuts in state aid. way can be done on the federal level to combat rising tuition? anybody? ..

>> please know in congress, we're fighting that fight every day because they want to cut back. republicans want to cut back on pell grants, and the expansion the president was able to put in place, and also the pay as you earn program we talked about tonight. all of those things are our efforts to try to keep college costs and the burdens down, but at the same time, we need the expansion in the economy to help states as they are trying to juggle their responsibilities and we're watching tuition prices go up. >> okay. >> we don't ever want to forget that states still have their speedometer -- responsibility to state colleges, and colleges of the like, and what i encourage you

to do is not let the state elected officials off the hook. obviously, there's a role for the federal government, but everyone has to do their fair share, and we need to make sure states are not offloading their costs and their financial responsibilities literally right on your back, and so make sure you stay in touch with your state reps, state senators, and certainly the governor's office from whatever jurisdiction you're from. states need to be sure they are still investing in all of you. >> yeah, couldn't agree with you more. the president actually made that challenge to college presidents and overs last year in the state of the union address. thank you for saying that. >> well, thank you, guys, for your participation. can we get closing statements from the panelists? >> what i will just say is thank you, thank you, thank you for being here tonight. i know that you all have lots of burdens, lots of busy schedules. yoir in school, but thank you --

you're in school, but thank you for being here and caring about the issues because your engagement and participation changes the shape of this next election and ultimately changes the shape of the country, so thank you for being so involved, and thank you for caring about the work that we can do together. >> look, greater together, your campaign, the more we can all work together, i want you to take control of the campaign, be a part of it, please sign up, volunteer, give us whatever time you have, and we'll take whatever we can get. thank you for what you are doing, thank you for being a participant of this and helping reelect barack obama as president of the united states of america. [applause] >> sure. well, like i said before, we all know what the stakes are, and we have -- we're a little over 12 months away from the election, and there's so many ways to get involved. we've got to win this thing. there's so much on the line and

whether you're a penn, get involved with the penn democrats. so many ways to goat involved. this election matters. looking forward to working with some of you guys over the next year. [applause] >> all right, graham. if you're in philadelphia, there's an election next tuesday. [laughter] [cheers and applause] i want to mike sure you vote next tuesday, and the next year, we'll going to work very, very hard. i'm going to say, but there's a second part. i certainly want you to vote for barack obama, but when you think about that, you're voting for yourselves. this is in your self-interest. he's our best choice and only choice to lead this country not only through the worst recession since the great depression, but out of it and into a much brighter future. my word to you, vote. thanks a lot.

[applause] >> i think we all learned a lot. we all got a lot of information, and we all know what we need to do over the next year and after. get out there and vote. get as many friends as you can to vote. thank you for having me. i'll throw it back now. [applause] >> all right. let's give it up for democratic strategist melody burns, and our wonderful campaign manager, jim, and to michael for hosting this event. [cheers and applause] and all of our student panelists. they were amazing, thank you, guys, so much. [cheers and applause] of course, i want to thank everybody who joined tonight in philadelphia, everybody who joined us online. thank you for making greater together a hash tag trend. we appreciate it. i knew you wouldn't let me down. i remind you as we leave tonight, this does not end with a tweet or facebook post. this is only where it starts, the beginning of the conversations. we want you to go online, sign

up, barackobamatogether.com. shoot us a text at 62262 and shoot us greater together and your zip code, and we'll follow-up with you anywhere in the nation to get you involved. the other thing we have to do is make sure we're showing leaders that you're watching them and they need to listen to you. we have to stand up and show folks that young americans like you care about our country's future, and we're not going to go backwards or let it benefit only the people at the top or ignore your voices. we need you. we need you to sign up, volunteer in your communities, in your campuses, and we need you to get your friends to volunteer too. more than ever, this is about choosing the kind of america you want to help build and we can't do it without you. thank you, have a great night. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] ♪ ♪

>> this is the formal card, filling out the declaration of candidacy which has been completed except for the signature. >> i can do that. >> this is the filing fee of $1,000. >> that's right. you got that. >> this is from -- >> all right. >> see if we -- >> we do this every four years. >> well, you have a great secretary of state. you've done a great job and will for the next 40 to 50 years, bill. we appreciate your leadership and you'll make sure new

hampshire remains first in the nation. it's a responsibility and an honor which new hampshire richly deserved, and happy to be a part of the process and put any name on this paper. hopefully this time it'll take. [laughter] i'll be able to become the nominee for the party and hopefully the next president of the united states. [cheers and applause] >> the new hampshire primary is set for january 10th, and you can follow campaign 2012 online with the c-span video library. click on the 2012 tab to access candidates and events all shareable, searchable, and free. it's washington your way. >> more road to the white house coverage saturday night at 8 ean . ♪ >> earlier this evening, five

presidential candidates spoke at the ronald reagan dinner. rick perry, newt gingrich, rick san tore up, and representatives bachmann and ron paul as well as state officials. from the hy-view hall from downtown des moines, this is an hour and a half. >> it's a great honor to welcome you have evening. we are delighted to have you with us this evening. before i begin, i would like to just take a minute to thank all of the county chairs, co-chairs, secretaries, and central committee members that are doing so much to make our republican party a better and stronger party. let's show our appreciation. [applause]

i'd also like to acknowledge and thank my colleagues on the republican state central committee from the first congressional district, shellily atkins, jeremiah johnson, and john ortega. from the second congressional district, david chung. from the third district, wes enus, christian, and david fisher. for the fourth congressional districts, james mills, a.j. spiker, and drew ivers. the fifth district, jim, and monte shaw, and from the national committee, kim and steve, let's show our appreciation for the outstanding job that you're doing to make the republican party of iowa stronger. [applause] we're republicans because we still believe in the american

