thank you all so, so much. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, diane. i have a feeling we are going to have a little standing ovation here. everyone, please go to the signing. [inaudible conversations]

>> ed morrissey, in your new book, who are the voters that you talked about in this book? >> to 2 million voters refers to voters in seven key counties in seven key swing state that republicans won in 2004 the last in 2008 and 2012. so we are looking at bellwether counties in places like florida, virginia, ohio, north carolina, new hampshire, colorado and wisconsin. republicans haven't actually quite won wisconsin yet. but because of some of the changes that occurred over the last two years, they have a pretty good opportunity there. the idea is to find out who the voters are because they keep the uri in this book is the reason why republicans went to elections in those counties but can't win presidential elections is because they've got sent to the voters are on the local

level. >> let's go to hamilton county, ohio. who are the voters interviewed that republicans have lost and how to make it about? >> it's an interesting case because it's the only county that has a net population loss over the last two decades. the challenges are more about population growth, people coming in from other parts of the country, carrying what you call their native political elections with them. hamilton county is the one where people have left and had a pretty significant population decreased over the last 30 to 40 years. the people who are left are the people who didn't have a economic mobility to have those options to leave. you are talking about blue-collar workers. people who work hard, don't work necessarily in high-priced firms. they are working with their hands to put food on the table. republicans have an opportunity

to make a case for economic liberty, based on knowing who those particular people i am what the particular issues either. the problem that you have with republican parties than i should mention, by the way, hamilton was at 1.1 of the most republican counties, even when ohio would occasionally vote for a democrat with bill clinton. it was very republican and there was a very red county. over the last two presidential elections they voted for barak obama. and so, one of the reasons is that republicans will message on the economy by using an ideological, philosophical argument at the 30,000-foot level. lower regulation, but that's all. they don't talk about the fact

that for instance, in cincinnati the epa is requiring the city to separate their sewage system from a storm drain system. a very expensive project. this is something they been doing that other cities as well. older cities that has sort of emerge system and they want them separated out. the city of cincinnati put together a plan to comply with the epa. epa accepted it and discovered they could do it for 40% less and still meet all of the goals. the epa refused to reopen the issue. as a result, you have people who will pay hundreds of dollars a year in extra utilities in a city where people don't have that kind of disposable income. just because the epa will not go back and reopen the process and allow the city of cincinnati to do it less expensively, more efficiently. so if you talk about regulation stifling local economies and taking money out of your pocket, as a presidential candidate you

should know about this issue with the metropolitan water district and why it is costing hundreds of millions dollars more than a shed and why the money will come out of the pockets of the constituents. cap the economic issue, the economic argument much more personal. there's a much greater economic connection. that is what barack obama did in 2008 and 2012. he learned about this fabulous organization, the fabulous network of people across the country. when they were talking about issues like the economy and making government work better, they would get their ambassadors to talk about this. these are the types of things i'm going to fix when i become president. that's one of the reasons why people have such an emotional connection to vote for barack obama in 2008 and wives sustained for 2012. >> states you have picked them up that are all essentially must

win for the republicans. florida, wisconsiwisconsi n, ohio, colorado. >> of course, republicans have a won wisconsin accepting huge landslide election victories. for example, ronald reagan won twice in his election. normally this is a state that stays pretty blue. scott walker got a lack did in 2010 and clinton plays the reforms come a very divisive issue in this state of wisconsin, but it's paid a lot of dividends. one study that just came out in march -- late february showed that the state and local governments have saved about $5 billion over five years. so we were able to stay away from laos. they were able to use money wisely. that's the type of message republicans are talking about.

usually when they talk about trimming government and trimming regulations and making things work more efficiently. so there's an opening for the republican message that scott walker and the wisconsin republicans have opened up. that's electoral college votes. that is better than colorado. certainly better than new hampshire. the electoral college votes usually considered a pretty key state for both parties to win because it says something about the breach of their national message. if republicans could take wisconsin and put it into their column and really think it's feasible to do that, that really resent the whole midwest belt for republican in a way that would show that kind of strength throughout the entire region. it would be difficult for democrats to counter. >> host: what is your day job? ayes and senior editor at hot air.com. ideally twice a week podcast on

politics and culture and also write columns for the fiscal times and for the week. >> host: in this election season, have any candidates done what you are suggesting here? >> guest: i think if you look at the primary races so far, ted cruz has actually done a very good job of getting on the ground in iowa especially, but also in texas. some states, apparently in oklahoma as well hear a lot of things about ted cruz's organization that tend to make me think he's on the right track in terms of what they are talking about here with the exception of iowa, which is a purple state. oklahoma and texas are easy. we don't necessarily know how he's pulling in swing voters and of course that's your primary, is due. you are only working within the republican party primaries. it's not a great analog necessarily, but the organization level is there. worker rubio is pretty decent as

well. donald trump is the variable because of the republican party in 2008 and 2012 in terms of messaging, donald trump is that the 40,000-foot level. he's very punchy. concept soulman doesn't necessarily offer a detailed substance behind it, but talks about my commitment and i will do this and make this work. i'm going to win and make this great and people respond to that in the primaries. so it is interesting to see how that'll work out if donald trump is the nominee, does he switch to a ground game of the type that is described in go and read or does he try to stay at the 40,000-foot level or 30,000-foot level and see if he can bring in people through sheer messaging and celebrity status alone. an interesting test. >> host: ed morrissey's new book is called going red, howy . conservatives team within.on for thistv