dream, the great communicator that we're honoring tonight called it that shining city on the hill, and not only do we believe in the american dream, we believe that we have a road map to get there, and that road map is found in our founding principles -- life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. we -- we believe in the power of ordinary people to do extraordinary things, and when i look around this room, i want to thank you for making iowa a better state and for making our parties stronger. our party is as strong and stronger than it has ever been. it -- voter registration for republicans is up. democrats is down. we've had the second highest turnout for a straw poll ever, and we're going to have a tremendous turnout for our caucuses, and that's all good looking at the election in

november. thank you for what you're doing to make the republican party of iowa stronger. have a great evening. congratulations on what you're doing, and god bless. thank you, all, very much. [applause] ♪ ♪ >> please rise for the invocation led by a.j. spiker and remain standing for the pledge of allegiance led by the secretary of state. >> let us pray. bless us, oh, lord, and these your gifts which we're about to receive from your bounty through christ our lord, amen. >> please join us in the pledge of allegiance.

i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> please welcome lieutenant governor kim reynolds. ♪ [applause] >> well, good evening, and thank you, all, for being here and supporting this great event. governor branstad sends regrets he's not able to be here this

evening, but we extend our congratulations to all the hard working people of the republican party of iowa for this tribute to president ronald reagan, and to chairman stratn, a special thanks to your commitment and hours and hours of horde work and your fight to keep iowa first in the nation. congratulations, and a job well done. [applause] we also want to acknowledge and thank the gop presidential candidates for making this event tonight and for winning iowa as a priority. the governor and i join all of you here tonight as well as the millions of freedom loving americans across this great nation in an important and shared priority. we must elect a republican

pro-business, job-focus, conservative leader to the white house, and that is the first step to putting our country back on the right track. [applause] republicans picked up more seats in the past election than in any other since 1938. republicans won because we campaigned as unapologetic conservatives keenly aware of the voters, that the voters were tired of rhetoric, and they were demanding results. the people of this great nation sent a very loud and clear message this last election to stop the unsustainable spending and the outrageous debt that is being passed on to our children and grandchildren. we want to see -- we want to stop the overreaching and intrusive and ever growing and growing government. they have entrusted us to take

bold action, so we must stay true to our charge and our promises, and we must deliver results. there are competing visions for the future of this country, but there is only one path to deliver us from the challenges that face our great nation. eliminating job crushing regulations, less burdensome taxes, and to recognize that our job creators as the heros of this economy and not the demons that some would portray them to be. [applause] successful individuals and businesses lift up all of america, and we must fight to promote a free enterprise market system because it is the system that understands no limits. regardless of who is our no , nominee, we must defend our vision because the heart and it

is the core of the american dream, and it is what separates us from other nations. let us have a spirited contest in the arena of ideas, but once a candidate is selected, we must band together and get behind those shared ideals and visions. we must come together to refuse to do anything but to leave -- lead our state and nation better than we found it. together, we can win this fight to keep our nation free and prosperous and strong, so god bless you all, god bless the great state of iowa, and glued -- god bless the united states of america. thank you. ♪ [applause] ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> please welcome to the stage, our united states senator, chuck grassley.

♪ ♪ >> hello, everybody. we have just 12 months to save america from obama's euroamerica. after 30 months, this economy belongs to president obama. he cannot blame george bush anymore for what the economy is. [applause] he owns it. tax too much, borrow too much, spend too much. i would admit that maybe this president inherited a bad situation, but by any measure of the economy, whether you want to

take four or five measurements on 25 measurements of the economy, and economists have that many, this president has made every one of those measurements of the economy worse than when he took office, every one of them. [applause] and it seems like he can't seem to learn from the mistakes of greece that he wants to take us down the road of near default with his massive increase in the national debt equal to what all presidents prior to him will have accumlated, he will accumulate four years in office, and mostly, it's because he's not attending to the knitting. he, instead of being a commander in chief, he's a campaigner in chief, and we -- [applause] and so between now and about a

year from now, we have 12 months to elect a president who will unite america, the very same america that this president day after day attempts to divide. we have 12 months to elect a president who will grow our economy instead of growing government. [applause] i don't think he'll learn it, but it would be nice if he would learn that the american people create wealth and government consumes wealth. [applause] so we, republicans, yet this year and into a new presidency,

plan to not take more dollars from the american taxpayers. we will stop new regulations at least for a two year moratorium. we will shrink government. we will pass a balanced budget amendment. we will expand trade. we will drill here and drill now. we will repeal obamacare. [applause] so in the sense i'm telling you we're going to go the opposite direction that this president has taken america and we, republicans, then will not go the way of obama's euroamerica. [applause] we, republicans, will bring out once again through our president, the greatness of america, and we will have no

more apologies to the rest of the world about america at all. [applause] the american story is a story of faith in the american people, not faith in government. our story is a story about real genuine, awe -- aweauthentic private sector jobs, not government jobs. our american story is if you work hard, play by the rules, you will get ahead. [applause] now, we all remember president obama's campaign based upon hope and change. what the american people are hoping for in this election is that we, republicans, can give

them, the american people, a real genuine, authentic change that brings out the greatness of america, and we will do that, and i urge all of you over the next 12 months to work so very hard to make sure that we give this country back to the american people. [applause] ♪ ♪ >> on caucus night, iowa is going to change the world thanks to 25,000 of your fellow citizens who have tried our pledge to only support those presidential candidates who are committed to identifying and eliminating $500 billion a year of known washington wasted spending.

texas governor rick perry signed into law a waste bill in texas that served as the model for congress' tom lathum lean budget bill. >> if we were standing by the principles, we would not be in the fiscal mess we're in today. >> congressman ron paul said if only more business people were in charge of government, we would have this country in shape in no time. at the iowa straw poll, presidential candidates spoke to strong america now supporters. >> and what you represent and what mike represents, what sigma represents, is a disciplined approach to finding a lot of the waste, the abuse in washington, d.c.. >> [inaudible]

>> this is the biggest idea for rethinking how you run government since the civil service ideas of the 1880s, so this is the biggest idea in 130 years. >> if you have not joined our ranks, please do so tonight at our booth. we ask just two things of you. vote on january the 3rd, and support one of the candidates you heard about tonight. may god bless america. ♪ [applause] ♪ >> every four years, americans choose their president, and every four years since 1972, the iowa caucuses have started the process. for 40 years, iowans have listened to the candidates, measured their qualification, and made their decisions. candidates that proved themselves moved on, and every four years, iowans get the question, why is iowa first?

♪ let's talk about why iowa's a great place to start the political process. in iowa, retail politics is the name of the game. candidates can't hide behind ads and rallies. iowans take the process very seriously. we know that meeting the candidates firsthand, having the courage to ask them tough questions is the best way to measure their mental and their character. we donate our time to help the candidates, and we welcome them into our homes, meet with our friends. we share our stories, our hopes, and our fears. we establish a bond with the candidates that go beyond any election. it's the bond of americans working side by side to make our country an even better place, and then on a cold winter's night, we venture out. .. have taken the time to share their vision who want to build america and in whom we place our trust and those candidates who earned our trust move on to the next step

in the process and continue the process until one is declared the next president of the united states. however, the process is not the only thing iowa is first in. iowa's the nation's leader in the production of renewable energy leading the way on lowering our dependence on foreign oil. iowa's capitol city, des moines, ranks as number one in the nation for young professionals. it ranks number one in best places for business and careers. it is ranked number one richest metro in the united states due to its reasonable cost of living. iowa's first in the nation of production of corn, soybeans, eggs, and pork. in fact, we produce over 10% of the america's food supply in iowa. iowa ranks first in children's health care without being told by the federal government how we should care for our children. being first in the nation is nothing new for iowa. in fact, we're good at it, even most times we are too humble to talk about it. for the last 40 years, this

nomination process is starting in iowa, and it's starting here again today. here, in america's heartland, where the pioneer spirit remains strong, where the pride of america never waivers. the great state of iowa, first in the nation. ♪ >> please welcome the chairman of the republican party of iowa, matt straun. ♪ ♪ >> well, good evening. sixty days, sixty days from right now all across our state, in our church basements, in our gymnasiums, in our schools, 60 days from right now, we start the process of choosing

president obama's republican successor, and it starts here in iowa. [applause] now, as my friend mark narrated so elegantly in the video, we're humble folks, but we should brag on ourselves today as iowa republicans because we have things to be proud of, and for that, i want to thank you. i want to thank each and every one of you for being a partner in your republican party of iowa. [applause] thank you for being a partner in your iowa gop that as of the end of october marked the 32ndconsecutive month iowa republicans gained on iowa democrats in iowa's voters' registration. [applause] not too shabby. thank you for being a partner

through your support of tonight's dinner and events throughout the year and being part of what will likely be the most successful fund raising year the fund -- republican party of iowa has ever had. we're outgaining the democrats there as well. more recently, thank you for demonstrating to the rest of the country by taking our caucus process so seriously, exactly why it is iowa, not florida or some other state, but it's iowa. iowa that is first now, iowa that will be first forever. [cheers and applause] you know what? it's your iowa gop that's making a difference day after day here at home. it's your iowa gop having governor branstand and lieutenant governor reynolds on the hill. they are pushing an agenda every

day in the iowa house. [applause] oh, and you know this one's coming. it's your iowa gop on the doorstep of telling the one-party reign over the iowa senate will soon be over. [cheers and applause] now, we're not done. your iowa gop makes sure that tom lathum retires leonard boswell once and for all. [applause] and last, and by no means least, your iowa gop will make sure kristy vilsack and the liberal pals -- [laughter] will know that it's a very, very poor decision to move to ames with your liberal beliefs and think that you're going to beat

our steve king. [cheers and applause] but folks, you know, it's not a reagan dinner without remembering and reflecting upon what i believe is one of president reagan's most admirable traits, that unshakable belief he had not only in the american people, but the promise of the american dream to anyone who wanted to seek it and earn it, and, you know, being the son of an iowa farmer, grandson of a john deere factory worker, i was raised with perseverance, hard work, and responsibility, but it's not all. even though i grew up in a farm, my opportunity in the worlds were limitless. why? because i was an american. it was that promise, the uniquely american promise that you were only limited 234 this world --

in this world by those gifts bestowed upon you by your creator and how you choose to use them. that's the american promise 689 that's what we're fighting for today, and americans know it. americans know it's worth fighting for. you know why? i hear it every day talking to people across iowa. i ran into somebody over lunch i never met for. a 20-year veteran works downtown now, and we started talking. he has a couple boys, one just leaving college and the youngest is entering, and he was fearful for the opportunities he doesn't think they'll have that he has. this being iowa, conversation turns to politics, but before i could even ask him if he was going to caucus on january 3rd, this veteran looked me in the eye and said, matt, electing a new president for america is not

my only responsibility, but my duty. sixty days, folks, every minute counts. we know our duty as americans. let's make it happen. let's get it done, iowa republicans. [applause] ♪ >> good evening, glad to be with you this evening to introduce my father. i don't exaggerate when i say likely no congressman since the days of our founding defended the constitution as consistently as ron paul. even when defense of the constitution is unpopular, when everyone else throws up their hands, goes along with the crowd, ron paul held firm. my father's been the lone vote

against federal overreach more than any congressman in history. no representative deserves more credit for a constitutional foreign policy. ron paul relentlessly championed a policy that reaffirms what we fought for. .. in decisions of war and who will defend america to the utmost if we are attacked. double-fault also my father is a believer the federal government should only perform duties that were enumerated in the constitution to rid america languishes in a terrible recession 14 million people are out of work america will thrive

again when we of leadership from a leader who embraces and extols the greatness of our founding documents the greatness of capitalism and the unlimited potential for individuals. i think the leader is my father, ron paul and i hope he will give him your consideration. [applause] >> please welcome u.s. representative dr. ron paul. petraeus bixby four for a much. delighted to be here this evening. our prayer into the coat parents ought to be proud, i'm proud to have my introduction by my friend to the qassam but i'm also pleased to be here on this important event of all the presidents i've met over the many decades president ronald reagan is the one i knew the best and visited with the most and had most in common.

the first time that ronald reagan was 1976 when i led the texas delegation to the convention in kansas city, and later on when he became president in 1980 were, heer shortly thereafter instituted the golded commission, and i waf member of the gold commission, and one particular day we were fishing up on the old commission and i was scheduled to go towa l houston but i was late to get out was flying over in his helicopter, and i was able to fly with president reagan from the white house to andrews air force base, so i had a 1-on-1 with him on this occasion, and, of course, the subject of the gold standard came up. he said something to me that was very interesting and stuck with me. he says, there has never been a great nation that gave up the gold standard that remained great.

he saw money issues as being a very important issue, and he saw the danger of not having any restraint on the monetary authority. now, his concerns obviously with the same as mine, and guess what , we are in a situation today that demonstrates what happens when you have no control of the monetary authority, and this is the reason that for many decades i have been talking about monetary policy in the federal reserve and why not only should we audit the federal reserve and need to change a foreign-policy and our monetary policy. [applause] [applause] the reason this is so important is congress kids license to spend money. if they don't have to collected by taxation then they can borrow to a degree, but they never come up with enough money. what did they do, they send the bills to the federal reserve and print the money. the tragedy here is it causes the growth of government because

some conservatives like to spend money on one issue. liberals like to spend their money on other issues. but inevitably without restraint on the monetary authority governments grow. when governments grow the people's liberty starts to diminish. this is where we are today. the other consequence of unlimited spending is unlimited debt, and we now have not a national debt crisis. today our national debt this week for the first time on history became greater than our gdp. but the world is in the same situation. so what we're seeing on the streets of athens and around the world, even in our own country is a reflection of runaway government spending and too much debt and people aren't willing to admit it. they're not willing to admit the truth. we have spent too much, and to much debt, and the solution is, guess what, cut spending.

that is what has to be done. [applause] [applause] this is the reason why in my program that i have suggested in the campaign is in the first year cut $1 trillion out of the budget. [applause] [applause] a lot of people say, how can you do that? well, you have to be willing to cut. you have to look to the constitution and find out what is authorized and was not to read you can't get rid of everything that is on authorize the first year, but i thought a good start would be to get rid of five departments the first year. [applause] [applause] there is no need the money for us the have the department of education. we have spent hundreds of billions of dollars of federal government has taken over, and what have they given us?

of 45 a poor education system. weak ridge with a lot of students from colleges that are imbedded with that, and no jobs. so this system that we have had for the last 40 or 50 years run and a keynesian economics has been a total failure. the liberals wanted to give the house to everybody. what to do to make it cost housing bubble which collapsed. guess what, the wealthy get bailed out. the top into reserve funds among the middle class lost their jobs , and it lost their houses. what we are witnessing today is the failure of the system. this is the end of an era. the big question is not so much about what we should do but what is going to come of this. we going to draft like the rest into more government solution or are we going to say enough is enough, let's do one thing, one thing, how do we get in this trouble? we have too many in washington that did not care our understanding did not follow the constitution to be if we send only people to washington that

know and understand the constitution and live within the confines of the constitution we can solve our problems quickly. [applause] [applause] we have to change policy. how can we cut and still take care of some of the priorities? the program i have, as to protect the priorities, the elderly who have become dependent, the people who are getting child health care, we still have to cut. we have runaway spending overseas, and we cannot deny it. we have more weaponry than everybody else put together, and if you add up what we have and our allies, we have some the% of the weapons of the world. we don't need more weapons. we need no wiser foreign policy. we don't need to be the policeman of the world. we do not need to be nation-building. we need to have a strong national defense. we need to have @booktv me to mind our own business as sir

bernie our troops on. [applause] [applause] we need to know what we believe in, and we believe in liberty. that is what america's all about. that is why we became the freest and most proper -- prosperous nation in the world. we have to understand where liberty comes from. our liberty and our rights come from our creator. this is the reason that we should all be right to life. we should believe in life and liberty, but if this follows, if this follows the we have a natural right to our life and liberty, shouldn't it also follow these should have the right to the efforts of your labor, which implies there should be no income tax the income tax is the worst of it, national sales tax would be a disaster, but the income tax implies that the government owns all of revenues and allow us to

keep what they want under certain conditions. if you believe in liberty, free-market, and contracts, sound money, a sensible foreign policy, we could be back on our feet rather shortly. that is what i advocate and work for. thank you very much. [applause] [applause] >> a great country who acquires a better direction. renewed future mates and renewed present. >> the last great hope of mankind. >> this time to get america working again. >> we don't need a president to apologize for america. i believe in america. a purpose.

i greatest reserved for the generations to come. when the health and the kurds of the american people, we will get our country working again. god bless you, and god bless the united states of america. >> please welcome texas governor rick perry. >> thank you. lieutenant governor, thank you. not to be with you tonight. as well as you and your family. thank you for your hospitality. and i also want to recognize all of my competitors that are here. let me tell you, each and every one of them that would do a heck of a lot better job than we got and the white house right now. [applause] [applause] you might say that we were involved in a project called

operation occupy the white house . it is an honor to be back in iowa and to campaign across this great state. truly a place where people either assaults of the earth, men and women who love this country, who want to give their children a brighter future. you know, the president talks about winning the future, but you can't win the future by selling off the future. it is wrong to put out children's financial future in the hands of these foreign creditors, our energy security in the hands of foreign countries that frankly are high style to america. and no one can argue that the president did not inherit a bad economy. but no one can argue that he hasn't made it worse either. 14 million americans.

now without work. one out of eight on food stamps. the washington solution, stimulate the economy. pro-government. about the only thing they have stimulated is a higher debt. the answer to this mess in washington d.c. is not the status quo and it is not tinkering around the edges. we have to stop the big spending , the bailout, the big government policies and empower the bureaucrats. you know, someone, reform washington a pair of tweezers. i am for being a wrecking ball to washington. [applause] [applause] my cat, balance and growth plan cuts taxes for every sector of. the low, flat, and fair 20% rate makes calculating and filling out that tax forms simpler, simple enough that you can put it on a postcard.

you can put it on that. i bet even tim geithner kendis it is taxes and if we give him a post card this size and the simple. [applause] [applause] i'll eliminate the corporate tax loopholes. crackdown on the washington influence industry. you know, scores of washington lobbyists are making a living carving a tax out of those loopholes for corporations. i want to make -- of want to make a little history. i want to make those loopholes history. my plan cuts federal spending in a big way. balance that budget by 2020. i know that those deficits are caused by overspending, not by and the taxing. the president, i will spend my time and my campaign and not only my political capital campaigning all across this

country to pass a balanced budget amendment to the united states constitution. you know why, what is lacking in washington d.c. is and ideas. what is lacking up there is courage. we have a washington super committee today because the president kicked the can down the road on reforming the entitlement and cutting spending . we have had 20 different committees now over 30 years to talk about the permission to deal with the debt. you know, it has been easier for people to put steadies' together than it is for people to have the courage to stand up and say here's what needs to be done and do what needs to be done. america is a longing for in this country. that is what is missing in washington dc. [applause] [applause] you know, even one of president

clinton's advisers, he said he was afraid the super committee was going to fail. the difference is this. if they fail it is going to lead to more than half a trillion dollars of archer cuts to our defense budget. they are included in that debt ceiling deal. i guess supposedly to force them to act. it shows you just tell broken washington d.c. is. the price for politicians failing to do their job is that americans are going to be forced to live in a nation that is less secure, and our young men and women in uniform are going to have your resources to keep them safe and to fight the battles that need to be fought across the world. we should not have to rely upon the gimmicks that make washington politicians to the right thing. i'll show the courage to reform

entitlement. as a matter of fact, have already laid out a plan as of last week it does just that. my plan protect the current beneficiaries of social security , but as i was sharing with the group of young people for a walk in here, i really care about that next generation of young american workers. who is it that is going to protect their investment in social security and medicare? we have to have the courage to reform these insolent programs for zero long-haul. we have to have the courage to say that the current tax system is fundamentally flawed and offer real change, cut taxes, take out the loopholes, cut the federal spending, balance the budget by 2020 by the spending cuts and pro-growth policies and a balanced budget amendment. something else. i happen to think it is time to

force washington d.c. to kick the earmarked have it for good. stop the earmarks. if one comes to the budget the budget comes at the near mark and i don't care this democrat or republican, i will take out of the top end, and that will be vetoed. until the budget gets balanced i'm going to impose across-the-board pay freeze for congress end all federal employees paid outside of the military and the public safety area. [applause] [applause] i happen to believe their is a clear choice in this race between the status "tinkers who represent the establishment, those that support bailouts and oppose major tax reforms such as the flat tax. my approach is to break up the washington establishment with fundamental reform of the tax cut, putting a stop to the spending binge and the gravy

train of those bill will lobbyists. the hard truth is this, the future of america is too important to be left to the washington politicians. let's take our country back, and with your vote and with your support let's take our country back to those principles that america was based upon and see america great again. god bless you. thank you for your support. god bless our great country. thanks. [applause] [applause] >> please welcome congress' one michele bachmann. >> good evening, everyone. it is a thrill for me to deal to be with you all here this evening knowing full well they

you would much rather be at the high-school football playoff game somewhere tonight. so you made a wonderful choice to be able to be here. as i looked out at all of you, what i see is the epicenter of hope and change for our country. that is the republican party of iowa, and we are proud of you. thankful that you were here this evening. thank you, everyone, for being here. [applause] i also want to thank the chairman of the party for taking the party to all whole new level . my life is showing very strong all across the country, and you have been a wonderful host to each of us to our present a candidates. it really is the thrill to be able to do this, and the reason why i even decided to come in and enter my name into the presidential election is because

of what i saw in the last five years when i was in washington d.c. and 55 years old. the first 50 years of my life were spent in the private sector the last five years was spent being a real person in washington d.c. to be you know, the day then i went into office in january of 2007 the entire national debt was a half trillion dollars. and as ron paul touch you in his remarks, this week is a historic first. we are tripping the wire it looks like right at $15 trillion. breathtaking. stunning. we all saw the fight that took place this last summer over should we raise the debt ceiling during that time the candidates were here this summer. we are meeting with all of you. i was flying back and forth to fight the fight. and i went back to washington i

knew what had to be done. someone had to stand up. someone had to say no. someone had to say enough is enough. we had enough revenue coming into the treasury. we could sufficiently paid the interest on the debt. there was absolutely no need for the country to go into default. we get paid revenue. we had enough money. but we didn't have enough money for is to continue the absolute insanity of the borrowing. hal insane is it? we just found out in october of this year, the month that just finished, that this country added another $203 billion in debt. now, let me give you a comparison. in 2007 the last year that republicans were in charge of washington d.c. the budget deficit for the entire year was something like $160 billion for

the year. that is of the big spending george bush and the big spending republicans in 2007, 160 billion. compare and contrast that to barack obama, 203 billion. what that means for each one of us because sometimes we need to break those numbers down. for every man, woman, and child in the united states we are each $650 more in debt that we go to this government. you see what we are watching right now is velocity. it is velocity. it is like we are in a canoe coming up to the very edge of niagara falls. it's like the river is moving faster right now. we are living in a theater of the absurd. when this week greece has the temerity to say to the you who have been kind enough to bail

this profligate nation out, maybe they did not want to take a hair cut, they really didn't want to cut back on their spending. the rest of the world book degrees and said, are you out of your mind? take the deal or you go down the drain. what we need to do right now in the united states is take a really good look in the mirror. because we have just observed is a thriller for where the united states is going to read over this last summer when i was a lone voice in the wilderness of washington saying stop no more, and got no more raising the credit card ceiling in the midst of all of that discussion that he went on. that is how washington works. that is why what we need in our nominee for the republican party is someone who will stand up and

say stop, no more. let's hold on to this great magnificent gift that has never before been seen in the history of mankind. it is this great thing called liberty. it is this place called the united states of america. there is absolutely nothing like it because you see in this nation we value each life, each individual life, because for us, you see, the beginning is the individual. and for us, you see, it is because we are made in the image and likeness of a holding god. what i have seen all across iowa is what i learned when i was born and raised here in iowa. it's a deep love and respect for the church. it's a deep love and respect for the individual. it's a deep love and respect for

our military and for what they have secured and fought and died to give to us. it is agreed -- a deep love and abiding respect for the future and the fact that we believe that the future will go on. you see, i believe that, too. i have been renewed in my hope and love for this nation because of what i saw this summer in iowa. it was a commitment from all of you and from your fellow men and women in iowa that we will go on as a nation. i have absolutely no doubt, none whatsoever, the barack obama will be a 1-term president. no doubt whatsoever, but what we -- that is good news. [applause] [applause] but what i also know is that we have to have a commitment that is absolutely grounded in cement

that our nominee will be in individual who will stand strong and make sure there is no compromise with repealing obamacare, 100 percent. no compromise with repealing their jobs and housing distraction act, 100 percent. no compromise, abolishing the tax code and creating it with their ronald reagan style pro-growth tax code. no compromise of liberty. no compromise. that is america. we have done it before, we will do it again. i want to be your nominee for the republican nomination in 2012. god bless all of you and god bless the united states of america. thank you, everyone. god bless you. love you all. [applause] [applause] >> we blanks, and the america

that we knew had changed. individual freedom replaced by increasing government dependents . fiscal responsibility replaced by a reckless spending and mounting debt. a generational promise of a better future broken for a lifetime of paying for the excesses of others. the question now is who possesses the courage and experience to save america. the answer is becoming increasingly clear. only one successfully led the fight to reform the welfare entitlement program, eliminating abuse and fraud and replacing it with hope and opportunity. only one wrote the bill that ended partial birth abortion is forever and has fought

tirelessly to protect traditional marriage. for two decades rick santorum has fought passionately to protect our economy, our tax dollars, our security, and our families. and today is your day to join the fight. >> please welcome senator rick santorum. >> thank you all very, very much. it is great to be back in iowa, but i have been here a little while. this is my eighth straight day in the state of iowa, and i am proud to announce that i did. i have been to all 99 counties in the state of iowa, and i tell you i had a wonderful time doing it.

people ask me, the reporters ask me, are you tired? techno. i am energized. i am energized by going out and talking to the great people of iowa and all four corners of the state have had a wonderful experience. your town squares and your diners and, of course, your pizza ranches. i've been to about 26 beats a ranches in iowa, so i have had a great time. i have learned a lot. in fact, as i was going through the tour this week in reflecting upon what i have learned, because you learn a lot going out and talking to people of violence and reflecting upon what i have learned to read something kept coming back to me, that on like all of the other places where i traveled and certainly unlike what you are hearing from the national media, there was a team coming out from the people of ireland that i was not hearing on the national stage. in the people of viral realized,

the folks that i talked to a republican activist and people who care deeply about this country realize that america is not just about taxes and spending. it's not just about the size of government. is not just about the economy. they realized and they understand that we cannot have limited government without strong families. we cannot have a strong economy without strong family and strong moral commitment to the people who live and work in the economy they understand that the foundation of our country is, in fact, immoral enterprise, one that has created a strong this country in the history of the world because it is a good and decent people with strong families, strong community organization and, of course, faith. i read a book recently by now

ferguson who was interviewing a man from china who had worked on the commission to study why america was the greatest country in the history of the world, and it went through all of these things that they bought first would be the reason. they thought it was the economy. they thought it was our guns. it bought it was our form of government. there rived 20 years ago at the fact that it was our faith and made his great. we are a people, a faith-filled people that believe in that moral enterprise that is america . and so today i an ounce a safe freedom and family agenda here and to mourn. everybody else has put up an economic plan. i put up an economic plan, but no one put up a plan to strengthen the american family, make sure that we have strong marriages in our country, that we defend the institution of marriage.

no one is put up a plan to make sure that we have religious liberty in this country and that faith continues to be the bedrock of this country. no one is put a plan of what we're going to do to make sure that life is considered sacred from the moment of conception until natural death. i did. i put together i think it is about a 20-point plan of what i would do as president because it is important for the people of not system iowa but for this country to understand the we are not a party that just focuses on cutting tax rates, but we are a party that concerns all of america. we understand the important role that families face. i have also put together -- you can interrupt for a pause if you want to. [applause] [applause] i have also put together a bold plan on the economy. just a few days ago.

it was in manufacturing summit headed by governor branson, and it focused on something that is really important to read again, i learned this going around. all of these little towns in rural iowa were either created because there was a process in the manufacturing plant, rural america will not do well, will not come back into its fiber itself and be a place of choice to live unless we have a vibrant economy, and we won't unless we bring manufacturing processes back to america. [applause] [applause] we hear a lot of talk about growing the economy, but don't talk about something that is vitally important, and that is income mobility. if you are a college graduate in america the unemployment rate is 45%. if you don't have one it is well into the double digits. semiskilled and skilled workers are having trouble rising.

in fact, europe has greater income mobility than the united states for workers at the bottom end of the income sale. why? because we have lost our jobs to china, south korea, mexico, and countries all around the world. we need someone who has a plan to get those jobs back. i laid it out, and i will quickly lay out for you. number one, we have to cut the corporate tax for manufacturers to zero. we want you to make things here in america. [applause] [applause] we want to take all the regulations that the obama administration has put in place that cost businesses over a hundred million dollars, repeal them. those that we can't repeal permanently will be replaced with ones that are more friendly to business and send a message on day one that manufacturers and processors and all businesses i welcome back here in america to grow our economy. [applause] [applause]

and for those moneys that have been sent -- those moneys that are overseas because of manufacturing operations over there that made money, instead of taxing than 35% which is what we do now, if you invest that money in plant equipment you will pay no taxes. we want your money back here, we want you to create jobs here in america and in iowa. [applause] [applause] and i saw a lot of folks with green shirts and a lot over replaces an iowa, folks that represent the world active co-ops, and they are concerned because they're seeing energy prices going up, and there are going to go up more if the obama administration has its way of shutting down 60 coal-fired power plants. we will make sure that regulation does not go into effect and opened up energy in america whether it is and more, coal mining, drilling. we will have a free-market of energy production, and we will lead the world and have stable long-term energy prices.

if we do those four things we will create millions and millions of jobs and we will create them in rural america and all over america unlike any other plan that has been put out there in the books. that's what i learned from spending all this time and go into 99 counties. [applause] [applause] one final point i have to make is i wrap up because something very big is going to happen next week. it could fundamentally change this world. that is a report by the international atomic energy agency about what a ron's nuclear situation is. i spent ten years of focused like a laser beam when i was in the senate on the country of ron i introduced the biggest restriction and sanctions on the a run in the pier program eight years ago. it was unanimously opposed even by president bush.

i got no co-sponsor. within two years after people saw what a ron was doing in iraq in afghanistan and seven of their program being regenerated it passed unanimously and was signed by the president. i have been toiling around this country talking about the threat that ron is to the future of our country, the stability of the middle east and, of course, the nation as well. if they are in fact found to be close the world as you know will unchanged. and we will have to do something we will have to do something to stop the production because an error in state that is fixated on the return of the 12th to ma in dominating the islamic world cannot under any circumstances have a nuclear weapon. we need -- we need a leader that not only has the courage to act, but the courage to go out and

tell the truth to the american public about who this in the is and why we need to act. ladies and gentlemen, i have that courage, i have the track record on international, domestic, economic, life and faith and family to deliver the message to contrast with barack obama. we can leave this country to be safe, prosperous, good for the next generation of americans. thank you and god bless. [applause] [applause] >> please welcome speaker newt gingrich. ♪ ♪

>> thank you very much for inviting us here. thank you for participating as free citizens in this very important process of self government. this is a national conversation. it is an opportunity for the american people to talk about where we are, who we are, what we value, and we are trying to accomplish. i wanted thank you as the chairman for the job you're doing to be so enormously helpful, the job you did last year in helping win a number of very key elections of a changing iowa. in addition, it's great to be back with senator grassley. he and i worked together back in 1984 on a project called guess all for those of you who are younger. that is what happened along time ago before it became ethanol.

we also work together when i was speaker to say this in the late 90's. a very simple principle on why i am for at the mall. i believe my choices for money to go to the iran or iowa, i pick iowa. by to assist saudi arabia worst of dakota, picks up the code that. it's not very complicated. [applause] [applause] i am delighted that you're committed to reelecting the congressman. i am here in part to urge you to it should two more republican members to the iowa delegation next year, so we have the momentum to govern in 2013 because we need the congress as well as the presidency in order to bring america back and to rebuild the country that we love . i think you can do it because i think the election next october will be very clear. i am really proud of my colleagues to have been here tonight.

each of them brings unique things and characteristics. the fact is that ron paul has been consistently correct about the need to audit the federal reserve, limit and return to a policy of the dollar as sound as gold, so if you save a dollar 20 years later is still with the dollar, and it's great to have him as a candidate explaining monetary policy. rick perry was my mentor on the tenth amendment and the importance of implementing it. he has a number of tremendous ideas. i agree with most of his energy policy, which is a think an executive the right generation. i am delighted that part of the debate we will have is is like stacked -- flat tax is better. a significant idea that you now have a 9-9-9 plan and to candid with the flat tax. a real effort to think through on the republican side what we

need to do as a country to be competitive and prosperous and successful. not only did she send it to the republican, but in addition she was the first person to introduce the bill, repeal one of the most destructive bills replan our economy. i think she and steve king were in a race to see who would be the first to introduce a bill to repeal obamacare. these are powerful ideas. no one has done more to try to arouse america to understand the challenge of radical islamist and understand the dangers in syria and iran then rick santorum, and i can't tell you how proud i am of the courage she is shown year after year in wanting to serve his country and to leave his children with a better future. so i looked at -- i looked at my

colleagues. this is a great group. the couple were here tonight. i would have said nice things about them. let's skip over that. i am here with very fine competitors and opponents. the only have one opponent. really have one opponent, and that's barack obama. we are delighted to be back. at think we may be the only campaign his national campaign manager is from iowa. first met at the turn college, and her ties here are pretty real and deep. we are glad to be back because i want to bring a very simple and clear message. with your help on january 3rd

you can launch a candidacy which if you go you will see is the most sensitive candidacy in modern times playing out a 21st century time track. i'm not going to go into it tonight, but it's going to grow and evolve from now until september 27 when we will release a contract with america on the anniversary of the original contract in 1994. on october 1st we will release executive orders which we will implement on to one of the gingrich a administration, the first of which will abolish all of the white house source as of that moment. [applause] [applause] i have to hand only to arguments i hope you will end up deciding to support me. my colleagues are good people, and they're worthy of your

concern. the first is i am the only candidate in this race who had a national level has balance the budget for consecutive years, led an effort across the system for the first tax cuts in 16 years, led an effort which led employment to drop from 56 to 42% and created a national majority for the first time in 40 years in the first reelected national majority for the first time since 1928. [applause] what we are faced with is the results of a radical ideology and an inexperienced incompetent president, and i would simply suggest -- i would simply suggest that to get the scale of change we need we need somebody who understands the legislative branch, somebody who understands how to get things done in

washington, and somebody has a track record of having build a national movement that can bring pressure to bear in washington starting with the years that i have studied with ron reagan. i think i have that background in a fairly unique way. but there is one other reason. it comes up again and again when people talk about the debates. as your nominee i will challenge barack obama timesaver and lincoln-douglas style debates, three hours each. with that timekeeper and no moderator. [applause] [applause] i will concede that he can use the teleprompter. [laughter]

, and i predict to you, many of you will find this surprising. i predict see you in the end he will except for two reasons. first a matter of the go. how can i harvard law review editor, the greatest orator in the modern democratic party admit to being afraid to be on the same platform with a west georgia college professor. [laughter] second, because i am a story in and i actually studied history, and unlike president obama i studied american history. [laughter] i know how lincoln set up douglas. [laughter] lincoln would have been out of office. he served one term as a house member and was out of office ten years as a practicing attorney.

douglas was the most famous senator in the united states and present to be the next president. lincoln announced. he said 105 days in the campaign bibulous debate every day. douglas said i don't think so. lincoln began following him. lincoln would come the next day. after about three weeks douglas figured out that the newspaper coverage was always lincoln's answer. not daedaluses speech. so i promise, if you will help me on january 3rd, if i end up as the nominee in my acceptance speech of the president has not yet agreed i will announce that from that date forward for the rest of the campaign the white house will be my scheduler, and wherever the president appears i will appear four hours later. thank you. good luck. god bless. [applause] [applause]

[inaudible conversations] >> please join me one more time in showing our sincere appreciation to all of our awesome candidates for president [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] and before we close this evening on the night when we are ronald reagan, it's only appropriate that we also honor our most distinguished governor, governor bob great. thank you so much for being with us this evening. [applause]

thank you for joining yes. have a great evening and drive safely. [applause] >> a shining city on my political life, but i don't know if i ever quite communicated what i saw. in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than the russians windswept the blessed and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony. and i hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless govern is liberty. as government expands liberty contracts. >> we as americans have the capacity now as we have had in the past to do whatever needs to

be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom. >> back in 1927 an american socialist six times candidate for president of the socialist party ticket said the american people would never vote. under the name of liberalism and the american people about every part of the socialist program. >> this is the issue. whether we believe in our thecity for self-govent or ..rican revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan the marcels. >> our constitution is a document of which we the people care what it is allowed to do. we, the people, are free. god bless you and god bless the united states of america.

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[inaudible conversations] >> i think it's very unusual for by history professor, any college professor not to be a liberal. >> i studied history. >> okay. okay. that's what we were wondering. okay. thank you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

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[inaudible conversations] >> it's charcoal or black. [inaudible conversations] >> i was there with you. i remember. we walked from like the whole town. >> from the place where the bridges of mad madison county, the diner, walked from there -- i just don't remember -- >> there is gasoline on it. the green, it was weird. >> but the point is -- >> i was trying to help you out. >> the point is -- >> i was trying to help you out. you asked a crowd of a hundred a tribute question from like 500 miles away, and you're shocked they don't know. >> everybody in that crowd knew

lemars was. >> i thought you were just stalling. [laughter] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

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[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> i actually bought your book at the auction last saturday night, and got the autograph, and read it last night. takes a family. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> i won't give up on iowa, as long as iowa won't give up on me, all right?

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> senator, would you take a picture? >> sure would. >> thank you. >> you bet.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> thank you again. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]